“Are you done working YET?????”

I know I keep saying how busy work has been lately. Well this week has been INSANE! So much so that I’m also working evenings, on top of all day.

Now I can’t really complain. I work from home so I can just get up form my desk and chill in the garden with the cats whenever I need a break. And when my work is slow, my superiors don’t expect me to find busy work to fill my time. I am welcome to kick back and relax, because they know when we get slammed like this, I put my nose to the grindstone and do what it takes to get things out on time.

But it means right now, there’s even less time than normal for crafting in the evenings.

Happily, I took the latest socks with me to Sam’s birthday party on the weekend.

Because sitting and knitting and chatting is my idea of a good party! I got the leg done while there, and the scant few minutes I’ve had in the evenings since, I’ve managed to complete the heel, and I’m just getting started on the gusset.

Work should be lighter by Monday, so I expect to have my evenings back again. And maybe even have these off the needles and in the mail by the end of the month.

One of the tricky things about WW, is getting good pictures without trespassing, or freaking people out by obviously taking pictures of their property.

So this week, I decided to share pics of things REALLY close to the sidewalk!

Remember the butterfly house I shared back in the spring? Will the butterfly bush beside it hasn’t bloomed yet. (The cold spring has all the butterfly bushes a few weeks behind), but they also have this pretty bunch of Phlox beside it. And it’s real Phlox too – not the fake Phlox I posted about in a previous walkabout post.

On the subject of flowers, there are quite a few sunflowers around town. Both of these were nice and close to the sidewalk. The first at the welding shop down the street from us, and the second at a house around the corner.

Not one of my sunflower seedlings made it (Thank to Foxy squirrel, I’m pretty sure), but I have a few that the birds supplied. They are a few weeks off from blooming I’m afraid.

Not far from the post office, there’s a duplex that was once some sort of commercial building. It was sold late last year, and they turned it into two residential units. It’s quite close to the road, so doesn’t have much of a front yard, but some clever person has lined the front walk with what appears to be pieces of old clay pipe (maybe from inside the building?), and filled them with Hens and Chicks. So cute.

As a side note, did you know that in the UK, they call these houseleeks? Isn’t that an adorable name? I learned that watching Gardener’s World.

This particular houseleek/hens and chick is at a house just around the corner from me (the house with the maple I want to hug). It was right at the sidewalk and as you can see, it’s in bloom. Sadly, that means this particular plant is going to die, but the flowers are amazing. I’ve never seen one with so many blooms.

I guess it’s not a suprise that I mostly took pictures of flowers close to the sidewalk… but this particular garden is actualy between the sidewalk and the road on a little verge! I’d love to do something similar, but the verge on our street is used for extra parking. This particular street is wide enough to park on without having to put a tire on the grass.

And last, there’s a new addition at the library. There’s an identical one out in front of the legion too.

That’s all for this week… Hope you enjoyed getting close! Lol!

It was a very busy weekend, and I feel like I barely had a moment to sit still. I must have though, because I did manage some stitching on the sewing cat.

Not a lot, but I got some of the background beige filled in, added a little more black work, and got started on the last drawer. I’ve completed all the dark brown bits for the piece, and once the drawer is finished, there’s only a little decorative work on the machine head for the light brown. That makes me feel like I’ve made progress more than anything else.

While Dave was busy painting things for my garden, I was busy doing a little painting of my own.

Samantha and I have a mutual friend named Sarah. Like us, she loves plants. She’s also a big Tim Burton fan, so I thought it would be fun to make her a Burton-themed plant pot.

It took me a while do decide what exactly to paint, but in the ends, I settled on a simple. Jack Skellington…

Or three! I chose three fun Skellington expressions and painted them all around the pot. And, I got an appropriate Burton-esque plant to put in it. A funky, spikey aloe! It’s so cute I’m going to have to make one for myself.

We were at Samantha’s for her birthday on the weekend, so I took this along to give to Sarah. She loved it just as much as I did.

For a man who tells me (frequently) he couldn’t care less about having gardens, he’s sure keeping working on projects for them…

First, he painted up the small planter boxes we got at the start of the month. He coated the inside with liquid rubber, and painted the outside white.

I found some clearance plants to fill them…

Pink and white impatiens, and calibrochoa.

The front porch was a little plain, and I think they dress it up nicely. Come fall and Christmas, I can also put fake floral picks in them to decorate for the holidays.

Next up, he dressed up the larger garden planters we got.

Green of course! They won’t get planted until next year, but now they are ready to withstand the cold and snow until they do. Like the other planters he did a coat of liquid rubber inside and paint on the out.

Then he moved onto the garden bench we brought from his Grandma’s place. All that was left was the ends. They got a fresh coat of paint, and we got new wood for seat. He cut, painted and reassembled it all.

In our signature green…. of course!

But that’s not all…

On our way back from Home Depot (to get the bench wood), he made me stop at the side of the road to pick up a few road treasures.

He only saw the bench at first, but someone was also tossing the plants stands as well. And you know I can always use plant stand or two. He’s already given the white one a fresh coat of paint. (That’s all it needed). He’s removed the wicker from the black one and it will get new wood shelves next time we hit Home Depot.

