Stitch Rabbit

While We Were Away

 

 

While we were away I got some serious work done on my knitting. A trip away from all the other work aroud the studio and yard gave me some good dedicated time to knitting projects and the last quarter of Book Three of Game of Thrones. (hooked, but it's an exhausting read, and often the last on my to do list)

 

While we were away it seems the garden was busying itself as well. I love going away for a few days and upon returning finding tiny surprises everywhere. After a good few days of a real sunny blast of weather, I came home with the kids today to discover a multitude of true spring miracles. It doesn't cease to amaze me every spring, that while I'm not looking the earth sprouts new life for yet another year.

 

Outside, the welcome of spring warmth had done it's job in coaxing tiny sprouts out of the ground. I had been worrying over my sugar peas drowning in the rain, but today they were here, and I was so pleased I dropped our bags at the door and grabbed a pack of seeds and planted another row.

 

Trillium! I love these little white tri-petal beauties, a precious little flower that never stays long enough.

The raspberries survived a transplant, and the peonies as well. Soon enough we will have hearty vines and big red blossoms.

Inside the house a few more discoveries lay in waiting. A skein of cotton that had been soaking in a dye bath, and a yard of cotton I had dip-dyed and left to dry. Both greys were made with cutch and iron and the yellow with turmeric.

 

The indoor seedlings survived and really took off while I was away. Pumpkins, squash, tomatoes and broccoli, as well as a few herbs and dye plants.

 

And of course the long-awaited arrival of the pepper plants.

 We also brought home our own signs of spring... pussy willows from the top of Myra Canyon, picked in the bright sun with snow under our feet.

Tiny Seeds, Tiny Hands, Tiny Victories

 

 

Our seeds are in! This year my most curious helper is Charlie. I remember Frankie at just over three completely engrossed in the wonders of the garden, and now it's Charlie's turn and I couldn't be happier. We've been spending our days together in and out of the house when the sun comes out, poking holes in the dirt and dropping seeds in with careful little fingers.

 

 

I'm planning the garden carefully this year, as our tiny yard simply can't hold my big dreams and I'm now trying a better hand at succession planting, hoping to gain full spring, summer and then fall crops from the same boxes and beds.

 

The windows are once again filled with gathering trays of tiny seedlings, and while I am still not that technical of a gardener, I do believe I am ready for a few simple grow lights. Still, the early spring sun has coaxed a few trays of wonders from the dirt, much to the delight of my little boy. Every morning I find him perched on a chair, peeking at the tiny victories he had planted.

 

 

Teaching him about the cycle of the seasonal vegetable, flower and herb and seeing him really listen, really ask, and really observe is one of my favorite parenting moments. I knew it was truly sinking in when I found him outside on his hands and knees looking curiously at the garden. He had found the very beginnings of our peonies before I had even discovered them myself.

It's going to be a good spring. I can see it in his smile.

 

 

 

Come In Like a Lion

 

 

After what seemed like an entire river rained down on us this week, waking up to the sun and bluebird sky on Sunday was the perfect remedy to this cabin-fever Mama.

Our yard has been a construction site for weeks as we rebuild and relocate most parts of the garden, transplanting perennials to new corners, building beds and our very lovely new patchwork deck. All this plus pouring rain plus mud plus kids and dog has equalled a very trying time keeping all of the outside from tracking through all of the inside.

So this very sunny, very dry day was precisely what I needed to warm my back as I dug in the yard and warm the earth that is really truly almost ready for planting.

The seeds have been ordered, the tables are covered in garden books and pots of tulips and narcissus and seedling trays and pots are growing in numbers in my south-facing windows, ready to begin again.

Bring on spring.

 

Progress and Sunshine

 

Litt bits of encouragement in the form of finished fences and boxes, and plenty of worms.

 

Satisfaction and reward comes in the form of a cold beer and garden catalogues, and a hot, hot bath every single night. Planning out my seeds and spaces for the coming spring. Dreaming of all the green.

 

 

The Garden Project.

