The stitches of life: May 2007

Wednesday, May 30, 2007

Garden pictures part 2

I'm sure you all will be quite sick of my pictures by summers end ;). Although I probably won't take many pictures in August because the gardens around here really poop out because of the heat and humidity lol. Anyway, here they are without further ado:

This is Campanula 'Lil Punky'. I love these blooms and the silver leaves!

Here we have hardy Geranium 'Johnson's Blue' along with the snapdragons I planted about a month ago. I showed a picture of them last week too, but there are more blooms there now and I really liked the contrast of colors and bloom shapes :)

The snapdragons that came back from last year bigger and better than ever! Love, love, love these! Again as you can see they have changed a lot since the picture I took last week :).

And last (yes, only 4 pictures this time ;) Hardy Geranium 'Biokovo'. They were actually at their peak last week, but I wanted to get a closer picture of the blooms :). The leaves of this have a fantastic scent :).

It's so neat to see the differences in just one week! I'm also thrilled because I have enough flowers to cut and bring inside, which I never did before ;). I'd read in magazines and catalog descriptions about how this plant or that plant makes for great cutting and I'd think "I'd never cut those and bring them inside--my garden would be bare!" Now that's not a problem and I'm so happy :)

Posted by hollyday @ 9:40 AM | Link

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Tuesday, May 29, 2007

Menu and stitching plan Monday (on Tuesday ;)

Because of the holiday I'm a day late in posting this ;).

Menus:

Monday--leftovers, out, something ;)
Tuesday--Flounder, salad, mashed potatoes
Wednesday--Chicken Marsala (DD), pasta, steamed veggies
Thursday--Green Chile Quiche, salad
Friday--Steak Diane (DD), mashed potatoes, steamed veggies
Saturday--leftovers
Sunday--out

Stitching:

Monday--RR
Tuesday--The Rose in Morning
Wednesday--Windy
Thursday--Windy
Friday--Brendan's mini RR
Weekend--Christmas slot (either over 1 Christmas tree or Christmas Topiary)

Currently working on: Blackwork RR, Brendan's mini RR, Windemere Angel, RR 9

Posted by hollyday @ 10:32 AM | Link

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Tuesday, May 22, 2007

Garden pictures

I was inspired (once again ;) by my friend Velda to take pictures of my garden. I've been meaning to anyway because it's useful to me when planning for next year, but I hadn't gotten around to it yet. It seems to me my garden looks best this time of year, which is a bummer because the pool's not open yet so we aren't down there as much. But I'm going to take a chair down there, clean it off and create a little gazing/reading/tea nook ;). I apologize for the pictures not being as clear as they should be--I'm still getting used to our new camera and Dave still hasn't installed photo editing software ;). So without further ado here we go:

No you're not seeing things--this is one rose! It's going back to its roots which really upsets me. I'm going to try cutting the dark red part out, but I don't have much hope it will make a difference. In the meantime it makes for a pretty cool-looking picture ;). The next pictures are from the pansies around this rose and it's companion, as well as some other plants in our foundation garden :)

Next are pictures from the back, mostly the pool garden :)

In this next picture, the blue flowers are hardy geranium "Johnson's Blue", the other flowers are snapdragons and you can see lily, hosta and (in the foreground) the leaves of hardy geranium "orion".

The pink flowers below are 2 kinds of Dianthus (they smell divine!)

These beautiful heart-shaped leaves belong to my Campanula :). Sandwiched in between it and the Dianthus are the silver sword-shaped leaves of Campanula "Lil Punky"

This is probably my favorite out of all the pictures! This is my siberian iris which is now in its third year. Last year I had the beautiful blue-green leaves, but no flowers. Imagine my surprise and delight to go out today and see it flowering!!

Here next to the black plastic pot is the hardy geranium "Orion" I transplanted from another spot. He was pretty droopy but I think he's going to make it after some TLC ;)

This is my pink Knockout rose and the groundcover is lamium "Purple Dragon"

I was so excited to see these snapdragons! They're from last year and not only did they reseed but they spread too!

My "Bowbells" rose :)

There are a few more pictures from today in my webshots album, the link is in my sidebar :). I guess I should get out there and get to work!

Posted by hollyday @ 9:08 AM | Link

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Monday, May 21, 2007

Monday musings

Well I didn't stick to last week's Monday plans very well at all--indeed the only thing I did for the menus was Tuesday's and the only thing I stitched on was the Blackwork RR and Windy *blush*. It was a little different schedule-wise last week--we started swimming lessons again for the boys, Dave was off Tuesday and Wednesday and we had a couple of other things going as well. I think this week may be the same--lots of cleaning still, have to get ready to go to the lake for Memorial Day etc. I also am PMSing really badly this month--nausea, migraines, the whole works. If I didn't know better I'd swear I was pregnant lol ;).

