u/linden214

I’ve gotten interested in ferns recently, as a result of my interest in native plant gardening. This spring, I had a landscaper doing some long overdue trimming of bushes on my property, which included cutting back the forsythia that was pressing against my garage. When I investigated the space, I found two lovely ferns that Google lens identified as lady ferns. I was thinking of transplanting the smaller one over to an area near some trees where I would like to encourage ferns to grow. I have already planted two Christmas ferns there which I purchased at a nursery.

Yesterday, I spotted several young ferns on the edge of my lawn. Google lens identified them as New York ferns and/or Marginal Woodland ferns. I don’t entirely trust Google lens, and to me they look a lot like the Lady ferns behind the forsythia.

The attached pictures are of the larger lady fern (I’d prefer to transplant the smaller one) and the little ferns that are in the grass. I have two primary questions:

Can someone help me with the identification, and also give advice on transplanting these little ones? And can I safely transplant the smaller adult fern?

If it’s relevant to your answer, I am in New Jersey, zone 7a.

TIA

If you saw the update to my previous post, then you know I decided to remove the purple blocks. Beautiful fabric, but it just didn’t fit this quilt. I think the “wheatfield” is a reasonable replacement. There was a medium brown in the same fabric line, but I thought it looked too close to the ochre.

The next seven rows will follow this basic pattern: staggered, and with the same color never touching from row to row.

The cutting and the stitching are still uneven, but I figure that I am also a work in progress.

So I’ve completed the body of the top for this baby/child quilt. It’s currently 41” square. I’m reasonably pleased. Some of the seams don’t quite meet, but that’s part of the point of making charity quilts: building up my piecing skills. Neither of my two previous quilts had a border, but I think this one needs it. I’m planning to use the Kona Avocado at the bottom of the picture, as I think that’s a good match for the green. Haven’t decided yet on the backing, although the yellow is a strong possibility (it’s cheerful, and inexpensive at Michael’s). I’m not going to try to do mitered corners on the border; just two straight pieces on either side, and then top and bottom. I’m still trying to decide what width I want the border to be. maybe 3 or 4”? I think more than that would be too wide.

A couple of weeks ago, I glanced out at the garden in the rear of my garage where I have a thriving patch of wild geraniums and several butterfly weeds. I was startled to see the bright red of a poppy. I don’t know how it got there, as I have never planted any or seen any in the over 30 years that I have owned this house.

Now there are two blooming, and the third whose bud is still tightly closed. According to Google Lens – – and I don’t know how much I can trust it – – these are corn puppies. Are they invasive?

I’ve been trying to only plant natives going forward, but I’m not necessarily rushing to remove non-native plants that I enjoy if they don’t cause problems. I’m not digging up the small lavender bush I have up front, for example, or my large rhododendron. And the poppies, with their brilliant color, are beautiful.

Thoughts? Advice? Dire predictions of doom?

I’ve just started work on a simple baby quilt. The theme is bees and daisies, and pieces are mostly cut from fat quarters. These are 8 1/2 inch squares. The design is supposed to be 5 rows of 4 across, but I don’t have enough room on that table for the fourth column, and I haven’t cut enough of the green squares. The picture show two different possible layouts, but I’m also concerned that this may be a little too busy, and perhaps I should have some solid squares as well. I do have a yellow that matches, as well as some yardage of an avocado green that closely matches in the background in the green squares. (I suppose white might also be a possibility, but I’m not enthusiastic about the idea).

The original pattern called for a 3-inch border which I would do in a solid color. I’ve also considered omitting the border and just making the quilt a 5 x 5 square.

Decisions, decisions…

I also purchased a yard of fabric with daisies on a blue background, but though I think it’s attractive I don’t think it would blend well with the other fabrics, so I’ll save it for another project.

I picked up this little guy the other day. I don’t have a lot of experience with succulents. The wiki for this sub seems to say that the first step for a new plant is to repot it. Is that what I should be doing? I know not to choose a large pot.

Here it is, my second ever quilt, but the first one to be quilted and bound rather than tied. It’s been quite a journey. This is the one whose top had to be disassembled because the rail fence pattern turned it into a nightmare of unintentional swastikas.

It is certainly not perfect, though I was never expecting perfection. The binding is a bit uneven on the back, and many of the squares don’t quite meet at the corners. However, it is colorful and warm, it’s become pleasantly crinkled, and the white lines of quilting on the dark blue backing are no longer as blatantly evident as they were before laundering. (For some reason, my phone camera insists on turning the snow-white squares into something more cream-colored and I haven’t been able to edit the hues to where they should be.)

My brother, for whose veterans’ group this quilt was made, is coming to visit from out of state at the end of next week. So instead of having to deal with packing and mailing, I can deliver in person the two quilts, plus a loom-knitted blanket that I made.

My deepest gratitude to all of those Redditors who helped me along the way with answers, advice, and encouragement.

I’m hoping to finally quilt my finished top this weekend. After that, I know, comes binding. I see a lot of mentions of cutting binding strips from fabric. Can I use this bias tape instead? I’m making a lap quilt, which is roughly 33“ x 39“.

THANK YOU ALL! it seems that this might be workable… Maybe… But seeing as this is my first bound quilt (my other one was tied) I think I’m not going to chance it.

I have finished the top for my second ever quilt. There doesn’t seem to be one standard size for a lap quilt to be used in a wheelchair, but this one is 33” x 43”, which seems to fall within the normal range.

Now comes the hard (and scary) part: making the sandwich, quilting, and binding it. I finished my first quilt by using the pillowcase method and turning it inside out, then hand tying it. I’ve never quilted anything larger than a placemat on my home machine. It will have to be straight lines; even if I felt daring to try something more ambitious, my old Brother machine does not have the options for a fancy stitches or FMQ.

I was afraid it would look way too chaotic with all of those varied fabrics together in each square, but they seem fairly balanced to my novice eyes, especially with the white squares separating them. I think 9x9 squares will give me the size I want.

Ever since I saw a post a few months ago that Dollar Tree carries fat quarters in their craft section I’ve been regularly checking the ones in my area. Today I stopped in one on my way home from an errand, and was delighted to discover that they’d apparently gotten in a new shipment. The boxes were full and neatly sorted. All of the solids were in one box and the other was filled with patterns I’ve never seen before. (I managed to show some restraint, and only bought a baker’s dozen.)

I wonder if all the stores get the same shipment, or if there might be different different ones elsewhere.

So, I cut those… unfortunate blocks back into their component squares, and then I cut each square into 2 inch strips. In the picture above you can see three of them combined into a slightly unequal nine patch, which I then trimmed down to be a 5” square. I know some of you folks had suggested creating a disappearing nine-patch, but I’m concerned that might be too small and finicky.

After I’ve created all of the nine-patch squares that I can, I think I will put them together in a checkerboard pattern, with solid squares in between the patterned ones so that it’s not too busy. I’m not sure if I’ll limit the solid squares to one color (in which case that would probably be white), or if I will do red, white, and blue. I can decide on that later.

Right now, I am just relieved that the many hours of work that I put into this quilt have not been wasted, even if I have to spend more time and effort on transforming it into something more attractive and appropriate.

I very much appreciate those of you who made helpful/sympathetic/encouraging comments on my other post.

Edit: Link to other post with a picture of the original blocks.