I'm sewing today, just because I can (Happy President's Day!). I'm also practicing taking pictures with my new 50mm f/1.8 lens. I went the bargain route, so it doesn't have auto-focus. I have to do it all on my own. It's quite a challenge.

One sewing project: hankies! Just for fun. I found this woven plaid at Joann last fall. It's soft, soft cotton, so it will feel nice against my nose. I love vintage hankies, but I can never bring myself to use them, but this fabric was on sale, super cheap, so I don't think I mind if they get a little snotty.

Look at those dreamy eggs!

And this sweet dog:

I may need to adjust the aperture for shots like this. Still, he's so cute.

This one is actually from a few days ago, when the snow was melting. I like water droplets. 
 
 
 
 

Today I covered my camera strap with cute fabric.

It was a vintage wool Liberty of London tie I had squirreled away, waiting for just the right project. I really love it.

I was feeling like I haven't been very productive lately, but I actually have been working on some things. I'm just a little scattered right now.

Two little softies will be on their way to Australia this week for a new book, and I've finally figured out a pattern for the pink and brown quilt I need to make.

My new little layer, on the other hand, has been very productive. One of her very first eggs was a double yolker

And two last words: Greek Nachos. Yum. Okay, that was three words. 

Too much stuff on my to-do list, too much stuff to make, and too much stuff in my house. That's the theme for this weekend, I think. I will have to clean the bathroom and do the laundry and hopefully clean out the dresser and send some things to Goodwill, but mostly what I want to do is make things, so let's just talk about the fun, creative stuff, shall we?

Actually, despite the fact that for some reason, this week I haven't done much more than come home from work and sit like a zombie on the couch while watching Netflix dvds, I have one finished project to share (finished a while ago, actually):

It's this little baby jacket from Debbie Bliss. Stash yarn from I don't even know how long ago, and a scrap of fabric for the flower. It was a quick little knit for my new niece, and I hope to see her in it this Winter. Baby knits are so perfect for Summer knitting: small, quick and portable! Which reminds me that I really need to go to the beach sometime soon, before Summer is over (the portable part of that last sentence is what made me think of that, in case you were wondering how my mind works and what knitting has to do with the beach).

I decided to be a little less lazy last night, and pulled out my orange sweater to work on while watching the last season (sniff!) of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I had started the first sleeve, but stopped because extreme laziness prevented me from reading how to do the M1L and M1R stitches that I needed to do to move on to the next row. It turns out those increases were not as difficult as I remembered, and now I'm nearly done with the first sleeve. Here's hoping I'll have pictures of a finished sweater soon! One more sleeve and it's all done. Just in time, too, since the new Interweave Knits just arrived, and I really need to make a couple sweaters from it (Rosamund's cardigan and the Nordique
Swing, in case you were interested).

Besides knitting, I've got some serious quilting to do. I have a commission for a baby quilt and the only requirements were pink and brown. I can add another color and do any design I want. I have an idea what I'm going to do, but this one is a little challenging. Brown is not usually on my list of color choices. I went to the 1930's reproductions for inspiration, since I especially like those pinks, and here's what I've decided to work with:

I love the light brown polka dots. The plan for this weekend is to get a few squares done. At the other end of the spectrum, I picked up a jelly roll while visiting my favorite quilt shop in Boise earlier this month. Then I found this pattern, and thought it was quite adorable, and started slicing and stitching away. Sometimes it's nice to have someone else do all the work planning and thinking, and to just sit and sew.

While last Saturday may have made me feel like a failure as a farmer, things are not all bad around here. Despite the  fact that the chickens continue to think my vegetable garden is their own personal dust bath spa, a few things are growing quite nicely. I harvested my first radish this week.

This is a salad rose radish, they are, obviously, a long variety. This one was about six inches. I left it for Mr. HeyLucy to eat, because radishes are one of his favorites. He pronounced it delicious and very spicy. The chickens did a bit of damage to my radish section, so there are only three others there. They grow so quickly, I'm thinking of filling in a few squares with more radish seeds, so we can enjoy a few more harvests. I'll also be adding some chicken wire covers to the garden, and hopefully that will keep those rascals at bay.

