The company, rather, our project

Steve and I decided to do a little larger scale gardening this year.  His company has a large grassy area that's fenced in to keep the public out.  Eventually the area will be used for expansion but for now it'll be the new company garden. I have been buying seeds for it every time we get near a gardening center. Pumpkins, watermelon, cantelope, lima beans, beets, tomatoes,  peppers, corn, onions,  green and yellow beans, radishes, zinnias, carrots, cabbage,  lettuce,  squash, and zucchini.  Whatever comes up,  the employees will be allowed to pick and take home for their family. Steve did all the tilling but it will be me planting, weeding, and picking whatever doesn't get picked.  Hopefully the employees will get a little more involved but for now the sign up sheet is blank. No matter, I'm excited for the fresh produce.

First nibbles

The last four nights we've had a light frost so we covered up the garden.  Today the threat of frost is gone so we uncovered and checked on the plants.  Quite a few of the radishes were ready so I got a tasty treat. Can't wait till the tomatoes start producing.

Meet Kiwi

Carley brought home a little 9 week old kitten yesterday.  She named it Kiwi and gave it a home in her room.  Zipper was thrilled to have a new four legged friend to play with.  He cleans Kiwi's ears and nudges her along to where he thinks she should go.  Surprisingly Kiwi tolerates Zipper and doesn't claw him up...yet. 

Quilt cockeyed square

As you can see, my sewing leaves a lot to be desired.  It's not even close to good. But I'm going to leave it as is because this is a personal experiment that will sit on my bed and rarely get seen.  You don't learn anything by not making mistakes along the way anyway.  I'm going to sew a couple more squares like this and then start hand sewing a blanket stitch onto each one.  Then I'll see what kind of crochet border I can come up with.  I'll update a photo when I get the border on. 

Another fractal doily done

My daughter in law asked me if I could make her this.  I'm not 100% sure she'll actually use it but I made it anyway.  Hers was made in white and the one in off white is mine, but I already posted that one last month I think it was.  

I'm kind of glad I bought this pattern because I've really enjoyed making the doilies.  I've also received an order for one in bright green (yuck!) from my husband.  He wants to use it on the company coffee table in the lobby.  

Plaid afghan done

Today I finished up Ty & Courtney's wedding gift.  They are getting married in August.  As usual I changed the pattern just slightly.  Instead of making six rows of squares like the pattern states, I made seven because I wanted a bigger blanket.  That of course meant I needed an extra skein of green.  I also attached the squares row by row as I went rather than sew them by hand later.  If you don't know how to do that technique you can probably find a tutorial on you tube.  The chain three thing I also did away with, I learned another technique on you tube that I've been using for a while that makes the ends look so much nicer.

Here's the pattern link if you'd like to make one for yourself:

http://www.alpacabytes.com/2010/06/04/fiber-arts-friday-flannel-blanket-pattern/ 

Possible quilt

About a month ago I was wandering inside a resale shop and an antique piece of fabric caught my eye.  It's a heavy piece that I think was used to make curtains or maybe cover a chair of some sort.  Because its old it has softened with age.  When I bought the fabric I was thinking I'd stash it away until I found enough similar colors to make a quilt for my bed.  

The other day I was searching for a crochet pattern on google and came across a picture that made me have one of those, "ooooh!  I want one!" moments.  It was a summer comforter that a store sold.  The comforter had square blocks and each block had a crocheted edge around it.  The whole thing was connected by crochet.  Very pretty I thought but it was all the wrong colors and I couldn't figure out where the comforter was for sale anyway since it was just a picture.  The photo sat in my mind for a couple of days until I remembered the fabric I had purchased.  

I spread the fabric out to see if it were possible to use it to make something similar.  The fabric isn't quite big enough but I've been thinking about it all week now and I think maybe it can still be done if I just make a larger crochet border around each piece.  I think.  

This may be my most challenging project yet.  I'm not a sewer, nor do I have a pattern, don't really know how to quilt, and don't have a crochet border pattern.   All I have is a photo in my head because I forgot to save the photo that I found online.  

This should be a fun project. I'll keep you updated as I figure things out and make some progress.  In the meantime you can take a peek at my antique fabric.