Weekend Forecast: Mud & Quilts!

Temps in the 50's today have all of our snow drip-dripping everywhere and creating lots of mud.  Good for the plants, not so good for working outside and kids running in and out of the house!  The warm temps did let hubby get out his tools and finish my light setup for my seedlings so I'll get around to getting the lights hooked up and hung to it later today.

terrible photo, but can you see the 2 artichokes peeking up?  Center & top right cell.

Below, over-engineered in typical man-fashion, it weighs a hundred pounds I bet, but when I connect the chains and lights it will work well.... but where the he(( am I going to put this contraption LOL?

This may be my last weekend to play with my sewing machine for more than an hour at a time since temps are expected to be in the 60's next weekend - so I'm taking full advantage of the mud outside now to get started on a quilt for a very important little girl in my life - any guesses as to who it is?  Here's a hint... she's the only little girl in our extended family, and her birthday is coming up very soon!

here's the colors I picked for the mod-tod(dler)-

Below, no - Loch hasn't taken up yoga - "Thing 1" has been playing chess like a pro lately and requested a "chess bag" so he could take his mad skillz on the road.  This is what I came up with, it is kind of like a yoga bag, I didn't use a pattern but I'm really happy with how it came out.  I used the skull fabric on the outside, a pale gray lining, and interfacing to stiffen up the bag and strap.  Drawstring cord with a toggle finished it up.  Took about 2-3 hours total probably, but I worked on it in 2 sessions yesterday so I wouldn't get too frustrated :)

Here's a close up of the fabric, I also used a flannel remnant to make a drawstring bag to hold his chess pieces, his chess board is one of those roll-up tournament size ones.  Some parts of the fabric could have stood to be a little more masculine, but I'm digging the skulls, flames and barbed wire.

Now I'm off to start cutting quilt fabrics.  The fun part was picking out the fabrics, and now is the stressful part, cutting the shapes out perfectly.  Then comes fun again when I can spend some time changing the pieces around until I'm happy with the design.  I'm sure I won't come up for air until Monday, so have a good weekend, y'all!

My quilting plans foiled again!

Woke up to this!  About 3-4 inches fell last night and early this morning.

I had plans to go to the quilt shop for some fabric after sending the kids off to school, but snow in Virginia Beach means.... school's cancelled!  My plans foiled yet again.

I had some other sewing I could have done, but with my 2 boys & their friend in the house itching to go outside and play, I resigned myself to the fact that my house was going to be a wet mess and decided to "live in the moment" as they say, and go outside with them.  One of the things I am trying to work on this year is not being so schedule/task oriented and to start trying to take things as they come and enjoy the little things, I know I've heard many times that when it's time to leave this life nobody ever says "I wish I'd had more time to pick up the house" LOL...

 Bonus:  when the boys have a friend over, they are actually much better behaved with no fighting, and happy kids = unstressed mom!  How cool is it that our new neighbor's son is in my son's kindergarden class and they are already good friends? - they'll have a nice time this summer being able to just head out the back door to play with a friend instead of me hovering over them in the front yard where I don't know all the neighborhood kids/or their parents.

 I think Loch needs E.G. to come visit and help him out with the structural engineering here!

Finn in the background showing his friend some winter footwear fun - I'm glad we forgot to leave these at mom's house over Christmas!

Meet Neptune, he's the neighbor dog - he fits in really well around here, now we have a whole "herd" of herding dogs!  I let them all inside this little house afterwards to have a biscuit and they were doing figure 8's with wet paws and snow filled nostrils and I was able to just laugh it off, see - I'm improving!

The thing I miss most about living up north: MUDROOMS - this is actually my bedroom!

Mama bought a round of hot chocolate, I think these guys will sleep well tonight, they played for hours!

Other news:  "Early Purple Sprouting" Broccoli wins the germination race!

