Weekend Doings and Lent Day #12

I had an amazing productive weekend - maybe it's all the sunshine and hints of spring.

On Saturday, while Mr. Cleaver watched March Madness, I went into my studio and whipped out a muslin for a Beignet skirt. I need to take in the two front seams (it's kinda pinned in the photo), but other than that I found the pattern to fit really well. I have a sky blue twill in my stash I hope to make it from - I have less fabric than the pattern envelop calls for, so fingers crossed that all the pieces fit!

Then, this morning we stopped by the open house at Skillins Greenhouse and picked up some seed starting supplies. I had already ordered my seeds a few weeks back from Johnny's Selected Seeds and put them directly into my new seed flats. I won't be able to put anything outside until mid April at the earliest, but it doesn't hurt to plan ahead.

Now, onto the Lent.

If you're thinking I missed a day there, you're right - I never got a photo of Day #11. But if you guessed I wore the same denim skirt all last weekend, you'd be even more right.

On Day #12 I went to my closet and I just couldn't bear the thought of wearing tights today, despite the cold. (Remember when I said the warm weather wouldn't last? I woke up the next morning and it was snowing - how's that for not lasting?) So instead of tights I threw on my hand-knit knee-highs and braved chilly knees (and mostly stayed indoors).

Tiger scarf: Gift

Green Tee: Target

Skirt: Ann Taylor Loft, gift

Bracelet: Gift

Socks: Made by me.

Boots: Naturalizers, Macys.

The Garden: Then & Now

Then (June 19):

Then (July 5):

Now (August 4):

Then (July 5):

Then (July 28):

Now (August 11):

Then (August 11 - 5:30 pm):

Now (August 11 - 6:09pm):

Weekend Update

Somethings I've been up to this weekend:

What did you do this weekend?

First Meet-Up, First Batch, First Harvest

Yesterday I had my first blogger meet-up with Amy of stash, knit, repeat (also the "Fit to Flatter" series). She was in town visiting some family and we met up at Knit Wit to checkout the new Quince & Co. yarn line, which is made in Southern Maine.

It was great meeting Amy in person and I definitely felt like I was hanging with the cool kids when Amy was recognized about 3 minutes after coming into the shop. It was even more cool when Pam Allen herself popped in to drop over another load of yarn.

The range of colors in this line is fantastic - there are so many variations of each color - 3 or so yellows a half dozen blues, it's a color lover's dream.  Amy came out with two sweater's worth, while I restrained myself to 5 skeins of the Chickadee in Delft and Carrie's Yellow (I'm totally in a yellow phase right now).  And this yarn is so new, it doesn't even have dye lots yet, because there's only been one!

In other news, I've had my first harvest from my garden - this little head of broccoli. It's been so warm, that it accelerated the growth process and I had to cut it before it bloomed. I actually dreamed about it the day before - I was so worried about the broccoli going to seed. It was ready to go on Thursday, so I chopped it off and ate it raw with some ranch dressing. Don't worry I shared some with Mr. Cleaver.

p.s : I must admit, whenever I work with the broccoli in my garden, I find myself singing the Dana Carvey broccoli song (it starts at the 2:00 minute mark).

Garden Update

I've lost one of four basil plants and a sunflower seed never came up (nor its replacement), but other than that it's looking pretty good. Check it out!

How I Spent my Saturday Evening

Thursday night Mr. Cleaver and I went down to the plot and did some basic tilling  and Saturday night, while the Mr. was off playing tennis (after helping me lug my tools in), I went back for round #2.

30 minutes in:

About an hour later:

Spacing out the seedlings:

Sometime after the third hour:

All Planted!

• Row 1: Tomatoes
• Row 2: Bell Peppers
• Row 3: Broccoli
• Row 4: Herbs - Thyme, Basil, Oregano, Cilantro, and Orange Thyme

All plants except the basil came from different booths at the farmers market and Sunday morning I popped a dwarf sunflower seed at each end of all the rows.

Hooray for gardening!

A Bit of Earth

One of my favorite parts of The Secret Garden (one of my favorite children's novels) is when Mary asks Mr. Craven if she might have "a bit of earth". Mary gets her bit of earth and it, along with the friendship of Dickon and Colin, turn Mary from a thistle to a rose.

Now I wouldn't call myself a thistle, but I do have a bit of earth to call my own. Plot #11 at the local community garden. I found out about it's availability and snagged it yesterday morning and then, realizing I'm never grown any vegetables before, went to Longfellow Books on my break to find some gardening books.

It's somewhat late in the season (I think?), so I'll be prepping soil and planning this week and hopefully getting some plants at the farmer's market this weekend and getting them in the soil. I'll be off to buy shovels and buckets and trowels after work this evening.

If any of you readers are Southern Maine-based gardeners I'd love any tips on what it's not to late to plant and for any other gardeners out there - any tips or tricks you may have. It's all so exciting!

Little Things

Some things I've been making lately:

Maple Walnut Granola:

• 3 cups rolled oats (not quick cooking)
• 1 cup chopped walnuts (or nut of your choice)
• 1 cup dried cranberries (or dried fruit of your choosing)
• 1/3 cup maple syrup
• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 2 Tbl warm water
• 1/2 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 250°F.

In a large bowl, mix together syrup, sugar, oil, water and salt until throughly combined. Add in oats and nuts and and mix until coated.  Pour oat mixture unto a  lightly oiled rimmed baking sheet or pan.

Bake from 1½ to 2 hours or until oats are dry and brown. Remove from oven and cool. Stir in fruit and place in a sealed container.