New Year's in Williamsburg

After Christmas and over New Year's Mr. Gardener and I ventured to Williamsburg with my family. 

They had timeshare time to use and kindly invited us to join them. And we all had a very nice time together. We did some things together and some separately, like Mr. Gardener and I went to go visit friends in Newport News (maybe 30 minutes from Williamsburg). So, all in all, it was great. 

(Because, as I'm sure you know, blending family vacations can be a gamble. But my parents have informed us that we haven't yet been banned from vacationing with them. hehe)

Rare photo of my brother smiling? Had to include it. 

We went to the folk art museum. Loved the quilt exhibit (duh) and the whirligigs. 

Fun sculpture for no apparent reason? Count me in.

I love folk art. It's all about expression for the pleasure of it. It can include form and function, an adherence to rules, but it doesn't have to. It's art for art by regular people. 

Naturally, I needed to tour the colonial garden.

Look at these awesome ideas for winter gardening. Keep in mind, if you're a newbie gardener, that these are cool season vegetables.

I love the bell jars (left).

Kind of a like a mini greenhouse.  I think that could be totally doable. 

Coldframe. 

There were beautiful Christmas decorations everywhere. 

I need to try my hand at creating something similar next year.

Me, my brother, and my mom cheesin'.

We also visited a plantation. Here, we see tobacco, Virginia's cash crop. My brother informed us that these were cigarettes. ;) He's so smart. 

My dad can't resist the opportunity to teach. He needs to retire here and be one of the living history folks.

My dad can't smile like a normal person.

We stopped at a few of the taverns, which try to keep their fare as historical as possible. 

They have a beer based on a older recipe (with some adjustments, obviously, for modern tastes). It is delicious.

 

Next year's Christmas card? 

Maybe I'll get a Christmas card out one year...

We also learned about baking bread in this outdoor oven.

Finally, look at that beautiful basket. They created these for complete utilitarian use, not for beauty, the way we look at baskets today. 

Gorgeous. 

I think I've found a new craft I'd like to master....

I just can't stop. :)

Backyard Bliss - Progress

Friends, I would like to take a moment to recognize Mr. Gardener.

Not only is he a steller husband. (And in my opinion, hot like a muffin straight out of the oven - you need not feel inclined to agree with me there. ;) He is spoken for, after all.)

But he has spent a good deal (several Saturdays, most of the Fourth, he had the 5th of July off, etc.) of time working on our backyard (as I mentioned previously).

He tore out the posts from the old, hazard-to-humanity deck, including the concrete. 

He pulled up all the pavers. (These just don't work with our lovely, heavily rooted cherry tree.) They are going to live at my parent's house.

He took out the little dogwood tree. Let me explain. We are not tree killers. I am a Virginian, so I do appreciate my dogwood. But the previous owners planted it pretty much underneath the gargantuan cherry tree. And it was just struggling there. It couldn't get the light it needed, nor the space, so it had started growing in a crazy configuration and it just wasn't going to thrive there.

So here's some of the before (above).

And the after (below - 2 pictures).

It looks similar, but look at the gone pavers. The gone weird built-in bed thing they had going on (lower right hand corner). Random trash they left behind (under the hazardous deck) gone.

He also repaired, powerwashed, and stained the fence.

Gold star, Mr. Gardener!

Lots of hours of manpower in the heat and numerous-I-lost-count trips to Lowe's later, we're getting closer to Backyard Bliss.

The deck people start on our deck today, too!

Wood for the deck. They delivered on Friday. Fortunately, our neighbor is nice and let us use her extra parking spot in the meantime.

For additional perspective, I will show you a bit of what our front yard used to look like:

Yeah...tree stump.

Weeds.

Oh and a mess of mint in our yard.

I love mint. 

But, let me tell you, for you aspiring gardeners out there. Mint is supremely aggressive. And invasive. It grows and grows and grows, like nobody's business.

It's great if you can't grow anything else. I can almost guarantee, you, too, can grow mint. 

However, that being said, grow it in a pot. And don't let the growth touch the ground or it will root there and spread like wildfire and kill off anything in its way. Grass included. And your neighbor's grass.

So, just don't do it. Don't plant it in your yard. Contain it. 

(That goes for bamboo, too. Fair warning.)

So...old yard (and a local bunny - fewer of those around now - the fox population has increased. Circle of life, people.)

New yard. 

I think it looks leaps and bounds better.

Grass is a little brown because the "nurse" grass (seasonal and intended to help the perennial grass get started) is starting to grow.

Mr. Gardener LOVES his grass. It is like his child. I could write a whole post just describing his love for the grass.

