Two on Tuesday.....

I have SO many photos on this computer and on disks and I love many of them. I often find myself wishing I could share them with someone. SO...I have decided that, occasionally, I will feature a couple of them here. I may call this Two on Tuesday (or Four on Friday....or Six on Saturday...you get the picture.....bad "pun", huh?) Anyway...these photos may or may not have to do with quilting and crafting...might be nature photos or family photos. Who knows what they will be? I just want to share them and since it's my blog, I decided I will DO it and hope you will indulge me in this. LOL If you aren't bored by them, they should enlarge nicely if you click on them.

Here is one I took in Rehoboth Beach at sunrise one day...
And here is one of a sunrise in Nags Head, NC (on the Outer Banks)Okay....now I just need someone from West Virginia to read my blog...and then I'll have all 50 states! (Then I will remove the state counter and just leave the country one in place on my sidebar...since the country one will still count U.S. totals for me...and that will be fine.) So...if you know any quilters in West Virginia, please send them here.....okay???? LOL

A fun bag....

As a follow-up to yesterday's post, someone from another country (Israel) has visited my blog. AND......two of the 4 "missing states" have shown up (Colorado and Montana).....so that just leaves New Mexico and West Virginia and I'll have had visitors from all 50 states......YIPPEEE!
Anyway....now to tell you about that fun bag pictured above. It's called a "Sole Cool Iron Bag". A blogging friend in North Carolina (Tango.....click HERE for her blog) had a giveaway with two prizes. You were to say which prized you'd like. I entered on the first day and didn't realize she only had TWO of us enter (can you believe it??) So....I was one of the two winners (not hard when only two enter). I want to thank Tango for following through on the giveaway.......don't know if I'd have cancelled it if I had only two enter it. I think the bag was made by her as she has some cool bags she has made and sells in her etsy store. This bag is made with an insulated lining so you can put your hot iron in it at the end of a quilting class to carry it home safely....a very helpful item, indeed. Tango does some long-arm quilting and her blog tells about quilting and thrift-shop treasures she finds and also she posts a fair amount of recipes. So....if you want to meet Tango, click on the link above to her blog and go on over and tell her hello. I think she might like to have a few more blog readers. I don't want her to feel lonely over there on her blog!!!

Blog counter update......

About 10 days ago, I put two flag counters on my blog sidebar (as I mentioned at that time). One let me know in which states my blog readers live...and the other is a listing of countries where at least one person has looked at my blog. I have been fascinated with the results. Last night, I did a tally and see that I have had "hits" from 46 of the 50 states....missing are: Colorado, Montana, New Mexico, and West Virginia (but I hope to get a reader from each of those states soon). I have also had readers from American Samoa.......which is an American territory (Barb, I think, is the only one from there, actually...but the counter records each time she visits my blog).

It is also exciting to see I have had readers from 18 other countries......Canada, Australia, Great Britain, Italy, Germany, Brazil, The Netherlands, France Spain, Ireland, Japan, Denmark, Argentina, Norway, Slovak Republic, Sweden, Austria, and Russian Federation. I just LOVE the idea of blogging with quilters from all over the country and around the world, too! What a wide resource network we provide for each other.
The picture above is of a red fox (taken two nights back) that is living in a wooded area behind a friend a few blocks from here. A mom, dad, and 3 babies are there right now. The babies move too quickly...tumbling about and playing with each other....to get a good photo, but I thought this was a good picture of one of the parents (not sure if it's mom or dad). Click on it to see it in greater detail. I hope you enjoy seeing it!

For a tea party......

One of the b'day gifts I got was a cute fat quarter wrapped around a jar of pumpkin butter. I got it from Kathy (click HERE for her blog). The fat quarter was all kinds of little teapots and flowers on a black background. The day Kathy gave this to me was the day several of us went to the quilt shop's first anniversary sale. I decided to use the paper-piecing book I got that day along with the fat quarter from Kathy and this photo is the result. (Everything inside the reddish squares was paper-pieced...which I love to do. Click to enlarge the photo if you wish to see it in more detail.) I intend to use Insulbrite instead of batting when I sandwich this so that the little quilt can become a heat resistant mat for 4 of my little teapots when I get around to having a tea party with the quilting gals. One teapot will fit nicely on each of the squares, and I think it will make a cute piece on the table. Now...regarding Insulbrite...I have a question...I got some as yardage and don't have directions. Is there any certain way the Insultbrite batting must face so the tabletop is protected from the heat....or does it have to be used in a double layer....any kind of advice from any of you who have used Insulbrite already?