Check out this trashy light setup - hubby hasn't been able to finish my "light thing" he's been constructing since he's working long hours and we don't have a garage so the weather has been holding him up.  But the seeds wait for no man... they needed lights this morning!  So I just rigged this in the meantime, luckily I only have this one flat right now, if it was tomato time I'd be in trouble.

Here's Loch just doing his Loch thing, I didn't ask LOL...  I walked by him and just said "hey Loch, why don't you go be a 7 year old for awhile?" he just scowled at me.   :)

The "official start" of seed season for us!

I realized with a bit of panic that since I kicked the LG front loader out of the house and bought a top loading washing machine, my old seed starting area was gone!  I used to get 4 flats on top of the washer & dryer and hung lights above it, it made for great warmth and vibrations too and was nicely out of the way.  I decided to repurpose the kids' computer desk that was on its way out of the house too.  It works for the one seed flat and heat mat for now, and I was going to suspend a light for the bottom rack too, but hubby has decided to build me "something".... yet to be determined LOL!  I told him I need it in a couple of days because these babies are going to need light as soon as they sprout!  Looks like this year will be a trashy setup that will be smack dab in the middle of my bedroom, but oh well, it's not like it's an option to not start seeds!

 

This is just round one, the "big deal" stuff will be started in a few more weeks. 

Sown today:

Purple of Romagna Artichoke

Early Purple Sprouting Broccoli

Piricicaba Broccoli

Olympia Spinach

Val d'Orges Lettuce

Mache' 

Tango Lettuce

Greed Salad Bowl Lettuce

Large Leaf Sweet Basil

Sweet Peas (just a few, most will be direct sown soon outdoors)

As I was cleaning out The Garden Binder of last year's plans, I came across these:

On the bottom are my plans, Loch's on the top left, Finn's on the top right.  I think I'll save theirs from year to year to look back on someday.  One thing's for sure, I didn't grow carrots as big as Finn obviously wanted!

I came across a good buy also - if any of you live near a Borders, all their calendars are now $1.00!  Even big planner type calendars.  I typically use the computer/phone calendar for my day to day stuff, but I always have a regular size one for the garden to mark up with planting and weather notes, and I need a separate one to keep track of Master Gardener volunteer hours.  Normally I don't care what's "on" these calendars, just that they're cheap, but I found some good ones!

Border Collies for the garden, naturally - a "Knitting" box calendar that serves no purpose other than it has over 100 laminated card knitting patterns for $1.00, and the last one was an odd find but perfect for me - it's a Minnesota weather journal/calendar complete with the local-back home Minneapolis/St. Paul news team on the back... wierd here in VA but will be nice for the volunteer hours log!

Found a poem in the kids' room...  I'm going to stop cleaning in there, it's getting wierd.  Loch has retreated into a world of chess, math & science.... sigh.... where did he get this gene from, certainly not his parents!

Speaking of which, we are to attend open house tonight for the "Math and Science Academy" school Loch has been recommended for next year, what should I wear, argyle or plaid?  LOL... oh and where did I leave that pocket protector and tape for my glasses...?

I've been in hiding the past 3 days...

Thanks to my wonderful hard working husband who worked 18 hour days in 120º heat in the Middle East for the better part of a year to earn some tax-free bucks, meet the newest member of our family:

 (lots of husbands come home and spend their money on big screen tv's, video games, etc... not mine - he's definitely a keeper!)

The IRS delivered the refund early (I'm still in shock over that), and I was able to bring her home on Friday!  I researched about 7 machines over the past month and finally settled on this one.  I will admit that I used my experience in sales to score quite a bargain on this and got some expensive accessories thrown in, too.  I'll probably write about the machine at a later date since I know how hard it is to have to search and search for reviews and recommendations.  I'll work with it for awhile so I can provide a more experienced review on it.  Right off the bat though, OMG I HAVE A MACHINE THAT WORKS!  I took a cue from Mama Pea's self-imposed quilting retreat and took the whole weekend to read manuals, play with all the features, and finish my very first quilt.


