Planting and Spring things!

The weather has been beautiful in our area of NC. I wanted a new look for our front porch. I took a trip to our local habitat for humanity and found some nice baskets priced from $1-$2 each. What a bargain! I was on a mission and had some great ideas in mind! 

I then headed over to Lowes home improvement to look for some new flowers and plants to decorate our porch. I was pleasantly surprised to find they had a clearance section with plants clearanced at just a dollar each!

I bought pretty petunias, inpatients, and some other plants with yellow flowers. Yes, they were looking pretty sad and wilted, but I thought with a little extra love, and for that price, they were worth taking a chance on getting them! I also stopped at dollar general and purchased packets of different kinds of seeds to plant. 

I then came home and lined each basket with pieces of black plastic trash bags That I had cut up, and added potting soil in each one. 

I really wanted to use baskets on my porch verses using pots. I wanted a country look and feel. Pots can be pretty pricy when you want to have a lot of them too! 

I was having such a wonderful time planting all my new finds. I did have to leave the front porch a couple of times for Momma wren though! She is back for her third year in a row with five eggs just waiting to be hatched! She doesn't like me in her way when she flies by and wants to go to her nest! Once she goes in and is sitting on those eggs, she is content . I did snap a picture of the eggs once again for this year when she wasn't around. :) also, this is the basket she makes her nest in every year. It's on our porch hanging up with purple flowers in it :)

As most of you know I do love taking pictures a lot. I take pride in my photos, and think some of them come out quite well. It has been brought to my attention recently that some of my photos have been used without my permission. I suppose that's a chance I take by putting them out there on the net. I think I may have to watermark the ones I feel mean the most to me to prevent this from happening again. I don't mind it so much if someone asks to use a photo first, but for me to see my photo somewhere and not give me credit as the photographer, well, that's just wrong. It is taking what is not yours!

Back to my flowers.... I have been so excited with all my baskets filled with plants, flowers, and seeds, and even more excited to see some of my seeds are starting to sprout! Yippie!!! :)

I have so much more to do... Next up, I

Will be planting sunflower seeds out back. I'm not so sure about this red clay dirt we have here for planting in the ground though. We shall see what happens!

Here are pictures of my baskets and our porch, I'm so pleased for sure!

I love our home. It truly is a wonderful place to live, so filled with love!

Also some other pictures I snapped :)

While visiting the habitat for humanity restore, I also came across something really special. It makes me feel sad when I find things like this, but also happy because I am the one who found it, and rescued this item. This is an old piece of linen that is 24" square. Someone lovingly hand embroidered this piece of fabric with white work and a bit of red work. Great time, work, and I am sure love went into making this piece. Perhaps it was a table scarf? The piece is torn here and there, but it still doesn't detract from its beauty. I always try my best to rescue these pieces. I often wonder about the person who did the stitch work, what she may have been thinking while she was working on each piece I find. Did she ever think her items would be discarded to good will? Most needleworkers I know do not get rid of their work unless of course it is a gift. Often things are discarded when the needleworker passes away, their home is cleared out, and their work is not as meaningful to generations that came after them. I often think about my work and hope that my pieces will be treasured when I am long gone. I will continue to keep my eye out for pieces discarded, for they will always have a place in my home and heart!

On and ending note... I am still working on our anniversary sampler, little bits at a time. I did stitch a bit more, a flower and stem... Not much, but have been so busy with enjoying the beautiful weather, the lake, and time with family, church, and friends. 

Blessings to you!

Louise xx