We had a mostly lazy weekend and I don’t feel like I really accomplished much of what I wanted. But Burton and I spend a good part of Sunday tackling a task I’ve been been putting off.

Some long overdue alterations to some recent dress purchases.

There’s a store, that I love, called Torrid. They make beautiful, stylish clothing for plus-sized ladies like me. And quite a few of them are made from 100% cotton – which I don’t need to tell you, can be very hard to find these days. They also put POCKETS in most of their dresses. And let me tell you, I’m never buying a dress without pockets EVER again!!!!

So when I get a dress delivered, and it’s not quite right, I’m more than willing to make some alterations to make it suit me better. (And thankfully capable, thanks to a Mom who taught me how to ply a needle and thread)

This dress is a prime example. I’m not a super big fan of halter next dresses. I find the bother my neck. Otherwise, I absolutely loved the style, and the print. So I bought this dress knowing that I could turn those ties into two regular shoulder straps pretty easily. What I wasn’t so sure of was that opening at the back. Don’t get me started on WHY it’s open at the back… let alone on a plus-size dress. But I tried to have an open mind and see how it looked on my body. In the end, it did exactly what I thought it would do, and highlighted my back chub in the MOST unflattering way. So it got sewn up by hand, as well.

On not one, but TWO versions of the dress (green floral and this lovely dark purple). The dress is much more wearable now.

The next dress was a little easier. I bought this dress last year in a different print. While I absolutely love it and feel like a total princess in it, the big bows on my shoulders just looked silly, not to mention they drove me nuts, catching on my hair, earrings, anything that got near them. I turned them into regular straps instead of tie up straps, and the dress was absolutely perfect. When this print came up last month, I just had to have it too. So like the first, one, I turned those tie up straps into solid, sewn straps.

This next dress is part of their “Retro Chic” line. It’s green, and covered in cute little foxes. Of course, I had to have it! I have several dresses from this line, and love them all (they also make crinolines to wear under them to give them extra poof so of course, I bought a few colours.) But for some unfathomable reason, they decided NOT to put strap adjusters on this one. It wasn’t a surprise that the straps were too long for me, but at least it was an easy fix.

This last dress is the third one I’ve bought in this style (I have a turquoise floral and a black/brown plaid). And while the dress is super cute, classic and oh-so-wearable, they all have the same problem – the back hangs too low, showing the top of my bra strap. And while I can’t see it unless I look in the mirror, knowing it’s showing drives me absolutely crazy. The fix involved unpicking the casing on each sleeve at the neckline, shortening the elastic, and sewing it all back up. Easy enough, but very time consuming.

So, that’s five new dresses to add to my closet, already overflowing with dresses. But the one who dies with the most dresses wins, right?

I didn’t get quite as far as I’d hoped on my little Woodland Fairy

But I did get that first wing filled in. To be honest, I spent a fair amount of time dithering over colours to use. I went off script from the very start, using whatever I had in my floss box.

It’s a fair departure from the original, but I quite like it. Of course, looking at them side by side made me realize, I’d completely forgotten about the deer! It’s not just one wing and the fox and then I’m done.. there’s a deer too! Oh dear!

Don’t tell Burton though…

The four colours of Essex Linen we ordered for our next project came in on Friday. And as you can see, he’s eager to begin. I guess he’ll just have to wait a little while longer!

Miss Freya arrived on Thursday evening, as scheduled.

She hung out under the dining room table until she got her bearings. But it didn’t take her long to start bossing the boys around, before making a beeline for the catio.

The catio is definitely her happy place!

Lemmy, of course, kept a very close eye on her, to make sure she didn’t disturb any of his favourite plants.

With her settled in, Dave and I headed out to get some groceries and dinner. And while we were having dinner, I got a text from Freya’s Dad. Sadly, they had to cancel their trip. They were headed to B.C, and the current state of the wild fires made heading that way a bad idea. He said he’d be home on the weekend and would pick the little Miss up when he got settled and unpacked again.

