Move that plant

Mahonia is a great plant for Hummingbirds 

because it blooms in the winter, bright yellow flowers.

They love that.

It's a fairly fast grower and did pretty well in the pot next to the Hummingbird feeder on the deck.

Those were the pros.

The cons: prickly leaves which die, drop off 

and get caught in the interior of the plant.  There are always dead ones, year round.

They're always prickly, even when dead and brown, so cleaning them out is problematic.  

Also, if the flowers get snowed upon, they die.

The neighbor across from us is redoing her yard, which is wonderful for us 

as we look at it from the kitchen windows and for years it's been layer upon layer of juniper hedge.

  (And not in a good way.)

Now there is grass, a two-tiered rockery for flowering shrubs and bulbs and they've limbed up the apple tree and big maple that overwhelmed the front of the front yard.   We've been offering her plants that we thought would work in our yard but didn't, for one reason or another.  

The Mahonia is one such.  

She has a perfect place for it in the ground, rather than a pot.  

She was home yesterday and so we did the hand-off.

 It was easier than anticipated because we trimmed up the lower branches 

and didn't get nailed by the leaves.  We carried it across the street in a bag.

This little tree came in it's own stump.  

It wasn't getting enough water in it's current situation  

and we found out why, once it came out of the stump: it was all roots and no dirt, poor thing!

We decided to put it in that now-empty deck pot.

That's a long root system!  The roots are longer than the tree is tall.

It's not very big, but maybe it qualifies as 'big bonzi'.

Where are all the roots going to go?

They fit.  Sort of.  We didn't want to cut them off.

 Add new dirt. $10. a bag at Costco.  We need more.

Clean up and waala!  It's cute and a better fit for that spot on the deck.

The Hummers can go across the street for their winter flower fix.

Calico Corner Quilt Shop, Mt Vernon

Last Saturday morning spur-of-the-moment plan: go to Peggy F's favorite quilt shop 

so that Peggy could look at fabric for her potential quilt.

She found this:

a whole line from Henry Glass & Co.

called 

Wingin It, by The Buggy Barn

She really liked the one that she's pulling out for the border fabric.

She bought some of most of the others, too,
plus a couple more in the 'Wingin It' line found in different sections of the store.

It will be a fabulous quilt.

I was tempted by some lovely 'regular priced' Moda:

but I picked these from the sale section, $5/yard.
They will become pillow cases.

Lunch at Calico Cupboard, June 1

We had breakfast here not long ago and thought we'd give lunch a try, 

since we were going to Mt. Vernon for the quilt shop.

Peggy F. had the Fish Tacos 

and said they were yummy.

 Peggy had a combo lunch:

1/2 roast beef barbie sandwich, salad and chicken chili.

She says the sandwich was very good, the chili was ok 

and the blue cheese salad dressing had chunks of cheese.

I chose the combo 1/2 sandwich (shrimp and avocado), salad and chicken chili.

The shrimp was a tad fishy smelling as fresh shimp can be even after it's washed,
but it was a tasty sandwich.

The salad was great with blue cheese dressing and 

the chicken chili was ok, nothing special.

Here's what I really wanted:

Vanilla Cream Puffs.

Oh my.

We were adult about it.

We passed on desert.

It's time to retire

If you're Hellen, of Hellen's Needlework in Mt. Vernon, 

retiring isn't something you have contemplated very often.

Hellen is in her 80's, and has been running her yarn shop for so many years

that she's a mainstay of the downtown Mt. Vernon experience.

Sometimes it's years between our visits to Hellen's,

but she's always been there and with a great selection of sock yarn.

Hellen has been knitting socks for 70 years.

She knit every single sock that hangs in her shop.

We visited on Saturday, June 1st, and I bought this:

Two hanks of sock yarn, 

50% wool, 20% Super Fine Alpaca, 30% nylon

It's $10.50 a hank.  For 433 yards.  

Hellen prices her yarns quite reasonably.

During the last few years she's lost her long-time staff, and then last year her husband passed.

He was her back-up, he did the paperwork. 

She's been struggling with doing it all herself, and she's worn out.

The yarn shop business isn't for wimps.

Hellen is no wimp, but she's done.

The Hellen's Needlework store is closing this month.

She is starting the close-out sale on Friday, June 7th, with everything 25% off.

Higher discounts as June progresses.

