Prettiness

I have a feeling we are going to go straight from winter to summer around here.  We have been so unusually  cold lately, and goodness, the wind has been creating all kinds of extra work ! We have a huge limb in the yard that we just haven't had the energy to deal with yet.  Thank goodness it didn't land on the house! Then there are the lesser limbs and sticks and leaves and squishy-squashy ground. But today the sky is a beautiful blue - the prettiest blue ever. No clouds. None. And the temperatures are more seasonable.  Yes, it was a lovely day. 

The school year is winding down and I am starting to get excited about my time off.  I'm thinking about what fun things I want to do while I have 5 weeks off.  I would love to make a small quilt, just a little throw. I've been looking for a pattern and haven't decided anything yet, though I do know I want to do it in autumn browns and golds.  It's an awful lot of fun to go Pinteresting looking for ideas:)  I am also going to continue working on my Christmas at Hawk Run Hollow cross stitch project.  I hope to do an update soon, I am finishing up May's block.  Can't wait to show you. 

I am so glad you stopped by (leave a comment, okay?).  I hope you're having a great Wednesday. I'm joining Outdoor Wednesday at A Southern Daydreamer.

Glorious Spring!

Beautiful days! The trees are so green. The air is still a little pollen-y, but not near as bad as a few weeks ago.  I've got plants to move, soil to work,  garden shopping to do, ah life in the garden! What could be better?  Our days have been cool, which has made the flowers last. How nice!

 I'm always so envious of people who say they spent all day in the garden. I spend a lot of time, but it's not all at once.  I just can't seem to do that.  I'll go out and dig for a little while, or plant a plant, then come in and rest for a minute or two, cool down.  But then I'm back at it.  I was thinking yesterday about how much I got done even though I was in and out so much.  Not as much as the all-dayers, but I was happy with my progress. I'm about half done prepping  the water feature area.  Can't wait to start planting!

I'm participating in Mosaic Monday at the Little Red House, and Outdoor Wednesday at A Southern Daydreamer. Come join the fun!

I hope you've had a great day! Thanks for stopping by!

April Garden

Hard to believe April is almost over!      After the tulips bloom in my garden the iris begin.  They've been beautiful this year. I'm so disappointed that the grass didn't live that we worked so hard on last year.  We are going to try again this week.  We're a lot later than last year, but hopefully it will be okay. The garden is hard to photograph, the red dirt distracting from the prettiness.  

I've been busy in the garden today. I've started working in the area with the little water feature, turning the soil, getting ready to add some conditioner.  We are expecting a lot of rain for the next few days so I'm trying to get as much done as I can.

I hope you're having a wonderful Saturday! Thanks for stopping by!

Getting Things Done

I finally got my urn planted and am pretty happy with the end results. This is a totally different planting choice than the one I've done the last 5 or 6 years.  Time for a change!  I don't know what you call the tall spikey plant, but it was the only plant of height that I could find, that went with the color scheme.  The pink is Pink Polka Dot plant (I don't know if that's what everyone else calls it) and the silver draper is Dichondra.  I like the way the urn looks in it's infant stage. Hopefully it will fill in nicely and nothing will crowd out others.

  

Iris and Columbine are blooming well now.  The columbine are from seeds my sister brought from Nova Scotia almost 15 years ago.  They pop up everywhere and I dig the little plants and place them.  I think they're so pretty.  I wish I had more colors. I'll have to ask her to look for some that aren't purple. She spends the summer every year in Novie. I feel like I'm way behind in the garden this year.  I haven't even bought all my annuals yet.  I only have a few pots planted.  Our weather has been crazy, though.  Yesterday was very cold and rainy.  I've NEVER seen it as windy as it's been this year.  The soil is so wet. I'll need a few days of warmer weather before I can work the soil.  Still, it's only April.  Some of you are still getting snow!  Yikes!

I hope you're having a great Saturday, thanks so much for stopping by!

Spring in Georgia

Hello! How are you?  I hope you are enjoying some spring weather. In Georgia we are having a little bit of everything...warm, cool, dry, wet, clouds and sun.  Pretty nice.  If you don't like the weather, it will shortly change.  Today when I got home from work and took a stroll around the garden I found a lot of loveliness. The Viburnum is looking very pretty this year. I love it's snowy white blooms.

The iris, columbine and clematis are starting to bloom and look very pretty this year.

I'm looking forward to going to the plant store soon. I went this past Saturday just to look and found several plants that I would not be able to find elsewhere. I'm really getting a late start this year. The cold weather seemed to hang on and I didn't get myself in gear, so now I'm playing catch up!

I hope you are having a wonderful Tuesday, thanks for stopping by.

Friday Garden

Happy Friday everyone! I hope you've had a good week .We've had some lovely weather, but the pollen has been killer - it was 8000+ yesterday and 7000+ today.  We had some rain last night, but it didn't do much to reduce the count. 

 My tulips have been very pretty. Here is a picture of the whole garden, about a week ago.

 I was very disappointed that the grass we planted last year didn't survive the winter. I hate seeing all that dirt. We also need to paint our little shed.  We have a long list of things to do!

 

The picture below shows how the garden looks today.  The tulips are almost all past. I planted a few marigolds and impatience.  I'm worried about the impatience because all of mine got a disease last year and died.  But I'm going to try them again.  I'll put some in pots so I can still have them if the in-ground ones don't survive.

I hope I can get out there tomorrow and do a little more planting.  I'm begging for some grass, too:)   I have plans in my head for the little shed, but I don't know if I can get it to "real life".  I'm always impressed with people who can make happen just what they want!  BTW, please don't look at that empty urn!!! I don't know why I do this every year.  It sits there empty.  Crazy.  I'm going tomorrow to get some plants. I had a plan, but I can't find the plants, now I'll have to think of something else.

I hope you're having a happy Friday, thanks so much for stopping by!

Brrrr

What's this??!!!  It's freakishly cold! I was so sure that Spring was here, warmth-wise, but I see it's still a ways off.  Today it has been cold and damp.  The kind of cold that gets in your bones.  I'm sitting with my rice sock on my chest.  It's so comforting!:)  My tulips are still very pretty, it's just too cold to go out and enjoy them! Thank goodness for my big window in front of my Lazy-boy!  While I'm more than ready to be done with the cold, I have used my time well.  I was able to make up the one month I was behind on my Christmas at Hawk Run Hollow. I have to tell you, this is the most fun cross stitch pattern I have ever done.  And each finished block is so satisfying! It's a little pricey...between the cost of the chart, the fabric and all the threads, but it is well worth it!

Here are three finished blocks and the fourth one with a little stitching done on it.

Block one.

  I'm sorry that I don't know how to take better pictures. It's really a beautiful block.  Now that I've taken pictures of the three finished blocks I, of course, have found a few things not completed.  There is a crown that still needs a few rows on this block, also, the top left is missing it's border! 

 Block two.  

I LOVE this block.  I love the peacock in the top right corner. I didn't order the special silk thread to do the snow.  It was really pricey. I just used DMC, off white.  

Block Three

I love this block too.  It's a lot prettier in person.  I see a spot that isn't finished - nine stitches! 

It's such fun to be doing all these little Christmas blocks all year.  There is also an Autumn at Hawk Run Hollow.  We'll see how I feel about doing another year-long project after I finish this!  If you're interested, this is done on 40ct Exemplar Linen, one over two using DMC threads.

I hope you're having a great Thursday! Thanks for stopping by!