My binding wasn't wide enough but at least I know what to expect next time.  I also found I need to seriously work on an ergonomically correct table/chair for next time as my back and neck are very sore from quilting for 6 hours straight... but at least I got the "very first quilt" out of the way without any serious property damage or suffering any panic attacks LOL!


Below is the big reveal... it's a bit Marsha Brady (whom I love!) and I think will look fantastic on my patio table with a bottle of Pinot Grigio and a few glasses.... now if that sun would just come out already!

Close up of the "Marsha Brady"-ish floral print :)

 Here is the back side for the quilters out there.  Not very exciting, I know - a simple grid pattern.  I don't trust myself to stitch in the ditch quite yet.  My technique still resembles winter driving, it's more of a "slide into the ditch"... LOL

Below is what happens when hubby and kids decide to cook dinner so I can quilt.  Pizzas of course, but also Finn made pretzels and Loch made some cinnamon rolls with daddy's help :)  Nobody said things would be healthy when mama's busy, but it sure was delicious!  At least it wasn't Ramen Noodles.

Sadly, I have to put the new toy away for a few days while I take care of some garden-related things.  The mess in the attic (lights and heat mat, chains and ext cords) got hauled down and I can now start my first flat of seeds for 2011.

See - there's plenty of messy stuff in the house, it was just stuffed up in the attic!

Now I'm off to spend some quality time with a notepad and the garden binder/seed stash!  Tomorrow's the big day.

that's the plan, anyways...

My seeds are all in, and I'm ready to reveal the lineup for 2011!  I did well on the $$ front, but could have saved more money if I didn't have an attack of Heirloom-itis, you know - the sickness that makes you say things like "....I'm just gonna try this one other variety of this..."!  (all are heirloom varieties unless noted)

Herbs

• Dill                           stash
• Cilantro                    stash
• Genovese Basil        stash
• Lettuce Leaf Basil   Baker Creek
• Common Chives      Baker Creek
• Fennel                       stash
• Oregano                    stash & Botanical Interests
• Marjoram                 Botanical Interests
• Thyme                      stash
• Giant Parsley           stash

Greens

• Olympia spinach                                 stash
• Malabar spinach                                  stash
• Tango Lettuce                                     stash
• Green Salad Bowl lettuce                   stash
• Mignonette Bronze heading lettuce   Baker Creek
• Mizuna greens                                     stash
• Verte D'Etampes  mache'                   Baker Creek
• Wrinkled Crinkled cress                    Baker Creek

Peas

• Oregon Sugar Pod II      stash
• Cascadia Snap               Botanical Interests

Beans

• Golden Wax                           stash
• Scarlet Runner                       stash
• Dragon's Tongue                    stash
• Contender Buff Valentine     Botanical Interests
• Yard Long beans                    stash
• Chinese Red Noodle beans    Baker Creek
• Beer Friend edamame            stash

Broccoli

• Piricicaba broccoli                         stash
• Early Purple Sprouting broccoli    Baker Creek

Cucumbers

• Japanese Climbing cucumbers       stash
• Parisian Pickling cucumbers          stash
• Solly Beiler cucumbers                  Baker Creek

Carrots  (I giggle every time I say things like cosmic purple stash and Purple Haze stash)!!!

• Cosmic Purple            stash
• Purple Haze                stash
• Little Finger                stash
• Danvers Half Long     Botanical Interests

Artichoke

• Purple of Romagna   stash

Peanuts
*unknown variety, saved seed from last year


Peppers

• Quadrato d'Asti Rosso bell              stash
• Jimmy Nardello Italian bell            Baker Creek
• Jalapeno Gigante  hot                      stash  (yeah, I know.....!)
• Fish Hot                                            stash
• Poblano Ancho hot                          Botanical Interests
• Italian Peperoncini sweet/hot          Baker Creek
• Sigaretto de Bergamo sweet/hot     Baker Creek