In the end, he picked her up late Saturday afternoon, so we only got her company for about 48 hrs. But we loved every minute of it.

Freya’s Dad is hoping to reschedule the trip in a few weeks or so, fires depending. So we will get more time with her, even is this visit was short and sweet.

While the veg garden has definitely had it’s ups and downs, things are looking pretty good here mid august.

On my last veg post, Dee remarked that she didn’t realize zuchinis start out fuzzy. Indeed they do! And they grow fast. Here’s that same zuchini – just a week later! A day or so away from picking size!

The Bird House Gourds start out fuzzy too. In fact, every part of this plant is soft and fuzzy! It’s really the most lovely plant. And it looks like we may end up with a bumper crop of gourds!

My cabbages are getting prettier and prettier by the day. As you can see, they are starting to take on almost a seafoam green colour. I bought these as starters from the garden centre, and I have no idea what variety they are! Apparently this is normal though… According to google: “Almost all purple cabbage varieties (such as ‘Red Acre’ or ‘Ruby Ball’) naturally grow with greenish, slate-gray, or dusty blue outer wrapper leaves. These large outer leaves act as solar panels to photosynthesize and feed the plant.”

They are starting to get a nice, tight little head in the centre.

Cucumber production is a bit slow, but Cucamelon is not! I’m getting a little bowl full of these guys pretty much every day. I told KathyB last week that Cucamelons are a great alternative to growing cucumbers if you don’t have a lot of space. Put them in a pot, add a small trellis for them to grow up and they will be happy as a clam! They are great for salads – just slice them in half, throw them in – they are the perfect size! (and you may recall, you can also pickle them!)

The Swiss Chard got off to a very slow start, but it’s starting to look better now.

You will recall that I lost the first crop of peppers, but they have bounced back and I now have three. They are still small, but it’s better than nothing!

And we have tomatoes… they aren’t ripe yet, but they are there! I’d say they are only about a week or so behind where tomatoes usually are here (at least in my experience).

The most recent carrots have been… interesting.

While they are nice and thick… they are very short! I thought this might be down to variety…. but it looks like it’s more likely down to watering. AS you know, there’s hasn’t been a lot of rain. I have been watering, but apparently not deeply enough. That means they didn’t grow down, but instead stayed near the surface where there was more moisture. Something to keep in mind for next year.

It doesn’t affect their taste – just the length!

And last…

Here’s a quick melon check in! The three beauties on the ladder are growing nicely!

Here are my favourite things blooming right now.

My “Marina” blue Rose of Sharon. I’ve said before I’m not a big fan of Rose of Sharon, but this blue one has been an exception since the moment I spied it at the garden centre. I’m so glad I bought it.

“Velvet Queen” sunflowers are always a favourite!

I mentioned in my critter post that all the Butterfly Bushes are in bloom. Here we have (L-R) Queen of Hearts, Princess Pink, and Buzz Lavender. Not seen are Royal Red, Black Knight and White Profusion.

The first flush of Red Hot Pokers is done. I cut the off and we often get this second flush. They are usually shorter, lesser, but just as vibrant. I acutally picked up two more on clearance and planted them in the front gardens – they are one of the plants that get the most comments from neighbours. Everyone wants to know what they are!

The Common Milkweed, and Swamp Milkweed are done blooming, but this orange one (commonly known as Butterfly Weed) is just getting started. It’s much smaller than the other two, but it’s just as pretty.

My one and only hydrangea is blooming. Hydrangea is another plant I’m not super font of… but this one, called Little Lime Light is definitely an exception. It starts off bright white then slowly changes to a very vibrant pink. It’s fascinating. It’s also the perfect plant for the edge of the yard just under the maple.

I showed these Strawberry Blonde Marigolds last week. And I just love them more and more each day! I am definitely going to be saving seeds.

