To help keep me motivated on Dad’s Birthday sweater, I’ve decided to post a weekly check-in on my progress.
So here’s the first one…
It doesn’t look much different than the last time you saw it, so I put Lemmy on it to keep the picture interesting. But despite appearances, I have made a couple inches of progress. It’s now at 15 inches from the underarms, and I need to get it to 18 before I start the ribbing… so I’m closing in on the end of the body… but those long rounds mean its a marathon, not a sprint. Hopefully by next week’s check in, I will have at least started the ribbing – finishing the ribbing by then is probably too optimistic.
By Sunday at noon, I had accomplished a good amount of work in the garden, so I decided to treat myself to an afternoon of sewing in the studio.
The first thing I needed to get out of the way was Burton’s bassinette mattress and pillow. I’d picked up a piece of foam from Walmart last week, so it was just a matter of cutting it to size, and sewing a casing for it and the little pillow.
This was fabric I’d ordered from Spoonflower with the intention to make pillows. I was a little disappointed with the quality of the printing, as it’s a little blurry – not crisp at all. But I didn’t think Burton would mind.
We’ve got the bassinette in the corner of the livingroom right now, and the fabric goes quite well with colours in there.
But of course, Burton is the true judge of the final project.
“It’s much squishier than it was before!!!”
“Ok. I like this!!!
“Okay…. yeah….this is goooood.”
Of course….. now Lemmy wants to know when he gets something cool from the thrift store…
Don’t feel too sorry for him – he’s mostly taken over the chaise.
As I mentioned yesterday, I spent a good part of the weekend outside in the garden. Temps hovered around 25C, and I know there won’t be many days left like that this year.
I’d also been sadly neglecting the gardens the past couple of weeks. Part of that is because I’ve just been constantly on the go, but also because of the mosquitos.
The mosquitos have been absolutely murder this past month. I’m guessing it’s because it was such a wet summer. You could not step out into the yard without being absolutely swarmed. The only way to get anything done without being bitten to death was to practically bathe in OFF.
So even when I had maybe 20 minutes or so to go out and pull a few weeds, I didn’t, because I didn’t want to have to spray myself down, then feel (and smell) bug spray on my skin for the rest of the day.
But this past weekend, their numbers did seem to dwindle a bit (though I did take an OFF shower before going out) , so I decided it was time to tackle that weeding. Plus, I was keen on cleaning out a few parts of Edible Alley.
The peas and the cucumbers have been done for quite a while, so I cleaned out what was left, and cut away all the string trellising I’d put up for them.
I will definitely grow snap peas again next year. Dave loved them, and I surprised myself with how much I loved them too.
While the cucumbers did well, I think I will try an English cucumber next year, just for something a little different.
The tomatoes were still going, but the plants themselves were looking a little sad. I have had MORE than enough tomatoes this year, so I figured I’d pull them too.
I still got about a half-bushel full of ripe ones! Talk about tomato overload! I will definitely be making sure I get cherry or grape tomatoes next year. This was definitely too much!
I also cleaned out the beans. The regular green beans were done. The Chinese Long Beans were still going, but I wasn’t really fond of them. Dave said he’d eat them, but every time I picked some and brought them in, they just sat there. I won’t be planting more next year. They were a fun experiment and grew really well, but I think I’ll stick to just regular bush beans next year
The carrots I left where they were…. well… I pulled one.
They are still quite small. These are the ones that got planted much later. I don’t think they will get too much bigger, but I figure I have time to give them another week or two to grow as big as they can.
The carrot patch looks rather wild and crazy right now! Those marigold have just gone crazy over the last couple of months.
And of course, the squash are still growing.
We will eat it this week. I still have two more of a good size on the vine. There are a couple new ones, but I don’t think they will have time to grow and ripen before the frost hits. Still, with the two big ones still on the vine, that’s four squash this season – which is just fine in my book! These got planted a little late too.
But it’s not just veg in the Alley.
The strawberries are smaller, but all the plants are still producing. I picked a few for me…
And left a few for whoever has been munching away on them in the night.
I’ve also got raspberries! At the townhouse, my raspberries always grew nice and tall on their own. But here they seem to just flop about. I will work on some proper supports next spring, but for now I banged in a few stakes and tied things up.
And as I did, I discovered I had quite a few ripe berries! I ate all the red ones before I thought to take a picture.
But I did get a pic of the golden ones. They were a gift from the neighbor last year, and they’ve done really well. They are a touch less tart than the red ones. I’m hoping to get enough next year to make a batch of jam from them.
And there’s still lots more of both the red and yellow to come!
And last…
The catnip that took so long to start from seed this summer has finally filled out and come in!
Yesterday I was out in the garden, which have been grossly neglected these past few weeks. As I was working away, clearing out part of Edible Alley, and all of a sudden, I heard drums… and bagpipes.
The local fair is on this weekend, and I’d forgotten all about the parade to the fair grounds. I’m not big on parades, but I do love pipe bands. I ran into the house to get my big camera with the long lens, because the parade route goes up the street behind the house.
I got back out with the camera just in time to snap some pics from the back fence.
Three pipers led the way.
Followed by the rest of the band.
There’s just something about a pipe band. I hear those pipes, and drums, and I’m instantly transported to another time. Or maybe I’ve just watched to many historical re-enactments!
Either way – they were fabulous. They are the Forest Legion Pipe Band – Forest being a small town about 3 minutes north of us.
And following the pipers came the rest of the parade. Here are some highlights.
Old and new Firetrucks
Several old farm tractors. There were a few modern tractors too, but I like the old ones much better!
The Alvinston Pro Rodeo had a cute little chuck wagon
The horses were so pretty!
