Gardens and Gardening

Wow, has it really been two and a half months since my last post?  Here I am on a long weekend trying to jam a lot of activities like cooking, gardening, quilting and cleaning into 2.5 days . Notice how I put housework last? 😂

I am just going to post photos of some things I've made or done recently.

This next photo is of a part of the garden that I am now calling the Gravel Garden (inspired from Chanticleer's Gravel Garden). 

I have pulled the weeds by hand for the past 4 days from this area. My latest audiobook has kept me company as I haven't seen our resident Cottontail rabbit in ages. G thinks he's on holiday 😊

I was given a lot of pollinator plants last month and they will be going in the Gravel Garden. I daren't  go to a garden centre this weekend because the last time I went, I spent more than I originally planned 😬 I went with a very basic list but started putting plants that were not on the list in the cart ! How could I resist this Agastache 'Kudos Mandarin'?

After I finish the Gravel Garden, hopefully I can  move on to the area I want to call the Scent Garden. It is underneath this triangle of crappy Maples and the shade level ranges from intense to dappled several times throughout the day. My plant list includes a plethora of scented plants from thorny roses to shrubs I've never even seen in my life. A 45 minute road trip will be mandatory (of course!) to my all time favourite Lost Horizons Nursery for most of the plants on said list.

Finally, here is the latest photo of the straw bale garden. All that ☔️ in June has delayed the start of planting and since I'm new to this straw bale gardening, it has been quite a learning curve.

Finding Inspiration

When I am in a funk (which is almost always), I look around me for inspiration.

Hyacinth blooms grown indoors

 Hex quilt based on one of my favorite board games?

The Settlers of Catan

 
Graphic quilt based on a thrift store find? DH found this poster hanging on the wall of our favorite little thrift store. This is now hanging in his office ;)

Groovy baby!

I saw this throw pillowcase at the local Sally Anne store. The second time I went back it was still there but last week, just when I was looking for it, I couldn't find it anymore :(

Where do you get your inspiration from?

Bright and cheery

The Balikbayan Box Countdown Begins

Last Saturday morning, the courier company picked-up the ultra heavy box containing the baby quilts, books, chocolates, etc, etc...It will hopefully arrive in the  Philippines within 6 to 8 weeks. Longer, I guess, if there are going to be severe weather conditions which will delay the cargo ship. 

By that time, my niece will hopefully be out of the hospital. I was able to squeeze in my first rag quilt too into the Balikbayan Box (Balikbayan means return to home country in Filipino). It took me two days to make said quilt and I was pretty pleased with myself. It got me thinking that perhaps small projects are good to work on because they are attainable (Du-h!) and they give you a boost of much needed self-confidence as I am pretty new at this quilting lark.

I need to write down my 2013 goals too and one of them is to get started on the Batman quilt for DS (who is now on a Batman phase) and hopefully he will still like Batman by the time I get that quilt done. I lost the Nine-Patch Revisited instructions for it and I don't really want to drive all the way to the next town just to get another copy of it. You know when something turns up just when you're not looking for it anymore? Exactly...I am waiting for one of those days...

Taking Stock

Last night, while watching some old Top Chef Season 5 episodes I thought I'd multitask (as usual) and go through my stash and hopefully find something that will inspire me. And I did! I found a handful of little heart yo-yos that I'd forgotten all about. 

What's in your stash?

Heart yo-yos

Musical instruments

I also found a panel of fabric with musical instruments which I could make into a lap quilt for my Mom or my sister. We'll see. How about you? What's in your stash and how did you "build" it?