That Was Quick!

by Kimberlee

Wow, the month of June just flew by, didn't it?  I apologize for taking so much time off from Magpie, and I hope I didn't lose too many of my dear readers for it!  I've had many things unrelated to arts & crafts going on, so I needed a little break.

But it doesn't mean I wasn't thinking of you all!  I have some exciting things in the works, from the Renaissance Faire coming up to a very possible launch of an Etsy store!  I can't say much about the Etsy thing yet, but I'm working on a few products that I haven't seen anywhere else.  Needless to say, I am very excited, and also plan on making it part of a future give away.

Before I get into some of the things going on, I'd like to thank my friend Amy for lending me the fantastic book, The Crafter's Devotional. I hadn't been aware of this book, but it has been very inspirational and has gotten some of my creative juices re-flowing after June's crafter's block.  I haven't yet begun to follow the plan, but have as of yet just been absorbing the book.  So thank you, my wonderful friend, for you and your husband's visit, your beautiful gifts and most of all your belief and faith in me and my talents. Oh, and for teaching me how to knit on those circular needles!

I have good and bad news about our Green Thumb Projects.  The good is that the community garden seems to be going very well, unfortunately the weather for getting a lot done in there has been bad, flailing wildly from average atmosphere on Venus to pounding rain, with little usable days in-between, but we've fortunately lost little of our crop, and do plan on also doing a Autumn harvest. 

Sadly, the Plant Condo (aka the palette project) has failed.  It was doing very well, so much so that I had harvested lettuce from it.  In retrospect now, I am happy I had the wherewithal to take photos of the first salads made from the patio crop...

...as they were the only ones.  All it took was a couple of days of searingly hot weather to kill half the plants in the palette.  I don't know if it was how the water drained through the set-up, or if the wood was just bed, or what.  I re-planted those left living, and they seem to be doing fine, excepting the strawberries that may or may not make it.  All the other patio plants are doing amazing well, however:

Gangbusters!

 

And a few other odds & ends - I haven't made a piece of clothing in a dog's age!  I think I lost a lot of my confidence after a number of failures, but I currently have a piece on Betty that just needs to be sewn, and I am really excited about it:

Simplicity 2472

All she needs is to be sewn, and I am thinking about adding elastic to the waist (what do you think?  I'd appreciate opinions), so wish me luck!  I've promised myself that if I mess up this one, I'm just going to try the pattern again.  I'm simply a little rusty on the machine, I think, and many here I hope can sympathize with losing your mojo.

I also finally settled on an outfit for this year's Ren Faire. I had made my own garb for last year's faire, but this year I decided I wanted to order a basic outfit that I could customize to my heart's desire, and I finally settled on this beautiful set. Please check back to see how I add to this already lovely dress!

Well, that's it for now.  Thank you so much for catching up with me!