Week Two - Garden Shot Saturday...on a Sunday!

Oi. Since the first pictures it has rained...and rained...and rained here in the Northeast. It had just stopped *raining* and was more misting when I got on the garden enough to take these pictures. I almost had to call for rescue as the "wet part" of the garden was very like quicksand and I almost got stuck in the muck!


So, I'm just going to show you the things that have changed. No sense in re-inventing the wheel again...



My beans were the first things to come up. They're planted on both sides of the garden netting because last year, I learned that black beans climb. I've also been burned previously by so-called "bush" beans that end up climbing anyway, so I just usually give them something to climb to begin with.





The peas have started to come in slowly. I think I have three or so, but I'm sure the rest will come up eventually too.





The peppers have some blossoms.





So do the tomatoes. Despite being chewed on/off by something....I'm not sure what. I've never seen something come and lop tomato tops off like that.





So odd....





I'm hoping that this turns out to be some dill....





Those are definitely radishes. Hopefully I'll see some carrots emerge too. Then it'll be time for some thinning out.





The cucumbers don't seem to mind the rain at all though. Which is awesome. I can't wait until they start climbing!





The apples continue to grow and some varieties are starting to turn a little red.





As does the occasional cherry.





The blackberries are in all their glory and in full bloom. I hope this rain tapers off - then we'll have a bumper crop!





Especially with the help of all our honeybees (rather, our neighbor's)!

Here's to a week with less rain (according to forecast) and more garden growth!

2013 Garden - Garden Shot Saturday

This year, in addition to my "Food Friday" posts, I decided to add a Garden Shot Saturday. This is the third garden at the farm house, but the second really successful one. The first year was a dug up plot in the backyard that didn't amount to anything actually coming out of it. The second year was a combination of seeds, seedlings and the "surprise" part of gardening; since we use our own organic compost mix that we make from kitchen scraps, sometimes you get seeds that don't break down. So, last year, I had a wide variety of random tomatoes, cucumbers and even a couple muskmelon that came up!

This year's garden consists of:

3 types of peas (snow, snap, shell)
3 types of beans (green, black, edamame)
3 peppers (all bell, different colors)
3 types of tomatoes (paste, eating, cherry)
2 eggplants
cucumbers (I know most are cucumbers!)
18 hills of corn (sugar)
radishes
carrots
spinach
lettuce mix
dill



In addition to all that, there is a variety of fruit on property.

crazy amounts of wild grapes
13 apple trees (a mix, three are crabapple for the birds) - all producing
5 pear trees (new, non-producing yet)
12 rhubarb plants (non-producing yet)
a plethora of wild long blackberries
2 red raspberries (domesticated)
2 mulberry trees (1 producing, 1 non-producing)
1 cherry tree (red and sour, 50+ years old)


And now, for my favorite part, the pictures. Ideally, this will be a weekly post, detailing the growth in the garden.


The garden as it stands now. It's pretty large, 10x20 I'd say without measuring.





From L->R: Peas (1 row), Beans (2 rows), 3 Peppers (in the back)




Tomatoes and Eggplant




Cucumbers




Everything Else



Front to back it is: Radishes and Carrots (front row), dill (middle), spinach and lettuce mix (third row), corn (vertical rows in back)


Now, the fruit trees/plants:

Wild Grapes/Frost Grapes




Rhubarb




Blackberries Abound!




Cherries




Apples




Mulberries





Seeing it all laid out like this, I really understand how easily I get so busy with food prep and storage from July-October. I can't wait to show you next week's growth! Also, tune in soon for the return of Food Fridays as the CSA Season starts!

13 for 2013 - May Finishes!

For May, I only had a couple of little projects to get done, but I also had a couple of bonus finishes as well.

My big project was to finally make a curtain for the top of the stairs. It's a North facing window that doesn't get a *ton* of sun, I just hated constantly walking by it looking so naked, so I know it needed something.





