i want to try

...this:

There's an awesome free-motion quilting tutorial here at Oh, Fransson! (and lots of pretty quilts...check it out).

More to come on my attempts. Wish me luck!

first quilt

My interest in quilts and quilting has been piqued several times, but a couple of Thanksgivings ago, I went with my mother-in-law to a Black Friday sale at Jo-Ann's. While waiting in line, I picked up a quilting book (or magazine or something) showing how people had taken pictures of stunning colors in nature and turned the concept into a quilt design. The quilts were impressive, to say the least, and those photos have stuck in my brain as something I knew I had to find time to get around to sometime.

So here it is, something like two years later, and I've finally finished my first quilt! I didn't use any "nature inspired" themes - I figured for the first one I should keep it simple. I made a baby quilt for my nephew using just square blocks.  I'm embarrassed to say that I started it when he was born as a "welcome to the world" present, but I didn't finish it until last month, so it was a "happy first birthday" present instead. Here's my nephew with his quilt and various other birthday loot. And a cake-face picture, just because it's cute.

The main reason it took me nearly 12 months to finish this sucker is the binding. For some reason, I felt completely overwhelmed by the idea of binding a quilt. I used a pretty basic binding method (following a tutorial on you tube, mostly) that only shows on one side of the quilt. Next time, I think I'd like to use a thicker binding, and one that's visible on both front and back.  My mom helped me a TON with this quilt - even just hanging out with me while I did the sewing was a huge morale boost - and she let me use her sewing machine.

I do have my grandmother's old sewing machine at my house, but haven't used it because the tension is all out of whack. We discovered my mom's has a similar problem, so now that I've worked through the issue on her machine a few times, I think I'm ready to strike out on my own ;)

While trying to figure out what I was doing (patterns, sizing, binding, etc.) I did come across several blogs with great ideas I'd like to use. I'll post some of them on here too. I'm excited to get my sewing machine set up and choose the fabric for quilt number two! Maybe I can finish the next one in less than a year...if I can find someone to help me with the binding...

the garden

The thing about documenting new pursuits is that you can't be shy about where you are in the process, so here we go.  This is the first year I've tried planting my own {very modest} vegetable garden.  The small flowerbed in front of our window (facing east) is really the only available real estate, so space was limited. I put some flowers in front to try and make it pretty as well as functional, but I got the plants in late in the season, I didn't research which flowers would grow best in full sun, and let's be honest, it's my first time so it was bound to be a bit of a mess.

The good news is, the vegetable plants, although still small, seem to be growing and look fairly healthy.  There are even some blossoms on a couple of them.  The flowers on the other hand...well let's just say I know what not to do next year (i.e. wait until late June to plant, buy flowers just because they're on sale without so much as a google search to see whether they'll grow where I'm putting them, and plant too shallowly).

Some of the things I probably did right (because I acted on the advice of my mother who is a fantastic gardener) were prepping the nutrient-depleted soil with compost and peat moss, and planting tomatoes in a sunny spot.

Here's where I am:

Tomatillo, cucumber and tomato plants.  Still alive!  The cucumber is the vine awkwardly planted in the middle of the garden - not sure what I was thinking there.  If I had a do-over, I'd put the cucumber in the corner by the porch instead.  Luckily, there aren't any breathtaking flowers for it to overshadow where it is.

Those spiky-leafed plants that suspiciously resemble weeds are actually flowers that I planted on purpose. I don't know what they were, but they were beautiful.  Were.  For about a week.  Now I think they're just dead. I did try.

I do know what the snapdragons are, but that knowledge didn't do them much good.  I've already pulled out two of them that were completely shriveled, and the rest of them are on their way out.  Maybe it was just too late in the season for them?  Anybody have tips for snapdragons?

You'll notice there is ONE beautiful pink guy in the center.  I like to think he's telling me, "Hey, I'm not dead - you didn't completely fail at beautification. Try again next year."  I'm not sure what he is either, but I'm sure my mom does. Yes?

Notice the little shoots around him - those are my other bright spot of hope.  Some of them, I'm sure, are weeds, but some I think are shoots from the marigold seeds I planted.  I hear those are good for keeping bugs off tomatoes, so I hope they'll keep growing.  When they get a little bigger, maybe I can figure out which ones are just weeds and pull those out.

Here's my plan for the next week or so:

1. Buy stakes or cages for the tomatoes (the little guy on the end is already tipping over)
2. Buy Miracle-gro for the tomatoes (this is at the advice of our neighbors who have a much more impressive garden)
3. Wait for the littlest shoots to get a bit bigger, then separate out the weeds. Any tips on identifying tiny weeds?
4. Adjust my watering schedule.  How much water do tomatoes need?  I've been trying to eye it so far, but I think I've been guilty of both over- and under-watering.

We'll see what happens - we eat a lot of tomatoes at our house and I have salsa plans for those tomatillos if I can keep them alive!

the fledgling hobbyist

I am of the philosophy that a person should always be learning something.  I've tried a lot of things, and really, I can do a lot of things (just ask my mom, she thinks I'm great).  But other than Anne of Green Gables novels and French toast, there are very few things I'm an expert in.  Thus, there are many things I'd like to do better, and even more things I'd like to learn to do at all.

This blog is a place for me to record my trials, errors and successes as I try new things.  It's also a place for me to document inspiration I have for future projects or pastimes. I love tips, ideas and suggestions - leave a comment!