Songbirds and Flower Seeds

Hi! It is Friday---again. Today was the first warm day of the year, with mainland temps in the 70s and here in the low 60s. But very beautiful bright sunshine. It's been too cold to plant but as today is May 15, it is getting to be a now or never kind of thing. I had been so happy to find not only the white envelope with zinnia seeds but another manila envelope with many seed packs.

Ha, joke is on me. I  had forgotten that I saved the empty seed packs from previous years as I experiment with growing from seed instead of buying pre-grown plants.

Almost all the packs were empty! How disappointing.

And what I thought were zinnia seed heads is one zinnia and one small undeveloped sunflower head. Not going to get much from those.

I did find a full package of the Save the Bees mix, from when I gave the packs away with my Bees inspired lavender sachets.

The last of the love-in-a-mist seeds from Mel. I added them to the mix.

The three big pots were all prepped with weeds pulled and new soil. One pot got the elephant ear bulb and bulbettes, from last summer, plus the amaryllis plant that I'm recycling.

One pot has  red lilies planted a few years ago; they have increased and filled the big pot,along with the volunteer coreopsis, back again this year, though less volume of plants. I put some of the zinnia seeds around the edges of the lilies because once they bloom, they die off quickly. My hope is that the zinnias will fill in.

And the last big pot got the rest of the zinnia seeds, the sunflower head, and the Bees seeds and nigella. That will be my main growing garden this year. I eliminated all the extra and smaller pots, I just could not keep up with toting three large watering cans out there, twice a day, from May to November. Too much work, the weight of the watering cans hurts my hips. If I'd known however that I'd be here isolating all summer Id have chosen otherwise I think.

I sill would like to find a solar fountain.

After the seed planting, Mo and I sat out for an hour of sewing.

He is still being bad mannered and hypervigilent.

''All'' the people going by, talking, laughing, biking, even scootering!---it is so different from the quiet winter days. I bought this gadget, a high frequency noise maker that is supposed to interrupt a dog's focus and stop their barking. But I'm afraid to use it, what if Mo finds the sound painful? I wouldn't hurt him for the world, better to put him inside to nap instead. I don't think his barking is so bad--he is, after all, just  protecting me and his home--- but I have one neighbor who complains asap at the very first yap.

I stopped today's deck clean up in favor of the sewing; the wind really picked up by  afternoon.. Too windy for my table and umbrella to be out. Gale off the ocean, maybe 35-40 mph.

You may recall Mo is afraid of wind. He also didn't like the flickering lights as the electricity hung on/off by a thread. So he built himself this little fort/ nest on the sofa that has its back to the big window wall. Out of sight , out of mind, he napped away the sunset hours.

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This week I made the Songbird pincushions using the embroidered state bird blocks I found on FB Marketplace.

The embroidery is so beautifully done, shame the quilt was cut up [not by me!].

The Bluebird is for me,

The cactus wren is for a friend in Arizona. I'm picturing her bringing it to her weekly applique sewing group [how fun is that!] when that resumes. My friend's grandma made beautiful state bird embroidered quilts, so I hope she likes my idea and finds it useful, along with sweet memories.

I added a vintage celluloid acorn to the wren's beak. I don't think they have acorns in AZ, but I love the button, have saved it for years.

I have small metal bar plaques that say something like Creativity is a Gift, not sure if I'll add.

The backs are this favorite brown fruit print.

I filled the pincushions with  fiberfill and some plastic beads for weight, because my friend has allergies. I'd like to try the walnut hull filling someday, but that is for next time, I suppose.

Earlier this week, after I wrote about this FG project here on my blog, I decided I better get it started in case I needed a hand work project soon.  My version, below, so far only fused. [wow, awesome fusible!. I'll add the name of the fusible later, and/ or it is mentioned on the FG website in my previous post.

The design went together really easily. There were only the 5 needed large flower pairs available , so there wasn't much to think about. Added some little ditsy daisies to fill in. The left side especially looks a little bare, but it will get embroidered buds and there's also the antique button flowers that will balance out the composition, I think.

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As your state and county reopen, I hope you all will be cautious and stay well. I know I won't be safe for weeks or months and was so sad today as I cancelled my early June thrifting date with B and my birthday dinner planned for L.  I sure miss my friends, good thing I have you guys!

Have a good weekend!

PS I must show you blog friend Julierose's tiny Blue Baskets. I had sent her some scraps, including blues form my Blue Basket. [quilters love to swap fabrics, such a treat.]. Aren't her little 7 1/2" Baskets just darling. She has such a unique style always.  Julie's blog

love

lizzy

gone to the beach.....



2015