 

It's the kind of thing that could make me panic, but we've gone into it headfirst and have hardly looked up from our shovels.

We're completely reworking our yard. Front and back. Ripping out old boxes and beds, moving entire gardens from back to front and front to back, digging up and relocating perennials, building fences and transforming our outdoor space completely.

I want a garden space that is much more usable, and can hold a lot more. Along with our seasonal vegetables and fruits I am in need of even more space to coax new plants out of the ground all in the name of natural dyeing.

It's been a very hard-working week. Everything is covered in mud, the kids, the dog, the house. The laundry, the house chores, the knitting, the sewing... everything else is being (almost) completely ignored in a quest for a more workable garden.

The kids are in heaven, of course, filthy and happy. Outdoors from sun up to sun down, rain or shine, sharing sandwiches outside and barely making it through a nightly scrub down before crashing in their beds, dirt still under their fingernails, with me not far behind.

Everywhere signs of spring are showing as we unearth bulbs and new beginnings.

 

It's been a very, very long week. And the very best start to spring.

 

 

 

 

 

Putting On The Pants

June 1st couldn't have come at a better time. 30 Dresses in 30 Days is officially over, and it coincides with the day I have to pull on the proverbial big-girl pants in the family. The summer in film has officially begun and so far the calender is booked for the entire month of June and well, well...well, pretty much all of July... and I guess August is booked now too. This means pretty much single parenthood for me. I can hear the collective sigh of film spouses all over the city.... in fact, I'm considering starting a Film Wives Club, complete with boozy meetings in my backyard while the children play.

 

From The Archives: "Let It Come Out Of My Hands"

The good news is that I get a lot of shit done in the summer. I go into work mode and knock a lot of my list. The first thing I'm going to do is move part of my studio from the basement to my bedroom. Really sad to say I just stopped going down there. The weather got nice and the dark damp basement turned into the last place I wanted to go. So I think I'll bring up one machine on a table, a cutting mat on a table and stock the empty dresser in my bedroom full of necessities. Conveniently, this old house has a built in wall ironing board already in the bedroom. Doesn't get better than that. The rest can stay downstairs. I have barely sewn a stitch since making a puppy bed for Lucy and it's time to get down to business.

 

From the Archives: "A Photo Tour of A Day Alone"

I am practicing (ahem) wild gardening this year. Due to the fact that we got a puppy who has yet to understand the boundries of Mommy's garden, I decided to "carefree plant" this year, paying very little attention to what and where seeds were going, and what was happening with them other than to water. Turns out ignoring my seedlings almost entirely has worked out. Almost everything is thriving. If it continues this way and I recieve a nice bounty you can expect a book out early next spring called "The Lazy Gardener with a Puppy Gets Lucky".

Really, I am hoping for some bounty, but I also want to focus more on another part of the gardening world this year, which is canning. My backyard is too small to really grow the quantities I would need to really seriously can. (Besides the wildly overgrown blackberry bushes) But buying flats of fruit and vegetables from the country roadsides has enough of the charm and nostalgia in it for me to enjoy buying and canning immensely. I've done simple jams and canned fruit in the past, but I have never pickled a thing in my life and I have no idea what else goes on in the canning world. I'd like to give it a go. Are any of you canning? Any advice or good canning recipes?

 

 

 

Picking Up Steam (Outdoor Dreams)

August is here and finally the weather is (somewhat) cooperating. Though it isn't the hot hot heat we should be having, at least some of springs hard work is rearing it's delightful payoff.

It's about time. And I'm finally feeling good enough to get out into the yard and do some work! It doesn't take long for the garden to become unruly, and I've spent bits and pieces of the last few days cleaning up the weeds, the overgrown and the desperate to be picked.

I love being in my garden. While the work is endless and it can behave like an unruly child, it is somewhere I love to be. I dream of the day (sometime soon, I hope) that we will have a bigger outdoor space, one in which I don't have to plan so carefully who is first in line for the sunniest spot and carefully guard my early spring beds from feet and balls and misguided two year olds with shovels. I'd like to have beds dedicated to singular plants, and it be enough to harvest and hoard over the winter, as well as share with neighbors.

