Beth, The only real issue with planting garlic from the grocery store is that garlic is daylength sensitive and the variety you buy in the store might need a longer daylength than we have here to induce bulbing. However, every kind I've ever bought and planted has grown well and bulbed for me, so the chance of that is slim. The secondary issue is that garlic, like potatoes, is sprayed with an anti-sprouting chemical to keep it from sprouting while in the grocery store on in your kitchen pantry. However, the anti-sprouting agents only last for so long and the garlic does eventually sprout (as do potatoes in the pantry!). I often buy my garlic for planting at a gourmet grocery store in Texas because they label it with its proper name, and the garlic there is organic and hasn't been sprayed with anti-sprouting chemicals. I've never had any trouble getting it to sprout and grow. I've linked the SSE instructions for planting garlic. They were written by the late Darrell Merrell of the Tulsa, OK, area. Whatever you do, make sure it is in well drained soil, preferably in a raised bed several inches above the grade of the surrounding soil. If you don't have raised beds, just mound up enough soil above the ground to plant in that mound. Garlic will rot during an excessively wet winter and spring, and according to NOAA, we should be expecting a wet winter. As long as you break the cloves apart carefully without bruising them and plant them as the guide directs, you'll have garlic bulbs next summer. They key is to plant in the fall. You plant in the fall, cold weather induces growth. In the early summer, the green plant parts begin to turn yellow and brownish and it is time to harvest. When you planted a bulb of store-bought garlic, did you plant the whole bulb? Did you plant in spring? Either one of those can give you only the green scape and seed head. It could be had you a type that was the wrong daylength for our part of the country. With grocery store garlic, you never know. That's why a lot of people prefer to buy 'seed garlic' that is labeled, etc. If you plant grocery store garlic, try to find several different kinds...a white-skinned one, a purple-skinned one, etc. That sort of hedges your bets. Dawn Here is a link that might be useful: How To Plant and Grow Garlic

Mary, I hope that you get your machine back quickly! I looks like not many people quilted this weekend... I didn't either. I worked and recovered from working and that was about it... This morning, I had a neighbor bang on my door at the crack of noon (which is equivalent to 5 AM to most people because I work my second job until 3 AM)... I threw on some clothes upside down and inside out and groggily answered the door, hair a mess, sleepy seeds in my eyes, and creases from the pillow case running down my face, to see what she wanted... fearing that she was going to tell me that something was wrong with my car or something (the last time she knocked on the door, my best friend had left the car in neutral and it was in the middle of the parking lot!). She said there was a vacuum in the trash that I should go look at. It was a relatively rare model, one with dual, counter-rotating brushes, but the housing is all cracked and it is dirty, so I'm not sure about investing time, energy, and money into it. I came so close to buying a vintage sewing machine at a thrift store yesterday! It was a vintage Singer Futura from 1974, the first electrinic machine ever made. It didn't come with any accessories, but it was so cool looking and truly a piece of history. Slant shank, two speeds, and magic bobbin that winds right in the bobbin case! I decided against it as that was 22 more dollars I can save for a Viking or Bernina combo machine, but it was tough to walk away from. Has anyone had any experience with the 'Slice' fabric cutter? Apparently it can cut out applique shapes. I'd buy it if I thought it could cut squares, but I don't know. Saw a video of it on Youtube last night and thought it looked like fun. Here's a link if anyone is curious. Here is a link that might be useful: Slice

Hi, my husband will go to Dalton in next May. Do you know this place? Is there a scrapbooking store where he can buy stuff? is there at least a wall mart or a mickaels' craft? If not, has some of you good agresses in Atlanta area? TIA (you see, lore, I learn very fast!) Joelle

LOL Last time I promise! I called the company up, by the way they have a staff of really great people. She is going to send me out information on how to buy it. She also gave me a web site that sells it along with other scrapbooking supplies. She told me they are a good company. The pen is $11.50--EEK! And I'm sure it will cost more with shipping. But I really want it! Here is a link that might be useful: Duall