Tomatoes

• Brandywine   stash,                                        Baker Creek
• Burpee Long Keeper (heirloom variety!)      Baker Creek
• Hillbilly Flame                                               Baker Creek
• Yellow Pear                                                    stash
• Amish Paste                                                   Baker Creek
• 4th of July (hybrid)                                        stash
• Orange Wellington (hybrid)                          stash
• Jake Gyllenhaal - remember that one?  :)     stash

Eggplant (see note)

• Purple Rain                                                    stash

Squash

• Winter Butternut Waltham                   Botanical Interests
• Hokkaido                                               stash
• Gourmet Pie Mix pumpkin (hybrid)     stash
• Ornamental gourds                                stash

Misc
shallots, onions, garlic, scallions were purchased at local feed store and are in the beds now - unsure about potatoes right now...


*new vegetable for this year is squash, I am going to learn to like it!  Missing this year is cauliflower, heading broccoli (too many worms), & radishes (don't like them!)


**note to those who don't like eggplant - I don't much care for it either other than the beautiful blooms BUT... it makes a great trap crop for tomato pests, it's beautiful in the perennial beds, one of the uses I have found is that I bake it and then blend it into my canned tomato sauces, adding creaminess and nutrition without affecting the flavor of the sauce.  New this year... check out the eggplant section of the Baker Creek catalog for a recipe for "Eggplant CAKE"... lmao... that was funny enough to make me want to try it again!


** If anything is listed as "stash" and you want to know the source, just ask, I know where it came from if you are looking for it.  I just wanted to differentiate between what I purchased and what I already had on hand.


Happy Planning, y'all!

note to self?

Spotted today while cleaning the kids' room...

Apparently Loch made himself a "Notes" board, below

There was one note taped on it...

p.s.  hey Loch, I bet Finn doesn't like you, either!  

(I might add that they share a room LOL!)

Warning: Enablers at Work!

What do we have here?  Darn enablers up to more mischief!  Thanks to blogger friend Alison at Whatever it Needs to Be... I came home to these goodies in the mailbox!  I can't wait to spend some time with this, I've been thinking about it since I started knitting of course!  As soon as I opened the package I was hit with a lovely raw wool scent that immediately reminded me of being a kid.  My dad's barn jacket and gloves always smelled just like this, if you've been around sheep at all you know what I'm talking about, divine!  I'm in the process of packing up a package of garden seeds for you, Alison!

Alison has her hands in lots of stuff.  She's raising a family, doing it on a budget, she's into jewelry and metal work as well as spinning and dyeing fiber.  She also has an Etsy shop, Daisy Cat Jewelry for her goodies, check it out - enablers unite!

Speaking of enablers, I spent the morning on my continued quest for a new sewing machine.  I want it to do EVERYTHING but I want a good deal.... is that too much to ask for LOL?!  Two more nameless blogger enablers (can you guess who?) are on the email hot-list for my incessant questions!  Thanks, ladies, I'm getting close... (for those that don't know, I tend to research everything to death!)

As if I needed more catalogs to flip through this time of year... now it's sewing machines!

On arriving home, more mail - my first internet order of fabric.  I couldn't resist, I took advantage of a coupon for becoming a "fan" on Facebook, and the coupon was good on sale and clearance fabrics, too. No, these aren't for the same project - rather I just chose a few that "spoke" to me for future inspiration.  Yes that's right... fabric with no machine yet  :(

Library this week:  sewing for me and scat for the boys LOL

I forgot to include a photo of the pizza the other night, first time using the specialty flour:

Time for the monthly Subaru Love photo... this is hubby's Subaru.  It's full of 6 closet doors and other random maintenance junk for the rental property, I could have fit twice this much in there if I wanted.... Subaru Love

Saved this one for last:

That is gauge is working perfectly!  Just a fluke though, it's supposed to be in the 30's tonight and 30's tomorrow, and I couldn't really even enjoy it since it rained all day, but I did get to break out my flip flops!