It's a work in progress...

Over the last month I've been attempting to transform this useless triangle of dirt in my front yard into something a little more presentable. Since I appreciate the pollination butterflies provide, but would rather have them laying eggs somewhere other than in my vegetable garden, I figured a little butterfly garden wouldn't go amiss. I bought a few butterfly plants, dug up some old pavers from the pile o' crap the former owners left behind the workshop (speaking of which, that place has been like a goldmine for me and my cheapskate, DIY mentality), weeded, mulched, et voila! The beginnings of a butterfly habitat. 

One thing I was sorely missing was a water source for these winged beauties, but at a ridiculous $40-$60 for some ugly concrete or plaster birdbath I wasn't in any big rush to go out and get one. (Enter the aforementioned cheapskate.) I figured there had to be a way to make one, but the idea just wasn't coming. Until today. 

Tada!! Presenting the 2 dollar bird/butterfly bath!

So I had this lamp that my brother gave me, but the shades were paper and they broke, then the electric bits stopped functioning, so it was slated for the dump. For some reason my husband pulled one of the lamp poles off the base and stuck it in my little pumpkin patch, and it hung out there uselessly until today. I checked it out, and thought--"Hey, I bet if this had some kind of bowl on it it would work!" So I went to Target, bought a cheap 2 dollar wide melamine bowl, drilled a hole in the middle, and screwed the lamp parts together. Pretty cool, eh? And it has the added bonus of being a) turquoise, a color I'm a sucker for, and b) kinda mod looking and not a big bulky concrete clamshell from Home Depot. Although if I'm honest it does pretty much look just like a lamp sitting in my garden. Oh well.

Anyway, it makes me happy. I realize my garden is sort of pathetic at this point, but I plan to pad it out with more plants and let it grow a little wild. Anything is better than that atrocious dirt triangle, and I'm not a huge fan of bushes, so...there you go.

Rainbow Around the Block

So, as if the Swaziland quilting madness wasn't enough, or the scenery painting for VBS, I'm also making random quilt blocks for Anna Maria Horner's "Rainbow Around the Block" project. Yesterday I whipped up five blocks (I made two each of the squares within squares ones) and I found it pretty satisfying. I was just going to send these but I might make a few more before the first deadline, I think.

In other news, I dug up my whole main garden bed and started solarizing the soil...time to build a new light box and get ready for fall seedlings!

Crazy Quilt Week

Tweet Quilt

 It's been nuts around here the last week. I've quilted and bound my three WIP's, got two quilts in the mail from some wonderful women, and my friend Jenn dropped off one she made while visiting her mom down here. Awesomeness.

Happy Dots

Owly Squares.

Linda's little yellow quilt--thanks again Linda!!!

Jenn's Big Brown Square. Grazie.

Toni's Baby Space quilt. It's flannel and so soft!!

Anyway, with the ones my neighbor is making I've got a growing stack here--about 23 all told. We'll still need more, so if anyone wants to try their hand at a simple crib sized quilt PLEASE let me know.

Etsy party tonight!!

So, I just want to say I'm pretty excited about tonight's Etsy party at Tempus Projects. Aside from it being exciting to get with other crafty peeps I'm just really looking forward to a fun night out, sans kids. I do love my kids, but sometimes it's nice to relax without wondering where they are, what they're doing, and are they perhaps choking? You guys with kids know what I mean. 

Anyway, they asked people to bring cupcakes so I decided to revisit my old friends, who have some long overblown name that I refuse to learn, instead calling them "Campfire Cupcakes".

Graham cracker bottoms, a layer of bittersweet chocolate, chocolate cake, and meringuey gooey toasted topping. Yum. Makes my teeth hurt. Also makes me wish I wasn't trying to avoid carbs right now. Ugh. At least others can enjoy them (at least I hope).

Hopefully tonight will be rad.

The Sad Little Garden

Dude, my poor garden.

Okay, granted, it's hotter than a furnace outside, and I really wasn't anticipating things lasting that long in the muggy heat, but oh. It's still so sad to see plants I babied from seeds finally succumbing to bugs and heat. 

Now, my tomatoes...I'm proud of them. Since the stupid HOME DEPOT BONNIE BELL CRAP TOMATOES (CAN YOU TELL THIS MAKES ME MAD?) gave all my lovely little organic heirloom tomatoes BLIGHT, I'm really surprised at how much they ended up producing. The little sweet 100 tomatoes were delish, and that plant is still making a bunch. But they don't last long because I don't have a good watering system and the first time we get a big rain they all split. 

My green beans were champions, I ate my own weight in green beans the last few months and it was really rewarding to get to go out and reap some stuff every day. They were doing awesome until last week, when they all collectively dropped dead. 

The carrots were disgusting. They tasted like soap. ??? That was weird. 

The pumpkins all ended up being those pointless little decorative white ones. If only this were October, I'd be more into taking care of them. But it's not so I've sort of let the vines do their own thing. 

