With help from the floofy yarn overseer…

I’ve made excellent progress on the Felici socks

I’m just about to do the bottom of the heel on the second one. These will definitely be finished before the month it out which makes me very happy!

You will also notice that the stripes match! That wasn’t planned, the second ball just started in the right spot!

While off on vacation, Dave and I had to run into Sarnia to get a few things. Since it was early afternoon, I decided to stop at a few of my favourite garden centre/nurseries. They close at 6pm during the week, and tend to be very busy on the weekends, so I don’t get there as often as I would like.

I told Dave I wasn’t going to buy anything unless it was a really good deal… but you know me.

I did get a crazy good deal on a giant Philodendron Hope house plant. I forgot to take a picture in time for this post, but it’s the one that looks like this

It was in their clearance section, and I have no idea why. I’ve bought house plants from their clearance section before, and they are usually plants that need a little love and care to come back to life. This one was absolutely perfect, healthy, and HUGE!!!

In my other favourite nursery, I was looking for something specific. It’s the nursery where I got the pink Coreopsis las year, and I wanted to see if they had any I didn’t already have.

Happily, they did – this beautiful pink and yellow one. So pretty.

I also got this fancy black-eyed Susan.

It’s called Denver Daisy, and it’s similar to one I have already, except it’s got a lot more petals – almost a double bloom. There were also three separate plants in the pot (which was only $5), so I spread it around the garden. It was marked as an annual, but some places do that with biennials (which these are) because they are short lived. But, as long as I make sure it’s seeds get to the ground, I should have no problem getting it to come back each year.

They also had these beautiful peach mini carnations.

Carnations aren’t one of my fave flowers, but I’m sucker for flowers that are peach, apricot, etc.. so two of them came home with me!

After that it was off to our regular stops.

At Home Depot, they didn’t have anything tempting on clearance, but they did have an absolutely gorgeous Passion Flower vine in a hanging pot.

Just look at that stunning bloom – how could I resist?

But it was a Rona where I hit the jackpot. Not all of it was on clearance, but it was worth it anyway. They are starting to bring out the fall colour – most of it is annuals (asters, mums, ornamental cabbages, etc.), but they also had some coneflowers in pots. Normally, coneflowers wouldn’t turn my head – I have so many already – but these ones were special.

They arere these funky, two-toned coneflowers! Like the susans, these were three to a pot (but for $20, not $5 – still a good price for three fancy coneflowers) so I spread them around the garden. One has yet to bloom, so it’s colours are still a mystery.

They were just finally starting to put their perennials on clearance and I snapped a few up.

They had this lovely mauvey Yarrow. You know my love for Yarrow, so I was thrilled to add in a new colour.

I also picked up a White Penstemon, but it’s not in bloom so no picture (it’s a late spring bloomer). I had one before inside the catio, but I think it got sat on too many times and died off.

In addition, two pink Pincushion plants came home with me too. I already have one in the sidewalk garden, but at $1.25 each, it was worth it to add a couple more to the garden. But no pics because apparently I forgot to take those too!

Happily, these all fit into existing holes in the garden, but I’m definitely going to have to expand the gardens next spring.

Tuesday morning, I woke up from a text from my former neighbour, asking me how the monarch chrysalis was doing. So I immediately went out to check.

the Chrysalis was clear, so it was the day!

Because it was a work day, I wasn’t able to sit out there and watch. I was in meetings all morning, so I didn’t even have a chance to come out and when I finally did, just after 12 pm…

I had missed it! She was out the the chrysalis with her wings completely inflated! I’ve seen the whole process before, but it’s still fascinating to watch, so I was a little disappointed.

Because this one was so close to the catio, I once again had to do an emergency relocation.

This is a picture from earlier that morning when I first checked on it. Lemmy was happily hunting crickets (and yes he eats them, and yes, he throws them up on my floors). When I came out again, after the emergence, he of course ran over to see what I was doing. And he caught site of that pretty monarch just hanging there in oh-so-easy reach! Another second or two and she would have been a goner!

I relocated her to the Prairie Coneflower in the nice warm sun.

She hung out there for a couple hours, gaining the strength to make her first flight.

She struggled a little bit and ended up in the grass a few times.

I helped her back up and it didn’t take too much longer for her to find her wings and be on her way! I hope she has safe travels!

We’re not sure what it’s like where you are, but the brief respite from the hot, humid weather we got last week is now over. They are calling for gross and grosser for the next two weeks.