Gotta love these summer fruits and veggies.......

Designer Pat Sloan has a Yahoo group and last year posted a series of block patterns called Farmer's Market. Many did it as a complete wall-hanging but I decided to do some of the blocks separately to use on a small wall-hanger in my kitchen. Last year I did the strawberries and this year the corn. There are some others in the series I like but haven't done yet. I'm not happy with the workmanship on the corn, though. I prefer the machine applique stitching on the strawberries and I'm much happier with the binding on the strawberries. (I did the binding on the corn totally by machine....and I still haven't mastered doing that very well....but I'll keep trying.)

My quilt shop purchases (continued from yesterday's post)...

Below you will find some photos of my purchases from the annniversary celebration at Serendipity Quilt Shop....but before that, a photo of a prize I won in a giveaway a few weeks back. It is a piece of pottery made by Kathy (click HERE for her blog). I so enjoy handmade items and they are a special treasure if I "know" the artist. Thanks, Kathy!!! (The photo doesn't do the piece justice but trust me......it is wonderful and goes beautifully with the colors I have in my home...I am a lover of GREEN!)

Here is the photo of my gift from Kathy.....I got some yardage of a green fabric and a rose-colored fabric to go along with the fat quarters I won recently (and blogged about...won them from Nancy of Patchwork Penguin blog). Don't these yardages go well with those fat quarters? Now I just have to decide what I will make with them.Remember my door prize was a 20% discount on a kit? I chose these fabrics (MANY greens) for a March-themed shamrock table runner. The pieces for the front of the runner will be made from the pre-cut strips.....and the piece of fabric to the right will be the backing.Last year I got a fun fabric (that I've not used yet) that is called Fruit Ladies (by Elizabeth's Studio). This next photo is what I got of Elizabeth's now.....called Beach Divas......really cute, and I have NO clue what I'll do with it. Any ideas??? (Click on it to see them more closely.)Yes...I am a sucker for books on paper-piecing. This is one I just got by Linda Causee. It has a CD with it that allows you to print the patterns in any size from 2 inch to 8 inch (so you can make a true mini, if desired)........includes many great traditional-looking blocks as well as blocks for each month of the year, several blocks for Christmas, and the garden blocks shown in the last photo here. Hope you enjoyed seeing my purchases...I tried not to go wild and think I was quite reasonable in what I bought. I used a quilt shop gift certificate given to me for my birthday by Sherry, so that was a "bonus"!

1st Anniversary at our local quilt shop.....

Yesterday was the 1st anniversary celebration at our favorite local quilt shop.....Serendipity Quilt Shop in Dagsboro, Delaware. (Click HERE for their webpage.) They are in a charming old building that used to house an antique shop.......old wooden floors....lots of "ambience" in this place. Anyway........they had lots of fun stuff happening for the anniversary celebration.... a spinner working outside.....a basketweaver......lots of fun door prizes....a Chinese auction for the benefit of Relay for Life (with the shop owner...wonderful person that she is.... MATCHING the funds generated from that)......some tasty snacks.......and, of course, many good things to buy! Five of us from the neighborhood quilting group went and had a great time. We then went back to the house of one of the gals for a nice lunch she had prepared and to admire each other's purchases. (This will end up being a two-part post...with photos of the luncheon and our purchases tomorrow....don't want to overload you here today.....LOL)

The spinner hard at work. This woman is also a certified wildlife rehabilitator and has done some very interesting things during her life.
This is the basket weaver (on the left)....sorry I didn't get her "best side" and didn't get a good photo of the many wonderful baskets she had on display. The other gal is Sherry, from our neighborhood group, who is going to take one of the basket classes. I may do that, too.This is a partial view of some of the shopping taking place during the anniversary sale. I didn't keep my camera out for any further photos as I was too intent on deciding what to buy! (Info about that in tomorrow's post.)

Summertime kitchen fun......

