A while back, I posted about Rupert using Davey, the squishmallow shark, as a pet bed. Well as you may know, I have several other Squishmallows. Most are down in the living room, and have taken over the love seat.

But a few are upstairs. The medium size ones are the perfect size and shape for sliding between my knees at night when my legs and back are sore. (Now THERE’S the marketing strategy for Squishmallows!)

And the other night, I’d been using pink cat for just that purpose. Normally, I get out of bed, do my bathroom stuff and come back and make the bed. But this particular morning, bed making got neglected. I came up just before noon to take care of it and…

Now you tell me how you kick that off the bed to so you can make it???? The answer is you don’t. You wait for sweet little kitty to move on his own (which with this one means waaaaaaaaaaaaaayyyy later in the day!)

And it gives you an idea of just how wee Rupert is. That isn’t a giant Squishmallow – it’s only a 12 incher. And he’s not even taking up the whole thing!

In other news… I think the Squishmallow company is now specifically targeting me – look what they put in my path at Walmart the other night

All summer, I’ve been on a quest to get a picture of the hummingbirds. My neighbour has a trumpet vine, and I have the honeysuckle and butterfly bushes, so we get a lot of hummingbirds without every having to worry about putting out feeders.

Up until this weekend, this was the best I was able to manage

It’s dark, and grainy, but I was pleased you could see the little touch of red on his throat. Still – it’s not the quality I’ve come to expect from pictures with my long lens. I knew I could do better.

When Mom was here, she was up early one morning and enjoyed her tea on the catio porch before Dave and I got out of bed. She told me if I wanted to get some good pictures, I needed to get up early – as there were several of the little guys out there buzzing around while she had her tea.

So this past weekend, I did just that.

The first morning started out ok… I started out on the steps of the catio, and a hummingbird quickly appear at the Honeysuckle on the far end.

And unfortunately, even with my long lens, it was just too far away. So I decide to pack up, got a quilt to put on the damp grass and moved to the other side of the catio, closer to the honeysuckle

It was a slight better position… but those little hummers are still just hard to capture. Any movement from me sent them skittering off.

And then they decided the honeysuckle wasn’t worth it – there was a big, scary woman sitting below it. They decided the sweet peas on the arbour would be a better option…

But like the honey suckle from the catio steps… it was just too far from where I was sitting. I decided to be patient. The sun rose a little more, and it seemed like the were getting more used to me. When they weren’t battling each other mid air, they were spending more time on the honeysuckle… albeit on the opposite side from where I was sitting, so I couldn’t get pictures.

But then it happened…one little brave one came into view and stayed there. I started snapping… got one picture…

And then my camera battery died! Sadly, I only have one battery for the fancy camera, so that was it for the day. I packed up, went inside and did some sewing while the battery charged.

The next morning, with a freshly charged battery… I headed out there again and set up camp.

It didn’t take long for them to appear, and there were at least three of them fighting for airspace around the catio. Like the first, day, they did not seem to appreciate my presence near the honeysuckle. This time they opted for the white Butterfly bush.

Which, of course, was just a little too far away for really great pictures. Still – I say patiently and waited. They came back and forth to the honeysuckle a couple times, but never long enough for a picture. Then they surprised me by having a little snack from the Toad Lilies**.

I didn’t even know Toad Lilies were on the hummingbird menu! Like the Butterfly bush, the Toad Lilies were just a touch too far for the long lens.

Eventually though… my patience paid off.

This little female came to perch on the top of catio fence near me. She sat there for a good couple of minutes, watching the sky, and keeping a weather eye on me down below. And then she moved to honey suckle…

The light was still fairly low, so I couldn’t get the shutter speed fast enough to capture those little beating wings… but the pics were much more on par with what I’m used to!

It was certainly worth an hour or so waiting on the damp lawn.