So with that in mind I don't think I'll set down in writing any specific things for menus or stitching this week other than some general ideas--when I have specific things planned and don't get to them I get depressed ;). We'll have leftovers the first couple of days and then I think a Dinner Done entree and hotdogs will round out things nicely (and easily). For stitching I will definitely work on the Blackwork RR since it has to go out soon, but other than that I'm not sure. Maybe Windy--this is the first time in over a year I've worked on her and I'm really enjoying it :).

I also have some pictures to post soon--garden and stitching. I finished Bloom almost 2 weeks ago, but I'm having trouble getting a clear picture of it since it's over 1 and tiny ;). A lot of my flowers are blooming in my garden already so I need to start documenting it so I have a record for next year (even though I can't find my pictures from last year--big help they were rofl!).

So I guess that's all for now--sorry it's such a boring read!

Currently working on: Blackwork RR, Brendan's Mini RR, Windemere Angel

Posted by hollyday @ 7:01 AM | Link

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Monday, May 14, 2007

Menu and Stitching plan Monday

First the menus:

Monday--leftovers
Tuesday--Basil Stuffed Chicken (DD), asparagus, rice
Wednesday--Pot Roast (leftover DD), salad
Thursday--Flounder with onion, capers and lemon (DD), rice, salad
Friday--Crockpot Chicken, mashed potatoes, salad, rolls
Weekend--leftovers/out

Then stitching ;)

Monday--Blackwork RR
Tuesday--Rose in Morning
Wednesday--SAL slot (enchanted cottage?)
Thursday--Angel/fairy slot (Windy)
Friday--Brendan's mini RR
Weekend--not sure, one of the week's projects probably ;)

Currently working on: Blackwork RR, Brendan's mini RR, Windy, Petite ABC's

Posted by hollyday @ 5:17 PM | Link

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Friday, May 11, 2007

The week ahead

Due to a number of factors, my last few weeks (including this one) have been rather rudderless. While I'm not a perfectionist by any means, nor am I a slave to lists/day planners etc., I don't like the feeling of being adrift for so long. For one thing it means things are piling up which will take me longer to do because I haven't kept up with them. For another important dates are in danger of being lost in the abyss ;). So to help keep myself on track here is a tentative list of things I need to do next week:

Clean family room (everything--dusting, straightening, etc., maybe tomorrow?)
Dust and vacuum upstairs (Monday)
Plan menus (Monday)
Clean kitchen/dining room (everything as above, Tuesday)
Laundry--towels/sheets on Monday, regular on Friday

As an aside, for today I need to:

Make cake for Dave (Happy birthday honey!)
Water plants (very important--they're in bad shape lol)
Shop for birthday presents ;)
Grocery Store

When the boys get home from school we're going to get birthday cards and decorate the cake :).

Okay, not much, but I feel better for putting it in writing so it's not all floating around aimlessly in my head lol. I will do better next week, I will do better next week...

Currently working on: Brendan's mini RR, Blackwork RR, Bloom

Posted by hollyday @ 7:56 AM | Link

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Wednesday, May 09, 2007

Tag!

Margaret tagged me in her blog, so now I need to do this meme ;). Here are the rules: Each player starts with 7 random facts/habits about themselves. People who are tagged need to write on their own blog about their seven things, as well as these rules. You need to choose 7 people to get tagged and list their names. Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they have been tagged and to read your blog!

1) I majored in international relations in college. When I got back home (outside D.C.) I sent out hundreds of resumes--no one wanted me. No one told me in D.C. you have to know someone to get that kind of job lol ;).

2) I read over 200 words a minute--not speed reading speed but faster than most. I also have almost 100% comprehension.

3) I don't like the butter to run out of the "volcano" I make for it in my mashed potatoes--my own little SID thing ;). My friends and DH love to tease me about this ;)

4) This is really hard--I'm a very boring person!

5) I've done a lot of traveling considering it's never been part of a job for me. I've been to most of the U.S., Canada, Mexico, Australia, Italy, Spain, England, Japan and Barbados :)

6) I love Sesame Street and still watch it occasionally, even though my kids don't watch it any more ;).

7) Some of my happiest moments are listening to classical music, looking at my garden and drinking a cup of really good tea :)

As an aside to Margaret--who the heck am I going to tag?!

I think I'll tag Emma, Jill W., Robin NH, Jaime, Tina, Christina and Vicki. Hopefully none of them have been tagged already lol ;)

It turns out only Vicki and Christina haven't been tagged out of that list ;). I don't want to tag people who's blogs I don't read regularly, so that will have to do!

Posted by hollyday @ 7:55 AM | Link

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Garden musings

I hear the gasps of shock now--she's writing about something other than stitching? What's wrong with her? I spent about half the day outside yesterday and thoroughly enjoyed it, even though I'm suffering for it now ;). I plan to go back out today to clean up from yesterday and to work on some bigger projects I've been neglecting lately. We'll see how far I get since it looks like it's going to rain, but then again every time this spring I've thought that it hasn't panned out, which is part of the reason my container roses almost died ;).

