quilt update

Oooof... Feels like a long time since I updated! Partly because it's been awhile since I worked on my quilt, but I'm here with a but of a progress report:

I cut and prepped the center square and finished two more triangles. Seeing this photos helped me decided to be sure and include some pinks, yellows, and orange in the final triangle. I like the fun randomness, but can see a lot of blue and green in the top and right triangle. Hoping to bring a bit of balance with the last one.

Early last week I finished hand stitching the center block. It was so fun and really quite manageable. This gives me hope for the next set of hand stitching - all the squares that make up an inner border. I purchased some grey fat quarters in different shapes and patterns to use for the background. It's also been lovely to have a sewing buddy who has a fantastic stash of scraps to choose from! My supplies are currently housed at Juliann's house since she has a dedicated sewing space. My home is a music studio during the week with students/families coming and going so this allows me to have a bit of freedom in my sewing schedule without having to pack up each evening.

Speaking of quilts, I started quilting my tree quilt! It was a Christmas gift last year so my goal is to have it up on the wall by this December! I hemmed an hawed over the many possibilities for quilting and finally decided to go with hand quilting some wonky stars. I'm doing them in the grey background between branches and they are each a little different.

I'm using grey thread on top and white on the bottom so that the stitches are pretty subtle. I like how the stars pop up without distracting from the fun color blocked tree.

I used chalk to draw the stars free-hand and then mostly followed the shapes on the machine, though in some places I went outside the lines. It's been a fun process and is faster than I'd expected! 

So there are my quilt updates. I'm glad to have a few sewing projects to work on and while it's fun to have a goal, I like that the Jen Kingswell quilt is going to be a longer process. Sewing is a hard hobby for me to fit in weekly, probably due to the lack of space. It is great to have some hand stitching to keep by the couch for evenings. I will admit though, it's about time for a new glasses prescription so my hand stitching has to happen in the morning when the light is good :)

gardening

I've always loved flowers. They brighten up any space quickly! At my wedding we had potted flowers on the tables so they could be planted afterwards, and the outdoor venue was in full bloom.

The bummer though is I've never been good at caring for flowers. I've tried over the years to have hanging baskets, small pots, and various other "apartment friendly" foliage. I'm not exactly sure why i couldn't keep a single plant alive. The closest success I had were a few succulents, but even they didn't last.

This valentine's day my husband said he wanted to get me potted plants. He wanted something that would last longer than cut flowers and could adorn our beautiful and sunny porch. I was equally excited and frightened. How awful would it be when they were dead in 2 weeks :(  I decided to give it a go, be cheerful no matter what and head off to our favorite local nursery.

We spent over an hour in the flower department choosing from the hardiest plants we could find exactly the right color combinations. I came home, planted and watered them and then researched how to make them last.

Over two months later and they are FLOURISHING! I am proud to say they are alive and blooming and they are gorgeous in the lovely sunshine we've had! I have been trying to determine what exactly has been different this time around. Every afternoon when I come home i check on them. I pull out slugs, deadhead any scraggly blooms and check the moisture. It has become a part of my daily routine, to take a look and see what they need. It is so therapeutic to gently sift through the leaves and blooms and assess each pot. When the snails and slug became a bit of a bother, I put tea tree oil around the outside rim of the pots. It seems to be working, though it's probably time for some more.

I just love looking out the window and seeing all the colors. I hope I can keep up with tending to their needs and am excited to think that I am growing in my gardening skills :)  

This past week I got to add two more pots to the bunch! Some flowers for teacher appreciation week and a beautiful ceramic pot with strawberries!  To celebrate I bought a new spray nozzle for the hose. I'm armed and ready to for spring and summer gardening!