So many hobbies!

Working inside and out

Much work was done both outside and inside.  My front garden was a weedy mess that received another round of weeding.  Now I just need a load of mulch to finish it off and make it look worlds better.  My flower box got a make-over:

And the four big pots in front were filled with snapdragons:

In the basement, I put up the second baker's rack I'd bought.  The Christmas tree was moved into the closet:

I've even got some room left over for the stuff I will inevitably buy (sorry, Yen).  See the bags of roving and yarn?  I'm planning on making a dent in the roving during the Tour de Fleece in June.  And the skeins and skeins of sock yarn I will never get around to knitting?  Woven scarves.  Lots and lots of woven scarves.  Speaking of weaving:  my woven rug is done but it needs a bath and a ride in the dryer before I can show it. 

My last job for tonight is to break down all the empty boxes I've got sitting in my entryway and put them in the recycling bin.

Oh, I almost forgot another braid of roving I bought at Maryland:

Gorgeous!

And, finally, Tyr found a new sleeping spot:

Plying

This is going faster than I thought it would.  The two spindles I'm plying off of are pretty equally matched as far as the mileage of the singles.  I'll probably finish them both close to the same time.  I think.  The bottom-whorl spindle I'm plying with is getting pretty heavy.  I've got about 2 ounces on there so far and it's amazing just how heavy 2 ounces can be.

These are my favorite summer flowers.  These are in the front yard and there a white Bleeding Heart growing outside my livingroom window.  I like the pink ones the best.

Forget-Me-Nots are in my top 5 favorite flowers.  They're just so darn cheerful!

Ode, to a spindle...

Remember this spindle, purchased last year at the Maryland Sheep & Wool Festival?  This is the reason you really shouldn't use your drop spindle on wood floors.  I dropped it and it shattered:

I really liked that drop spindle.  And I had built up quite a cop over the weekend:

I've since switched to my Spanish Peacock spindle.  I'm trying really hard not to drop it.  (I really need to get a rug for my livingroom.)

I've been spinning the fiber I dyed on Thursday and so far, I'm happy with how it turned out:

There's a little more pink than I wanted but I gave away the worst offenders to a friend.  These are pretty representative of what I kept.  The plan is to spin 3 ounces on the drop spindle in time for Maryland so I can enter it in the skein contest.  The other 3 ounces I can drop spindle spin at a more leisurely pace.  Eventually, the yarn will be a pair of socks.  Imagine, 6 centuries ago, everything was spun on a drop spindle.  The yarn for the clothes you wore, the socks you wore, the rope you used.  The Viking's sails were all spun using drop spindles.  The modern spinning wheel wasn't invented until the 15th century.  Kind of puts into perspective the amount of time it'll take me to spin 6 ounces of fiber for a pair of socks.

This variety of narcissus is at least a hundred years old.  It's not a particularly spectacular flower but it's kind of special to my family.  When I was young, we had a place in the country and occasionally, we'd find the odd flower growing in the fields.  My dad collected a few in the fall one year and replanted them near our house.  Over the years, they grew and were divided by my dad until eventually, he had clumps of them growing all over the place.  We now call them Frank's Narcissus since we have no idea of the name of the variety.  It's so old, it may not even have one.  My parents sold that house quite a few years ago but my sister took some of the bulbs to her place and when they got big enough, gave some to me.  I suspect some member of my family will be growing and dividing and growing this variety for quite a while.

Poppies

 

My neighbor has the most amazing purple poppies...

 

These were blooming right outside my livingroom window.  Aren't they gorgeous?!  Sadly, with the temperature as warm as it was today, they only lasted one day.  I adore poppies and these are extra special.

Look what I found in my knitting bag:

 

The tomatoes are in and the potatoes are up.  I'll take pictures tomorrow.  Also, I'm two rows away from completing the lace section of my shawl.  Again, pictures tomorrow.  As I'd hoped, I got in some quality knitting time this weekend.  I kind of wish the lace section was bigger I've enjoyed knitting it so much.  And not a single life line.  I'm better at this than I thought I was. 

