"Summer Afternoon"~ Hand Sewing

Good evening, everyone. The evening is lovely, cool--and light!, but the day was a sudden hot summer day.  Here, a few June roses, palest lime green with shell pink centers.

We went from parka weather to shorts overnight, isn't that so often the way? It's as if Spring never happened, and Summer suddenly woke up, saw that it is June, and barreled her way into our world here at the beach.

 I'm still feeling the side effects from my medical day last week, so I decided to postpone my big day out with a friend and instead stayed home for a quiet day with Mo.

I think Mo is a smidge bored? He was disappointed to get NO ice cream.

My deck still needs to dry out and get both scrubbed and vacuumed but it's together enough for sewing afternoons to commence. A perfect pastime for a hot sunny day.

My son helped me put up my shade umbrella the other day, much needed as I do avoid midday sun.
My pots are sprouting.

I was dismayed to read though that most seed flowers take 60 days to bloom. That means my late planting has me with no flowers til August!? That's not great.
Garden art will fill the gaps, my new lighthouse whirligig, an Easter prezzie---and others.

Seedlings:

Bad Mo tipped over my Green with Envy zinnias, I was mad. I think they're lost. Replanted with the State Fair Heirloom z's. The Pinwheel Zinnias are still missing.

Herbs:

This coreopsis was sown last summer, and the seeds grew, but only a little. It's a perennial, so it takes a few patient years. I am quite surprised at the early glorious school bus yellow flowers.

This morning the planter had attracted butterflies, one especially beautiful, a blue and black swallowtail of some sort. I looked in my Country Year, yes some were admirals? like these, but not sure what the blue butterfly is.

Here is my current nature book: by Celia Lewis. It's English so the seasons and familiar names are off, I read a few months at a time.

But here is a lovely June page, of what we call flags, or Japanese iris (we won't see dragonflies here til August):

Mo found plenty of the iris to sniff, no leg lifting allowed.

Back on the deck I worked on the embroidery segment of my Day in the Country quilt blocks.

I don't know why I feel so impatient with embroidery nowadays. At one point in my life, when for various reasons I couldn't sew or quilt much if at all, and then only in stolen moments at work---I used to do a lot of embroidery. I had a long train commute and would  work on embroidery projects, including redwork and counted cross stitch instead of simply endlessly reading. Maybe the fact that I threw away those projects a few years ago during a declutter? Broke my heart a bit.

Anyway, I am working on my patience level and rediscovering old skills. The names and dates are charming and fun.

We have a big summer beach weekend planned here so I better get busy and prep May and June blocks so I have lots of projects, along with Bitty, to bring to the beach.

Picnic: Lettuce roll-ups, with cold cuts and avocado paste inside; whole wheat pitas stuffed with cucumber/ dash of olive oil, squeeze of lemon; sides to add of lemon hummus and tzatziki here to dip in or drizzle on. Bags of strange chips/ snacks from TJs. Tiny tomatoes. Strawberries. Mystery organic brownies from the market. And Original Goldfish crackers, of course. Even if only Gully and I will eat them now.

love

lizzy

gone to the beach.......