Green Is My Garden

We've had so much rain and for the most part that's good. Everything is GREEN again. Now I need to spend time outdoors planting a bit to get some other colors in the gardens. We were able to plant a few flats of flowers in the front but when we were finished we had only one flat left for the back garden  - we need at least 3 - 5 more. Isn't that always the way it goes? Every year I miscalculate. I guess I'll have to make time for a garden center today or tomorrow. We definitely need more color in the backyard.

 

 

 

Everything is so lush.

 

 

Perennial geranium -  they say it needs full sun but mine grows wonderfully in my shady garden. The blooms only last a little while.

Columbine

 

The annual geranium isn't blooming yet but I couldn't pass it up for 60 cents, LOL. What a bargain. It will flower soon. The garden club in the next suburb over is having a plant sale and I'll be there for some good deals too! 

 

 

 

This little sweetie is so old -  one of my first quilts - but still one of my favorites. Almost looks antique, doesn't it? You can easily make this on your own but I'm thinking of making up a few kits for it. E-mail me if you're interested in buying one and I'll see what I can do.

 

 

 

A few years ago I had gorgeous Hollyhocks in the front. They only lasted a few years. I thought they were supposed to reseed by themselves but they never came back. So I planted more last year and can't wait to see if they took.

 

 

I told my husband I had big garden plans for the awful, scraggly spaces in the back, our "wild" places we've left untended for a few years because we had no time (or in my case, no good knees) to dig or plant more gardens. The knee is better this year so keep a good thought.

Where my wild things are  . . .

Depending upon the heat this summer, this may just be the year to get it done. I always get optimistic at first and then burn out when it gets too hot and can't stand being outside so I told him not to hold me to it. The "wild" may have to be here for another year or two . . . .

Speaking of wild -  my favorite book this year so far (and I've read a LOT of books this year) is Wild  by Cheryl Strayed. I don't often like to recommend books to others because book choices are usually so personal.  Oh my goodness is all I can say. Read the reviews - some of you may like it too. I was very, very moved by this depiction of one woman's strength and her attempt to get her life back together. The subtitle is: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Coast Trail. I've been complaining about my foot hurting me for the past 6 months. After reading this I'll never complain about my feet hurting again.

A Fun Trip to Ohio

I had to leave the retreat early last weekend because I had a previously scheduled presentation and workshop in Springfield, Ohio, on Monday. I know I say this all the time but I meet the nicest quilters when I travel. Springfield is a great town and the ladies made me feel so at home. Mary M. had a wonderful sense of humor and kept telling us funny stories at the program. Some very sweet ladies.

After I finished my Show & Tell of quilts someone said they believed I brought more quilts than any other speaker had ever brought to their guild before.  That's because 30 of my quilts equals one large quilt of some other quilters, LOL.

 

 

See what I mean? This quilter hand pieced and totally hand quilted her beautiful quilt. It's probably equal to at least 30 of my little ones . . .

On the way home, as usual, we stopped at a quaint little town to check out the antiques -

Love these row houses

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Shoot, I'm kicking myself -  I should have bought this doll cradle even though I already have several. I didn't buy it because I'm trying to get rid of stuff in my house, not acquire more things I really don't need. Sure is cute.

 

 

 

 

I'll be in Ankeny, Iowa, for a program next month. Contact the guild for more details if you live nearby and are interested in attending.

Another Small Quilt Retreat

This past weekend some of my Illinois friends from my Yahoo group organized a small quilt retreat near Chicago. Quilters from several states and Canada attended and we all had a lot of fun.

 

 

 

The retreat was held at Techny Towers, a conference center and former seminary in Northbrook Illinois.

 

 

 

The grounds were lovely.

 

 

 

 

Since it was not my retreat and I wasn't teaching a workshop, quilters were allowed to bring anything they wanted to work on. Many, of course, brought small quilt projects, some from the challenges we have been doing this year and last.

 

 

I gave a demo on making the Orange Peel quilt that's in Remembering Adelia.

 

  

 

 

 

 

Karen made us all special quilted name tags. So sweet!

 

 

 

 

 

We had a Show & Tell of small quilts  -

 

 

 

 

And a few large quilts too . . .

 

 

 

Keep this small quilt retreat in mind for later this year. Heather in our group is planning on organizing another one for the fall and perhaps we will see some of you there there. We'd love it if you joined us.

 

I don't want to hear any excuses that you live too far away. Helen and Linda drove all the way from Canada to sew with us here in Chicago . . .

 

Miracles in the Spring Garden

I have several sentimental spring garden favorites. One is lilacs. We've always wanted a back yard filled with lilacs. My husband had many lilac bushes in his yard when he was growing up. Four or five years ago for Father's Day I bought him a lilac shrub (which he planted himself, LOL). Knowing that lilacs need several hours of sun each day and that our yard is pretty shady in spots, I still took the chance and bought it anyway and placed it in a spot near the back door where it would still get a little sun. It never bloomed. One year there was a teeny tiny flower but that was it and so year after year I resigned myself to the fact that we wouldn't be able to have lilacs in this Yard of Little Sun and would have to learn to love the hostas and perennial geraniums.

 

 

I've been so busy lately and have not had time (or energy) to do much in the yard but dream. Plus it's been so cold until recently. I did not even give a thought to the lilacs. I'd really given up hope. Then, a few days after Mother's Day, I let the dogs out into the back in the morning and as I followed them out I almost screamed. It bloomed, it bloomed! Seemingly overnight. I ran inside to text a picture of the lilacs to my husband at work.  How's that for a miracle in the garden?

 

 

Huge, lucious blooms!

 

I could not believe it. I do not have a green thumb and am clearly no master gardener. Lately, I just go with the flow every year, and so this was a shock to me. Why would it bloom this year and not the others? What was different about this spring? I have not fertilized any of the plants yet. It was not exactly puny when I planted it so it wasn't that it needed to grow. And it did bloom ever so slightly that one time but then just stopped. I think I'll simply call it my garden miracle and leave it at that. You just never know, do you? Perhaps all those prayers for my children to thrive spilled over into the garden, LOL.

 

 

 

 

 

I'm now giddy with springtime enthusiasm.

 

I've always had the same problem with bleeding hearts. I love bleeding heart plants and they do okay in shady gardens. But not mine. And for the life of me I have not been able to grow any for years. Of course, like an  idiot, I never gave up and still kept buying them over and over, even though they'd always die, hoping I'd get one that would thrive and bloom someday. Look - this year I have bleeding hearts too!

 

 

 

How sentimental is this? Pink hearts.

 

I did some research and my plan (a someday sentimental garden dream) is to have a perennial Cottage Garden filled with these plants:

• Peony
• Shrub roses
• Geranium
• Delphinium
• Foxglove
• Coneflower
• Daisy
• Poppy
• Hollyhock
• Lily
• Phlox
• Sweet pea climber
• Butterfly weed

It will have to be in the front yard because that's the only place we get decent sun. Some of these are plants I already have. It's going to be a big job and I need a good couple of free weekends to work on it and then time to keep it up. If this summer is not as hot as last summer I will try to keep it going. I usually give up if it gets too hot. (I also know all about the poisonous plants on the list. The dogs do not go out in the front unsupervised, just so you know.) If you have a cottage garden yourself, show me your pictures!

 

Any chance I can turn this -

 

 

into this???

  

 

I think I'll need another miracle.