cat lap fever

BABIES!

The house finch eggs hatched last week and the babies have been growing steadily.  They'll be on the nest for another 2 weeks.  Hard to believe that they'll be ready to fly away soon!

A goose is nesting down by the pond.

She rarely leaves the nest and when she does, stays close.

I don't hear any peeps yet.  The eggs are still nestled in piles of goose down.

We do have some "hatching out" this week.  The peonies have blossomed!

I think the centers look like sea anemones.

I've been spending a lot of time in the yard lately.  It's so green!

Sometimes I find an intrepid explorer in the hellebores.

Sometimes I find other things, too.  I have to be careful when weeding our stone walls.  I've found black widows and snakes here.  I can't forget my nemesis, the fire ant, either!  Even if you don't see a nest, you have almost invisible free-ranging scouts, very aggressive. 

This weekend I nearly grabbed a juvenile snake that I'm fairly certain was venomous.  His head was triangular, not like the gentle rounded slopes of the garter snake.  He seemed more aggressive, and I didn't lean in to get a look at his pupils.  Later, I was crawling through some bushes and shook this out of my hair later:

It's just another reason that here in the South, I prefer to do my gardening when Todd is home...just in case!

Inside, the cats have been doing the usual...

...and while I don't have a spare second for crafting right now, I did highly enjoy opening this package of cheerfully-colored fabric for a future scrap quilt:

I especially love the yellows.  I have all sorts of ideas for these bright fabrics I've been finding lately, but regretfully I folded them away for another day. 

Our big spring clean is nearly completed!  Only another week of work, and then we'll be able to slow down and move into 'maintenance mode.'  I look forward to long walks, board games by the pond, and cozy evenings knitting, with a cat on my lap, of course. 

Have a great week!

Birthdays and Bouquets

Spring bouquets make me happy.

The lilac bushes are blooming, and I am so glad I got these $7 IKEA vases. Perfect for lilacs. A really nice contrast!

Our viburnum bushes provided this beautiful bouquet.

I just love these delicate pink flowers, and they're so fragrant.

I planted clusters of purple grape hyacinths all over the yard years ago, and I love picking these tiny spikes of bell-shaped flowers to make miniature bouquets.

We have loads of red tulips, and they're nodding on bookcases all over the house.

Even their backs are pretty!

It's hard to be in a bad mood when you've got a house full of fragrant flowers!

With all of this spring spirit, I decided to make some Easter-themed crafts. I've been wanting to utilize my egg cups! This particular project from Martha Stewart is fairly easy - dyed eggs, with plant leaf outlines, nestled in egg cups for display.

First, you have to hollow out your eggs. A little internet research showed many various techniques. There are special tools that will slice off the tip of your egg, and unique syringes that will draw out the insides. Everywhere warned of the dangers of salmonella but honestly, I've been eating raw cake and cookie dough since childhood and I'm still kicking! I decided to do this the old-fashioned way.

I simply cleaned the outside of the egg with vinegar to remove any impurities. Using a basic sewing needle, I pierced a single hole in the pointy end of the egg. Chicken eggs have the thinnest shells of all eggs, and it's quite easy to push the needle through.

At the wide end, make another small hole and enlarge it by picking away at the edges with your needle.

The hole should be wide enough so that some egg white starts to bulge out.

You need a little more force, though. Just put your lips to the pin-hole at the top of the egg and blow. The egg insides will shoot out of the small hole in a steady stream and soon your egg will be hollow.

By the way, don't waste your eggs! Add some cheese, spinach, mushrooms, and onion, and make a frittata. ;)

I sprayed vinegar into the larger hole, swished it around, and blew it out. When no more egg white appears, you're done. Just let the egg dry for a day or two.

There are lots of things you can do with hollow eggs. For this project, I assembled some hollowed-out eggs, cheesecloth, snips of plant leaves, twine, and food coloring.

I used egg white to 'paint' the backs of my leaves and smooth them onto the egg shells. I wrapped each egg tightly in cheesecloth (pantyhose would work as well) to help hold the leaf in place.

I mixed up some dye using vinegar, hot water, and food coloring. Each egg was held in the dye for about 5 minutes.

Then, I peeled off the cheesecloth to reveal the design.

I made 4 eggs this way and was really pleased with the results!

However, they didn't really 'go' with our decor too well.

I ended up preferring an undyed egg from the reject pile. I think it's a little more my style!

Still, it was a fun project and I might do some experimenting to see if I can come up with some more natural colors.

Todd's birthday was this week. Per his request, I whipped up a 3 layer German chocolate cake. It was a little labor-intensive...especially caramelizing the icing...but it was worth it. It was absolutely the best German chocolate cake I'd ever had.

I made a ring of violets on the top to brighten it up a little bit.

I also made an apple pie that was quite delicious. Of course, I skipped the traditional lattice crust in favor of a Star Wars theme.

Yoda has never looked so delicious.

We topped off the day with a surprise party. The birthday boy was completely caught off guard.

Well, you only turn 40 once! :)

In other news, I've finally finished my cardigan. Last week I blocked it carefully...

