May 2011

Online Weirdnesses

Sun, 05/29/2011 - 15:36 — Maggie

I have followers listed on Google again, and the generic Google Friend Connect widget seems to be working. But if I try to turn the GFC module back on, I still get errors. I don't know what the deal is with that.

And about that "Big list of sewing blogs".. the one that I've had a link to on my page forever. I just searched, and I'm not on it! I know I submitted my blog to it ages ago, at the same time as I put up their badge on my site, but apparently they never bothered to add me. I used the find function in my browser, so it's not like I could have just not seen it--I'm not there. I'm a tad unsure as to why. I can't think of any good reason, so it seems likely that maybe the web hiccuped or something and it didn't submit? But there's not room on the form to explain that, just site name, address, and description... and I don't want to come off like I'm spamming them.

Add new comment

It's a Tomato!

Sun, 05/29/2011 - 10:05 — Maggie

First Tomato!
My volunteer tomato plant has been getting lots of flowers, but most of them were dropping off, and I was starting to get concerned.

But then this morning I found this!

1 comment

Garden Progress

Sun, 05/29/2011 - 09:03 — Maggie

Big Garden Pictures (May 28): A full view of my bigger garden, with some closer shots of a few of the rows underneath. Small Garden Pics (May 28)
My garden seems to be coming along fairly well! I'm using a combination of modular storage cubes and wire fencing for protection from poaching animals-- so far so good so far as animal pests.

I have been getting insect damage. For now I'm using diatomaceous earth, which helps some, but I do still plan on picking up some insecticidal soap too. The DE is all well and good, and useful in many places, but I don't so much like the way plants looked covered with the stuff, and I'm not sure how good it is for them either.

At this point the small garden is pretty much planted, and about half or a bit more than half of the big garden. I put up a short segment of a fence support for cucumbers in the big garden, and planted seeds there, but sprouting in the big garden is slow, so I'll end up transplanting cukes started in small containers on the deck into the big-garden cucumber spot.

A not about diatomaceous earth. An awful lot of people seem to be terrified of it because you're not supposed to breathe in huge amounts of it. This seems to me like a bit of an obvious thing. It's not generally a great idea to inhale lots of any kind of powder, much less one being used for its properties as an abrasive. Diatomacious earth is the fossilized remains of hard-shelled algae. It is used everywhere, for purposes ranging from pest control to pool filtration to stabilizing nitroglycerine into dynamite. One of the pest-control uses for diatomaceous earth is as an additive in flour. Yes, you eat it, whether you know it or not. So no, breathing in clouds of the stuff is not healthy. But I really hate it when people act like I'm doing something crazy while applying the stuff with a paint brush.

Add new comment

Orchid Linen Tunic Finished (Again)

Fri, 05/27/2011 - 20:38 — Maggie

Well I had already posted about finishing my orchid linen tunic.. But then the Google issues hit me and I think I lost it in my attempts to restore my database when I believed that the problem was on my end.

I'd said something about dfr nagging me to get up pictures and then something about loving spf 100 sunscreen but it not protecting my lower back when it's not there and something about linen not being as drapey as rayon. Oh, and something about Firefox not recognizing "drapey" as a word.

And so now I'll throw some more curses at Google and submit this post.

Add new comment

Google is Borked

Fri, 05/27/2011 - 20:27 — Maggie

Google friend connect seems to be completely borked. It was working. Now it's not. I've spent all day trying to figure out if there's something wrong on my end, but then Gloria mentioned not being able to comment on her own blog, and GFC is integrated with Blogger, so I'm thinking the problem is with Google and not with me. Google just hasn't bothered to offer any information a to what's dead or why or what can be expected.
So I've been in PR chat cursing and repeatedly dying and doing that bizarre laugh-cry thing that never ceases to make me feel like I've gone completely mad.
But right now I'd just like to punch somebody at Google in the stomach.

1 comment

Orchid Linen Tunic In-Progress

Wed, 05/25/2011 - 14:38 — Maggie

Orchid Linen Tunic In-Progress
An update on another embroidered linen tunic, because if I don't keep up on the updates, dfr will nag me (legitimately) about being a bad blogger. This one in fabric that I actually specifically ordered! (As opposed to the mushroom brown mystery bundle linen.) I'm getting very attached to these tunics.

Besides the general breathability of linen (which isn't quite as much of a blessing now as it will be during the really hot months,) I'm loving the tunic length. While I am a huge fan of those Neutrogena Spectrum SPF 100 sunblocks no matter how strong a sunblock is, you can't get around one major limitation: it can't work if it's not there!

Between forgetting to apply it to skin that's not exposed at the time of putting it on, and my waistband rubbing against my skin and removing it, sunblock doesn't tend to be on that patch of skin at the very bottom of my back. And then after spending awhile gardening, I find myself with a bit of a burn on my lower back. Tunics solve this problem very nicely.

2 comments

A Belated Fabric Post

Mon, 05/23/2011 - 09:29 — Maggie

Mystery Bundle -- April 2011

Someone bumped the mystery bundle thread on PatternReview, and I realized that I still hadn't put up any pictures of my last mystery bundle! I guess this was a fairly typical bundle, useful but not one of the really great ones. That fabric on the left is silk, but I'm not sure what to make of it. It's a heavy-ish chiffon (er, if that's not a contradiction in terms) with a kinda panel-type layout. I'm always happy to get silk, but I'm not sure what to do with it. The second one is that mushroom-brown linen I've already used, but have a bit left over. The third one is a rayon print that's soft and nice, but not quite enough to make a top out of. The last one is a green stretch twill. It's a rather bright color for twill, and I don't know what I'm going to do with that either. But overall, it was a bundle containing cotton, rayon, linen, and silk, so I'm not complaining.

