Death by gardening on a Slow Sunday...

 Hello...  lots of gardening talk today... well I haven't actually killed myself but I've inflicted some pain in my pursuit of getting my gardens shaped up... It has been HOT... over 80 degrees... and that has curtailed when I should go out and work ... and for the most part I've heeded that warning... I did plant up 2 of my 3 raised beds on Wednesday as I was able to retreat to the shade under my patio awning and sit at the table and have a cold drink... and I was quite happy with myself... I planted about 60 dahlia tubers and edged the beds with marigolds... then on Thursday I went out to admire my accomplishment and found this... direct your eyes to the upper left corner by the solar light... that tuber shouldn't be on top of the soil...argghhh

the damn squirrels or maybe the chipmunks had dug up a bunch of tubers... I didn't think to take a pic until I had most of them replanted... so how to deter the furry little varmints??   I remembered I had a roll of netting you can put on plants to keep the birds away... so I cut some and stretched it out and anchored it with the stakes I use when I put inflatables in the yard... now I'm not sure if I'll have to cut this away as the dahlias get larger but I'll cross that bridge when I come to it.

And this morning I looked out on my window boxes and found several places where some varmint had dug holes and relocated several of the geraniums and petunias.... arggghhh!!!   I replanted them and sprayed some repellent... it's too late to put this kind of screening in the boxes as the plants are getting pretty established ... need to look online for other ways to deter them... sigh...

I did go to the garden center with the fancy petunias... lots and lots of Proven Winner varieties ... and they did not disappoint.... here is my etagere of petunias...sounds classy doesn't it?  LOL... I used to have a pyramid  style plant stand, but there are more varieties I want than will fit on that stand, so I moved on to this last year... got the shelf unit, oops excuse me, etagere at Hobby Lobby... the shelves fold up so it is easy to store over the winter. I do LOVE petunias ... I have fond memories of planting them with my Grandma and my two great aunts, Lucy and Kate ... and  in my crazy mind, petunias are the fat quarters of the gardening world... you can't just get one, they have to travel in pairs or groups... so that's how I got to this  current display...

on that top shelf I have PW Latte...  I'm not a big fan of brown ...nor do I drink coffee/latte... but I love the brown veining in this petunia...

and I have a new to me PW Silverberry, it is the palest pink... so pretty.

then there is this purple speckly one... I see tiny yellow polka dots!   The tag says it is called Cherry Sky Burgundy  and it  is from a company called Selecta..  I liked this one so much I sprang for a bigger plant...

and then there is this mutant beauty...it is from Danziger and is in their Amazonas line... the name is Plum Cockatoo... there was only 1 left when I was shopping last Monday so I know I'm not the only person smitten with this one!

and I always pick up a Queen of Hearts... I got it at Walmart... and the petunia in the back is PW Pink Lemonade... some of the blooms are pink, some are yellow and some are both... 

now I included links so you can see the flowers more clearly but I got all of my locally.  And you can see that I've arranged the plants by color ... so I get to decorate outside with flowers!!  I'm having an issue again this year with some animal knocking the little plants off the etagere at night... don't know if it a deer or a squirrel... last couple of nights I pushed them further back on the shelves and sprayed some varmint repellent... that stuff stinks!! But I don't like going out in the morning and finding broken pots... 

I only got 2 small sections cleared of daffodils ... and I've reconsidered my plan of attack... it was backbreaking work and I really should let them die back more... sooooooo for the rest of them I'm just going to chop off a bit of the leaves... just enough to make room to plant stuff around them... and then I'll deal with the  dead parts later. Because  I'm not seeing as much growth as I would like to see,  I purchased 4 new Pretoria cannas... you can see them here...  I tucked the pots in among the alliums... and I'll give it a bit more time to see  where I need to plant these.  

And Thursday evening after it cooled down a bit from 87 degrees I went out and planted up 4 large pots and got carried away and planted 60 marigolds... omg... dug 60 holes, sprinkled fertilizer in 60 holes, put marigold in 60 holes... and paid the price for it on Friday... my hands hurt, my back hurt , my knees hurt... trying to learn from this experience and I'm getting Nick to help me plant the little zinnias... there are way more than 60 of those. As for my FOMO, I'm glad I got stuff when I got it... the garden centers still seem to be lagging in getting in more inventory. I've found fancy stuff, but the run of the mill things like pompom marigolds and salvia and coleus are still in short supply.  I haven't even thought about perennials ... my plan for now it to put I more dahlias. Of all the stuff that I left in the ground they've done the best... most are already a foot and a half high and one plant has buds on it!! Right now I consider them the "perfect" plant... the deer don't bother them, they overwinter nicely and give me lots of showy flowers.  I ordered some more tubers last week and I'm just going to plant them randomly through the beds... 

