lis-i-and-thus, the planting season begins

 Nearly every morning, I can look outside in the morning and see our resident rabbit, having a nibble on the front bushes.

Now I can feel less guilty about the pounds and pounds of apples that I picked in early winter, but didn't process, because I thought that our cold garage would keep them fresh.  Excellent rabbit food!

We're having odd weather...bitter freezes and dustings of snow, and then the temperature shoots up into the 50s or even 60s.  Ice forms and cracks in lovely patterns.

Our muskrats reappear on warm days, continually building up their little house, which tends to slump after a thaw.

We are cautiously optimistic that they'll keep our cattails at a manageable level this year!  

Unlike 2021, when I was out in our freezing addition, working on seeding as early as late January, I have only planted one variety this year.  Inside.  In one container.

 

It's Lisianthus, the annoying flower that needs about SIX MONTHS to bloom.  I was rewarded with tiny sprouts after a couple of weeks...

...and they're coming along nicely.  I'm taking a MUCH more measured approach this year.  No house full of demanding seedlings that have differing light, heat, and water needs.  No more running outside with sheets and towels to cover plants because of a sudden, dramatic frost in March.  NOTHING is going in the ground before mid-April (a full month later than 2021), and I'm staggering the planting.  Instead of seeding, for example, 500 snapdragons, which sprout crazily, fall over because it's too much for me to support, and then all die off at the same time...I will plant 150.  Three weeks later, another 150.  Etc., etc.  Succession planting will save my sanity this year, I hope!  

Valentine's Day has come and gone...

...and while I'm still knitting regularly, I'm dipping into some other crafts.  I had the exciting idea to make felt stuffed animals, and vintage-style clothing for them.  But when I got a pattern, I couldn't make heads nor tails of it...literally.

The clothes that looked so darling online...

photo courtesy of little_mochi on Flickr

...turned out to be fiddly and confusing in reality, even in the simplest forms. I tried to make a basic halter dress for an 11" figure.  It was a very simple pattern with just two pieces...

...but the seam allowances were so small and somehow my clumsy fingers couldn't line anything up correctly.

Yikes.

Now, I made myself a skirt in South Carolina...

...but it was with the assistance of a step-by-step online class.  I think I need more training before I tackle these things, so I'll be keeping an eye out at some local sewing shops and checking out online resources.  I know that I can get better with a bit of guidance!

Since physical therapy has really been helping my elbow, I decided to try cutting some fabric for quilting.  I love postage stamp quilts, so named for their tiny piecing.

photo courtesy of Red Pepper Quilts

I have a terrible habit of saving special things for the "right" project, and then never using them, so I forced myself to cut up my beloved Tilda fabric.  It's a UK brand, whimsical with lovely subdued coloring. 

I'm cutting 15 fat quarters (five for each color family) into 1 3/4" strips, with alternative strips of Kona Cotton Snow.  Once a few lines are assembled, I'll cross-cut them into tiny squares.  Each group of squares will make up a block of 16, and then those blocks will be sewn together to make a quilt like the example shown above.  I cut up two fat quarters in this fashion, but I could feel the strain in my elbow, so had to stop.  I'm planning to cut one per day.  There's no hurry.  Then I can assemble and begin to sew again!

Incidentally, today is National Love Your Pet Day.  We've got a pretty chaotic group here!

First, we have Borga, who in her senility runs laps around the house, has to go outside 15 times per day, and whose flatulence is so choking that we have to keep matchbooks in the living room so that we can attempt to cover the smell.  "Borga!!"

Then we have Calliope, who sleeps sweetly sometimes...

...but rules the house with an iron paw, chasing Tabitha whenever she sees her.  We still have our complicated system of baby gates and schedules, but sometimes there's an overlap, so we have to be ready.  Tabitha, mistress of the Upstairs Territory, naps all day on her heated pad, and only wakes when her lowly servant arrives to tempt her palate.

So our pets are keeping us on our toes lately!  We're hoping that (somehow) Calliope will learn to accept Tabitha, especially when warm weather comes, and the open windows will draw Tabitha downstairs.  Meanwhile, we're getting really good at stepping over baby gates.

Have a great week!

the beat goes on

So say famed philosophers S. Bono and Cher, and it seems to be true.  The season is advancing, days are getting warmer, and things are greening up.  We're seeing more living things...after a quiet winter, mice are infiltrating the barn, looking for a comfortable spot to make a nest.

Todd was moving some large rocks and uncovered this salamander, the first that I'd ever seen here!  I carefully carried him to a safer place.