My sweet potatoes are the biggest bummer to me. They took over the whole bed just like I planned. I fertilized them with bone meal to encourage root growth (i.e., so they would make potatoes instead of just vines) and when I fished around in the soil yesterday to get an idea of what was going on down there you know what I found? 

NOTHING.

*sigh*

I know this was my first experimental attempt at gardening, and I did anticipate some disasters and failures, but those potatoes really chap my hide. Everything I've read suggests that sweet potatoes thrive here, and yet all I've got are a bunch of lousy vines--bug eaten vines that look like someone shot them with a shotgun.

Oh well. In the next few weeks I'm going to start solarizing my soil, building new beds, and starting some seeds for the fall. The only way you can go is forward, right? Right.

At least my basil and marigolds seem to enjoy the heat. 

Fabric I'm in love with but can't at all justify buying right now

That subject line says it all. The husband's A/C in his car broke, so this months spending money is all going toward that. Alas for my fabric stash. In lieu of some unconscionable purchasing, I'll just share some of my faves on here to make me feel better.

Heather Ross--Far, Far Away (Aqua Palette)

I have so loved Heather Ross' designs. The mermaids of her Mendocino line were my introduction, and since then I've drooled over her other designs, Munki Munki pant legs for sale on Etsy, the Princess and the Pea, and now this cute Sleeping Beauty and Rapunzel stuff. I like the washed out colors and her distinctive style. Too bad it's home dec weight, it would make such a cute baby quilt otherwise.

Monaluna for Birch Fabrics--Circa 50

Of course because it's organic it has to be like 17 bucks a yard, which I cannot afford. But it's so fun! My oldest wants a quilt with the rockets. I like the cars and the trees myself.

I pretty much love Saffron Craig. But again with the hefty price-tags which prohibit my owning these prints.

There are so many more but these are my biggest favorites right now. Maybe someday...

Back in the saddle again

After a few weeks off I'm finally sewing again. I admit, I got a little discouraged, feeling like it's such an insurmountable task, and that I'm just sitting here all alone in my hot little sewing cave making quilts while the world goes on outside...well anyway, a few weeks of doing other things has really helped me gain some perspective and sort of recharge my quilting batteries. Here's what I've been working on the last few days (not the greatest pics but they're works in progress so I didn't bother):

I used Keiki Tweet Tweet for the bricks and Kona in "Honeydew" for the border and backing.

A simple squares quilt--Amy Butler, Monaluna, Amy Schimler, and Deb Strain. Okay, yeah, my son does NOT know how to hold a quilt straight. Alas.

Ignore the pins, I haven't finished quilting it yet. This one was a fun break from piecing. I used Anna Maria's Super Circles Tutorial to make these circles and applique them onto the sheet. You can't tell because of the way he's holding it but those circles are darn near perfect. So satisfying. I used some leftover Michael Miller, Monaluna, and some cute stuff from Cosmo Cricket's Snorkel collection.

Anyway, it's good to be back to work again. Admittedly the pics are crap, but what do you think so far?

Anybody out there?

Thank you for your kind support

Finally getting around to posting a picture of the quilt I received last week. The lighting outside has been kind of icky so you'll have to settle for this indoor pic.

Cute, huh? It looks better in real life, as do all the quilts I post on here. Thanks so much Genevieve for giving this quilt, I know someone in Swaziland will be so blessed.

In other news, I'm still on quilting hiatus over here--for various reasons. Since this project has sort of been taken out of my hands I've decided not to be so focused on it. I am still going to be making quilts for the project of course, just not as...psychotically as I have been.

Today I ordered some cool seeds from an organic seed website. Yay! Seeds are fun. Now that my spring garden is reaching the ends of its Florida heat tolerance I'm starting to plan my fall/winter garden (one of the FEW perks of living in Florida) and I think I have a better idea of what to do and what not to do. For example, never EVER buy tomatoes from Home Depot. They have blight. And the blight spreads through the soil to the healthy plants. I've watched with growing aggravation as the organic tomatoes I babied from seeds grew up into gorgeous plants that soon withered and blackened from those dang Bonnie Bell tomatoes. Another month and I'm going to have to solarize my soil to kill the blight so I don't get it in the next crop.

That being said, it's been really fun to a) walk outside and just grab food and eat it right there, and b) to realize after years and years that I DON'T have a black thumb after all. I just suck at apartment-dweller gardening, that's all.

Suspend

Suspend
Oil on canvas

24 x 48

More painting. I'm really REALLY running out of wallspace here...I don't get it!! We buy a house and I thought--YES! I'll have so much more space to hang paintings! But I don't and it's weird. Oh well. 

These dark, dreamy sort of girls are fun to paint, although my house is starting to look excessively girl-centric. Part of it is because I like painting hair. And arms for some reason. Part of it is that I feel like it would be weird to paint guys. ??? I don't know. I try to get my husband to model for me but he's not really into that sort of thing. I guess you could say I'm evening things out--I've got four dudes in the house, I've got to have some female company even if they're somewhat two-dimensional.Oh, HA HA my sides are aching I'm so hilarious.
Ugh...what am I talking about here? I have no idea. I'm really tired.