Big city adventure

Well, summer is certainly winding down. School is back in session here and while it's a bit of a shock to the system, it's also nice to have the kids on a routine again. 

I have a few new followers....WELCOME! Thanks for reading. I'd love to follow you back...please make sure I can easily link up to your blog as well if you have one.

We went to see a Reds game on Sunday--our first as a family this year. A good time was had by all, though it was a bit hot and the game was a bummer.

The kids love seeing big boats on the river.

I think they most enjoyed the interactive fountain after the game....

They have a brand new park down by the river and I really want to go back in the evening...the fountains are supposed to light up and be beautiful.

A shot of the Roebling suspension bridge.

They also had some great pot combinations...really digging this orange-y/yellow combo.

Very cool topiary look.

I'd like to try cannas in my garden or pots someday....

These planter boxes are really striking.

See the little surprise someone planted in that one?? I've been known to do that myself around my garden at times...

The kids loved this helmet we saw.

Have a good week, everyone!!

My new favorite annual

I've got a new favorite...

I first read about this annual in one of my favorite gardening books, Gardening for Ohio, by Denny McKeown, a longtime Cincinnati garden guru.

It's called globe amaranth, or gomphrena. A very cool little flowerhead that looks like it's dried out already. Great colors.

It's very strange, I hardly ever see this one at my usual garden centers. Mostly, I've found it at the big box stores. I hadn't found any in the last few years so much. I've had a nice lighter purple variety before.

So, I was shopping the seed packets at Target this spring and I found a packet of gomphrena 'Strawberry.' I snatched it up for sure. I checked my book and read that it doesn't direct-sow well into the ground. I decided to just give it a try.

I planted some seeds into the ground after danger of frost. My son also planted a few seeds in his pot on the patio. Well.....the seeds in the ground did nothing. Admittedly, it has not been a stellar season for direct-sowing. So, maybe I'll give it another try.

But....it sprouted out in my son's pot. At first, I wasn't sure if it was a weed or not. After some time, we saw the blooms come on.

So cool! What's not to love? Long stems that are great for cutting inside--which I do sparingly to encourage more bloom. Pretty grey/green foliage. The flowerheads are really pretty....

Great color. I love the little yellow flecks upon closer inspection. The hummingbirds have also enjoyed them!

These flowers are also great for drying for winter display. I'll share some pics of that later this year.

What new annuals have you tried out recently?

Sunflowers galore

Most gardening seasons have their challenges and this one is no different. In my neck of the woods, we are dealing with a drought-ish summer following a mild winter. The drought conditions are not as bad here as they are a few states west, but it's still not great.

Unfortunately, I haven't had a whole lot of luck starting seeds this year. They just haven't wanted to sprout out and thrive like they normally do. I usually have a whole batch of zinnias keeping me in fresh flowers each summer. No can do this year. Their wimpy sprouts are not yielding any flowers.

I do, however, have an abundance of sunflowers.....

All of these seeded themselves from a few plants I started from seed two years ago. So...I have plenty of sunflowers for beautiful sunflower bouquets.

Who doesn't love sunflowers? I know the birds in my neighborhood sure do.

What's in bloom

Well, happy Friday to all you lovely people. And it had better be a happy one for me, since it's my last one before.....you know. Luckily, it rained here overnight (yay) and it's shaping up to be a lovely weekend with temps in the 70s.

The garden is surviving. I wouldn't say thriving, since I've resumed my occasional watering to keep newly-installed plants going. So....here's what's going on these days. I'll post on the annuals in a few more days. Interesting things going on there.

The liriope is in bloom. I have a LOT of this since there were several clumps growing in the garden when we moved in. I divided it all and spread it around the gardens.

Here it is planted in a row under our bay window. I like them there....since it is partially covered, they don't always get as much rain. Luckily, the liriope doesn't mind neglect.

I have been amazed at these salvia plants. They have been blooming like this since May.....kind of like an annual. All I have done is deadhead the spent blooms every few days and it just keeps pushing blooms. It is covered in bees and they don't seem to mind me much....maybe they know my actions will keep the blooms coming.

Here is round two for the hibiscus. It bloomed through mid-July, then took a hiatus. I had forgotten it tends to do this, so I'm really happy to enjoy this second bloom time. Next year, I'd like to try to prune the stalks back a bit earlier in the year to see if it reduces the size a bit--but don't want it to disrupt the blooms. Does anyone have any experience with that they would like to share? I guess it's my fault for putting that plant in that spot....and I don't mind the size too much.....just experimenting a bit.

