Someone's in the Kitchen

And it is I.  I am making bread today.  Because I am making bread, I will not work in the garden.  It just is not appetizing to knead bread with dirt under my fingernails.  I am also using this time to do laundry because laundry and gardening do not mix well either for the same reason, dirt under my fingernails.  I will probably stitch a little because that does not mix well with gardening.  I think I will get back into the garden on Sunday. 

Here is the bread.   :-)

I am working up to pictures.  My son and I continue to thin and replant iris.  I think that we may be able to work one more garden section.  It is a little hot and humid today; so much so that the sons turned on the air conditioner.  After working in the early afternoon heat, I have to admit that it feels very good to sit in front of the computer in the air conditioned cool. 

Yesterday I discovered that there are at least three humming birds coming to the feeder.  There may be more.  At least three were darting around at the same time yesterday.  The hummingbird syrup is disappearing very quickly which leads me to believe that there may be more than three.  Most of the time, I see one or two birds; it is impossible for me to tell if they are the same ones all the time or if it is a larger group that is rotating.  I wish that they would all line up somewhere in the garden so I could see them all at the same time. 

I have gotten out of the habit of writing.  It has become very easy to excuse myself from writing.  I hope to break this habit.  Today I will write a little, no pictures, just writing. 

The hummingbirds seem to like the feeder.  They seem to like it when I replace the syrup with fresh.  I originally thought there were two birds, an adolescent and an adult female.  Unless there are more than two birds, one is a male.  Last week as one of the birds left the feeder, it flew directly toward the window from which I was watching.  It flew into the afternoon sun which was behind me; the sun reflected off its red feathers.  They were so bright it looked like a flying red light bulb.   It is possible that the male has been coming to the feeder all along but that I have never seen it at the correct angle to see the irridescent red. 

I have been silent but not quiet.  Sunday I made two strawberry pies for an old fashioned ice cream social.  I had intended to take a picture of the pies for you but time ran short while the remains-to-be-done list remained long. 

Let' see, Friday we painted the kitchen ceiling whit just enough time after cleaning up to clean ourselves up to go to the matinee performance of Circus Juventas.  It was a very good show.  On the way home we decided that we would pick up Chinese to-go so we did not have to fix dinner. 

Saturday, I am not certain what I did other than fold laundry.  I must have vegged out. 

Sunday, baking pie and serving an ice cream social.  It was a long day; I did not get home until almost 9:30 p.m.  The proceeds from the ice cream social went to support Imagine No Malaria. 

Monday, yesterday, was devoted to painting.  I painted the longest wall with the yellow paint.  I do not feel entirely confident that the color is the right one.  In direct sunlight, the color definitely is the one I selected.  In the shadows and under artificial light, the color can become downright scary.  I hope that I might become used to it after a little time but if that does not happen, I will repaint real soon. 

Today I picked up fresh, new hardware and began putting things back on the wall.  It is possible that the blue and white plates might make the yellow look better. 

This is going to be an incredibly busy day but I am going to take a moment to write. 

The sampler is finished.  The first of the final two bands is a tied oblong stitch.  Because of the thread color, it looks like tall meadow grasses.  The final band is long arm cross stitch in the darkest color and seems to anchor the design.  I am not yet certain but I think that I will frame this.  I really do not know where I will hang it; I am not even certain I have wall space to hang it.  But, it is such a nice memento of our wonderful trip that I want to be able to see it frequently and I want it to stay as clean as possible. 

Progress continues with the next band.

This band represents dew on grass which I will assume is a mountain meadow.  Like the mist and fog, the dew is stitched with a little Kreinik metallic braid.

As you can see, I decided which beads to use for the flowers.  I am glad that I sampled the three colors I had because the one that I selected is not the one that I originally thought I wanted. 

The beads and metallic braid add a touch of glitz which does not show up well in the pictures. 

I am also working on another project, three little pockets.  I plan to put a strawberry vine on each one.  All three strawberry vines are done but only two show in this picture.  In the background are some of the fabrics that I will use to make the pockets.

Just a little closeup of the strawberries.  They are stitched with Gloriana silk on R&R linen.  The linen was not the color I prefer; unfortunately, I cannot remember the color that I did use.

Let's Do a Little Catch Up

Here is a less fuzzy picture of the little leaf like motif. 

Last evening, a hummingbird checked over our feeder.  It was a reminder to make fresh syrup today.  This morning before I left, a little hummingbird flew through the garden right by the feeder.  I wondered if it was the same hummingbird and was rejecting our stale feeder.  I had to leave and could not change the feeder. 

This afternoon I brought in the feeder and cleaned it before I added fresh syrup.  After it was in place, I brought in the jelly cups from the jelly feeder.  A young oriole has been checking it out.  While I washed the jelly cups, a hummingbird came to the feeder to eat.  It seemed like the hummingbird said, "Yeeessss!! They got it, fresh syrup!"  I hope the hummingbird comes back. 

Band 10 has more flowers. 

Band 11 is where I substituted hemstitching and pulled thread work for the lettering.  There was already a water feature so perhaps this could be a glacier.  Unfortunately, I did not thoroughly think through the placement when I removed the threads for the first row of hemstitching.  I should have skipped four threads instead of two.  The hemstitching buts right up on the flowers.  Perhaps they are little flowers that are growing along the edge of the glacier as it retreats.