On the weekend, we had a special house guest! Mom came by on Saturday and we headed to Sarnia for a quilt show.

It’s been several years since we’ve gone to one (the last one was just after she’d bought the long arm). This one was held in a hockey arena, and was a nice size. And we had an extra tag-along…

He wasn’t in the mood to hang around the house by himself, so he joined us as we walked through the arena. I don’t know if he got as much inspiration as we did, but he really seemed to like this ship quilt.

There was lots to get mom and I excited though. (Mom won a door prize too, which was a nice bonus!)

I was especially interested in the at quilts.

I would love the learn how to do this one day.

The show had a small marketplace with a handful of vendors. Neither Mom or I found anything that tickled our fancy. Well I did… but I wasn’t about to pay $76 for one layer cake. I do kick myself for not taking down the name of it though, because now I can’t find it!

After the show, we all went out to lunch then headed down to Lens in Chatham. There we both found things to buy! (At much better prices). Mom got some background fabrics for a quilt she’s working on, and I raided the pre-cut bin.

I also got a yard of this fabulous fabric!

I wish I liked to sew clothes more, because I would love to have a dress in this!

And I found a wee dragon stuff to top off my purchase!

Can’t beat a day out like that!

Thank you for all your kind words about Burton. I’m happy to say he seems to be back to 100%, so that’s a big sigh of relief!

June is here and with it, all the beautiful early summer flowers.

My clematis are doing amazing. They started out one at a time, and then all of a sudden, just exploded!

This makes me so happy as I was never able to grow them at the townhouse.

You all know how much I love my Lupin. I have two colours – a nice mid-range purple, and a gorgeous dark blurple.

They’ve just done amazing this year. I’ve got some Lupin seeds planted in containers, and I’m hoping I can get some other colours (the seeds were a mix including pink, yellow, white and purple).

The poppies are just popping all over the place.

The dianthans are just getting started. They will bloom on an off all season long.

These little pretties are new for me… sort of. Both were planted last year, but didn’t bloom until this year. They are Widows Tears or Spiderwort. They have a foliage similar to daylilies, but have these small little clusters of flowers. And the buds are tear-shaped.

I figured my bearded irises would be done by now, but there’s still a couple hanging on.

And my native iris has bloomed and is just amazing!

Including this beautiful new one that I planted last fall. It’s called Edith Wolford.

Each of these flowers only lasts a day, but there are lots that bloom in succession giving several days of beautiful flowers.

The Columbine are still blooming. My plants are all still pretty small, so the Columbine display should just get better and better each year. (I added several new bare roots one this year too, which probably won’t flower until next year).

I showed you the beautiful fuscia on the left, and mentioned that I’d bought two for the front porch. Well the second one (on the right) hadn’t flowered when I bought it. And I discovered a couple weeks later that they weren’t the same! I went back to the garden centre to see if I could get another pink/white one so I had a matching pair on the front porch (I’d move the purple one somewhere else), but sadly they were sold out. I keep checking every time I go by, but so far they haven’t come back in so the purple one will have to do for now.

I let Dave choose the hanging baskets for the back porch.

And he chose these two different petunias. Obviously, he’s really into contrast!

If you follow the Bearbottom facebook page, you know that there’s been a bit of drama here this week. It started Tuesday night just before dinner. I noticed Burton was not his usual happy self.

He didn’t want to eat (even his treats), he wasn’t purring and while still responsive and perky, you could just tell he was under the weather.

It’s happened before – and almost always he eventually hacks up a hairball and is fine shortly after. I figured he’d be back to normal by the morning.

But he wasn’t. Wednesday ticked away. He didn’t eat breakfast, he refused all treats. And very unlike him, he just wanted to lay outside in the catio in the heat (this last week has been crazy hot).

He tried to vomit several times, but nothing came out. I started to get worried about a stuck hairball or other obstruction, so I called the vet.

We got him in the next day and I explained everything to them. He had no fever. They took blood. They did Xrays. None of it showed any obstruction, or other reason he would stop eating. They gave him a medicine to settle his stomach, they gave him some subcutaneous fluids because he was dehydrated, and gave me an appetite stimulant to give him when we got home.

He did seem to improve a bit once he was home for a while, but he still wouldn’t eat.

Friday was pretty much more of the same. That is, until in a little bit of despair, I got his favourite brush and started brushing him. That really perked him up. He even started purring! I hadn’t heard him purr since Monday.

