I'M HERE I'M HERE

Hooray, the June birthday sweater is finished. I'm quite happy with it.

I put aside my Irish Chain block exchange blocks (see April 19 posting) for just a bit to play with my embroidery machine.

As part of our block exchange, we are each sending a 2 inch block with our "signature" so the recipient can make one block with all the signatures (instead of having the siggies distracting throughout the quilt). It had been a long time since I had played with the embroidery settings on my machine, but after many tries to get the tension just right and after MANY mistakes (on my part) I finally finished. And the size works out just right. WHEW !

Now that the siggies are finished and the above sweater is finished blocking on my cutting table, I can get back to the block sewing.

And, if my grandson likes this sweater and yarn, this will be my next birthday sweater project.

Hey, that birthday (and his cousin's) aren't until August. I've got plenty of time to play hookie in the wonderful East Tennessee sun. And that's where I'm headed--right now!

A BUSY COUPLE WEEKS

Well, yes, it has been busy. But, I've got to admit that I have had time for more than one nap on my new chaise lounge. It's even more tempting now that I have all my outdoor pot planting done. I've had this "baker's rack" for a couple years, but this is the first it looks close to what I wanted it to. The last couple years it was more of a "catch all" for garden and grill equipment. I like it this way MUCH BETTER!

And I've gotten my little herb spot a little more complete now, too: mint (yet to appear), rosemary, oregano, a bay bush with basil growing beneath it, dill, marjoram, thyme, chives, and fennel. (I've got my parsley surrounding some flowers on the patio out of the afternoon sun so they stay a bit cooler.)

I haven't forgotten the knitting and quilting, though. I'm still working on my granddaughter's sweater--it's almost done. When I just want to do some mindless knitting, though, I work on dishcloths.

And on the quilting front, I haven't done too much, but I did finish my first Irish chain block with Civil War fabric for a block exchange that I'm doing with some dear quilting friends.

And I'm hoping to get back to the blocks and that sweater VERY SOON!

A BIT OF DIVERSION . . .

I thought I'd take a bit of a diversion from the quilting and knitting to show you what I might just be busy doing the next few days.

Herbs, anyone? I need to clean out the old dry growth from my oregano pot.

Looks like my chives are ready to go though--without any further ado.

And so is my thyme.

This is what greeted me at my front door when we arrived home from our NY son's and his family over the Easter Holiday.

I quickly headed out the back door to see if any of my Lenten roses had bloomed. The foliage was just about destroyed by our cold winter this year. Happily, there are lots of flowers!

Ah, and the planting bug has hit my husband. This is the start of his garden this year. Luckily it rained today so he didn't plant these quite yet. (He is not patient to wait for that final cold snap the we almost always get.) Our area had an all time record high temperature of 85 on Tuesday, but it's supposed to drop to 35 tomorrow night. So these little guys will spend the night on our protected patio.

But with temperatures returning to the 70s for about 10 days, I think they will soon find their way in to this newly tilled (with lots of sand added to modify the East TN clay soil) garden bed.

Oh, and the geraniums that I kept inside over the winter will find their way back out to the porch this year. A couple of them will replace that evergreen in the midst of the pansies that's on my front porch.

Oh, and I have been doing a bit of knitting, but I really do need to get back in the quilting mode too.

I'll keep you posted . . . .