Voila! It's nothing special, but it covers up a blank space in my mind, just a nice valance-sized half-covering.


May's next project was another Birthday Block. Originally I had two slated for this month, but someone dropped out of the swap, so I only had to do one. This block actually used a template, which was interesting, but I'm happy with the finished result. The swapper for this block asked for Hufflepuff colors, so I was happy to do this yellow and black version.




My next finish was a baby quilt for my friends Jeff and Kim (of the Wedding Quilt That Almost Wasn't. I used left-over scraps from another much-maligned project (I Don't Like My Child). I have to say, this grandchild, I like very much. :)




Even the back is adorable!




I knew as soon as I finished it, I wanted clouds to be featured in the quilting. Luckily my quilter had this great pantograph of clouds!





So....one baby quilt bonus. Time for another one. I have a special relationship with this quilt. I really consider this piece to be my "return to quilting" piece.



As a lot of quilts, this one started with fabric. All that gorgeous Michael Miller owl fabric from 2 falls ago. I think I bought 2 whole yards of it. Why? I don't know, I just *had* to have it. I didn't know why I had to have it until I awoke from a dead sleep, grabbed my bedside pad and sketched out the rough idea for this quilt.



See? Aren't those owls adorable? What about that quilting? Clouds and stars, come on? It doesn't get any better than that!


Since I loved those owls so much, and bought so much fabric, the back was easy!




One more shot, because I can....



I love how you can kind of see the ombre of the thread in this one, it's a yellow/orange blend, which ended up working out so perfectly.


So, for now, it will be a fall wall-hanging. Until there's a baby to wrap it in, someday.


That's all in my productive May! Onto June!

13 for 2013 - April Finished and Bonuses!

My April task was literally done on the first day of the month, but I waited to get a couple of bonus finishes in so I could do one major post instead of two. My April project was to put together a kit I had picked up from Connecting Threads. It was a "book tote" done with their uber-cute line of fabric, Bookish by Jenni Calo. Given that I'm in a book club, I thought it would be a nice project for me.

I literally made this in four hours from start to finish and am really happy with the result. The only thing I'm going to change when I make it again is to make it 4" wide instead of 2", other than that, it's great.


See? Isn't it cute?

I love this fabric line, but especially the stack swirls.



The same fabric is on the front pocket and the back pocket. I love this back pocket.



Instead of making binding like I was supposed to, I lazed out and just used some yellow ribbon I had in the craft room. Here's the lovely green lining (and the spare thread I missed before pictures!).



April done...and since I was done on the first I waited for a couple of quilts to come back from my quilter. I made the binding before I dropped them (five quilts!) to the quilter, so it was easy to finish these two.



First up is a sampler quilt that I finished for a Basics Beginner class I had taken at my local fabric shop, Patricia's Fabric House. I took it just to refine my piecing and to make sure that I hadn't taught myself any bad habits. Although I didn't use all the blocks we had made for the class (I left two out) - I love its size and the fact that it's actually pretty square.




I have to say that I love so many of the blocks in this quilt. Here's a detail shot of one just to see the quilting a little better. It was quilted with a medium tan thread, which worked perfectly.




The back was just this sweet tan with white polka dots, but it really fit so well I decided to use it for the binding too.




Detail of the quilting pattern. I love how on the front it looks more like waves or wind winding through the blocks, but on the back you can really see the "paisley" aspect of it.





Now onto Quilt #2 finished this month. Now, this project was not only part of my "12 for 2012" projects, but it was also the first quilt I put together with the LiveJournal Birthday Blocks Swap (which I now co-moderate). Back in 2010 I asked for 16" "wonky log cabin" blocks in blue and green. I got an awesome selection of blocks! Adding mine in, I ended up with this huge quilt! It is really long, so I had to hang it sideways to get it all in without it dragging on the *very* saturated ground!




