First Harvest! comments: 76

Spinach! And lettuce! From seeds! Proud.

I am way overidentified emotionally with my garden and will need years and years of therapy when it fails but until then I am taking every single victory as personally as I possibly can.

If you look at the pet pictures again I think you can see exactly how the kitterses seat exchange went down. The Bee's like, "Oh, actually yeah, I think I'd like to sit right there. Kthx. 'K, take my picture." All I know is that I was taking a picture of Violet and then the next thing I knew I was taking a picture of Bridget. And I didn't even have to refocus.

(Clover's face is so funny.)

They're all pretty cute. They love to be out in front with me when I'm messing around with m veggies. We have a few teensy green tomatoes, an eggplant flower, many pea flowers, four great big potato plants (and I'm supposed to put soil on their stems or something? Probably too late), and the cucumbers and squash look like they're starting to wake up a bit. I sowed more lettuce and spinach seeds a week or two ago, and they're starting to come up. Yeah, I'm pretty psyched.

We have another nice sunny day around here. That makes two in a row! Wow.

New Systems comments: 81

It feels like we're in the middle of a winter twilight this morning. In the yard the air smells like the rainy woods. It's been raining on and off for days, and the light is so dim all I can see in my house are the bright spots of windows. My neighbor's black and white kitters watches me from her back porch every morning as I make my coffee in our kitchen. It occurs to me that I could head back upstairs and climb back under the covers with Andy and Clover (Clover, who is sitting under the quilt that Andy made for himself! Guest post?). But I've got so much going on downstairs these days that it has been making me anxious, and I know I'd better begin my week. Today, we're going to continue cleaning out and painting Andy's office, which is half-filled with Posie stuff: probably two dozen bolts of wool felt, shipping boxes, embroidery supplies, kits, yarn, fabric. Craft stuff takes up so much space. We don't have that much space. Well, it's more like we need to use our space efficiently, and the poor office has been neglected. Nanny Katie and Eileen Beatrix, my trusty assistants, have both gone on to find full-time jobs; I am very happy for them, though we all miss them around here. Their friend Greta has come to help, and she is amazing, and is getting me all whipped into shape. We tore my studio apart a few weeks ago and put it back together piece by piece, in a much more organized way. Andy's office is still in turmoil, but we're getting there. Greta will be completely taking over the assembly of past-years' ornament kits, and is in the process of counting every skein of embroidery floss and every cut piece of felt we have left over in preparation. I'm thrilled to have the help, nervous about how it will all go, but also filled with new ideas as a result.

It's a funny little business, this little business. It requires you to be both artistically creative but also mired in the details — of pattern writing, of order filling, of supply ordering, of financial balancing, of kit assembling, of proofreading, of space managing, of web site programming. Most of this stuff never makes it to the blog, though in real life I can talk my head off about it (usually to Andy) and it takes up the bulk of my working time. I am a fairly organized person but my systems are seriously archaic, and lately I have been having trouble managing the systems while making time to work on new things. This summer that's changing: newly organized storage spaces, new filing system, new web site (I do my own so it's seriously flawed and jerry-rigged), new shipping module (THANK GOODNESS), new shopping cart (OH THANK GOODNESS), new things (photo prints), awesome new assistant to take over some of the old things, new supplies, and eventually new ideas. It will get worse before it gets better, but I really think it's going to get so much better, and it will free up my time to design more. And that is what I really want to do.

Against the backdrop of all this chaos: My Mrs. Delany–inspired cross-stitch sampler on black was finished and framed and pleased me beyond words. Should you care to view it at a larger size, click on the image and a bigger view onto its buzzing little world will open. I call it my Summersprigs sampler and I think it came out right cool, if I do say. I'm working on the pattern/chart for this, but in the chaos of our reorganization I won't be doing a kit for it at this time. I want to, but I think it will be too much for us to manage right now. Since this is a summer-themed project, I want you to at least have the pattern in this sumer, and that will be finished in a couple of weeks. I'll point you toward sources for materials and will eventually have them available a la cart myself when the new web site is finished. My goal is to be able to carry the supplies — at least, the special supplies — that anyone would need to make most of my patterns.

