Bespoke Gardening

A few weeks ago ALDI were selling some ridiculously cheap seedlings, and amongst them were some sugar snap peas. I'd never grown them before but though for $2 I'd give it a try. Initially I had some garden mesh for them to climb on, but after a few weeks when they began blooming I realised they were basically growing sideways on top of one another, so I figured I should do something about it.

I visited The Bower hunting for some wood scraps to use, and salvaged some hard wood planks (and some stakes for my tomatoes to boot) for $5. The piece on the left was basically ready to go, we just sawed off the lengths on the top, drilled some holes in the sides and threaded through the twine. The one on the right we pieced together from planks to mimic the other.

When I say "we" I'm referring to my friend Nick and his compliment of power tools, not a mouse in my pocket. :} Thanks for helping me make these super hipster recycled "bespoke" pea trellises, Nick!

While we were at The Bower I also spotted this mini pallet (approx 100cm x 60cm), which I snagged for $1 for my next garden project: a vertical garden! I've seen a few tutorials on Pinterest and such, but still not too sure how I'm going to tackle it. Suggestions or tips are welcome!

Spectral Shades

I learned how to knit at a really early age, thanks to my mum casting on and off for me and some patient lessons from my grandma. However, I never really got the hang of crochet for some reason. A couple of months ago I was admiring a crocheted chevron throw my mum had made to use up some scrap wool that had accumulated over the years, and decided I would give it a go.

Armed with a hook, some wool, and a Doris Day DVD, I asked my mum to show me how to work the pattern. I managed to get the hang of it by the time Doris finished her final ballad. I continued to work on it in the following weeks, and before I knew it I'd worked through ten balls of wool and had a not too bad throw for my couch!

The pattern is called "Spectral Shades", and it's from Better Homes and Gardens magazine, June 2010 edition.

I finished up another little project while I was working on the throw; this cute little cat tote (which I forgot to iron before photographing, oops).

I used this tutorial from Fresh Lemons Quilts, without the outer pockets.

Jago's Quilt

My friends James and Sarah, whose beautiful daughter Juliet was the recipient of the first quilt I ever made, had another baby earlier this year. Born back in May they named their little boy Jago (which is the Cornish version of James, and the 'J' is pronounced the same as with James), and it was an irresistible opportunity to make another baby quilt. Can't have siblings fighting over a blankie after all. :3

I really wanted to use my 1001 Peeps from designer Lizzy House in the purple colour-way. Mixed with black sashing I hoped the parents would dig both the palette and the cute little graphics.

I pieced the quilt back with a similar piano key layout used for Juliet's quilt, and made a label with Jago's name and birthday with a grosgrain ribbon. I think some of the black & white scraps from Juliet's quilt went into the pieced back, and if memory serves I even made an effort to have the finished size of both quilts the same (40" x 48"). So, same same but different. :)

Apologies for the worst photos in the world; black quilts are especially hard to photograph well, and I'm working with my phone camera and a desperate lack of skill...

Luckily I've got this great action shot of the gorgeous little guy on his new quilt to make up for it. He looks pretty chuffed about it!

Thanks for the photo, Sarah!

In Bloom

This year I've been struck with a desire to do some gardening. It seems to be somewhat of a yearly fad, come every Spring. Let's see how long my interest lasts this time. :)

One of the first things I planted was some Nasturtium seeds. These guys are edible, have pretty flowers, and reputedly thrive on neglect. So, perfect for a fair weather gardener like myself.

Two of my current nasturtiums were actually found in the ground, reseeded from last years abandoned batch (reputation deserved!). Today I was excited to see a few flowers are on their way!

New this year are some sweet yellow capsicums, jalapenos, and grape tomatoes. The latter two are about to bear something edible, yeah! I'm hoping I'll have some veggies from my little garden to put into some kangaroo chilli.