May Small Projects Continued

From my list:

Get wood chips from the Village for the back, bench area and path  2x

Buy and plant Annuals:

Impatiens

Petunias

Alyssum

Dianthus

Moss Rose

Vinca

Spikes

Their Dianthus and Cosmos looked sick so I will have to make another trip.  I hope to begin planting these tomorrow.

Meanwhile, here are some new pictures.

I love it when the Weigela is blooming!  There are three and they bloom in sequence because of the sunlight available to them.  I would like to see them bloom longer.  A hard rainstorm blanketed the ground with petals shortly after I took the picture.

I am so glad this "Nellie Moser" Clematis survived the fence installation and likes this new spot.  The blooms last quite long and I hope for more growth next year.

These white Iris were rescued from a too damp spot and there was only one bloom last year.  I guess they are happy here.

When the white Iris are finished, the purple Japanese Iris begin to bloom.  I now have five clumps from the first clump I bought six years ago.  I hope to do the same with the white Japanese Iris I have.  The first time I tried to divide that clump I was unsuccessful, but the following year I did divide it and intend to divide it again this year if I can.  They bloom after the purple ones.

Notice the Dianthus.  I just love the way they come back, but I also plant more each year since they are biennials.



Well, that's it for now.  Hope you enjoyed the show.

Small Projects

I never did post anything on "Finish it up Friday", so I thought I could play along with Crazy Mom Quilts and do a small project list for May.  Here it is two days past the middle of May and I haven't put up my list yet.  But, I have been thinking about it and hoping that I will be able to cross out completed projects. You will notice that they don't involve much sewing, but it is MAY! Yard work calls or "rears its ugly head". Anyway, here goes:

Read a book
Shop online for quilt backing
Blow the maple seeds off the driveway, once, twice, thrice
Dig up the fountain
Fill in the hole with lots of dirt
Weed out lots of purple Lamium I don't intend to get it all, but this stuff is invasive--I am keeping the pink ones.
Transplant one Canterbury Tales DayLily
Transplant one Bleeding Heart
Edge the back lawn with my new edger This took three separate attacks over two weeks as it got too wet to use it.
Mow the back lawn twice I have to mow it twice to get all the grass clumps from the wheels chopped up.
Mow the front lawn twice Same reason as above and you will see it repeated for each week in May.
Shop online for quilt backing
Dig out the Russian Sage and get it out of the window well
Plant three Hosta
Spray with Rabbit Repellent  so it has a chance of surviving.  Rabbits are not a problem in the back yard because the dogs are out there a lot.
Move the bird bath  Miss M. helped as it was too heavy for me to do it alone. The cardinals came and took a bath soon after I finished filling it--small reward for my effort. Two robins came a little later.
Edge the front driveway, right side This took over an hour as it hasn't been done in years AND two Advil.
Edge the left parkway side of the driveway This also took over an hour for this little strip. I may need a sharper edger...and a younger body.
Relocate and raise the fountain being sure to get it level I like it, but do WONDER if I should have just kept it where it was and I have to look for the timer--may be another small project there.
Mow the back lawn twice
Finish edging it  
Mow the front lawn twice
Plant six Betsey Boo dwarf iris
Transplant three purple ones
Plant a peony and it better be PINK like its picture. (This is the third one and I don't WONDER why the others got dug up soon after blooming)
Plant three Coneflowers Of course that involved compost, more dirt and all that good stuff, also for--
Plant three Yarrow I just planted three because I may not like them.  I planted some white ones three years ago, but they vanished.
Weed the Russian Sage that is persisting on growing Will probably have to use RoundUp next week.
Buy a black obelisk and, singlehandedly, get the Sweet Peas in it    YES!
Buy a boxwood to replace the one that died and dig it in
Mow the back lawn twice
Mow the front lawn twice
Transplant the Magnus Coneflower
Transplant one Canterbury Tales Day Lily
Transplant one Canterbury Tales Day Lily
Transplant/divide white Japanese Iris clump when done blooming
Clean out the dry creek and fill with more pebbles
Get wood chips from the Village for the back, bench area and path  Repeat as many times as necessary.
Buy and plant Annuals:
Impatiens
Petunias
Alyssum
Dianthus
Moss Rose
Vinca
Spikes
Read another book, just to sit out on the patio and enjoy the view
Finish the yellow baby cardi
Hopefully, all completed by Memorial Day-then I get to trim bushes as well as weed and mow, but that's another small project list.

Steps!

Two steps forward and one step back, at least I hope it was just one step. I have been working on embroidery and not blogging at all. I spent a day organizing the embroidery files, redoing some and just seeing what I have. I am not finished with that as there are many that need English titles and not just letters and numbers. I am thinking it will take two more days to rename and delete duplicates. But I have been embroidering! Since I failed at a Fall Wallhanging, I decided to try a smaller Spring one. Do I hear a "You go, girl!" for my determination? I don't WONDER why I do this; I know I am tired of knitting. Anyway, this is what I have so far.

I love watching my ferns "come to life" in the Spring! I am still looking for a better design to stitch, however.

Very happy with the way this turned out. My white crab tree did not bloom at all this year, so I needed this reminder of better days.

Wish I could just sit and watch the garden do its thing, sigh...

If I get on my knees to dig I can hardly get back up again...

I stitched these next two designs holding my breath-too many stitches I thought. But we made it through...

Not so with the last one though. I took a picture, but the problem didn't show. There was a 1/4" hill of thread in the back of this design. Since this was one of three in my plan, I have to redo it so it actually stitches and so that it looks like it belongs with the other two. I am not experienced enough to just whip this change out. I did reduce the density on just the colors I think stitch too heavy, this software is really easy to use, and will stitch it out again tomorrow.

I did get some strip sets made for sashing. This should help me get to the next step when the embroidery is finished. And while I was trying new things in the new software I merged some simple designs and made a new one. I am anxious to see how that will stitch out. We've had days of cloudy, cold and rainy weather here, so that is why some of this has gotten accomplished.

I even took a picture of my first seam in weeks on my Sunshine Quilt; it was for sashing. All the blocks are sewn now, even the applique ones. They were the real hangup. Three more row joining seams and then the borders. I am not tired of sewing this quilt, but sometimes progress goes very slowly as there are decisions to be made at every juncture. Miss M. has strep throat and missed half a day of school yesterday and all of today. She did some homework, we made a quick puzzle (only 100 pieces), she sewed a couple of patches together on the D1 using the stop/start button since she can't reach the pedal and I taught her the song, "Found a Peanut". The afternoon was up for grabs after that as her creativity kicked in and silly songs abounded.