Not Here Now

So, I've not been here lately. ::hangs head::

I've been doing a lot of work for Stash's website and online presence lately. If quilty things are your cup o' tea, stop by and check it out.

I'm also taking an online class right now... more on that later, probably.

The rest of it is just regular, ordinary life stuff (laundry! meals! mowing! bookkeeping!). It seems that lots of bloggers lately have been writing about how their lives are not as perfect as their blogs make it appear ("Look! My sewing corner is a mess, too!"). Kudos to those who can make the ordinary compellingly readable.

Me, I'll be back when there's something to share that won't bore you fine readers to sleep.

Little Red Dress

I thought I'd kept my KCW list to something reasonable. A dress, a pair of shorts and some iron-on transfers on some t-shirts. Not a long list, especially when you compare it to other lists from other years. I totally should have finished last week.

Perhaps I should stop mentally signing myself up for things that have a fixed timeframe. I'm starting to think I'm just tempting fate when I announce that I'm going to do something within a set time line. Work gets busy with crises; I throw my neck out of alignment; the sun comes out and suddenly the back lawn is a foot tall.

I suppose I could have started my KCW projects early, but that would have felt like cheating.

So here I am, almost a week late, with my Kids Clothing Week finish:

This is view C of McCall's 6389, with no changes or adjustments. First princess seams! (Hers and mine.) The fabric is a red cotton (acquired from someone's stash cast-offs) with large, gold-etched tropical flowers. I have no idea how long I've had it, but it's been filling up my bin of red/pink fabric for a while now. This project definitely counts as stashbusting!

I'm particularly fond of the rolled sleeves. Caitlyn kept trying to roll them down this morning and learning that buttons on your elbow are awkward. The collar seemed temperamental when I put it in but maybe that's just because it's smaller than the collars on Ian's shirts.

And it passes the Active Kid Test! Although I may suggest she not climb trees in it...

Here's my other KCW finish:

Calling these shirts "sewing" definitely feels like cheating. I bought some blank t-shirts from JoAnn (4 for $10), picked out some iron-on transfers and - ta-da! - shirts! Brainless, really. We'll have to see how they hold up to washing and wearing. If they are durable in any reasonable way, there may be more of this in the future. Then again, given the number of transfers that are emblazoned with "I'm the Princess, that's why!" themes, maybe not. Caitlyn loves the bright and shiny, but I refuse to stamp my kid with "I'm a girl and therefore I am all about shopping and getting presents!"

But that's another rant, that shall be ranted on another day.

Collecting Blocks

These beautiful things have been sneaking into my mail box for the last 6 weeks or so as the ladies of Sew.Quilt.Give. finish their block assignments for March. I'm waiting on a few more, but I've already collected 24 blocks. With my current layout plan, this is either going to be a redonkulously huge quilt or potentially two quilts. No way is this project going to be done by the end of June!

In the meantime, I've finished the April blocks.
These are super easy and quick! We're doing a version of the Lemon Squares quilt, which isn't that far off from the Square-in-Square blocks we did for March.
See, I even made extras!

In related news, the bee blocks from October are all assembled into a completed quilt. My blocks, of course, are the over-saturated ones. I hope I'm the only one bothered by this!

First Asparagus!

I grew this in our p-patch. And then we ate it. Best asparagus I'll have all season!

Appropriate Scaling

It's Kids' Clothing Week! KCW has become a seasonal, four times per year event now, complete with it's own blog, Instagram, Flickr, Twitter, Facebook, and Pinterest. If you've got kids to sew for, this is a great nudge to get you going, and it comes with a whole community of people to cheer you on.


Unlike every other year so far, I'm trying to keep my KCW goals to something reasonable and achievable. Also, Caitlyn's doing pretty well for clothes right now, so there's not a lot of dire needs at the moment. So, I'm making a dress, a pair of shorts, and putting some iron-on transfers on some t-shirts. That last one might not be sewing exactly, but I'm going to count it.

Anyone else playing along this time?

Signs of Spring

Pear blossoms.

Future confetti eggs.

The asparagus is up in the p-patch plot. Little pea plants are waiting for enough warm days in a row and then they will reach all the way to the bottom rung on the pea fence. Under the row cover, I really should thin the spinach.


I was too exuberant with the first batch of seed potatoes this year, cutting them for planting before they had a chance to put out early leaves. Naturally, they all rotted. This second batch is sunning on the windowsill, growing the tiniest of green leaves before they go into this year's potato bed. Outside, the potatoes I missed during the fall harvest are volunteering to grow where they are, so I guess I don't really have a dedicated potato bed as much as a bed with more potatoes than other things. For the number of voluntary potatoes I seem to have these days, I'm surprised that my total potato harvest size hasn't increased; we still run out in February/March. This fall, I really must remember to get the potato box relocated to the sunroom as soon as it gets cold. I think the pantry is too warm for proper long-term spud storage.

Evergreen clematis flowers.

The grape vine is budding out, and the raspberries canes are filling in. The blueberries are blooming (and the non-edible potato vine needs to be wrangled back again or the berries won't get enough sun to actually set). In the herb patch by the back door, everything is bouncing back; I have an oregano carpet.

Apple buds.

Does it look like spring (or fall, if appropriate) where you are?

Blooming!

And not falling over, either!