Burton and I hope you have somewhere cool and refreshing to hang out until the weather breaks again.

I didn’t do much sewing during vacation (if you don’t count the quilting I did at Moms – which I don’t – it’s a totally different thing!), but I did manage to take just one day to get started on Aug-tober.

Last year, Mom and I went on a bit of a flurry buying a tonne of Hallowe’en fabrics. I bought mostly yardage, but I did get this layer cake, which was a mix of dark orange, pink, purple, grey and black Hallowe’en prints.

Though I searched and searched, I just couldn’t find any layer cake patterns that really tickled my fancy, so I decided to go another route… first I made some cats.

I made five of these super simple cat blocks. If they look familiar, they care the cats from Pins and Paws, of which I’ve made a couple of quilts.

Then I made some pumpkins.

Four Pumpkins to be exact. They were inspired by a few other pumpkin blocks out there, but I ended up graphing out my own to get them the same size as the cat blocks.

And that’s as far as I got.

Now Burton and I have to decide what to do with them. As you can see, we’ve got a general layout, but it’s not very big. We need to add in some sashing or borders to build it out to a lap size. The colours are a little on the dull side, so I’m having trouble matching it up with other stuff in my stash.

We will figure something out though. Burton is a creative little cat and always come through!

With the exception of the trip to Mom’s my vacation last week was a stay-cation. I really just needed the time around the house. But Dave and I did take one day for a little trip out. A neighbour told me about a garden centre I just HAD to visit. It was an hour and a half away, but she promised it would be worth the drive. Not just for the plants but…

a petting zoo too!!! In truth, there wasn’t much you could actually pet, except the goats, but the goats certainly were down for it.

We went early, so there wasn’t many people there and this little black goat just fell in love with Dave. He followed him everywhere while the other goats were totally indifferent to our presence. That is until I put a token in the food dispenser…

Then it was pure goat chaos. I got mobbed by goats – I couldn’t even get any pictures. In fact, I couldn’t even get the feed in my hand and down low enough for them to eat it. They just knocked it right out of my hands. And this pretty fawn coloured one – she was smart enough to stand up and get the little bits left in the dispenser.

In addition to goats, they also had…

Chickens, a couple Shetland Ponies, Pigs and Llamas. None of those you could pet though. (Apparently you can at certain times, but not when we were there).

There were also many animals you couldn’t pet at any time.

Like this big, beautiful American Alligator.

Or these Red-Footed Tortoises.

They also had a variety of lizards, and some birds including a couple macaws, some conures and a Cockatoo. I couldn’t get decent pictures of any of them though.

But what I REALLY wanted to pet…

LEMURS!!!!! Don’t they just look so pettable???? Who am I kidding – you know I wanted to take both of them home!!!

I think Lemmy would love a pair of Lemur playmates, don’t you???

After the petting zoo, I of course took a stroll around the nursery/garden centre area.

And their prices are AMAZING!!!! Some things were HALF the price I’ve paid at local nurseries. Despite the deals I was a very good girl and only came home with four new plants.

A Pellionia (aka Watermelon Begonia). A lovely hanging vine (I’m going to have to put some more hooks in the ceiling somewhere.)

This beautiful bright yellow orchid. I have a pale yellow one already, but this bright one was just so eye catching.

A Carrion-Flower (aka Starfish Plant). This one is similar to my Lifesaver Cactus, with slightly different leaves and flowers.

And a Sarracenia!! (Pitcher plant). A few months ago I bought a venus fly trap and FINALLY managed to keep it alive. So I thought I’d give this one a try too!

After petting and getting plants, we hit a couple thrift shops on the way home (but I can’t show you because they are Christmas presents) and had a late lunch early dinner at one of our favourite diners.

Definitely my kind of vacation plans!

There’s no Tiny Needle Tuesday today, because the humidity broke and the weather was absolutely gorgeous all weekend. I just had to spend every minute I could in the garden. I weeded all the beds, got the plants on the squash tunnel under control, planted out my zinnias and bachelor buttons, and put in a few new additions (more on that another day)

And while I was working away at ground level… I discovered this!!!

A monarch chrysalis!!! The caterpillars left the milkweed before I headed to Mom’s, and despite my searching, I couldn’t find any chrysalises when I got back. I figured I was just out of luck for this year. But I was clearing away some weeds and tall grass under my hose, by the back corner of the catio (about three feet from the milkweed)

This little one stuck itself to a brick I shoved in-between the house and the catio fence to keep baby Lemmy from squeezing through. This is just an ordinary sized house brick – so that gives you an idea how small the chrysalises are – and why it’s easy to miss them. I’ll be keeping a close eye on this one for the next week – hoping to catch the emergence in action again!

