Garden Update

So, in the past week, it's gone from Pacific Northwest cold/rainy to St. Louis late July. It is so disgustingly hot and humid today, and just a few days ago I was adding an extra blanket to the bed.

Naturally, this has made Rabbitt Gardens explode with goodness.

1. The first peas are allllmost ripe.  I keep messing with them each day in a Hansel and Gretel way to see if they're fat enough.


2.  Cucumbers, carrots, lettuce, tomatoes, mystery squash, peppers are all a go. I went nuts and planted a ton of flower seeds in one bed where some Roma tomatoes reseeded. I reminded myself that I really love picking fresh flowers in the summer, and it would be very pretty in a few months.

3.  Last weekend, in the cool drizzle, I transplanted 6 or 7 different colors of irises a coworker dug for me.  I may regret this in a few years, but I LOVE irises!

4.  Discovered a potato plant growing from my failed tater-in-a-tire-pile experiment last year. Perhaps it wants a second try.

5.  The taller-than-me hollyhocks that I thought would be magenta are looking like they're black. This is a very good thing, because I had blamed Mr. Rabbitt for dumping dirt on the old black hollyhock cluster, thusly killing it.

6.  Front yard looks great with dark penstemon, pink coral bells, yellow coneflower/black-eyed susan (nobody knows), orange daylilies and bright blue anemones.

This pic is a few weeks old....will add new ones later when the plants stop wilting in the heat!

Oh, and the best update? 4.5 days left of SCHOOL!!!!!

Also, also,.....Green With Indie is rolling around again, and I've been reasonably productive!

Self Explanatory

First tomato of the year and new favorite shirt. I feel 20 years old again, with a powerful-statement-shirt. Believe it or not, this was taken on the first shot. Skillz.

More green beans than I thought:


I've been sewing for this show for the past two weeks. Won't you come shop? I will have some of my mother's crocheted bags made from plastic shopping bags, too.

First tomatoes!

I found this fabric in a hunt for yellows. I made a pair of Jams out of it in 1986 or 1987. I am slightly embarrassed ....A. because I wore shorts out of this fabric and B. because I've had the hideous scraps for 22 years. But, it works perfectly with the tropical blue, red and yellow placemats I cut out.

Monarda and daisies from my garden make a nice bouquet in the bathroom.

Okay, so the tomato was on the plant when I bought it, but it took a while to get nice and yellow!


In other news, I will be taking a fresh shipment of man whore kitchen goods to Paste today. There apparently is quite a demand for man whores in St. Louis, which I am happy to fulfill.

Cranky Yellow on Cherokee Street will also be selling my "men" this week. I'll pop by there tomorrow to drop some off. Cherokee Street has experienced quite a renaissance in the past year or so. It's not the scary neighborhood it used to be. Go get some good coffee at Mississippi Mud, walk a few blocks west to Cranky Yellow and get some tacos on your way.

New Bags!

I am in the middle of adding new market bags to my Etsy shop. Remember, they are pretty much one-of-a-kind, and so fabulous that they won't last long. I hope.

Tonight we may be going to the Meet Our Alderwoman Candidate party at Grbic's. She's my neighbor, so I already know her, but there are raffles and such. Plus, free door prizes!

I've been sickish all this week, but dragged myself to school anyway. By Friday, I could not get myself psyched for a day full of boring meetings, and even though I wouldn't have had classes, I still called in sick. Then, I stayed in bed until 10 am. TEN AM! That's when I know I'm sick!
My doctor called in a Z-pac for me, which is 30 doses of the antibiotic azithromycin in 6 convenient pills. It basically kills ALL the bacteria in my body, good ones too. So, let's hope I make it through the weekend without getting the vomiting, diarrhea, or yeast infections that are possible side effects. My life is awesome, huh?

And as far as the previous post goes, we got nothing. But, the ball doctor said it could take a year or so for everything to heal from the variocele surgery.
At least my house is clean for now!

Yowza!