I had envisioned a more modern, brick-like quilting pattern for this quilt, but my quilter didn't have a pattern that fit and I couldn't find a pantograph that fit my imagination. Some day, I'll have a machine that I can do my own quilting on. In the meantime, I settled on this "basketweave" pattern. I think it fits because it is a cross between bricks and waves. At least, that's what I'm telling myself.




I had also envisioned the back early on, although if I were to do it all over again, I totally would have strip pieced it, like this patriotic skinny strip. The applique was difficult on my smaller machine and it gave my quilter a little difficulty too.




One of my favorite things about this quilt is the variegated thread that my quilter used on this quilt. It's very ocean-themed and goes from bright green to dark and bright blue to dark as well - all the colors in this quilt. Unfortunately, this is the best shot I could get to show that off:



That's it! I can cross this project off of last years 12 for 2012 list! This also means that I am up to date on all of my Birthday Block Swap Quilts - 2010, 2011 and 2012 are all quilted and finished!

Wow. I've been really productive. Which is why I signed up for another swap - hit me now! Onto May!

13 for 2013 - March Finished!

In my previous post, I already covered the other March projects, stating that I had the cushions to cover in my craft room seating area. Even although I still have to finish a lot of the closures and sew on snaps and things, I'm counting them done! I have mixed feelings about them because I rushed and they aren't as put together as I would have liked. On the other hand, I love the variety and the colors and am very glad that I was able to use up some extra stash fabric that has been waiting for a lovely use.





Yes, those walls are peach. I don't know why, they just had to be. Peach is the color the room told me it wanted to be. So, I listened, and I really do love it. The room is also really hard to photograph. It has three windows so is either washed out or too shadowy depending on where the sun is in the sky at the moment of picture taking.




Here's Eeyore. He sits on the right. The blue cover here was the first one I did. It has an invisible zipper closure and really fits snugly. This was actually the first fabric I picked out for cushions and the piece that it was built around.





Here's Eeyore in relation to the rest. This is the back (left, North) wall of the craft room. There is a window just to the right near the harp (yes, I can play - no, I don't play well). Above Eeyore's side is the Dracolair Creations phoenix that I finished last year. This is my favorite piece of cross-stitch that I've completed thus far - and doesn't it go great on that peach wall? ;)





Here's Fury on the left side of the seating area. Here you really can see all my closure issues. The invisible zipper on the green cushion is visible, the back bottom cushion cover isn't quite long enough to fasten and the back pillow has more of a pillow case on it.





Above Fury is my other phoenix artwork, done by Sophie Blackall for her Missed Connections series of artwork. I just love it!






A full shot for the complete effect, of course! This picture tells me that I really need to cull through my crafting books and tune my harp. What it doesn't tell all of *you* though is how incredibly comfy it is and how excited I am to actually have a place to sit, stitch, read, crochet, sketch, and create.

Onto April!!

13 for 2013 - March Update

Despite a late finish for February - March is almost over and I think I'll barely squeak out my March goal too, but I'm feeling much better about it than I did two weeks ago. So far, I've

January - Finish Alex's blanket/Ben's pillowcases
February - Finish Apache Wedding Blessing/Two Birthday Blocks
March's goal is also two part. Halfway there. Part one, 2 Birthday Blocks:

First up, Mary's block.



Mary has been part of the LJ community for a long time and has participated in quite a few swaps. Probably one of the closest people to me geographically - I'm hoping to do a quilting weekend soon with her! Mary blogs over at Quilty Mary Sews and Quilts. I'm still waiting to see pictures of the blocks she's accumulated so far!

Next up is Nancy's block. It's a card trick block, easy. You'd think. I had to make 2 because my scant 1/4" seam was off and the piecing wasn't up to my standards, so hopefully she can use two blocks.




The other part of my March goals was to finish all the cushions for the seating in my craft room. As of this moment, I have 3/6 done. They're not done well because they're the thick foam and I've really been going as I tend to - which is sew along and make it work. I think when all is said and done I'll have 6 covers with 4 different types of closures, but, eh, who's going to see the closures?

I can't wait to show them off when they're done!