Hence part of the reason I started calling him Mr. Gardener here. ;)

Finish it Up Friday 3

Hello there bloggy friends!

I have not fallen off the face of the earth.

There are probably a few disappointed folks out there in the world. ;)

It's just been a  busy busy week here!

I've been working crazy hours (it's a good and temporary thing) and trying to squeeze my life in, in between. So, this week the blog was neglected.

Plus a lot of rain made it difficult to take pictures. (Not that I'm complaining. Please say a prayer for those out west experiencing wildfires and that crazy heatwave.)

Nonetheless, I am back to finish out the week. 

I hope that my American friends had a lovely Independence day. If you are/were a service member, military brat, or military spouse, I would like to thank you for your service and sacrifices. (Family members give up a lot, too.)

If you are not an American, I hope that your July 4th was a nice day. ;)

So.....onto the FINISH!

Yay!!  That baby quilt is finally done!

About time, too. I got her first birthday invite in the mail last week.

Whoops!  

At least she's not 18, right? ;)

It did give me a lot of time to pray for baby and family, which is kind of the point.

So, while y'all have really only seen pictures of this quilt coming along for about a month (and I'm sure y'all were saying to yourselves, is she going to do anything else already?), this quilt was a good year (?) or so in the making.

Yes. I know. Ridiculous.

Let me explain a little.

I am a super newbie quilter.

This is my SECOND QUILT EVER (huzzah!).  (First one can be seen here.)

I do have finished a couple of other quilt tops that are just patiently waiting for some other items to be completed first.

So....about a year ago (yeah, since she's almost one), I started this quilt. Buying the fabric, deciding on how the pattern would go, so on and so forth.

I learned how to do a half square triangle (HST).

Let me stop there. 

HSTs really aren't so hard. But they do require some degree of precision. And, well, I didn't really have that then (for a lot of reasons...crappy sewing machine, impatience, and I now own a quarter inch foot, which is a-MAH-zing).

So, I sewed a bunch of HSTs and they looked like crap.

This is not my usual...oh, I wish they looked better.

No, these would have looked terrible in the quilt. Quite literally (and that is not the figurative use of the word literal, which is kind of a weird phenomenon in our culture, but I digress...).

So, I set them aside and worked on some other items. Many of which are still WiPs.

Someday. Someday.

And I broke up with my sewing machine.

The backside of the quilt. It's just a preference thing, but I like the backside to look complete, too, and not haphazard.  If you like haphazard backsides, more power to you. :)

 So after I finished the first baby quilt, I looked at these HSTs again and started ripping them apart.

Which took this side of forever.

 (By the way, I think these two babies already have an arranged marriage. Just kidding, kind of. Their moms would LOVE that. ;) )

Then, I re-sewed them, squared them up and just kept going.

Mr. Gardener helped me with the placement of all of the blocks. He's a sweetie, isn't he? (I learned some good lessons about value in this quilt, but I think I will save that for another day because this post is getting kind of long. Thanks for hanging in there!)

Here's some of the quilting, which happily improved as I went along (yay for skills progress!). I just did a very simple cross-hatch, but I think it works well with the design.

As a result of this ripping, squaring up, etc. business, the blocks were much smaller than I originally intended. In fact, I originally intended for the pinwheels to be the whole quilt!

So, I pulled my Michael Miller Dinky Dots in Grey from my stash (I LOVE this print. Why? I don't know. Just do.) and made a big ol' border. And I quite like it.

I also made a square quilt instead of a rectangular one. (Well, technically a square is a rectangle - though not all rectangles are squares - but you know what I mean.) 

More quilting. You can see a little meandering and so on, but I'm pretty proud of myself overall.

 But, I must say, that by happy accident, I think I like how it came out better than the original design.

The binding is a scrappy mixture of fabrics left from the pinwheels.

Mr. Gardener helped take pictures.

Then he got weird and said I couldn't take pictures of him.

So, naturally, I just had to. Muahahaha.

Isn't he cute?  

I think so.

************

So...Quilty Stats!!

Fabric: 

-Stained Glass in Light Pink by Dear Stella

-Savannah in Blossom from the Karavan Collection by Valori Wells

-Jenean Morrison Silent Cinema Iris in Pink for Free Spirit Fabrics

-Vintage Ironwork in Khaki from Secret Garden by Sandi Henderson

-Garden Pindot Blossom by Michael Miller Fabrics

-Mod Vine in Rose from Modernology by Art Gallery Fabrics

-Art Gallery Hyperreal Garden Radient Bouquet in Ruby

-Art Gallery Coquette Flirt in Power Grey

-Too Muchery Damask in Steel by Helen Dardik

-Circles in Light Greys from Downtown by P&B Textiles

-Nancy Mims Pick a Bunch Organic Flower Burst in Orchid

-Mingle Polka Dot in Hot Pink 

-Michael Miller Dinky Dots in Grey

-Random Pinks from Joann's

Pause: I will never use just random fabric ever again. It turned out okay, but it just didn't play as nice as the other fabrics. Turns out there is a significant quality difference. Unpause.