As for stitching, there hasn't been a lot this week. Several nights I was just too pooped to pick up a needle. I did stitch a tiny bit more on the Teresa Kogut Faith, Hope, Piece and Love, that I got off of Patreon,... (side tangent... I think when Teresa releases this to the public it will have a slightly different title as she already has a chart called Faith, Hope, Peace, Love  you can see it here.)   However,  I wasn't feeling it so I picked up Prairie Schooler  American Primitive... this was my unicorn chart...  it is book No. 8 published in 1985 (that's 39 years ago!)... there are 5 patterns and I LOVE ALL OF THEM!! 

 I started with Double Eagle Sampler... 

32 ct linen dyed with Lemon Yellow Rit dye... I'm doing the BIG letters in smyrna crosses... gives it a bit of dimension...and stitching Prairie Schooler is always comfort stitching. 

And it just occurred to me that next Sunday is Mother's Day... and I have a tradition that on Mother's Day I start a new sampler guilt free as my gift to myself... but I want to have it all kitted up and ready to go. Soooo I started perusing my stash... and that lead me to trying to sort some charts and file them... and then I fell into the drawer of long ago started  and still unfinished projects and after a couple of hours, I decided several of them are never going to get finished. I salvaged some of the linen and pulled out the flosses and tossed the rest... made space for new charts that are started but  not finished...lather, rinse, repeat. At the moment I've narrowed my Mother's Day start down to 2 charts that are already kitted up and ready to go ... and 2 that aren't... and I still have time to change my mind... again and again and again... I have an embarrassment of riches... so many cool charts I want to stitch!

I didn't get much quilting/sewing done... I did hem 4 pairs of pants for my older son... however, the bow ties are increasing...I'm cutting 4 at a time and stitching them up...

these two are cute... the chickens are from American Jane and the mice are from Heather Ross. 

and I had a thought about making some smaller bow ties too.. maybe making a block of 4 small ones here and there... need to work out the math... 

As for decorating, this is my display out on the porch... I'm spending as much time as possible out there... 

on the wall is the Spring ABC's by Little House Needleworks... I stitched every season of this series and love all of them.... this one is stitched on my go to 32 ct and I dyed it with a concoction of Lemon Yellow and Coral... the resulting color is kinda cantaloupe... that little screen behind it was from Darice Crafts... don't know if they make it anymore... it was unfinished wood and  I "stained" it with Aquamarine Rit dye... I've been able to paint/stain a lot of wooden items with Rit Dyes... 

on the top of the little apple Green shelf unit is Sampler Hill  by With Thy Needle & Thread... as I recall there are like 99 tulips in the border... 

next is The Magic Garden by Shakespeare's Peddler and the little pillow is Birdhouse Alphabet by Little House Needlework...

now I  I think The Magic Garden is the first piece I dyed linen for... and then I changed almost all the colors in the pattern... and I'm very happy with my interpretation of this chart... as for the little pillow, I stitched this on 28ct over 1 thread... I like the look but don't enjoy the process. 

At the bottom I have a piece from  Spring Smalls by Lizzie Kate... I mounted that on a little box I got at Target years ago. 

 All in all it is a nice display for me to enjoy when I spending time on my sunroom porch... which is the BEST room in my house!! I'm so glad I enclosed the porch... best home improvement project I have done!  I'm sitting out here as I type this ... I can watch the birds and enjoy the breeze ... very peaceful... and it  is going to rain any minute ...I'm writing this on Saturday... looks like rain on an off all  day ... I think I'll postpone gardening  today, the humidity is horrible....  but the  ground will be soft for planting on Sunday... 

So far it looks like a quiet week ahead... Elliott on Tuesday and dinner with friends once or twice... no other engagements... should have time to work in the garden and maybe stitch a bit more. That would be very nice.

I'll link up with Kathy's Quilts today...Hope your week ahead is one filled with time to do the stuff you want to do! Now to keep myself from wasting time on the internet and pacing myself on the garden work ... lately ibuprofen is my best friend...LOL

happy stitching -

carol fun