good golly g

hmmmm

2009-03-10T19:22:00.000-07:00

It appears that I'm not much of a blogger. Maybe this will change. Maybe not. I've been up to lots - quilting, gardening, embroidering ... but when it comes blogging about it - well, I'm just not that into it.

So, for the time being I'll be posting photos to flickr. See you there.

february flora

2009-02-19T09:32:00.000-08:00

I know it's a cliche (because of V Day), but I love flowers in February. I need them this time of year - they bring cheer to my winter doldrums.

This pink tulip was a Valentine's Day gift from my husband to his girls. Stella has a special relationship with flowers. She has been saying that she wants to be a florist for the last year. She draws beautiful flowers and can remember the names of lots of wildflowers. Anyhow, her little 4-year-old face just lite up when she saw the tulips from Todd.

These baby snowdrops have just popped up in my garden. They are my favourite sign that spring is on its way. I'm especially happy to see these ones because I planted them last spring when I was miserable in my nauseous pregnant body. It was an accomplishment to do anything 'extra' - and believe me, bending over and digging in my garden was definitely extra. But I did it. These snowdrops remind me that I managed.

Look what else is blooming in my garden right now. The lovely Hellebore Ivory Prince. The flowers are cream, pink, and green - a wonderful colour combination. I got three of these plants for my birthday from my mom and dad - a perfect gift.

My last February flower is me. Yup. 35 years ago my mom named me after this wildflower.

happy valentine's day

2009-02-14T07:08:00.000-08:00

I love, and am loved. I am so grateful.

winter garden - vegetables

2009-02-11T12:55:00.000-08:00

Last year I decided to give winter gardening a try. Why not? I had the empty garden space and some good resources ('A Year on the Garden Path: A 52-Week Organic Gardening Guide' by Carolyn Herriot and the West Coast Seeds catalogue).

I figured that even though we usually have mild winters here on Vancouver Island, I should give my garden some sort of protection. I'm glad I did. We have record breaking snowfall in December and, damn, it was cold.

After a little research, I decided to construct a mini hoop house out of PVC piping and row cover fabric. The pipes are attached to the sides of my raised beds by 'U' shaped electric plastic tubing clamps. This allows for easy removal of the hoop house when not in use. I could only find row cover fabric that was 3' wide, so I bought that and sewed 3 stripes of it together - my fabric piece is 9'x12' and is plenty big enough to cover my hoop house. I did consider using plastic as a cover (this was recommended by a couple sources), but decided on the fabric, as I did not want to worry about my plants getting enough water. This set up has worked well.

We enjoyed freshly picked lettuce, spinach, swiss chard, kale, beets, cilantro, and bok choi from September to November. The cold and snow stopped us from harvesting anything in December and January and killed off the lettuce, cilantro, and most of the bok choi.

A couple of days ago I did a clean up in my sweet winter garden and was so pleased to see new growth on the spinach, swiss chard, kale, and purple sprouting broccoli. Spring is a comin'.

bibs, baby, bibs

2009-02-06T15:25:00.001-08:00

bibs, originally uploaded by golly g.

I'm sewing these as fast as Violet is dirtying them. OK, maybe I'm not quite that fast.

It's so nice to use these. Well worth sewing. Love 'em.

blueberry love

2009-02-04T13:16:00.000-08:00

We can't get enough of them. Really. This year we bought 20 pounds of beautiful local berries. We ate about 5 pounds fresh and I froze the other 15 pounds. It seemed like lots at the time, but we've almost finished them off.

Violet and Stella love them. It's so satisfying to feed them delicious healthy food. It's especially wonderful to feed Violet blueberries because she is still not very interested in non-mama-milk food. We just defrost the berries and put them through our handy dandy baby food mill.

Last fall we planted 5 of our very own blueberry bushes (2 Dukes, 2 Bluecrops, and a Blueray). We read that in order to get the bushes well established, we should pick off any flowers this year. That way the bush can use it's energy on roots and branches instead of fruit. So, no fruit from our bushes this year. But next year, we'll be rolling in blueberries. Or not. That could get messy.

dreaming and planning

2009-02-02T12:32:00.000-08:00

Yes, we do still have patches of snow on the ground.

But the snowdrops are starting to push their way up, and my herbs are springing back to life, and my favourite seed catalogue arrived. What's a girl to do? Plan this year's garden, of course.

We have big plans this year - planting a small orchard and adding four new raised beds for vegetables.

Todd and I spent the weekend discussing fruit trees. How many? Where? Which types? We poured over info from Le Couteau Farms. So far, we are considering two cherry trees (either Rainier, Van, or Bing), two pear trees (Anjou and Bartlett), and a Yellow Egg plum tree. Todd received a MacIntosh apple tree from the girls for Father's Day last year. We thought we'd get another apple tree to help with pollination. Other early bloomers we like are: Empire, Fuji, Gala, Honey Crisp, and Spartans. Anyone have experience with these any of these apple trees?

