growing and a laugh

We've got things growing here and hoping for much much more!

That bulb we planted that we've been making observations of has really been going strong.  Until today.  I took it to school to reinforce my illustration about how spring flowers remind us of Jesus' resurrection. The bulb looks dead, but the plant that grows reminds us of new life.  The poor plant said "No way!" and all three tall leaves fell right in half.

The white sweet potatoes that Hubby's aunt gave us after Christmas dinner are sprouting.  They'll get planted in the garden soon.

This is a few weeks ago, but a sea of baby tomatoes live in my sewing room. 

Here's a surprise from the yard. Just one, all by her lonesome.

Lots of daffodils. 

They make the mailbox pretty.  In a few weeks though, it'll just be the same ol mailbox. 

Look at my funny Lou.  He grabbed up a flower and said, "Take my picture."

Then procedded to make my laugh as he posed.

This was all Mr. Ketchup face's idea.

 

He's such a silly boy. 

He's growing too.  He can stay small a little while longer though.  It would be OK with me.

paper piecing

Here's the previously mentioned project that I started over Spring break.  It made for a great car project.  As the passenger. Drivers should probably not attempt.  It's the project that I turned to on the long drive home when all my hats started being crazy sized.   I just recently learned about English paper piecing.  I was warned it was addictive.  It is.

Please note:  my training in this art is brief and consist of three you tube videos.  You start with cut out pieces of paper.  I used hexagons, but diamonds and triangles and other odd shapes seem possible too.

You rough cut a piece of fabric about 1/2 inch  bigger (all the way around) than your paper piece.

Using a contrasting color of thread,  baste the fabric around the paper piece. Big stitches can be used as long as it holds the fabric in place.

Fold the edges as you go and keep basting.

You can see the thread better in this picture.

When you have a bunch of them, you can lay them out and move them around to see how it's all going to fit together.  I only chose 6 fabrics, if I had been home, I would have added a few fabrics from my own stash in addition to the fat quarters I bought, so I would have had at least 8 or 9.

When you are ready to start attaching them together, hold two pieces right sides together.  You'll want to whipstitch in a coordinating thread color.  Stitches should be tiny and close to the edge so that you aren't really working in the paper at all.

When you go on to attach another, you'll need to fold any existing pieces so you have get the right edges together.  This previous sentence made little sense.

When you get a piece totally surrounded, you can clip out the basting stitches.

At this point, the paper piece should pop out the back.

Then you'll have several together and you can keep plugging them in where you need them.

Here's what the back looks like. 

I thought I was making a table runner, then I decided a small quilt, now I'm not sure.  No doll deserves something this detailed.  I didn't buy enough of the fabrics to make it too big.  When I'm at home, I've been too busy to get it out.  It may just be for car rides and might take me a whole year.  

I am not sure how I'll finish the outside edges yet.  There seem to be a number of methods for this.  We can learn together.  Sometime next year. 

guest post- meet Lisa

Good morning.  Or afternoon.  Whenever I guess; according to my stats, most readers visit me at night...   I spent the whole weekend outside getting the garden ready and then at night I was finishing up some sewing projects that had been stacking up in my 'to finish' area.  The weather has been to nice and I've have too many plants to more to make room for my veggies.  I spent 0 time blogging. Ok, like under a half hour.  Thankfully, I have a guest blogger today, Lisa Shoreland.   Thanks Lisa.  Thanks for sharing with us today about gardening so I could be out in mine.

photo credit

Lisa Shoreland is currently a resident blogger at Go College, where recently she’s been researching student loan forgiveness as well sharing some good financial aid tips. In her spare time, she enjoys creative writing, practicing martial arts, and taking weekend trips. 

Stay in bloom with Perennial Flowers

If you’re sick of spending hours upon hours planting flowers in your garden each year, or if you’re looking for an easier, cheaper option in how you decorate your yard and/or garden with colorful, vibrant flowers, perennial seeds may be the answer to all of your problems.

Perennial flowers tend to grow back each spring, and depending on the type of seed you purchase perennial flowers can be quite easy to maintain as well. 

But before choosing what type of perennial flower you want to plant in your garden, it’s important to do the proper research beforehand and make sure you have the right texture of soil, and the perfect amount of sunlight in order for the flowers to grow back year after year. 

Sunlight

Full-sun perennials, like Lavender, Boltonia, Chrysanthemums, and Poppies, usually require six to eight hours of sunlight each day, so make sure you plant them away from any trees or large brushes in your garden and/or yard. 

Part-shade perennials, like Primrose, Bergenias, and Bleeding Hearts, should be planted under trees in your yard. This way the flowers are still in the shade for the majority of the day, but a minimal amount of sunlight will still shine past the tree branches and give the flowers the perfect amount of sunlight needed in order for them to bloom.

Full-shade perennials, on the other hand, must be planted in an area that receives little to no sunlight or they will die immediately. Because of this, there are only a few plants that are considered full-shade perennials, like Ferns or Pulmonarias. 

Soil

Another important factor to consider before planting perennial flowers is the type and texture of your soil.

Cardinal Flowers, Goat’s Beard, Primroses, Bergenia, Bleeding Hearts and the Foxglove are all perennial flowers that require moist soil, thus must be planted in a yard or garden that has moister-than-average soil.