Slowly but surely, I think I'll get there. I usually do. Right now I feel like there are six or seven things going on all at the same time, and I'd like to whittle that list down these next few weeks, as I am not a natural multi-tasker. I am a natural single-tasker. And you know what offce reorganization means: IKEA TRIP!!! My happy place. I really wish that specific Ikea-cinnamon-roll smell stayed permanently embedded in the furniture. Nothing makes me happier than to open that cardboard box of boards that will become shelves at home and have that wave of cinnamony scent remind me of my happy moments sitting in fake Ikea living rooms (and, I guess, also the time I blew a fuse and put myself in time-out in the Poang chair, which was also in its own, weird, semi-conscious way pretty damn nice). They should sell Ikea-scented candles for meditation.

After Dinner comments: 66

We're having an early summer, I think. Today it's raining, but the weekend was busy with outside things. The garden is almost entirely planted. My back yard container plants seem happier than ever. It's been neither too hot nor too cold; it's been just right. Friends visiting, late nights, food carts, pinball, bike ride, tomato planting, piano recital, fabric shopping, neighborhood potluck, eclispse watching. And something ate all of leaves off of about a third of my beet plants. It doesn't look like insect or slug; it looks like . . . something with teeth or beak? They went from one plant to the next plant, to the next plant in the row. Cafeteria style. Losers!

Today I'm trying to get organized. I've cut everything for the new quilt but the house is kind of trashed so I think I have some chores to do first. Getting kind of a slow start today. But it will be good to spend some time inside, I think. I've got some projects to show you.

Nice Week comments: 55

Carrots and potatoes are up : : Tulips finished, peonies coming : : Antiquing for Shelly's birthday : : The best potato salad at Natalia's : : My hexie cheater quilt : : More friends in town tonight from Canada : : Climbing hydrangea covering the studio window : : Picking fallen leaves out of the vegetable garden by hand : : Meditative : : Peas look a bit yellow : : Good good good good dog : : Hollyhill was adorable : : Driving the back roads with Andy yesterday and this song (cool random video) : : Finished my cross-stitch, took it to the framer's : : Finished my cowl : : Next up is Quill, just waiting for the yarn (in Antler, again) : : Going to be working on a new web shop this summer : : Starting the new quilt : : Hard to think about work in this glorious weather.

Lilac Time comments: 91

When she sticks her tongue out like this I just melt into a foamy puddle of butter.

For the winter squash, eggplants, and cucumbers (that Andy wants to pickle), my neighbor (who is a garden wizard) told me to build little paper (I used parchment paper) bubbles to protect them for a few weeks. We took some little tubing (that we usually use for the water dispenser in our refrigerator door) and made two little hoops on either side of each plant, then crossed two pieces of parchment paper perpendicularly over the hoops, and weighed down the edges of each piece of paper with some stones. One of the eggplants is busting out, so I (as my neighbor told me to do) cut Xs in the top of the papers, so the leaves could come out. I think the plant will be a little bit colder with that opening now; one is still completely covered, so we'll see. Contest!

My cabbages definitely have four new leaves now, and my beets each have two new leaves. All of the lettuce is really sprouting; still no sign of germination for the carrot seeds or the spinach (or hyacinth beans). My mother came over yesterday to help me take out all of the candytuft on the front wall and it's all going to good homes. It was just too big for that precious little wall. A bunch of big rocks came out of the parkway, so they're going in the bed on top of the wall now (where the candytuft was) and some sedums and succulents will make a nice little rock garden out there. Most of new sedums and succulents will come from the overplanted rock garden on the side of the driveway which is also busting out at the seams (already!).

