Summer Gardening Continues

I continue to enjoy working on getting my yard in shape. While it does need some weeding right now, it is still very pleasant to look around at the plantings while walking around or viewing from the deck or windows.
Alongside the fence at the south border of my yard, a globe arborvitae forms as backdrop for a lovely daylily.

In this area you see lots of the light orange daylilies as you drive down the street. This year bright yellow daylilies are also in evidence. The ones I have are a dark terracotta with a lighter shade in the center.


They are part of the south border alongside the 6-foot privacy fence.


Most yards in this and nearby neighborhoods have hostas. They are used singly, in rows and in circles. I have two types of hostas in my garden. Here is the hosta ‘Albo Marginata’ which has light purple blooms on long stems.

The hosta ‘Bressingham Blue’ produces white flowers


A view from the south border on the left toward the new planting under and between two maple trees.

This new garden bed consists of three large hosta ‘Bressingham Blue’ and two hosta ‘Albo Marginata’ with a few yellow marigolds.

The white plastic planter box also contains a hosta ‘Bressingham Blue.’

While I was taking pictures a squirrel appeared at the bottom of one of the maples.

He kept looking at me as he climbed the tree, and then went out of sight.

A second white planter box is seen here in a photo of the south border taken before the daylilies were in bloom.

Alongside the garage are three globe arborvitae and two rhododendrons.


Here is a view to the right of the garage facing the street.

The ornamental grass forms a large clump on the lawn. I like the green and white stripe.


This view if from the front lawn looking across the front steps toward the garage. On the left below, the lower steps are bordered by a row of mugo pine.

On the front steps, instead of the yellow and white violas I had in the cement planters earlier this summer,

I currently have one blue and one white hydrangea plants which will be planted in the yard soon. They are the ‘Endless Summer’ variety, which should re-bloom during the summer season.
Along the side of the steps is a grey-green licorice plant.
On one of the lower steps is a double impations in a lovely magenta color.

Impatiens take a lot of water and readily droop all over when the heat dries up the pot. Of course, they come back very beautifully when growing conditions are right.

I hope you enjoyed seeing my summer garden and that you will return soon. Have a great day!

Friday Show and Tell – Vintage Embroidered Pillow

Show and tell Friday is hosted by Kelli at There is No Place Like Home. Do check on the entries of other participants of this interesting feature.

Having missed a few Fridays I am glad to participate this week. Today’s item is a vintage pillow I purchased at an estate sale several years ago. The pillow is a soft pink with a white lace ruffle.

The front is embroidered and I wonder what sort of handwork this is. Does anyone know what this needlework technique is called? The fabric is canvaslike with an open weave. The thread seems to be wool. Is it crewel embroidery?

Thanks for looking at my embroidered pillow. To visit other Show and Tell posts, please go to Kelli’s. I am glad you come by today. Please leave a comment, and do come again soon.

Vintage Thingies Thursday - Free Apron - Thanks Lisa!

This post is part of Vintage Thingies Thursday, hosted by Lisa, the Apron Queen.

This is my third post today as I play catch-up on my blogging activities. My item is a lovely vintage apron.

It is green gingham embellished with white rick rack, and white cross stitch embroidery.

What makes this recent acquisition really special is that it is a giveaway from Lisa at
Confessions of an Apron Queen. I got it for participating in a special offer she posted here.


Many thanks for the apron, Lisa. Green is one of my favorite colors and this works great in my kitchen. My mother really admires it also.

Gardening for Summer

Hello everyone! Thanks for stopping by. It’s been a very busy three weeks for me, so I was unable to do much blogging. I have lots of topics I’d like to post about, but had to get things done around the house and in the yard especially. There was also matters of entertaining family visitors and medical appointments.
As mentioned below in my Thankful Thursday post, in June I had the yard cleaned up by a local landscaping company. They thinned out the overgrown bed next to the south fence and replanted some items for better growing conditions and visual appeal.