Perennial flowers that require dry soil, on the other hand, may thrive in a drier climate, but still need to be watered in order to survive. Some perennial flowers that should be planted in dry soil include Lavendar, Butterfly Weeds, Artemisia, and Amsonia. 

Once you’ve considered the texture of your soil and the amount of sunlight required, now it’s time to research the different types of perennial flowers that you would like to plant in your yard or garden.

There are many different types of perennial flowers to choose from that come in various shapes, colors, and sizes, but the majority of perennial flowers may be quite easy to maintain, but still require a great deal of TLC just like any other flower or plant.

Coneflowers, for instance, are known to be incredibly low-maintenance, but they still require a great deal of deadheading. They come in a variety of different colors like pink, red, purple, white, orange and yellow and tend to bloom in the summer. 

Poenies are not only a popular perennial flower because of their unique color, but also because they pretty much take care of themselves. They bloom throughout May and June, and come in all sorts of different colors like pink, white, and red. 

So whether you’re hoping to spruce up your garden with colorful, vibrant flowers, or you’re looking to cut down on the amount of time and money you spend decorating your yard with flowers each year, there is bound to be a type of perennial flower that will suit all of your gardening needs.

Thanks again Lisa for this great information.  Go say hi to Lisa at her place.

little man's work pouch

This little man's tool pouch has been a popular item at our house lately.  I made up the first one when one of the little guys in my preschool class began carrying all the tools from the playroom in his pockets.  Front pockets, back pockets, he even unzipped his pants and was carrying them in his fly.  I said, "He needs a tool belt."  He now runs for the tool belt first thing.  No more need for any pant unzipping.  Crisis averted. 

Lou wanted one, then another friend wanted one.  I decided to go ahead and make up one for a tutorial and stick a few in my shop.  Might as well. 

Want to make one too?  You can use whatever fabric you want.  This is from a pile of fabric my (too early in the morning) gym partner and neighbor gave me.  Thanks Abbey!

You will need to cut:
50x4 inch for the strap
9x15 in. for the back piece
8x19 in. for the front piece

These directions are vague a bit, I hope you can figure out what's going on. 

1.  Turn the front piece back at one of the long edges, twice.  Create a little hem and sew in place.

2.  Fold and pin the strap however you like to make a strap.  I folded in half, ironed, opened it up and folded both raw edges inward, then folded in half.   Don't sew yet. We're going to kill two birds with one stone in a minute.

3.  Place front piece on back piece.  Keep the previously sewn edge up (right sides together).  Line up the two side edges and pin in place.  Create three little pleats and pin in place at the top and bottom. One should be in the middle and the other two half way from middle to the edge.

4.  Sew along side, bottom, and opposite side edge of the two piece.  (Only where the two pieces touch)

Do you smell that, is it just in my sewing room?  Geesh, that potting soil sure smells fresh!  Form the farm fresh!

That, or it's the sweet potatoes starts.  Blah.

5.  Flip.

6.  Iron.  Fold those pleats back in.  Pin and iron in place.

7.  Sew sides, bottom, and opposite side again.  This time, sew the entire length of the sides.  Also sew a straight line halfway in between each pleat.  This will be a total of two sewn lines creating three pockets.

8.  Fold down the top edge of the pouch, this is the last raw edge.  Iron.

9.  Take that strap, still unsewn and pin it on to the pouch.  You'll want to find the center of the strap and line it all up properly.  Sew along the edges of the strap, all the way around, close to the edge.

10.  Double check to make sure all the parts have caught during the sewing on of the strap.

11.  You can leave it as is or add some painted tools.  If this is going to be a garden belt, a painting belt, whatever- you can find images for that.

I googled 'tools clipart' or somthing like that and found a few tools I liked.  I printed them out, traced them onto freezer paper, cut out the freezer paper,

ironed it waxy side to the fabric,

 painted, let dry.  Peel off the paper and the tool belt give it to the tool man.

He'll get right to work.

He might have time for a quick pose.

But then it's back to work.

Hard at work.  The tongue out helps him concentrate.

If you want a tool belt, but already have a long to-do list or can't seem to clear the kitchen table off long enough to dig out the ol' sewing machine, I have a few  for sale in my shop. 

Then your tool man can get busy.

I'm linking up to some of these fine parties, won't you join me.

Made by You Mondays @ Skip to my Lou,

Tutorial Tuesdays @ Hope Studios,   Anti-procrastination Tuesdays @ New Nostalgia, Talented Tuesdays @ My Frugal Family,  Get Your Craft on Tuesday @ Life as Lori,  Toot Your Horn Tuesdays @ Silly Little Sparrow, 

Wow Us Wednesdays @ Savvy Southern Style,  Whatever Goes Wednesday @ Someday Crafts,  Show and Tell Wednesday @ Blue Cricket Design, We did it Wednesday @ Sew Much Ado

Strut Your Stuff Thursday @ Somewhat Simple,   Look at me, I'm so crafty @ It's fun to craft,

Feature Yourself Fridays @ Fingerprints on the fridge,  Fantabulous Fridays @ Momma's kinda crafty,  Fridays I'm crafty Party @ So You Think You're Crafty,  Fibers on Friday @ Visions of Sugar Plums,  Christmas in July Fridays @ Just Another day in Paradise,  Fabric Fun Fridays @ Cheap Chic Home,  Creative Girl fridays @ The Girl Creative,