Digging holes and stitching on a Slow Sunday ...

Hello... is anyone still there? I didn't mean to skip two weeks but Mother Nature finally provided some nice weather and I've been outside a lot ... digging holes... lots and lots and lots and LOTS of holes... and putting plants in them... and I not only planted up my yard but I also did my neighbor's front yard... he asked me last year if I would do it and I said yes... I thought it would be fun to design a layout from scratch... and he paid me... and it was fun to design it but the planting was work... I forgot about that part... and after getting his yard done I tackled mine... marigolds, lantana, lots of petunias and a passel of perennials... in my defense they were a bargain... 1 gallon perennials for $4 each... nice healthy looking plants and quite the variety ... so a bunch of them came home with me.... ummm... about 30... maybe 35... perhaps 40... I lost track...okay to be honest, I quit counting... ignorance is bliss... and lot of plants is happiness!!!  Here are some pics of what I've accomplished....

Rose bed with marigolds....

and my polka dotted chickens are there too...


One of the 5 window boxes...

got a purple and white color scheme this year...

My beloved pyramid of petunias...

13 different varieties of petunias ...


The flower bed with a ton of new perennials...

it isn't bloomed out yet but it should be pretty when it does... ... pink, purple, yellow, red,  orange, white... I do like the gardens with a limited color scheme but I just can't resist using as many colors as I can...there is a ton of different plants here... the pink ones you see now are peonies... I LOVE peonies... and I planted some tall zinnia seeds in there yesterday where those alliums are fading...

One of two pots by my garage door...

the tall poofy plant is a papyrus called Prince Tut... the base plants are small tangerine petunias and some creeping jenny and a little star faced plant I forget the name of...

The little corner by my front door...

I like the idea of hanging baskets this year instead of pots on the steps and if these petunias fade I'll be able to easily replace them... all the perennials at the bottom have filled out beautifully with all the rain we've gotten... don't remember what they are called but love the little yellow flowers...

And this is the front of the house by my sunroom porch  with my bird feeders and my Mother's Day present of a bird bath...

I planted these pots with lots of coleus and some wave petunias ... to the right of the bird bath is 5 of the 10 hollyhocks I planted and my climbing rose bush is in bloom... the flowers are gorgeous but some pest has already made swiss cheese of the leaves...

And then there is my newest grand project...

 it is 4 ft wide and 20 ft long... a raised bed which I'm planning as a cutting garden of dahlias and zinnias...  however, it needs 2.5 cubic feet of garden soil placed in it... which is going to be quite a bit of work... I keep forgetting about that work element as I get carried away by how pretty it will look when it it in bloom... the soil is going to be delivered on Tuesday and so far I haven't been able to find anyone other than my younger son to help me shovel the dirt into the bed... this may take a while... but I will get it done one way or another... I can't wait to get the dahlia tubers and the zinnia seeds in the ground... and I had a revelation the other day... when I moved almost 6 years ago the one thing I didn't want to leave was my garden... and now I'm gardening way more areas than I had there... with all the pics I showed I left out a couple of other groups of plants... I realized I have vignettes outside just like I do inside... it is so much fun to play with color and texture no matter what the materials!


And in addition to the work I've done in the yard I've actually gotten some cross stitch pieces FFO'd... since Spring is rapidly getting away from me I decided I needed to get my LHN Spring ABC's completed....

I mounted it on a Chicken Wire Door Frame from Darice Crafts... I stained it with Rit Teal Dye ...

I  added a burlap bow and some greenery and some paper Prima flowers from my card making stash... now to get my butt in gear and get started on the Summer ABC's... its the only one I haven't stitched... i saw a great version on IG which you can see here... I like her changes of color and making it more Americana... now I need to paint some linen for this piece...

And I finally did something with the half dozen gnomes I stitched this winter... I made them all into little pillows with a base of a pretty calico...

and here's how I displayed them...

the little fence piece was unfinished wood... I picked it up at Michaels and spray painted it ...and the tall gnome is a spoon rest my son found for me ... and here's the rest of the little shelf unit...

I'm having fun finding inexpensive gnomes... I've gotten stuff from the trinity of decor... Hobby Lobby, Michaels and Joanns... and I didn't pay full price for anything... the whole display makes me smile... and an added bonus of painting that little shelf unit spring-y lime-y green is it doesn't show the pollen dust... I'm so smart...LOL

So this afternoon we are all going to my daughter-in-law's parents home for a cookout... I made a pasta salad and some Chinese coleslaw and my younger son made a chocolate bundt cake to bring... tomorrow we are again doing dinner with the new parents and Elliott ... Elliott is growing like the proverbial weed... and is so cute... and yes I am biased... my son has to return to work on Tuesday... that six week family leave sure flew by ... he really loved staying home with his family...

Hope things are going well in your world... I know I'm keeping plenty busy... I'll link up with Kathy's Quilts today and see what every one else is up to...

And this Memorial Day weekend we must never forget that we are the home of free because of the brave... we may not know all who sacrificed but we owe a debt to all of them...

take care-
happy stitching-
carol fun

Spring Decor Refresh on a Slow Stitching Sunday...

