Guess What I Have Planned For This Weekend.....

I will be starting my tomatoes from seed.  Yes, according to our gardening calendar this is the weekend to start the seeds.  So looking forward to the new season and working the soil to produce some lovely vegetables.  I will be back later with what tomato seeds I decided to start this year.

I don't plan to go mad crazy with tomatoes as I did last year.  I have come to realize that my garden is small and the area it is located in only gets so much sun due to the house, shed, and fence, so most of the tomatoes struggled and the ones that did well shaded the rest of my vegetables, plus I have to move their location to help prevent disease.

I will also do some clean up in the garden and hopefully finish purchasing the soil and compost to fill the rest of the beds.  My husband helped me unload, re-cardboard the flooring (due to the excessive grass escaping through the cardboard/newspaper from before) and reload the soil back into the beds, so some of the depth is gone.

I HOPE (fingers crossed) I can go into the new season with a clean garden area and a clean shed (I know my husband would appreciate it).  Over the last week we have gotten drizzle to complete 2-4 inches of rain, so my garden area is well watered and hopefully Saturday/Sunday are good days to clean.  Also, this will give me a new outlook on where to plant the vegetables as last year I rushed to get everything in and the plan was haphazard.

Wish you all well and happy gardening.

Cynthia

Happy Halloween

I hope you all have a spooky day filled with less tricks and a lot of treats.

What To Quilt On Your Quilt

Even though this is geared toward longarmers, it does make us home sewing machine quilters think of new ideas.  Other than binding, deciding what to quilt on the quilt is always hard for me.  Because not only fabric choices, your quilting decision can make or break a quilt.  I have recently purchased a new sewing machine (blog post on that coming soon) and I am looking forward to putting it through tons of quilting experiences.  I purchased this sewing machine in June and just discovered this weekend the settings for free motion quilting.  I guess I must have overlooked them.  It really does pay to read the manual and become very familiar with it.




Happy Quilting....



I've Been MIA For A Little While

Well as they say.....Life gets in the way.  I have been pulled in various directions and have not had a chance to sit down and update the blog.  Lots of things going on, but never enough time to sit down and formulate into written words for the blog.  Things are starting to settle down so I should be able to "show off" what I have been doing, new projects/goals in the wings and repair the dying garden for spring (no fall gardening this year) with discussing a few things I learned NOT to do.

I hope everyone is well and your craftiness is keeping you all busy.

I can truly say looking forward to some cooler weather....Texas is just so DANG hot.

Laters.

Updates-Quilting

HI All ... I have been working on getting caught up on my WIPs and a few days off for the holiday was the perfect time.  The Ready To Sew Bernina 2012 BOM was one of my recent WIPs that needed attention.  This year they are doing a calendar type quilt, so I am really not sure if this will be a quilt that I will keep.  I may break it up into a couple of quilts and donate them to Linus.

I am also doing Honey Bee Quilt Store BOM, however I have kept up each month with this one.

I am dong both color ways (red), but I am concentrating each month on finishing the blue.  I am wondering what setting they will suggest. for this one.  Since the blocks are soooo different I am guessing a sashing of some sort.

Happy Quilting...

Recent Knitted Items

I have completed several knitted items and realized that I have not blogged about them.  My knitting has been getting alot better and I am loving trying out new techniques.  Just last weekend I learned to do short rows on a shawl I am making.  The specifics of the project is on my Raverly page, where I am known as KNITDEMON.

Completed in 2012

Something Lacey Shawl 03/31/12

Miami Beach Shawl 03/31/12

Queen Head Wrap 03/15/12

Kudzu Shawlette 03/06/12

Basic Stripy Sock 01/30/12

Ishbel Shawlette 01/28/12

Completed in 2011
First Time For Everything Socks 12/11/11

Summer Mystery Shawl 12/06/11

Fresco Cowl 11/13/11

Citron Shawl 11/12/11

Neckwarmer 10/31/11

Happy Knitting......

First Yarn Club

I decided in December 2011 that I wanted to join a yarn club.  With my knitting, I was always toooooo scared to purchase the more expensive yarns (anywhere from $20 on up per skein and some skeins only had about 200 yards and most projects needed more than that) because I did not know what to buy.  I don't like itchy yarns are those that sparkle.  So I went on the scout to look for a club that would give me different yarns each month so that I would have a taste to know what I like for future purchases and to help me when I am in a physical store.  The yarn club is called Into The Whirled.  I am doing what is called a "double dose" I am getting 2 skeins each month.  I am really loving the yarn types and above all the color selections.  Per the website...

Yarns you can expect to received: Gloucester Sock - 80/20 Merino/Nylon, Pakokku Sock - 75/25 Merino/Nylon, Ulundi Sock - Merino, Saginaw Sock - Merino, Manchester Sock - 80/10/10 Merino/Nylon/Cashmere, Bukavu Sock - 75/25 BFL/Nylon, Bordeaux Sock - 80/20 BFL/Nylon.

I know for a fact if I was in a yarn store that I would not have picked these colors.

Below are the yarns received to date.  So far I don't have a reason to end the club and the good thing about the club is that you can cancel anytime and join back up anytime....great relationship.

If you did not guess by looking at the names of the yarns they are so far from the "Dr. Who" TV show.  I never knew nor watched the show, but don't worry the club is changing to a new theme, I think this will happen every few months or so.  I have heard that "Firefly/Serenity" is next.

December It's Bigger on the Inside - Gloucester Sock Yarn

January Snow angels with an Ood - Manchester Sock Yarn

February Mercy Hartigan - Ulundi Sock Yarn

March Children of Time - Saginaw Sock Yarn

Happy Knitting.....