Luna is molting....more accurately, she's "throwing coat" - aka shedding everywhere!  Gotta love the husky in her......This was not a good time for my Roomba to quit on me.  I am sweeping up handfuls of hair every day, AND she's getting brushed every day (not be me - AJ does the brushing).   A new Roomba has been shipped, which will help tremendously in keeping the fur in the house down. 

But she's a good girl anyway.....

 

At the end of April I started another Mystery Quilt - a leap in faith as I had no idea what the finished quilt would look like.  I chose to do a 2-color quilt (my way of hedging - I'm not very confident in putting colors together, especially not knowing the finished quilt) using the batik fabric that I got last year in Kentucky.  I got the "finishing pattern" this week, and put some of my blocks up on the wall to see what the final quilt will look like.  (No, I don't have all the parts and pieces done, I got 5 of the 6 weeks done, still need to make another 30 blocks....)  I love how it will go together - super simple blocks that look like curved piecing when put together.

 

Cindy C came down for a visit last weekend, and Alli "helped" me make waffles for breakfast....

 

Garden

My first big garden harvest! I’ve picked a few beans and a couple of zucchini before, but this is the first time I’ve had enough beans for a meal at one time. 

My lilies are blooming!  I picked up the bulbs a couple of years ago on a whim, not thinking they would grow (late in the season, on sale for $1.00) but they've done great!

I have some hyacinth bulbs to plant in the same area - I got the bulbs in full bloom to decorate for Easter and Mother's Day, and the flowers are done, ready to be planted and (maybe) come back next year.  I don't have high hopes for them either - something about planting when it''s 100 degrees outside doesn't make me hopeful they will live, but...we'll see next Spring!

It's here.....the first heat wave summer has arrived!  We were almost 90 at 10:00....

 

It's been a bit - I got busy....I had a business trip to San Diego, and between prepping for that and a Memorial Day BBQ here, I got behind in everything else.  The trip went well, and Alli behaved nicely for everyone while I was gone, so it was overall a good week.  Karen had not watched Alli overnight before, and I forget how much effort it takes to get everything set up for someone new.  Whew!

Right before I left, as I was getting the koi pond ready for me to be gone, I has a visitor.....

 

Margene and I took Jordan to the Sundial Bridge.  It was a beautiful day (after the rainy day before).   

Cindy took Alli for a walk at the arboretum a couple of days before - the arboretum is all decked out for the Glowing Wild exhibit that runs at night.

We stopped by Whiskeytown Lake, and the goose family was out!

 

Margene and Jordan came out for a visit, and we packed a lot of sight-seeing in very few days. They got in late Friday at Sac (home by 1:00 a.m.) and Saturday was "the falls loop".  We went to Lower and Middle McCloud Falls, Burney Falls and Subway Cave (after lunch in Mt. Shasta at the origianl Yaks).  I wanted to add a walk around Manzanita Lake at Lassen Park, but we ran out of time.  (The Big Event garage sale was the same day, and Leona and Lorraine used my house for a jewelry sale and garage sale - we spent too much time chatting with them to make it to the lake, but it was time well spent.)

 

Monday was Allison's birthday - 28!!  As usual, I'm always surprised at how old my kids are....I don't know how time goes so fast.  I bakes 12 dozed mini-cupcakes to take to Alli's day program, and she seemed to be having a good time.  The Supervisor sent me some pictures of her giggling....

 

I posted this in my family group chat, and neither of my brothers either 1) laughed at me or 2) offered my $100.00...so sad!

 

I have baby zucchini!!

The quilt top is finished!  I ordered the backing fabric for it, so it will be a couple of weeks before I have it ready to sandwich and quilt.  I think it turned out great!!

I spent most of Saturday morning upgrading the chicken pen for the babies.  I set up a pop-up tent and created a separate pen for them (babies and adults don't mix well.  They need to be big enough to defend themselves from the older chickens before they are turned out together.) They've gotten so they look like chickens now - not quite so "scruffy teenagers".

They seemed to like sunbathing in the dirt.So cute cuddled up together....

I finished the blocks on the chicken quilt!  Now, I need to put it all together (and quilt it and bind it...still a long way to go before it's complete)  Here are the blocks:

And here's some of the borders added - a thin yellow border and a wider green border. 

The Welsummer Chicks are growing and needed a new home.  Cindy is busy hatching two more sets of eggs and needed her chick container back, so I moved them into Koori's old crate.  They immediately made a large mess with the pine chips.

I found a tray to go under them - problem solved!

Except...not so much.  They are just going to be messy.....

That is if they make it through James "playing" with them....

Luckily she really is just playing.  She puts her paw in and pats them gently....

Progress on the latest Chicken Quilt....not a lot, but I'm plugging along.  Too many other things to do in the springtime - specifically in the yard.  I had Pat, Pixie, and Don over for Easter lunch, so also added housecleaning to my weekend list of chores.  Not much time left for sewing that way.

 

As you can see, there's been no progress at all on my quail quilt either - I'm three months behind on it....

Cindy M was out of town for spring break, so I got custody of the chicks for the week.  They are now "teenagers" and are not cute fluffy chicks.

  

The cats love hanging out with them - the chicks?  Not so much.....

 On the weekend, I let them hang out on the back patio for a while as I clean their cage.

I have been taking photos of all the flowers, and now have a post of just random flower photos.  I recently dug out my camera to take on our walks, have some on the memory card that I need to upload as well.