Wild Lupine And Poppy

Happy May 5! Okay, I'd rather it be October 5 because that's my birthday. :)

Okay, if you've been keeping up with my blog here lately, I talked a little bit about the Karner Blue Butterfly (endangered species) and the host plant for the caterpillar – Wild Lupine. I really wanted Lupine this year so I planted some seeds. I don't know if it was “the” Lupine that the caterpillar prefers, but I was hoping.

After much hoping, I found some Wild Lupine behind our shed. I told my Sweetheart that I wanted to dig it out, but it's blocked off by boards and other “equipment” so it would take a little bit of work to get at. Ultimately, it doesn't matter if the seeds I planted would be a preference for the caterpillar because I have some wild stuff that is attainable.

So—cool. But here's more good news. TODAY I FOUND SOME MORE IN OUR FRONT YARD! Look at this!


And, it looks as though it's a home for a baby caterpillar by the look of the holes in the leaves. YAY! I'm going to transplant it because it's smack-dab in the middle of our yard. LOL BUT HOW COOL IS THAT!? I hope I get some photos of the little bug. :)

And here's a photo of a poppy bud – the mystery plant. Now, I think I planted orange, but I'll find out what shade of orange soon enough. :)

Garden Posts Are In!

Boozhoo! (“Hello” in Ojibwe.)

We busied ourselves until after dark last night to finish securing all the garden posts. Okay, well Edward busied himself and I stood where he told me to to hold the posts while he drilled them in. LOL. And doesn't it look amazing so far!? I am in awe.

The idea big idea, for now, is to put lattice along the back posts—which would serve three purposes; it will look nice, provide a place to climb for a vine, and block the neighbor's junk.

Ed's going to cut the front posts down lower and I'm going to screw down pots that I can set plants in—much like the mobile greenhouse nurseries do on their wooden fences when they set up in grocery store parking lots.

I put in the little brick garden in front of the veggie garden a while ago, but I am not certain what I will plant there—perennials, annuals, herbs, veggies or a combination of any of these. I like digging and moving plants around and adding, so maybe I will only need to decide what I want there THIS YEAR only! I still have some tidying up to do with that setting. I'm excited to continue through the season and watch things grow and come together for a pretty and cozy place for us to spend our time. :)

Garden Seedlings

O si yo! ("Hello" in Cherokee for those of you who don't already know.)

Well, we still have some time before we move our seedlings into the garden here in the Twin Cities. We had frost on our yard furniture yesterday morning. DOH!

I am way too anxious to get everything going. I planted seeds in buckets from previously purchased plants and set them out around the raised garden two days ago. I hope the seeds faired well enough through the minor frost to sprout at least ONE seed! I planted at least 9 of each seed: Marigolds, Painted Daisy, Pink/Red Daisy, Alyssum, Columbine, and a couple Sunflowers that reach over 7 foot. I'll post photos on that if any come up, of course.

So the photos today are of my seedlings that I constantly trail back and forth from under the lights in the house to the sun and back again at night - “hardening off”. I will continue this process until it's time to plant them in the garden. It's going to be more work than I thought it might be. I'm already having ideas for a cold frame and a $400 greenhouse from a local hardware shop. I think that's the key to raising beautiful seedlings, really.

So the following photo is my Wallflower Siberian seedlings. These are going to be beautiful soft orange (like the meat of a Mango) in color – and delicate in appearance, much like a pansy. They are perennials. I have already replanted them in large pots because they were getting extremely leggy and falling over. I didn't want them to die. This is my second year trying to grow them from seed. I topped the pots off with moss to prevent root rot - “dampening off”. I hope I am successful with this and I hope I don't suffocate the seedling. I'll soon find out. So far, it doesn't seem like they've grown since the transfer.


The Marigolds look like they are thriving. Not too much to say there other than I wish they weren't so tall.


