Tangents

::Tangents is the collection spot for the things we're thinking about, obsessively researching, and doing at home and on the web.

Laura's Tangents

Spending more time painting nature-y letters this week:

Harvesting masses of home grown salad greens:

Finally finished the sweet bunnies I started awhile ago:

Katie's Tangents

The stairs are just about done, I'll post a photo soon, so the next part of the courtyard has commenced, we now have 24 tons of gravel to spread. Laura and Strider stopped by last week to help out a bit. And combined with Michael's shovelling intensity on Saturday, the pile is a lot smaller. (But not THAT much smaller, I'm wondering if we got too much gravel!) 

My boys are really appreciating the new feature in our driveway. Who needs a swingset when there is a giant gravel pile to play on? 

Laura and Strider gave me an early birthday gift and I have a beautiful new addition to put in the courtyard once the gravel's all spread- 

A giant fig tree! One of them is Laura's. Things are looking very promising for figs- 

It was cool enough yesterday for Margot - and Laura- to wear wooly hand-knits. I think we'd all be happy for the weather to turn and we can all switch to cotton. May is too late for wool! 

Tangents

::Tangents is the collection spot for the things we're thinking about, obsessively researching, and doing at home and on the web.

Katie's Tangents

I'm still working on my stairs. This has been a real learning process for me. Not only am I learning new skills, I'm learning to use new tools, which is great. The circular saw no longer scares me and I kinda want a hammer drill for my birthday. 

Also pictured is my trusty little drill, which I love, and my new carpenter's square, which I can't believe I've lived without. I had to buy it to make the stingers and it's so useful! 

Anyway, I did have to cut three extra "practice" stringers while I was figuring everything out, but things are still moving along.

Believe it or not, everything is pretty much level- a victory! I plan to add the risers and treads today. 

We are delighting in our garden right now. Last fall I finally bough some alliums and I'm so glad I did- you can see them in the background here- 

I know this iris is a bit over the top, but it seems so pleased with itself, I kinda like the un-planned purple theme that's going on.

I finally have a bug to submit to the super What's that Bug website. Julian spotted this huge moth clinging to a hosta.

Do you know what it is? I *think* it's some kind of sphinx moth, but I can't figure it out. I'll share what they say over at WTB when they post it.

 Laura's Tangents 

Enjoying the new album from Thao & The Get Down Stay Down. (video here of Thao responding to a harsh critic...) 

Looking forward to planting my tomatoes, basil and other tender stuff out this week-and getting my seed starting set-up taken down-it takes up a lot of space!

In Progress

::Projects on our work table or needles.

Laura's projects:

Almost a year ago I started an Alabama Chanin style hat for myself after making a couple for friends...I recently rescued it from the dark recesses of my little crafts cabinet and after just a few hours of pleasant hand stitching it is almost ready to wear, AND I've got one less project languishing:

Buoyed by my shirt designing success, I'm onto idea #2. 

As much as I love the yarn I used for my first shirt-it is $17/skein. I can't afford to design something and knit up multiple drafts at that price. So, I'm using $3 cotton crochet yarn from (eep!) Walmart. I really like the way it knits up-makes exactly the fabric I'm after....

Pleased for one of my photos to be included in issue 5, I painted a little thank you to send off to Taproot magazine.

It was so much fun to make, and I've since been messing around making more nature-y letters. I used to spot little bits on my walks for my rainbow project, now I'm seeing letter possibilities everywhere!

Katie's Projects

Well, after much thinking and quite a bit of obsessive internet research, I cut a big hole in my porch railing.

The new steps will be twelve feet long, and each one is a generous 15" deep. Now I'm trying to puzzle out the math for the stringers, which are the boards that are cut to hold up the actual stair treads.  I made a mistake on the angles on my first try, but happily, I have extra lumber. So I'll have another go tomorrow. 

I'm also preparing to dig holes and set posts for the fence that will enclose one side of the courtyard and just looking at this photo- 

makes me tired. The posts are "phase 2" of this project, so they are on hold for now until I source some cedar for the fence. With a project like this there are plenty of different tasks to do, so if the stair math is vexing me, I can move on to something else, like relocating plants or raking leaves. Also, I can do my favorite thing, putter around my yard and make big plans, driving in stakes and stringing mason's twine everywhere to indicate new paths, new decks and even a new screen house. 

But first things first, I'm going to figure out those stairs tomorrow. 

Tangents

Laura's tangents

The woods are full of tiny treasures right now:

Fall is the big loud season for leaves, but I love the sizes, colors, and textures of new, freshly unfurled leaves...

Dwarf Larkspur, Blue Phlox, Crested Dwarf Iris

First morel this spring!

 Katie's Tangents

Now I'm not just thinking about my courtyard project, I'm making lists and plans.

There are going to be wide, generous stairs between the two boards I have propped up. It's tricky to figure out all the measurements and angles, but slow and steady is working for me. I also am planning a fence made from locally-harvested cedar as well as some large galvanized metal planter boxes. 

I'm also thinking about vegetable gardening and Root Simple's posts on straw bale gardening spurred me to action and I am trying my own straw bale garden with four bales in my front yard. Happily we've had almost daily rain so I haven't had to water them much. I'm telling myself the the neigbors won't mind the look of the bales, and besides, the roses will grow more soon anyway... 

I'm happy to note that my one-year-old street-side raised beds may be encouraging front-yard garden copycats, one of our neighbors just installed a beautiful raised bed in their front yard and a couple that walks by almost daily is installing  several raised beds in their backyard. Makes me happy to live on a street where people think what I am doing is cool, not crazy.   

In Progress

Laura's project

Hey, remember the knitting project I started a couple of weeks ago? Well, I finished it:

I set out to make a top with a loosely knit front and cotton jersey back. I'm pretty excited it worked:

Olive is a shameless photo bomber....

Inspired by my success making Alabama Chanin style garments, I constructed this top with hand stitching, and left the jersey edges raw:

The back yoke is hand stitched with the seam exposed:

If you are interested in making one of your own, I'll be putting together a very simple pattern soon!

Katie's projects

I started working on my beaded tank again, the first half of the front is stitched and I began stitching the second half. 

But a new t-shirt leapfrogged to the front of the line and it was started and finished in less than 24 hours. 

It's a size large t-shirt from Alabama Studio Sewing & Design. I modified the neckline, but otherwise, followed the pattern just-so. All the seams are hand-sewn and felled.

I tried cretan stitch for the first time. 

My stitches may be on the large side, but I'm just pleased I have a new shirt to wear. The fabric is from a sheet I thrifted and over-dyed. It's a nice, rich color. 

Now, I need to go into production mode and make about 5 more and I'll be set for summer....