Here is a little spot the garden happened into.....the Knockout double pinks, the last of the phlox blooms, coreopsis, liriope and alyssum. I thought the coreopsis would bloom earlier in the summer, so what a nice surprise to be in bloom with the phlox! I'm enjoying this spot quite a bit right now.

How is your garden growing these days? Fall is looming......: )

My new tote bag

Hey, there.....I hope you all are enjoying a fine August Monday. I'm starting to feel the impending doom of school upon me. This is my last week of FREEDOM......; )

I recently did a big sewing project.....kind of a first for me! I made a tote bag with a lining, zippers and a pocket. Wow. As a new seamstress, this was ambitious for me. But...I do feel that you just gotta do it and learn from it.

I found this great tutorial at Sweet Verbena, a great DIY/sewing blog written by Katy. I'm looking forward to trying out a few more of her tutorials. Click here to see her tutorial. There is no way on God's green earth I could show how I made it, step-by-step!

I started with a pink print and a taupe contrast fabric. I used home dec fabric for both of these for durability.

Here are all of the pieces cut and ready to go (probably the trickiest thing for me to do).

Sewing on the casing...

The straps for the handles. I cut them a bit too small and they were awful to turn inside out!

The hole I cut for the zipper.

My zipper.....turned out a little wonky. Thanks be that it is on the inside of the bag.

Here is the lining with zippers, before it got put into the bag.

And....the lining inside.  The spot on the right is the only part I struggled with!

Here is my cinch bag.

Not bad for my first one!

I'm loving my new bag!

Party Time......

Time Travel Thursday at The Brambleberry Cottage

Fridays Unfolded at Stuff and Nonsense

Feathered Nest Friday at French Country Cottage

Show and Share Day at Just a Girl

Simply Creations Link Party at Simple Home Life

Addicts (not so) Anonymous Addicted to Decorating

Sunday Showcase Party at Under the Table and Dreaming

Project Parade at The DIY Showoff

Creative Bloggers' Party and Hop at Homemaker on a Dime

Tip-Toe Thru Tuesday at Crayon Freckles

Pinspirational Thursday at The Artsy Girl Connection

Make the Scene Monday at Alderberry Hill

Sunday Salvation at Sassafras Salvation

Tuesday Talent Show at Chef n Training
Flaunt Your Flowers  at Tootsie Time
What I Wore/What's Up Wednesday at Rae Gun Ramblings
Sunday Roundup at A Rosie Sweet Home
Overflowing with Creativity at It's Overflowing
Manic Monday at Silo Hill Farm
Mannequin Monday at Artsy Girl Connection

T-shirt to skirt

Good morning and happy Monday to all you beautiful people.....Last week, I made a cute and easy skirt out of a t-shirt. And no lying here....it took me very little time, maybe twenty minutes?

I haven't yet jumped on the neon train this summer as far as fashion goes. Well, I guess you could say I'm ON. I saw the idea for this skirt in a book I was perusing at the bookstore one day. When I saw these neon t-shirts on sale at the fabric store, I thought I'd give it a try. If I failed miserably, it was only $3.....right?

Basically, you cut your t-shirt into a square and then sew a seam to make the skirt. I started by slicing off the sleeves and then cutting across the top.

I wasn't sure how long to make it, so I then decided to try it on a see what it looked like.

As you can see, there's some extra fabric. My t-shirt was an XL, but you could buy two shirts if you wanted more fabric. I decided to cut off the part by the sleeves to make it a bit shorter.

Then...I cut up through the front. This t-shirt did not have any seams, so I just picked a spot!

The next part was deciding how to shape it.I put it on in front of a mirror and pulled the top around my waist to the tightness I wanted. With my pins, I pinned it there. From the top, I pinned down, forming a ruffle. I kept a sort of A-line shape. I used the bottom seam of the t-shirt as my waistline, so the bottom would have a raw, unfinished edge, but I could have done it the other way too.

Here you can sort of see the pins.

Once I carefully took it off, I laid it out so I could see where I had pinned it.

I straightened out the pins a bit and made them a little more in line with each other...

I sewed a seam down, just making sure I backstitched at the beginning and end. I used white thread on the neon yellow......I'm not sure they sell neon thread at my fabric store?

Here is my seam...

And.....the easy skirt.

