Spring is here!

I have neglected the computer because I have been playing in the dirt. I would be outside today if I weren't sick with some kind of sinus issues and viral infection and feeling utterly miserable. It is almost 80 degrees and simply beautiful outside. The sun is shining, there is a wonderful breeze and the magnolias are in bloom, which is one of my favorite times of year. I always get so bummed that the blooms only last a couple of days. I am sitting in my den with the windows open as I write just so I can smell and see the magnolia in our front yard. There is something about their beauty; the shapes of the petals; the cream and pink; the faint smell...




And then they are gone.



These days I have been consumed by getting ready for the my new season in the garden. I have planted 3 types of potatoes, 9 rows of snap peas, broccoli, cabbage, 3 types of kale, over 150 onions, 10 rows of spinach, 4 rows of arugula, 5 rows of mixed beets, 4 rows of mixed carrots, 6 rows of lettuces, Persian cress, dill, cilantro and parsley.



Here are about half of my 60 tomato plants that were started about 3 weeks ago. They are all over my house eating up the heat and sun. And...I am loving every minute of watching them grow! I have a tray in every window on the main floor of our house and when it is cool in the morning and the steam heat radiators kick on, I put the plants on top of the radiators to get a kick of heat. This is how I manage to plant so many tomatoes on the cheap. I won't plant 60 tomato plants, but I have room in my garden plan for 35-38 in this year. I think I have some to spare if anyone in Metro Detroit might need a tomato plant!


















I also decided that it was time for this MASSIVE rose bush to go...adios




SO this is what that area looks like now...



And in another week I will have new pictures of this area that now will host 3 more 5'by5' beds for veggies, my little fig tree and a bench so I can actually have a place to relax in the garden. For some reason a lot of neighbors have been stopping by lately to check out the castle house that has the "urban farm" and I am loving it! Happy Spring!!

I found it!!

It has been quite some time since I have posted and life has been very busy since my motivation was hiding from me. First I will let you know that it came one night in the end of March at about...8 p.m. when I was least expecting it. For some odd reason I decided it was time to paint my laundry room. Yes, that is right; on a weeknight after the kids were in bed and my main squeeze was doing his ironing I decided that it was time to crack open that "Lemon Curd" paint I bought in the fall and get to work painting oven the very drab sage green that I stare at way too often these days. I began this paint job from hell and I am close to being finished which is a good thing. Since I have to cover up the green it has taken me a lot longer than I anticipated, but I am hoping to finish it over the weekend. Aside from the fact that I do numerous loads of laundry every week, my primary motivation is the fact that I have set up my sewing station in the laundry room and right now I have a pretty intimate relationship with this machine.


This machine was given to me by a dear friend last year who had no need for it and wasn't quite sure if it worked and if so, exactly how to thread this crazy ol' beast. I took it in to have serviced last winter and even though I was told it was in "mint condition for it's age" and that this was "a keeper" I still had no idea how the hell to thread the needle, or the bobbin or set the tensions and then actually use it. So it sat in my basement all of last year yearning for attention, but with the garden I couldn't help but to ignore it and promise that I would put it to work in the fall and winter. In December I started messing around with it, but I didn't have a manual and I couldn't find this machine anywhere on the net after numerous hours of searching. With the holidays in full swing I had little time or patience to devote to this overwhelming task.

After the new year I decided it was time and so with the help of You Tube I found a tutorial on how to thread needles and bobbins on vintage machines and then with a couple of books and fabric designer's blogs I have been going from one sewing project to the next. My first was this pin cushion.
Then I did this apron for a friend

And then I decided to take it up a level and do these baby pajamas for one of my daugher's teachers who is due with her first baby in the next couple of weeks. The pattern is from a company called Oliver and S and they have very cute patterns for children's clothes.

Right now I am working on matching dresses for my daughter and her cousin since they both are turning five this spring. Here is one of them that is done and I am working on the other.

So yeah...I found my motivation and a new hobby that I LOVE~