And for bonus points… here’s another little hummer…

Not a Hummingbird, but a Hummingbird Hawk Moth. These guys are normally regular visitors as soon as the butterfly bushes start blooming. But this year, I hadn’t seen one!I assumed it was like the lack of other butterflies, and these guys numbers were poor this year. I had started to look into what I could plant to help them out. And then other day, I was out barbecuing and this one just appeared! I’ve seen a couple more since, then, but nothing like the number we’ve seen in previous years. Hopefully these guys bounce back next year.

** While I’m thrilled that the Toad Lilies are food for the hummingbirds, the plant’s location in the catio presents a problem… Keep your eye on the plant at the bottom of the stairs.

And not just once…

While the Honeysuckle adn Butterfly Bush Blooms are fairly high, the Toad Lilies only stand about three feet tall. That’s just too low and enticing for Mr. Lemmy.

So far, the little hummers have been faster… but one day one might not be. So the toad lilies will be getting a new home soon.

Along with the Hallowe’en tops, August saw the end of the spooky looking Felici socks

Not much to say here. The yarn is Felici in Speed Racer… and I let it do all the work when it came to making the socks shine. Just plain ole’ vanilla socks. I love Felici because the stripes make it feel like the socks are just flying off the needles. And the yarn is lovely and soft, making them wonderful socks to wear! It’s to bad Knit Picks discontinued it. They do have Felicini – a skinnier striping sock yarn… but I’ve got so much sock yarn in the stash, and so little time to knit… I really can’t justify trying it out.

And on that note…. I guess I better go stash diving and see if I can come up with another yarn – I’ve got one more pair of Man Socks to make and put away for Christmas.

I am very pleased with the progress I made on the moth this weekend.

I was able to finish up the blue up the upper wings – with the exception of the veining. Like on the lower wings, Im going to go with a dark shade instead of light, as the pattern calls for.

I figured it would be easier to fill it in once I had the little moons filled in. I just got started on that before I had to put it away for the weekend. There’s two shades left to put in on the moons, and just one on the little circles in the bottom wings.

I think I can confidently say I will finish up Mr. Moth next weekend – and maybe even get started on the greenery that surrounds him.

When Mom was here last weekend, she mentioned that while she’s happy we got some holiday-themed stuff done for the shop, our focus on Christmas, and then Hallowe’en had really slowed several quilts she had in progress, including those for a couple quilt-alongs.

I agreed, and told her I was planning on using September to clear out my WIPs (Works in Progress). She thought that was a great idea, and so named it – WIP-tember!

I have several projects that need getting back to… including two Leader/Ender projects that are no longer L/Es. The first is the 16 patch blocks… I need to make some QSTs or HSTs to go in between them (I haven’t decided which yet). The second is my 4-patches….

These are just getting plain blocks put between them, but they will be put on point.

I also have my Blockhead blocks to assemble into a top.

There’s only 12 of them, but Burton has yet to decide how we are going to lay them out.

I have some batik Log Cabins I started, but they aren’t very far along (definitely not enough for a top yet), so I may leave them until I get a couple of the above projects into tops.

And then I went and did something crazy…

I picked up somebody else’s WIP at a thrift store. There was 20 of these blocks in a bag for just two dollars. Something told me I had to buy them, and bring them home to finish them!

I have no way of knowing how old they are, but my guess is somewhere between 40s and 60s judging by the fabric. It looks like the stars were hand-pieced, then hand basted on the green fabric (the basting stitches are still there). But the stars were then sewing down with a machine.

I haven’t measured them yet (they all need a good ironing), but I think they are around 12 inch blocks. So I think I’m going to keep the layout simple – just sew them all together and let those applique stars shine!

Have you got any WIPs you’re hoping to wrap up this month?

Yesterday was the last day of Aug-tober, so that meant Burton and I had to get cracking on wrapping up our last Hallowe’en top!

The friendship stars were already made – we just had to turn them into borders around our panel.

The first border went on fairly smoothly, or so I thought.