Quilting:

-Grey Guttermann thread

Binding:

Scrappy leftovers of the above-mentioned fabrics

Size:

I think it's 55" by 55", but I need to measure to make sure.

Then it will be wash, iron, and off to the postman!

Thanks for sticking through that long post!! :)

Linking up with Finish it up Friday with Crazy Mom Quilts.

Also linking up with Molly and Carly.

3rd Anniversary!!!!

Today is my 3rd Anniversary with Mr. Gardener!!!!!!!!

These are the shoes I wore for our  wedding.

It's incredible to believe. It feels like I can't believe that three years have passed and simultaneously, I can't believe that it's only been 3 years.

I can't imagine life any other way.

It's also my parents' anniversary. We chose to honor them by also getting married on their anniversary. They have been an incredible example of how marriage should be. They are celebrating 36(!) years this year.

This is our beloved pastor, Pastor Smith. We met at his church and we definitely wanted him to marry us. He taught me so much about faith and God and the responsibilities associated with being a person of faith. (Side note: you really should check out City of Refuge - it is an incredible church doing God's amazing work in the community. Different pastor now - Pastor Smith is in Memphis. But Pastor Ikki is also awesome. Never met him, but his sermons rock.)

Pastor Smith gave us the best marriage advice.

I know I've only been married three years, but we've had our ups and downs, awesome times, and drag out fights, just like any other couple.

And I am a lot of things, but I'm no dummy, so I know good advice when I hear it. :)

He actually started out the sermon, like this: "Love does not sustain a marriage."

I think a lot of jaws dropped at that. And I loved it. Still do. 

It's true. And I also love shocking people. :)

Commitment sustains a marriage.

And it's so true.

I love Josh. So much. 

But sometimes he drives me crazy. Sometimes he makes me mad. And sometimes when he accidentally pushes me out the bed in the middle of the night, he makes me cranky. And in those moments, I love him, but it doesn't feel the same way that we usually describe love, at least in our Western society.

But I wake up everyday and I choose to love him. I choose to be married to him. I choose to walk with him.

And he chooses the same thing.

We made a promise. Actually, we made more than a promise, we made a covenant. Just like God made a covenant with us that He will always be with us, Josh and I have made a commitment to each other.

And that, along with growing together in Christ, will sustain our marriage.

I'm not saying marriage is easy. In fact, a lot of days it's not, which is why commitment is so important. And that sermon has had such an awesome impact on our relationship, that I believe it's absolutely worth sharing.

Here's to many more years!

Seed Starting

I think we're going to float away here!

It has been raining A TON.

Incredible downpour. 

Cats and dogs, I tell ya!

Actually, I hope not cats. The neighbor's cat likes to dig in my garden. I think he and I are going have it out soon.

Next time he jumps in my trunk while I'm unloading groceries, we may just go on a field trip. 

Just kidding. 

Maybe.

I'm actually not sure that my lovely pumpkins will survive. They're pretty deep in water right now. We'll see, I guess. I would be disappointed, but there's worse things.

So, to beat the gloomy weather, I thought I'd show you the fun little seed starting methodology Mr. Gardener devised for me.

So last year, starting seeds indoors didn't work out so well for me. I made a lot of mistakes.

This year, I did a little more research, used my brain a little more, and got a tad bit less cocky about it all.

I wanted to do things right this year, so I wanted a grow light (also, I ran out of window space last year). But danggone, grow lights are expensive.

I was telling Mr. Gardener this when he hopped on Google, did a little planning, and said, "I have a solution for you."

So, with some PVC pipe, some chain, and a florescent light, he made me my own grow lamp.

It's even adjustable as the plants grow. And we can dismantle it and store it in the basement once the plants grow outside.

Best of all? 

It only cost about $50 to make and I fit over 70 plants underneath it.

As much I like Burpee, their grow lights cost twice that to fit half as many plants.

I two heat mats underneath it and over a piece of insulation.

They seemed to like it pretty well.

I mean look at them now!

Do you have any DIY's you've done that are better than the real deal?

Linking up with YOLO Monday with Still Being Molly. Because what good is a garden without friends?