Mama's New Home

We had been collecting plants for a few weeks & this weekend was the time to get her landscaping done. She never had many plants around the old home & it always looked a bit barren. We had some plants that we started & several we bought. The only thing she requested was azaleas. Here's what we installed today:

Purchased:

10 azaleas
1 plant with purple flowers that I can't recall the name, but is supposed to get large.
2 blueberry
2 crepe myrtle
12 aztec grass
8 daylillies (sister's)
4 lavendar
4 lorapetalum

Grown from starts:

1 camelia (sister's)
1 gardenia
3 hydranga's
2 sago palms
5 pine trees (sprigs received from Greenscape)

What a beautiful day to work. High in the 60s with bright sunshine. She & my Sister live in a small town about an hours drive from our city house. We got started around 11:00 & it took 4 of us about 6 hours to complete it all.

In addition to the plants, leaves & mulch, hubby put down 3 landing pads in pavers (leftover from front walkway in city). 2 for the stairs into the house (front & back) & 1 for the trashcan which her young neighbors kindly take to the curb for her.

We are most worried about her being able to take the 50' hoses off the hose racks & get them rolled back up. They are not the most expensive hoses & not very cooperative. We will see how she does w/those.

We are back at the city house & will be working with plants once again today. We grafted some lorapetalum & camelia's last summer. We'll be cutting them & putting in pots today & hopefully get those planted at the country house this fall. It's going to be another beautiful day with highs in the mid 60s. Got to get out there & get yard work done before we hit our normal hot & humid days in the 90s. Miserable conditions to work in for sure.

Pick Up Sticks

Remember that game we played as kids & loved it? Not so much as an adult. Guess I should have had kids so I could get them to do it now. Too late! Actually the picking up doesn't bother me. It's the unloading onto "the pile" that I don't like.

While Greg mowed the weeds (it's green from the road so it's all good) I picked up sticks along the driveway. I know, if you just leave them they rot away, but we like things nice & tidy when we can get it that way. So, picking up those sticks along the driveway was my weekend responsibility.

3 loads just like this.

Here's what he was mowing down:

Bitter weed is what we call this in our neck of the woods. It stays away after a couple of mowings. It's really very pretty but 8 acres of the stuff needs to be cut. Done in about 3 hours.

After I finished that task I took a look at the garden.

Boy, those weeds have grown in a month! Starting that particular task at 2:00p in 80 degree heat probably wasn't the smartest idea but I did get to use the shed roof off the garden shed with a nice breeze & it made a huge difference. I weeded each bed & then took a 5 min. break in the shade & breeze. It took just under 2 hours. No after pics, sorry. Greg string trimmed around the edges & I pulled from the bed itself. Had a whole Mule load full. Put them on "the pile" as well. We'll eventually burn that pile but for now it's just growing.

Anyway, spring has sprung at the Farm. Of the trees installed last year ... 1 maple, 1 willows & 2 peach trees made it. 1 maple & 2 apples didn't. Here's one of the peach trees in full bloom.

Need to prune.

Spring has sprung!

Quilt Retreat 2015 - Lancaster, SC

Normally, I travel to my friend's (Debbie's) house the day before the retreat, spend the night at her house then we head on to the retreat itself. This year the retreat was scheduled to be held only a few miles from her farm. That saved us about 3 additional driving hours, yeah! Here's a link to her farm - Fox Trot Farm they sell lambs & lamb meat products.

I arrived on Friday afternoon & unpacked quilt stuff then moved on to my room which was in a lovely house built with much love throughout the ages. The house started as a small log cabin in the 1800's & added on as the years & the family grew. Mrs. Catoe decided to turn the house into a Bed & Breakfast at some point & has decorated each room beautifully. Here's the website if anyone happens to be in the area - Homeplace Bed & Breakfast. They are a Christian based family & very family oriented. Many family members still live on the property & have goats, horses & cows they take care of. They have an Open House & Betheham Marketplace during the Holiday season. You tour the house (with a Christmas tree in every room - 33 in all!) then the family puts on a play in their large barn. The play depicts the birth of Jesus through to his homecoming.

In addition to the house you can rent the banquet hall to do whatever you please. We obviously were going to quilt the days away. My friend & her local quilting buddies decorated it with first class quality quilts on display along with work stations for each of us. There was also a cutting station & design station as well as ironing stations on either side of the room.

The hall also came with the use of a commercial kitchen. Each person makes at least 1 dinner & we all snack on the leftovers for lunch or make whatever we each brought.

A couple of the girls had some weather delays out of KY & didn't come until Sat. Debbie made a wonderful Tuscan chicken soup, bread & salad the 1st night. I cooked on Saturday & the menu included pork roast in the crock pot, smashed potatoes & broccoli casserole, plus homemade rolls that got really brown (read, burnt on the bottom) but still very tasty.We went to a local restaurant Wagon Wheel, on Sunday so that constituted our large meal of the day. Oh . my . gosh, the fried squash they serve was wonderful!

Our friend from KY served Taco soup & cheesy corn muffins on Monday night. Mrs. Catoe & a couple of local quilters joined us & it was a wonderful meal complete with family stories at the end. Plus, she made homemade pimento cheese & we had grilled pimento cheese sandwiches for lunch one day.

The last night was for leftovers. I also made my famous stuffed mushrooms & a cheese dip that left something to the imagination.

All in all it was a great vacation at a wonderful location. Here are a few pics:

Cathedral Windows. Not mine! This was part of one of the master quilter's bedspread!

My Starflower Block - the beginning of a special project w/special fabric. Later post.

My crooked Flower Basket Throw - I don't like triangles!

Headed to Another Quilt Retreat

This time in Lancaster, SC. Not so far to drive & the place where we are staying & quilting looks to be fabulous. Here's a pic of our workroom:

Doesn't that look like a bright & lovely place to sew? Can't wait. Should get there early this afternoon. Will post update when I return.