Almost Summer

It has been way too long since I posted anything.  However, my gardens are growing well, and it is time to show them off.

Over the fall and winter, I completely reworked one bed, to make it more butterfly friendly.  I am quite pleased with the results.  I have a variety of plants to attract butterflies, particularly the swallowtail and monarch.

Lots of fennel and parsley for the swallowtail caterpillars, and a variety of nectar plants.  I have also added a "puddler" for the butterflies to perch on.  Haven't seen any use it yet.

I planted lots of milkweed two years ago.  Last year, it grew, but never flowered or had seed pods.  This year it has spread, and is very healthy.  Lots of buds, and today I found the first flowers.  Monarchs do like other nectar plants, but they have to have milkweed.

Next post I will share my bush bean angst.

Happy New Year

I missed several days in the 31 Day Blog Writing Challenge, but I think I did pretty well, not being a particularly dedicated blogger.

Our crazy weather continues.  It does look like we are about to have more seasonable temperatures now.  We have had rain daily for the last nine days.  Everything is saturated, but the warm weather means all kinds of things are blooming.  I don't know what the long term impact of several nights in the 20s will be on these plants:

This is a star magnolia tree.  It is one of the earliest bloomers in our spring garden.  But seriously, January 1?

Azalea bush.  We have a variety of azaleas, most of which have buds on them.

Canna lily blooming.  These have not yet died back from the summer.  In many parts of the county the bulbs have to be dug up, as they will not over winter.

I saw this shasta daisy blooming this morning.  

Spring in December

My gardens are confused.  Some plants are still blooming from summer, some are blooming early and some are coming back up!  Two weeks of warm, wet weather is having a dramatic impact.  Here is a ginger lily that has continued to bloom since August.  Although we have had several frosts, this is close enough to the house to be protected.  It should be long dormant by now.

In addition to the lily, I have geraniums still blooming.

This Daphne bush usually blooms in late January, but here it is, blooming the earliest I have ever seen it.

Of more concern to me, are the spring bloomers that are emerging.  My forsythia is beginning to bud.

Some of my early perennials  and bulbs are also beginning to come up.  These are purple spiderwort. I also see daffodils and other plants beginning to emerge.  If we actually do have winter this year, I don't know what the result will be.

On a different plant note, we were in the mountains this past weekend, and found this huge leaf.  I think it is from an American Sycamore tree, but I am still trying to verify that.

M. C. Escher

Yesterday I had the great pleasure of going to see the NC Museum of Art exhibit The World of E. C. Escher: Nature, Science and Imagination.  What a fabulous collection of Escher works!  Of course I was familiar with a few of his pieces, such as

And this one

I do love his work with staircases.

Some of his other  pieces I was not as familiar with, but I the concepts were not new to me.  

I believe there are quilt designs to be had in some of this work.

In conjunction with the Escher exhibit, the museum has  da Vinci's Codex Leicester on loan from Bill Gates.  Escher studied da Vinci's work, and was inspired by him.  Interestingly,  this Codex is written backwards, so that it could only be read in a mirror.

The exhibit is here until the middle of January.  Definitely worth a visit.

More rain

So, I guess I have failed at the 31 Day Blog Writing Challenge!  I have missed several days.  But, holiday travel and general busyness has gotten in the way.

The rain keeps me from garden work, but it does allow more time for reading and quilting.  Last night I reached the half way point in quilting the Orange Peel quilt.  I hope to be finished by late January.

I have also pieced five units for the tumbling blocks.   I am still slow and deliberate with the hand piecing process, but it is getting easier.  Here are two of the units.

A Christmas Tradition: The Crap Line

A number of years ago, we started a Christmas tradition, the gift line.  My husband loves yard sales, and is a champion at finding great stuff.  Some is unique, some is fun, some is just down right weird.  But what to do with all this treasure?  Gift it!

When we started this, we would wrap everything for the gift line.  Here is how the line works:  Everyone lines up in some agreed upon order.   The first person picks a gift;  he/she can keep the gift and sit down, or pass it to the next person in line, and go to the back of the line.  The gift makes it way down the line, with everyone having a chance to keep it or pass it.  If it reaches the end, back to the original person, he/she takes the gift and sits down.  After everyone has gone through, we line up in a different order and start over.  We usually have enough gifts for 5 or 6 rounds.

Somewhere along the years, our oldest grandson labeled this the Crap Line.  Well, it is true that there is a fair amount of crap among the treasures.

In recent years the process has changed a bit.  Now each family unit contributes gifts to the Crap Line.  Beginning last year, enough identical paper was purchased, so that all gifts look alike.

Here are some of this years presents.

We had the Crap Line last night.  Some of the highlights included a return of Soap on a Rope (I think this is the 3rd year for it);  a box of rocks (geodes, crystals); an electric guitar & amplifier (yard sale treasure); green suede jacket (also yard sale).  And:

Once all the presents are opened, a fair amount of trading goes on.  All unwanted gifts are left behind for the party host to dispose of.  Some return to the Crap Line the following year, some get re-gifted, and some go one to yard sales or second hand shops to become someone else's treasure.

Quilting dreams

There are so many quilts that I want to make.  Someday, I intend to appliqué a Baltimore Album style quilt.  I also want to make a Drunkard's Path and a Railroad.

This is Railroad (very similar to Jacob's Ladder).  I already have blue and white fabric for it.

I also want to play around with more string quilts.  I have a few interesting ideas.

Over the last year or so, I have received several boxes of old quilt magazines, from various friends.  Some date back to the late 1970s.  Going through them has been great fun.  I do it at my leisure.

As I go through the magazines, I cut out pictures, patterns and articles of quilts I want to make, or tips I find helpful.  I have one notebook for appliqué, and one for pieced quilts.  I suppose this feeds my inner librarian!

At any rate, it does help me keep my quilting space in some order.

I am more than half way through the 31 Day Blog Writing Challenge!
http://muppin.com/wordpress/index.php/the-31-day-blog-writing-challenge