What's next?

So, finishing up the Blood Red gown has me anxious to start something new (even though I still have an unfinished shirt hanging on my door). The Angel gown is next in line as far as costumes, just because I have most of the fabric for it already. I was about to buy the lining fabric and more muslin to start a mockup, but alas, our budget is short this month because of overspending last month, not to mention I just sent off my check for the deposit on ALEP. So, no sewing budget for me this month, I'm afraid. Oh well, it's just as well, since I have things I should really finish before starting something new. Even better, they are things I can add to my mundane wardrobe. I do at least have a little over 3 yards of muslin to work with for a couple of things, just not another costume yet.

Come to think of it, I probably won't be able to do much next month either. There's a 1-day silvermsithing class on December 18th that costs $200 (unless they get more than 10 people signed up for it). It's something I really feel I should do and much more important than starting another costume right now. The Angel gown fabric has been sitting in my trunk for nearly 2 years now, it won't hurt to sit there another couple of months. I think for once I'll voluntarily give my mother-in-law a Christmas list this year though. I could really use more jewelry making tools and some things to make sewing a little easier as well. As long as she promises not to buy me every item on the list this time!

Of course I haven't forgotten to share pics of the finished Blood Red gown, I just haven't gotten another chance to put it on and get some taken. I put so much else on hold to try to get it finished and now that it is, I've got to catch up in real life again. The house is a mess and I'm trying to get summer annuals pulled up and non-hardy bulbs put away for the winter and get winter annuals and spring bulbs in the ground. Where's Samwise when you need him!?

Night gardening

In the spring, it was much easier to get all this gardening done. Of course, then we had a lot more to do and there were literally weeks when it took up the majority of my days. But then, we were cutting new beds, building raised beds and so on, basically starting from scratch. At that time, Jonah was perfectly happy to sit in his baby papasan and smile and coo and watch the world go by, or watch me, or watch the dogs, whatever caught his eye. Then he'd go in periodically to nap and/or eat. I was able to be very productive in the yard as a result. But now, he's all over the place, crawling at top speeds, trying to walk, not exactly entertained by mom's mundane tasks anymore. Pretty much when he's awake, I don't get much time in the gardens, so I have to squeeze it in during naps. Lately he's been taking his second nap at around 4pm, which with the time change means he wakes up when it's dark. So, the second gardening session I had yesterday was partially in the dark. I was out front with a headlamp on digging holes and planting pansies. Must have looked pretty funny to the neighbors.

I'm working on cleaning up all the frostbitten summer annuals and replacing them with pansies. I've also got a lot of spring bulbs to get in the ground and the Caladiums, which aren't cold hardy, had to come out of the ground for winter storage. I might add they're about 10-20 times the size they were when we put them in the ground in the spring. On the largest plant, we had leaves that were more than 3 feet long. I also pulled up some day lilies that need to find a new, sunnier home (the impatiens buried them this year and they did little more than sprout a couple of leaves). I still have half of the front bed to do and some spring bulbs to plant in back and everything could use a top off of mulch as well. Still, it's a lot less work than it was in the spring, there's just a lot less time to get it done. We had our first hard freeze last night after a week of consistent frosts. Anything that was still clinging to life is now frostbitten and ready to come out. I just hope the pansies and bulbs do ok.

As far as indoor gardening, we picked up a third orchid last week at the new Green Hills Whole Foods grand opening. It's a different species than the other two (which are Phalanopis), an Aspasia I believe (had no label, had to look it up at home). I breathed a sigh of relief to find that it was indeed one of the "beginner" species and requires similar conditions as the others, though perhaps a bit more water and light. They had some lovely slipper orchids that I believe are Paphiopedilums which might be what I go after next. I believe they need considerably more water and just a bit less light than the rest. A Dendrobium might be nice too. *sigh* It really is addictive! I'm still afraid to repot the Phalanopis, but they both need it desperately. They have an increasingly larger nest of roots sprouting out of the potting medium. I just need to break down and do it before I wait too long and damage the plants.

I need to find permanent winter homes for all of our plants that were on the patio. Right now they're just crowding the windows in the kitchen around the table. As for the tomato, I think I'll let the fruits on the vine ripen, then let it go. But the herbs and such I need to find a place for. And we really need to do something for the blueberry and raspberry. They should really get in the ground, but I'm afraid we waited too long. I wonder if they'd be ok if I let them go dormant in the garage or something and then planted them in the early spring. Need to look that up I suppose. We were talking the other day about getting some lights or using some we already have to give supplemental light to our houseplants in the winter when the sunlight isn't as bright. The palms and orchids I'm sure would really benefit from it. Absolutely everything has been thriving on the fertilizing schedule I'm on ("weakly weekly"), which makes me think I should try the same, only organic, for the vegetables next year, also perhaps less nitrogen and more phosphorus and potassium. As with all else in life, there's a balance to be obtained.