Thursday, September 11, 2008

Gardens and Ladybugs

Last week was a pretty horr-ee-blay week. By Friday, my office looked like this.
















My brain looked just about that good, too. I was a chaotic mess. But I shovelled out over the weekend and I feel much better now that order is restored (sort of)!!

And with my usual smooth subject changes...

My garden is winding down. My zucchinis are almost done.... my watermelons are ripening... my cherry tomatoes are getting scarce... It's going to be time soon to replant the whole thing with cooler weather crops.

I'm attending a free composting clinic this weekend and hope to score my own composter at a really good discount. Hopefully by composting and enriching my soil (which is predominantly clay at this point), my garden will produce more and insect control and water requirements will be positively impacted. I am going to try a variation of square foot gardening in some of my borders, and in those raised beds, I hope to try various lettuces, etc.

I gathered a lot of Japanese eggplant yesterday. This is just a few.















I was craving soup and curry....















so the eggplant became the key ingredient in a vegetable curry soup.

Must have done something right, because we inhaled it and I had to make another pot of the exact same soup today, by popular request from the Peanut Gallery!















It is especially good with a spoonful of sour cream stirred in! Yum!

Warning: Another abrupt subject change!

Progress, row by row, on the LadyBug quilt for Le Niece continues. I am deliberately setting the squares so that they form diagonal rows in a sort of rainbow effect. It's not as noticable as I had thought it would be, but anyway, here is a picture of the first couple of rows.















And, last subject change:

I forced myself to begin the Stairway to Hell Project Home Improvement Project #86. The wallpapering commenced today and already, I am not having fun. Whine, whine, whine. Me hates going around those pesky stair edges.

*Frown!*




















But I will perservere. Because I want the entire downstairs to get FINISHED so that I only have to worry about five things in life: eating, sleeping, exercising, chores/work, and getting into my sewing room. Yay!

Okay, I lied. One more subject change. Tomorrow, in an effort to help with the goal of getting the downstairs done and being able to sew more, I'm stocking up on food to cook up some of my OAMC recipes and reload the freezer with conveniently prepared entres. Hopefully, the days I wallpaper or sew, the Peanut Gallery won't starve.

That's my plan, anyway! :)

8 comments:

Yvette said...

I guess I have to take a picture of my office/guest/sewing room to make you feel better. I have no choice but to organize it today or no sewing will be accomplished this weekend.

Your ladybug quilt is sew cute! I had no idea you were working on that. Did you finish your "Winning Circle" quilt yet?

Did you know I can wallpaper too? Shhhhh, don't tell anyone. I retired many years ago. When I saw that you were doing your stairs I cringed. Good luck!!!

Joy said...

Teehee - no, I've not finished my "Winning Circle"!! Maybe next year.... just squeezing this little charm quilt in, between Saturday Sampler blocks, to give my brain a rest....

Do you have any hints to offer about the stairs? The lip of each stair is a bear to trim around and most pieces will have TWO stairs to cut within each piece.... My head hurt after I finished those two pieces yesterday....

I tried making a template of the stair lip and it helped a little but mostly its just a trial and error thing.... with lots of creative cursing and Me Does Not Enjoy It!!

:)

Yvette said...

The only advice I can give you on the stairs is patience. I am not sure if a template would work. I am a paint girl now. SEW MUCH EASIER. Oh, I have retired from painting too. HA!

When you are ready to tackle your "winning Circle" let me know. I am working on a circle quilt now and have been using a foot that is a MUST. NO PINNING!!!!

John's Arts & Crafts said...

Great Blog! perhaps you have not heard the recent news on Ladybugs!
http://www.thebestladybughouse.com/Blog.html

Joy said...

Thanks for the info, John! I had no idea there was a type to avoid!

I love your lady bug house! So cute!

:)

Anonymous said...

The ladybug rows are so very cute!! She is going to LOVE that!! I am so in awe of your wallpapering prowess....that looks awesome (no matter how much cussin or whinin it took!). Great job!

Karene said...

Wow...you have been a busy little bee !!! or is that lady bug...ha,ha,ha !!! Anyway, the ladybug quilt is really cute. Did you notice all the white background squares formed rows....hmmm, I'm sure there was a way to make all the colors form rainbows.....It amazes me how you just can just make your own pattern and just go with it. Truly, in awe of you my friend, truly in awe !!! You do it all.

Love Ya
K-

Joy said...

Yep, in retrospect....hindsight... whatever... I could have turned the squares a bit, and laid them so the colors formed lines just like the white blocks.... sigh. so much for my rainbow idea! Oh well!

Le Niece has seen it on the blog and apparently she likes it just fine, so I shall just carry on... I'm enjoying making it. I keep coming back to these charm quilts every now and then - they are so relaxing to me!

Happy weekend, all!! :)