RUG HOOKING BLOG

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I'm a mother of four grandmother of seven and great grandmother of three. I live with my husband in the house that we built with the help of my brothers and will have been married for 57 years this February.

Sunday, October 7, 2012

WHAT I'VE BEEN UP TO LATELY

I've been away from my blog not because I didn't had anything to share, I've been a bit preoccupied, busy, obsessed with digging out my overgrown daylilies and farm work,  office work and running a household and all it encompasses.


This is a picture of the bed in question.  The yellow flowers are Evening Primrose. It had 21 assorted clumps of daylilies planted in the center of the bed and although it looks short, you can gage the length by the large patio block path on the right. One of largest the clump on the end is more visible but as soon as the flowers are finished blooming I usually cut them down and the daylilies spread their leaves out and bloom. You can't even see the weeds but believe me they were there hiding under the flowers.

That bed was dug up in 1999 by lifting the sod and shaking the soil off and adding some compost manure and sand and planted and I've never divided my perennials since.  Slowly the bed got overgrown  and since the flood in 2008 I had no weeds in that bed and then all hell broke loose. Even grass with long white spreading roots took hold and creeping charlies.




Now that the flowers have gone to seed and the daylilies were done blooming this is how the bed looked. Because of the heat and other reasons I never cut back the flowers this year after blooming and creeping charlies and grass took over for me.  I'm sure they meant well but...  You can get a better perspective on the size of this flower bed in this photo.


This is the first step I had to take before digging, cut every thing down. Again the bed looks small in this photo.




Can you see the matted weeds  and the obnoxious creeping charlies?



There were 21 clumps of daylilies removed from this bed.



I broke my fork on the big nasty clump at the end of the bed. It was deep and matted and the most difficult clump to dig up and divide. They were so matted. I had to make a trip uptown to Canadian Tire hardware store to buy new forks. It's easier to divide clumps of daylilies with two fork to pry them apart. Lucky me, the forks were on special that day.




Some of the clumps were small and some were big. Look at that creeping charlies in the grass.



This is what the first divided clump looks like. A lots of divisions. I wash the roots to make it easier to divide.


The end of the weeded flower bed. The bricks will need to be removed and more sand put under to raise them up since the flood deposited some sediment around the bed. That's the easiest job but still a lot of work. My job is far from finished.


I took out my Childhood Memories rug out and I've been hooking about an average of ten minutes a night before I go to bed. I have no idea how the rest will look. I'll cross that bridge when I get to it. Since my piece of left over burlap was smaller than I needed I stitched some worsted wool remnants to add some edge to make it easier to hook near the border. It will simply be remove when I'm done hooking.
HAPPY THANKSGIVING to all my Canadian friends.
 Thanks for stopping by my blog everyone and have a safe and happy week...   JB


13 comments:

  1. Wow Julia that is a undertaking and back breaking.I hate dividing plants but your going to have a great new flower bed. Happy Thanksgiving and your rug looks wonderful!Cheri

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  2. I just love your memories rug. It is coming along nicely.
    I need to get in my flower beds for sure I started off great this spring but lost my steam.
    Cathy

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  3. Julia ~
    One of those ah-ha moments. I didn't know that was called creeping Charlie. What a lot of work but how wonderful it will be in the end.
    Oh, I love your rug. SO MUCH detail!!! I'll never get that with my 8 - 9 1/2 cuts...lol!
    Hugs :)
    Lauren

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  4. That is so much work!!!
    The whole summer seems to have flown by and trying to get ready for the winter....yikes.
    Where does the time go?
    Hopefully you'll get it conquered.

    Hugs for the week.

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  5. Happy Thanksgiving. The rug is looking great Julia.

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  6. Julia, what an amazing rug, such detail, and what wonderful childhood memories. I hope you share your progress with us. Oh my, such back breaking work, take two asprin before you retire for the evening. You are one fit lady I know you will come out on top! Happy Thanksgiving, Julie.

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  7. Julia,
    I can see now why you don't have time to post! What a job that is and very hard on the forks! I hope you haven't hurt your back with all the hard digging! It will be so beautiful when it is done! Hope you share photos of it then!
    Your rug is coming along nicely and glad to see you are getting a few moments each day to hook. Little by little we get things done! Hope your Thanksgiving was a happy one Julia!
    Hugs!
    Cathy G

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  8. Hi Julia...Your Memories rug is looking so wonderful! Slow and steady hooking works for me...if I can do a little each day I'm happy. My goodness that flower bed looks like quite a job...back breaking, as well as fork breaking! Hope you and yours enjoyed your Thanksgiving...take care...don't work too hard.
    Robyn

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  9. I hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving today. What a lot of work you have done on that bed. But Julia you always manage to get-er-done. :)
    It looks great. I hope you have a very nice day.

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  10. hi julia, i had forgotten you are in canada..where are you? happy thanksgiving!! hope you enjoy your day! boy you have been busy getting things done outside! and you are making progress on your rug! love it. nice to look forward to a little hooking every evening! yes its fun to have those grandbabes help out a bit! its rainy and dreary here today but i am going to try still get a few things done outside.. we still have bits of snow here and there. i still have one fish out in the pond so thats first on the outside list and more apples on the tree. never nothing to do!! enjoy your day julia!

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  11. I never know what to say on your blog... You do so many things!

    I finally figured out how to enlarge blog pictures on my iPhone and did so with your rug! You sketched on burlap then ... Use ... I know nothing

    It's just beautiful .. You are so talented! Love seeing pictures of your life ... flowers, rugs, quilts, g'babies ;)

    Happy Thanksgiving! --- a poem for you ... hugs ;)

    We Thank Thee

    For flowers that bloom about our feet;
    For tender grass, so fresh, so sweet;
    For song of bird, and hum of bee;
    For all things fair we hear or see,
    Father in heaven, we thank Thee.

    For blue of stream and blue of sky;
    For pleasant shade of branches high;
    For fragrant air and cooling breeze;
    For beauty of the blooming trees,
    Father in heaven, we thank Thee.

    - Ralph Waldo Emerson

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  12. What a big job but obviously you are up to the challenge...I need to do the same thing...

    Your rug is beautiful..love all the colors.....

    I want to thank you also for the encouraging words you have left on my blog since our family has been "on the wheel"....friends are so special...

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  13. You keep saying those beds look small...not to me! That was a ton of work..you just amaze me. You are the WOMAN! Thanksgiving? Ok, I don't live in Canada but can I have some pumpkin pie anyway?

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