Even though our weather makes us feel like summer isn't here yet, I am trying to get in the summertime mood. One of the things I love about summer is watermelon. (I even made a quilted watermelon wall-hanging that has been shown here a couple of times.) Today I discovered a cute website with all things watermelon.....fun ideas about watermelon as well as lots of interesting and fun facts about watermelon. This photo shows one of the many cute watermelon carvings on the website.......all with directions. I believe they call it Flowering Garden. SOMEDAY I'm going to try one of these for a party! It will remind me of the fabulous melon carvings I've seen on cruise ships....such fun! Click HERE for the website. Oh...one more thing........go have a look at yesterday's blog post for my friend, Kaye. She made a great t-shirt quilt for her grandson who just graduated high school and a photo is on her blog. (The photo was taken before the binding was done, but you can still see what a nice job she did as well as a nice photo of her with her grandson.) Here is where you click to get to that post on her blog.

Online shop hop.....

Would you like to go on an ONLINE shop hop? If so, be sure to click HERE for the details at Gudrun's World. This is a great idea for those of us who don't live near enough quilt shops to participate in a real, in-person shop hop! It sounds like a lot of fun and it all begins TODAY!!!!

I've had a question about what I did while I was quilting in the garden tour during Saturday's rain. I took with me a piece I've shown on the blog before....but it wasn't "sandwiched" then and I'd not begun to hand-quilt it. I got a lot of the handquilting done on Saturday. I am still working on crosshatching the light squares (behind the heart)...and then this will become a pillow cover for my living room.
The last picture shows the Daddy cardinal waiting for his turn to feed the 3 babies in the nest (on Father's Day). Can you see him perched on the solar light near the hanging planter? Click the photo to enlarge and while you will see the screen from the porch, I think you will still see him pretty clearly. I do wish they'd built that nest in a place where I could get a photo of it.....but....I can't. We have to struggle to see the nest because of the porch screen and the heavy branches of the bush....and a photo is just impossible. So...you will just have to settle for this (through the porch screen) photo of Dad perched and ready to feed! He is more reluctant to come to the nest when we are on the porch than Mom is. She is accustomed to us now and just does her chores with the babies and ignores us. I suspect the 3 babies will leave the nest sometime this week. I'll miss the activity...it's been such fun to watch.

The Garden Tour......

Here is my report on quilting in a garden during the Lewes Garden Tour yesterday. The tour started at 10. I was scheduled to be quilting at one of the gardens at noon. At exactly (and I DO mean exactly) 10 a.m., thunder clapped and a torrential rain began. I was at one of the other gardens as I hoped to see more than the one to which I was assigned. Here is a photo I took from inside my car. Can you tell it's raining???I waited for a break in the rain and did get to see two of the gardens. It was still raining, but it was not as torrential and I was able to manage with an umbrella. Here are photos from each of those gardens. (Sorry I didn't get more....but it was hard to juggle purse, camera, and umbrella and not get blurry photos. Hopefully, they will all enlarge for you by clicking on them.)
This house is right on the Delaware bay.....here is part of its garden


This next house had a lot more bricks and wood...and was very rustic and nice. It was also raining a bit harder when I was there......so this is about the best photo I got of their place.I was assigned to a place where the homeowner is an artist and had a separate studio building. When I was sitting in my car in the downpour, I phoned her to ask if I was going to have any shelter....it was at THAT point she told me about the studio and said I could sit inside there. It was very cozy and the watercolor artist assigned to that garden worked on the porch and I worked inside. It was one of very few dry places in town that day. Here is the inside of that studio where I got to sit and quilt.This is another view of the inside......as I wanted to get a photo of the resident cat....Moose.....part Maine Coon cat. Can you see him on the stairs? Some of you might recognize my watermelon quilted wall-hanging on the piano there.

This is the watercolor artist who was with me at this particular garden. Her name is Lesley McCaskill.
Next is a photo of part of the garden and the main house as taken from the porch of the studio where I was doing the quilting. This particular house was built in the 1850's and was lived in for awhile by the lighthouse keeper's wife (as she didn't like living in the lighthouse during the bad winter storms). It is a charming place...pictures don't do the garden justice at all and with the weather I couldn't get very good angles. It was a very restful place with lots of birds and water features (aside from the rain). When you were there, you forgot you were in the middle of town and just a half block from the firehouse and the hospital. These homeowners are fortunate enough to also own a cottage right on the beach there and a house in Provencal, France. The last photo will show the people with umbrellas being served wine by the home owners. Guess that made them all forget about the rain! LOL The homeowners asked me to join them and the artist for lunch, but I had to scoot. I already stayed an extra "shift" as the quilter scheduled to show up after me never arrived....not sure why. If she'd phoned (like I did), she'd have found out we were inside and the rain wasn't a problem for us in this lovely garden.

