Rocks & Chickens = Happy Father's Day!

So I changed my blog name...again.

The first time was really because I'd left the classroom and Pre-K stories of Insanity really didn't fit any more. 

At least the Pre-K part. The rest probably did.

And my friend, Annie, gave me the title "Writings after Sunset," which really did fit because I do write most of these at night and it's just a collection of my random ramblings.

But, now that I do write more about my crafts, quilting, and gardening, I wanted something different. I'm also hoping to eventually post some wares in my Etsy store, which also bears the name Rocks and Chickens.

Odd name, right? And odd to connect it to Fathers' Day?

Well...yes, I am generally odd, so this may not seem so strange after all. I do have method to the madness, though...this time...

Well, when I was little, my dad and I used to go out and do all kinds of stuff together. Walk in the woods. Look at bugs. Find snails. Collect shells. That kind of stuff. And he'd always start by saying, "You want to throw some rocks and kick some chickens?"

Yes. I know my dad is weird. So am I. So sue us. ;)

And of course, I'd say yes. And when my mom asked what we did, I'd tell her, "Throwed rocks and kicked shickens."

Now, I would like to clarify that no chickens were ever hurt during these excursions. He mostly just said it because it was ridiculous. (And to rile up my grandmother when she was in town.) Some Japanese beetles and a cicada may have not survived these adventures, but those are other stories for another day.

I love my daddy (and my momma, too, of course). He taught me to love art and to love crafts and music and really any artistic expression. And he taught me to pursue them because they're a worthwhile endeavor. And he gave me his sense of humor.

He also loves gardening and all things plants. He knows more than any regular person really should about plants. Well, about everything.

He showed me how a man should treat those he loves, especially his wife and children, and not to settle for one who does anything less than his best in those departments. My dad is the best dad and he and my mom have an awesome marriage.

And he taught me to love the Lord.

I couldn't ask for more, so I am glad to name my blog for him.

Happy Fathers' Day!

Linking up with Molly and Carly:

Finish It Up Friday 2

Okay, so today's finish isn't super exciting.

I mean I definitely did not finish my baby quilt. I've been working too late this week. Hopefully I'll make some progress this weekend.

So I had this rug for my kitchen. Clearly it had seen better days.

Mr. Gardener had a pair of jeans that had also seen better days.

I'm all about a comfy pair of holy jeans for the weekend and the garden and just hanging around.

But sometimes they get too holy, you know?

Most people don't want to see that much of Mr. Gardener.

And well those that do...

Well, I don't want them to see that much of him, either. :)

So I cut them up!

Grabbed some scrap fabric leftover from making the valences in my kitchen and got to work.

I didn't have big enough pieces for the sides, so I just sewed scraps together until I had pieces that were big enough.

And got this!

I used this tutorial for the wonky star for the center of the rug.

Quilted with straight lines. Because that's all I do so far.

I used some fabric that really isn't my cup of tea for the back. My lovely MIL decided to get into quilting for hot second and then decided it really wasn't her thing. So, she sent me a lot of fabric and a ton of tools. Very sweet of her.

Some of the fabric I can make into something that's a little more me and some is good for rug backs. :) 

Waste not, want not, right?

Plus, I'm going to smear puffy paint all over the back to see if that helps with slippage. I have so much puffy paint leftover from sorority days in college.

I still love my letters, but I don't rock the puffy painted ones so much anymore.

If you looked closely, you would see this is a far scream from my best work. It's not squared up, the binding sewing is more than a little interesting. But this was more about making a rug that might be semi-durable (I mean it's jean, right?) and trying out the process.

I'm hoping it'll look kinda funky in my retro/Coca-Cola inspired kitchen. 

I'm not totally sold on the design itself, yet, but I do like the idea.

Excuse the finished photos. I finished at about 9:15 last night and there wasn't much (any) light and I have to head to work early today.

Enjoy your weekend!

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

Works in Progress Wednesday 2

Well, we haven't floated away yet. Nice little reprieve yesterday, but it sounds like today is scheduled for another monsoon. ;) 

So...same WIP as last week....

But I've made progress!

Not as much as I would like, but is it ever? I do have to say, though, it's coming along.

I finished piecing the back together. 

I basted it. (I pin baste. I like that they're reusable, they don't get gunk on my floor, and frankly, spray basting makes me nervous...)

And I've started the quilting. Just a simple cross hatch. 

I think it would have looked nice with some stipling or other free-motion quilting, but I'm just not there yet and this is not the project to practice on.

Frankly, I'm not quite there yet with straight line quilting. There's a good bit of meandering going on and I do wish now that I've lengthened my stitch length.

Of course, I'm still trying to master walking in a straight line.

 

But I'm just trying to take a deep breath and learn something new each time. This quilting business might be good for me to get over some of my perfectionistic tendencies. It will never be perfect, but I can enjoy the process and the product. Plus it's handmade with love and still probably of a higher quality than most store-bought quilts.

Hopefully not too much more left on this one.

Because I also have this to get to...

I have almost finished cutting my fabric for my Bloom Bloom Pow quilt. I was keeping up with Lee until I ran short on white background fabric. And then I just got behind.

This is also a gift quilt, so I need to get cracking on it, too.

The list never gets shorter, does it? :)

Linking up with Works in Progress Wednesday at Freshly Pieced.

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?

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Finish It Up Friday 1 - The Selvage Pillow

 So this is actually a finish from late February/early March, but I'm just getting around to sharing it now.

This is my scraptastic pillow that lives in my living room on my fabulous Ikea chair. It basically came about because I wanted to start sewing some pillows for my living room, I had a bunch of scraps, and I really just wanted to finish...something.

I've had a lot of bigger projects (quilts and the like) on my ever-growing to-sew list, so it's nice to have a smaller project every now and then. 

 I absolutely do not believe in throwing away scraps, even the little teeny tiny ones. Some people do and that's fine. But me? No.

First, I love scrappy quilts. I think they're fun and they can be kind of funky depending on how you do them.

Second, fabric is expensive. Especially if you get quality stuff. Trust me, it's worth it to get the quality stuff. It behaves better when you're sewing and it looks better when you're done. It just lays better and irons better.

I just can't bear to throw them out.

So I save all the bits. Even the selvages. And while that's kind of trendy in the sewing/quilting world right now, I also think it's smart. Why throw out something perfectly good that can become something else?  Especially when that something else is both pretty and functional.

 I mean, look at this pillow. The top is mostly selvages plus some larger scraps I had.

Also, it gives me the chance to play around and experiment a little bit and if I screw it up, it was just scraps, right? Especially since I tend to screw it up a lot.

Those white corners with the colored stripe alongside the selvages? Yeah, I definitely intended those to be reversed. Oops. Better next time, although I don't think it looks bad. My husband was glad of this. He's rescued a few projects from the garbage. :) Bless him.

 I foundation pieced the selvages onto scrap paper, e.g. paper I tore out of a phone book we'll never use. Then, I did the corner bits and sewed all four blocks together. I quilted it primarily by stitching in the ditch, although I did also outline the border.

At some point I'll write up a little tutorial, although I think you could figure it out pretty easily. My selvages have multiplied since I sewed up this little project. I need an excuse to use them up, right? :)

 For the back, I just did a simple envelope enclosure using leftover fabric for when I sewed the valences in my kitchen. Waste not, want not, right?

 Mr. Gardener kindly took these photos when he took photos of my first quilt. I very much appreciate him and his willingness to support my craft.

Enjoy your weekend!!



I'm linking up with Crazy Mom Quilts and Finish it Up Friday. You should, too.