Lupine are next. I read that Wild Lupine is a host plant to the Karner Blue butterfly caterpillar, which is an endangered species in Minnesota. I see a couple butterflies each summer, but that's because my neighbor has Wild Lupine in her deciduous shade garden. I hope my Lupine become a host plant. The seedlings look to be doing very well.


My basil is doing wonderfully! I actually planted 12 seeds. Six are in soil which contains compost and the last six are in a soil mix of: perlite, vermiculite, and peat moss. The basil I planted in compost mix sprouted almost immediately. The other seeds sprouted some time after, but caught up quickly. I hope to give basil plants to friends and family, if they want some. I'm going to have so many plants that I won't know what to do with them!


All right, time to go pick up some straw for the garden with my mom. Sweetie and I are taking a short break from the garden fence, but all the vertical posts are up now. We have to mid to late May. That leaves me time to plan for cold frames and greenhouses next year! :)

Garden Prep

I've been doing a ton of work out in the yards and I wanted to make sure I get some photos online to share. My Sweetie cut out 144 square feet of space for a new vegetable garden. This is the beginning stage.

We have posts in, but not all of them. When the fence is finished, I'll post again. I learned how to use a "post hole digger." Well, that's what I call it, and I think I call it that because it's what Ed called it. LOL. I'll have to ask him again to make sure I have the name right. God forbid I post something on the internet that is not true. :| Heh.

I started seeds about a week ago and many are up, almost all of them. I'm waiting for the sage, mint and parsley to sprout. I think we keep the house too cold for them yet. One day, they will sprout – unless I need new seeds. Here's a photo of the vegetable/herb tray sprouts. This was taken about three or four days ago, so they are much larger now, of course.

My complete list of seeds that I planted is as follows: 

FOOD

1. Dill
2. Sage
3. Thyme
4. Parsley
5. Sweet Basil
6. Mint
7. Iceberg Lettuce
8. Lettuce—Grand Rapids
9. Cabbage—Copenhagen Market
10. Brocolli—Green Sprouting Calabrese
11. Squash—Early Prolific Straightneck    

FLOWERS

• Lavender
• Marigold
• Wallflower—Siberian
• Yarrow—Summer Pastels
• Oriental Poppy—Brilliant Red
• Lupine
• Hollyhock (yes, I am trying AGAIN this year!)

In addition to seeds, I plan to plant tomatoes, peppers and onions. I've already planted some garlic in my container with the chives. My chives are established quite well. :)

I swear on my life that I will take photos to post here. :) Okay, if they die, no photos. If that is the case, I may just move right into another hobby! LOL
All right, I'll get this published.

First Vector Attempt For WG

This is my first attempt at creating my cartoon logo for my online alias "WizardGir1" using the Inkscape program.

A Fiona Photo Shoot

I recently read in a photography book to take photos of subjects you like. Well I like my cat, ALOT! I take photos of her all of the time. As a matter of fact, I switched from Windows to Linux and in the process I lost over 5 gigs of photos. A TON of them were of Fiona, of course.

I decided since then to post the photos I think turned out really well, so I don't lose them again. So with that, In the photo above, Fiona looks like she is really TRULY posing! I loved it. In truth, she was laying on a heating pad and at her most content state. Haha...

Since I've learned about aperture, I am trying to take a photo to appear the way I see a result in my mind's-eye. Seeing how the fur grows on Fiona's nose amazes me so I wanted the focus on that. I wanted the rest of her face to blur out. I love the science that the macro captures.

She was wonderful to sit as long as she did. I'm pretty happy with the results of this photo shoot. :)

I have an account at photoblog.com, but I am limited to posting only 5 photos as a time and only once per day. I have more freedom to upload as many as I want here. Thanks Blogspot!

Computer Mouse Wrist Pad

I'm finally back at the Kenmore. Well, for one small project at least.

The joints in my hand have been swollen and achy lately, especially when I use my computer mouse, so I decided to make a bean-bag wrist pad similar to what they sell in the stores.

