Green Thumb? We'll see!

I don't know if you have heard of Square Foot Gardening, but it's AWESOME!! Basically, you harvest more in less space by using a 4 square foot planter box that you fill with a special mix of peat moss, vermiculite, and compost. His book is easy to read and he explains everything very well.

I tried to start last year. I even thought I wrote about it, but my attempt was pretty unsuccessful (except for a few strawberries and one box frame that I built) . I blame it on being pregnant last spring and summer - I didn't want to do ANYthing.... So this year I decided I was really going to tackle it and not put it off.

DAY ONE
This is what I had from last year: a small box of strawberries and an unfilled box. I bought all of my soil supplies and went to work.This is what we had by the time we got all the ingredients mixed together. It took a little bit longer than I thought it would. Good thing it was nice out that day and I had a good helper, a 2 year old that loves to play in dirt.

DAY TWO
This morning I marked off my grids and added more soil to my strawberry box, thinned them out and replanted them. In my bigger box I planted the two dahlias that I bought. I wanted something to be growing already so I would feel like I could SEE that I had made progress.

I'm feeling very pleased so far. I've started to sprout a bunch of flowers and some vegetables. I'm going to plant tomatoes (of course!), jalepenos, garlic, beets, beans, peas, basil, cilantro, tarragon, thyme, oregano and who knows what else. I might even try cucumbers and carrots. I hope I'm not taking on too much. But I have another box to fill, and really, there is so much space to grow in. Good thing I have people to share it with. I'm having grand dreams of a lush, beautiful, flower and vegetable filled garden. To be continued.....

For all you Jane Austen fans out there

I'm not sure how accurate this is. I like the bit where it says I'm extremely attractive - certainly don't feel that way with the black circles under my eyes! Funny too - I just finished reading this for the first time - and watching the movie for the 10th.


You are Elizabeth Bennet of Pride & Prejudice! You are intelligent, witty, and tremendously attractive. You have a good head on your shoulders, and oftentimes find yourself the lone beacon of reason in a sea of ridiculousness. You take great pleasure in many things. You are proficient in nearly all of them, though you will never own it. Lest you seem too perfect, you have a tendency toward prejudgement that serves you very ill indeed.

Take the Quiz here!

In My Own Backyard

I love SPRING!! I took these pictures on our walk last Friday.

Flowering Plum

Flowering Cherry

These are a little fuzzy because he wouldn't let me get too close. But this was just down the street from my house! I zoomed in with photoshop to get a better look. These birds are all over down here. I forget how close I am to the Potomac.

I just couldn't wait!!

I'm almost done with my new diaper bag and I'm so excited that I couldn't wait until it was finished to post some pics. I L-O-V-E the fabric so much I could cry. See the AMY BUTLER link on my sidebar for more info on her. She makes the most wonderful designs, I quote my friend Allyn , "I love looking at her fabrics, they make me happy" or something to that effect. I love this bag already, it may just be my bag and I'll happen to carry diaper stuff in it. Stay tuned for completed pictures. I still have to figure out what I am going to do for the strap.

A Group Effort

This little quilt has a great story. When I was about 12 I embroidered these blocks for a church project. I don't remember how long it took me, but I'm sure it was a while. They were supposed to then be made into a baby quilt for when I grew up and had my own kids. Well, you know what happened. They sat in my sewing box for about 20 years.

Well, when I got pregnant with Alison my mom and I decided to ressurect the old project and breathe some new life into it. So we went through her stash of 40s reproduction prints and decided to use a lot of different fabrics so it was more unisex - after all the ultrasound tech told me not to paint anything pink yet - although that was her guess. So my mom and I cut out the sashings that go around each individual block and I sewed that main part together.

Then my mom took over again and she put on the borders. My Aunt Mary quilted it on her machine and then my mom sewed the binding on and I handstiched it down. I just finished it a few months before Andrew was born. Even when we got it all put together it still took me forever to sit down and do the handsewing. I really don't enjoy that very much.

Thanks so much to my mom who helped not just with the sewing and cutting but with the overall look of the quilt and to Mary for doing such a great job on the quilting. I"m really pleased with how it turned out, and it's so cute I'm not sure I really want anyone spitting up all over it. So for now it's hanging on the wall in the room where we keep Alison's toys. (Click on the photo to see it close up.)

What's funny is it took over 20 years, 3 people and many locales to get this thing donw. Here's a list of the places it's been worked on:
embroidery - Annandale, VA
Sashing cut - Draper, UT
Sashings sewn - Oceanside, CA (thanks Allyn for letting me use your machine)
Borders sewn - Draper, UT
Machine Quilting - Tooele, UT
Initial binding sewn - Draper, UT
Final handstiching - Stafford, VA

At least it started and ended in Virginia - but sheesh, what a trek. I am kind of glad we didn't put it together way back then - I think the fabrics we had available to us recently make it really cute - who knows what 80's influence would have been at work had we completed it back then!

I'm pleased to report that the quilt I made Andrew was started in October when I was in UT and is now just waiting for me to sew the binding down. I hope to finish it this week. I've learned my lesson - this one's only taken a few months! I'll be posting a picture of it soon.