Last year I planted three perennials around the patio. A pink lily, pink carnation and a stargazer lily. They joined the white daisies, sweet peas, wild roses and a yet to be identified pink puff ball flower producing plant. It was suggested my new additions wouldn't survive the winter.
Well..........so far I've been pretty lucky. The carnation was the first to bloom and continues all summer.

The lily had beautiful buds and I thought they would bloom yellow but they're pink as can be.

The stargazer lily, my favorite because of their fragrance, has several large buds I'm watching every day. These have already bloomed at home in GR and Rob mentioned how he's noticed their fragrance and is protecting them from wind and rain to keep them lasting as long as possible.

During a trip to the Farmer's Market on Saturday I had to bring home one of the little serenity bouquets they were selling. The mixture of colors makes such a beautiful palette. The picture doesn't show the surprise peach color bloom that opened at the end of a that long, rather bare looking stem standing up right in the middle.

I know, what do all these flowers have to do with quilting? More than you might imagine. Have you noticed the new tabs sprouting up across the top of the banner. One is the Photo Gallery. It has three of Denise's Sally Post Floral Sampler blocks in there for you to see. I'd love to add photos of any project you've made from patterns on the site. Send them too me.

The second tab is Family History in Quilting. Remember when I told you I was going to document things about my Dad, kit quilts, embroidery and the role our family had in all of that? This is where that information and photographs will be going.

The third link (it's in the Side Bar to the right under Block of the Month) is the one I think you'll like the most. It's the Polka Dot Garden! What grows in the Polka Dot Garden. Wow, more than you can imagine!

This is what I plan to do after the store closed for the winter but I can't wait until then so I'm starting right away!
Here's a draft of the first block I've drawn for the block of the month quilt which will start in September.


Now don't go starting a block from this drawing, I'm still fine turning it.

My original idea was to use only polka dot fabrics or those that had dots on them. Then I pulled some solids, checks and stripes (with dots on them). They looked similar to this -

Now I'm second guessing myself and considering romantic pastels like Nature's Chorus or soft Civil War prints like Colonies.

First things first - we'll need a Stitching Roll to keep our scissors, thread, needles and the block we're working on in. There should be a Tote Bag to put this new adorable stitching roll in. I think we'll need some Embroidery here and there, a couple of Cushions, Table Toppers, a Pincushion or two and ..........
I'll be doing photo tutorials of the way I do my Back Basting for applique, make yoyo dots and perfect circles. Just think of the fun we'll have!

There are some great patterns I have in limited quantities in the Online Store. Once they're gone, that might be it so if you're tempted don't wait too long. I'm also opening an Etsy shop and will put a link above the banner when it's open.

I'm going to try and send a newsletter hoping the site doesn't blow up like last time.