Baby Blanket Mania

What better thing to do on one of the hottest summers on record, than crochet? Makes no sense to me either, but I am going baby blanket crazy. I made one for my friend Yassin which did not get photographed. IT was a lovely plain cream color as I did not know the gender of the baby at the time. With Edhybet's baby coming I made this one first...

Then I was lucky enough to go to her sonogram appointment and found out It's A Girl!!!

The picture does not do the coloring justice. It is much prettier in person. I made this one much smaller and I am going to try and line this blanket with a violet colored satiny material. I have it all pinned up, I am just a little scared to try it. I saw the idea on ETSY and thought it was brilliant. If it works, Melanie may just get an afghan as part of her wedding gift this December.

New Afghan for Who?

So I finished a new afghan the other day and decided to measure it to the size of my bed. It looked pretty good so I walked back to the other room to get my scissor and tie off the blanket. I was gone about 45 seconds and here is Hector with a ruffled up afghan pretending to be sound asleep. Really?? In about 45 seconds??? On his back with his tongue hanging out. I guess this will be someone else's new afghan.

Tagged!!!

I was pulling out of my driveway yesterday and noticed that little sign that makes me oh so very happy. I was tagged for a "Buffalo in Bloom" garden. This makes all my digging worth while.

Here are a few updated flower and garden photos as well.

 I added this totem/planter to the front yard to cover a bald spot

 My "overflow" area is filling in nicely with the extra tomato plants that came up wild from last year. I tried not to plant too much in the ground since the utility company has yet to come and remove the old pole on the right.

McKinly High School Begonias are started to fill up the rock garden too. This started out as a spot to cover up the ugly area on the side of the garage. That area is filled  almost completely with Hostas now too. Yeah!! No more weeding back there, just my compost bin and some hiding spots for bunnies.

Daylily Road Trip

Two days ago I went to a daylily farm with 2 friends in Medina, NY. I was told by some people from the daylily society this was the place to go. I looked up "Cottage Gardens" online and saw they had over 2000 kinds of daylilies. I was not disappointed. The prices ranged from $5 - $200. The ones I purchased only ranged from $5 - $10.

I bought 1 Southern Coral and 1 Bologongo to go in the backyard circle with my Irises

                                 I got 2 Matchmaking Miss to plant on either side of my arbor

           I bought 3 Eric Junior to plant in the circles by the side of my house

Kathleen got a few free clippings from that giant Scottish Thistle you see in the background. This is 1 year old. I was too afraid to take any.

Here is the young worker bee digging up my purchases

Kathleen and Angel taking a nice shady break. It has been in the 90s without any rain for awhile now

Galvanized Tub and Chicken Feeder

I was out with Mom the other day doing errands and such. All of a sudden I turned the car around in the middle of the street because I saw my favorite sign; "Free Take Me"
There by the side of the road were 3 galvanized tubs. I was thrilled. This made my whole week better.
I knew right away I needed to plant these. I have one to use for extra tomato plants that grew up wild from last year. The other was just sitting next to the garden screaming to be planted with herbs. I went to a garden and craft show at Delware Park and received a free plant called Golden Feverfew and then I had a nursery groupon I needed to use, so I went out and got some other herbs. Going clockwise from the upper right corner I have Silver Thyme, Dwarf Lavander, Cuban Oregeno and Sweet Basil with the Feverfew in the middle.

I also could not resist this cool looking plant, even though it is an annual. The nursery guy said I can bring it in the house for the winter. I placed it in this chicken feeder (that's is what some farm kid told me it was) I got from a Farmer's Market for $1. It is called "Mezoo Trailing Red".

Vacation in Ocean City, Maryland

I just thought I would share some vacation photos

Springtime in the Dirt

Let the digging begin.
I started out with a completely overgrown rock garden. It looks like weeds, but it is actually the peach primrose that has taken over (with perhaps a few weeds in between)

 Nine hours later....I think it will look good when the begonias start to fill in.

The Utility Company was also kind enough to place a new pole in my backyard.
They tried to convince me to keep some of this lovely soil
I made them haul it away

So of course I decided to expand just a little
I could not plant completely, because they still have to remove the old pole. I was told it would be some time in August. I tried to place things that could be easily removed in front of it. I hope the Tiger Lillies come back, but probably not his year. I am waiting for a friend to remove and give me some peach and purple daylillies. Last time I heard, she had only removed 1. I may have to go to  plan B.