I suggest you take a look at U3, after all it is what Yukon was developed from. Here is a brief description from Plant Answers: U-3 (C. dactylon). Selected from Savannah Golf Club near Savannah, Georgia in 1936 from a series of fine-strain selections. Selected because of its cold hardiness, fine texture, rapid spread and durability under a wide range of soil and climatic conditions. The selection was released in 1957 by the Crops Research Division, ARS, USDA, and the U.S. Golf Association Green Section. Adapted for use on lawns, golf courses and athletic fields. It is worth consideration for the price and availabilty alone. Another thing you can do with Tifway to stretch it besides cutting it up into small plugs is cut it in say 1-foot squares and lay in a checker board pattern. Won't cover as big an area as plugs, but a lot less work.

Hi, ok, 3 years later, I see your post - it's probably too late - but here's my 2 cents. I'm skipping reading the rest of the post, I just saw your question. I have a third of an acre, and have replaced most of the grass that was there when I got it with either perennial beds or ground cover. The two types I use most for sun or part sun are herniaria glabra and mazus reptans. Here's what I know from personal experience about each: - If you want to avoid bees, the mazus does bloom. It blooms a big flush in spring and then sporadically throughout the summer, and then a little increase again when the weather cools. I have not noticed bees on it, but that doesn't mean there aren't any. I have noticed an occasional butterfly, even big ones like black swallowtails. - If it's alongside of a lawn, I've read that it will invade the lawn. So that would be a consideration with regards to neighbors. - The main reason I love mazus so much is it chokes out every single solitary weed, and that almost immediately. Truly awesome! :-) - Another nice thing is that it does not spread by seed, so you aren't always pulling seedlings of it out of you beds. - In winter, up here, it goes to a dark bronze but you're much further south so I'm sure yours would be a greener color. Herniaria glabra is the bomb: - It does not choke out every single solitary weed immediately like mazus does. But in time, it will keep the weeks to a minimum. - It does not grow as fast as mazus, but still spreads at a good clip. It's so gorgeous year round. - Visually, it's stunning. I'm in zone 7a, washington dc area, and it is the same gorgeous emerald green in the dead of winter as it is in summer. Way greener than stupid turfgrass! :-) - It lays nice and flat, and feels absolutely glorious under your bare feet. As for foot traffic, I have it planted between my edible garden beds and stomp on it all the time, no problem. It's very tough. Probably if you played football on it you'd tear some out, but even then, pretty tough. - It blooms tiny green flowers that are too insignificant to see, and I've never seen bees or butterflies nectaring off them. - It's very drought tolerant and can handle afternoon sun just fine. It can also handle a lot of water. It will not do as well in shade or part shade as mazus will. - It won't invade an adjacent lawn. I also have portions of my lot covered in creeping thyme. Yes it does bloom, but what I don't like about the bloom is after it's done, it looks ratty for a long time until the flowers finally rot and fall off. One year I mowed it close to get rid of that, and then I said to myself "this is for the birds". Another thing is that creeping thyme will get woody in time, and can't tolerate too much wet. Much pickier than mazus or herniaria.

In the "current" floorplan, the stairs are still where they were originally, and they are the original stairs. I have just opened up the wall that used to close them in. The "Step Up" into the kitchen/dining is a result of stepping up into the remaining piece of the mobile home. That step, and the mobile home, will be GONE soon. The Dishwasher is what is beside (to the left of) the fridge right now. I dont like the floorplan the way it is now for 3 main reasons: -There is no "entry" on the main floor, and the basement is currently unfinished so we mostly have guests come in through the screen porch entrance. (we just come and go through the basement) -I would prefer the kitchen be more open to the living space -The stairs are too steep and need to be moved (preferably somewhere along the north/top wall due to geometric constraints) I have doodled up a few new floor plans, which you can see in my galleries and in the thread over in the remodeling forum. For the most part, I like the new floorplans but could use some advice on tweaking them or making adjustments that enhance the "archtectural" appeal. I am worried that just opening the entire space up then defining areas with furniture could be "too" open for a small house like this, But I dont know. My larger concern is making sure that all I do someday will tie together in a cohesive final product. I want the house to look nice from the outside and I'd like to figure out a way to make the house look less like a basic, square hillside ranch (which looks like a double wide to me), and instead make it more like a house that has had some thought put into design and archetectural details. I do know I want to put an addition of some kind off the "back"(north/top) side of the house that will serve as a guest entry / mudroom / foyer. I'd like to keep the basement door too (although for flow Im thinking about moving it to the right, so its on the other side of the chimney) and that will be an entrance for service/everyday use for us and will go into a basement mudroom area (where our woodstove also is, so we will bring wood in that door too.) I'd like this entrance covered as well, but I want to make sure that when you come up and park, it is very apparent where the main entrance to the house is (and that its NOT the basement entrance) A more lofty goal I have is to do a larger addition off the north/top wall, and incorporate a third bedroom into the mix. I have doodled up another new floorplan recently, that includes this.... for convienience sake, I will re-post relevant pictures over here so people don't have to keep going back and forth. My CURRENT floor plan: And a link to interior pictures of my current floor plan: http://s67.photobucket.com/albums/h294/tbtilton/House%20Pictures%202011/ Newest floorplan idea: Older Idea for new floorplan: (There is a small mudroom addition in this plan that is not visible, it is off the north wall and the entrance is at the top of the open stairs. I put some 3d renderings of this plan up on my gallery, which is posted below) And here is a picture of the approximate angle that you approach the house from the parking area of the driveway (might help with figuring on entry/facade issues) I know, it looks like CRAP from here right now huh? Here is the link to the whole gallery so you can see what Ive done so far in the exterior/trim/siding department: http://s67.photobucket.com/albums/h294/tbtilton/House%20Pictures%202012/

I made so many mistakes while making the March Pinwheel blocks. I had a lot of nice fabrics tied up in the mis-cut and mis-sewn blocks. I wanted to salvage it. I picked some blocks apart, recut others, and am making HST and QST blocks to add to my “bits and pieces” stash. I have to hang my head in shame. Some women get entire tops together in a weekend. I accomplished four 4” QSTs! I had to frog stitch two of these to get the points to at least try to match up.