I’ve got a few late-blooming Stargazer Lilies. It’s hard to get showier than these guys!

And last… the first Maypop (Native Passionflower) has bloomed! There’s still a pink one to come, but isn’t that white one a stunner? Mother Nature really outdid herself with this plant! These were by far my most expensive plant purchase this year (almost $40 each) but this makes it all worth it!

There’s just something so magical about orange cats outside.

Maybe it’s how well they go with all the green in the yard!

And… in other exciting news!

The Marshmallow has returned!!!

Freya is here for two weeks while her Dad drives to B.C. and back!

When I don’t have much crafting to post about, I can always count on my garden friends for content.

These little Geometer Moths are very common around here (the cats love to chase them in the catio at night) but this is the first time one has ever landed on my dress.

Not as common is this big guy…

Sadly, this is the best pic I could get in the waning light… but this is a Pandora Sphinx Moth! We’ve seen a few of these guys flying around this year – but only at night! And as you can tell by that day lily bloom he’s checking out – he’s a big one!

These little Northern Crescents are plentiful here (one of their host plants is asters, of which I have many, so that’s probably why)

And I’ve noticed they seem to prefer orange and yellow flowers.

I’d say the most plentiful butterfly this year have been Hackberry and Tawny Emperors.

For some reason they are often hanging upside down.

This is the first Fiery Skipper I’ve seen this year

All the Butterfly Bushes are in bloom, so I expect we’ll see more and more butterflies as the month rolls on.

The Monarchs have been here in full force for a couple months now. Though interestingly I haven’t seen that many caterpillars.

Same with the Cabbage Whites…

But thankfully, they haven’t seem to bother my cabbages!

As always, the spiders have been plentiful

Though most are pretty small. This lovely little Orb Weaver was smaller than a dime!

These guys are a fair bit bigger!

I know these Great Black Wasps make some people nervous, but I find them to be pretty gentle, happily going about their business. I love their shimmery blue wings.

Last, I’ll leave you with one of our favourite feathered friends…

The finches love the coneflowers! They look to big to be able to perch on those spikey cones.. but they aren’t! They serve as landing pad and snack station, all in one!

Burton would like you to know he did his very best to get me to complete the second seed stitch sock

But his very best wasn’t good enough I’m afraid.

We finished the leg, got through the heel and just managed to squeak out the gusset. But that was all we could accomplish before today. I do believe I will have an FO post for you next week though! Burton is going to try again to keep me working tonight!

Burton is very pleased with the progress we are making on our Woodland Fairy

We got quite a bit filled in on her wings.

There’s A LOT of colour changes so it doesn’t move super fast. There’s still one other wing to do after this, and then Mr Fox…

… but I’ve just ordered the fabric I need for the next stitching project…

A/C repair men come today! Keep your fingers crossed for us!

As I mention on Friday, Dave put a window a/c in the living room window. It kept the main floor at a reasonable temperature all weekend, but upstairs is still very warm. Too warm to be in the studio for any amount of time. And since my office is now downstairs on the dining room table (because of the heat, and in prep for starting renos on my office), I couldn’t do any rage crafting there. I did do some knitting, and cross stitching of course, but I don’t have a lot to show off this week.

Sunday, I decided we needed to get out of the house so we headed down to Chatham. As it was Sunday, the majority of our thrift stores were closed. But we did hit a garage sale on the way home where I found Dave a new project to keep him busy.

A very heavy wooden bench made from an antique spindle bed! While we were out, we found some cushions that fit it perfectly! So he’s got some work ahead of him, scraping, sanding and giving it a new paint job.

I, on the other hand, had to give some overdue attention to the catio!

It was a literal jungle out there with both paths completely blocked! I spent a very sweaty evening out there, but I finally got it under control.

I can finally get down the paths, which is especially important when bad cats don’t want to come in at night and I have to go out and pick them up!

“Madame, I have no idea what you’re talking about…”