A Little Gardening

It looks like I won't be planting any annuals this year. No lovely Impatiens to brighten our walkway. Instead, I've been thinking of resourceful and practical plantings. Yesterday, I went to visit DH at the nursery to pick out some herbs for my mini garden. I quickly planted these before the sun went down.

I just love the variegated Basil that my DH picked out for me.

Lemon Thyme, Cilantro, and variegated Basil

As you can imagine the scents were absolutely devine when I freed them from their growing pots. In my planter, I mixed some Soil Moist into the soil then added a final 2"-3" layer of soil on top of that. I planted my herbs and sprinkled some Osmocote on top of the soil. I watered the planter thoroughly.

Parsley, Basil, and Thyme

This year, I've been cooking mostly Italian and Mexican dishes. Yes, we eat a lot of pasta (wheat) and beans around here. Fiber is good. I can't wait to start using these herbs in my dishes.


On the sewing front: I have to admit. I lost my sewing mojo. I know you can relate to this. I partially blame my knitting projects for that. Like a mad-woman, I knitted two cardigans at the same time. Guess what? The pieces are done. I will never do that again...knitting two at one time. Right now, I'm taking a breathing break before I start to seam the pieces. That's why you haven't seen any garment sewing-related posts from me. My SM is jealous of my knitting needles.

I do have some knit fabrics that need to be made into a maxi dress (the Simplicity pattern that's becoming a fave) and a few knit tops.

No Sewing, Just a Porch Stake-Out

As we come to the end of September and the days get shorter, I realize I will be missing the time I spend sitting on our front porch. Sitting and watching our little garden critters come and go. Over the last two weeks (when I've been home), I've been watching our friendly hummingbirds pay us a visit to our new feeder. At one time, I saw 3 of them fighting over the feeder. DH says they are territorial. Of course, I never had my camera around to capture the fight.

I took my camera with me and sat on my porch this afternoon. I waited. Sure enough, one hummingbird appeared and appears bashful. A second one appears for landing (see left picture). I can't believe I captured two of them sitting on the feeder at the same time. If you look real close you'll see the tail feathers of the first one behind the feeding area. A third one was about to join them, but decided there was no room and left. Lesson learned, never take your eye off the camera's view finder...I missed that shot.





I figured out on average, the hummingbird would come to our feeder every 4-5 minutes. Now, which one? I have no idea. I assume they are tag teaming.

I can't say if I like the hummingbird feeder that comes with the rail for them to sit on and feed. The pictures come out great when they sit still. But at the same time, I like to capture their fluttering wings.



DH says the hummingbirds will be leaving us real soon for their migration. For now, I'm kind of sad. On the other hand, I do get to shop for more hummingbird feeders for next year. So, so long my little cuties. See you next June. Sigh!

Life in Our Garden

I was sitting on our front porch with DH. We were spending some quiet time reading and enjoying the nice weather we were having. I had my camera with me and gave my zoom lens a good workout. We had a lot of visitors spend some time in our front garden.

This was incredible to watch. DH had put the hummingbird feeder in our garden a few days ago. We were surprised to see the nectar disappear so quickly. So, DH refilled the feeder with more nectar. While we were sitting on our front porch, our friendly hummingbird appeared for a quick snack at the feeder. We were glad to witness this event first hand.

We noticed some butterflies flitting around. I followed a few and captured this Swallow Tail butterfly feeding on some flowers.

Then DH followed me into the garden to see what I was up to. He pointed out his little critter feasting on a Butterfly Weed plant. It's a Monarch catepillar. In a few weeks (and after munching out on the Butterfly Weed plant)...you got...it will become a Monarch Butterfly.

Last weekend I captured this little critter...a frog. It's the largest of two that we were able to find so far.


I plan to hang out on the porch tomorrow morning to see what other visitors we might have.

And how is my Butterick jacket coming along? I've managed to sew the front and back pleats, shoulder and side seams, and getting reading to stitch the front and neck facings to the jacket. So, I am making progress and enjoying my sewing time this weekend.

Flowers and other things

Here's a picture of the floral bouquet that DH gave me earlier this week via FTD. Unfortunately, I wasn't home to receive them or enjoy them as I had to go into the office for a few days this week. Right now, I have the vase next to my computer so I can look at the flowers all day long and enjoy them (finally).