And there were several old cars
But there was one I loved most of all!
A baby pink truck!!! How perfect for me!! How I’d love to get my hands on THAT beauty!
Soon enough though, the parade was over. But it was a nice little interlude in my outdoor work day. (More on that tomorrow)
I shared my violets last week, but those aren’t my only indoor bloomers.
I have a fairly large Goldfish plant hanging in the bedroom window. It hasn’t bloomed since we moved, but I noticed the other day it has one small goldfish on it now! I see signs of a couple others, so I expect it will soon be covered. It’s been a pretty prolific bloomer in the past.
Last summer, I had all my Christmas cactuses on the porch, unfortunately in places where they didn’t get much light. Then over winter, a few of them got neglected due to over-crowding and as a result, not only did I not get any flowers last year, I’ve also had to nurse several of them back to health.
So I really wasn’t expected much by way of flowers this year. But then I noticed one of the little pieces I’d managed to save on the front window…
It’s got one pretty little bud. Since I did some repotting, I wasn’t sure what colours were where, but this one appears to be the pretty salmon one I had. I’m glad – because this one is my absolute favourite. I’ve never seen another one like it.
The other Christmas cactuses are all showing new growth, which is good, but I suspect this will be the only one to bloom this year.
When I was at Mom’s, I stopped at the big nursery by her place to get some little plants for the fun pots Sam brought me (more on those in a minute).
While there I got seduced by the orchids. I only planned to buy one… they had a beautiful striped one (I’ve never seen striped orchids before), but they didn’t have it in the smaller pots in my price range. So I opted for this one.
The markings reminded me of a pansy.
But then…. as I was on my way to the check out, I spied a clearance rack… and on it….
One of those striped orchids! And in a bigger size than the pricier ones I saw earlier! I have no idea why it was on the clearance table, but since it was such a good deal, I snapped it up! I don’t feel bad about buying TWO orchids either, because all of my other orchids are still alive. In fact, I just gave some fresh bark/soil stuff to a couple, and they seem even happier now.
And one of them…
Notice anything odd about that bloom stem. Back in March, I accidentally broke it off when trying to get a picture of the flower. (i was so upset!) I left the stem to dry before I cut it like you do when all the blooms are spent! But then a few months ago, I noticed, it was growing another stem off of it!!! I had no idea they would do that! It’s taken months to grow… but it’s pretty darn amazing!
The weather is still quite comfortable, but there’s a definite chill in the air.
And it’s not the only sign of cooler days on the horizon…
Rupert has started cocooning again!
I’m also happy to report his incision has healed up beautiful and the fur is finally starting to grow back in. He does have quite the scar, but his fur will cover it soon enough.
I took the Gone Fishin’ sock with me on my weekend trip. While I’m busy during the day, quilting, I need something to keep my hands busy in the evenings after dinner.
Saturday night, Dad and I watched Atomic Blonde*, and I knit, knit, knit.
As a result, by the time I got home on Sunday, I had only the toe to finish. That was done Monday night.
And so the first sock is done! Now I just need to start the second… though I really should go work on that darn grey sweater first….
*Good movie, lots of violence with a woman kicking butt – just what I like!
Way back when we were helping to clean out Dave’s Grandma’s house, we brought a little piece of Dave’s family history home with us.
It’s the sign that used to hang at the end of the driveway of the farm his grandparents owned in the mid-late 70s. Sadly, a drunk driver hit his grandfather’s car, putting an end to their time at the farm after just a few short years, as his grandfather’s injuries meant he was no longer able to work the farm. They sold and moved back to Mississauga.
But Dave’s earliest (and some of his most favourite) memories are from the farm. We intend to put the sign up in the dining room whenever we get it finished. But since that’s likely to be years away, I thought of something I could do for him in the mean time.
You may recall that I have two old metal milk cans, one of which came from Dave’s grandma’s house (and may or may not be from the farm – we can’t be sure). I painted them white, with the intention of decorating them and putting them in the garden.
My plan was to hand paint the goat on the one from his Grandma’s…. but then I remember Paisley had a Cricut! So when I was at Mom’s on the weekend, I put her to work.
She took the picture of the sign, and turned it into vinyl cutouts I could stick on the can!
And I think it turned out incredibly well! As soon as I brought it home and showed Dave, he took a picture and sent it to his Mom. She was the one who made the original sign (hand cut at that time!), so she was thrilled to see this.
Dave’s given it a really good thick coat of clear to protect it from the elements, but I’m going to wait until next spring to put it in the garden. There’s only a month or so of the growing season left out there, so there’s no point exposing it now.
Now I just have to decide what to put on my other can! I think that will be a project for this winter.
Working on my secret project wasn’t my only goal this weekend. Today is Mom’s birthday, so I also went to celebrate with her.
I popped down to the grocery store in my old neighbourhood and got her a birthday cake.
They make the best cakes and have the best icing and I’ve missed them so much since I’ve moved. Paisley (who’s back with my parents for the school year), Dad and I took Mom out for dinner as well.
And remember those foxes I stitched so long ago…
That was Mom’s birthday present. It was such and odd shape, I couldn’t find a frame for it, so I bit the bullet and got it professionally framed. It cost and arm and a leg, but it looks amazing – and Mom loved it, so it was definitely worth it!
I was at Mom’s for the weekend (working on a secret thing I can’t tell you about), but before I left, I had a little project I wanted to take with me.
You see, Miss Winnie has recently taken over Jem and Chevy’s dog house…
Whenever Mom and Dad take her outside, she loves to hangout in the dog house. I thought she needed to stake her claim officially, so I got out my paints
When I arrived, I presented Dad (and Winnie) with it, and he put it right on the dog house.
Wandering Cat Studio 