I'd like to have a garden in the front so full of perennials that I could pick bouquets every day and fill the rooms of my house with the flowers I grow.

I'd like to use chicken wire for more than decorative purposes. I'd like to use it to keep chickens.

 

In the meantime, in our urban yard in this urban landscape, I am happy and dreaming for tomorrow.

 

A Photo Tour of A Day Alone.

A day to myself. The kids and Gabriel were eating pancakes before I even opened my eyes. They were dressed and out the door before I had sipped my first coffee. Suddenly, the parade had left...and it was quiet. I peeked into the sewing room, hummed and hawed over the state of the floors and poked around the house a bit, but it was the weeds that were on my mind.

I pulled on my favorite jeans, the ones covered in earth and paint and God knows what. I grabbed my hat and my gloves and went outside. With the sun on my back I got to it. The peace in digging and pulling and hauling. I spent the entire day head down in the flowers and veggies. Here is the day through my lens.

A first thing in the morning ritual, looking to the ocean skies and if they are not grey or black and threatening rain, I hang the laundry on the line. I do this most mornings, and think of my mother and her mother and her mother almost every time.

 

Second morning ritual, which somehow takes second over laundry hanging. Coffee. Our machine is a Pavoni, a lever press and the love of my life. Next to my family.

 

Third morning ritual, after coffee. Inspect the garden with coffee in hand. I think I get this from my mom, who I remember doing this too. Inspecting garden beds while drinking coffee. Look for anything new, check up on the growing, and tsk tsk anything getting eaten or sending an SOS... put it on your list.

 

 

Get to it girl. You got time to yourself.

 

 

 

 

Okay, coffee break...

 

 

 

 

You didn't really think I'd spent my entire day alone working did you? A girl's gotta have some downtime.

Just me.

 

 

Easy in the Summertime

There hasn't been a lot of indoor time now that the sun is shining. I love that my kids are at the age where they can fling open the back door first thing in the morning, and don't come back in till dinner time. Being outdoors makes for happy, tired sun-kissed kids and for happy, tired sun-kissed moms as well.

 

 

I will be back on the Pfaff this weekend though. I've got birthday gifts and wedding attire to get to...

Hope you all have a great weekend!

 

 

 

Reasons Why There is Happiness Here.

I spent my weekend mornings like this.

 

My garden is growing. Slowly, finally. While I can't seem to convince a cucumber or squash plant to make more than a few inches of an appearance, my tomatoes and peppers are thriving.

 

There is sewing in my sails again. In the form of summer nighties for little girls.

 

I hooked my brother and sister-in-law into Friday Night Lights. Now I finally have someone to discuss what's been going down in Dillon with.

I made a big mistake in my knitting and had to rip it almost to the beginning. What made me happy is that it was only one panel and not the entire sweater.

I am caught up on laundry. For today.

 

This is gonna be a good week. I know it.

 

 

 

Spring Bags Are Exactly What I Needed

There is nothing quite like bare bums in the spring (not mine, the wee ones thank you very much) Bare feet on the cold grass and warm sun coloring their little dirty faces. My neighbors think I'm a lunatic for letting my children run around without their pants on but hey - it's spring. Let's DO this.

After a day of turning dirt and ripping weeds, there is also nothing like a cold beer after the freshly scrubbed children are tucked in their bed. Gooooodnight tired babes.

* * *

Now, onto the sewing: I made a version of the Pleated Tote Tutorial by Thimble I posted about earlier this week. It's a great bag. For anyone humming and hawing over what kinda easy, casual spring bag to make - I vote this one. It's super roomy, the pleats are cute and it's a great sling-over-your-shoulder-and-head-to-the-park kinda bag. I've already test-drove it to the park. Twice. Please pay no attention to my rushed zigzag attempt at fixing a mistake two minutes before heading to said park. I didn't have time to pull the bag inside out and fix the seam. So I zigzaged it. Don't tell me you haven't done that before, it happens. It makes it unique.

