My Exurban Garden--Cherry Tomatoes and Ladybugs

We planted two pots of bush cherry tomatoes this year, put two in the ground and planted ten heirloom regular tomato plants. They're beginning to come in now, the cherries first, as always. So good eaten warm right off the bush. The horn worms seem to leave them alone. Wouldn't you think little bitty tomatoes would have little bitty horn worms?

Yesterday I worked mostly on the lady bugs. Hard to believe this is all I accomplished, but the little bugs are extremely time-consuming. This one little bug required following four separate charts and the use of my gooseneck magnifying glass clipped onto the embroidery hoop to see the stitches (normally I use Q-snaps, but the clip on the glass doesn't open wide enough for that). He's not quite finished; he's missing some legs yet and needs to have his head defined with backstitching. And more backstitching on his body. I'm having a blast with this little project; as I stitch, it gets more and more layers, so it isn't spreading out but rather, coming into focus. What looks like camera flash on the left-hand side of the bug's body is actually the effect of the white and blended stitches. The most difficult thing about this design is making sure all the stitches on the pattern are filled in; it's hard to see if you have done so because it's so small, so it's easy to lose track.

I took some time off today to do some much-needed hemming on some pants I had bought, since they've been hanging in the closet unworn. My mother taught me to sew, and I have always been grateful for the ability, but I don't much enjoy it. It feels like drudgery, but I can't bring myself to pay a tailor or the drycleaner to do it. I'd rather scrub the kitchen floor, which is next on my list of to-do items to accomplish today.