Despite this, it doesn’t feel like there have been many butterflies in the yard this year. I was wondering if maybe it’s just because I haven’t spent as much time out there, but I’ve heard a few others say the same thing.

That’s said… I did see several working away in the yard all weekend. There as a Common Skipper I just couldn’t get pictures of, as well as a Red Spotted Purple who was teasing me. And there as a Monarch that just wouldn’t land, but I did get pics of a few others.

This Hackberry Emperor was hanging out on the Squash Tunnel.

They aren’t a very common butterfly, but we must have some Hackberry trees around here, because I see them every year about this time.

This Northern Crescent was hard to get pictures of, but I managed to snap just one.

This little Pink Edge Sulphur wasn’t in my yard, but at the garden centre we went to on Saturday. Dave was laughing at me as I was following it around trying to get pictures.

I’m going to try to spend more time in the yard this week (with the fancy camera – these were all taken with my phone), and see what other wee flutterbys I can capture.

But it wasn’t just winged creatures I came across.

This Northern Green Frog was hanging out under the Royal Red Butterfly bush in the front garden on Sunday. It wasn’t the first time I’d come across the particular frog. On Saturday, I almost ran him over as we returned from a short shopping trip. He was hopping across the driveway, and quickly disappeared into the gardens.

I came across him again the next day. While there are toads aplenty in the gardens, this is the first frog I’ve come across. I think he’s a refugee from the neighbour’s pond on the next street over.

This Cross Orb-Weaver has made a huge web between the Holly Bushes and some Hostas. Despite how it appears in the picture, she’s not very big – maybe the size of a dime.

And last… I’ve noticed a definitely reduction in squirrels since we took down the trees on the back property line.

But this little one popped up on fence late Sunday afternoon.

It appears he was raiding my neighbour’s garden for any early supper of fresh corn.

After quilting Catmas Tree, I loaded up Cats in Hats. It was another, quick fun quilt.

With some super cute fabrics.

This one got a nice, cozy flannel back. Purrfect for a cozy Christmas!

Cats in Hats and Oh Catmas Tree are both available in the shop now!

There’s still one Christmas quilt left…. the Chandelier quilt with the gnomes. But I left that in Mom’s capable hands to quilt. She’s going to do something fancy with it! Stay tuned!

When I returned from Mom’s last Sunday, I discovered my Garden Party rose had bloomed.

This is a rose I had at the townhouse, but it didn’t make the transition. When I discovered it in the garden centre at Rona this year, I tried to talk myself out of buying it several times. On the third or fourth trip back there to get other stuff, I finally caved. And I’m so glad I did. At the townhouse, the rose was in part shade – here it’s in the new front island garden and will get sun all day long. I think it’s going to be a stunner – front and centre in the yard.

Many of my other roses are blooming again too. The arbour climbers (top middle and top right) won’t put on as good as show as they did in early summer, but it’s lovely to see blooms there again.

Chrysler Imperial (top left) and Chicago Peace (bottom left) have had a harder year. Chrysler seems to be super prone to damage from the sawflies, as well as black spot. Once again it lost all it’s leaves mid-summer, and is only starting to come back now. I’m debating on finding a new spot for it.

Chicago has a different problem – it’s too close to the white butterfly bush so gets shaded out. I think I’m going to try moving it over a few feet. But that will have to happen in early spring.

And while the roses may be singing songs of summer, the signs of a coming autumn are showing

Is there anything more fall-feeling than Black Eyed Susans and Purple Coneflowers? I have these two plants in abundance in the gardens. You’ve seen the many types of coneflowers I have, but there’s variety in the susans too.

There’s the native version at left (also knows as Prairie Coneflower), and the common Susan at right.

But I’ve got this beautiful two-tone one too…

I have it in the woodland garden here, and I had it in the catio yard, but Lemmy’s stomping about there meant it didn’t make a very good showing. I’m going to collect some seeds this year to start some new plants and spread it around the garden a little more because it’s a beauty.

I also picked up a new one this year (sadly I can’t remember the name). It looks much like common one, but…

You can see by the picture on the left, the blooms are MUCH bigger than the standard. I have it along the front walkway and it’s just stunning.

