Limes, Olives, Peas and Leafy Greens

It's a flimsy!

54 x 72

Earlier in the year I sorted a box of 5 inch squares (charms) I have received from others over the years into kits for a few different comfort quilts.  I made a top similar to this one in June with blue squares. I will also be making a brown version. 

Limes, olives, peas and leafy greens. 

And sew on...

Finished Or Not Finished Friday at Alycia Quilts

***

Here's photos of another garden area - one of the native wildflower areas. I sowed a native wildflower mix of seeds from Prairie Moon Nursery in the Autumn two years ago. Last year and this year I have spent time continually removing woody species and noxious weeds like ragweed, dayflower, different types of cockleburs, green brier, brambles and virginia creeper. In the Autumn I will cut it all down to about six inches like I did last year. Then in year three the management involves burning sections each year. 

Here's a view from one side of the driveway. A lot of my front yard near the ditch is the native wildflower area. 

I know all the flowers look the same but the mix has Black Eyed Susans, Sweet Black Eyed Susans and Brown Eyed Susans in it.  

Mostly all the Susans are blooming now. 

But if you look closely there are other things in bloom like Anise Hyssop.

That tall mullein (verbascum) in the foreground was not in the mix but I left it. 

The thistle wasn't part of the mix either but I also left it. It and a lot of the other wildflowers has been covered with Goldfinch the last few days. 

The blue tall Bellflower was also not part of the mix but I also left it. I love it but it can become invasive; however, it is easy to pull out if it ends up taking over. 

Wild mint was not part of the mix either! 

That purple hidden back there is wild bee balm. That was part of the mix. I have another photo where it is not so hidden.

Some purple Coneflower appeared this year here and there. Some of that was in the mix. I'm going to sow more seeds in some bare spots where I pulled out a lot of weeds in the Autumn. 

A shady area is filled with wild white snakeroot. I might be pulling out some of that. If cows eat white snakeroot the toxins can build up in their milk and cause milk sickness (or trembles) in humans. Abraham Lincoln's mother, Nancy Hanks Lincoln, died of milk sickness. 

More Purple Coneflower.

There is a patch of Motherwort that appeared. I will probably reduce the patch a bit before it takes over. Motherwort is in the mint family. That is easy to tell because it has square stems. It supposedly is beneficial for women's issues. I'll pass. Well, I don't actually have any issues. 

Tall yellow coneflower. 

More Bee Balm.

View from the other end. 

My walk to the mailbox. Lately there have been a lot of goldfinch flitting about. There are other things that will bloom soon like goldenrod and asters. I have another wildflower area that is shadier. I haven't used a mix of seeds for that area but have been building it up with different native plants I've sown from seed each year. Maybe I should call it the deer and rabbit buffet instead of native wildflower area. I will maybe show that area later. Right now the pathways are a little overgrown and I need to take the weedwhacker to them. But that has not been a priority. One of these days...

And sow on...

 

Not Sure What To Call It

It's a flimsy!

54 x 72

I was inspired by Alycia's quilt she called Pringles.  She was using pieces 2 x 3.5 and since I'm trying to empty a box of 3.5 inch strips and squares I figured it would be a good way to use up some of the smaller scraps in the box. I had a lot of blues and browns in the box as well as some 2 inch width blues and browns in the 2 inch width scrap bin so set to work cutting pieces. I didn't use all 2 x 3.5 rectangles. I did use some 3.5 inch squares instead of sewing 2 rectangles together. 

I decided to use gray, the only fabric not from the scrap bins, for the "pathway" that doesn't show up all that well but that's the way it goes...sometimes the path forward isn't all that clear.

Alycia linked to a quilt made by Lynn at Klein Meisje Quilts called 3 Tatami Mat that uses 1.5 x 2.5 rectangles for the unit pieces. 

Then I saw one that Julie was making with 2.5 x 4.5 pieces she called Nimiety

So...a quilt by any other name...

The box of 3.5 inch width strip pieces and squares in June 2026. 

Most of the contents were given to me over the year by other folks. When I receive scraps I take my little six inch ruler and measure the width of them and put them in a box of scraps with others of that width. I usually have several RSC projects going for each box. 

This is the fifth top made from scraps in that box of 3.5 inch width strips and squares. 

From the scraps in that box so far...

