Collette Ceylon, in progress...

First, some garden updates. I am very proud these plants! It's as if I gave birth to them...

A sideways bell pepper, about the size of my fist. I have about 10 of those, and a bumper crop of jalapeño peppers. 

 Next, my Ceylon in progress. Since I am underlining the sheer fabric (mainly so I don't have to finish all the seams on the sheer fabric, oh and the lack of a full slip), it is taking some time. Plus, I wasted all of Thursday evening napping on the sofa. Maybe wasted isn't the right word, because it was delicious!

Now, I just notices the tuck I accidentally made, so I will have to pick that out and fix it. I am not sure, but holding it up the waist seemed very small. What ever, if it doesn't fit I will give it to skinny Stephanie and she will be gleeful.

If I was to make this again, I would eliminate that back seam! Who wants a seam gripping your butt crack? Ick. 

Lastly, my bean plants are both blooming and making baby beans. There is one right in middle hanging down.

I will work on it this weekend and hopefully finish it!!!

I might also drive to the Mississippi River and take some pictures of how incredibly high the water is!

Everyone, have a good weekend!!!!

Giant Asparagus

 While we were in Florida, my asparagus plant grew one enormous stalk. It's that spindly piece trying to grow over the railing.

 I shared it with T-Rex, who also likes asparagus. FYI, that hideous sofa is getting left behind when we move! Not worth the gas or effort!

This was from a Zephyr's baseball game a few weeks ago; I cherish any picture of both of us where we look normal. Also, RIP those sunglasses. I wore them into the ocean and then got hit by a wave and they were LOST! Second year in a row! 

I am not sewing, it was too windy and now we have guests. Instead, I am painting my table and four chairs. More on that later!

Grey and Pink Skirt

Originally, I had planned to use this fabric I bought in Portland over Xmas to make another version of this dress, which I love. I was being delusional thinking I could make an eight gore skirt and dress with pockets out of two yards of fabric, duh. In the end, I used the skirt pieces to just make a skirt with no waistband. It turned out really big, and then I had to go back and take in about half an inch on all of the seams, which fixed it.

Every time I take self-timed pictures, T-Rex has to interfere.
The back is simple. It would have been impossible to line up the print with the shape of the pieces, so I just aimed for having a pink stripe down the center of each sections, and I am pleased with the result.
I sewed on about four grey buttons, and then decided I hated them and they were boring. I went to Jo-Ann and picked up these cheap, but cute pink buttons. $2 for ten, whoo hoo.
It has pockets, which is a plus!
Also, you can see my garden so far. Now that the weather is in the 70s, I will be able to sit outside and enjoy the balcony again!

I am still trying to finish the devil that is my military dress. It is evil and I am frustrated. The benefit of only having one bobbin is I can refuse to switch it from brown until I finish the dress! Take that, Molly!

Garden green

The green beans are shooting up insanely fast- they sprouted up about 2 days ago and are already almost five inches tall.

I call this Darwin's Garden. It's all of my leftover herb seeds tossed together, it gets a mediocre amount of sun- it is the survival of the fittest! At this point the basil seems to be winning.

This is one of the cherry tomato plants; I already ate two that were ripe!

I also read an article in the paper Saturday's paper about vegetable varieties that thrive in Louisiana heat, which seems necessary. Most of the plants that are big seems fine, but the little ones are struggling. Next year, I will plant the seeds earlier.

I've also been sewing- more on that later!

Bean there, done that

The lighting is bad, but here is the location of future beans. Andrew built the bed with wood that was just lying around, and the future bean poles are old window bars that were leaning against the shed. They probably were torn off after hurricane Katrina, so I doubt the landlord will care. The only cost was for topsoil and the beans.

Here is my frame!! I love it. I bought it at a random junky garage sale where everything he had had water damage. It was bare wood with a bunch of nails and staples in it and was kind of mildewed.
It took three coats of Honey Oak stain and then three coats of clear varnish to give it a nice gloss. I think the picture shows how gigantic the frame is- easily 3' x 3'. I think it is beautiful.
As you can see, it has lovely carved details on the outside edges. Andrew is going to paint a life-size portrait of the dog for it. I took the best picture on my cell phone, which I can't get to upload onto the computer. He is sitting in my green armchair on an afghan in the sun, and is staring at the camera with his tongue stickling ever-so-slightly out of his mouth. I love that dog, he is my baby.

Frame wrap-up:

Total cost: 20$ (5 for frame, rest for brush and stains)

Time I procrastinated finishing it: 13 months (egad!)

Actual time invested (labor): 3 hours

Satisfied!

A little weekend sewing...

Garden update:

These are in the beds in the backyard. The far row is zucchini (courgettes) and the near row is pumpkin! This bed gets the most sun, so they are doing the best. I don't know if it's the birds or the stinging caterpillars, but all but 3 of my watermelon sprouts are gone! I should go buy some more seeds tomorrow!