The pleats are cute, hey?

 

 

Flinging Open The Doors and Windows

I have nothing sewing related, knitting related or craft related to share with you. Not a stitch. I haven't even taken photos of my kids these past few days. Where have I been? What else could I possibly be doing?

Well, I don't want to torture anybody east of the very west coast here....but I've been in my garden. For the past three days. Rain or shine, we've had em both...but when it's shining....it's bloody glorious. It only takes about a half a sunny day for west coasters to remember exactly why they love living on the west coast. Pure beauty.

The turn in the weather, the spring equinox, the "Super Moon"...whatever it is, or the mix of all three... I've been busting my butt from (early) morning till night. Diapers on the line, freshly turned garden beds, seedlings in every window, and a smile on my pretty little face. The kids are happy too. Frankie got up at 7:00 the other morning and by 7:15 she was outside and up a tree. I no longer have to hold a shrieking baby down to pile layer upon layer of wool just so he can step outside for a minute. The windows are open, the doors are open. I even piled the winter woolens, the extremely large pile of scarves and hats and cowls and mitts, the winter boots, the snow pants and the jackets, folded them and shoved them into their bins, shipped them downstairs and rid them of us for at least three glorious seasons. Good riddance. (Though I know I'll be craving them come fall....I love me some winter woolens)

And so onto the work that is our garden. This year, I hope will be a prosperous one. I spent a lot of last growing season helplessly unavailable to the many seeds and seedlings I threw out there, with a baby and all (poor baby, getting blamed for Mama's overgrown garden) Our yeild was good, but I didn't have the time to preserve a lot. This year will be a new year, one for growing and nurturing and teaching the wee ones all there is to know about the beauty and possibilities of growing your own.

I assure you, I won't be gone, or even slow down. Nor will I put down a needle and thread or some knitting sticks anytime soon...heaven forbid I have idle hands in the night. But these last three days have wiped me from any kind of energy at all come darkness....except to sit and admire my broken dirty fingernails and dirty jeans and to listen to my ratty-haired, tree-climbing garden children snoring in their bed.

 

 

Easy Sunday

What happens here, any day and every day.

 

 

Turning The Earth

We've been a busy family of rabbits getting the ground ready for springtime planting. I've got my seed pots ready, my seeds sorted, my seed list done, more rain barrels ready, the boxes are made and being made and a load of manure on it's way. Well done family, you make your mama proud.

Repurposing Our Days and Gates

 

After a few too many days being cooped up indoors with books and children, I was starting to feel a little blue. A little housebound, and a little bored. In a tiny house with two kids who talk non-stop, a husband on a work break and joined at my hip and nothing but rain, rain rain....it was time to mix it up a little.  Finally the clouds broke and at last there was sunshine. Two and a half days of liquid "purpose to get out of your PJ's". You haven't seen me here because I've been busy loading up this guy:

 

Pulling away the dead to discover snowdrops and daffodils - already and at last, all at the same time.

 

Gabe and I have been talking raised beds for a few years now, and we're doing it this year. We found these beautiful old wooden gates yesterday for free and cut them up for boxes.

 

Along with the gates was a pile of great old green planks, nothing a little nail-pullin won't fix. Good as new.

 

Once the boxes were made and the old garden dug up and trenched (my job) we filled our new boxes with soil and laid straw down around for foot traffic. Keeps the weeds down too.

 

There's some good space between them so I have room for pots of tomatoes to hang out, who are getting kicked out of their usual spot this year.

 

 

We also found some old dresser drawers with all our woodly bounty. We Gabe knocked the bottoms and out and built them up in height. Two more cute as a button boxes.

 

But, after a few days of glorious sunshine, it all came to a flurried crashing halt...

 

(Frankie) "SNOOOWWWWWWW!!!!"

 

I think Charlie's expression says it all:  "But the onions, the spinach, the kale..."

 

Sigh...let's not get ahead of ourselves here...it is only February.