Latest Skirt - Religious Poetry Meets Ransom Note

 Here is my Ransom Note Meets Religious Poetry skirt!  The line along the hem is "All things counter, original, spare, strange," which is is from a poem by the 19th century monk Gerald Manley Hopkins.  (I'll include the whole poem at the end of this post.

 

 

The letters were cut from T-shirts and appliqued on the ruffle, which was then sewn to the skirt.

The skirt was made from other T-shirts and features a pocket and an elastic waist.

 

 

 

 

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Here are some photos from making it:

 

This project represents some growth for me as a maker because I generally only pick fast and easy projects, ones without repetitive tasks or fussy details.   (For me, applique is repetitive and fussy.)  But I asked myself: Why chose projects that as are close as possible to instant gratification?  Why rush to the finish line instead of enjoying the process?  So I decided to give myself permission to set it aside and come back to it if I wanted to.  (I didn't want to.)   I let myself tackle something more involved.  And it's one of the favorite things I've ever made.  :)

 

Pied Beauty

by Gerald Manley Hopkins 

Glory be to God for dappled things—

For skies of couple-colour as a brinded cow;

For rose-moles all in stipple upon trout that swim;

Fresh-firecoal chestnut-falls; finches’ wings;

Landscape plotted and pieced – fold, fallow, and plough;

And àll tràdes, their gear and tackle and trim.

 

All things counter, original, spare, strange;

Whatever is fickle, freckled (who knows how?)

With swift, slow; sweet, sour; adazzle, dim;

He fathers-forth whose beauty is past change:

Praise him. 

Happy Shakespeare's Probable Birthday!

Happy Easter!

 He is risen!

Wishing you all the joy of this glorious day! 

The Savior Is Born!

 “O, loving wisdom of our God!
When all was sin and shame,
A second Adam to the fight
And to the rescue came.
O, wisest love! That flesh and blood
Which did in Adam fail,
Should strive afresh against the foe,
Should strive and should prevail!
And that a higher gift than grace should flesh and blood refine;
God’s presence and His very self and essence all-divine.”
— St. John Henry Newman 

 Wishing you and yours a very Merry Christmas! 

How to Wrap Unwieldly Gifts

 The fabric and ribbons were from my stash.  My gifts for Mom are usually from the silent auction at our church's fall festival, and they are inevitably weird shapes and big.  I finally wised up and made these cloth gift bags last year.  Much easier, more environmentally friendly, and less fragile than wrapping paper.  Mom gave them back after she opened them, so I can use them again this year. 😊 

Two garden items... :)

On the right is the garden catalog which has recently arrived. It's time to start planning the garden!

On the left, is my garden notebook where I keep track of what we plant and our harvest, along with what we spend and what we are going to do differently next year. Our first garden in our new home was 2011. And now the notebook is full. I wonder how many total pounds of produce that represents?

Frugal tip: If it is broken, what do you have to lose trying to fix it?

My husband fixed our VCR! I know, it's kind of amazing that we still have one. But we also have a bunch of VHS tapes, and we've never gotten around to getting DVDs of all of them.

Basically, he just opened it up, cleaned it, and it worked! Your mileage may vary. But since it was already broken, he didn't have much to lose.  Movie night tonight!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Today's Harvest

 Here's a sample of what I harvested today, namely, strawberries, green onions, lettuce, and oregano.  It's not much, but it is nice to still be eating from the garden even in May.

 

A Novel Adventure

Today, I read through my entire novel, start to finish, without a break today in order to check for consistency and flow.  I'm pretty pleased with it.  I think my sister will like it.

I do have some edits to make, though.  Tomorrow.

First Strawberries of 2025!

 My first entry in the garden harvest log.  And so it begins....

 

Lone Tulip

 Sometimes, you just have to bloom where you're planted!

 

 

Sweater Blanket in Honor of Grandma Rose

You know when you have an idea for a project, and you look online and see that pretty much no one else has done it, and then you think: Maybe there's a reason no one else is doing it this way?

Well, I'm happy to say that I did my project anyway and got away with it!

This is kind of a quilt in that it has three layers: old sweaters, an old wool blanket, and old sweaters.  The reason that you're probably not supposed to do this is because the sweaters were made out of different kinds of weaving -- close weave, loose weave, everything in between -- and they are likely to pull, warp, and generally not hold their shape.  I decided to reduce the risk by doing WAY more ties than normal.  The usual rule of thumb, according to the collective wisdom of the internet anyway, is to space them so that whenever you put your hand down, you cover at least one tie.  I did a lot more than that, and I increased the frequency of ties around the edges.

 The resulting quilt/blanket is HEAVY.  It was a gift for my husband and he really loves it!

 

Above is the worn-out wool blanket with holes that I used for the batting.

I ended up just cutting off a section because it had too many holes.

 

Unwanted sweaters and a scarf from my husband.

I did lots of pinning.  I was worried about the stretchiness of the knits leading to lots of warping.

I just serged the edges.  Not at all the correct way to bind a quilt!

 

 

Garden 2025 has begun!

Leek seeds were planted yesterday!  Don't worry, we didn't got out in freezing temps and five inches of snow.  They are on heating mats, soon to be under grow lights when they sprout.  :)

Bean Sticks

 This is the sort of thing you make when it's freezing cold outside, and you are longing for both the beach and the garden. 

I'm planning to stake my bush beans this year and see if I get more productivity.  The paint is to help preserve the wood. (Still need to seal them.)  And I figured if I'm going to paint them, I might as well have some fun with it.

It's the Little Things

 BEFORE:

 

AFTER

 

 

This little box was fun to make, and it's making me inordinately happy!

2024 Strawberry Total

 The results are in!  This year we harvested 17.4 pounds of strawberries from our backyard!  At a conservative $1.99/lb for fresh organic strawberries, that is $34.62 worth of strawberries.  I have been freezing whatever doesn't get eaten right away, and hope to be adding garden-grown strawberries to my oatmeal for weeks.  :)

Last years harvest was 13 pounds.  This is all from 12 strawberry seedlings we bought in 2022 for $9.96.

Next up - planting runners in little yogurt dishes so that we can transplant them wherever we want.  I'm hoping to keep refreshing the beds this way and never have to buy new strawberry seedlings again.

I will say that strawberries are fairly labor-intensive.  During the peak of the season I've been known to spend two hours harvesting, coring, washing, weighing, blending, and freezing them.  But so worth it!

Did you know...

 

In a recent study comparing every Nobel Prize-winning scientist from 1901 to 2005 with typical scientists of the same era, both groups attained deep expertise in their respective fields of study.  But the Nobel Prize winners were dramatically more likely to be involved in the arts than the less accomplished scientists.  Here’s what a team of fifteen researchers at Michigan State University found about engagement in the arts among Noble Prize winners relative to ordinary scientists:

 If the scientist practiced music, he or she was twice as likely to win as compared to contemporaries

 Arts such as drawing, painting, printmaking or sculpting - 7x as likely.

Crafts: Woodworking, mechanics, electronics, glassblowing - 7.5x as likely

Writing: poetry, plays, novels, short stories, essays, popular books - 12x as likely

Performing: acting, dancing, magician - 22x as likely