The first step was to draw out a pattern and cut it out and grab a bag of beans from storage. I used Lentils.

The next step was too trace my pattern onto the fabric choice - blaze orange fleece - and make a zigzag stitch to allow some give. I also left a spot open to pour the beans in.

 

It was easier to cut the pattern out after it had been sewn. It can be difficult to sew around a curve with a knit fabric and I wanted some extra fabric to guide through. I still had a hard time with one of the curves, but I figured I would make do. 

 

 

I left a huge tag of fabric to tuck in after I turned it inside-out and poured the beans in. That's a little trick I learned from Tone Finnanger, author of "Sew Pretty Homestyle". 

 

And this is the final photo. A finished BLAZE ORANGE wrist pad. I'll use it for a few days to see if it alleviates any swelling or pain in my joints. I have a minor concern that I may lean on the nerve in my wrist. It won't be long until I know for sure. 

 

Ooooh... I just had an idea. Maybe my Mum would think about sewing a few of these up for her quilting group-gals for their holiday gift exchange. I'll have to send her this link. ;)   Hmm... My wheels are really spinning now!!

 

 

Subject: Chubahka

Did I mention that I want to improve my photography skills? I do!

This photo of my dog isn't a photo that sticks out from every other photo in this world, but it's my dog and he's cute. He came outside with me while I practiced shooting yesterday and I noticed he was eating snow. I had to capture his face! The lighting is pretty nice too.

(I planned that. Heh.)

Dog Boots

Well, I've wanted to make our doggy, Lancelot, booties for quite some time. I actually wanted to be finished with them before it got below zero, but it didn't happen. This morning it was -20° so I was very motivated. I couldn't think of sending our little dog out into subzero temps. It's -6° as I write this.  Anyways, time to move forward. This is where I got the pattern and "how to".

This is the pattern and my pieces. I wrote notes directly on the pattern in case I lost a boot or a two.  I have extra fabric for that too.

And the second photo is the finished boot. I didn't turn the seam to the inside because I didn't want to chance the seam bothering the dog. I did trim the seam allowance closer to the seam, however.

So after all of my labor, I decided to stick the booties on. They fit nicely, but the elastic seemed too large on his back paws. I'll have to shorten the elastic. Lancy was ready to go outside at the same time my husband came home. When he opened the door, Lance took off and rear booties flew off. LOL... I just rolled my eyes and then shrugged my shoulders. The others came off also. Hahaha... Guess I have some problem solving to do!

150th Square Completed!

I can't believe it. I finished crocheting my 150th granny square this evening.Yes, yes. I am ready to sew them together. Directions for that step are as follows:

"Thread light rose yarn into tapestry needle. Hold 2 squares with right sides tog, join with overcast st in outer lps only. Work across each square, carefully matching sts. Join all squares in this manner whether joining squares for a row or joining rows of squares."

My question at this point is "Is an overcast st the same as a whip stitch in embroidery?" Geez. Time to pull out the crocheting resource. :D

55 Down, 20 to Go

I wanted to post an update on my crochet blanket. I'm really beginning to enjoy the act of crocheting. I can think deeply during my crochet time and not pay attention to my project, and still produce something. It's a double whammy!

I found something to be interesting as I ran out of my yarn last night. One pound of Caron yarn at 4 ply makes 55 squares at 4" each. I am going to write this information down on a note card and store it with my knit and crochet samples. Good information to use for future projects.

I have 20 squares to go in the rose color, before I begin the ruffle for the blanket. I am considering sewing the squares together before I complete my ruffle. Since this is the first blanket that I've crocheted, I don't know if my gage is off enough to matter for the ruffle pattern. I have a little bit of time to think about it. :)

A Little Gift For The Tree

Isn't this such a cute pattern!? I decided it would be a perfect little hand made gift for my mum for the holidays. I found the pattern here.

My mom is a member of a quilting group, but she's the one who crochets at their meetings. She just might want this pattern to make them for the gals in the group next year. :D