Getting serious about the side garden...

I had to make a decision:  would I be traveling a lot this spring and summer or would I have a garden? I decided I would travel in the Fall and do a big vegetable and herb garden this Spring and summer. I haven't done a large food garden for a few years and I thought it would be fun and interesting.

Plus, now that we have our new side door from our kitchen, it is so easy to step outside to water or tend the garden. No excuses! And I can admire the new blue and white paint job while I work out there!

north side of the house

new side door

So we left the straw bales from last year although they are starting to fall apart. They will last one more year once they are retied. The one which had totally fallen down was dug up and is being used to add organic material to the bottom of new grow pots I am trying out this year. 

Straw bale that fell apart

There were some strawberries that came back even though we basically ignored them all winter. I am hoping if I am a little more watchful this time around we might have a better harvest. Also I plan to fertilize more to increase the fruit growth. Last summer the birds mostly got the berries.

strawberries

strawberries

I have planted 4 tomatoes so far: 1 each of a grape cherry size, a San Marzano (for cooking), an Amish paste (also for cooking) and a beefsteak for slicing. And so far I have planted a jalapeno and a green bell pepper. I need to do a lot more maintenance on the rest of the bales before I plant more. I think the chard that came back is ok for now although I may pull it out since the plants are rather spread out and bolting already. It is also a comeback from last year.

tomato plants

chard

I am planting things like carrots and lettuces in the grow bags at the moment. I still have many more plants to decide where I will put them and whether I will start from seeds I have or get already started seedlings. 

Grow bags with carrots and lettuce seeds planted

Most of the herbs are in the front at the moment, although I am planting more Italian parsley and cilantro in this side garden.

As you can see however, the mint that was planted last year is still there and taking over the bale. I trimmed a lot of it back and may have to go in and cut more out. This time I also want to clip it and dry it for tea!

Further along the garden area is a blueberry from last year and a lime tree we planted last year. No limes yet but it is still young. Along the back of the house is our lemon tree. We planted another satsuma mandarin too but I am not sure it gets enough sun to be successful.

lime tree

blueberry plant

More garden news and photos to come as I get it planted and rearranged over the next few weeks.

More flowers and my new blue house...

The sweet peas are starting to bloom. They are coming up all over the place, both from intentional planting and their own seed scattering. I love the subtle scent although right now it is being overpowered by the orange blossoms across the yard.

And my freesias are also starting to bloom. I mostly plant these yellow ones because to me they have the sweetest most wonderful scent.

I love how the colors of the flowers play against the freshly painted house. It really brightens up the place! And I love the blue scattered around the large white chimney... it was just too much white at once without the little shots of color!

A bit of sewing...

and a present I bought for myself...

First off, I needed to make a name tag for the quilt guild meetings so I took a quilted scrap piece, folded it over wonky style, stamped my name, and left threads dangling since I often have a thread or two on me these days.

Then I wanted to practice machine quilting with my walking foot so I made a little mug rug out of colors from a charm pack (5" squares) I had.  The waviness on top went away after I pressed it more. I decided to serge the outer borders to keep with the more modern feel of it.

And I had totally forgotten my new polka dot cup so when I went to get a cup for tea, realized I had made that mug rug exactly for this cup! It worked!

And then since I had been so good about cleaning the kitchen while the house was being painted last week AND since they were on sale for 60% off or some crazy thing from Craftsy that day, I bought myself 2 Kaffe Fassett shot cotton fat pack (1/4 yard) bundles.  I love the shot cottons -- they are solids but the warp and weft threads are different colors (from nearly the same to wildly different) and that gives them a wonderful sheen and woven quality. Not 100% sure what I will use these for yet but it was such a deal I couldn't pass it up!  62 lovely quarter yard pieces... I am sure I will think of something!

More evidence of Spring...

Not only is my house getting painted, my garden is starting to take shape again... (house photos coming soon, they are still finishing it today)

But in the meantime, from my garden.... a few early signs of spring:

Apricot blossoms:

Tulips:

And my African daisy came back (I thought I had killed it from neglect):

In a sewing mood...

Lately I have been in a sewing mood, so I started rearranging my sewing space in the kitchen, bringing in some bins to live closer to the machine and adding a new Costco table for a cutting area. This is all makeshift until I can do more living room decluttering and rearranging to have my sewing area take over, I mean... be in there.

I had out my Day of the Dead quilt blocks for the Circle of Nine quilt in that photo. HERE is where I described that quilt.  I finished those and now have 5 out of the 9 blocks. The bigger one with the black border is the center one. The other 2 have 2 of the same block and are for around the sides.

And then I made some curtains for the window above the sink...

and yesterday starting gathering fabrics for the next Modern Block of the Month club class on Wednesday over at Country Sewing Center:

These are for the larger block. Each month we make 2 blocks. The smaller one fabrics are cut and bagged for class. I still need to cut the fabrics to size for this block. I had to see them together for a while to be sure they went how I wanted together. I think they will work, so now to just cut them and I will be ready for class!