Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Time to winterize the garden....



I love to garden though I don't have the time or energy for it anymore. In southern California, this is the time to cut things back in preparation for what we call winter.

Cut back the butterfly bushes, Eucalyptus trees, Trumpet Flower and Passion Vine. The Lantana plus the passion flowers will feed my butterfly garden next spring. The lantana is cut back to 1 foot and allowed to hibernate. The Trumpet still has huge white flowers and blooms with it's own schedule. It blooms on new wood so it will get whacked way back. Same for the Cannas. But there is still time to catch a few blooms before the trimming begins. I got the last of my friend Christie's Zinnias before she mows them all down.

The Eucalyptus are in bloom. I had a tree-trimmer here last year and he took out 3 of my Eucs that were diseased with the borer beetle. I was concerned with my shaggy looking Euc with the pink feather-duster flowers. It seemed to be listing to one side. But the trimmer said it was fine. I think that his "fine" really meant "I don't want to try to steady a ladder over those boulders and trim your Euc". Our house sits next to a horse trail and there are piles of granite boulders that mark the edge of our property. The Euc is leaning toward those boulders. I have watched it grow this past year and lean even farther over. We have some much-needed rain coming so I decided to prune as much as we can reach of that Euc.Well, I decided to nag my husband enough to get him to trim part of the tree. The weight of rain on those blooms might be enough to tear it out of the ground. His trim job is not terribly neat but it'll do. I had to capture some of the blooms for the kitchen.

We were also treated to a beautiful sunset. Am I the only one who thinks that Terry looks drunk?





Sunday, November 23, 2008

Irish Chain with Chrysanthemums



Another Irish chain. This one has some chrysanthemum flower fabric in the centers. I used Patricia Ritter's Chrysanthemum design for the blocks and the corner stones. I did a big echoed feather traveling clockwise around the quilt borders and CC's in the chains. SID the borders and cornerstones. I used Quilter's Dream Puff batting to get this nice quilt definition. (see photos of the back). I used Sew-It-All #887, I call this 3-ply thread Magic because it seems to pick up the color of the surround fabrics so it works well in lots of places. I used PermaCore Chamois in the bobbin.



Sue's Batik Rail Fence


Sue always has the nicest batik fabrics. This one is a rail fence, except for one 9-patch. It is a big quilt, 93 x 106. She sent her own king-size warm and natural and a wide back light blue batik.

I used King Tutu Mirage #904 thread on top and Signature Iced Blue in the bobbin.

Doodling Daisies


I got this brightly colored all flannel quilt from Jennifer, a new quilter. She just wanted some freemotion edge-to-edge.So I doddled some daisies and loops. I have to say that is was a fun quilt to work on. I used Quilter's Dream select cotton batting, Begonia Signature thread top and bobbin. Jennifer told me that she is keeping this one.

My life has changed in the last couple of years - some bumps, I retired from quilting, and then I moved to Texas. I'm anxious to see what new adventures await me in the next phase of my life.

About Me

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Ramona, California, United States
I started quilting when a quilt shop opened in our little town in January 2004. I have been hooked ever since.

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Books I"ve read lately

  • The Help (Kindle)
  • The Appeal by John Grisham
  • Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd
  • Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen
  • To Kill a Mockingbird (again) by Harper Lee
  • Bleachers by John Grisham

This is called Fruit Cocktail

This is called Fruit Cocktail
It is all batiks