Fruit, craftiness and nurturing

Above: strawberries in a berry bowl that Luisa and I made.

One of the things I love about this time of year is the fruit. Unlike the anemic and cardboard-like winter strawberries, strawberries now are sweet and full of flavour. Ditto for oranges and raspberries. Apples don't seem to suffer much (my favourite type is Royal Gala) in the winter so I tend to overdose on those in colder weather.

I'm revelling in the variety now, though, and come home from the market laden with different kinds of fruit. I like to line up the apples and oranges along the sunlit kitchen window sill where I can see them; I love the contrast of bright colours against the dark brown.



I went to my first 'Beyond Beginners' sewing class last week. Each of us brought our own project; I chose a dress that I hope to wear to Rand's and Erin's wedding, but it will depend on how the project turns out.

There are only four people in the class. One person only started sewing last week and the other two have had sewing machines for a while but haven't sewed much with them. I love the class space; it reminds me of my home office, with lots of creative clutter (Jeff would have another name for it, I think :-)... Two big tables for spread out patterns and material in the centre, lots of smaller tables with sewing machines and sergers (sergers!) and other equipment around the outside.

I learned how to alter my pattern BEFORE I sew it, and found out why I've been having so much trouble making dresses that actually fit -- my top half is apparently 3-4 sizes smaller than my bottom half, at least in terms of standard pattern sizes. I'm definitely pear-shaped! The instructor, mistakenly thinking I was embarrassed about this, hastened to reassure me that this was common. I reassured her that it was ok, and that I just wanted the dress to FIT. :-)



I've added beads to my butterfly fabric painting. Next step: sewing the tank top pieces together.



I keep forgetting to post the photo above: as part of my birthday present, Jeff had four of my Letterpress cards custom matted and framed. I've been working on more cards for Blush Publishing; I've had six approved and am working on the last two designs this weekend. You can buy the first four cards in my Etsy shop.



The squirrels have held off their attacks for now, happily. Either they've been distracted by something else, or they're re-grouping. Hopefully not the latter.

I'm glad, because my seedlings are thriving despite being now moved outdoors. I know I could just spend the money and buy full-grown plants, but I'm getting huge enjoyment out of the whole nurturing process: planting the seedlings, watching them sprout, moving them outdoors. Here are pics of just a few of the plants I'm growing from seed...

Snapdragons:



Basil:



Baby tomato:



Nasturtium:



Parsley:






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