Hopeful, I grabbed the jar of treats I have in the bedroom (for getting good quilting pictures). As soon as I grabbed it, he ran right over. But he STILL wouldn’t eat them.

Knowing the weekend was coming, I called the vet again and explained he still wasn’t eating or drinking. The vet said the options were IV, or I could try to syringe feed him. I opted for syringe feedings, so I popped out to get some prescription food and syringes from their office.

When I got home, I gave Burton an ultimatum…. either he eats on his own, or I turn him into a kitty burrito and feed him like a baby. I put a dish of the new food down in front of him. He sniffed it, but still didn’t eat. Then I got an idea, I took a finger-full and rubbed it over his nose and mouth so he would half to lick it off.

And he did.

And then he started to eat the food! He only ate a few bites, but I was thrilled. I gave him a minute to see if he would eat more, but got nothing. So I picked up his brush again and gave him a few more strokes. Within a few minutes, he started eating again.

We repeated the sequence – Eat. Stop. Brush. Eat. Stop. Brush. And I managed to get him to eat about half a serving of the food. About an hour later, he ate a couple treats Dave gave him.

He’s going to get another dose of the appetite stimulant today, but I’m hoping we are on the far side of this little dramatic interlude!

Although in most of my pictures you see Lemmy hanging out with Burton, he’s just as tight with Rupert.

In fact, I think he might like Rupert just a little bit more than Burton. Because Rupert will play chase. Burton will play with Lemmy, but it’s always a wrestling match. Rupert loves to chase and be chased, and Lemmy thinks that just grand.

Lemmy is also now bigger than Rupert (but still smaller than Burton). Not that it gives Lemmy any sort of advantage… Rupert fights dirty.

But Lemmy seems to take it as all in good fun, and he’s happy to curl up with his friend after a wild run.

This past Saturday, before my back had decided it had had enough bending, lifting and carrying, (it’s doing much better after some rest), I spent the afternoon in the sewing room. It was too hot and sunny to do much outside – I can mostly handle the heat (it’s not humid yet), but I burn pretty easy, so the sunny tends to put the kibosh on most outdoor afternoon activities for me.

As much as I wanted to start a new project, I decided I should clear out at least one of my three WIPs. The only one close to being able to finish was my Sewcialites quilt.

All the blocks were done, I just needed to decide on a layout. I fiddled with a few ideas, but in the end, decided to keep it simple. But not too simple. I decided to put all the blocks on point, and add a thin black sashing.

An on point layout isn’t hard, but it does take a little more time and calculation than a normal sashed layout.

By the time dinner had rolled around, I’d only managed to get my rows together – minus the setting triangles. The triangles are cut, but I still need to sew them to each row – then add the sashing in the other direction and sew all the rows together.

But that would have to wait for another day. I had kitties to feed, and after my own dinner, the sun was lower and the gardens were calling.

While most of my vacation was on the warm to hot side, we did have a couple days early in the week where the evenings were almost chilly.

But it’s the perfect weather for a little porch knitting if you have a warm quilt, and a warm cat! We made some great progress and now are passed the gusset on the second sock.

It won’t be long until this one is a complete pair!

As I mentioned yesterday, I had a little enforced downtime. You think it would mean I got a tonne done on my thistles but, there was the little interlude with Greg, and then of course, there was a couple other distractions…

I managed to finish about half of the last thistle, despite the dastardly duo’s dubious help.

Another weekend and I should be ready to start on that mess of a butterfly! Despite it’s small size, this is definitely a project you don’t want to rush.

Vacation is over. And it finished with a whimper, instead of a bang… yesterday, my back decided I’d done far too much over the last week and decided to enforce a little rest.

So I spent most of the day in my chair, watching movies. Just before lunch, Dave looked out the kitchen window and excitedly told me there was a groundhog in the neighbour’s yard.

While I agreed it was a cool sighting, the neighbour’s yard is too far away for me to get pictures. (Plus it’s creepy to go up the fence with a long lens…), so I stayed in my chair. But a few hours later, I needed to stretch a little, so I went to check on the cats in the catio. I noticed the bird feeder was empty, so I cross the driveway to get it from the pole and refill it… and I came face-to-face with Mr. Hog, who was standing in the middle of the yard.

