It's Bee Day today!

For the fifth year in a row!  This year's swarm gathered all over the general, and then retreated into the cypress shrub behind him.  Be sure to click on the pictures to see them up close.

It's Bee Day again!

They are swarming a month later than in the past, but they are noisier than ever.

 

They are all massing around a hole in the old maple.

More planning

Sis and I went shopping at Nancy's yesterday for "findings" for the Burda jacket. What a lovely way to spend Sunday! This is what we found:

I had run into a problem with planning the jacket.  The pattern calls for twill tape for binding the neck edge, the piping on the pockets, and to cover the zipper tape.  Well, after a lot of rummaging on the web, I realized that finding a coordinating twill tape was not going to happen.  Not in this country!  So I bought a length of a lovely brown cotton/linen for the bindings (and also the pockets themselves).  It's beautifully soft and "moldable" and should be easy to work with.  Then Sis made the real find.  An inch wide hefty brown "ribbon" to cover the zipper tape.  It's going to be stunning!

So, goals for the week:

1.  Finish the blouse.  It's all cut out and marked, and since I just made the same thing in another fabric, there will be no surprises!

2.  Finish the skirt.  Just need to finally decide on the pattern.  It will be a straight skirt with no waistband.  I'm going to use the cotton/linen as a facing.

3.  Begin the hunt for the jacket pattern in that welter of lines.  But, hey, it's German!  That means it will be totally logical.

BEES!

The other big news at our house is that the bees swarmed on Friday!

And zippers!

Aren't zippers becoming fancy.  I just bought this one, a 22 inch separating zipper in neon green: