Slow Sunday Stitching -- Kite Girl Binding

I'm working on slow stitching the binding of Kite Girl this week.  I am hand-stitching the last side of the binding and then I'll have another finish to show.

I'm enjoying looking at the kite strings and flower stems as I sew the binding onto the quilt.  This quilt is where I learned how to do a chain stitch.  I used colors at random from my grandma's embroidery floss tin.

This is what the quilt looks like...

Kite Girl started as part of one of my Rainbow Scrap Challenges (RSC) in 2014 (I think).  The block is made from 2" squares.  The block pattern can be found at Q is for Quilter blog.  I then started to learn to do the chain stitch for the kite strings and stems in May of 2017.  In enjoyed finding things that fit easily into my school bag that made me feel productive vs. doing cross stitch projects where I had to focus on counting and couldn't keep a good eye on students in study hall.  I randomly stitched kite strings with pieces of floss from my grandma's tin.

For some reason the blocks sat idol until I made the last one in orange in 2017.  But idol no more.  :)

This quilt does not have a specific recipient in mind yet.

Below are a few more flower status pictures.  I was so excited to see this pink poppy.  I threw down the seeds two falls ago and didn't realize that the new plants were going to bloom pink.  I just assumed that they were plants from the orange poppy that were re-seeded naturally.  Woohoo!

I'm hoping this is a black-eyed Susan... The jury is still out on this one.  It cold just be a weed.  Could it be a dinner-plate dahlia that survived the winter without being dug up and didn't bloom last year?  Is it a stray peony that had a tuber mixed with the dahlia bulbs?  I should look closer at the stem, but then again I just love a surprise!  Hmmm.

This pretty sedum is just waiting for school to be out so that I can divide it and make other areas that need a ground cover pretty.  The hollyhock leaves are very spotted for some reason.  I don't know what that spiky plant is in the bottom left.  It looks like blooms will be coming on it.  I think it was a bulb.

The old apple tree is dead now, but this peony will bloom and possibly be moved when the time is right.

The catmint came up around this apple tree that died this winter as well.

OH DEER -- yes, I mean deer.  Looks like they thought the tomato plants were for them.  I planted them in my raised beds anyways.  I still have other tomato plants to acquire and plant.  Only three of my raised beds are planted so far.

The mini blue iris are always fun to see.  I transplant them here and there when needed.  

This is a newer flower area along the driveway.  I've been moving plants now and then to see which ones the deer won't bother.  It seems they really like the hosta varieties that have lots of white on the leaves or the very dark green ones.  They don't seem to bother the golden edge leaf variety.  That is so interesting.

It seems that the deer aren't to interested in the foxglove.  You can see some of the mini blue iris plants in the photo above that got thrown there in a clump.  There's also a large variety of weeds that will get some attention after school is out.  One more week!

I trimmed the dried blooms off of the foxglove last year and scattered them all up the lane in 6" to 8" chunks.  The very next day I rode the 4-wheeler up and down the lane.  I could not find one!  Did something go along and eat ALL of them?  Hmm.  The ones you see blooming in the photo above were put there as plants that came up from seeds by the pole barn.  They were sprouting up in all kinds of places and needed moved.  They didn't bloom last year.  Hopefully they will re-seed themselves in this poor soil.

Yesterday I took our son to the post office to check his PO box.  He is so happy receiving cards.  THANK YOU soooo much for the cards you sent him.  Today is graduation day.  He loves his pocket quilt with a cross in it.  He is a mighty young man of God and has child-like faith!

I'm linking up at Kathy's Quilts for

Slow Sunday Stitching.

Also linking up to Life in Pieces #20