Botanical Garden

My friend and I went to Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden today.  The weather was warm but not hot, and there was plenty of shade.

You can't tell from my pictures, but there were a lot of  moms there with their pre-school kids.  Lewis Ginter has a children's garden with a small splash area and little play houses. 

 My favorite part was the butterfly exhibit.  The exhibit was in one wing of the greenhouse, and we were allowed to walk into that section. They are very careful not to let any of the butterflies out, as they are not native to our area.

This poor guy had a messed up wing.  I wish I had gotten a picture of the blue butterflies.  They were the biggest ones in the exhibit, and they were moving very fast, almost like they were playing tag with each other.

We saw a little  damage from Monday's storm, but considering how many big trees are in the park, it could have been much worse. They were running on generator power, so the tea room was closed.  That means we will have to go back again and eat lunch there another time.  Here's a link to their website: http://www.lewisginter.org/ 

The End is Near

I can finally see the end of the porch project!  We have screens in the porch, the windows are in, the patio is done,  and the drywall in the utility room was completed today.  They still have to finish the siding, paint, put down the utility room floor, put up the light fixtures and the railings.  But we have been able to sit outside on the porch most every night.  I am looking forward to having the workmen gone.  They have all been very nice, but I'm ready for them to be done.

Mystery flowers

I still haven't identified this plant.

 Now it looks like this:

It is tall and floppy and could use some staking.  The flowers aren't beautiful.  What I like about this plant is that it comes back year after year and lasts well into Dec.  It's not my favorite, but I'd like to know what it is.

Another mystery plant is this one:

It looked like this earlier this spring.

I love the leaves on this plant.  Now it looks like this:

The flowers aren't beautiful, but they are interesting.  For some reason, my camera doesn't take good pictures of very light lavender flowers.  It makes them look gray or white.  I've tried to get the color right in several lights, but this is as good as I can do.  If you know what these plants could be, please let me know.

Stash Report: Zipper Quilt Top Done

I finished the zipper quilt top  yesterday.  The whole quilt is made of scraps. I like the way this quilt looks from a distance.  Close up it is not my favorite!

 

 

 

 

I thought about putting a border on it to make it a little bigger (it is 82x69 inches), but didn't like any of the fabrics I auditioned, so it will just have a black binding.  Finishing this top was one of my goals for this quarter, and I'm very happy to have it done.  I'm not sure if this quilt will be for my family, or if it will be a gift. 

Used this week: 4.0  yards

Used Year to Date: 47  yards

Added this week:0

Added year to date:18.25 yards

Net Used: 28.75 yard

Summer Flowers

A lot of the summer flowers have started to bloom.  This crazy looking flower is a  bulb I bought at Lowes on sale for 1/2 off.  They called it a Peruvian daffodil, but my neighbor thought it looked like a lilly.

My butterfly bushes are just starting to bloom.  My neighbor's have been blooming already for a couple of weeks.  I don't think mine are getting enough sun.

The daisies have just started to bloom.

My Rose of Sharon has one flower right now.  I have several of these plants, given to me by my sister.  They originally came from a co-worker of hers.  This plant reseeds uncontrollably in my yard.  Sometimes I wish I had never planted it.

These are daylillies of unknown variety.  They were planted by the former homeowner.  They used to look peach when they were growing in the shade.  Last year, we had a tree cut down.  Now that they are getting more light, they look orange, not pale peach, and the center dark orange splotch is more pronounced.

These marigolds have been volunteering in my flower bed for years. Last year I had so many they overran the daylilies.  This year they seem to be very short and more under control.

Sand Soccer

I spent this weekend at a sand soccer tournament in Virginia Beach. http://sandsoccer.com/  We've been going to this tournament for four years.  It is a great group of kids that all get along, and the parents are great too.  I like spending time with all of them.  We've been doing travel soccer together for many years.  Our kids go to different schools, and they aren't always on the same team during the regular season, but we all get together once a year and do this tournament.

 

One of the dads coaches, and I do the admin stuff (sending in  the paperwork, collecting fees, registering the team).  After four years, I know the drill, and it isn't hard.  Most of the families stay in the beach hotels, but we stay at my parents' house to save money.  This year my niece and nephew were also in the tournament, but we didn't see their games because of game time conflicts.

The only bad part about the day yesterday was the attitude of some of the parents of the kids on the second team we played.  Why do adults think it is acceptable to taunt kids on the field?  What is wrong with them?  It is fine to cheer for your team, but do you really need to call someone else's child names?  The behavior of the parents was shameful.  And when the parents act bad, it is easy to understand why their kids mouth off at the ref and other players.  Their coach got a red card today because of his mouth, and got thrown off the field.  Unbelievable!  This is U15 sand soccer, not the World Cup!

The weather was beautiful.  It got up to 90 during the day, but we stayed in the shade and drank a lot of water and gatorade. The kids played in the water between games, walked up and down the boardwalk, and ate junk at the food stands.  The grown ups had drinks on a hotel patio before dinner.  Since our kids travelled in a pack and all had cell phones, we were able to let them wander a little on the beach.  Last night they practiced flirting with some middle school girls.  One of the other moms and I chaperoned from a bench several yards away.  I'm going to miss sand soccer when my son outgrows it!

More Flowers

The bee balm started blooming a couple of weeks ago.  This is a plant that first appeared in my yard when it crept though our neighbor's fence.  I moved a hunk of it to the middle of my yard a couple of years ago, but it isn't really getting enough sun.  Still, I love the color, and it is too tall to move in front into the sun. 

Some itty bitty day lilies have also started to bloom.

These day lilies are less than 10 inches tall.  I'm not sure where I got them, but they make me smile because they get flowers that are really big for the size plant they are.  They also bloom even when it it very hot and dry, and  my other day lilies have give up.  They seem to like this spot a lot, but they are getting  crowded.  I hope I remember to go back and read my flower posts next spring to help me remember which perennials to split.

The porch is moving along. 

They are waiting for the screens to come in.  Also, the windows for the utility room and the utility room floor are on backorder.   One and a half weeks so far without a washer and dryer.  My DH took dirty clothes to the laundermat last weekend, and I did a load at my neighbor's house this week. 

Design Floor

I wish I had wall space for a design wall in my bed/sewing room, but we have too much furniture and too many windows, so my design 'wall' is my floor.  Here's my zipper quilt progress. This week it has gone from this:

To this:

I need to decide how I'm going to hook these 3 sections together.  I still have enough solid rows that I could put a solid row without teeth in between.  Or I could take the easy way out and just use a solid piece.  I'd rather not just butt  them together because there is no way to nest all those seams together, and there would be a lot of bulk.  To see other quilters' design walls, click here http://www.patchworktimes.com/2012/06/04/design-wall-monday-10/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+PatchworkTimes+%28Patchwork+Times+by+Judy+Laquidara%29&utm_content=Google+Reader

In other news, they have made progress on the porch.  We have shingles.

And steps.

Look at the detail on each step.

I feel like we picked the right guy for this job.  He is concerned with the little details that I'd never think of.