Monday, May 28, 2007

No more sewing for this gal . . .

Oh well, I had great visions of getting at least one more customer quilt finished this weekend, but I guess it wasn't meant to be. At least I have it loaded on the machine and all ready to go.

Saturday morning I worked outside about 4-5 hours. I pruned the crab apple tree, which looks MUCH better. I deadheaded all the spring blooming perennials and the iris. I dug the holes for the rest of the petunias, marigolds and phlox, but it was getting too hot, so I didn't do the actually planing until after dinner. Fred spent the morning taking all the tall, overgrown perennials - Siberian iris and some kind of daisy - out of the bed on the east side of the driveway.

Yesterday morning I planted last of the flowers and cut up all the crab apple limbs for the yard recycle. Then I put Preen, a weed inhibitor - on all the beds. About the time I was going to call it quits Fred came outside to see how I was doing. (He'd been inside doing school work all morning.) As soon as he saw that the beds were finished he hopped in the truck and went for bark dust. So we spent the next 5 hours spreading two yards of bark dust. We still need one more yard for the east of the driveway and the west side of the house, but that will wait until next weekend. We were just too tired and I was too sore to do any more - besides, City Bark was closed by 4:30. I hopped in the shower and Fred went to the athletic club to shower, and then picked up Subway for dinner

I'm very happy with how things are looking. I just wish we had a front porch - even a tiny one - so I could sit outside to stitch and enjoy looking at all our hard work. Right now the annuals look a bit puny, but with regular doses of fish fertilizer and regular deadheading they will spread marvelously over the summer. For the first time in several years we'll have a front yard to be proud of.

I planned to quilt this morning but I'm hurting too much. Sure shows I need the exercise! So I'm reading blogs and drinking coffee instead. We head to our son's at 11:30 for an early birthday celebration - and of course a visit with Sophie! I can't believe my baby will be 31 tomorrow!

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Gratitudes:
1. Seeing the results of our weekend labor
2. Fred's help with the yard
3. Kids who let us put two containers of stuff in their yard recycle bin
4. New quilting magazines to read
5. Four day weekends

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25 comments:

SuBee said...

Your yard is beautiful! All that hard work sure pays off. I agree, it would sure be nice to sit and stitch out there.

Carol said...

Your yard looks wonderful...sure is lots of work and the work never seems to end. Enjoy the pretty flowers out front! No porch...you'll just have to take a lawn chair to the yard and stitch :)

Tanya said...

What a pretty house and garden! A lot of work to keep it looking nice like that all the time. Good thing you enjoy it. Our yard is miniscule and though I love flowers I can't keep them nice at all. Spring comes and I get gung-ho, but gradually things fall apart. I'd rather quilt!

Melanie said...

Beautiful--- looks like home....

Jenni said...

You have a lovely house and garden. Shame you don't have a porch - maybe you could set up a little area in the back yard?

Elaine Adair said...

What? no porch to admire all your hard work and view such a pretty space? I'm envisioning a wooden swing, the kind that two can sit on, hanging from it's own posts ... That's what I would do ... oh yeah, and you can drape quilts over it to add to the pleasure. 8-)

Quilting Kim said...

Patti, your yard looks wonderful. I can't believe that you got all of that done in one day. I've been working on mine for the entire month of May, and my yard is nowhere near the size of yours.

Isn't it funny how most quilters share the same hobby of gardening?

I have a front porch and I never sit out there and stitch - too many distractions.

Nancy Anne in the Finger Lakes said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Nancy Anne in the Finger Lakes said...

Looks lovely - I'm envious. I know what pine straw is, but tell me - what is bark dust?

Anonymous said...

Around these here parts, we boycott neighbors like you fer makin' the rest of us out like slackers!

Beautiful, Patti! But you wore me out just reading all that you did. I bet you're sleeping very well.

Libby said...

A few hours (days) with sore muscles will be well worth it everytime you pull up in the driveway and admire your beautiful yard *s*

QuiltingFitzy said...

Your yardwork yielded a lovely vista, be proud!

Quilts And Pieces said...

Thats the one thing I miss on our house too is a front porch. I would love one of those big old kind! Your yard looks wonderful!

Kim said...

Your yard looks wonderful! What are you doing next weekend? Want to come down to California and do mine?! LOL!

Ms. Jan said...

Your yard is lovely! I can't wait to see how it looks when the flowers get going. I got tired just reading what you did in one day!

Unknown said...

You might not have got much stitching done but the garden's looking beautiful - want to come over and do mine? :o)

Susan said...

With all that accomplished you can turn into your driveway each day with a smile.........It really looks wonderful...........

Now you can concentrate on other things..........

Judy said...

Very beautiful job you did with the yard! Looks fabulous Patti!

Cher said...

hurray for all that hard work-it looks fantastic! and I can really appreciate the improvement having seen your front yard in person :-)

Ann said...

Wow, you have a beautiful yard. No wonder you were to tired to quilt!

atet said...

All of that work was well worth it. Your yard looks lovely!

Cynthia said...

the garden looks lovely. I need to get outside and prune all our roses. Certainly not something i'm looking forward to.

Beautiful photos of Sophie. She is growing so quickly.

Holly said...

Oh my gosh, Patti, your yard looks like it should be on the cover of a magazine! You did good, girl :)

The Chicken Lady said...

The yard looks awesome! I'm sure you will love being in it! :)

Happy Zombie said...

Your yard and home is so beautiful Patti! I've always wanted to live in a yellow house with white trim. I'm still trying to convince my DH (not that I really need to) that yellow (just like yours) is THE color for our house!

PS... I seem to be following you in comment-land these last couple of days. My comments look up at your comments like Jan looks up at Marcia!