...and ordered some cool buttons. I originally searched for simple light wood buttons, but was having a lot of trouble finding what I wanted. I decided to go with some vintage metal buttons instead and I'm glad I did. I really like them!

I'd spaced my buttonholes fairly close together and these small buttons were the perfect finishing touch.

I'd made many modifications to this sweater...changed the gauge, lengthened the body, lengthened the sleeves, and raised the neckline. The original neckline was meant to be low enough to sexily slip off one shoulder, but that's not exactly my style.

I'm really pleased with the final result. It was a fairly quick and easy knit.

I'm so glad I got to use my special "snowflake yarn" to make this cardigan. It will be perfect this fall, for chilly morning walks.

Have a great week!

April Fooling Around with Paper Mache

Despite my successful alliance with Google Calendar, I'm a bit behind schedule this spring. I meant to set up a whole seed starting system, with heat mats and fluorescent lights, so that I could start a virtual meadow of flowers in our basement. I bought my seeds and my soil, but didn't get the other things ordered in time. As my grandpa used to say, necessity is the mother of invention!

In our region, the last frost date is May 7th, so this past weekend I set up one flat indoors. Most of the flowers I grow are decidedly unfussy and their seeds can be sown directly into the garden soil, but I decided to start some tall snapdragons now. Here we go!

First, I found an oblong plastic container. This was intended to be Tabitha's first litter box but it was a bit too small...but perfect for this project! I started out by filling the bottom with pebbles to ensure proper drainage. I don't want my seedlings to have wet feet!

Then a layer of soil on top.

I cut 6 toilet paper rolls in half and set them in the soil. Cardboard is biodegradable, so the seedlings that grow within can be planted, roll and all, directly into the garden.

I filled them with seed starting soil, misted them with warm water, and planted the seeds.

I was afraid that our house might not be warm enough for the seeds to germinate, hence the need for the heat mat, which lies under your flats to provide steady warmth. Since I'm striking out on my own with this project, I decided to improvise with a hot water bottle.

Why not? Hot water bottles retain heat for about 8 hours. Every morning and every night, I fill up the hot water bottle and place it under my "flat," which is carefully covered in plastic wrap to help the soil stay moist.

This appears to have been a highly successful experiment. I wasn't expecting germination for 2 - 3 weeks...but this morning, I saw some lovely green seedlings unfurling...after only 4 days!

A .20 packet of seeds and a hot water bottle...what a team! I can't wait to see how many snapdragons I get out of this little experiment.

April means that Easter is coming, and I've been preparing with some small crafty projects. This project was at the top of my list, and so inexpensive to put together! I don't think I spent over $3 for the whole thing.

I bought a foam ring and some plastic eggs at JoAnn Fabrics a few weeks ago.

I bought some very nice linen a few years ago that sustained a bit of water damage. I cut it up in strips, working around the bad spots. I pinned the end of my fabric strip to the ring...

...and wrapped it around, carefully pinning the end.

I repeated this process until the entire ring was covered.

Then it was time for the messy part! I made homemade "mod podge," or paper mache glue. I mixed one part flour to five parts water and boiled for about 5 minutes. It makes a perfect glue.

I took some old newspapers and cut them into strips. Each strip was glued around a plastic egg and left to dry for about 15 minutes.

Then, I cut the paper at each end into long strips...

...and, with healthy dollops of my homemade glue, smoothed each strip down over the ends of the egg.
This was a fairly difficult process for me, and I think it will be a long time before I try another paper mache project. It was nearly impossible for me to get a nice, smooth result, but at the end of the day I was so happy to be finished that I didn't mind my strangely lumpy results.

After the eggs dried, I used wood glue to attach some moss that I had left over from my IKEA planter project to the bottom of the wreath.

I glued a few eggs on top of the moss and let it dry...

...then, I attached a simple ribbon. Voila! A simple Easter-themed wreath, done on the cheap. My original plan was to cover the entire wreath with eggs, but I couldn't bear to paper mache more than one batch.

As I told my husband: it didn't turn out EGGS-actly like I'd hoped, but I still like it!

Last Friday was April Fools Day, and I couldn't wait to pull a prank on my sister. I bought two rolls of Starburst and a bag of Skittles. I cut the orange Starbursts in half...

...and piled them, and the green Skittles, on top of these vanilla cupcakes I whipped up.

Peas and carrots!

I used the yellow Starburst as the butter pat on these "mashed potatoes," which are, of course, white cupcakes. I cooked up some homemade caramel and drizzled it over the top for gravy. Perfect!

Unfortunately, the "chicken drumsticks" (layered cupcakes with toasted coconut and a white chocolate 'bone') weren't as convincing...but it helped when I put everything in this old muffin tin, which reminded me of a T.V. dinner tray!

She was definitely fooled. I couldn't forget about the meal, though. I baked some big, buttery biscuits and cut out their centers. Inside, I hid a spicy turkey meatball. Then, I whipped up some creamy mashed potatoes (I can't remember the last time I made mashed potatoes with the skin off!) and "iced" the "cupcakes" with them. She took a big bite...and the look on her face was priceless!

Hope you were able to pull off a few April Fools pranks of your own. Have a great week!