Other signs of fall include the Sneezeweed (native Helenium)

It’s got such cute, button-shaped flowers. I’ve got two big patches of it out back, and will probably move some around in spring so I have it out front as well.

I’ve got this hybrid version in the catio yard. It’s one I’ve tried to grow a couple times – always picking it up on clearance and planting in the fall. But it never made it through winter. I’m hoping that planting it in early summer, like I did this year, that it will make it through this time.

This beautiful burgundy mum was a clearance plant I bought our first year here…

But I moved it from the back yard to a better spot in the front garden this fall and it seems much happier. None of the other mums are blooming yet, but it won’t be long.

And it’s not all fall gold and garnet in the garden…

The pink tickseeds (Coreopsis) that I thought didn’t make it through winter surprised me and they are all blooming nicely now. They will bloom right to the frost, just like the yellow and red versions I have.

My pink Physostegia (Obedient Plant) has started to bloom. I have a white one on the edge of Edible Alley, and it blooms early-mid spring. This one is in the catio yard, and I wasn’t sure I’d get much from it, as it’s another one Lemmy has stomped on. But a few of the bloom spikes seem to have survived his antics.

Not many of my Cosmos seedlings survived, but the Xanthos (yellow) is doing just fine. The pink one is from a cosmos that reseeded itself in the front garden. It’s not as robust as previous years, but I’ll still get a few flowers from it.

The Bachelor Buttons I started late, as well as the zinnias…

Are starting to bloom. The plan is to replant this in areas of the garden that are looking a little bare.

And last…

It looks like one of my Dahlias is FINALLY happy!!!

I said not so long ago, that all the heat, humidity and rain this summer has been good for most of the garden, if not for the gardener (Seriously, I am done with sweating!!!!). And no where is that more apparent than with the cucurbits (squash, pumpkins, cucumbers, etc)

Just a couple weeks ago, I trimmed up all the wayward vines on the squash tunnel. And as soon as I got home from Mom’s I saw I needed to do it again. Hopefully the weather is decent enough for me to do that this weekend. Most of it is the gourds – the are on the right side (front) with the pumpkins (back). And they have just taken over. It was supposed to be a mix of gourd types that looked something like this…

It was a package of 15 seeds, and I think I planted about five (all I had space for). But every single gourd I’m getting looks like this…

And I’ve probably got about two dozen of them! It’s not going to make much of a fall display, but I guess at least they are growing well.

Next to them, the Pumpkins are probably in second place. I already showed you my black pumpkin. Like the gourds, they were supposed to be a mix of black, white and orange. I got the black one, and so far, the rest are just white.

And just three of them. No more black seem to be coming, and there’s absolutely no sign of orange. Like the gourds, I didn’t plant all the seeds, so maybe the orange are still in the packet.

This year, I planted four plants at the base of the squash tunnel – zucchini, cucamelons, pumpkins and gourds. I’ve only got three zucchini so far, and I don’t eat them (Dave does) so next year, I think I will only plant pumpkin and gourds (one kind to each side) on the tunnel. But that decision will all depend on the performance of these little guys.

These are the cucamelons. The are a type of cucumber, but they look like teeny watermelons, hence the name. The plant itself is very small. If you scroll up to the tunnel picture, you’ll see it’s little leaves on the left front. It’s taken all summer to grow, and so far, we’ve only got three little fruits. I picked about five of them the other day, and Dave gave them the thumbs up. I will probably grow them next year, but in a large pot with a trellis, since they don’t take up much space.

Over in Edible Alley, the cucumbers are starting to slow down to a point where we aren’t drowning in them. Dave can eat what I’ve brought in before I bring in the next bunch.

And the squash on the ladder are looking pretty darn good.

I’ve got five squash so far, and two of them are to size- they just need to get more colour and harden their skins before harvesting now.

I had one more, but sadly, I had to take it off the plant.

It was looking so good, but I noticed a little wormy had dug it’s way in there. I’m keeping a good eye on the others and hope I don’t lose any more to these little crawlers.

In happier news….

It’s carrot harvesting time! This type aren’t quite a long as the ones I planted last year.

But they are a pelleted seed. They have a coating on them that makes them a little larger, and easier to handle. So you can plant them far enough apart that you don’t need to thin them. I think that’s a good trade off for slightly shorter carrots.

I’ve been harvesting a row a week, and that gives us enough at time for a meal, and a little raw snacking each week.