“Dave’s rocking chair? This has ALWAYS been MY rocking chair. I just let him borrow it sometimes!!!!”

As you know, my main goal of this vacation (other than tending the gardens) was to finally finish painting the interior of the sunporch. Dave did the outside the second year we were here and it made such a difference going from flat, rust red, to a satiny forest green.

Last summer, I started on the inside and quickly gave up due to the heat. I was hoping to get it done this year before the hot weather hit, but no luck. Instead, I tried working in the mornings until the sun got over the house and really started beating down on the house.

I started on Sunday the 19th, and worked for approximately 3-4 hours every morning until the 24. Mom was here so I took the 24th and the 25th off. And finally, on the 26th….. I worked into the early afternoon and finally finished it off. So somewhere between 25-30 hours of work.

Why was it so hard….?

Unlike painting drywall (which I don’t mind at all). I was basically painting framing wit a few extra features. The walls are Oriented Strand Board. Basically chips of wood glued together to make a thick panel. And it means a lot of nooks and crannies to try to get paint in. I’m not sure how much you can see in the picture, but the ceiling is plywood. And not the nice, sanded plywood you make pretty projects from. The cheaper stuff full of knots and imperfections. And on top of that, a gazillion nail point sticking through from when they roofed it. Dave and I did talk about insulating the ceiling, and covering it with a nicer flat surface…. but in truth, if we’re going to go to the trouble and expense of all that – I’d rather go whole hog and tear it down, and rebuild much nicer, not crooked sun porch. So paint it was!

When I took the above picture, those were the last two sections I had to do on the whole porch. I was so happy, but I really had to push to finish it because I was also completely out of steam.

I did have a cheering section…

Lemmy was out there with me for most of it. I only locked the cats out when I was doing the lower walls and the stairs. He was very unhappy about that part – but he was a very good boy when I let him back out again. Not a speck of paint tracked back in the house.

Once it was painted, I still had work to do. I had to bring all the furniture back and get all my plants/planting supplies set up.

While I was painting the porch, Dave painted my large, beat-up shelf cornflower blue to match my little cabinet and smaller shelf.

I got them all back in and started to fill them with plants.

The bottom of the shelf doesn’t get much light, so it holds extra pots, etc. I tried not to crowd the plants as I’ve done in years past, so there’s still quite a few in the house.

With the plants set up, up, it was time to do the seating areas.

My rattan lounger sits on one side, where I can watch the cats in the catio yard. (The plywood on the window was put up last year to keep a certain orange cat from climbing the screens to get OVER the catio fence. I was hoping it would come down this year, but it looks like we need a year or two more before he settles into lazy cat life like his elders.)

In front of the shelf we have a nice little bistro set for two. Great for company, when they come.

And over in the other corner is the rattan rocking chair, which Dave has claimed as his own. (The small white wicker chair is for the cats – it’s child-sized – but I need to get a cushion for it).

There’s still a few things to do. There’s plants to hang, some pictures/signs to put up, and knickknacks to bring out.

And you can see, I should probably do something about the floor. It’s OSB as well. Like the ceiling, we talked about putting something nicer down. But I really don’t want to spend the money on it. We’ve agreed on painting it with a heavy-duty floor paint. But not until fall – when I bring all the plants back in. I’ve had enough porch painting for one season!

For now I’m happy with my little green sanctuary!

When Mom came, she stayed for a couple of days. I rearranged my studio a little, as she had brought one of her Featherweight machines – and we had a little sewing day. While she worked on some bowtie blocks, I finished the last two blocks needed for my Jubilee quilt

I still have to sew them all together, but laid out on the bed, you can see they will make one beautiful quilt top!

Once they are together I will build it out to a Queen-size quilt with a few borders.

Burton can’t wait! And neither can I! But it will probably have to wait until the weekend!

I had a very productive vacation last week – gardens were gardened, porches were painted, and stitches were stitched – in knitting, sewing and cross stitching…

I finished the top flora, and got a start on the bottom. I expect you’ll be seeing an FO post next week for this one. There’s not much left. I just need to fill in that flower, and add some leaves.

And decide to what to work on next… another butterfly/moth? Or something completely different?

A couple weeks ago, a friend contacted me. Their family member’s mother-in-law had passed away, and they were looking to find a new home for her quilting supplies. Would I be interested? Of course I would.

It didn’t compare to mine or Mom’s stash, but it was still enough to overflow my dining table. As luck would have it, I took possession a couple of day before Mom was set to arrive for a visit. So I waited to go through it all until she arrived. (That was hard!)

I won’t show you all of it, but Mom and I had lots of fun splitting it all up between us. There were quite a few kits, and I sent most of those home with Moms, though I did keep a few for myself.

There were several bundles of lovely coordinated yardage that I kept.

I was very excited by some flannel yardage. A beautiful butterfly print in two different shades. And enough yardage for backing – you know I love a good flannel back!