Same project...two different looks.....

You may recall about a week ago, I showed you my friend, Sherry (no blog) had completed a cute little patriotic hanging. Here is the photo again of hers. (Will probably enlarge if you click on it.)
Next we have a photo of mine (not completed yet and I do have a red striped fabric for the binding on mine). I hand stitched (blanket stitch) around my applique pieces and Sherry did hers by machine. I also want to do a bit of hand-quilting on mine. I always enjoy seeing how the same pattern can look so different with different fabrics! While you can certainly tell they were made the same way, they each have their own, distinct look....which is part of the charm (and fun) of quilting for me.
Today I will be quilting on the garden tour in Lewes (my time begins at noon)...hope the weather holds. They have the garden tour "rain or shine" but I, for one, will NOT be out there in anygarden with my quilted items if we have rain and / or thunderstorms!!! Oh, no, I won't!!! This girl may have some foolish moments, but she isn't dopey enough to go sit out under trees in a thunder and lightning storm!!! (If the others wish to do that, go ahead, but you won't find ME there in that kind of weather.)

Mailbox goodies.......

Earlier in the week, I blogged about a giveaway I'd won from the Patchwork Penguin blog (click HERE for that blog). I won 12 very nicely-coordinated fat quarters. They arrived on Wednesday and this is a photo of them. Don't you just love the colors and patterns? They will go well with the colors in my home. (You should be able to click it to enlarge it.) I think they are VERY pretty and can't wait to decide on a project for them. Thanks, Nancy!Also on Wednesday, I got a wonderful birthday package from Sandi of A Legacy of Stitches (click HERE for that blog). She also has a couple of other great blogs and owns a couple of Yahoo groups that are terrific. (You can find info about that on her blog, if you wish...or email me to ask.) Anyway.....below is a photo of that package. She included so many goodies for me......a wonderful pattern of hers, a recipe booklet, an inspirational booklet, two lovely fat quarters, a red/white/blue dish towel, some post-it notes, and a great book to make paper-pieced quilt labels (she knows I LOVE paper-piecing), and a very cute card that has special meaning as there is a sheep on it and I'm part of her Wooly Buddies Yahoo group! Thanks, Sandi.....this was a nice surprise to get in the mail.
My birthday was very nice......went to lunch with a few gals. I was going to eat dinner out, too, but I was honestly too full from lunch, so I'll do dinner out another night soon. Hubby surprised me with a Nintendo DS Lite unit and an extra game for it. The grandkids will now think Grammy is "cool" since they have those units, too! (MY games are harder than theirs, though....LOL) I got very nice cards from our daughter and the grandkids. They had hoped to come here for the day but between her work schedule and an injury she got at work (might be a torn meniscus), she was unable to come. With the horrible downpours of rain we've had, I'd not have been too comfortable with her being on the road with the kids in that kind of weather anyway.

I want to thank the many of you who contacted me with birthday wishes, which were very much appreciated. And also, I am happy that so many of you went to the Ooglebloops' blog I mentioned and were able to help her get BEYOND her hoped-for 40 followers! You folks are the best!!! OH...and Woo-Hoo....folks from Latvia, Lithuania, and Ireland checked in on my blog yesterday....such fun to see so many countries and states represented now on my flag counters.

My new "gadget" on the blog.....

Many of you might have noticed my two new flag counters on my sidebar. I need to thank Susanne (click HERE for her blog) for helping me get them in place. I have been fascinated to watch them the first day they were in place. When I hit the 24-hour mark, I was delighted to see that my blog had been viewed by 60 U.S. visitors (from 28 different states) as well as 8 visitors from Canada, 2 from Great Britain, 2 from Australia, and 1 each from Italy, American Samoa, Norway, Spain, and Sweden. What FUN to know we have a truly far-reaching and international blogging community!!! I am really glad I found this flag counter "gadget".

Now....about this photo.......it shows 3 flowerpot swap blocks I kept for myself. I let 3 others go in a giveaway awhile back here on my blog. I wanted to make a thin wall-hanging from these. It's not sandwiched yet...and I want to hand-quilt it, so it will take awhile to complete. But I wanted to show you how it looks so far. I ran out of the polka dotted border fabric and had to add some different green top and bottom but I am sure it will be fine once it's all quilted and I put the dark green binding on it. This may be something I'll take and work on at the garden tour on Saturday.

