It’s been a while since I last blogged and I’ve been busy. The summer isn’t the perfect time to blog, plus there are so many other things I’d rather be doing than sitting inf front of the computer.

The garden is growing well, I eventually lost the cherry tomato to a critter. I had to move the lavender into a pot and am sprinkling pepper flakes on the soil to keep the critters from eating more of the lavender. Two of the plants are finally coming back, two died, one of the surviving plants is a replacement for a dead lavender plant. The cilantro went nuts and we’ve enjoyed a lot of salsa made with our own cilantro. The flavor of our own cilantro is much more intense than store bought since it’s freshly picked. Since the cilantro grew so fast, I decided to buy some seeds and have managed to get little cilantro plants growing in the kitchen that I’ll transplant outside later on. We’re patiently waiting for our tomato plants to produce tomatoes and for our little green peppers to grow up to be big beautiful bell peppers. The basil has gone crazy too and is huge. Sort of makes me want to plant huge pots of herbs next year or a huge herb garden when we finally are able to buy a house.

I’ve been sewing a lot lately. Since my last post I’ve made two skirts and two canvas bags, similar to the one I made for my friend that was shown in the last post. Each bag seems to get more involved and I love the last one I made for S. She gave me the fabric and I made the bag for her this week. It’s so cute and I love the bicycles. She also gave me these beautiful Amy Butler fabrics that I might to make into a skirt similar to this one, but I haven’t decided quite yet.

About two weeks ago another friend had a baby, it’s the fourth of six babies born to our friends this year. I decided I couldn’t work on another baby blanket right now so I decided to make my first baby quilt. With all of the babies being born and all of the babies needing gifts, I decided this might be a quick route to go since the baby was born last week. S helped me pick out the fabrics and is going to hold my hand in the piecing together of this quilt. I just have to have faith in myself that I can do this. It’s not going to be difficult, I just keep finding ways to distract myself because I’m so afraid of messing up a very simple block quilt. Last night as I was piecing the strips together, I realized that I cut my middle block too small, so I’m going to remedy that tomorrow by just buying a new piece of fabric for the middle block and cutting it to fit what’s already pieced together.

As you’ve probably guessed my knitting has been a bit stagnant over the last three weeks. I’m 16 of 36 garter ridges into the last blocks along the edge of the Moderne Baby blanket and I’m trying to make myself knit about two ridges (four rows) a day. I haven’t thought of counting the stitches because four rows takes almost an hour to knit while watching tv, plus it’s been so warm and muggy that wool on the legs is not the most pleasant thing.

Last week, I decided it was time to get started on the another baby item. It’s currently a secret baby project since I know the mom reads my blog. She’s due in late August so I hope to get that project finished by then. Until she receives it, it will have to remain the secret baby project.

I’ve also been working on my summer reading. Last summer I read 16 books between Memorial Day and Labor Day. This year I started my summer reading earlier since my summer ends a few weeks before Labor Day with the start of school. So far I’ve already read six books. One of them I feel I completely need to spread the word about. The book is The Girls by Lori Lansens. It’s a wonderful book about a pair of conjoined twins who are about to turn 30. I’ve loved so many books I’ve read since the beginning of the year but this one sticks with me. Somehow I completely identified with these women and just loved their story. If you’re looking for a great book to read that you probably haven’t heard about, this is definitely one to check out.

Lately, I’ve been neglecting my knitting for a few things that are a bit more cool temperature-wise. It’s been nice and warm around here with some lovely humidity thrown in with a rain shower here and there to cool things off. Dirt, flowers and herbs have been one of my distractions. This year, I’ve planted two tomatoes (one has already become a snack for a friendly neighborhood critter), peppermint, two arugula plants, a bell pepper, two cilantro plants which have gone insane and are more beautiful than the cilantro at the store, basil moved from the kitchen pot to the outside pot, two gerbera daisies, three lavendar plants (also critter snack but coming around), I was given a cherry tomato by a friend (another snack which sadly may not recover) and I’ve moved the jade plant from the kitchen to the front porch. I have so many plants this year that it’s been hard to name them all. Mrs. Tomato was such a wonderful tomato plant last year. I think the tomato plants this year will have to be named soon to do as well. So I’ve been busy over the last two weekends planting and repotting all of these plants. I still have to plant a hosta that we “won” at a retirement party last week from the Champaign-Urbana Herb Society. My plan is to plant it with it’s pot in the ground so that when we move I can take her with us.

