Tuesday, May 29, 2007

Garden Mosaic


Garden Mosaic


The end of May is a great time for a Cleveland garden -- lots in bloom and the deer have plenty of other things to munch.

Saturday, May 26, 2007

That Whole 7 Random Things Thing

Both PCR and Laura tagged me for this . . . I'm not tagging anyone as I think it has to have gotten to everyone by now. :)

1. Both of my children were born on the rug in our bedroom. I will now keep that rug forever.

2. I never willingly touched a worm until the Little Man made me do so. I didn't want to spread one of my irrational issues to my child so I held it all the while inwardly chanting "Eweweweweweweewe."

3. I could eat Thai food everyday and not tire of it. Luckily this area of Cleveland is blessed with many a good restaurant and I've become reasonably proficient at various curries.

4. If you saw my wardrobe you would think it belonged to two people. Half is your basic khaki, navy, black, work acceptable clothing and the other half (mainly pj's, socks, and exercise gear) is shocking pink and orange.

5. I will be 30 years old one month from today!

6. I never had any interest in gardening growing up even though both of my parents do plenty of it (dad has veggies, mom flowers) as they never wore gloves and I dislike touching dirt. When we moved here I bought some gloves and found a new love.

7. Every few years I have a word that I dislike -- first it was "genre", then "utilize" and most recently "meme". :)

Sunday, May 20, 2007

FO: Sew U Skirt





Look at that -- I finished something! Chris has been going to sleep at the same time as the munchkins (he started his own business and is getting up really early as to have more time to work) and to try and to entertain myself in the evenings I finally made the skirt from Sew U. I wussed out on the zipper and darts and subbed elastic instead. This was very, very easy to make. My only real issue was due to my poor cutting skills. I think I may buy a rotary cutter, mat and straight edge to eliminate that problem. I do like the book but would note that you have to be pretty slim to make the patterns -- the above is the largest size skirt and I am way out of range of the shirt pattern.

Many thanks to Kate, Nancy and Stacey for posting their projects, sharing encouragement and advice, and just in general being sew inspiring (groan). I just love bloggers!

Wednesday, May 16, 2007

Making Up for Lost Time (pic intensive)

Apparently 4.5 years is the age of a rechargeable battery -- in the last few months we've had to replace both the video camera battery and now the digital camera. So, here are a few posts worth of pics.



Chris kindly made me these raised beds for some veggies! They are all planted in the square-foot gardening method and we now have lots of seedlings popping through. I'll go more in depth later.



Close-up of Nasturium growing in above bed.




We put down 15 yards of mulch two weeks ago. It makes everything really stand out.



The new hammock was my Mother's Day gift along with a latte and iTunes card!



The pansies are trying to rally after they were deer lunch.



The tree peony was stunning this year.



This is the tree peony I bought at last year's super end of season sale. Just one beautiful bloom this year.



Bleeding hearts are always pretty.



My mother brought me up the stunning hosta. I Love it!



A kind neighbor let us dig up a bunch of ostrich ferns last year but we thought they had died. Turns out that the first year you move ferns they put all of their energy into their roots.





And finally some knitting! I lucked out a few months ago and got a spot in the Scout's Swag Sign-up. Here is the beautiful yarn (named Lavender Mint) posing with the bluebells. Anyone have any ideas for a non-boring sock pattern that won't take forever? I love the Jaywalkers but it is not a speedy sock for me (have to look at it.) The next pic is one of the finished socks for my father. They were intended for his birthday but as that was in February, I'm now aiming for Father's Day. It's mate is half-way done.



It was close to 90 yesterday and we scoured the local stores for a rigid kiddy pool (the inflatable ones don't last long with outdoor kitties) wee girl enjoyed scooping water onto the plants.