Today is my birthday and I will be going out to lunch (and maybe dinner, too). I got two packages yesterday in the mail....one a birthday package from a good blogging buddy and the other my prize fabric from a giveaway I won earlier in the week. I was very excited to open these two packages! I will blog about them within the next day or two.

Now...one more thing....a request. A blogging pal from VA is about to have a giveaway BUT not until she has 40 followers on her blog. She now has 30. I told her I have some great blog readers and would ask some of you to click HERE to check out her blog and become a follower so we can get her closer to her desired 40. So.....if you don't already read her blog called Artfully Ooglebloops, please go and check it out, okay?

A farm and garden report.......

hahaha....made you look, huh? We don't have a farm (and I guess you were pretty sure of that already). BUT.....there have been some farm-like occurrences here.

A pair of cardinals had been busy building a nest right near our front door. The nest is very hard for us to see with the screen from the porch in the way as well as many branches of the Nandina bush in which the nest was built. However....we can see at least 3 babies in there now. We believe they were hatched on Sunday. I know they will grow quickly and be gone in a couple of weeks, but it is fascinating to watch the parents go back and forth on a near-constant basis to feed them. Sorry I can't get a picture....but there is no way I can get it to show up clearly...I have tried.

I do have two pictures, though, of our first garden "yields" for this season. One is a lowly cherry tomato that we picked on Sunday and the other is a strawberry that we will pick in the next day or two (and we hope the critters don't beat us to it). With the lack of summery temperatures and sunshine we have had, I'm surprised we got anything to be ripe this early around here!I need to begin to look around the sewing room and get some things gathered up to take on Saturday when I am one of the quilters on the Lewes Garden Tour. We show some of our work (can sell if we wish, but I don't)....and we also take some kind of hand-work project to do while we are there. The visitors to the various gardens seem always to be fascinated by the quilting and ask lots of questions. There is also a painter assigned to each garden, so it is a real fun, artsy day! I wish all of you could be there. Wouldn't it be such fun to meet? So...this ends my "farm and garden" report. (You just never know what kind of post you will find when you read "A little of this and a little of Pat", do you?)

One giveway sent and another one to be received!!!

Today I mailed the 4 packages out to the winners of my recent giveaway......here they are....all taped up and ready to be taken to the post office.


And when I returned from the post office, I had an email awaiting me telling me I'd won a giveaway at Nancy's Patchwork Penguin blog (click HERE for that blog). Below is what I won......12 coordinated fat quarters. Aren't they nice? I can't believe I have been so lucky in Blogland to win so many giveaways. And.....truthfully, there are many I see but do NOT enter. I am honest with myself and no matter how nice a giveaway might be, if I am not sure I'd use the prize, I don't enter. I've not decided what I'll make with these fat quarters, but I do know I will use them. Thanks, Nancy for this great prize! Maybe since I have a fondness for penguins and collect penguin "things", I was meant to win a prize at a blog called Patchwork Penguin? (Well...that's my story and I'm sticking to it....so none of you better say a word to me about winning another giveaway, okay? LOL)

Just a quick post........

Just a quick post with some perennial flowers that are in my yard. They are little bulbs I planted a few years back...just a few of them...and this year they are looking really nice. I need to try to find out if I wrote down what these are called (or if any of you know, please tell me). Then I will know if I need to divide them and other things about their care. Since there weren't many of them until this year, I never really worried about them as they were basically taking care of themselves....but now I want to make sure I can keep them thriving.

Also....I know some of you know Linda B who raises alpacas.....well it seems that her newest baby alpaca (Eve...some of you saw her pictures on Linda's alpaca blog...click HERE for the alpaca blog or her regular blog ...click HERE for that one) isn't doing too well as of the time I am writing this....and her alpaca mom (Edna Mae) isn't caring too well for her. Linda is doing her best to care for Eve, of course. And it seems that Edna Mae just might have some type of infection and that may be why she isn't caring for Eve. Both Edna Mae and Eve will be seen by the vet today, and I'm hoping things will turn out just fine....and I know all of you will be hoping for the same thing. I spoke to Linda on the phone last night and she will be letting us know about Eve and Edna Mae as soon as she can today.

This week's yard sale finds.......

