the hummers are back!

I know the hummingbirds are back because the syrup in the feeder has been going down, my husband has seen them and I've heard one buzzing by my ear. Today, was the first time I've seen one though, and I can see I'm going to have fun with my new camera this summer. I took this photo from about 12 feet away; just wait until they get used to us and come closer! Those are water droplets on the line.

 While it is not a fantastic photo, it still amazes me that I could catch it in flight.

I also just discovered after all these years that the goldfinches like to eat the apple blossoms. I've seen the cedar waxwings do it; they visit us for the apple blossom time and disappear after that.

After lunch with Gord, I finally came into my sewing room and got back to some fun on my runner. I've almost finished the quilting.

 It's been a good exercise for me to do something that stretches me some. I'm not quite comfortable yet. I've been doing free motion for some time, but I've always stayed within comfortable meandering designs. Also, I'm very relaxed about doing thread painting on my gel prints.
I added the lighter green to each end of the runner. To quilt it, I sort of freely followed the design from the stencil, meaning that I didn't trace it, so now I have to copy it somewhat for the other end.

I used a meander with a 3 petal flower for the border and I even tried my hand at couching one of the lovely trims that Leslie sent me.

Today it is our 32nd wedding anniversary. I can hardly believe it! It feels like we've been married both forever and for no time at all. Isn't that the funny paradox of time? We're going out for a quiet dinner and maybe a walk downtown since the sun has come out. Our gift to ourselves this year are some golf clubs which we have on order.
I wrote on the weekend about my daughter's half marathon on the Great Wall of China. If you'd like to read about it from her perspective, check out the blog on my sidebar called My Adventures in Korea.