Just about the right amount of investment I wanted for something as trendy as neon. : ) Maybe next summer it will be whatever color is hot then.

Party Time......

Time Travel Thursday at The Brambleberry Cottage

Fridays Unfolded at Stuff and Nonsense

Feathered Nest Friday at French Country Cottage

Show and Share Day at Just a Girl

Simply Creations Link Party at Simple Home Life

Addicts (not so) Anonymous Addicted to Decorating

Sunday Showcase Party at Under the Table and Dreaming

Project Parade at The DIY Showoff

Creative Bloggers' Party and Hop at Homemaker on a Dime

Tip-Toe Thru Tuesday at Crayon Freckles

Pinspirational Thursday at The Artsy Girl Connection

Make the Scene Monday at Alderberry Hill

Sunday Salvation at Sassafras Salvation

Tuesday Talent Show at Chef n Training
Flaunt Your Flowers  at Tootsie Time
What I Wore/What's Up Wednesday at Rae Gun Ramblings
Sunday Roundup at A Rosie Sweet Home
Overflowing with Creativity at It's Overflowing
Manic Monday at Silo Hill Farm
Mannequin Monday at Artsy Girl Connection

Evolving Porch Pots....You Can Grow That!

Have you ever seen seasonal porch pots--especially fall and winter-themed--around during those seasons and wondered how you can do it yourself? AND....make plants work for more than one season?

I absolutely love my front step pots. No lyin'. The possibilities are endless and I truly enjoy seeing various container plantings around during the growing season. Coming from a house where I had a 16x8' porch that I filled up with various containers, I now have only two pots that I plant identically that flank our front door. I like to make these pots work for more than one season by using plants that can work in the season following.


So, here is a year of my porch pots. I'm showing last year's, since we are still in progress this year. : )


Spring


The only time I ever start over with my front step pots are in the spring. Don't we all start over a little each spring? I do just pansies. I'm anxious for some green and color by that time of the year.

I have some new ideas for next spring's pots. We'll see how it goes!


Summer


I won't lie....I do feel pressure when choosing my container plantings in May, since I feel like it's a big commitment. I've had to teach myself to let go and refresh them in the middle of the summer if something's not thriving. Here's a midsummer shot of my porch pots last summer.

Obviously, it was 4th of July time. I had some coral million bells, strawflower, sweet potato vine 'Margarita' and a maroonish plant in the back. This is not one of my favorites, but it turned out not too badly.


Fall


To take this container into fall, I kept just the maroon foliage plant. I added ornamental cabbage, pansies and 4.5" mums. When I took this pic, the white on the cabbages was not showing up yet...I also decided to add a small white pumpkin for a bit of color. I chose maroon/yellow pansies and yellow mums. The cabbages were a great find at the grocery store--a big pot of those three for about $12. I broke them up into three separate containers.

Christmas


For Christmastime, I kept the cabbages and added some red berries, fake greenery (sometimes I use real), pinecones and some lights strung onto silver-painted twigs.

Winter


For the final porch pot before the spring changeout, I removed the red berries and the lights. I added some dried grass from my ornamental grasses, but kept the cabbages, pinecones and greenery. They look even lovelier with some snow....of which we did not have much last year. : ) By the time it's the season for pansies, the cabbages are more than ready to come out.

With some forethought and planning......beautiful through-the-seasons porch pots?


You can grow that!

Party Time......

Time Travel Thursday at The Brambleberry Cottage

Fridays Unfolded at Stuff and Nonsense

Feathered Nest Friday at French Country Cottage

Show and Share Day at Just a Girl

Simply Creations Link Party at Simple Home Life

Addicts (not so) Anonymous Addicted to Decorating

Sunday Showcase Party at Under the Table and Dreaming

Project Parade at The DIY Showoff

Creative Bloggers' Party and Hop at Homemaker on a Dime

Tip-Toe Thru Tuesday at Crayon Freckles

Pinspirational Thursday at The Artsy Girl Connection

Make the Scene Monday at Alderberry Hill

Sunday Salvation at Sassafras Salvation

Tuesday Talent Show at Chef n Training
Flaunt Your Flowers  at Tootsie Time
What I Wore/What's Up Wednesday at Rae Gun Ramblings
Sunday Roundup at A Rosie Sweet Home
Overflowing with Creativity at It's Overflowing
Manic Monday at Silo Hill Farm
Mannequin Monday at Artsy Girl Connection