On any normal day, Dave and I are woken not by an alarm clock,  but the gentle, yet insistent purring of a 15 lb floof monster crushing our chests.

But the other morning, I awoke, and Burton was no where to be seen. Rupert and Relic were in their usual positions on the blanket box at the end of the bed. But Burton was nowhere in sight. It could only mean one thing…

We had visitors at the breakfast bar.

By the time I got downstairs, the peanuts I’d put out the night before were long gone. All the diners scampered off when I went out to serve up more. But it didn’t take them long to find their way back.

We spent a good hour at least watching this pair alternate. Both opted for take-out, which is fine with me – less mess to clean up when they are done!

Fun fact: Both of these little guys are Eastern Grey Squirrels,despite the fact that one is black.

Once the breakfast bar closed for the morning, there were some dramatics over the lack of service…

…but I promised them there would be a dinner service and all was well.

When people ask me about attracting butterflies to their garden, my number one recommendation is to plant coneflowers. In this day and age, a lot of plants at the nursuries are marketed a “pollinator-friendly” and usually have a picture of a butterfly on them. But there are many, many types of pollinators (bees, wasps, hover flies…). They are all good, and by all means, plant things that attract them, but if you want butterflies, I’ve found there’s nothing better than coneflowers.

Monarch’s do need milkweed (it’s the only place they lay their eggs) but when it comes to snack time, they love a good coneflower.

This Black Eastern Swallowtail spent a good half hour checking out each one of the coneflower blooms in my backyard the other day.

Another one came by a day later. He was missing half his wing, but it didn’t stop him from getting some good eats.

This little one came by a day or two after that. She was about half the size of the others, and was hard to photograph because she would NOT stop fanning her wings!

Part of me believes she’s the caterpillar that got away – though there’s absolutely no way to know.

And last… the coneflowers are even interesting to the White Cabbage butterflies.

They are probably the most ubiquitous butterfly in our garden. At any given moment there’s at least one fluttering about. But they are notoriously hard to photograph because they rarely sit still!

This fall, I’m planning a it of a revamp on the gardens, and if there’s any room in them come spring, I’m planting more coneflowers!

I just don’t understand….

how something so chonky…

…can be so darn flexible!

This one is not my FO, but I just had to share – mom finished her sampler quilt with all the fancy quilting!

She was unsure when I first suggested using the dark grey grunge for the sashing and borders. But by the end she was absolutely convinced. Much like on my rainbow cabins, that dark grey makes all her solid colours pop. Especially on those border geese.

I also offered up this beautiful songbird fabric for the back. I got it for a steal off the clearance table and had no plans for it. Obviously it was just waiting to be part of this project – the colours couldn’t match better!

For the binding, I convinced her that the leftovers from the back of my Spin Me Right Round quilt would work. There was plenty left, so I was happy they could go to good use.

And while my ability to put together fabrics definitely contributed to this quilt – the REALLY amazing part is the quilting

Every single one of those blocks is different! Some of it’s freehand, some of it’s done with rulers. All of it’s incredible. That mother of mine really is a wizard with thread! I better get my blocks finished so she can work her magic again!

The other day neighbour Krista sent me this picture…

Poor Wren was using paper towels to tuck in her princess dolls, because she didn’t have a doll blankie. That just won’t do when you have a quilter for a neighbour!

I had some small HSTs leftover from one of my Berry Sampler blocks, and it didn’t take to long to put them together into a star medallion. Add a  couple strips of contrasting fabric… scrounge up some leftover batting, and a short time later…

… one perfect little doll quilt.

I tried it out with one of my dolls first, just to make sure everything was right. Then I sent if off to its new home and a very happy little girl.

Krista sent me this picture not long after

I think that was definitely time well-spent.

There hasn’t been a tonne of knitting going on. But there has been some man sock progress…

I’ve turned the heel and I’m working my way down the gusset. I’m knitting the sock plain so the rest of this should just fly by…

… of course, I’ve probably just jinxed myself!

I’d been putting off finishing this quilt top because I didn’t have a back for it. You may recall that this one went a little off the rails, and the piece I had set aside for a back wasn’t going to be enough.

But when I was at Lens the other week, picking up a few things, I stumbled across this.

Four yards of an adorable prehistoric print! Sold!

So that meant that I had to get the last column of dinosaur prints together, and finish that top. I spent one afternoon finishing the last six sets of toes, and then the next completing the top.

I had found a really nice grey print that looked a little like stone to “encase” each column. And incase the dinosaur theme wasn’t clear enough…

The teal border fabric really hammers it home!

I hope to quilt it this weekend, and bind it all with more of that lovely grey. Look for an FO post next week!

One of the other things I commissioned my brother to make me this summer was a squirrel-sized picnic table.

You may have seen them in your facebook feed –  pics have been popping up all over the place.

As soon as we got home from his place last month, I set it up on the end of the garden cart. That way  I had a good view of the diners from my couch, and they had a lovely view of the garden while they ate.

I didn’t have any peanuts, so I put a little bird seed out for them. They have no problem raiding the feeders, so I figured they’d just love a little bit of easy-to-obtain seed.

I was wrong. The seed sat there, untouched, for weeks.

On grocery day (Friday before last) I finally got a bag of peanuts. I immediately put a few out for them. And I waited… and waited.

FINALLY, on Wednesday, something caught the corner of my eye while I was knitting…

I moved in for a closer view, and of course, he took off. But I settled down and waited, and it wasn’t long before he was back again.

Success at last!

I’m sure he’ll tell all his friend. I see lots of squirrel watching in my future.

It’s that time of year again…

I get about a cup full of fresh juicy goodness every morning.

I’m trying not to eat them all – I need to save four cups to make a batch of jam!

Elsewhere in the garden…

My “fancy” daylilies are beginning to bloom. L-R Autumn Joy, Night Embers, and Crimson Pirate.

My Casblanca Lilies have also bloomed. They are the biggest and showiest of all my lilies.

Neighbour Krista gifted me with a HUGE Mandivilla plant the other day, and it’s just starting to show of it’s pretty pink petals.

These little black-eyed susans first popped up in the front garden last year, and I’m so glad they came back. They aren’t very big, but they are so cute!

Most of my toad lilies bloom in the fall, but for some reason these pale yellow ones always bloom mid-summer.

And look at my beautiful little snapdragons! I don’t know why, but dragons have always been one of my favourites.

I took this picture of Burton in the daisies the other week, and I sent it to a couple of friends.

One of them said it looks like Burton is doing a sexy photoshoot in the jungle… and now I just can’t unsee that! And I can’t stop giggling.