Worried about all the naughty neighborhood cats getting into my raised beds, I thought about mulching with hazelnut shells but haven't yet. Naturally, the only cat I've seen go in there is our own eighteen-year-old dowager queen, who, though she has barely left her heated kitty bowl in five months, had no problem trotting outside and hopping right up into the first bed no problem, then looking at me like, Oh, perfect, thank you for building me my own enormous litter box — that was pretty nice of you. I went racing down the stairs toward her faster than she's seen me move in about fifteen years, causing her to do a goggle-eyed double-take when she saw me coming, like a cartoon cat, and jump out faster than I've seen her move in about four years. The whole thing just went so much differently than how she thought it was going to go, poor thing. She gave me a very dirty look, and then I explained that the hazelnut-shell option is still very much on the table. She's the type of half-human cat who understands English and likes to get good grades, but we'll see.

The lilacs are blooming; we have three bushes, and our neighbors over the back fence have one huge one. They smell like home.

For Future Veggies comments: 60

In the now-quiet house, the animals appear again, venturing back out into the center of the spaces. After a weekend of the most beautiful weather I've even seen in my entire life, yesterday dawned cloudy and cool, a welcome margin of gray into which we decided to fit some spring cleaning. I opened the newspaper and was excited to see that a recipe for pizza inspired by one I'd made last spring was included in an article about asparagus and pizza (thanks Deena!). We cleaned the fridge, got some groceries, made some dough, went to the lumber store to buy some cedar boards for our new raised beds, went back to the store to get more boards (naturally, we can't count), and spent the day puttering happily. Andy took the old roses out of the parkway (sorry old roses, but I know you were unhappy) and built one of the beds. There will be three total, each 4' x 8'. We'll plant vegetables and flowers. It's the only real sunny spot we have. Half of our neighbors came by while Andy was out there, one by one offering opinions and advice. Kind of funny. We just smile and do our thing. Whatever I dream up, he'll figure out how to make it work. I bring the plan (and the pizza); as long as he has his playlist, his puppers, and a decent IPA, he's off and running. I sit on the steps with a sketch pad and seed catalog, and study the light. Tulips blooming. Waylon Jennings. Potatoes, eggplant, lettuce, peas.

April Showers comments: 65

In between sunbreaks I would like to tie the quilt, especially when it's pouring, and I mean pouring rain outside and us girls are all tucked in upstairs after dinner, waiting for Andy in the warm, rosy lamplight with some coconut cake and my new favorite show, Dual Survival. But this dear little Violetflower is always on the quilt now, which makes it tricky (and cat-hair-covered). I don't deny her anything these days. The quilt is so big I was actually able to tie all over one of the corners of it while she was cozied up on a pile of the bulk of it a few feet away. So, slowly but surely.

I ordered some patio furniture. Here's how I did it:

"Honey, I just wanted to let you know that I got some new poufy chairs for the backyard with a little round wooden coffee table to go in the middle so that we have somewhere to sit happy birthday babe!!!!!"

Like that!

The minute that thermometer hits 68 these doors and windows are flying open and I am not coming inside for four months!

Yesterday I was up in a part of the city we lived in for a short time with friends when we first moved to Portland (that cute kitcheny window belongs to this restaurant, which I think used to be the little newspaper I did copyediting for). I can't believe how much the neighborhood has changed. I need to get out more. A few people have asked me about the stuff-to-do-in-Portland list I was working on last year. I had forgotten about that. So I just looked at it. That thing is huge. It's not entirely finished. But I will do that, and put it out here in a couple of pieces, so stay tuned.

While the Dough Rises comments: 89

Winner: Most Kissable Nose 2012.

If you haven't made the Dutch oven bread yet pretty pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeease
try it right away.