Hibiscus

 

This is growing right outside my livingroom window.  It's taller than I am.

 

The flowers are bigger than my head! 

Ark building will commence shortly...

The rain we got Saturday afternoon!  OMG!  Reports say we got 10 inches of rain in one hour!  Holy cow!  The park kittycorner to my condo is flooded.  I've been here nearly 10 years and I've never seen that park flooded.  Oh, and so did my basement.  *&^%#@!  It didn't flood badly, just enough to be really irritating and to require me to cut the sopping wet area rug into strips so I can get it out.  It's nasty!  I HATE dealing with flooded basements.  <sigh>

On a brighter note, Mom gave me some peonies:

 

Aren't they pretty?  I went to my parents' place Saturday morning to build the second of my two potato boxes.  I'll post pictures just as soon as I remember to take them while the sun it still up.  The boxes will be planted with Rose Finn fingerling 'tatoes.  Yum!

The rest of the weekend, I worked on my first Project Improv quilt:

 

The front and back are both done; when it's completed, it'll be about the size of a lap quilt or a baby blanket.  I want to machine quilt this myself but I'll need to teach myself machine quilting first.  It's not as easy as it looks.

Finally, a pic of Seli in her "nest":

My favorite time of year...

 

Happy Spring!    

Triumphs and tribulations

The good news is, I finished the quilt top:

 

And made some peach salsa:

 

I ran out of steam before I got to the peach BBQ sauce.  I plan on picking up more peaches this week so hopefully I'll get to it next weekend.  And maybe some peach jam.  The rest of this round of peaches and the next round will go into the freezer.

The bad news is my new sewing machine (a Viking Emerald 118) doesn't seem to be handling the multiple layers of my spindle boxes.  I'm getting some looping on the back side of the fabric and the bobbin thread is being pulled to the front side.  None of that happens when it's only sewing through two layers of fabric.  I'm going to be in trouble if I have to buy a more expensive machine to get one that will go through multiple layers.  And really ticked off.  Some time this week I'll be hauling it in to the store to see what can be done.  My after work hours are rapidly filling up.  Again.

Is anyone else craving color?

In honor of Valentine's Day, I bring you the color Pink:

I've been pouring over my Seed Saver's Exchange catalog, trying to decide what to plant this spring.  I have to be very selective because I'll be planting in containers and I have very limited space.  I have it down to two tomato plants (Moonglow and Black Sea Man), a pepper (Sweet Chocolate) and Genovese Basil.  Oh, and if I can manage it, two kinds of lettuce (Forellenschuss and Yugoslavian Red).  It's killing me!  It's only the middle of February and I've got three months, at least, before I can plant anything.  How about more flowers:

In the meantime, I'll be reading and re-reading my new bible for growing veggies in containers:  The Bountiful Container.  The search is on for the perfect containers to house my summer children.  While I would love the gorgeous ceramic ones, they cost a small fortune.  Hmm, my brother owns a restaurant and he might save a couple of 5-gallon pickle buckets for me.  They'd be great for the tomatoes.  Although, the buckets are dark green and they might absorb too much heat in the sun and fry the roots.  I can get the same thing in white at the hardware store.  The basil and pepper will be happy in smaller pots that I can get just about anywhere.  Now, the lettuce, will be a little trickier.  We have rabbits around here so I'm going to need to get the lettuce off the ground.  I just had the idea of putting a couple of boards across the corners of the railing on my back deck and putting the lettuce up on the boards.  The containers don't need to be too deep and plastic storage tubs are coming to mind as possibilities.  The back is the best place for the lettuce since it gets morning sun and will be a bit cooler.  The tomatoes, pepper and basil will go in front where they'll get afternoon sun.

So what will you be planting this spring/summer?  Let me know.  Have you ever grown your own tomatoes?  You haven't really tasted a tomato unless you've gotten one picked ripe off your own plants.  If you have a square foot of space that gets at least 8 hours of sun a day, you can grow a tomato.  Trust me, you won't regret it.