The Helleborus have landed!

Here are the Helleborus. I ordered these from www.lentenrose.com. I received 30 one year old plants and the one mature plant was a free bonus. Thank you Sky!


Since I had plenty of room in this bed, I plant 12 of the 30 one year old plants here. I will be transplanting them again as soon as I get the other beds redone. I also planted some in the back yard bed. I want to see if they do better in the front which get south/southwest sun or in the back which is shady and get north/northeast sun. I planted the mature plant - I guessing 3 years old - in the back - I did not want to fry it in the hot sun in case Helleborus don't do well in the heat.


Here is an up close pic of a one year old Helleborus. They all had very nice root systems. I water the heck out of them. I sure hope get the rain the weather people are predicting. We have not had any significant rain for weeks.


Here is the ratty looking flower bed in the backyard. I raked it enough so that I could plant the rest of the Helleborus. I couldn't take an after picture because it was too dark by the time I got them planted. This bed needs a lot of work so after I get it cleaned up and top it with the Sweet Peet, I will post a photo.


I managed to boil the milk and get it batching overnight between the yard work and two loads of laundry, so that I could drain the yogurt this morning. Here it is before I scrap it off the towel and have some for lunch today.

Miscellaneous

I didn't post a picture of the green cow quilt so here it is. There are cows in the blue fabric and the major color is green thus the name. The strips of fabric to the left of it was the binding I orginally had planned for this quilt, but I didn't like the green of the blocks with this binding. Something just wasn't right. I am much happier with the binding I ended up using even though I thought it was a little tame.


Here is the back.


Here is my new toy. I ended up buying two - one for myself and one for my son. They had a really good price on them on HSN and with flex pay it made it real affordable. To clean the house for the last few years I have been using a shop vac! Of course, I have had lots of construction. Last year I began the demo of both of my bathrooms - what a mess. I started the serious demo in May and with the help of a contractor started putting the bathrooms back together in September. Therefore nothing but a shop vac would due! I still have some punch list items that need done in the lower level bathroom, and the tile for the walls and floor plus the finish electrical and plumbing needs done upstairs, but at least the majority of the dirty work is done. I would not want to ruin my new dyson with construction dust!


This is on my design wall. What is on yours?

Two down, two to go.

Here is the pile of Sweet Peet that was delivered late yesterday afternoon. Isn't it beautiful?!


The before - at least I did not have any weeds that had to be pulled first. I was suprised that it took 3 wheelbarrows of material to fill in this area.


The after - don't the plants just look happier?



The before - sad!


The after - it looks like I could use a couple more small plants here.


Here is the pile after eight wheelbarrows of material was put in the beds.


So I have the two easy beds done. Now on to the two hard ones. The big center bed needs a total overhaul, and the bed near the curb has some stones that will have to be moved and reinstalled. My Helleborus have been shipped so there is no messing about on this gardening work.

After work tonight I just have to get some stuff done around the house. I have dishes to do, yogurt to make, and laundry. No messing in the yard or I will have to go to work naked and hungry! I will get back to yard work on Wednesday night.

A little sewing, a lot of gardening

I did finish hand sewing the binding on this quilt! Yeah, one more done!


This big gardening project has come about for several reasons - had to rip apart the bed next to the street, wanting to grow some potatoes (there is not enought sun in the back for a garden), I needed to transplant the pine trees, and rearranging everything for the arrival of the Helleborus plants. Helleborus or Lenten Roses are poisonous to deer. From what I have read, the deer won't eat anything planted around Helleborus for fear of eating some. Well, I am going to test out this theory and see if it is true. I have 30 one year old plant coming this week that need to get into the ground so I have got to get the beds in shape quickly!


Here is the center bed in the front yard. What a mess! You can see three of the four pine trees in this picture that I should have transplanted 3 years ago. They are 3.5' to 4' tall. After they are moved, I want to move all the daylillies to the front of the bed with the coral bells and daffodils. Then toward the back I want to plant a small bed with endive and potatoes. I will have to put fencing around it to keep the deer out until my Helleborus get big enough that the deer won't come near anything.


Here are the trees in there new location.


Tonight I have 5 yards of Sweet Peet coming so you know what I will be doing this evening!

Congratulations to Fabian Cancellara for winning the Tour of Belgium! Paris Roubrix next!

