We've had perfect fall weather this week-- cool mornings and warm afternoons. It feels wonderful to be outside. Earlier this week we took our lunch to the park for an impromptu picnic. Gibson wanted to carry the lunchbox with all our lunches inside.
On Thursday mornings, Becky, Helen and Gibson head over to the church for Friendship Circle. Our ward hosts an impressive group of women who are quilting phenomena. The women come from all over our valley and meet every week to work on quilts for humanitarian needs. All of the materials are donated and the women pride themselves on piecing stunning quilts from the most unlikely donations. The pieced quilts are machine quilted and then given to a variety of shelters and missions. Any surplus is sent to Salt Lake City to the church's Humanitarian Aid projects. Becky only helps with pinning and ironing for a couple of hours while Helen and Gibson play in the gym and put on "shows" for the ladies.
Every week the women bring back any quilts they have finished. They hang the finished quilts up on the wall for everyone to admire, then the quilts are sorted according to size and purpose and packed away until there are enough for a delivery. This year the group has already made over 300 quilts. It's an inspiring work to witness.
On Saturday our family went to Helen's school to help move some planters and plant pansies for fall. Since it's a preschool, it has kid sized tools. Abe enjoyed wheeling this wheelbarrow of dirt and took the long way around to his destination.
We also did some work in our own yard. The west side of our house is a bit of a dead zone. It's very hot and has poor drainage so we've had a hard time keeping plants alive over there. We brought in 5 yards of compost (half a dump truck full) to spread around and hopefully improve the drainage. We also bought some heat loving plants, including a fig tree. We can't wait to pick our own figs next summer. Here's a gardening lesson we've learned the hard way-- buy the 4-inch plants instead of the 1 or 5 gallon plants. They catch up with their spendier counterparts in a year or two and it's much easier to watch a $2.50 plant die than a $30 plant. (But these new plants won't die, right, because they love their new compost-y home?)
8 comments:
I love the quilts. Our ward in Alamogordo NM did that each week. It was a wonderful experience for not only those who worked on them, but for the children to play together as well. Your yard looks so nice. I am sure they will live this time!!
I'm sure your plants will do much better this time around. After all that is the lesson in gardening I think. . . trial and error. You wouldn't appreciate it as much if you didn't have to start over from time to time! =)
What is the greenery between your stones? I've planted a minty smelling ground cover, but it's not doing well in full sun. I'd love a recommendation. And good luck with the plants! Good lesson learned. I hate it when my plants die. I love the friendship circle ladies and want to start coming myself. I have a ton of uphostery fabric that I want to make into school kit bags. Soon.
You have such a great backyard. Good for you for taking such good care of it and making it a family project. That's great that your kids make it through friendship circle. I have feared what Carter would do with his bundle of energy and potentially no other kids to play with.
The plants in the patio are a mixture of creeping thyme and elfin thyme. Thyme likes heat and the patio gets plenty of water as overspray from the grass.
I might be mistaken, but the quilts you featured seem to be my favorite, all nonstandard sizes. I like to sew on quilts until I'm happy with how the pattern has worked out, and then finish them off.
One day I want to become a friendship circle regular. I am always so impressed with their creations. You guys have such a great yard. A fig tree? That will be so great.
It was fun to see your pictures of the Friendship Circle. Say hello to those ladies for me.
Your yard looks great!
Post a Comment