THE WAY BACK VIEWS

This tree is a favorited of mine-a nice shape now but in the Fall it turns red!  I've never taken the time to see what kind it is, though.

But when Bill and I took a walk the other day, the honey bees were very active around this tree--it was humming! 

 We looked closely and found these 'lily-of-the-valley' shaped flowers and the even smelled lovely!  

I had to google it and I learned it is a wild persimmon tree!!!

My Muscadine grapevine is off to a brilliant start!

And even has some very newly formed bunches!

(look closely!)

The pond, unfortunately, is shrinking! 

 We just had our first measurable rain in 6 weeks! 

 I am hoping for a normal rainy season this summer

 to bring all our water levels up.

The Elderberry trees have all bloomed 

but their little berries dried and fell off without the rain. 

 I'm hoping that the recent rainfall will help the late berries!

The aloe are happy and so are the hummers who visit it!

This rose bush is from Bill's Mom who planted it at her winter home here in FL many years ago.  When the house was sold,

 Bill took the root ball and has nursed it back to health!  

It is stunning! (6' TALL)    

Bill has also cultivated several large plots like this for vegetables and it was very happy for the rain,  also! 

 We are eating radishes from it already!

 

FIRST HARVEST!

Enough for a small amount of beans and sugar snap peas for a first meal!  I do love the joy of workng in the garden!

I cooled off in the house by doing a bit of quilting;  it is in the 90's outside!  Lena was a very close sewing buddy which cramped my style but I still liked her company!

I managed to slice the rest of the four-patches and have tried my first arrangement.  I will try several more until I am sure I have it-notice the secondary pattern it makes!

I will leave you with a delicious aroma of the

 Confederate Jasmine!  Ahhhhh!

ALL ABOUT HOME

We bought some new hibiscus plants since the freeze a few years ago killed the bushes we enjoyed previously.

Some new pots, a bit of mulch

 and what a beautiful welcoming area now!  

I cut and stripped some bamboo canes 

to use in the vegetable garden as stakes.  

I needed some higher trellises for the peas!

I needed to come in the house and cool off a bit so I enjoyed a few hours cutting, piecing and stitching!  This is a repeat of one I did recently as a kit.  There was some of their fabric left and I supplemented it with some of my own! 

 This is a disappearing four-patch.

I painted the trellis arch by the bird bath--it just needs to be covered by the jasmine-which is vry short 

and not taking off like I thought it would!

And finally, this is a recent addition to the front yard--

yup, it says it all.

 

SOCKS AND GARDENS

The second pair of shorty socks is finished!  I need to dye some Bare yarn in the stash so I can make another pair of socks!

I ate a few sugar snap peas yesterday!

  They were extra good to me!

And I need to extend my fencing for the peas-they are getting very tall.  I will be cutting some small bamboo canes

 and weave the grid higher!

The green beans are full oof blooms

 and looking lush and pretty, too!

The zuchini and summer squash are full of blooms

 but also some baby fruit;

and isn't it cute?!

The bell peppers are doing their thing--I can already taste the stuffed pepper dish I will use these for!

I'm growing banana peppers which I enjoy stuffing and roasting!

But some other members of my neighborhood (deer) have discovered my garden!!!  Bill put up a large barrier so they can look but not touch my peas, beans or squash!  I don't think they will bother the peppers--we'll see if it works!

PLEASURES OF HOME

At the frame, the first QOV is finished!  I was working on the miles of binding and the iron stopped working!  I tried to figure out why, I think water got in one of the contacts, and it shorted out.  Very frustrating!  I will finish the binding application first thing this morning so I can turn it in at Quilting Group today!

I worked on more of these blocks and will take this to finish the pile for my project today.

Yesterday, I enjoyed an early morning weeding/hoeing session in the garden beds.  The growth in just the 11 days we were gone is amazing!  The plants all tripled in size!  

The hour spent puttering with the plants was very good for me!

Bill's cherry tomato is tall and productive--the small beef tomatoes are catching up!

Tomorrow, I will show you a few other projects I enjoyed working on--it is nice to be home.

 

A BEAUTIFUL DAY

 

When it is sunny out, warm but not humid, you will see Floridians out in droves!  I was excited to work in the veggie beds since everything is coming up! Lena enjoyed playing near me and gratefully-no cats have tried to get into the sandboxes!

Before the peas got too big, 

I wanted to add the lattice for them to climb on.  I also added soil and some fertilizer to the area that have seedlings.

I added the banana peppers to the right of the bell peppers-

they also got some soil, fertilizer and some watering--the biggest necessity for the plants because our 'soil' just lets water drain right through it!

I also added some wooden and jute cages

 to the climbing green beans.

I also did some work in the studio--I cut out some Steam Punk fabric with watches to accent the main blocks.  More on this later!

This is the bridge we take to and from our nearest 'city'.

  I did mention it was a beautiful day, right?!

TUMBLING TUESDAY

This batch of rocks is on its last week-next week will be the big reveal!  I have chert, petrified wood and some other fun rocks!

This was the mystery mix from the RockShed--oh, so pretty after only one week of tumbling!

As long as we are in Spring now, I thought I would show you my veggie beds--and I have green poking up all over!  

Look hard and you can see the beans here!  See-we don't have soil here-we have sand with lots of decaying material in it!  Very different to work with but I have high hopes!

The last block is finished!  Now I have to decide how to attach them to each other--I'm pretty sure I will be crocheting the blocks together--it is easiest and looks good, too.  

I'm off to Quilting Group today; I made some

 machine/ hand needle cushions for the original four of us! 

 I made it out of canvas squares filled with walnut shells.  

The lines are inked on with permanent marker.

  The pile of threads are from the 'fringing' I did to the sides!