In Remembrance

Edit: I intended this to post yesterday, but because of slow or non-existent internet connection I was unable to do that.

My poppies are blooming, a few at a time.

To see what other quilters are up to go to Small Quilts and Doll Quilts.

Saturday was a bittersweet day. 

I miss my brother. I am thankful that I am able to do something in his memory that will benefit other people. I meet the criteria to be able to do Power Red donations. The red blood cells are separated from the platelets and plasma. The red cells are donated; the platelets and plasma are given back to the donor with saline solution. It takes a little longer, but it is very helpful for people needing blood. This was my fourth time.

 

Mike was a frequent blood donor so the Red Cross reached out to my SIL to do a blood drive in his honor on the anniversary of his death. This is the third year. The man who reached out and organizes the blood drives survived a bad accident because my brother performed CPR until EMTs arrived. The man credits my brother with his survival.

I was glad to get to spend some time with my son, SIL and niece. I wish we could have visited longer but besides donating they were all also volunteering at the drive.

Red Cross did a nice job of socially distancing the donors and masks were required. They had a pretty good turn out. Only 2 or 3 people did not show up for their appointments, but they said this time of year is always tricky. Sometimes the nice weather keeps people from coming out to donate.

The weather prediction was for severe storms with a tornado watch for us into the evening. We got a little rain and thunder, but no storms or tornadoes. Sunday was warm and humid, but I am not complaining. Neither are my flowers.

 

And, in the field behind my house were these three deer. Edit: we have seen them every day since.

 

We don't usually see them that close. Husband figures they were eating those nice tender shoots of corn. There is a deep ditch between two fields out there. We think they are bedding down in that area.

I was visited Sunday by this lovely bird. I know there are some living in the trees down the road and occasionally one will stop by my yard for a bit.

We are seeing more birds this summer. Usually just a sighting or two. I wish they would hang around all summer.

The last few days I have started working more on my Quilt Scrapbook.

I start a project sheet that I try to keep up with when working on a project. Recording the start date, pattern name/designer, fabric choices, any special notes, dates specific steps were worked on or completed, size, finish date. I am planning to include small scraps of the fabrics, especially a selvedge edge, if possible. When the quilt is finished I print out a neatly typed sheet along with a photo of the finished quilt. These get inserted into the scrapbook. I really need to do a better job of keeping up with this. Sometimes I add the handwritten project sheet to the pile without finishing up all the details. Then I forget some of the important stuff when I go to type it up. Some of my quilts are gifted or donated. Some have won fair ribbons. I want to record that information, but I guess it doesn't really matter. This will only probably be important to me, but maybe sometime in the future someone might be interested in my quilts and the information will be there.

We have had some warm, sunny days with a few rain showers sprinkled in the last few days. I got to have a driveway visit with my quilt friends again. I had asparagus to share. They shared some plants with me. Win,win! 

 I needed to get those plants in the ground which I did just before a little rain shower. But this made me realize I need to get some work done in my yard. 

Here is how the garden is doing.

From top: Mini cucumbers, more mini cucumbers, radishes and green beans, sugar snap peas.

Stay save and well.