I seem to have stalled out after my quilting frenzy. Now all I do is just sit around watching our yard turn its delirious shade of florescent green. Well, actually before I sat around yesterday I weeded the front parkway since about four hundred dandelions bloomed in approximately twenty minutes. Weeding is seriously exhausting. It always looks so much prettier after you do it, but hellity hell dandies. You do make me work for it.

Some answers: 1) No, I dont stand on a ladder to take overhead table photos, but I do have an articulated LCD screen on my Canon camera that tilts toward me so I can see what I'm shooting. This is the second third camera I have had with an articulated LCD screen and I definitely would not buy a camera without it. It's awesome. 2) Yes (and thank you very much for asking), I might start selling photos because I own a very nice professional-quality photo printer that I don't use enough and it is just sitting there doing nothing and it might be really fun to have prints. 3) But not before I figure out how to redo my web shop because my web shop pretty much sucks and I have to fix it. 4) I'm not sure if I will do a quilt pattern and/or a new cross-stitch kit for the sampler on the black background. But I might. The quilt is a super weird size. I think it's like 100" x 100". Maybe I'll just write the pattern exactly how I did it and you can adjust it however you'd like. It would be really easy to make it a little bigger or smaller. 5) I forgot the last thing I was going to say. Crud. 6) Oh yeah, I just remembered: I still need to ask Brady if they named the farm yet!

comments: 72

It was so beautiful yesterday. I had the doors and windows open. I didn't have any music on at all, just so I could hear all of the birdsong we've been missing so much these past long months.

I have a dream to buy a little piece of land — a meadow edged by forest. A weekend place. Not too far away. I found one on-line. It has an old red shed on it now, and a tumbling-down old rabbit hutch. Someday we could build a cabin on it, but for a few years maybe we could just have a little trailer, or even a tent. I'd throw my quilt on the long grass and read all afternoon. What I imagine mostly is how it would sound. Quiet, with birds and leaves.

Silverlights comments: 86

Gah. This time of year. I'll call it freezing, with floral accents. It's very, very, very, very gray, and cold, outside. The light reads periwinkle. Everything's periwinkle. I've been knitting a cowl for, oh, ever. This is from the top down, increasing (getting wider at the bottom) as you go. Inspired by this one. One might think one should finish one's knit neckwear in wintertime, but then one remembers that one lives in the PNW and one knows [one sobs] that one has until . . . oh . . . June. To finish. One's knit neckwear. The yarn is exceptional (Tosh Merino DK). The color: called Antler. Warm, squishy-soft, creamy single-ply perfection. To warm the cool periwinkles, the silverlights of spring.

Last night our friend Shelly called while I was brushing my teeth. I heard Andy talking to her. He was summarizing different cable channels she might not be familiar with, lest her TV-watching habits differ from mine. Hallmark Channel was about "leprechaun experts." Lifetime was "secret lives." Not to be confused with Lifetime Movie Network, "which is, like, Girl Power. You know what I mean." I was sputtering toothpaste. I thought it was so funny. I'm afraid to hear how he would describe Bravo.

I don't know if I've ever told you, but . . . Clover doesn't like birds. More specifically, certain bird sounds. Regard the expression in the photo above: seconds after one trilled just outside the window. We can't figure it out. It's only certain songs, and I don't know exactly which birds sing them. She worries. Wind (I can understand), firecrackers (hate them!), and some birds (wha???): These are no friends of hers. Oh, sweetheart. It's okay. I usually try to distract her with something fun when it happens. Something fun like sticking a camera in her face and taking her picture. Just kidding. No, like playing, or having her give me her paw, and then her other paw, and then her other paw. Tossing the flappy toy. I think that's what Cesar says to do when dogs get nervous? Doesn't always work, but I guess it's something. Sweetest girl.

We had new pendants installed in the living room. This one hangs in the middle of the room over the little side table by the chair (and one hangs over the back corner of the sofa by the window). There's really only one way this room can ever be configured. Especially now that there's a pendant hanging in the middle of it. Chicken or egg thing, really.