Medallion Progress and Winter Sowing Progress

Ok now, pretend this piece is up on the wall when I show you the next picture! Lol*


I finished all my rings the other day before I became distracted by gardening. I cannot wait to see it all together! I am no doubt going to have to hand sew the first ring to each of the four center pieces. I think the rest of the rings will do ok by machine.

As I said I've been distracted by gardening. The winter sowing forum on Garden Web is kicking up and I'm losing a little steam on my quilt as my brain shifts to seeds. Luckily we're flat broke from Christmas so I'll have no choice but to quilt to keep me busy until next payday...then I can do a little seed hoarding. :) I think hoarding is my favorite hobby even more than sewing or gardening! I collect a ridiculous amount of things. I always tease that some day I'm going to end up on one of those episodes of Oprah with a hoarding addiction, with Dr. Phil as a guest host asking me what possesses me to own 73 sewing machines? "Why Dr. Phil, they are antiques! I'm saving them from a life spent rusting away in someone's basement who doesn't really love them like I do." To my credit right before Christmas I did give away to car loads full of things to Goodwill. Now I have a little room and an excuse to buy more junk!

Here's my winter sown pots - right next to the bag of rock salt. Lol*


Well so far I haven't sown as many seeds as I'd have liked to by this time. Here's the list:

Nasturtium - "Empress of India" (a fancy way of saying Red) - 2 packs

Oriental Poppies - Red - 2 packs

Oriental Poppies - "Pizzicato Mix" - (red, orange, salmon, white) - 3 packs

Delphiniums - "Pacific Giant" - 2 packs

Hollyhocks - from my Dad's friend's garden - the equivalent of about 2 packs

I have so many garden plans for this year, let's see how many I'm able to accomplish. Here's the list of plants I'm itching to get into the garden for this year:

Morning Glories - Purple and Vibrant Blue - to train over the shed and possibly the front door

Sweet Peas - They did wonderfully last year on a tripod, this year instead of 3 packs I'm going to do something more like 15 packs and put a huge patch by our bay windows. (Tip for those of you on a budget as I am, the sweet peas I grew last year were 3 packs for $1.00 at Dollar General!)

White Sweet Alyssum - I'm going to experiment with this below the sweet peas and throughout the garden for something low to the ground at the front of beds.

Bush Beans - these were my favorite vegetable we grew last year so I'd like to fill out empty patches in the garden beds with these.

Pumpkins - I want to fill as much of the backyard as possible with pumkins to give away and maybe even sell by the road. No school in the summer so I've got to find something to keep me busy!

Nasturtium - I'd like some more nasturtium in different shades to plant next to the pumpkins...they just look pretty. :)

Monardia - Bee Balm - I just love this and want to toss it in wherever I have room.

Foxgloves - one of my favorite plants and my goal is to get as much as I can fit in my garden so every year I can have blooms!

Delphiniums - same as foxgloves! I love them, I planted lots of seeds and full grown plants last year and will do the same this year to hopefully keep getting blooms each year. Nothing beats these gorgeous show stoppers.

Poppies - last year I had a nice patch of orange california poppies and I added some shirley poppies to that area. Hopefully they have seeded and will begin to take off this year and I'll be filling in the area with the red oriental poppies and pizzicato poppies I've sown.

Dwarf Bachelor Buttons - I love bachelor buttons but these give the color with a little less weediness.

Chives - love the look of chives in the spring and I hoping to add this functional plant to my garden this year.

I can't wait to get started!