Tuesday

Blooming in my yard this week:

California poppies

Rocky Mountain penstemon

Sweet clover

Columbine

Western wallflower

Grape soda lupine

California evening primrose

Indian paintbrush

Elderberry

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Looks like Spring!

 

These red tulips are tucked into a warm sunny corner, and are always the first ones to bloom -- today was their day.  The daffodils have been at it for a couple of weeks already.

 

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Signs of Spring

Crocus blooms today,

 almost two weeks earlier than last year!

 

 

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Outdoor activities

We've been hard at work outside for the past several days. My pet project is the development of perennial beds instead of a lawn in the front yard. There's a chronic water shortage in California, and keeping grass green is really expensive and kind of politically incorrect. The water department has limitations on adding new turf to a landscape, and pays a nice amount per square foot to homeowners who take out their lawns.

So last fall we scattered a wildflower seed mix over the area, and now we have seedlings appearing. We're aiming for native plants, specifically ones suited to a xeriscape (low water) garden. I spent many hours identifying the wildflower sprouts that are beginning to appear -- lots of yarrow, lupines, columbine and poppies so far -- and then marked out tentative flower beds with bricks. The beds are kind of random and natural, based on where the seedlings seem to be thriving. I'm thinking "meadow." We'll have to see how everything develops as the summer progresses.

Also ... beginning Monday morning a crew will be here for exterior painting! This climate is pretty harsh, and the paint weathers and peels quickly on wood houses -- every few years it needs to be scraped down and redone, and this house is overdue. We've chosen a barn red for the house this time, with white trim and black shutters -- I'll bet the change from gray to red will have everyone in the neighborhood buzzing :) We decided that the vintage-farmhouse-style architecture would be shown off nicely in red, and it will look good in all four seasons, against the trees and also against the snow. Tony's been prepping and getting everything cleared out of the painters' way. It should take three or four weeks for them to do the whole thing.

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Friday

This week has just flown by -- wasn't it just Monday?!

I am keeping up with Judy's Hour-a-Day project, and it's going great! Log cabin style blocks, which are my all-time favorite quilt block, and I'm pleased with the autumn colors I'm using. My background is a cute toile-style pumpkin print that has been aging in my stash for years.

I'm also more than halfway finished quilting Shoofly Pie. Whew, I haven't quilted a queen-size project in a year or so. I'd forgotten how much work it is to wrestle a big one through the sewing machine!

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Look what was waiting at the post office for me yesterday! One hundred - count 'em! - fat quarters from Homestead Hearth. They had a web special last weekend that I couldn't resist. I haven't done any fabric acquisition aaaalllllll summer, so I figured I was due. These are assortments of plaids and 1800s repros, neither of which are available here at the LQS. I'm set for winter sewing season now, I think.

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We've been busy all week doing some fall planting. We put in six new trees -two oaks, two apples, a pear and a crabapple - and a lilac hedge, and a few other assorted bushes. Can't wait till everything starts growing! The side yard off the porch will be especially nice, our own little orchard someday.

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