New Bloomers

The beetles have already begun munching my brand new coneflower...

Monday is spray day. :) I'm not a violent person, but I do get some pleasure knowing I've wiped those buggers out. I suppose there is a purpose for every creature...but I refuse to let destroying my plants be that purpose.

I brought this gorgeous Monk's Hood home the same day...no beetles yet.

I thought this was Love in a Mist, but my Dad says he doesn't think so. I started them from seed and I think an anmial took off with the marker. Whatever it is, it's so pretty, and has been blooming steadily for almost two weeks.

A plant-loving-lady at Walmart talked me into purchasing two of these russian sage plants. Very pretty, and a good replacement for the hosta that once resided here.

PIF Pumpkin & a Thank You

Libby has been patiently waiting for me to get my rear in gear and send her the Pumpkin quilt she won. :) I do try to keep my promises, however procrastination and I are close friends. The quilting is finally finished, and I don't think it will take me more than a day or so to get it bound and a label put on. Then off goes my pumpkin to his new home. :)

An anonymous commenter asked if I do all hand quilting on my quilts...first, thank you for commenting! If you return and find time, I'd love if you left a name or way to reply to your comments! :) To answer, no, I don't hand quilt everything, although I do just adore hand quilting. I really love to both hand and machine quilt, but I'm rather impatient and haven't yet attempted to quilt anything by hand on a large scale. :)

In other news, I'm a lucky blogger, because not long ago I won on Takako's blog. She visited her family in Japan recently, and gave five commenters some goodies from her trip. I am in constant amazement at how generous quilting bloggers are. :) Here's a photo of the cute little bundle I recieved...

Thank you Takako! I love everything!!! :)

Garden Photos

I've only just started to toot around with gardening. Here's a "before" picture of the plants I hoarded all in one spot...

I really packed 'em in. This picture was taken I think in early June. Those gorgeous yellow petunias you see there came from my parents, and it breaks my heart to say, they didn't survive. They are one of the only things I have killed from moving around...so I think next year I will pot 'em and leave 'em. Even a renegade rose branch that I chopped with a shovel thinking it was a seperate bush...I planted it...it lived and even flowered this year.

I moved quite a bit around...

All that I haven't moved are the gladiolus, just blooming, wild and a bit out of control. I need to make or buy some stakes. At the moment, a dollar store shephard's hook is making do.

Can't wait to watch these new plants grow...

Viola's

I bought Pink & Purple Salvia...here's the purple...

Here are my balloon flowers from last year, ready to bloom any day...

Bachelor buttons I grew from seed this year...

Last year's phlox. It's had to have tripled in size from when I purchased it...he's even beautiful after a few weed whackings from the Husband...

The best for last...this is the view from my front steps...

Antique Reindeer Block

Does this look like a reindeer to you?

Hubby & MIL couldn't figure out what it was supposed to be. Lol* I even said, "think Christmas".

Here I thought I was being clever. :)

Quilts Through the Pages

Just something fun and silly...

Lately I've been all enthusiastic about working on my Sylvia's Bridal Sampler quilt again, I've been reading through my copy of An Elm Creek Quilts Album, and generally getting all excited about the series all over again. I'd known about the books that contain patterns to make some of the quilts from the novels, (Elm Creek Quilts;Return to Elm Creek), before I even knew about the (formerly) free online patterns for the SBS quilt. It seems though, the past few months I've seen more and more Elm Creek Quilts quilts popping up all over blogland. I'm not sure if there's already a blog ring for fans, if there is, I haven't been able to find it. So, I thought I'd start one. Just for fun. :) If you'd like to join click here.

Has anyone made any quilts from The Quiltmaker's Gift/The Quiltmaker's Journey? I know there is a book of patterns for some of those quilts too, and I'd love to see what some have made! :)

Little Bit of Hand Quilting

I've been hand quilting every evening after I get my chores done, and the kids settle down. My camera doesn't focus up close very well, but you can see the pretty effect that's developing...

I'm using double strands of green embroidery thread, and doing free hand baptist fans in a sort of echoing pattern. I am feeling proud and thought I'd share. :)

And the winner is...

Out of the 7 commenters in the PIF drawing...a very fuzzy photo of the winner...

Libby! Glad to know it is going to a bloggy friend! :)

Thank you to all who left comments...I enjoy all of you and your blogs so very much! :)