Lately, the yard sale treasures seem to be pretty few and far between (although I do love that vintage embroidered towel I got last week for just 25 cents...that I posted here several days back). Yesterday I got two things that really pleased me and I want to share them with you. One was this Jim Shore Easter figurine. (Sorry the photo is blurry.) I got it for just ONE dollar!!! I was tickled pink about that, I can assure you, because it goes for something like $20 in the store or online! This will look very nice alongside the Jim Shore Easter basket I already have in my collection.
The other purchase was this tin that has a lid that looks (both inside and outside) like the top to a blueberry pie....and the inside of the can looks like a whole bunch of blueberries in a pie. It was just 50 cents and I had to take it home with me. I really like it!

A patriotic project....

A year or so back (at a guild class taught by one of the members), I made this patriotic wall-hanging. I was going to make another one as a gift and can't find my directions. I know it wasn't difficult, though...as it's made from squares and half-square triangles as well as some rectangles....so I guess if I look at it closely, I can figure it out on my own. I know it was a fun little project to make.

The neighborhood quilting gals....

The gals from the neighborhood were here yesterday for some quilting fun. BAD PAT...... I don't remember to take enough pictures when we get together. There are some nice show and tells when we meet, but I am too busy looking and forget to grab the camera. I did get two photos, though. (Actually I got 3 but the last one showed Sherry stuffing her face and I decided not to embarrass her with that one!) The group photo (sorry it's a bit dark...was shooting toward the windows) shows Linda in the forefront....then Sherry.....then Kaye furthest back in the photo and Joann on the right. The other photo is of Sherry's completed mini flag hanging. We really liked it and were impressed with the fact that she used a really neat fabric for the background...not something any of us would have thought to use for that. (I think if you click the photo, you might be able to see it enlarged.)

Received a "swap" package in the mail.....

I belong to a Yahoo group called Wooly Buddies. It is for those of us who enjoy working with wool and wool felt to do appliques and the like. (If you enjoy that, contact me and I'll give you the link so you can join our group.) Recently we had a "sock swap". This came about as, somehow, we discovered the group's owner, Sandi, only owned white socks. We teased her and said we needed to change that. The idea of a sock swap developed. I was partners with Sabrina in NC. (I don't think she has a blog or I'd give you the link to it.) I got my package from her and these are some photos of the contents. We had exchanged information with each other and she knew I like penguins. My package contained socks (one pair has sea horses on it...very cute...she tried to find penguin socks but couldn't). I also got some great penguin fabric, really great-tasting gummy penguin candies, a pair of craft scissors with a wonderful penguin scissors fob on them that was MADE by Sabrina, and a cute penguin card. (Click on photos to see them larger.) These are the penguin gummy candies...will fruit-flavored
syrup in their jelly-bellies....YUMMMMM

And here is the BEST part of the package....the adorable
penguin scissor fob made for me by Sabrina. I LOVE it!!!
Thanks for such a great package, Sabrina.

Long may she wave.....

A very talented blogging buddy, Mel, has a great tutorial to step you through making this great flag that you can then applique on something. This is great timing for both Flag Day (June 14) and for the 4th of July. Mel gives great directions and the project seems quite easy to do. Click HERE for her tutorial. I asked her if I could share it with you. Also check out the rest of her blog while you are there.....she posts some great stuff. Thanks, Mel!

OH, yes...go HERE for a really nice giveaway by Tonya!!! (And be sure to tell her I sent you!)

Flower power......

I had been wanting one of the "Endless Summer" hydrangeas for a couple of years now (since I first heard about them). They are supposed to bloom all season long, unlike the original hydrangeas that just bloomed once a season. I finally got one last month. I followed the directions to keep the blooms BLUE. The bush is a tiny one.....only about 12 inches high and maybe 14 inches across.....but it has a LOT of flowers as you can see here. (The ones on the right look lighter blue than they actually are because the sun was shining on them when I took the photo. The ones on the bottom left in the photo are actually truer in color, although they are even a bit lighter than they are "in person".) I hope it winters well and comes back as strong next year as I've grown very fond of it and don't want to lose it.
The next photo shows another new plant to my yard this year.....Thunbergia Alata...but the "common" name of it is black-eyed Susan vine. It is an annual, so it won't come back next year unless we have a super-mild winter, but I love how it is already climbing up its trellis and blooming quite profusely and I don't mind buying a new one each year. A good friend had one last year and it was SO full and gorgeous and had tons of blooms by the end of the season...and I'm hoping mine does the same for me this year. (My friend bought three of them this year since she was so happy with her one last year.) I think both photos will enlarge for you if you click on them.