But clearly, the process was exhausting for his Lordship. I was on my own for the second border.

Though he woke up in time to inspect it and make sure I had the stars just so. It wasn’t quite big enough yet, so he thought we should add a couple more borders.

We went with just plain ones to finish it off and Lemmy thinks it was a good call.

It brought the whole thing out to 60 inches square – a decent size lap quilt.

It will get plain black binding. And I found this lovely flannel plaid that matches the pastel colours of the top perfectly! Mom has already laid claim to this one for the quilting… apparently she’s got a gourd idea! I just have to get it to her.

She, also, has had a very productive Aug-tober, and a couple of her creations are already in the shop … here and here.

First.. how the “EXPLETIVE” is the last day of August? Did I blink and miss a whole month – it certainly feels like it!

But, as it is the last day of August, it’s time to take a look at the garden.

This time of year is almost always good for the roses. The cooler nights, but still warm days encourage them to bloom their little hearts out.

We haven’t had much of those cool nights, this week – it’s still stinking hot, but the roses are thriving anyway.

I do, however, have a bone to pick with Walmart. Now I know I shouldn’t expect a lot from Walmart. But when I bought Tournament of Roses from a clearance sale back in July… I thought I’d at least be getting what I paid for. However….

That is NOT even remotely Tournament of Roses, which is a light, peachy pink rose. ToR is also a Floribunda, and I’m pretty sure this is a Hybrid Tea. I’m not opposed to it, or the colour – though honest it’s not one I would have picked out. What really bothers me is – I don’t know what it’s called!!!! Looking at pictures… It might be Ring of Fire… or Wildfire.. or Las Vegas…. or… I just don’t know. There are far too many of a similar colour and style to be sure!

Oh well, it’s here now, front and centre in the front yard, so I guess it’s good that I like it a little….

Speaking of front and centre.

When I built the island garden this summer, I transplanted one small little cosmos seedling from the front border. And as you can see… it’s VERY happy. It should bloom any day now.

My Xanthos cosmos in the side garden is doing almost as well. I hope it reseeds like all my other cosmos have, but I’m going to save some seed from it just incase. I’d love to have this one year after year.

Another new arrival is the Hydrangea I planted this spring.

I’m not a huge Hydrangea fan, but I needed something that would work well under the dripline of the Maple. This little guy was just the ticket. It’s called Little Limelight, and the flowers start off light lime, turn white, then to a pretty shade of pink that you see just coming now. When the weather cools a bit, I’ll be transferring a Honeysuckle shrub which is currently along our driveway over here too. It will give us a nice border between us and the neighbour’s yard

All of the usual suspects are doing their thing, just as they should this time of year.

But the signs of comin fall are all around…

This Hardy Mum is already putting on quite a show, though my others are only just starting to bud up.

The garden centres had all their mums out, so I got some to change over the front boxes.

And…

The Toad Lilies are blooming! It’s always a sign that fall isn’t far away when these guys start popping open!

The hotter the temps, the flatter the cat…

I’ve actually been a little worried about Rupert this summer. He has not spent near as much time outside as he normally does. But I think that has more to do with a certain pest named Lemmy, than it does with our Senior ginger feeling unwell. It was nice to see him out soaking up the heat the other day.

So.. here’s a fun little story. As you guys know, I love all creatures great and small. And I really love frogs and toads. And I really, really love tree frogs. There’s just something about those little suction cup toes… so magical!

But tree frogs are not something I’ve ever had a lot of personal experience with. I have vague recollections from childhood of finding one in a pine tree, or possibly on our front window. The recollection is so vague – I’m not sure if it’s two incidents, or one that I’ve conflated details about.

Anyway… after that, there was nary a tree frog in my life. Until back in 2013 when Mom and I travelled to Virginia for a Circular Sock Machine convention. It was after dinner when we were walking with a bunch of ladies from from convention building to another (outside), and I made a comment on how Virginia had some very noisy bugs, because the night was just alive with insect music. One of the ladies (who lived in Virginia) said “Oh, honey, those aren’t bugs… those are tree frogs.”

