Spring Planting

Garden Spot

          Many times I have planted a garden and most of the time it kind-of works. My husband is the main push for me to develop my skills as a gardener. I know it is good to have fresh veggies, but somehow I just can't find the momentum to keep up with a garden until the end.
          Why is harvesting the hardest part of gardening?? I don't know when to pick anything besides the tomatoes, only because they turn red. The watermelon, squash, and melons are all really hard to read. When are they ready? We had a great crop of cantaloup last summer and one by one the ants bore into them and ate the insides out, before we even knew they were ripe. I feel so bad when this happens. Gardening is not cheep, we have been paying for water, bought the plants, or seeds, all of the soil amendments that were needed, and fertilizer through the growing season; it is not likely that any of our gardens have produced enough to make back all that we have spent.
        Why then do I even want to garden. Well first off, if I need to use this skill to ever feed my family I would like to have it sharp; the world is at a very unstable place and having a backup food source could be a HUGE blessing. Next, it is a outlet for my husband and I to help our kids learn how to work. This is a skill that is becoming less and less important in today society.  I want to have my kids feel the thrill in having to work at something so hard, like digging in our rock hard ground, and then tilling and tending to a little plant that will someday grow to be a food they like to eat. It really is a beautiful experience to create something living and raise it to its full potential. Also I love the way a garden looks and the smell in the evening of the wet dirt is a treat to me. I know it might sound crazy but we all can find something good about having a garden.
           I felt that by posting my weekly ups and downs of gardening, I might keep my momentum up until harvest time. If any of you would like to join me now's the time. It is just peeking into spring and the weather in my neck of the woods is going fast on into summer. So I say grab a shovel, study the area around your home that sees sun and plant something with me.

April

Rope Rug

I am a huge fan of braided rugs. I would love to have one in my home. I think they inspire the Anne of Green Gables in me, that basic vintage life and I long for. But they cost so much. I realized that if I want one in my home I will need to make it. I've gathered scraps of material for years, intending on braiding one yet I realize the work that goes into braiding and sewing them together might be a bit daunting. I changed focus a little bit and found this rope in my stash and thought that it might be the perfect balance of making a rug without the labor of braiding strands of fabric together. 

Really it is quite simple. I used an overlock stitch on my sewing machine to bind the two cords together, then the time is spent going round and round.  This is just the beginning.  I'll up date this post when I have it finished. 

I'm Back

What a Great Summer. It was very low key for my family and we had a blast just being together. But like all good things, there is a time for them to end and start the next chapter. School for my kids is year round. I really like it and I think they do to. School started about 3 weeks ago and we are counting down the weeks till our fall break. It brakes up the school year so that the kids don't get burnt out. So with this year and my kids all in school, even my youngest in Joy School ( a home based preschool). I have a few hours to myself each week. This is were I will fill my time. Blogging about all of the fabulous projects that I have going on and finished!!


Here are some pictures of the fun things that we did over the summer.

I really got into quotes this summer. I have a hard time remembering the great quotes I hear so I've hung them up all over my house. This was a great website you should go visit.
SpirituallyThinking

This is just a tidbit.. a morsel of a quilt to come. I'm so excited!

My little girl sits so still for so long for me to create on her head.

We had lots of fun finger painting with chocolate pudding.

We went to our county fair, we might be odd, but found the livestock and craft pavilions to be the best part of the fair. I was amazed at the quilts. I plan to enter one next year!

These are some of the best French Fries that I have ever made.

 My chickens have struggled this summer with the heat and also mites, more of that story later, but look at the size of the egg she still gives us.

My garden now has extra protection from the birds. I might get a crop of tomatoes this year.

The kids loved these little piggies as a summer treat. They were so easy to make and sweet to eat.

Look at my grass!! I've been mowing it every week and now, with a tip from my sister in law we water at night. Look at the great place to play, even in the heat we spend evenings in the back yard.

Check back in soon. I have so much more to show and tell.

A Type of Change

Dress Your Truth

"I am grateful for my body, I choose to love it and support it by wearing clothes that honor it, eating foods that nourish it, and choosing activities that keep it fit and balanced."

Before and After

Dressing your Truth 

30 days of dressing my Type 2

 What's sad, is that I took this picture because I thought I looked great.

 I was headed out for my anniversary dinner.

My youngest son took this for me today, this is what I look like just around the house. Nowhere special to go and I still had hours before my husband would be home from work.

I'll post more about this soon. Feel free to ask me questions.

Summer

I have been loving the summer. It is great to have my kids home, they play well together that always want to have a fun day.  I've been teaching swimming lessons, we've done a lot of reading and gone to visit family. "It is going to quick" says my oldest son, but I feel like it to. Sometimes in those perfect mother moments, I want to hold on to those little kids forever and have them never grow up.

So I didn't win

So I didn't win.

The contest was won by an amazingly talented women named Angela Pingal. She has a great blog at Cut to Pieces, I've already found great ideas. I glad that such a neat, self-taught, quilt lover won the prize. It was quite a prize and I hope she LOVES it.
I have taken some time to reflect and adjust to a life of reality instead of  blissful dreams of me winning all of that great stuff, but alas the day goes on and I'll find my big break the hard way. Not that Angela didn't win the hard way, I'm sure it was a month of intense work.
 Again "Great Job".

So on to the next project and the next set of dreams… stick with me it will be fun to see.