T-Rex got his nails clipped today; the vet tech said he was a very good boy.
Here's some more progress on my next dress:
If you look at the last post, I have made the skirt too. I went back and picked out the seams and added the pockets.

The ties are so long because they cross in front and tie in a bow in the back. (Let's ignore my heap of sewing stuff on the floor- yikes)

Hopefully, I will get more done this weekend, but I also want to relax, clean out my car, etc, get all my school stuff ready for Monday..... if only the weekend was a little longer! :)

Striped Dress and Veggie Tuesday

Look how big my lemons are!!!

I finally got my color card from Vogue Fabrics. It's all 57 colors of Ambiance bemberg lining. So in the future, I can decide on my color and order it online without worrying that it might be off! Yay!
I put together the skirt of my dress without really reading the directions. After the fact, I noticed that I did not put in the pockets. Boo! So now I have made extra work for myself by rushing- you would think that someday, far, far into the future, I will learn my lesson. As for right now, not so much.
I also didn't cut the front piece on the fold. oopsie doopsie!

Gardening update!

This weekend Andrew and I fixed up the garden in the back. I did weeding and Andrew did the dirt-turning, back-breaking stuff. The person who lived here before us build three big raised beds and had a concrete planter, so that's where I planted all the viney stuff that needs a lot of space.

This involved a lot of leaf raking. They're just in piles because there was no room in the garbage.

These beds have pumpkins, zucchini, watermelon, cantaloupe and honeydew. I love melon!

This one has horseradish, carrots and bell peppers.

I also swept the stairs and cut back the bamboo, so you don't get slapped in the face every time you use them.

Balcony update:

My lemons are the size of golf balls!

Everything has sprouted except for the strawberries. It might be too late in the season for them here. I'm giving them until Friday before I rip them up and plant something else.

Procrastinating....

I am procrastinating doing work for school tomorrow... so here are the fruits of my labors:

Look at my lemons! I am glad re-potting it didn't make it angry. You can also see my car down below. Can you see the yellow spot where the paint fell off? That was my latest car surprise when I went through the car wash. lol. I love you, Oldsmobile!

My tiny dills are sprouting.

My asparagus shot up about 3 inches overnight. The lighting is bad, it IS green, I swear!

I finished my blue dress! It's the same pattern as the lemon dress, but tweaked a little to fit better. I shortened the skirt pieces because I had less fabric and because I ended up cutting off several inches last time. I also took about 1/2" on the fold from the front and back (bodice and skirt) to make up for the inches I had to take in on the other finished version.

Overall, I am satisfied!

New dress and lemon tree

So far I have made the bodice for the next dress:

It's the same pattern, but with a new fabric. Same cotton/poly blend and also a Jo-Ann "signature" fabric.

I also went and bought the dog a new collar, new squeaky tennis balls and pee pads. I have to work long days next week, so I am hoping this will give him an option other than holding it all day. Here he is giving me a "pretty shake":
I also bought five tomato plants at the grocery store and more pots at the dollar tree. My friend came over and helped me re-pot my lemon tree, so now it gets to enjoy the outdoors in its big blue pot. The pot is cool because it looks like ceramic, but is actually really lightweight (since I am weak)

Updates from all sides!

Look! My baby lemon tree has baby lemons! And yes, that is my pasty white hand!

I have cut out all the skirt pieces for the lemon dress last night, and I also graded a mountain of papers- all while watching law and order, of course.

Here's the view I am copying- and as soon as I am finished I am going to J Crew to buy a matching sweater. Yes, I am obsessed with 3/4 length sleeve cardigans. Love... (It's in a ziplock bag, that's why it says Johnson over her face)

Look! I just bought these online! Except mine will say "Fashioned by Molly M" namemaker.com 28 bucks for 40 labels. So cool!

Lisette had a good point- she said "duh, if it's a back button blouse, where is a picture of the blouse!?!?" Haha, no she was nice about it, but she has a point. I blame the self-timer and take no responsibility. I do love all my comments and followers! Everyone is always nice and constructive. Other than nonsense comments written in Chinese, everyone has always been wonderful. Sewing blogs are an oasis of sanity and niceness on the interwebs.

The beginnings of my Spring garden, and Sexy T-Rexy of course.

I ran out of pots and need more, but so far I planted strawberries, asparagus, basil, chives and dill. The balcony will be an herb garden and the raised beds in the backyard will have bigger viney veggies. I'm excited- please encourage me to remember to water them so they don't all immediately die!

I don't know what I'm doing today but who cares?- it's spring break!

p.s.- the teachers always giggle that the students can't wait for break, but they have no idea how much their teachers are looking forward to it! LOL!