A new plant bed between two maple trees gives me a pleasant view from my kitchen sink:

This is a big improvement over the view before.

I hope to post more this week and next, and look forward to catching with many blogging friends.

Blooming viburnum in June

Thankful Thursday - Joy in the Lord

I have missed sharing my gratefulness the last few weeks due to not doing much blogging at all. Family concerns and homeowner duties kept me busy and preoccupied.

I am thankful for God giving me the strength to deal with various demands of caring for my nearly 90-year old mother. We’ve made various trips for doctor’s visits and lab tests.

"Be joyful always;

… give thanks in all circumstances,

for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus."

1Thess. 5:16,18

In the past weeks, I’ve hosted a few nice get-togethers with my sister and brother and their families, such as my brother’s 60th birthday.

After much prayer to find the right one, I got a local landscape company, which did a major cleanup of the yard and transplanting overgrown plants. Best of all, I was allowed to defray the bill in three payments. Just one payment left now.

The beauty of my flowering plants makes me very happy. Be they hydrangeas, viburnum, day lilies, flowering hostas... all are gifts for my appreciative eyes and heart.

"You are worthy, our Lord and God,
to receive glory and honor and power,
for you created all things,
and by your will they were created
and have their being."
Rev. 4:11

Happy Independence Day!

Happy Fourth of July.

Enjoy the day with family and friends!

Promoting Rick Rack Attack

This post is in support of Lisa The Apron Queen in her quest for a higher search engine placement. Here is an excerpt from her post:
"Rick Rack Attack is moving on up! A year ago, if you Googled "vintage aprons", Rick Rack Attack was literally on the 200th page. I bet ya'll didn't even know there was 200 page results for "vintage aprons". Today, Rick Rack Attack has climbed to the 4th page on Google. I am absolutely tickled with our growth & success. But, I don't want to stop until we're on the 1st page!
Unfortunately, I am sorely lacking in an important area in search engine placement- other websites & blogs with links to Rick Rack Attack. So, this is where ya'll come in. I need your help! And I'm not ashamed to ask for it! And I'll even bribe ya'll with vintage aprons to help me shamelessly promote my website.
Here's the deal... If you place the above button on your blog or your website & link to Rick Rack Attack, I'll mail you a free vintage apron! How easy is that?!"

Do visit Confessions of an Apron Queen to participate in this special offer.

I Remember Laura Blogathon – My Quilt

Miss Sandy at Quill Cottage is offering blog writers the opportunity to join in a special blog event.
"Over the four weeks of June, every Monday will be "I Remember Laura" day of the Laura Ingalls Wilder blog-a-thon. Each week has a theme in which a passage from one of Laura's books will be featured. You can share and participate by posting on that theme on your blog and linking up to my main post using Mr. Linky."
The week of June 2-8 features quilt and quilting: "Using Mr. Linky you can share your quilts or quilt related items and tell your quilt stories. Do you or someone in your family quilt? Perhaps your quilt is not hand made but special none-the-less, share it with us!"

My one quilt is one I made in 1975. Two of my younger sisters were living with me in a townhouse apartment in Texas. They were college students and I was on the faculty of a secondary school. Using two blue and white fabrics, we worked on redecorating the kitchen with new curtains, round table skirt, seat cushions and wall covering. One wall was covered in the larger print, and baskets and kitchen implements hung over it.

The seat cushions were in this same fabric, as was the toaster cover.

The curtains and tablecover were in the smaller print.

On the wall opposite the fabric wall, we hung a new quilt over the buffet. I used leftover scraps of the two fabrics to piece together the quilt, sewn on my sewing machine. The border and backing were in a solid dark blue. I intended to hand quilt, but alas, I never got around to the task.

Up until summer 2006, the quilt hung in my current kitchen, but it is now stored.






This quilt is not a skillful pattern done in the tradition of the fine quilters across the country. Nevertheless, it represents a lot of wonderful memories of times spent in Texas with my two younger sisters.

Please go to Quill Cottage for more participating blogs.