I also snagged this portable cutting/ironing board and a giant triangle ruler!

But the real prize….

A large Laurel Birch Cats Tote bag, with several pieces of Laurel Burch Cats fabric! You can see, Burton was super excited about that score!

Mom got sent home with several kits, some beautiful yardage, a jelly roll, a couple books and big bag of batting! We didn’t need any of it, but we’re happy to have it!

I mentioned last week that I had planted up all the seeds I had for the veg beds. And to my surprise, everything but the carrots has already sprouted! (Carrots do take a little longer to germinate, so that’s not a suprise.

On Cucurbit Corridor, we have…

Zucchini. I wasn’t planning on planting zucchini, but I did a seed trade with a friend and she sent some zucchini seeds, so I thought, why not!

Cucamelon. Apparently, Cucamelons can be on the tricky side to get going, so I’m happy to see this tiny sprout.

Gourds

and Baby Pumpkins. I’m really excited about the gourds and pumpkins. I’m hoping I get a lot to make as fabulous display on the front steps this fall.

All of these are planted on the outside of the Tunnel structure. And since there was room on the back, and the vines won’t shade out the back side for a while, I tossed in some more lettuce and spinach seeds. They should be able to sprout and grow and finish before they get shaded out.

Over in Edible Alley we have…

Japanese Cucumbers

Sugar Snap Peas

Three different types of bush beans! I love beans, they just grow with such ease and vigor!

and

Squash!

I’m so thrilled with how everything is doing. I think it’s going to be a fabulous year for the edibles!

It’s the time of year where every day in the garden is a new one, with something new in bloom.

Like these big, beautiful Oriental Poppies. I had quite the display of them at the townhouse, but they didn’t make the move, so I bought some new ones last year. This one is called Royal Wedding. But this one has done something a little odd. In addition to this white bloom…

It put up a couple of pale pink ones. I’m not complaining, because they are beautiful!

The second of my three Widow’s Tears have bloomed. I have the solid purple you saw earlier, this one with a touch of blurple, and another that’s white with a touch of red-purple.

My Geums are blooming. I have just these two colours, but I would love to get more.

My white Clematis is blooming. Sadly I lost one of my clematis vines (a light pink one), but this one is so pretty it makes the loss a little less.

Chrysler Imperial wins the honour of the first rose to bloom – though it’s a little sad and bug eaten.

It was quickly followed by Prairie Princess and At Last. As Last is a new one, and I’ve yet to decide where I’m going to put her. I said I wasn’t going to build and new gardens this year, but I think I might have to – or at least expand of of the existing ones.

This lovely peachy pink iris is the latest iris to bloom. Sadly, I don’t know her name because she was from a mix of pink irises.

All those foxglove seedlings I moved around last year are in full bloom and glory. I was a little surprised that they were ALL a bold pink. Foxgloves don’t always come true from seed, and quite often revert to white or a pale pink. But not these ones. I am a little sad – I do love the white ones. But it’s hard to be too sad with foxgloves EVERYWHERE!

After three years, my Baptisa (False Indigo) has finally bloomed. I was a little surprised, because I thought it was the yellow variety – but this dark purple is just as lovely!

And last, I’ll leave you with this magnificent stand of Lupins. They take my breath away every time I see them.

It’s toad season here.

And that mean occasionally rescuing toads from Lemmy’s not-so-gentle attentions.

(He doesn’t use his claw, but he does smack them about quite a bit.)

Though this guy didn’t seem too thrilled with the rescue efforts either.

Of course, neither was Lemmy…

I found something fun and silly for my next knit…

An Emotional Support Chicken. Because who doesn’t need an Emotional Support Chicken.

I have always loved making toys, and I thought this would be a nice, quick project. I’m using some of the handspun Mom made for me. It’s a lovely mix rusty reds, browns, beiges, and orange. Perfect chicken colours in my opintion

I haven’t gotten very far. This is the first tail section. And I’ve just started the second. I did think I’d finish him by the end of the month. But that’s coming up awfully fast!

I am happy to announce that I have been diligently painting my porch…

The reason it didn’t get done last year was because by the time I got around to doing it, it was too hot. The porch roof isn’t insulated, so when the sun beats down on it, it really heats up. I was melting trying to paint and quickly gave up.

Unfortunately, it’s once again already too hot (we were in the high 20s this week with a good amount of humidity). But this time, I got smart… I started painting first thing in the morning. And instead of trying to get it all done in one day, I’d stop around noon when things really got hot.

It meant it took more days, but it left my afternoons open for other things… like sewing!!!

And Burton was very insistent we get in there and get caught up on our Blockhead quilt. Hard to say no to that face!

We aren’t quite caught up, but we did add two more blocks to our quilt.

Which bring out quilt up to 11 bee-utiful blocks! And definitely more to come!