1. Streak of Lightning top (blue/gray/neutrals)

2. Hollow Nine Patch top

3. Small Uneven Nine Patch top

4. Snowball Nine Patch

5. This one - Gray Pathways

and actually I have a block set made for 

6.  Large Uneven Nine Patch

And sew on...

***

I think I've mentioned before that I made a Perky Goth Moonlight Garden as a memorial to my deceased granddaughter Kayla. I am using mostly pink (perky), black (goth) and white (moonlight) flowers. This is the second year and I'm still trying to get some perennials established and I've been battling with deer and rabbits and moles and trying to work around hubby's hospitalizations and the weather. 

I have had a lot of black tulips and white and black lilies in bloom. I have some shrubs off to a slow start. I have several hellebores that just seem to sit there and not grow at all; however, I think a mole might have tunnels in around that area. For mole control I've bought a big jug of cayenne pepper and sprinkle it around the holes. I also sometimes mix the cayenne with castor oil and spray into the tunnels. I try to be consistent about applying it but I have so many gardens and so many mole holes that by the time I spray one they just make another. Oh, I also spriinkle coffee grounds in their holes too. 

So anyway...I decided to take a few photos to show this garden area in year two. I cleared the area of weeds, brambles, wild grape vines, elderberry and honeysuckle. It is a wooded area on one end and sunny on the other. 

Entrance to the area. There are trellises with climbing roses - pink on one side and white on the other.  Straight ahead is a mound. It is the dirt scooped up to make even ground for an above ground pool we put in over 20 years ago. 

I started seeds for a few different types of white and pink trailing petunias and a few dark purple ones. I also started some black dragon coleus. I wanted to fill in the mound with mostly annuals this year. I purchased the black sweet potato vines.  I was devastated earlier in the year when most everything was eaten down to almost nothing by a rabbit or deer. I sprayed with Bobbex a couple of times and have been delighted to see quite a few of my flowers come back. 

I have labeled things I started from seed so I can tell if I should start seeds again next year of that variety. 

So I'll give this a try again next year until I can figure out what perennials I can plant here and stay with my color scheme. 

And going around one side of the mound here is the view looking down to the end of the garden where I put up a fence along that end to divide up this area from the wooded area that used to be our wood lot when our house was only heated by wood.   The white trellis has a white rose and clematis on it. 

Walking down the pathway to the pink birdbath with pink, black and white calla lilies planted under it. I have to dig up those corms in the Fall.  Between the trees is a trellis with Moonflowers that have not bloomed yet.  Near that trellis I have planted white candelabra verbascum I started from seeds. Hopefully that will bloom next year. 

Here is a patch of annual celosia I started from seeds. It is supposed to have darker foliage and pink flowers. I think I was supposed to pinch out the tips a few times for bigger flowers I could actually dry but I never got around to it. It was just something I was trying out until I can get some perennials established. 

Garden bench. It has a trellis near it with another rose and earlier in the year it had some black sweet peas. I had spread some poppy seeds here and there but nothing ever sprouted. 

Some black and pink dahlias are starting to bloom. 

Dahlia

Dahlia

Dahlia

Dahlia

I have quite a few black gladioli that are staked up; however, something like a deer keeps running through my patch and knocks all my stakes and gladioli over. 

Roselily

Well, that was about half of the Perky Goth Moonlight garden. I have an area with black hollyhocks, hellebores, more roses, shrubs, and dark sedums and grasses. And I have an archway with more roses and clematis. More later. 

I mentioned I cleared the Perky Goth Moonlight garden of elderberries. Well, I thought their long slender stems would make nice stakes for a trellis. I have a slab near my cutting garden that John used to keep his telescope on. I thought it would make a nice seating area with a trellis where I could maybe grow a sunflower house. I used the elderberry branches and old tubing from John's enteral feed bags and made a trellis. And who knew those old dead looking elderberry sticks would sprout and actually bear fruit this year? I had to trim them back! Now if I wanted that to happen it wouldn't have. When the kids were younger I did make elderberry syrup and John made elderberry wine but I just think of them as weeds now. 

And sow on...

We are supposed to have rain for the next couple of days so maybe I will catch up on replying to emails and a little housework.  And now that we have some a/c in the living room I'm itching to get a quilt in the hoop for some hand quilting. I need to dig through my yarn and make a few stocking caps for kids too. Last time I looked in the yarn box a mouse jumped out of it (eek! I was traumatized) so I figured I should use the yarn before the mice shred it. Hmmm...might crochet a few dishcloths and washcloth and soap bag sets.