I love flowers. I am glad I married a horticulturist. Our gardens are always in bloom at different stages throughout the year (except Winter). He planned it that way. He's into perennials and I prefer annuals. Over the years, the perennials have taken over much of the gardens (and I'm sure he planned that too). This is the first year, I haven't planted any annuals. That means no impatiens (my favorites) are growing. I guess that translates to hardly any gardening time and more sewing time for me. lol! After living here for over 10 years, you can imagine how much our gardens have matured. Our neighbor's kids think of our yard as the fairy princess garden.


I treated myself to a special sewing gift. This came in the mail from EmmaOneSock. Yes, they are black and cream colored knit fabrics. I couldn't resist. I just love EOS! I typically receive her package within the next day or two after she ships. Love the service. I have to add that the fabrics I purchase from EOS are lovely. I have never been disappointed in the quality.

Now, I am off to see what you folks are up to on your sewing blogs....

PIctures From Our Garden and My Next Sewing Project

I do not have any sewing pictures to share with you yet. I will get to that topic shortly. I thought I would take some non-sewing time and share some pictures of our front garden.

It is definitely Summer and we have many plants that are showing off their bright colors. This is a picture of our front curb garden that faces the street/cul-de-sac. Everytime I back out or come into our driveway...I get this wonderful view. So, one morning I did remember to take a picture.


It amazes me that bees don't seem to mind me taking pictures of them. We have all types of critters flying around our gardens. Besides bees, we have butterflies, moths, and a hummingbird or two visiting each day.



We have many daylilies in a variety of colors. Thanks to DH's good friend, who is a grower...he keeps sending over some wonderful plants.




And our live-in bunny who doesn't seem to mind my picture taking...



...she's just happy to be hopping from one garden to the next:



Now to my sewing topic. I've been thinking about sewing all week long. I am making another pair of shorts. This time I made my pattern adjustment (increase my crotch point by 1/2 inch to the back pattern piece) to the shorts pattern I reviewed recently. I also shortened the length of the shorts by an inch. My fabric is all cut out and pieces are interfaced and ready to sew. I can't wait to see how this version will fit. I am, again, working with a cotton twill fabric with no stretch. This time in a raspberry color! Don't worry...I've got some cool looking black fabric waiting to be made up as cropped pants. lol!

Oh, and I've been in the kitchen with DH this evening, preparing meals for our local SERVE.

Have a great weekend!

Blueberries in Our Garden

Nestled in the side garden is a blueberry bush. We had transplanted this lovely shrub almost 10 years ago. Actually, it was a pair of them but one had succumbed to mother nature. Okay, I really don’t remember what happened…it might have been competition with other plants/shrubs or lack of water or transplant shock. Our blueberry shrub is producing lots of wonderful blueberries for us.

We saved this blueberry shrub from human devastation. Here’s our story.

Many years ago, DH and I used to visit a wonderful blueberry farm in Northern Virginia. The owner gave us a bucket and told us to fill it as much as we could. We did and had fun. There were rows upon rows of blueberry shrubs with these dazzling fruits to be picked. Back then, I was considered to be a wonderful baker specializing in chocolate concoctions and had dreams of opening a bakery. Ooops…I digressed. Back then, I would make wonderful blueberry muffins and blueberry cakes with these fruits.

Several years later (10 years ago), I am working for a technology firm where the owner’s wife (my boss) mentions to me that a blueberry farm had been sold and they are clearing the land to build new homes. Oh no! She had received permission to dig as many blueberry shrubs as she could. This is where my DH (the horticulturist) comes in.

We thought we were going to dig 6-8 shrubs, giving half of them to my boss. DH and I arrived to what was left of the farm (a sad scene). We found an area that wasn’t bulldozed yet. Well, the 6-8 shrubs became only 4 shrubs. They were HUGE! DH wanted to make sure we had a good size root ball and even one shrub was quite heavy to load into the truck. Thank goodness my boss lived less than half a mile away from the farm. We gave her two (and she was extremely happy to have two large shrubs). Quality is better than quantity.

Our blueberry shrub sits proudly in our garden and we are thankful that it’s producing wonderful berries for us. Since I no longer bake (long hiatus), I add the blueberries with other fruits for juicing. We can tell that summer is officially here.