He froze. I ran back into the house to get my camera. And by the time I got back out, he was gone. I searched under the cars, under the trailer, behind the shed, and all the places I thought a groundhog might go. No sign.

Then I caught sight of a Red Admiral butterfly, and decided to follow it instead. And as I followed it down the driveway, I caught sight of Mr. Hog slipping under the concrete stairs on the side porch.

I gave up pursuit of the butterfly, and nipped into the house. I chopped up my last carrot, and headed back out to see if I could make friends.

The carrots were very enticing, but he decided he wasn’t ready to trust me yet. He snacked on a few carrots, and tucked himself away again. I decided to call him Greg.

After waiting a bit, it was obvious no matter how many carrots I had, he was not going to come out while I was sitting in his direct line of sight, so I moved behind the stairs a little and waited.

That got him out a little further, but Greg is a little on the shy side.

I waited a little while longer, but then that darn Red Admiral came by again, and I decided to give Greg a break and chase the butterfly again.

I followed it around the front of the house, down the side under the maple and back to the catio. I didn’t manage to get a picture, but by the time I got around the other side of the catio…

There was Greg again! He was not as excited to see me, as I was him.

It’s amazing how fast that chonky boy can run. He disappeared behind the shed, and I couldn’t find him again. Greg is REALLY good at hide and seek, that’s for sure!

I’m not sure if Greg will be a regular around here, or if he was just passing through on the way to greener pastures. But you will be the first to know if he makes another appearance! I hope he does.

Lemmy has taken a liking to napping under the stairs that lead into the catio yard.

I imagine it’s a nice cool place for an afternoon snooze, but the beast isn’t always sleeping…

… and my ankles have the holes to prove it.

It’s a good thing he’s a cute one!

We are in the midst of a change of seasons in the garden.

The tulips of spring are still hanging on…

But they are slowly giving way to the flowers of early summer.

The bearded irises are in their full glory…

We’ve probably got another week or so with them, and the my native, and Siberian irises should start to bloom.

My Bloomerang Lilac is almost in her full glory. I’m very pleased with the number of flowers on her, considering this is only her second year. Hopefully Madame Lemoine (white) and Tinkerbelle (pink) will catch up with her next spring. For now, I’m content with this beauty.

The lupins are just getting started! I definitely need more lupins in the garden.

The first poppy is bloomed and it’s a stunner. It’s a very traditional red/orange (I bought another that is a more true red, but it probably won’t bloom this year). It’s so big and vibrant, it shines out like a beacon from the catio. I have another of this colour in the front yard, but it doesn’t get quite as much sun so it’s a little slower. I expect it to pop any day now though.

I got a little surprise with these next two blooms…

They are anemones. I didn’t plant any anemones this year. I think I planted them last spring. I know they were part of a pile of bulbs I’d gotten from the dollar store, but I thought I’d tossed them all because they were all dried out. But apparently I didn’t. I must have tossed a few into the ground. But they didn’t grow at all last summer, I know that for sure! They must have just hung out underground and decided this year was a good year to make an appearance! I especially love that blue one!

And just as showy

The first Clematis has bloomed! I have three, and this is the only one that didn’t bloom last year. I’d forgotten what colour it was supposed to be. I’m absolutely delighted with this beautiful pink. The white one should bloom soon too (it’s covered in buds) and the purple one will bloom a little later this summer.

The Lily-of-the-Valley has bloomed as well. I only brought one little clump from the townhouse, but it’s doing quite well. Eventually, it will get moved under the maple and hopefully will spread about more. I also planted some pink Lily-of-the-Valley this year, and I’m keeping my fingers crossed it grows. I tried it at the townhouse with no luck, but I’m hoping the magic soil here makes a difference.

I showed you the other Columbine I got, but I forgot this one. It may look familiar, it’s a smaller dwarf version and I had it at the townhouse. It was always an early bloomer and it re-seeded like mad. But it didn’t make the move well (none of my Columbine did). I put this one in the driveway garden, and I’m hoping it spreads just like it did at the townhouse.

And before I go, things are going slowly in Edible Alley, though the beans, peas and cucumbers are all starting to sprout. But the thing that excites me the most…

I have eenie-weenie asparagus sprouts!!! They say to wait a couple years to harvest so your plants have time to establish and re-generate every year (and obviously, these are too small and to few for a harvest). But this is still super exciting!!!