First of all, a massive thank you to everyone who picked up a little Squaresville for the holidays. I am SO happy that you're helping me clean out my craft storage box!
Rock and Roll Craft Show was totally kick-ass, and then yesterday's Green Living Expo was also awesome! Thanks to you customers, I will be sending a fat check to my grandparents for Christmas. Grandpop is 96 or so, and Grandmom will be 89 in January. I know they struggle to make ends meet, as he is a retired farmer and she is a seamstress. They're on a ton of medications, heating bill, blah blah blah. Would you be happy to know that Grandpop recycles? And, he was excited to "put a woman in the White House" in the April primaries in Pennsylvania.
Anyway, Grandmom has been in her house since 1939, and it needs tons of repairs. Naturally, I sorta hope she leaves it to me in her will, because I have nothing but wonderful memories of baking, cooking, canning, cleaning and fabric-messing-around-with in her house.
I figure the money will come in handy for them.

Here is a picture so you can see my newest frock, straight from the bowels of Value Village:

I like it, even though the picture makes me look oddly-shaped. And why do I always have that "I'm going to kick your ass" look?

Squaresville Update

The sewing machine has been busy, busy, busy here in Squaresville!
Check this sweet pile out:

Those are all kickass potholders, including some Halloween ones!
Now for the trimming, the looping and the binding. Then, the tying together and the tagging and adding to my inventory spreadsheet. No rest for the wicked, eh?

I'm mildly panicking about not having enough ready in time. I still have to put oven mitts into production! Still, I'm excited about Strange Folk and hope it goes as well as I feel it will.

Today was spent going to Leftovers with Senora Muertos and Senorita Muertos. I scored a massive Christmas tin for storing birdseed (remember the squirrel invasion?), a bunch of plastic for the shrinky dink factory at Strange Folk, some sweet vintage and not vintage fabric and some ribbon for hanging loops. Oh, and 70 blue folders, chalk, and a mess of pencils for my real job. Senora Muertos also hit the jackpot and will have a unique display at Strange Folk.

Then, I came home to find Matt had brought my newly refinished desk up from the basement. He was trimming our bushes that had grown over into the Hoosiers' yard, and cut through TWO extension cords in the process. Poor Matt.
After much time spent rearranging my sewing room, everything is in its place and the room now smells like delicious varnish.

Check out the cool accents under the handles! I got the desk for $12 from Value Village, and have spent way more than that refinishing and buying the cool art deco handles. The top is totally beat up and scarred, but those marks are fascinating. What the heck happened to it? Was someone hammering grommets on top of it?
It was well worth it, though, especially when I found a juicy letter jammed in back of the middle drawer. It was written to someone who had really pissed the author off. I will try to scan it and post it. Lord knows I love some juicy gossip!

I really liked this project because it took me back to my youth....When I was growing up, my parents' friend Bob Kling had an antique restoration shop that Dan and I used to stop in at on our jaunts down to Carversville. The smell of varnish always reminds me of being in that wonderfully dusty and crowded shop. It had once been a nightclub of sorts, complete with a little stage for a band. Posters from Philly's classical music station adorned the stairway up to the shop. When I got older, my father would let me pick out one thing from Bob's shop for my birthday. We might have been a blue collar family, but I was surrounded with antiques and learned to appreciate them at an early age.

In other news, my famous oven mitt is now on its way to Canada! I wonder if the customer saw it in the Daily Sauce newsletter?

Mystery Fabric Goodie Bags!

In a wonderful sewing marathon last weekend (Matt was in Chicago), I got like 50 new sets of potholders started. I also worked on an idea I'd been kicking around for a while: scrap bags!
They are A: a great way to destash, B: a great way to get new generations interested in sewing. It sure worked for me, C: sheer capitalism.
The bag is actually a piece of muslin that I printed instructions and suggested uses on. Thank god I haven't jammed my printer yet!

Here's what they look like:


I crammed as many scraps as I could into each roughly 11" by 7" bag, plus a spool of thread!
Look for more at Strangefolk Festival!

