Garden Time...and oh yes, more pinwheeling!

Today I spent some time out in the yard moving hoses around to try to get things watered. I try to deep-water once or twice a week rather than do a more shallow sprinkling, because I think it probably is healthier for the plants.

The rosebushes are having another bloom cycle. I love this deep red one--these top three pictures are the same bush, with the top one being a little more true to the actual color of the blossoms.

 I really need to get out there and do some pruning. It's hard because I am still not able to stand for very long at a time--even on the grass. Plus, the back yard gets morning sun so by 8 am it's hot out there and I can't stay out very long.

Yes I am a delicate flower! Actually, two of the meds I take specifically say to avoid prolonged exposure to sunlight.  Plus, I don't like being hot.

Oh well. Maybe just a few snips at a time and eventually they'll look a lot neater! Plus I could cut some flowers to bring inside.

I only have a couple of hybrid tea roses, though, and the David Austins really are better enjoyed on the bush rather than in a vase. 

I spent a lot of time on line tonight trying to get the right variety for this bush. I have two of them--one red, one pink. They have small leaves, exceptionally thorny stems, and fringed petals.

It makes me sad that I can't remember the name of the variety any more, because I had made a point of getting these two bushes because they were fairly rare.

 This pretty pink charmer is a David Austin called Sceptered Isle. Yes, I've taken a lot of pictures of it, because I really really like it!



The white bush is Iceberg, which is a very popular variety out here--it seems to thrive in this climate. I have this one and a climbing Iceberg which isn't too happy with me at the moment.

Well, neither of my climbers are. They should have wire or something to support them.

When the old fence came down, so did the wires for the roses. I haven't replaced them--it's one of those jobs I can't really do myself.

Oh well.

Last rose picture is the little pink thorny one. I am going to find my Sunset garden book tonight and see if it has any information.

 

 

In between moving hoses around and doing some laundry, I finished pressing the first half of the pinwheel blocks, and spent some time trimming them.

I couldn't resist--I had to count to see how many blocks I have! Care to guess?

No?

Well--this batch, the ones that spin in this direction, numbers 537.

 So double that, because of course there are just as many that spin in the other direction too.

That makes 1074. Wow.

One quilt takes 200 of these squares, to make 50 blocks. So I can make two quilts from each directional spin, plus another one with 34 blocks.

All because of my little math fail a few weeks ago. Let that be a lesson to me, I guess.

So the quilt I really wanted to make for all this time, has now become 6 quilts. Sigh. Yes, I will go ahead and make them all.

Remember I'm the woman who has 7 kids, 6 kids-in-law, 8 granddaughters, 5 grandsons... and 3 great-grands as well. I don't think there will be a problem finding homes for 6 quilts--and if one or two go unclaimed, well, there are lots of charitable groups that will be happy to have them.

Of course my Quilt Supervisor has his own opinions on the matter.

He really believes that the proper use of my time is to feed and pet the cat. That's why he parks his furry self on my projects.

In fact, right now I'm getting The Glare because apparently blogging means less time to pet the cat. He's curled up where the hot air blows out of the laptop, and has to keep turning around because he overheats.

Guess I'd better go pet the cat before the laptop overheats!