Yesterday I started working on my container plantings. I planted my strawberry jar for the first time in years so I hope it works out okay (they're a pain to keep watered). I planted 2 different colors of lobelia and a really pretty yellow annual whose name I can't remember right now. Another pot has a lovely dark pink begonia and the "leftover" lobelia, and I got a lovely pot of pink petunias which I need to put in a larger pot. I still need to get some calibrocha (sp?) mini petunias for my hanging basket and then I'll be done with the front (maybe ;). On the patio I trimmed and hopefully revitalized the soil in my roses which are in containers. I thought for sure one of them was dead, but as I started cutting it back to take it out I noticed some green wood which means it's still alive. I gave it and the other one a very thorough watering and moved them to a sunnier spot, so we'll see what happens.

In the pool garden I did a little weeding and used the string trimmer on the liriope by the birdbath. Did I mention I hate liriope? I like it when it's kept in check, but this has been allowed to roam free for a few years and has taken over this portion of the garden. So after trimming it back so I could see better I started pulling it out by hand. Yes, you read that correctly--pulling! I will need the shovel for more stubborn parts, but the only way to make sure I have as many roots/runners as possible is to do it by hand--not fun. When I'm done clearing that section out I'm going to plant foxglove and some of my phlox from nearby that has seeded itself on the wall. I also need to go under the dogwood dad planted and cut down and dig out the obnoxious honeysuckle bush that seeded itself there. I tell you it's amazing what birds can do to a planned garden rofl! I bought a few perennials yesterday that I need to plant as well. Can I just say how nice it is to have the garden in such a shape that I only have to do maintenance weeding instead of spending several days clearing just so I can plant?! That is one of my favorite accomplishments out of everything--that I took a weed patch and made it a garden again :).

I guess I should get out there as it really looks like rain. I need to at least clean up from yesterday and plant the perennials--wish me luck!

Currently working on: Brendan's Mini RR, Blackwork RR, Bloom

Posted by hollyday @ 7:05 AM | Link

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Tuesday, May 08, 2007

Another finish!

I'm so excited to have another finish, and this one's just for me ;). It's Secret Flower Bed by The Trilogy which I started as a SAL with a couple of other ladies from my board a few years ago. I finally decided to put my mind to it and finish it and I'm so glad I did--I love how it looks! Now to finish Brendan's mini RR and then I'll work on the Blackwork RR I'm in right now. After that who knows? ;)

Currently working on: Brendan's Mini RR, Blackwork RR, The Rose in Morning

Posted by hollyday @ 8:00 AM | Link

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Tuesday, May 01, 2007

April recap

April went pretty well overall--not as well as I might have liked in some areas, but better than I expected in others. The weather was horrible most of the month so unlike last year I wasn't able to get out in the garden much until the last week or so. But I did get a lot done in that limited amount of time, so I'm happy. Once again the foundation bed has an edge (lets see how long that lasts ;) and the roses are trimmed, sprayed, fertilized and weeded, with new Geranium 'Orion' planted in their little beds. I planted some impatiens and a new Asian lily and discovered the Echinacea and Lobilia I planted last year survived, much to my surprise! I can't wait to see how they do this year :). Now that the pool garden is in decent shape I can focus more on the front and a couple of other areas in the back which really need some work. Yesterday I planted some annuals (ageratum, alyssum, snapdragons, african daisy) in the pool garden and moved a geranium 'orion' from one spot to another. The geranium looked rather wilted so I'm hoping it survives okay. His "cousins" that I've had in the garden for 10 years are extremely hardy and I'm hoping he is too ;).

Stitching did not go as well as I'd hoped--I haven't stitched much at all the last 2 weeks. I did manage to work on everything I wanted to at least once though which is an accomplishment for me in itself ;). I can tell now that garden season is coming up that I should probably give up any idea of a rotation, and just work on RR's and finishing a couple of things. If I cut myself some slack and am not too hard on myself I'll be much more likely to stitch--otherwise I'll just drop it altogether until about August when it gets too hot to work outside lol. I need to finish Brendan's RR (which is almost done), and I think I'll just work on whatever takes my fancy for the next couple of months--especially garden pieces :). I was just thinking I'd like to do some over 1 stitching, and I have a WIP of "Bloom" by the Trilogy which is over 1 and a garden piece, so that fits all my criteria nicely (over 1, already started, garden ;). I will probably start something else new too, but I'm going to try to wait at least until I've finished Brendan's RR so I don't feel too guilty lol.

Otherwise things are going as well as can be expected. Considering I have had children home sick and my brother here working on our basement (which I helped him with), I've done pretty good with the cleaning and laundry. The major basement work should be done this week (fingers crossed), so hopefully I'll be able to figure out a schedule which allows me to balance the house, garden and stitching--wish me luck!

Currently working on: Blackwork RR, Brendan's mini RR, Secret Flower Bed

Posted by hollyday @ 7:51 AM | Link

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