Truly blessed and highly favored

 I'm borrowing that phrase from Heidi N Closet.  She won't mind.  There's plenty of room under that tent for everyone that feels blessed and highly favored.

We spent a lot of time cleaning up this weekend.  There was a lot that needed doing in the back yard now that the work back there is finished. (for now)  Picking things up, dealing with the trampling the fence builders did in my garden...they were not as careful as I thought they'd be.  I'll be digging up more and getting it out of the way next time.  And, there is a next time.  Since we ordered our fence, the house behind us has changed hands and the owner is fixing it up to flip it.  We've decided we need to be completely separate from that, so we're putting up a fence between us and that house.  Their fence is on our side of the property line, and we're not going to let them build on our side again.  That's going to be awkward, but it is what it is.  My husband is taking care of that...and I'm glad to let him.  More about the yard later.  

I finished the new left glove.  This is me taking a picture of my left hand with my right hand.  I'm so left handed it's freaky, so it took a few tries to get all the fingers in the picture.  I've left the yarn ends out because I'm thinking of taking some length off a couple fingers.  First, I figure I need to make the right glove in case I get bored...gloves with slightly long fingers are better than a glove and a half.

One of the things I needed to do was get the studio cleaned up so I could get back to normal projects.  Working on multiple projects at a time left the studio cluttered with small things that I'd pulled out, used once and then sat down.  To celebrate the cleanliness, I decided to make a mess.  I needed some inspiration to get back to the flower quilt blocks and a new needle case and pin cushion were just the trick.  And, it took that just-cleared edge off the room because I pulled my tools back out to make it.  

Admit it, you wish you had one.  The needle caddy pattern came from Becky Goldsmith at Piece o' Cake Quilts and the pincushion is two 2.5" squares sewn right side together, turned out and filled.  I couldn't find my ground up walnut shells, so I filled it with some anise seed.  For some reason, I had a lot and this is a good way to use some and it smells like black licorice.  (and sausage!)

I also did some hand quilting.  I finished up the circles and then realized that the rest needed to be parallel straight lines.  That really was the only thing that was going to compliment the curves and circles.  I wouldn't mind finishing this project soon.  It's not that I'm bored with it, but I will be glad when I am done.  It's like I carry the weight of this one for some reason...a weight I don't feel from most of my other unfinished projects.  

And, finally the yard and fences.  These are the new fences.  I think they have Rob enthralled.  For me, they're a background on which to paint leaves and flowers.  And, they smell so good!

This is the view from Linda's chair.  The shade cloth at right is because I got a little over ambitious and tried to move a couple plants while it's still too hot.  Shade and water should make that successful.  

These are some of the plants that have been dug up and potted and are waiting new places in the garden.  I don't think I'm going to try to put my plants as close together as I did last year.  They already need digging and dividing again and I can save myself that work next year by spacing them better.  

And, this is the giveaway pile.  These are recovering in the shade.  In a couple weeks, I'll be ready for another plant giveaway.  I'm looking forward to it!  I have a lot of small pots I'm maintaining that I can share with someone else.   There are a few things recovering here that are for us, but not many.  I think I counted 18 little pots of Echinacea for new homes.

I had to show this off.  I made a spice cake yesterday.  I put half in a square pan and the other half in a shaped loaf pan.  And, it didn't stick!  Syd and Rob gave me the pan for Christmas one year and this is the first time I've baked in it.  Imagine a nice pumpkin bread like this for thanksgiving!

I feel truly blessed and highly favored because I appreciate all that there is in my life.  Look at the variety just in this post and this is only part of what happened to me in the last 7 days.  My life is full.  Oh, sure, there are critics...people who feel less blessed and want me to feel less blessed with them.  But their mess isn't my mess and I don't have to take it on. There were several people this week that tried to squash my blessing and while I might have felt bad for a couple minutes, life is so full that I was able to quickly move on and get back to my blessings.  I don't want to sound preachy, but I do want to emphasize that feeling blessed is something I give myself.  It's not dependent on others.  It's how I see my life and experience the world around me.  I'd like to say that I feel this way all the time, but that's not true.  I sometimes lose track of how blessed I am and spend time feeling sad or angry.  But more than at any time in my life, I'm able to sit back and count my many blessings and disregard those that would have me feel less blessed.  

Be well.  Take care of yourself.  And, when someone tries to bring you down, pay 'em no mind.  It's the sweetest kind of revenge.

Also, stay ssssssssssoft and ssssssssssssupple.  Another tidbit from Heidi.

Lane