Well…I got so excited, but neither Mom or the convention ladies would let me run off into the forest in the dark to hunt for tree frogs.

Fast forward to this year, and back in July, I discovered a wee tree frog in my beans…

I assumed it was because the boys just cut down several trees on the property line, and he got displaced.

Then, about a month later, there was the one I found on our gas meter out front.

He actually hung around for several days. Even though I’d put him in the butterfly bush beside, I came back out several days in a row to find him back on the top of the gas meter. I named him Gary.

Then after the third day, Gary just up and disappeared.

But then last week…

Gary’s replacement showed up! I named this one Gus and he was a lot more active than Gary. I found him on the asters…

And on the siding…

Now he’s since moved on as well, but I’m wondering when the fourth tree frog is going to hop on into my life?

If you’ve been reading this blog for any amount of time, you’ll know that one of the things I try to do it incorporate native plants in the garden whenever/however I can.

I’ve never intended to have a purely native garden – there are just too many other plants that I love to exclude them – but it helps to do a little extra for our native pollinators and other creatures.

Like these little bees napping in the tickseed in the evening.

I’d say the most successful native I’ve planted is of course, the milkweed

On the left is Swamp Milkweed, and the right is the Common Milkweed. I actually only planted the Swamp Milkweed – the Common Milkweed just showed up on it’s own, and I’ve let it do it’s own thing.

And the proof of its success, is of course…

Helping promote the lifecycle of the Monarchs.

The Cardinal Flower, and the Blue Lobelia (both are native Lobelias), have done well now that I’ve got them in the right spot. They both help support the hummingbirds.

The problem arrives with a few of the others.. namely, the smooth/new England asters, the sneezeweed, the prairie coneflower, and the false sunflowers.

These are all beautiful plants… but they are meant to grow in grass lands – areas where they have a fair bit of competition to keep them in check. Here in the garden… well… they get a little out of hand. The biggest problem has to do with their height – all of them get so tall and heavy… they just flop.

I actually have this false sunflower supported and staked up… the actual plant is only in in the area behind the big zucchini leaves… but you can see it flops to the left and right – shading out everything else undernearth is.

Same with the one out front – though it’s staked, up, it leaves heavily to the right in a big waterfall of flowers, completely blocking the pot on the milk can behind it.

I have two big bunches of sneezeweed and the one by Edible Alley I actually got staked up and looking nice and tidy.

And it’s just a mass off happy yellow flowers that the pollinators of all kinds are loving!

But the bunch by the woodland garden…

They are just a flopping disaster.

Same with the prairie coneflowers…

They just want to fall right out into the yard – despite massive staking. (I also need to split this bunch up – they are waaaay too dense!)

The asters aren’t in bloom yet, but the ones in the catio are just all over the place as usual… and the ones in the front garden…

I cut back most of the flopping stems, so they are tidier but they completely block the poor butterfly bush behind.

And as you can see, all these flowers bloom absolutely amazingly! They bring huge benefits to the garden and it’s residents, so I don’t want to take them out… but I need to find a better solution.

1. I need some better supports – stakes and string just aren’t cutting it – I’m going to have to invest in some half moon metal supports. I have some small ones, but I can’t find any that are tall enough. There’s a metalsmith/welder down the street from us, so I’m going to go have a talk with him one day and see if could make some.
2. Next year…. I’m going to try the Chelsea Chop! It’s something l learned about on my British Gardening shows.. The Chelsea chop (so called because it is usually carried out, coinciding with the RHS Chelsea Flower Show) is a pruning method by which you limit the size and control the flowering season of many herbaceous plants. Basically, you chop them back about one third, and it helps to keep their size under control.

It’s too late for both those things this year… but next year, I’ll hopefully have a garden that looks a little less… floppy!