Still alive and well
May. 15th, 2007 01:48 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mellymellStill busy with everything but sewing. Since Jonah was born, I've had time to sew exactly one hem down the side of one drapery panel for our bedroom. There's just so much else that seems to come first.
I've been mostly gardening lately, as far as enjoyable work is concerned. We rented a Mantis tiller from Home Depot back in February or March and cut three new beds in back and extended the one in the front by about 10 feet. We've since filled the front bed with 4 flats of annuals (2 impatiens and 2 petunias), replanted the liriope that was already there, planted some gorgeous cannas and bulbs for daylilies and caladiums that are just peeking out of the ground.
In the back we built a two level raised bed for our veggies. Still have to plant squash, zucchini, eggplant, cucumbers and some melons, but so far we've got 9 peppers and 9 tomatoes (each a different variety) planted and thriving. We're trying out a method called square foot gardening where you plant a crop in each square foot of the plot. We have three 4'x4' plots we're working with. I've never tried it, so we'll have to see how it goes.
Another one of the beds we're going to fill with sunflowers so there will be a long row along the fence blocking the view into the neighbors' yard. And the last garden for this year, we're going to fill with more cannas and a bunch of cosmos that match the colors we painted in the dining room (red and yellow-gold), since it is just under the big double window in there.
So, suffice it to say that every spare moment I get, I spend it with my hands in the dirt somewhere. It's a hobby I had to put off for the past 4 years or so while we lived in the woods and had little to no sun to work with. But of course we had the beauty of the woods, so I didn't feel the need to garden as much. It's also something I can do with Jonah by my side. I put him in his bouncy seat in a shady spot and he's content to watch me, or the birds, or whatever.
I've decided against using the navy cotton velvet I have for a starry mantle, though I might still bead it with some starry looking beads or something and use it as drapes in Jonah's room. In looking at the pictures again, I'm convinced the original is a wool, not a velvet. Not to mention I never could get this velvet to soften it's drape much more. It's soft now, but still breaks in angles more than it needs to. But I did find a great trim for it. You guessed it, Heritage Trading. There's a gorgeous cream and gold brocade sari trim he's got. I have a couple of yards of the same pattern in a red almost magenta with gold. It's a bit too wide as is, but I would consider just using the middle of the trim and either cutting off the borders for use on something else or just tucking them under as a hem allowance.
Still eyeing a paisley brocade for the Blood Red gown. I'm just not happy with what I did, despite the hours of hand painting it. It's too rough looking. I wasted a lot of time in the wrong directions on that gown. Live and learn I guess. I've got a little bit of birthday money left and I might try to go ahead and buy the fabric and see if I can squeeze in that project somewhere soon.
I think the yard is just about done, so maybe I can focus on other hobbies for a while. I've done absolutely zero jewelry work since I left Huntsville. The Tennessee Ren Faire is going on right now until the first weekend in June. I'm fairly certain I'll have nothing interesting to wear to it, but I might go anyway, since it's just across town.
I've been mostly gardening lately, as far as enjoyable work is concerned. We rented a Mantis tiller from Home Depot back in February or March and cut three new beds in back and extended the one in the front by about 10 feet. We've since filled the front bed with 4 flats of annuals (2 impatiens and 2 petunias), replanted the liriope that was already there, planted some gorgeous cannas and bulbs for daylilies and caladiums that are just peeking out of the ground.
In the back we built a two level raised bed for our veggies. Still have to plant squash, zucchini, eggplant, cucumbers and some melons, but so far we've got 9 peppers and 9 tomatoes (each a different variety) planted and thriving. We're trying out a method called square foot gardening where you plant a crop in each square foot of the plot. We have three 4'x4' plots we're working with. I've never tried it, so we'll have to see how it goes.
Another one of the beds we're going to fill with sunflowers so there will be a long row along the fence blocking the view into the neighbors' yard. And the last garden for this year, we're going to fill with more cannas and a bunch of cosmos that match the colors we painted in the dining room (red and yellow-gold), since it is just under the big double window in there.
So, suffice it to say that every spare moment I get, I spend it with my hands in the dirt somewhere. It's a hobby I had to put off for the past 4 years or so while we lived in the woods and had little to no sun to work with. But of course we had the beauty of the woods, so I didn't feel the need to garden as much. It's also something I can do with Jonah by my side. I put him in his bouncy seat in a shady spot and he's content to watch me, or the birds, or whatever.
I've decided against using the navy cotton velvet I have for a starry mantle, though I might still bead it with some starry looking beads or something and use it as drapes in Jonah's room. In looking at the pictures again, I'm convinced the original is a wool, not a velvet. Not to mention I never could get this velvet to soften it's drape much more. It's soft now, but still breaks in angles more than it needs to. But I did find a great trim for it. You guessed it, Heritage Trading. There's a gorgeous cream and gold brocade sari trim he's got. I have a couple of yards of the same pattern in a red almost magenta with gold. It's a bit too wide as is, but I would consider just using the middle of the trim and either cutting off the borders for use on something else or just tucking them under as a hem allowance.
Still eyeing a paisley brocade for the Blood Red gown. I'm just not happy with what I did, despite the hours of hand painting it. It's too rough looking. I wasted a lot of time in the wrong directions on that gown. Live and learn I guess. I've got a little bit of birthday money left and I might try to go ahead and buy the fabric and see if I can squeeze in that project somewhere soon.
I think the yard is just about done, so maybe I can focus on other hobbies for a while. I've done absolutely zero jewelry work since I left Huntsville. The Tennessee Ren Faire is going on right now until the first weekend in June. I'm fairly certain I'll have nothing interesting to wear to it, but I might go anyway, since it's just across town.
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no subject
on 2007-05-16 01:15 am (UTC)no subject
on 2007-05-16 04:43 pm (UTC)Gardening certainly takes some practice, trial and error and such. I've been gardening in some shape or form since I was about 7. My mom put me in charge of a bed of daisies, mint and some annuals then. It was my job to keep it watered, fed, weeded and dead-head the flowers to keep them blooming. I always helped in all the other gardens too though. We had a massive vegetable garden every year. In fact, because of that veggie garden, I'm just now starting to get over my aversion to the smell of tomatoes, heh.
But I'm still intimidated by some plants, too. Chris bought me an orchid for my birthday and even though it's a pretty hardy species, I'm nervous about caring for it, since it's so different from all the other plants I grow. But I figure if I can keep two palms, two large draceanas and a bird of paradise alive in the living room, I should be able to take care of one orchid. The problem is, they seem to be addictive. He got me a book on them and apparently there are 20,000-30,000 species and over 40,000 hybrids out there! The author of the book said his modest collection of 15 or 20 very quickly grew to a grow room of over 1500 in a matter of just a few years.
no subject
on 2007-05-17 04:07 am (UTC)ooh! I LOVE orchids!! heh, i alwasy hear they are addictive, but then so is sewing... ;p