The Pattern

Turns out I had this in my collection!!! Only thing is, it only goes to 12-14...which may or may not fit. But I could make the bodice first out of muslin and see if the armholes are big enough and if it actually buttons across the bust. Pleats instead of gathers and perhaps divide the skirt into panels to insert pockets in the front seam lines. Close to the picture on Pinterest, eh? only with button front.

Art Supply Organization

Can I be inspired by your studio cleanout without having seen it? I think so! I bought these drawer units at Wal-Mart on Friday and they waited for me to get back to them til today. I wanted to consolidate all my art supplies within easy reach, and in one spot which I had NEVER done until today. Seriously. Never.  Since I decided to keep the rolling wire shelves in my studio, instead back in the garage, I had to make them useful. Now I feel just right. I can quilt, or sew or knit or paint/draw without having to dig through stuff and find what I need. Altho I don't  have a labeler, I think I can learn where to look without too much struggle. I could print out this photo and use it as a guide if necessary. Ha!

There is still lots of room on the shelves for stuff, which I have empty Rubbermaid bins there at the ready. I put all the watercolor paper tablets on the top shelf and there are a few canvases there too, but lot more in other spots, including the garage. I should have no qualms about using canvases up, as I have wayyyyyy too many.

Insta-garden

Here's a thought...before you do any garden digging or excavation, just buy a couple of plastic buckets from Walmart. $4 each. Drill a few holes, fill with one liter bag of Miracle Grow Garden Soil and put one plant of your choice in each one. Place against the side of the house and water regularly. No digging, and nothing backbreaking. It will tell you whether you have the right site for a future garden, with very little effort or investment. Everything is reusable and can be dumped into a bed, should you decide to make one later. I am thinking lettuce in March, or October, basil anytime, squash too.

Stacked Stripes

Done before 8 am

We got an early start outdoors today, seeing as how we are still riding on the euphoria of selling the boat. Dave is now onto getting the horseshoe pit up to snuff for his 1st Annual Horseshoe Tournament on the 4th of July. And I wanted to fix that yellow rose bush, as well as plant my remaining pots of hosta and heuchera.


The leaning rose bush that had to be pruned...



And now the new shape, and all the branches in the burn pile. yay!
The recently purchased sale hosta and heuchera along with some transplants from Dave's Memorial Swamp got planted by the little red knockout. I might have to keep the knockout regularly pruned in the future. There is still more empty space in that bed...Hello Wal-Mart.





I'm beginning to see fruit in the veggie beds, green beans, yellow squash, tomatoes, but DUH, I didn't read the seed packet and planted Blue Lake POLE beans, instead of bush, so they will be pulled out. How stupid. I will still have plenty from the bush beans. Don't mention the peppers. arrghh
Dave, now full of enthusiasm for yard work, helped me dig out the hosta to transplant, mowed the field and wacked all the weeds in my mistake garden. Gone so fast, after complaining so long..

Getting the Basil IN

Today was the day, cool morning, no rain for two whole days, and the ground was ready to be worked. I pulled out the Mountain Bluet (Centaurea montana) and dumped it in the compost pile. Then I took the flower pot and paver out and put them aside and suddenly I had a nice big basil bed. I've had basil here before and it does really well, with lots of morning sun and after 3 shade. Plus it's close to the kitchen.



I had planned to put this Fire and Ice hosta in a pot with the new Fragrant Bouquet hosta and dark lush heuchera, but I decided to lift a June hosta from obscurity under the Bleeding Hearts and add that to the pot. So the little Fire and Ice went directly into the peony-hood. I'll keep an eye on it there and move it later if necessary.


The other day I noticed that my young Sum and Substance hosta (in the hosta section of Dave's Memorial Swamp) had been almost decimated, leaves pulled into the ground and other sprawled out away from the plant. Critters! I got Dave to dig the remaining plant out of the wet mucky mud and wash off the offending gluey dirt and then today I found a new safer home for it. It now lives between the new Krossa Regals, right behind and in the shade of the coral bark Japanese maple. Sigh. I love to rescue a plant. It will be huge in a few years, as will the Krossas.



I took a break and decided I could pay some attention to the back yard by the red knockout. I scraped away cleome, larkspur and phlox and tried to dig out a red bud volunteer. The roots had gone to China, and wouldn't budge. I will have Dave give it a try later, when he feels better. I'm taking out those sedum and putting them next to the lantana in the flower box on the pond side of the house, replacing the lanky larkspur I pulled out the other day. It is always dry and shaded there, and I think the sedum will thrive in that sandy soil. So when the sedum is gone, and the other offending upstarts in that bed, I will have a big space, half sun and half total shade to fill. Sale plants in my future?


Now I can see the Twist and Shout hydrangea. Funny thing. When we planted it there, the dawgs stepped on a branch and almost pulled it out of the main trunk. It lay on the wet earth and after a month of rain, developed roots. I saw them today and buried the rooted section. Woowoo! Another hydrangea for free! The big purple one is starting to darken. So yummy.


Back in the front, I realized I had just the right spot to start my new gift sedums. I know they will be spreading but I felt I had to get them in the ground today, or else. This spot is hot and sunny and I think they will respond to the porous soil there. The nasturtiums are suddenly blooming and with the purple petunias and the green everything else, it makes a lovely arrangement.




First of the fancy daylilies is open. Shiny petals!