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There is just this one lonely flower on my Lady Banks rose. A couple of years ago it was covered with blooms. And then we had a really difficult winter. Come spring I cut it back to the base and hoped for the best. Two years later a bloom.
This is about perseverance too. Time to weave some more squares.
The sun was out so today was almost all about the garden... Lots of weeds to pull, planted beans and carrots, prepped my beds for the squash and corn. I'm mulching the potatoes with hay for the first time. Curious to see how this works out.
Yesterday was about the farmer's market. First local strawberries of the year! And I cheated on my diet. It was, at least, gluten free. I didn't ask about milk. Generally there may or may not be milk in this type of cookie. There was certainly some sugar, but the strawberries were sweeter...
Was it worth it? Oh yes. I'm not sure I had much of a reaction that I could pin on the cookie, but I can say that I have noticed a difference in health after giving up wheat, dairy and sugar. It will be very interesting to see what changes when I reintroduce these foods to my daily diet. It has been worth the experiment.
I thought I might see some changes in congestion but what I didn't expect was that my joints would feel more flexible. I can knit for longer...
On my cowboy quilt.
You can just see the hole Lola the Chihuahua chewed.
And more mending stars here (A project built from a few moons from here and bits of a cloth found a long time ago.)...
And the first rose of the year...
Stanwell Perpetual. It helps mend the fence.
Life is full of experiments, full of what if's... It doesn't look like a lab coat to me anymore, but I think it will always hold a memory of it's beginning.
Lunaria and Bleeding hearts under one of the apple trees. I think of this as my moon garden.
"There will come soft rains and the smell of the ground,
And swallows circling with their shimmering sound." Sara Teasdale
For some reason this poem is what stuck in my mind when I read Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury many, many years ago.
Today there was a steady drizzle most of the morning. A good watering after several sunny days.
I decided to use up some of the last of the bleach I have and do a resist on velvet. After the bleach is gone I'm going to try to only let the sun bleach out fabrics that I want lightened. I think these look more like flowers or snowflakes rather than the stars I was aiming for. Maybe that's okay. Maybe I'll do some stitching and that will change things...
I miscalculated a bit while I was planting my lettuce and parsley and placed it just a little too close to where the potatoes were.
Not a big issue really, I just pulled the lettuce and parsley and added it to a salad. But it made me think about elbow room. About how important it can be. Space between things so that they can grow. Space so we can really see. About how this carries over to creativity and making.
I do believe some things need to mingle...like my basket fraying around the edges. The edges are melting together even more.
I've been a little quiet recently. Some of you may have caught in the comments of a previous post that I'm giving up wheat, dairy, sugar, plus a few other things for three weeks. Starting day five. I'm doing this for various reasons, but what has become really apparent to me is what do I consider essential? What do I really like and what is habit? These questions are keeping me busy thinking...
One thing I know, green smoothies may be drinkable, but I don't think they taste good.
Finished the latest pair of socks tonight. They make me think of "Walking on Sunshine..."
(The video is a bit of a scary flash back...but the song always makes me smile.)
I recently read that lettuce was one of the most cost effective crops that a person could grow...
$2.50 to $3.00 for a head of lettuce today at the farmer's market (organic). A bag of baby lettuce for $6.00.
I think it was about three dollars for the packet of organic/local lettuce seed. There are a few radishes mixed in here too. I'll be gently selecting and moving a few of these to let grow into head lettuce and then eating the rest as baby lettuce, probably ready in a couple weeks. My verdict: yes, much more cost effective to grow myself.
It was also more cost effective to make my own cream cheese using organic/local half and half and culture rather than buying packaged cream cheese. About half the price. I used directions from Home Cheese Making by Ricki Carroll. Very yummy too.
This week I'm working on one of my woven wool squares. Moving forward on a project (blanket)... The gray is salvaged from a sweater I wore for years, mostly while working in the garden.
Cloud cover is pretty dense tonight. So I made a few stars to wish on...
Machine stitched:
At this point it looked like a lab coat. It doesn't look like that anymore, but maybe it still is. A lab coat for living in, for playing.
Two stitches: hand stitching to the front and the machine stitching to the back. I did go over the machine stitching with hand stitching to make it blend with the other row of top stitching better.
By hand: I am top stitching the bottom hem, the binding that I used for the neckline and two rows down the front (where the button holes would be). It is taking longer than sewing all the seams by machine did (French seams).
My hand stitching is what it is, crooked and uneven. A couple years ago I wouldn't have contemplated doing something like this at all. I would have done all the stitching on a sewing machine. But I like this a lot. The hand stitching, along with using thread that doesn't blend in and the mismatched buttons, adds a whimsical element to the shirt. It makes me smile. That is what I want from clothing. And it was so good to sit out in the sun stitching, talking to neighbors.
I am thinking that how something is made, what tools are used, should always be the result of prioritizing. There is a place for machine stitching while being sustainable. How much time a project is going to take and how badly it needs to be finished are always factors. Time is a resource too. If I had sewn this all by hand I wouldn't have a finished shirt for weeks. That wouldn't work well for me. Someday that may be different. I may have to make it completely by hand. I may have more time.
The blue fabric is organic cotton. The buttons were purchased at a thrift store.
P.S. Found at the coop:
Baptisia australis, or False indigo. Maybe I'll get some blue...?