sprengle1 - I know it's a little late, but did you check in on the "Gardening With Stone" forum on this site? Right now, Kaitain just started a thread about some stone projects. I clicked on the link in her post and then on a particular pic of her/his stone wall "east". I think it said. Anyway, keep hitting "next" in that east stone wall gallery and I think you'll see an example of what you're talking about. Maybe. Stones used as edging, placed on a brick-paved area. Sorry, I can't help you find the exact pic. You might do a shout out to Kaitain with your question?

The Lowes garbage blocks are designed for people who think trees need to be blockaded in with little tree rings. They're not really designed for significant retention or structure. I wouldn't feel great about it. Do you have stone yards in the area that sell pavers and retaining wall block? I assume that's also where you'd be getting your pavers. There are some "economy" brands of interlocking wall block, and I'm seeing that the smarter yards are now selling wall block by the piece for smaller projects. If you're using CMUs (technical term for cinderblocks), you need to dig a footer to frost depth, pour a 4-8" footer depending on specifics, and then build your wall with the CMUs, using mortar and rebar. If you attempt to just dry stack them on a gravel base, there's nothing holding them together. You'll create a failure point for your patio. I spend my life in a lot of backyards, and where a patio rests on, or is supported by, a retaining wall - that's a common failure point. Overbuild it. Trust me.

That's nice... an entire morning's worth of posts are gone. I responded to Mary's query earlier, and now, it's not here. What I basically said was... I never used the words "thrive" and "pot bound" in the same sentence... and I never would. Mary said "thrive". Pot bound roots are not conducive to a healthy, thriving plant. Sure, some plants have evolved to grow in tight spots... but not the majority of those we call "houseplants", and stuff into confining containers to grow. Ask yourselves why a plant blooms when it becomes pot bound... what is the scientific reason behind it? Why do pot bound plants offset, or produce flowers, or stolons... or any other way they have to reproduce? Why? What causes that reaction? It's simple. Logic tells me that when a plant is threatened with potential demise, it will rush to reproduce. The core goal of any living thing is to procreate, to reproduce so its genetic material is carried forward, in its progeny. When the roots of a potted plant become too crowded for the space it's in, the plant feels stressed. It immediately begins preparing to die, and this includes procreating before it expires, or before it loses the energy to do so. If a plant is not pot bound, it will still bloom. It will still produce offsets or stolons, or whatever... it has a genetically ingrained blooming schedule. As long as all the cultural conditions are right, the plant will bloom exactly as it should, exactly when it should. By forcing a plant to be pot bound, what you're doing is actually stressing the plant into procreation/reproduction. You're forcing it to procreate out of its normal genetically pre-programed schedule. There are many half truths and fallacies floating around the gardening world... most of them can be dispelled by finding out why and how plants do what they do... most of it is very elementary scientific information.

Thank you again, my friends. Julie, you are SO right, I feel so much better talking this through with this group and getting suggestions, input, and condolences! Vicky, so nice to see you here and thank you for your encouragement. Last night I saw the woman who is to receive this quilt. I showed it to her and she loved it. She told me that she has never made a quilt and she has never owned a quilt before and she is thrilled. I told her that I tried some new things and some worked better than others (obviously she saw where it was falling apart) but I didn't point out all the faults and she told me that she really liked the fact that I experimented. Ironically, she was particularly impressed with the machine quilting. One of her colleagues quilts and sends all of her tops out to be quilted, so my friend had in her mind that quilting a top is a very difficult, impressive thing to do! Ha, if only she knew how I felt about MY quilting. But I kept that to myself and just told her I hoped it would hold up to the wash after I finished re-sewing all the circles. Anyway, thank you all again for listening and participating in my quilting saga. Lola