Spring peepers are singing both day and night.  This little guy was giving a great solo performance by our front door!

More delights in the established garden.  The mystery daffodils - one set, anyway - have revealed themselves to be tiny, delicate flowers that are perfect for bud vases.

New growth is continually popping out at the base of my perennials.

Love the color on this perennial geranium!

Of course, I'm very busy with my growing seedlings, nearly to the exclusion of all other things.  I wish I wasn't so single-minded with my focus.  I've joked that I'm a "serial monogamist" with my hobbies, throwing myself into one at a time, but always cycling back through the others eventually.  

Executive decision made:  these guys are being hardened off this week (left outside for long intervals to get used to the environment) and will go in the ground before April 1st.  Snapdragons, stock, honeywort, calendula, and "missing tag" things - something that's becoming more frequent.

I checked my winter sow containers and decided that bachelor buttons and clarkia were ready to go in the ground.

Shovel on compost, work into the soil, lay down thick brown paper as a weed preventative, cut big Xs for the seedlings, plant seedlings, cover area with mulch, water...phew.  It's hard work, and I ache all over today, but it's nice to have things actively in the ground and growing!

More peeking into winter sow containers showed that some seeds were sown way, way too thickly...in particular my poppies and my nicotiana.

I should just leave them alone, let them grow, and fish out a couple of big, healthy seedlings in a month.  But that's not my style.  This obsessive poppy fan couldn't let a single seedling wither due to overcrowding, so I pricked them all out into separate cells.  

Ninety poppies.  Ninety!  Where am I going to put ninety poppies?!?  If they survive, that is.  Tiny seedlings don't like having roots disturbed.  Possibly, this relocation will kill every single one.  But I had to take the chance.  It was a sunny Sunday afternoon, birds singing cheerfully and Claudia rubbing against my ankles.  I consider it a pleasant hour well-spent.  

I've also spent time with my ailing plants, like this nasturtium, which got singed in the heat within its plastic container.  Will it survive?  Maybe, but I have to give it a chance to recover.

If it does thrive, these will be gracing my bud vases all summer long...so I had to try!

photo courtesy of Baker Creek

I made every possible mistake with my dahlia tubers this fall.  I put them away while still a bit moist, so many grew mold.  Most shriveled.  I left them in our freezing cold garage instead of our moderately cold attic.  Still, I decided not to toss them.  Taking a chance, I brought them inside and let them acclimate to the warmer temperatures.  And...they started to bud out.  

I split them and potted them up, and now I've got close to 25 tubers throwing up sprouts, which I'll chop off and plant. 

I'll have a nice dahlia patch this year, I hope!  Last year, despite being planted late, left in pots too long, and positively starved of water and nutrients, they were beautiful.

Although I'm having a persistent and irritating problem with seedling droop...

...I'm learning a lot, and very optimistic about the future of my little (?) cutting garden. 

Have a great week!

fat stacks

Thank goodness for a long, cool spring, but soon it will be warm enough on a regular basis for skirts!  I'm definitely casual and not fussy, and my absolute favorite thing to wear in the summer is knee-length blousy cotton skirts with t-shirts and sandals.  So comfortable.  I've picked up a ton at thrift stores, since these were briefly in fashion several years ago and made a big showing at Target, but I'm excited to start making my own.  I can just buy 2 1/4 - 2 1/2 yards of any fabric that catches my fancy and off I go!  I just found two recently that felt very spring-y and fun.  One is dark navy with carrots and the other is light grey with blocky fireflies.

I've been buying a lot of fabric lately.  I'm absolutely in love with light, cheerful prints and have been buying stacks of fat quarters (quarter of a yard) almost every week!

These are for scrap quilting and oh, I can't wait to make another one.  My scrap boxes have been dramatically enhanced.

I've been buying other cuts of fabric, too, when I see something potentially useful go on sale.  Something I have very little of, but want to start building up, is a stock of "background" fabrics - fabrics on a light background with a neutral or lightly-colored print.

I don't have time to quilt right now, but hopefully soon I will start on another...or at least finish one of the THREE I'm currently in the middle of!

Meanwhile, nice spring days here.

Our clematis vines are in full bloom...

...although they aren't as dramatic as the ones at the local botanical garden!

I love to see their shade garden beds.  It's such a great lesson in non-flower placement, paying attention to leaf shape and color.

Love seeing little seed pots around, too.  I can't WAIT to start growing things again!

The cats are loving the warmer temperatures too.  Sitting in a sunbeam...

...and waking up from one of those 15-hour naps!

A 15-hour nap sounds pretty good right now.  Have a great week!