Sunday after a hard rain, I decided it was a perfect time to get out and plant my lavender plants that had been pelted by the rain running off of our gutters over the front porch. It was the perfect time to be out in the dirt, it was soft and slightly muddy, I expected it to be more muddy but I guess we’re desperate for the rain. The lavender is definitely happy in it’s new home alongside a yellow day lily that’s already there. At first I was worried about planting the lavender in the ground since I didn’t have the landlord’s permission but then my good friend S said, “Are they going to get mad for you making the place look nice?” She’s right. The daisies are beautiful on the front porch and really make the place feel like home. Now if I could just get the neighborhood critters to stay out of our bell pepper and tomato plants. Fortunately, they don’t like the cilantro or basil. Last week, Bryan said he saw a squirrel standing on its hind legs on his bike seat, which is right under one of the arugula plants. I’m sure it’s the same squirrel that entertains George at the kitchen window.

Another distraction from knitting is my sewing machine. In the last month, I’ve made a few smaller things such as two vintage bunnies and a bag for a friend and her daughters from Romantic Home Sewing by Christina Strutt. Friday I planned to start on a skirt that I’d bought fabric for back in March. At the fabric store another fabric caught my eye and had several times before. It’s the perfect fabric for a cute easy summer skirt and it was deeply on sale. Can’t beat a $3 skirt. I think the thread cost more than the fabric. Friday and part of Saturday, I made four muslin skirts trying to get everything just right before I cut into my cute skirt fabric. My grandmother taught me that muslin will save you many heartaches when sewing. Finally after a lot of tweaking, I was able to cut out my skirt on Sunday morning and had it almost completely finished by Sunday evening, except for the hem. It survived a day at work and is a bit rumpled in the photo. Of course, I couldn’t have done the waistband without the help of S. She saved my life. Monday evening, she completely surprised me with an sewing related early half-birthday present. She said she had some sewing notions for me. I figured something small to make life easier, I had no idea that she’d have a rotary cutter, mat and straight edge for me. I’ve never received a half-birthday present, but I could definitely get used to it if I had to.

Tuesday it was back to normal life after four days off and this week I hope to get some knitting done to finish the Moderne Baby blanket. I’m 15 garter ridges into the bottom blocks, which are 36 ridges long, then it’s 18 long ridges along the right hand side before I’m finished. It’s a beautiful blanket and once again, I’ve amazed myself. I love that feeling of “Wow” that I still get with so many knitting projects, even the most simple patterns, it’s part of what keeps me knitting. I had that feeling with my skirt this weekend and it will definitely keep me sewing.

I know I mentioned this in my last post but I’ve really come to terms with how I want my blog to move forward. I thought about it for almost three weeks and decided that it’s going to be about sharing what life brings and sharing my projects. My grandfather (G-pa) reads this nearly everyday, he’s one of my biggest fans and my biggest reason for continuing. There are no expectations any more, when the mood strikes me I’ll post. It may not seem different to all of you but to me it’s very freeing and a more relaxed feeling toward the blog.

Time seems to be in a bit of a time warp around here. Thank you all for your kind words about my blog. Since I wrote my “not sure” post I feel a bit less stressed about the blog. Before I felt like I had to post something so people would read and thought there was almost no one reading. Then all of your comments and emails started to pour in and it made me realize I’m not just writing things and posting them in the great beyond that no one reads and no one cares about. It’s sort of the blog version of Sally Field’s “you like me, you really like me.” There have been times in the last few weeks where I’ve thought, I should post this on the blog but honestly do you really want to see each block of the Moderne Baby blanket finished? I think not.

In the last few weeks, Bryan has graduated and earned his MLS. Last Monday, it hit him he’d finally earned this degree that for so long had been so far away.

I’m enjoying my last summer of freedom for a few years. I’ve been knitting exclusively on the Moderne Baby blanket since I finished the Cat’s Paw shawl a few weeks ago. The shawl is beautiful and I wore it to Bryan’s graduation. Unfortunately, I think I’ll be ripping out the bound-off edge and knitting at least another inch or two onto it since it feels a bit short when I wear it. An easily fixed problem, thank goodness. I will post a better photo of the shawl soon. Back to the blanket, it’s amazing how much knitting you get done on one project when it’s your only project. I don’t remember the last time I had only one project in progress, I’m not counting the single sock that needs to be finished. I’m hoping to finish the blanket before the June heat rolls in. My goal for the blanket is to finish knitting it by June 1, that doesn’t include sewing in the ends.