Beautiful Dames Rocket

      I had a few plants last yr, towards the back of this end of the bed. I wasnt sure I liked them. I even pulled a few out last yr. But this yr a bunch sprouted up in shades of purple and white, and look so nice near the purple iris's and the bright pink azalea. My huge weigela  just to the right of the azalea, and looks just as beautiful. I think I will let them stay.

PS: I edited the title as I at first thought these were phlox and later found out they are really Dames Rocket.

AreThese Tomato Seedlings?

I planted several different heirloom tomatoes last yr along with a couple early girl. I had so much problems with tomato hornworms and stinkbugs, I got very few fit to eat. Needless to say, a LOT fell to the ground. Now this same 4'x8' bed is full to the brim of these little seedlings. They appear, and smell like tomato plants. I dont know what to do with them. I thought at first they were marigolds, and was going to just leave a few sturdy ones, but now after they have gotten bigger and I smelled the leaves, I am pretty sure they are tomatoes. I hate to destroy them, but there is no way I have room for a few hundred tomato plants,lol. I didnt know the seeds would survive winter.

Hidden Dangers in Food!

           I thought the only time we had to watch for razor blades, and other dangerous objects in food, was only on Halloween. Well this evening, I learned that is definitely NOT the case. I always buy the little 6 , snack size packs of Sun-Maid Raisins for in my husband's lunch and my 5 year old grand daughter to snack on. I have bought these for years. A healthy, quick snack. But this evening my grand daughter grabbed the brand new pack off the counter and wanted me to open it and give her a box. I did so,as I turned to walk away ,she  suddenly brings something to my attention, asking : "whats this?". I looked at her little hand and couldnt believe my eyes. She had a raisin that was slightly mashed and pressed onto and wrapped 3/4 the distance around  a 1 inch long piece of wood that was about 1/8 inch wide. Had she just popped it into her mouth without noticing, there could have been serious injury.

Robot Baby Blanket

      My 21 yr old daughter just completed her first major sewing project. She is a nursing student right now and wanted to earn a little spending money. She made this gorgeous flannel and flannel lined satin baby blanket and matching burp, that she is now offering on Etsy.

    The set turned out beautiful. Take a look and see what you think.

My 4th Grand Daughter

   We just welcomed a new grand baby to the family in January. She is now 2 months old. Her name is Braylee. She weighed 6'4". A tiny little bundle of Joy. She is the first child to my youngest son.

Wintersowing for 2011

   It is such a warm beautiful day outside today ( a warm 65°) , I decided to get started on a little wintersowing. I am much later than last yr. But this yr I have no intentions of sowing over 200 containers either. I want to see how things filled out from last year. With perennials they frequently dont show their true glory until yr 2 or 3. Mostly what I sowed today are the fantastic seeds sent to me from Renee's Garden about a month ago (see link in side bar). I participated in a group grow last yr sponsored by her.It was a lot of fun. I got about 15 containers sowed this afternoon. It didnt take long as I saved a few bags of last year's containers. So I didnt have all the cutting to do.
   I also sowed some more rose seeds I had saved. last yr I got two wonderful rose bushes this way. I expected some weird looking thing with flowers no where near the parent, but I got a wonderful surprise when they bloomed. What a cheap,easy way to make more roses.
  Traditionally, winter sowing is started on Winter Solstice. But I avoid the cold weather as much as possible. This is such an easy method to start seeds. Mother Nature takes care of most of the gardener's duties. Give it a try and drop a line to let me know how it did.

Christmas At Home

  I dont have much to say, but I just had to share some photo's that looking amazing in the Christmas lights.

and Many Blessings for the New year !

New Baby Shoes

    My newest grand daughter is due in a few weeks and I have been busy making things for her, among others. I found this cute baby shoe pattern online, and thought about trying it, but never got around to it. Then while shopping at target this evening, I found the exact same style shoe there for $8. It was so cute... but what isn't when its baby size,lol. Anyway, when I got back I decided to give it a try. The pattern is for 0-6 mo, but I wanted newborn, so I just took a generous seam allowance. I havent gotten the other one made yet, but I will get it done shortly. I just couldnt wait to share how cute this pattern is. The tutorial and pattern can be found HERE.

Baby Quilt For Coming DGD

    We are expecting out 4th grand-daughter sometime the middle of January. I started this baby quilt for her the first of September while on the road to Tennessee with our camper for the annual car show in Pigeon Forge. I finished it after our return the day before the baby shower the end of October. It is totally my design. i kinda winged it as I went along. I knew I wanted soft colors. I started with the center floral wreath then added the stars around that, then did a simple border. I want to embroidery the baby's name, birth date and weight ( the only time a woman ever truthfully tells her weight....well come to think of it, someone else is opening their big mouth even then,lol) into the center of the quilt. The mom loved it.

Snow Bunny Crochet Ponytail Hat

         My grand daughter has been bugging me since this summer that she needed a new ponytail hat. I had made one for her a couple of years ago, and forgot how I did it. Well I finally buckled down and created a new pattern. This one turned out so much nicer, with loads of feminine detail. The hat is open at the top to allow you to pull your ponytail thru the top so you no longer have to full with unsightly bulges in the back of your hat due to your ponytail.
        This time, for the first time ever...I wrote down my pattern as I went. I always tend to wing it, and make it up as i go. However sometimes that makes it rough when I need to create more than one of my design, and now I have 3 DGD and one more on the way.

This pattern is available for purchase at Stitch This Designs.