As for the vegetable garden. Even with the new beds, I know that I'll want more room!
Here's my seed list:

blue lake pole beans
edemame beans
jade bush beans
bolero carrots
nelson carrots
sultan cucumbers
lemon cucumbers
red russian kale
letttuce
arugula
mache
conserver shallots
ching chiang pac choi
galena peas
alderman peas
super suger snap peas
jalapeno peppers
potatoes
gem zucchini
sunbrust zucchini
gold rush zucchini
bright lights swiss chard
stupice tomatoes
prudens purple tomatoes
sungold tomatoes
sweet basil
fern leaf dill
cilantro

Yup. I need a bigger garden. Come on spring - I'm waitin' on ya.

(These photos are of last year's garden).

winter garden

2009-01-30T12:19:00.000-08:00

everyday pretty

2009-01-26T13:27:00.000-08:00

Nice, eh? Want to make your own? Just get yourself some nice fabric, a can of multi-purpose spray adhesive, and an old mouse pad. Cut the fabric about an inch bigger (on all sides) than your mouse pad. Spray the back of the fabric and the front of the mouse pad. Wait a couple of minutes and then stick 'em together. I let mine dry overnight and then I trimmed the extra fabric off with scissors. Voila! A pretty mouse pad of your very own.

done and done

2009-01-24T13:39:00.000-08:00

Can't knit enough these days. It's quiet and so portable (unlike my sewing machine). The perfect activity to take up to Stella's room for playtime. Stella leaps and spins about, Violet crawls and chews on toys, and I get to work on something creative. Moments of perfection. All 3 of us happy ... until one of the girls falls, or Violet wants to play with whatever Stella has set up, or Stella tries to pick Violet up, or whatever. But that's OK. Even 5 minutes of all 3 of us contently exploring our own interests is wonderful.

These stolen moments of knitting have amounted to a couple of finished projects. As per Stella's request, I've knit her a pink and green scarf. Isn't she so lovely. And the scarf is pretty too. It's made out of Patons Soy Wool Stripes in soft pinks, cream, beige and green.

Well ... she wore it for about 5 minutes before she told me it was itchy. I thought it was going to be soft enough. It is wool, but soft wool. Guess it's just not soft enough for a 4-year-old? Should have gone for the cashmere.

For my Violet, I've made some baby legwarmers. I was a child in the 80s - so I am familiar with the legwarmers. So good.I realised that I HAD to make Violet some legwarmers because we have an ergo carrier that we love, but when she's in it her pants get pulled up. And it's just been too cold for bare baby calves (even sweet chubby ones). So there you go - another knitting project.These were a joy to make. Great free pattern - Alana Dakos' Legwarmies. Great colours - dusty pink and dusty orange. Great wool - Rowan Cashsoft. Great legwarmers - Violet wore them all day and they worked like a charm with the carrier.

bib - favourite

2009-01-22T14:40:00.001-08:00

My little Violet is beginning to show some (not much) interest in food. So far it is a mere flirtation because my baby loves her 'mama milk'. Regardless of whether she actually gets any food in her mouth, or maybe especially because she hardly eats any of the food I give her, she needs some new bibs.

I went through many different kinds of bibs with Stella and my favourite by far was a simple cotton bid, with snaps, and a vinyl-coated polyester backing. It's light, easy to put on, and it can go in the washer and dryer. I bought a couple of these bibs, but the fabric selection left a lot to be desired. And well, I might be a bit hard to please in that department. I love beautiful fabric and have a nice collection of it. So, of course, I needed to try and replicate the favourite bib in better fabric. And I did.

Here's a little tutorial for my golly g bib:
1. Materials - 11"x14" cotton fabric for the front, 11"x14" vinyl-coated polyester fabric for the back, bias binding tape (1/2" or 1/4" wide), and 2 sets of cap snaps.

2. Cut the front and back fabrics for the bib. My bibs are 11" wide by 14" long, with a neck opening 5" wide by 5.5" long.
3. Sandwich front fabric and back fabric together. Pin bias tape around neck opening, making sure that the tape covers the edges of both the front and back fabrics. Sew along the edge of the bias tape and trim.
4. Pin bias tape around the outside of the bib. Leave an extra inch of tape on either side. Sew along the edge of the tape.
5. Fold the extra bias tape to the back, pinching it between a snap, and hammer on snaps. I have two snaps (about 2" apart) on one side in order to adjust the bib size.
And there you have it. My favourite bib.

a return to knitting

2009-01-22T09:25:00.000-08:00

I've fallen for knitting again. After having my first baby (Stella is 4 years old), I stopped knitting. Seems silly now. I guess I thought that counting stitches, following a pattern, and potential dropped stitches were too much with a baby in the house.

Funny that now is the time when I pick knitting up again. My second babe, Violet, is 9 months old and I've never been busier. But ... it's so cold outside, wool feels so good, k1 p1 is so calming, and baby needs a new hat. So there you go.

a new blog

2008-12-22T18:11:00.000-08:00

Here I go.

I've been reading blogs of a crafty nature for the last 2 years. I've been sharing photos on flickr, but have shyed away from creating my our blog. Until now. I have gained so much from the blogs I read - inspiration as a mother, gardener, and artist.

I guess it's my turn for show and tell.