Netflix Shows To Watch, Star Stitching, Cross Stitch House Building

 I have to mention how lovely the weather has been finally and how great it is to be outside digging in the dirt. The least bit of raking up the old leaves and debris makes a big difference to how neat and tidy the flower beds look. And enable me to spy this fellow returning to what might have been his winter lodging under the tree right in front of my kitchen window. 

I have cleared the beds in the front and to the side of the house. So nice to see all the green shoots poking up. Lots of growth thanks to the sun we've had for the last five days straight.  I now have the beds in the back to rake.  Ned has been helping by happily towing sticks all over the garden and his puppy antics definitely lighten the work load.

Ned the explorer

 I sprouted a load of seeds in dampened paper towels placed in plastic bags. These were just seeds from those little packets, nothing fancy. Usually about 40% will sprout so I was pleased with how many sprang to life. I'd kept them damp with spritzing and placed in sunny/warm windows in the small garage. Here is a short video explaining this way to sprout seeds indoors. 

  Littler grandson came over on Friday afternoon (his online schooling ended at 2) and helped me plant the seeds in soil. As soon as they grow, I'll replant them outside. Robbie told me he was sorry that he didn't know more about plants but will next year as they learn about them in Grade 3.  We had a marvelous few hours together outside roaming about watching the turtles and he found a huge ants nest in the base of an old tree. After ogling them forever being horrified/ fascinated with how many there were,  I liked how careful he was to be sure all the grass and twigs were placed back around the tree so the ants would remain undisturbed. 

Meanwhile inside, the flowering is continuing and I will finally get these outside after the May 24 weekend if this warmer weather trend continues.  

Yes, there he is, the little bandit who keeps opening the compost bin.  We wonder where he is living as not a sight of him other than this. Perhaps he has luxury accommodations there in the tree house. LOL

 And before I forget I must tell you about two series on Netflix we are enjoying. The first is David Attenborogh's Life in Colour; this one I don't stitch to as I don't want to miss any of the gorgeous images.  This series reaffirms for me my love of birds and admiration of their behaviours, stunning colours and features. Here the male flamingoes are all craning their necks trying to appear taller to attract the females. 

And this one, Surviving Death, which is far more interesting and well done than I would have guessed. I had no idea the world of the parapsychology was so legitimate and involved so many learned famous people throughout the decades.  Of course, there are many stories of folks seeing signs that their loved ones sent them from the beyond. There are even a few in my own family.  One of my grandmothers told me that if there was any way to get back after she died to visit me, she would. Other than her being very much in my mind with all the memories, that has not happened unless I was too unaware to notice.

I guess I'm a questioner when it comes to this subject matter. However, just for fun, I've had my palm read several times in my life, twice in the U.S. and once in Vancouver. I had the idea that the further away from home I had it read, the more of a challenge it might be for the reader. One of the three did say some interesting and accurate things to me. 

I've sorted my winter clothes and have a bag to go to the thrift store if it ever opens again.  I want it out of the house because if it stays, I've a tendency to bring out something again. Any of you do that?  I will admit I definitely upgraded all my fleecy, woolly clothes this past winter buying online much more than I usually do. I even bought fleece leggings which felt wonderful and warm. 

On the stitchy front, I've been cleverly building my cross stitched house from the roof down.  I'm not getting nearly enough concentrated time for this as I would like but that's okay. This is being worked on straw linen which means it has slubs, little knots of thread here and there. That makes it harder for counting and easier to make a one thread off mistake.

And on my mind with red being the monthly colour for the RSC at So Scrappy are my Solidarity blocks.  I got them out to have a look and wondered what or how to put them together. I dilly dally terribly about usual things like colours for bindings, borders, etc. Maybe having them on a wall will inspire me. I also found in that pile these star blocks below I made a number of years ago. I must have thought they should be worked in with this project.

As you can imagine, our time and thoughts have been occupied with our puppy. We are enjoying the experience very much and thank you all for the very sweet comments. 

As always linking with these fabulous places to visit on the web:- Not Afraid of Color, Life in the Scrapatch, Viewing Nature With Eileen, Sugarlane Designs, Applique Patchwork Quilting, So Scrappy, Small Quilts and Doll Quilts and Brian's Home Blog.