BLOOMS IN THE GARDEN

 DH and I have a small front garden and a small back garden.  Over the years, the iris have multiplied and my front garden is full of yellow iris that needs to be thinned after it is finished blooming.

 

Unfortunately we had strong wind, and the white iris are taller and have thinner stems, and most of them are laying down.

This one is still standing tall, with many more buds to come.

We used to have 2 garden beds surrounding our patio in the back area, but with my arthritis getting worse, making it hard for me to take care of everything, we decided to return one bed to grass, and make the other one a bit smaller.  DH removed all the plants, and we saved a few that we really liked in large pots.

We have 2 small clumps of daylilies, which bloom later, 2 different clematis that are growing up the trellis, and light purple iris blooming.

I also have chives, ready to bloom, and planted basil, parsley, thyme and sage to flavour our meals in the future.

The small purple and white iris in the pot will be transplanted into both the front an back garden beds.  These are always the earliest to bloom each year.  Since I took the pictures, a super dark purple iris is in bloom, along with one that is a deep red purple.  When we thin the yellow and white plants in the front, I plan to add some of all the other colours for more variety.

Quilting - I have been trying to decide what to use on the back of my mosaic quilt.  I was inspired by others, who have added some orphan quilt blocks to the backing, so I pulled out one of my baskets of unused blocks, and have been playing with them, trying to figure out how to use them.  I have a large stash, but currently no wide backing fabrics.  I always seem to piece backing for kids quilts and lap-size quilts, but I have some large quilts planned in the future.    When I looked at these blocks, and parts of blocks, I remember quilts that I made 20+ years ago!  Hopefully they will keep someone warm in the future!

I don't want to have a huge stash to leave behind when my quilting days are over, so I have been concentrating on creative ways to use what I have!!!!!