I also discovered that what was burning my plants was actually a freakishly late frost (we had frost until June 22!), so I lost my beans, a couple cucumbers, and the cinnamon basil. I thought that three of my four tomatoes were goners, but only one actually died, and the other three are looking good. My red grape tomato is huge, and there are even a few tomatoes ripening. The other two tomato plants have a ways to go, but I'm hoping we'll still get a few by the end of Summer.

Here's the whole garden, it looks pretty nice:

The sorrel is doing really well, I've trimmed it a couple times to share with friends, and I'm going to try and make some sorrel soup this week. I'm not sure if my peas are going to do much more than they're doing now. They're the four right front boxes. As you can see, they have no interest in climbing the poles I've rigged for them, but there are quite a few pods. It may be getting too hot for them, so once the pods are ripe, I think I'll harvest and pull them out and replace them with something else.

Here's what I'm discovering: when it comes to gardening, you can read and study and plan all you want, but the only way to really learn how to garden is to…garden. I know, that's so deep, but if you want to plant a garden, and you have even a little bit of space, I say go for it! You'll never be more ready than you are now, and some things will not work, and some things will be amazing. I think it helps to be out there in the dirt, as much as possible, too, and even just pulling a weed here and there is progress. It's so easy for me to look at my big garden area, where I want to plant berries and fruit trees and make about 8 more boxes and get overwhelmed, but I just keep reminding myself to be patient and just do a little at a time, and eventually I'll have my little Eden out there. 

Enough about the garden, remember how I started making a sleeve for my laptop? I finished it and used it while traveling last week. It worked out just great.

My laptop is my primary computer, so it's a big 17" one. I don't travel much with it, sand I have a case, but it's heavy and ugly, and it wasn't very practical. So I got myself a little rolling carry on bag, and filled it with a bunch of stuff, leaving room for the computer on the top. So much easier!

And it's cute!

One last thing, back to the garden. I decided to have some pretty yogurt for breakfast this morning. I picked a sprig of lavender and a sprig of mint, and added them to my Greek yogurt and raspberries. There's also a sprinkle of raw sugar for sweetness. It's quite tasty (I'm eating it right now!) and it smells so good.

We got a new dog this weekend. His name is Winston. We traded in the old model for the sleek newly re-designed model.

Okay, we don’t actually have three dogs, Winston just got a haircut. Look at that skinny little tail! He’s still recovering from the trauma, but I think he feels a lot better. I know he’s not as hot as he was before with all that fur, because he slept next to me almost the whole night. I think he might even be a little chilly. The poor little guy had so many stickers from the weeds in our yard stuck in his belly, and he was starting to get some mats in his fur that I couldn’t comb through. I think I spent hours this past week pulling out the stickers and trying to brush out the knots. I finally had to admit defeat, and take him in for a shave. Bear didn’t recognize him when we first got out of the car last night. I think he’s still not too sure who the strange new dog is.

I decided to take a break from the garden this weekend, since I’m currently frustrated by the two (out of four) dead tomato plants, two dead peppers and two dead zucchini plants. I mean, come on, anyone can grow zucchini, they’re practically weeds. Apparently I can’t grow them. I’m not sure what is going on. Something has been digging around in my raised bed, and the dead plants look as if they’ve been sprayed with something. They’re not even next to each other. It’s too weird. I am taking measures, however, to try and protect everything else. I bought some rue and coleus, which are repellent to cats, and I’ve got some garlic to plant, which should repel gophers and other rodents. I’m not giving up, although my dreams of canning tomatoes and making zucchini pickles may have to wait until next Summer.

In happier news, I got a little treat in the mail last week! Miss Cara Lou made me a cup cozy, and appropriately, it says “All Mine”, so that means I don’t have to share, right? Do you see that Mr. HeyLucy?! He always thinks my food is better than his and wants to try it out. Here it is being modeled by a lovely cup of peppermint tea:

Since I boycotted the garden this weekend I did some knitting and sewing instead. There’s a new niece arriving soon, and I may not have a quilt ready right when she arrives, but I did manage to get some  booties done. They’re obnoxiously bright, but I like them anyway. I just used some leftover cotton yarn I had laying around.

And I’m nearly finished with the kimono from Weekend Sewing. I’ll show you the whole thing when it’s done. It’s a quick little project, just like the booties, so I highly recommend either or both if you need a special baby gift in a hurry.