Sunday, April 13, 2014

Garden 2014

With 80 degree weather today (unusual - though welcome) I think we have finally shaken off the long cold winter that hit us this year.  Yesterday I was able to open up the house and wash 24 windows, and the windows in 3 doors - plus clean all the curtains.  AMAZING what a difference that makes - the fresh air, the clear view... who would have thought that cleaning would be so theraputic!
Today found me cleaning out the garden beds.  I didn't make it all the way around - if you've paid any attention to the pictures of my gardens - you may have noticed that I nearly have more garden than lawn.  Lets just say that Munchkin and I filled SIX big paper leaf/lawn bags today -and that didn't count the two that got filled last weekend, or the big pile of sticks we put at the curb.  I got the leaves and debris raked out of the front and side beds - everything from the back of the house to the back fence still has to be done - but truly isn't as bad.  The front beds collect the maple leaves - the back beds not so much.  It is mostly trimming out the dead flower heads that I left in for the birds.

It was also a good time to do some trimming - as with no leaves on the small trees and shrubs I was able to see where the crossed branches were and cut away to open things up.  I even tackled the rosebush - though I did not escape unscathed.

Not too much is blooming - crocuses, flag iris, snowdrops (lots and lots and LOTS and LOTS of snowdrops), and one little tiny daffodil just getting ready to open (snow forecast for Tuesday, Mom - right as always!)  The hyacinths are ready to burst out, and I can see the beginnings of the rhurbarb, strawberries and hops, along with many many other sprouts and buds and signs of life again.  YAY!

I even got busy with some planting!  I didn't do anything outside - I need to do some tilling in my raised beds and my garden claw has disappeared - so hopefully when we return from some Easter travels I will be able to get a new one and get in some of those early spring "cold weather" crops.  In the meantime, I have some lettuce and basil already sprouted and moved up to the next sized container in my "greenhouse", and I put in some seeds today.

It was 'thyme."

 

Saturday, April 05, 2014

Making haste slowly

On April 11, 2008 I received a pattern in the mail. Last night - I put all but the last border on my version of that pattern.

I am not quite ready to share my photos of the project - though a few of my Instagram followers did get a sneak peek when I was asking for advice.  Lets just say it looks NOTHING like the original pattern.

This was a project that I collected fabrics for over a long period of time - they were my travel squares, my shop hop buys, and my memories of my adventures.

Working on this again after a long hiatus has been a walk down memory lane... and I am finishing it in a way that is reflecting some more recent memories -some happy, some sad, but all of them treasured.

Maybe that is why this one has taken so long - it needed more memories to make it complete.