And the bench… it’s already been dismantled, and the frame painted.

He’s got new wood drying, all freshly painted with green, and this one will be back together in no time!

The daylilies are doing nicely. I’ve got a mix of new this year and old (from the townhouse)

This first one is a new one…. I can’t remember the name… purple something. Which is why I bought it. I’ve been trying to get purple daylilies for ages. I bought a mix a few years back, but the never bloomed.

So I was thrilled when I saw this at the garden centre… but has you can see… it’s not really… well, purple!

It looks like a very wine burgundy here, but leans even more toward red in real life. Don’t get me wrong… it’s very pretty. But it’s not purple!

This is one issue I have with gardening conventions… it’s not unusual for names to not quite match expectations. Things labelled as “blue” are often actually purple (the purple bee balm I bought years ago was called “Blue Stocking). “Red” is frequently pink (my Royal Red Butterfly bush is an example), and sometimes, like above “purple” actually means red or pinkish. It’s frustrating. And don’t get me started about pictures on labels vs reality. I know sometimes printing inks don’t quite match, but it’s frustrating when you’re expecting one thing and get another.

Then there are the different varieties that are soooo close to each other, there’s almost no point in calling them any different. Standard purple coneflower vs Ruby Star coneflower is a good example. The colour isn’t much different, but Ruby Star’s petals don’t drop like other coneflowers – they stay more straight out.

That’s enough of a rant… there’s still plenty to lift the spirits…

Stella D’oro is a common sight in gardens all over North America. And there’s a good reason. It’s low maintenance and a prolific bloomer. Day after day it’s bursting with gold flowers. This came with me from the townhouse.

As did this one – Night Embers. It’s actually a deeper red in real life, and it’s probably my favourite daylily.

Although Catherine Woodbury may be a close second. I love this pale pink. It’s another townhouse transplant.

As is this one. It’s called Crimson Pirate. And it’s aptly named. It’s also VERY close to another daylily I have called Autumn Joy. Happily, that one doesn’t usually bloom until later in the season.

This one is called Stella Supreme, and it’s a lovely light lemon yellow. It’s also proof that I’m no good at No-Buy-July. Home Depot had a clearance on and I came home with not one, but FIVE new daylilies. This is just the first one too bloom.

So my wallet is empty… but I’ve at least got lots to look at in the garden.

As I mentioned earlier in the week, last weekend, the catio was blocked off to the cats for a portion of a day. They were not happy about this… but it was with good reason.

On the catio-yard-side of the sunporch, there was a little porch and stairs that came down into the yard. Parts of it was old and rotting and needed to be replaced. It was also much bigger than it needed to be. We didn’t need a porch area at all, really – just stairs. Taking it down and rebuilding it would give us a little more “floor space” in the yard.

So Dave did just that. I don’t have before pictures, but this new set of steps is half the size of the old porch/steps, and twice as strong.

And of course, everything was give an nice coat of the Agate Green we did the rest of the porch in. (It was supposed to be Billiard Green, but the kid at Home Depot messed up when we got the paint and I didn’t notice until we got home – the colorus are very close though, so it doesn’t really matter.)

It create a nice bit of open space at the end of the yard, and as you can see, the cabana fits in just perfectly. Ideally, I’d like to get the BBQ out of there, and replace it with a little garden bistro set, but I have to talk Dave into letting me put the BBQ on the parking pad behind the sunporch. There’s more than enough room, but he’s terrified I’m going to fill the whole area with stuff.

Still, even with the BBQ there, I think the whole yard looks just wonderful now all the plants are in bloom, and the sunporch has had a facelift.

It’s a beautiful little garden oasis for my furry babies to enjoy.

And so far, Burton seems to approve.

Other than the Rainbow Scrap Challenge quilt, the only other quilt Burton and I have been able to make any progress on is the Blockhead Mod Cat quilt.

On the weekend, he helped me get two more blocks done.

And as you can see – he’s very pleased with the pair. Though I think he’s a bit more partial to the black one.

It’s shaping up to be such an interesting quilt. I’m loving the black, white and grey with just minimal pops of colour. So much fun!

No Walkabout today – Work has been crazy busy to start with, and it’s been so hot and humid, it takes away all motivation to go outside during the day.

So… today I give you socks…

Or one sock, anyway. The first of the pair for my coworkers Godmother is complete. I finished it up Monday night. I’m very pleased with that, considering I started it mid-week last week, and didn’t work on it steadily.

The second one was cast on last night, so hopefully I can keep the momentum up and have this pair in the mail by then end of next week.

As I mentioned previously, l let coworker choose the yarn. She chose some of the new-to-me Hobbii Dolce that I bought earlier this year. This is my first time knitting with it. It feels quite soft in the ball, but it’s a little more scratchy worked up. Not terrible. I’d say softer than Kroy, but not as soft as Felici. Being a little more on the rough side, they will probably wear pretty well.

I love the soft gradient of the shades, and the little dots add a touch of whimsy. Hopefully they lift the spirits of the recipient.