Falling!

Now that canning season is over (whew!), I've been trying to find the joy in every day, little things...

Spent a few days doing fun things with Ben.  The most fun, at least in my opinion, was the day that Joey and Nick and Tristan came to hang with us while their mom went to the doc.  Joey and Ben read 'the Grinch'  to us.  An awesome collaboration!

It's been a very colorful autumn this year.  Even plants like this Rowan tree in the back yard are showing off.  Love it!

Got some new tools to make my work easier.  This is a turkey roasting pan...a big one!  I've wanted one for years, but have been making do with a cake pan.  Can't wait to try it out!

Un - pea - lievable!

Our peas are just enormous this year.  The stakes (that you can barely see) are three feet tall.  The pea plants themselves are nearly as tall as I am.  I'm hoping pod production is as bounteous as leaf production.  lol.

In other garden news, peony flowers are a bit hard to come by in our yard this year.  We moved two of the plants last year and they are currently pitching a hissy fit about the whole ordeal - i. e. refusing to bloom.  This one bloom on a plant that didn't get moved, though, almost makes up for the deficit...

And in the good news, bad news department...the miniature mock-orange is really blooming its head off this year.  Bad news is that these blooms have almost no fragrance.  Further proof that you can't have everything, I guess.

In The Garden - May 1

I awoke to snow this morning! While, I admit, this might not really be my first choice for birthday weather, there is definitely a bright side. In all the years that we have lived in this house, when it snows on May 1, it has never frosted after that. So, in theory at least, winter is over and I can plant the whole garden!

I planted most of the tomatoes yesterday. Mike helped me get the walls o' water on them last night. Thank goodness!

 

The peas seem unfazed by the frosty coating.

If ever there was a need for cyber scent transfer technology, this is it.  The Korean Spice Bush is covered with blooms this year.  And they are very, very fragrant.  I can smell them all over inside the house...when it's warm enough to have the doors and windows open, that is.  lol.

The pruning that Mike and I did to this shrub last year really improved its shape and apparently, increased the bloom set.

I had begun to think that none of my tulips made it through the winter.  Then, about two weeks ago, they shot up out of the ground.  And now they're blooming.  Those yellow and white blooms are over five inches tall from base to petal tip.

On the down side, the pepper and herb starts will be spending the day inside with the geraniums. Much too cold for them today!

All Dolled Up - March 29

Meet Callie!

  

 My newest model is certainly fashion conscious. Look at that *faux* leather jacket!

  

Her warm weather outfit is made from some scraps of one of Carin's little girl dresses. I'm glad to have an occasion to use these fabrics again as they are so cute.

 I learned a couple new things this week. First, any doll outfit that I make is going to take at least twice as long as I plan. Second, my Journey Girl dolls are significantly more slender than the American Girl dolls that most of these patterns are designed for. I'm going to need to redraw some of them if I want them to really fit.

All Dolled Up - March 21

I want to introduce my new model, Kelsey.  She is a Journey Girl Doll from ToysRUs (thanks Ben for working a deal for me!)  She came all dressed up with this cute winter outfit.  Look at that purse!  Too, too cute.

Although it is snowy and windy today, I thought that Kelsey should have a new spring outfit to wear when the weather finally cooperates.

I learned a lot from making this outfit.  First, I'm very out of practice sewing much of anything besides aprons and quilts.  Two, tiny clothes are not easier than big clothes.  I used to understand this principle, but apparently needed a refresher course in the concept.  Last, I think that making doll clothes is going to be addicting in spite of the stabbed fingers, bad words, power outages and shortage of free time.

Loop de Loop

Just finished a new afghan for the tv room. Here's a less than awesome pic of it all (that silly yellow yarn color kept blooming in the light no matter what I did)...

Here's a close up of the pattern...

  

 Pattern is called "African Daisy". While not technically difficult, it took me a while to figure out how to get them all organized into an afghan. The finished product is very cozy, if I do say so myself. After all, I had to come up with something to use as Mike and the dogs had usurped the quilt that I made for that room's decor.

Still Sew Happy

I guess I've really been bitten by the sewing bug.  Each day, I'm torn between wanting to work outside now that the snow is gone and wanting to sew, sew, sew.

I finished another apron, this time, a tiny one for a certain pixie princess.  This is a new pattern for me, so I was pretty surprised and happy to find out how well it went together.  That ruffle on the bottom is pretty cool...it is cut with a curve so that I got the ruffly effect without having to gather it up.  Nice!

front view

back view

My other sewing obsession has been a mystery quilt sponsored by Connecting Threads.  As it is National Quilting Month, they set up this project to celebrate!  I've enjoyed the whole suspenseful aura about it and am really looking forward to next weeks glorious finish.  Here are the fabrics that I picked for my version:

Here is the progress on the 'mystery' so far...

The Flying Geese blocks that are used in the star blocks were constructed using a technique that I had never used before. There is no waste of fabric which is pretty unusual in the modern methods for FG blocks. I think that I'll be using it again!

I'm Sew Happy

Needed to make some new aprons for some of my little peeps.

I also finished a wall quilt that I bought the materials for last month after my quilt class.  The center is a panel and the borders came from a pre-cut strip set.  Love these colors!  And I'm so glad to have a quilt for this spot over the stairs.  I have some holiday quilts that I hang during the appropriate months, but I've never had a quilt that goes with the room's decor. 

In The Garden - March 6

The snow is nearly gone from the outdoor garden, but it'll be a few weeks before it'll be dry enough to begin to plant out there.  The indoor garden is thriving though!

Genovese basil with its seed leaves.  Will be a couple of weeks before I can transplant to individual pots.  Last year's basil was so delicious that I couldn't resist trying it again.

Our "main" crop...tomatoes. The big thuggish-looking plants are the heirloom variety "Pruden's Purple". Looking forward to some purple salsa. lol.

Pinetree Seeds lettuce mix, almost ready to be potted out into individual pots. Man, I love this stuff!

Mini-strawberries to go into the strawberry pot that I have yet to purchase. Those plants are tiny! Really tiny. Made me realize, though, that I've pulled tons of seedling strawberries out of the strawberry bed over the years. Thought that they were columbine. lol.

Biggest surprise of the gardening year so far...nicotiana. Last year, I purchased seed for Nicotiana sylvestris 'Only The Lonely' from Pinetree. They were huge plants by the end of the season, but they were really, really tiny seedlings. By the time I set them out into the flower beds in June, they were only an inch tall. I harvested seed from those plants, dried it and now have planted two pinches of seed into this pot. Not only did I appear to get 110% germination (totally not possible), the plants are much larger and more vigorous this year. As far as I know, this variety is not a hybrid, so theoretically at least, they should be exactly the same plant. I guess I could be in for a big surprise later in the year!

Cheery Cherry

Just finished a new apron. Makes me smile. And makes me want to cook! (Please excuse the photo-bombing Shih Tzu. I tried several times to get a pic without her in it, but she wasn't having any of that!)

Here We Grow Again

Time to start gardening again...even though it looks like this in the garden right now.

To get tomatoes ready to set out around April 1, it's time to start working inside where it's warm.  I've started three varieties of tomatoes this year:

I know, it's a little difficult to read my crappy writing under the potting soil.  lol.  I've planted 'Pruden's Purple', 'Heinz Classic Processor' and 'Black Cherry' for the barrel on the patio.  I also plan to purchase at least one 'Early Girl' so that I can be eating tomatoes soon(er).