Mt. Vernon is south of the Skagit River bridge, 

so the bridge being unusable is not an issue if you're coming from the Greater Seattle direction.

Hellen, thanks for all the yarn!  We'll miss you.

Chickadees on the porch

Every spring the chickadees nest in a birdhouse on the front porch.  

They raise 2 or 3 clutches and then they're gone.

They scold us severely whenever we're on the porch,

but if we're still they will go about their parenting business.

 

 

 

Spring at UW

One of the most wonderful things about the UW is the care given the landscape.

Everywhere I look, flowers are bursting through the green foliage. 

Our landscape crew is the best.

 

This Samsung camera is awesome. 

The only thing I changed from the original is resizing.

No color change, no cropping, nothing.

I think this is a dogwood.  

Photos taken at 6:45am, 48 degrees, overcast and a little misty sprinkle.

Weekend in Redmond

The Friday Knitters spent the sunniest, hottest* weekend so far this year (May 4&5)

in a Pat Brunner class on Designing Knitwear to Fit Your Body (One Size Does Not Fit All.)

Lisa welcomed us to her Redmond home:

The view of the house and garage/shop/craft loft coming up from the pasture.

The Juliet balcony of the loft.

 

From the balcony overlooking the pasture.

 They have 16 chickens.

Two shy sheep,

and Wedding Cake,
a very friendly SallyBill** wether who loves cookies.

We spent quite a bit of time outside at the breaks and lunches.

Michale took advantage of Wedding Cakes' appetite 

for a close-up photo opportunity.

This is just a small part of the potluck as it was being set up ~ it was dee-licious!

 Trixie was riveted.

Henry was riveted.

Matilda: not just riveted.  She was fascinated by all the food.

Lisa has remodeled the upper floor of their garage 

for fiber related activities.

This is the classroom end,

and in this end there are 5 looms.

It was a wonderful weekend.  If we had to be inside for most of it, oh well! 
Spending time together, knitting and laughing: priceless.

*It was 87 on Sunday afternoon in Seattle.  It didn't get quite that hot in Redmond, maybe only 84.

**SallyBill: a flock of sheep from Island Fibers on Lopez, one of the San Juan Islands, started about 70 years ago by Sally Bill, blended to the originators' handspinning preferences.  Nobody knows quite what the mix is at this point, but the fleeces goes for about $16.00 a pound, unwashed, in a bag.  That must be a pretty good fleece.

It's not just resting, part 2

This was on my desk at work this morning.

It has hair.

That is just not right.

It's not just resting

  Don't leave the dead in the garden.

It's so easy.

Just do it.

Car Spinning

On our way to the Whidbey Island Spin-In the first weekend of April, I tried Car Spinning.

The Hansen Electric Spinner has a car adapter,

 and there was plenty of room on the floor of the front passenger seat.

Peggy drove and I set it up.

There are two glove boxes and the upper one was perfect for holding excess fiber.

It was a short trip, less than two hours, so I didn't get a lot of spinning done.

The only problem seemed to be 'spinner error' ~ I kept allowing the fiber to break.

Trying to reset the system with a seat-belt on was awkward.

This is not very good Jacob fiber.  

Along with the vm, which is abundant, there is an amazing amount of kemp.  

Even though I have one full spool, I have to consider the wisdom of continuing the project.

So what if I end up with enough two-ply for a sweater?  Who wants to have all that kemp sticking out?

If you enbiggify* this photo, you can see the loads of kemp, those white wire-like bits.  

Ick.

*Thanks to LindaK for this word.  Is it a Portmanteau or a Sniglet?

Breakfast in Mt. Vernon

Last Saturday we drove north on I-5 toward the spin-in at the high school in Oak Harbor,
the annual event sponsored by the Whidbey Island Weavers Guild.
We always stay in the same motel, usually the same room,
which we share with Evanne and Natasha.

Stopping for breakfast here was Evanne's idea. 
It was a good one!

Calico Cupboard

I order French Toast 99% of the time.

 It was excellent.  I could eat only 3 of the 4 pieces.

It was crispy on the crust and custard-y on the inside, as it should be.

Peggy ordered the House Granola and Greek Yogurt.

It is a lot of food.  The yogurt was very sweet, the granola filling.

Evanne chose the Huevos Rancheros.

Looks yummy.  She said it was very good, but she couldn't finish it all.

Our opinion: we'd go back!  

There's an antique shop next door which we may check out next time.