Garden Update, Part Two

It seems I take a garden photo in the middle of each month, so here's July's.
The bees, people, the BEES! Honeybees have finally arrived and are just bonkers over the dill, the cosmos and the sunflowers. There are at least 3 different bee types, plus big ol' bumblebees. They are peaceful, and don't bother me when I stand watching their work. But, I don't want to chance it, so I linger only long enough to check for ripe corn and to collect cosmos and cornflower seeds for Squaresville Seed packets. Coming soon to a market near you!


Goldfinches appeared in the yard this week, snacking on the cup plants and sunflowers. This, sadly, is the best shot I could get. But, so pretty and yellow!






Here is Brave Little Cardinal with its eyes closed. Look at those tufty little tufts of tuft! It looks like an old man.









The baby cardinals are about 2 weeks old at this point. Far as I could tell, they hatched on July 4th.

The babies have since left the nest and have moved on to other yards, guarded by Mom and Dad. It has been suggested that next year I get a web cam to watch them hatch and grow and go from monstrous alien blobs to fuzzy little peepers.


*sigh* Back to sewing bags. I'll have more bags than you can shake a stick at at the next Tower Grove Farmers' Market. Plus, coasters and rad oven mitts! July 26th-mark it on your calendars!

Coming Up!

Squaresville Goods will be at the Tower Grove Farmers' Market July 26th. Please hope for a mild morning with no rain!

Also, we have a spiffy new site for CraftaNostra. Check it out August 9th.

Strangefolk? Hells yes! Autumn is at it again, and has us for 2 days this year! Like she doesn't have enough to do, what with kids and fixing errant websites!

So, back to sewing....

Quilts You Can Know

These are the baby quilts I currently have for sale. They are about 40" square, I think. Each one is $130, and if you would like to purchase or find out more details/photos, just comment or email me!
My favorite is obviously the skull one :)

Quilts I Have Known

I'm trying something different with this blog setup. Here are all the quilts I've made that I have pics of. They aren't for sale, as they are already sold. But you can commission one....next year!

We have a lot of records.
I still love orange and pink and zinnias.
Ancient Dresden plate blocks from Grandma and 1" squares from Cat's yard sale-ing.
Don't remember why I look so pissed off...I may have been just squinting or thinking, "Here's your goddamned quilt, asshole!"

Craft Mafia Event

Tomorrow evening, the St. Louis Craft Mafia will be in effect at "Let Them Eat Art" in lovely Maplewood, MO. We'll have our booths set up in Citizens Park, which I believe is near Citizens Bank....
Times are from 6 to 11 pm. There will be all sorts of cool entertainment, music, and hopefully meat on a stick.
Or, you can just look for our awesome new banner, created by moi!

Tomorrow

Wow, only 2 weeks since my last blog?
Well, there was Spring Break, and a week of nausea that included 3 days without coffee, if you can believe that, and well, it's been nice outside.
The garden is sprouting like mad, due to the TON of rain and warm weather we've been having. I'm actually surprised that I don't hear the dehumidifier running in the basement.

Tomorrow, my friends and I will be chillin' at the Tower Grove Farmers' Market in the TG park here in St. Louis. The market is run by the nicest couple ever, Patrick and Jenny, and their stellar friend Chris and Jenny's great dad......Jenny's Dad. Jenny is the type of gal who makes me want to be nicer instead of bitchy and intolerant. However, when your idiot neighbors put a huge tree branch IN the "No Yard Waste" dumpster, one should be allowed to stand in her garden and loudly announce that some people must be fucking idiots if even the Vietnamese family can read the "No Yard Waste" sign on the dumpster.
Oh, I've been busy calling the neighbors idiots, too. So, if I get shot, you'll know why. The beauty supply store is...hmm...maybe two blocks away? Three?

Anyway, Pat and Jenny and Chris and Jenny's Dad are people after my own heart, what with their Local Harvest grocery store and reaching out to the community via an EBT machine and working in schools (!!!) over the summer. I am thankful that they allow us crafters at their FARMERS market, too. Plus, Jenny's Dad is a crossword fan just like me.
You can come buy cute market totes and matching bird potholders for your mom, or honey or meat or coffee or crepes or super hot salsa. There'll be bands playing and people with dogs and yoga and apple tarts.
Now, to wind the clock and to remind myself to pick Alecia up tomorrow morning!