inspiration - tie dye

i really do not make good use of this blog. for my own purposes i mean, since i'm the one of the only two who reads it (thanks mom!). i bookmark and track ideas i like and inspiration, and while i'm not on the internet as intensely as some of the good bloggers, i could be using this space to lay out ideas and inspiration.

i'm going to blame a little bit on blogspot and my ineptness (?) at finding a likeable layout.

i've been intrigued by the rebirth of tie-dye in a modern way. some of the bloggers i follow have taken a class in nyc that i would love to take. while i don't love it all, some of it i think is great, and the seashells above that i found in newport last weekend have a design i'd love to recreate with tie dye, with navy and cream or black and cream.

tank top dyed by Jen from the haystack needle

scarf dyed by Jenny from wikstenmade. so excited that i just purchased this pattern from wiksten that i can't wait to use! (it's the only wiksten item i can afford and another class i wish i could take).

a post of finished handwarmers should have been up here a week ago, but another task i'm working on is taking better pictures (something else i should use the blog for in terms of inspiration). made harder by trying to take pictures of my hands myself.

soon enough.

my first garden

this is kind of another "finally" post - because i'm finally posting about the garden. this is the first time i have ever gardened before and i'm kind of nutty about it. every time we don't have to buy something at the grocery store because we're growing it in the garden is so exciting. and now it seems like each time i make a trip to the garden i'm coming back with more. this week the green beans surprised me and i came home with a handful of long, stringy beans with the usual lettuce and peas - and a jalapeno and a few stumpy carrots. the picture above is from a couple weeks ago, including the cherry tomato "tree" in the driveway (it's huge) and some wildflowers from the garden.

this picture below is about two months old - a lot of these plants are about three times as large. i'll have to "finally" post a more recent picture of the jungle.

i wished i had been taking notes all along so that i could reference it next year, and then i realized i can use my blog to take those notes just like i do for my other projects.

what's worked:

• peas - all of a sudden these exploded a few weeks ago and we've cooked whole pods in pasta, blanched shelled peas, eaten raw pods (with peas in them and without). next year i'd like to plant them a little earlier; i think they're dying now because they're drying out and i wonder if we could have gotten more out of them if they peaked with more time before it got so hot.



• lettuce - wow. we overplanted but we've had lettuce for weeks and weeks. i spent the first couple months thinning them every time i went, but once the leaves were a couple inches long, thinning them resulted in salad every time. i would maybe not plant quite so many seeds, but i would overplant again.


• green beans - so far so good. we planted bush beans and i had no idea that when i pulled back the leaves they would be crawling with beans. they're a little pale, but they taste good.

better luck next time:

• spinach - we got a tiny yield and then it bolted, i think because they were planted too closely. it is a tiny garden.


• carrots - they taste great but aren't getting much longer than three inches, i think because they were too crowded and the soil is too rocky. we'll see if the ones still in the ground make more progress.

the verdict is still out for the corn, tomatoes, eggplant, and peppers. up next for fall: brussels sprouts, potatoes, kale, and zucchini. for starters.

another finally

a lot of "finally done" projects around here lately... i'm full of excuses. but i finally finished these slippers from ithinksew.com on etsy. {wow, i never went on the website until now - i am going to be purchasing more patterns here!}

anyways, here is my final product:

these feel sooo nice.... the fabric was a little tough to work with, but worth it. i realize the sole is not very attractive, but more functional than satin.

i bought this pattern over a year ago and had trouble understanding, so put the project in an 11-month time out. with a little more experience under my belt, i picked it up again and worked through it. then, i melted the second slipper. finishing the second of a pair is always hard for me (handwarmers to be posted one day), harder when i am almost done and ruined the slipper and the iron.

regardless, i wore the left one for a couple days because they feel so nice. kind of like when i was 5 and had one pierced ear for 6 months because it hurt so bad i wouldn't let them pierce the other one.

so they're finally done and they may have been a record for the longest project so far...