African fabrics Part 1

I first started buying African fabrics at St. Theresa's Textile Trove in Cincinnati, Ohio when I was in Cincy to see my brother who was touring with Jimmy Buffet on the Tuesday, Thrusday, Saturday Tour. I can't remember the year - maybe 1999? Well, anyway the wardrobe lady for JB told my brother I needed to go to STTT so I did. I was blown away! Years later I finally decided to make a quilt with the fabric and this is the piece I made. I used black Kona in the borders. It is heavily quilted - about 1/4" or less apart over the entire piece. It is between a full and queen size.



Here is the braided boarder. Each border on this quilt is different.


Here are the wax fabrics I bought. I was so happy to pick up the black background piece with the white images. I love to use this for my binding and I had run out. There was one flat fold of this and it was the first piece I snatched up. It was a 12 yard piece. I guess I will have enough for binding for awhile! I have so much of the fabric in the first two pictures - between 8 - 10 yards of each - I would be willing to sell some if anyone is interested. I think I went a bit overboard in my buying.

African, Marimekko, and kimono fabric Part 2

These were my favorite fabrics I bought. I just love the numbers printed on these. Of cours, I had to buy every color wave they had. Amy even called me to ask me if I wanted one of the pieces that she had found buried. Of course I said yes!


I have no idea how these were made, but the colors are incrediable! It was all I could do to just buy what I did. I wanted it all!




Here are the tie dye/shibori pieces. They didn't have much left. These were regularly $20 a yard. I love the teal with the purple spots.





These are the batiks. I love the earthy colors!








I have two lovely pieces of Marimekko. The rust and back is dated 1992 and the leaf print is dated 1989. I picked them up at a tag sale. They have sat around in my stash for several years and I still don't know what I am going to do with them. If you are interested or know someone who might want them, let's talk.







This is the kimono fabric I have in my stash. There is about 9 1/2 yards of it if I remember correctly. I have had it for years, but have not figured out what to do with it. It was hard to photograph because it is shiny. I would be willing to part with it. Do you know of someone who would be interested?

African fabrics, yard work, and calendar

There are several posts today on blogs I read about African Fabrics. One has some beautiful blue and white batiks that made me drool on my keyboard! Several others had various colorful pieces that I had never seen before. Last December I went and bought over 100 yards of different African fabrics - some dutch wax, batiks, and tie dyes from a shop that was going out of business. I will post pictures tomorrow of what I bought. Here is a small quilt I made from the stash I had before the big shopping trip. I know it is kind of crazy, but to me more is better! This is a small piece about 40" x 50". I will have to find the picture of the full sized quilt I made with the African fabrics and black Kona.



Instead of doing my exercise tape last night, it was so beautiful outside I decided to do some yard work. Last fall there were marks made at the curb. I had no idea which utility company was going to do what, but I thought I better move all my plants and stone that I did not want destroyed. All that happened was the stuck another taller ugly utility pole beside the other ugly utility pole in my front yard. Last night I decided to clean up the spoils - that is constuction lingo for the material that came out of the hole they dug for the pole. The spoils were all clay and it was like concrete! I got the wheelbarrow out filled it about half way and went to take it the the back to dump in the compost area, but the tire was flat! So then I had to get a couple of buckets, shovel out the wheelbarrow (by this time I am sure the neighbors are laughting) and 6 bucket loads later the tire was somewhat round again and I could move it. I filled the tire with air and three more 1/2 wheelbarrows full of clay and the job was done. I keep thinking how much work it is going to be to get this area back in shape, so I have to go and read my fortune cookie saying that I kept "To achieve a great goal, one must begin with a small achievement."






As you can see by my calendar, I did pretty good in March with the exercise once I got moving. The dot and check system is the visual motivation I need so if I am feeling lazy, all I have to do is look at the calendar and then think how I am going to feel not being able to put a dot or a checkmark on the calendar. It seems a little juvenile, but it works for me. I didn't lose any weight, but I feel stronger. Now that I have the exercise thing under control, it is time for revamping the eating. Have you ever had a Werther's carmel? Those things are like legal crack! That and Mountain Dew. I don't even want to think the of number of empty calories I consumed last month with those two things. I am going to have to say goodbye to both for the month of April. Wish me luck!