Quite well, thank you.

Mary, Mary quite contrary how does your garden grow?
Blossoms on two of the tomato plants and the jalapeno, lots of growth on the green beans and even a new navy bean plant that sprouted from a bean taken from our pantry... the littlest gardener has high hopes for this fall's garden.

Half Way There

The top is done, borders and all. I found a pretty blue for the backing, which I still need to piece. And then, its time for a deep breath, lots of basting and some machine quilting. I'm hoping I can be ready for that on Saturday, when the OMQG has its monthly Sew Day. I could use the moral support - and the advice.

Tweet Painting

Inspired by something I saw on pinterest (dangerous place that), I made this little piece of art this afternoon. It was just a practice piece that didn't have a home when I painted it. But, when I brought it in I realised it works perfectly on the bare nail in my sewing room. Serendipity.

Obviously, I didn't use vinyl letters like the original creator. I cut out my image and glued it down with tacky glue. This technique may take some perfecting. I definitely had bleeding in a few places. I also had trouble getting the paper off after painting, and in some spots the canvas primer came off. Because I'd used an image that doesn't require precise edges, it was easy enough to do a careful touch up with white paint. If I ever do one with words, I will definitely use the vinyl letters.

Also, I love the idea of doing this with your kids. 14 months? Not so much. She was much more interested in banging on the canvas with her toy than painting anything. We'll do some together when she's a little older.

New Adventures

The quilt is chugging along, 5 out of 7 rows together now. I know I hate putting the rows together, so as I get each row finished I'm attaching them. Almost ready for the borders.

But, in the meantime, I've finally got a garden box. I did quite a bit of research and got some expert advice, but in the end we kept it really simple. Hopefully, not too simple.
With my father-in-law's help, I built a simple 4'x8'x12" frame (no bottom) and filled it with five layers of cardboard. I've been saving boxes for awhile for this! My garage looks much cleaner now that I've finally used them.

The toddler made sure we included lots of love in the garden.
We then collected rich compost from the county dump. You need a shovel, a truck and a strong back, but this is incredible stuff.
And we filled it to the brim with nothing but rich, earthy compost. Yum.
And then, with Sprite's help, I planted three types of tomatoes, petite peppers, jalapeno peppers and bush beans. Yeah! I'm going to try starting my garden from seed later, but since I was cutting it close for a fall garden I went with transplants for now.

Decisions I might come to regret include not sinking posts for the box and not using a weed mat. I deferred to my father-in-law on the posts, and I do have reason to believe he knows what he's doing. I'm just hoping we don't get a hurricane that proves him wrong. And, I decided not to bother with a weed mat having read the layers of cardboard were sufficient. The cardboard will decompose, though, and while the grass should be long gone I'm not clear on what happens with the nematodes. If they find their way in to my garden, I may find myself digging it out to put a weed mat down.

But, for now, Sprite and I have an exciting new garden.