Hello... well I banished the bunnies to their plastic storage bins and brought out lots of birds to refresh my Spring decor... it was fun to add in some new pieces of cross stitch and some new knickknacks... I'm always on the lookout for small pieces that I can tuck in here and there and occasionally a bigger piece comes home with me too... so hard to resist a really cute knickknack...LOL

So I'll begin with the first display I put together... this grouping sits atop a little yellow glass front cabinet I bought at Target years ago... even before I owned this house... it was one of those pieces I knew needed to live with me someday... anyway on to the display...

New stuff here includes that watering can from the Target Dollarspot/Bullseye's Playground and my finally fully finished Funky Bird by Barbara Ana Designs...

I mounted this on an unfinished wood frame I picked up at Michael's and I "stained" it with Teal Rit dye... the color was perfect!

Then I moved on to my 3 tier tray... this has some knickknacks I picked up at Cracker Barrel and several newly finished pieces of cross stitch...

The Stack 'n Whack quilt is still one of my favorites ... love those petunias... and here is a closer look at the tray...

Starting with the top tier...

The tall piece is Little House Needleworks Birdhouse Alphabet... it is done over 1 thread on 28 ct linen... I stitched this over a year ago and it has languished till last week waiting to be finished... the shorter piece is one I showed last week... a snippet from the border of A Saviour's Praise by Shakespeare's Peddler... I'm very happy with this finish... just what I was envisioning...

The middle shelf has a Pineberry Lane little lady I've shown before but the bottom tier has another new piece of cross stitch...

The garden lady on the left is a portion of Pineberry Lane's Tansy, Yarrow, Rue and the little pillow on the right is another snippet from A Saviour's Praise... I was so happy to work these into a display right away. I'm going to do more of the little snippets as pillows like I talked about last week ... I love how they look... very simple and pretty...

Then there is my big shelf display unit... I was looking at pictures of what I've done with this piece since I got it last year and I've noticed that with each passing season I've filled it up more and more... and I like that ... A LOT... more is better because more is MORE... LOL

From top to bottom...I kept out the bunny in the big blue dress cause I just LOVE her...I used another little Pineberry Lane lady next to the Spring caddy, which got a refresh with some new silk flowers... notice the little frogs that flank the Lizzie Kate Spring?  They are salt/pepper shakers from Cracker Barrel... a whole 99 cents each and you can buy them individually...I wedged in a little Prairie Schooler Hedgehog I stitched years ago... and realized that I've done some unusual pieces from PS... I remember a worm... need to find him...the white lantern on the right side of this shelf is from IKEA... I put 3 little battery operated tea lights inside... they have a remote so I can turn them on without fiddling with the door ... they twinkle at night and I like the effect.

Next shelf has my version of The Magic Garden from Shakespeare's Peddler... dyed the linen with Rit dye and changed a ton of colors on this one... oh and the little yellow snail  sitting in front of this piece... another salt/pepper shaker from Cracker Barrel... they have such fun stuff in their gift shops... I got the little yellow birds on the branch from Hobby Lobby... I may keep them out through summer... and Mrs. Maguire's Garden is keeping company with a couple of ceramic watering cans... the big one is a Debbie Mumm teapot from eons ago... and the little one is ...another salt/pepper shaker ...this time from Pioneer Woman and Walmart... I really like cute salt/pepper shakers because you can tuck them in here and there and they are inexpensive knickknacks... and cute to boot!

Last shelf has a big white bird on a cake stand... the bird came from (and you heard this before) Cracker Barrel... I got it about 2 years ago... I saw the same bird this year but it is a green brown color... it has a light inside and you plug it in... a majolica plate from a long time ago... another Debbie Mumm teapot and another Pineberry Lane Mrs. Maguire... and to continue my broken record of description... the little bees... salt/pepper... Cracker Barrel... until I wrote this I had no idea how much decor I've picked up there... I do like the food too!!

And I have tried to get the monthly Hands on Designs Year of Celebration piece done before the beginning of each month... but this time I didn't start it till late... really late... but it is a pretty quick stitch and I was very motivated and I got it done by May 2...

 I "priscillafied" it with a gingham bow and a silk flower and yes that is another snail salt/pepper shaker... they were so cute ... and yellow ... and cheap... I bought 2...  here's a close up ...

I painted this 32 ct linen with Lemon Yellow and Coral and changed all the flosses to my choice of DMC.. now to get June done sooner rather than later...

but first... so much gardening I want to do... I stalked plant selections at a half dozen garden centers this last week...don't have everything I want but did get some gorgeous varieties of coleus and some petunias... but need more petunias... LOTS more petunias... I figure I need 36 to 48 just to do the window boxes. I was thinking of doing only one color in the boxes this year... but I'm still dithering on what color to pick... and I need to decide NOW... today and tomorrow are the only real sunny days forecast for the upcoming week... we've had so many gray rainy days... not conducive to digging in dirt... and this is a late start for me this year... for at least the last two years I've had stuff planted by now... but as I look around then neighborhood no one else has started yet either... I think we are all waiting for a nice stretch of sunny days but I don't see it yet ...

I'm having my son and his wife and Elliott over for dinner tonight... meat sauce and penne is the main course for us... Elliott will be doing formula... and next week on Mother's Day he will be one month old... the new parents are of course sleep deprived at this juncture... Elliott is a bit of a night owl... and they aren't... but it will get better... in a couple of years... but I'm not telling them that.

I'll be linking up with Kathy's Quilts today... hope you all have a great week ahead... I'm praying for more sun but the weather guys are all forecasting rain...ugh...

happy stitching-
carol fun