Fantastic Giveaway at Stonegable!

I just followed THIS link to a FANTASTIC giveaway being held at Stonegable. She is offering a huge set of gorgeous Christmas dishes. Some lucky winner is going to be very happy at Christmas.
Tammy

My First Baby Wipes Case

         We are expecting our 4th DGD the end of January, so I have been busy with sewing and crocheting projects. I have a baby quilt that is in the hoop now almost done with the hand quilting, A crocheted baby blanket done. And today I made my first In-The-Hoop baby wipes case. These In-The-Hoop projects are so much fun. its hard to believe you can sew this whole case completely in the hoop (other than the two tabs on the ends). All I had to do when I removed it from the hoop was to trim the excess fabric around the edges and turn right side out.

I digitized the design myself. I havent done any digitizing for several years, and have just gotten back into it this year. I am also loving my new (to me ) Viking Designer 1 Embroidery/Sewing machine. 

A Laptop Case For My Daughter

      My youngest daughter is in nursing school, and just purchased her first laptop. It is a 17" computer and we couldnt find a ready made case. All the better. She picked out her fabric and style, and I stitched this up for her. its a perfect fit. More importantly, she is very pleased.

My New Fall Table Runner

    I just got my new Fall table runner completed this morning. I am having a blast playing around with my new embroidery machine. I digitized the pumpkin design myself. I used to digitize a lot, but was stopped for a couple of years. I am just getting back into it. The design file can be found on my Stitch This Designs website.

Tomato Hornworm

             All I could say was "YUUUUCCCKKK!" when I was strolling thru the garden this morning, still in my p.j.'s. I found these two on one of my Early Girl tomatoes. I at first noticed a couple of tomatoes with areas kinda skinned. So I started looking closer for the varmint. Then I found the first. They are HHUUGGEE!.

I wasnt about to touch them. I wasnt sure what it was at first, since I have never seen them before. But the first thing that came to mind was a Tomato Hornworm. So I took these guys away for their moment in front of the camera, and then came inside to my "see all know all" computer. I found out my supposition was right.

According to this website: http://organicgardensite.com/bugs-harmful/tomato-horn-worms/
"Tomato Hornworms are the larva of a huge moth called five-spotted hawkmoth. Approximate size of the moth is around the size of a hummingbird so you can’t miss them. The hawkmoth is gray-brown with yellow spots on the sides of their body.
The hornworm caterpillars are pretty small at first and hard to see because of their pale green color, but they become huge – 3 1/2 to 4 inches (7-10cm) in 3-4 weeks. You can’t miss them then! They are green-brown colour with v-shaped markings on the body and unmistakable ‘horns’. Hornworm eggs are green and are laid on the underside of leaves."
Here is the google pic of the MOTH.

According to THIS site, solanaceous plants, mostly tomato.but larvae can also attack pepper, potato, and eggplant. The eggs of this worm grow into the adult moth often referred to as "Hummingbird Moth". It is a large heavy bodied moth with a wingspan of 4-5 inches. It is not uncommon for some people to mistake them for deformed hummingbirds.According too THIS site, it is in its last instar of development since it has the cream colored "V" shaped markings.It could soon be pupating and then the large moth emerge in about 2 weeks. 
The larvae are the damaging stage.They are capable of destroying several leaves and fruit, and leave behind large black droppings.
Handpicking off small crops works the best (eeewwww). Early instars are often preyed upon by ladybeetles and green lacewings. Later Cotesia congregatus, a small wasp will lay her eggs on the hornworm, which then form cocoons in her body.  These white coccoons stick up on the worms back. If you see this , leave the worm. When the wasps hatch they will destroy the worm, and seek out others to kill. 
So observe your gardens from early July into August for their eggs and small caterpillar.  Well Time to dress and head back into the garden, armed with a bucket of water, prepared to do battle. 


PS: While I was inside loading pictures onto the computer and starting this post, I had left the little (and I use that loosely) worm's  sitting outside on my deck. When I came back to take care of them, I found a few of these little droppings:

These are approximately 1/4" in width. The worms themselves are pretty hard to locate, since their coloring blends in with the tomato plants so well. The best times to look for them is early morning or late evening since they dont like the heat so much. You may also look around the base of your plants for these green to black droppings. Finding these would be a postitive sign you plants have unwanted company.

Note: As always, you can click on the image to bring it to a much larger size for close-up viewing.
Also, someone on the gardenweb forum said to plant Borage near by. This is supposed to deter the moth from laying her eggs, and "gently" re-seeds so you wont have to replant them again. I think I will try and remember to plant a few next year.

July's Flowers

          I finally have some blooms on my new Japanese Morning Glories. They are beauties. i cant wait till they get fuller.

Chocolate Silk 

And Morning Glory Cameo Elegance

Friends visited the other day, and as they were leaving and looking out over my large raised bed, he commented about me having so many Hummingbirds. I also have loads of butterflies too. Thank You Winter Sowing.

Cosmos Rose Bon Bon. I have noticed some of these are more a single form with just slightly extra center petals, and some are what I was expecting with a real full look like this one:

                                                           Heliopsis Summer Sunshine:

                                                                        Seed grown Marigold

                Zinnia Fruit Smoothies. I love the multiple colors of these. I plant to grow them again next year.

Sunflower

Red Gladiola

Scabiosa ,Summer  Berries I love these cute little flowers. These are getting re-sown  again next year too.

And last but not least...California Poppies