Linens from FabricMartAnd here are the fabrics I actually ordered along with that bundle. Dfr has been telling me I need linen, so when they had a big half-off sale on the linens, I ordered some. There's an "antique red," an orchid, and a black and white silk/linen blend. That silk/linen blend is WONDERFUL. It's soft and pretty and I just love it! I'm expecting to try making a tailored jacket out of it, although I've never actually done a tailored jacket yet, so that'll probably take some time.

2 comments

Sad News

Mon, 05/23/2011 - 09:05 — Maggie

I've been dreading having to write this, but I have to. When we woke up on Tuesday morning, we found that the bunny had died.
We had started to tentatively call him "Zoom" because it was cute and not gender-specific. He'd seemed like he was getting used to us. He was calmer, not in a listless or sick kind of way, but like he was actually getting less afraid of us, taking lettuce out of my hand, and seeming curious about what was out here in the rest of the house.
He had food and clean water, we just have no idea what happened. We may not have had him for long, but the little fellow will certainly be missed.

3 comments

Silk Baron!

Mon, 05/16/2011 - 19:02 — Maggie

Silk Baron Scrap Sale Order Vinyard Haven Dupioni Dublin Dupioni Coppery Violet and Aquamarine Dupioni
I got my order today from the Silk Baron scrap sale. OMG. If I thought I was forgetting to breathe while waiting for it to get here, that was just preparation for actually getting it!

I have never seen anything so beautiful in my life. It makes my heart flutter and my stomach do flips.

I'd never ordered from Silk Baron before, they never really have sales besides the scrap sale, and even that isn't much cheaper than their regular prices. Of course, it's also the only time you can order less than a yard, and I don't necessarily need a yard for it to be the fashion fabric for a corset. And I just never manage to find beautiful dupioni in the kind of colors I want, it just doesn't go on sale. Heck, nowhere else has colors like these! You find a pretty color here and there from other stores, Vogue Fabrics usually has a few, but they're no cheaper, so why bother? So I finally ordered from a scrap sale.

Just.. Look! And it's even better in person. It's shiny and iridescent and.. Wow!

Fine, maybe I'm biased because I have a thing for iridescence in general, it just fascinates me how a fabric can be two colors at once. But.. the sheen! and the depth! and.. and.. there just aren't words!

Some fabrics I pet. This I hold. Fold it, turn it, stare at it in awe!

2 comments

Let's Get the Garden Started

Sun, 05/15/2011 - 12:03 — Maggie

Small Garden Big Garden Technically, I've already gotten the garden started, but now it's starting to get more interesting. I've tilled, worked leaves and stuff into the ground, dug holes for bamboo to hold up the tomatoes, gotten things started inside, but now is when it's really starting to become a garden. That big tomato plant at the front of the small garden is the volunteer that sprouted out of the top of the hanging indoor herb planter
that lives in my kitchen.

The dill is really taking off; I planted most of it in that planting box, and I ended up transplanting a bunch of it out into [temporary] pots because it's growing together and generally getting big. The basil doesn't seem to be so lucky. I'm finding that a lot of plants that have been living inside aren't particularly happy with going outside; if they survive, it takes them awhile to adjust. Some of the cilantro I started inside is doing okay outside, but I've also gotten new seeds and planted some of it directly into the ground outside. So far in the small garden, there's the row that has my blueberry bushes at the front, and then the fence with cucumber plants on either side. I started some of those cucumber plants in the planter box; those are the ones that are doing the best so far. Last year I had the cucumbers growing up a setup of those modular metal storage cubes into a "cucumber tower," but that had the tendency to blow over in strong wind. That was particularly problematic because strong wind frequently goes along with heavy rain; during that huge storm we got at the end of last summer, I kept trying to go outside to fix the tower! This year I'll probably use those mostly for protecting lettuce and spinach.

Potted Plants (May 15)
Planter Box: Yes, this picture is GIMPed together, I couldn't actually get the whole width in one shot.
A few of the ones I started inside are growing outside, but a few died. Next row over is tomatoes and lettuce, then a row of teeny tiny bell pepper plants, and then a row with sections for basil, cilantro, and carrots.

I don't have too much out in the big garden yet. I've got some seeds planted in that row all the way to the left, and I'm starting to transplant the tomatoes in starter cups and pots into the row with the poles. I picked up a copy of Square Foot Gardening, and while I'm not actually all-out using the method, I am trying to apply some of the principles. I'm putting in some more poles around the garden, in hopes of growing a lot of my plants vertically, and trying to keep the garden to controlled rows built up, surrounded by ditches that can work as a simple irrigation system.

I'm also filling in the spaces between the rows with leaves and various plant matter, partially just because if I don't, they get really muddy. One step in, and my shoe sinks. So leaves and pine needles and whatnot help with that, but also serve as plant matter that should decay and work to feed the plants. (I hope.) Looking at composting systems like the Soilsaver Classic Composter on Amazon, I've gotten (Gasp!) An idea! If you can speed up composting with a dark plastic container, how about covering the biomatter I'm putting in between my rows with cheap dark fabric? I'm thinking half-width strips of polyesters I'm not expecting to use might improve composting right in my garden. I haven't decided whether I'm going to do that or not (or whether I might just buy one of those nifty composters with the door at the bottom to get out the well-rotted stuff!) but I'm definitely going to put more thought into exactly how I'd implement the direct-in-garden composting.

1 comment