Summertime!

...and the living is easy!  No, really.

So many changes are in store this summer.  Going to be a grandma soon, and I'm sure that will be a significant change.  Company coming, by way of Ohio and Arizona...great-grandparents and grand-uncle of baby Vivian Rose will be here shortly after her arrival.  In the meantime, I've been working on a little Alabama Chanin DIY for myself.

I finally decided to order this poncho when the 20% sale was announced.  Since it was an AC DIY project, it came with two of the same color layers--any colors, but two of the same.  I saw (and to be honest, "coveted") a beautiful example of this poncho on Patti Calande's blog, Gather & Make.
I wanted that same color way, so I was able to locate a beautiful cream-colored 100% cotton jersey at the local purveyor of gorgeous fabric, Let's Sew.  I could have ordered the natural cotton from Alabama Chanin, but they only sell full yard increments, and I needed just 1.5 yards...actually just a piece 22" x 54".  At $26.00/yard AC price, I really didn't want to be that spendy.  The Sea Island Pima cotton jersey from Let's Sew is just luxurious!  So soft, so drapy, and yes...expensive...but just a little less expensive than the AC cotton, plus I could buy the length I needed.

Yay! My package from Alabama Chanin arrived!

First stitches, after basting the two layers together.

Inspiration...from the Gather & Make blog

This is going to be the perfect neutral garment piece of clothing for keeping air-conditioning drafts away from me!

June...

Yesterday was the perfect June day...clear and sunny, no humidity, and warm.  I finally managed to drag the big bags of Miracle Grow potting soil from my trunk to my back yard.  Whew!  I planted a few more pots for the front steps, and the remainder of the soil went into my old faithful two-part washtub.  I came across a gigantic sale of spring/summer bulbs at Walmart last week...25 cents per bag.  I bought perennial cinnamon ferns, Tennessee orchid ferns, dinner plate dahlias, calla lilies, and one of my very favorites, lily of the valley.  The lily of the valley won't do much this year, but maybe by next spring, I'll have the little white bells scenting the back yard.

Cinnamon ferns and orchid ferns should soon be spilling out of this!

My front porch looks basically the same every year...geraniums, herbs, a few annuals in pots.  Pretty easy upkeep, if I can manage to keep them watered!

I'm still plugging along on my Alabama Chanin stitching.  Pretty slow going, but I know that I'll love it.  Our Mixed Media Club at the library has been working on a few AC-inspired projects too...book covers, flowers, and at the end of this month, fingerless gloves.  We've all decided that it's nice to sit and stitch in a group setting...easy conversation, and the time passes so quickly.

Our summer reading program has begun at the library...we're calling it the Summer Learning Program this year.  I've taken on the project of Free Art Friday.  Each week, I drop off 3 little pieces of art somewhere in the city, then I take a photo of it and post it on our library's social media accounts.  We've put little cards in with the artwork so that the lucky recipient can tag us back and let us know that it has found a new home.  Here's what we dropped off last Friday: