Seams of Life

and the winner is...

Marie-Noelle!!! Comment # 61 picked by the Random Number Generator. I hope you enjoy my little prize Marie-Noelle, I'll be e-mailing you soon for your address. Thank you and everyone so much for stopping by and leaving a comment. I have really enjoyed reading everyone's comments and have picked up a few more summer sewing projects for myself.

And most of all, thank you to Sew Mama Sew! for putting together the May Giveaway Day. It gave me a wonderful opportunity to see so many new-to-me crafty blogs.

May Giveaway Day!

 

I'm so excited to be participating in Sew Mama Sew's May Giveaway Day! I usually miss these kind of things. I didn't have time to sew something special for this event so I thought I would give away the next best thing...fabric!

I have a little bundle of fabric scraps from my stash, some vintage, along with some coral and blue embroidery floss to give away. The size of the fabric pieces vary, but all are a bit smaller than a fat quarter and all are woven cotton. All the prints have a "dainty" flower theme perfect for summer sewing projects.

 

The May Giveaway official starts on Wednesday May 27 and I will keep my giveaway open until May 31. If you'd like a chance to win just leave me a comment about your summer sewing projects ( international commenters are welcome). I'll pick a winner at random. Good Luck, thank you for stopping by my little blog and enjoy the rest of your Sew Mama Sew! May Giveaway Day!

"veggie garden" bench monday

  

In the garden this year:

yellow and green bell peppers

jalopeno peppers

bannana peppers

Georgia sweet onions

sweet and silverqueen corn

roma, rutgers, better boy, goliath, cherry, early girl, celebrity, and heirloom pink brandywine tomatoes

strawberries

carrots

crookneck squash

purple hull beans

cucumbers

pumpkins

That should keep us busy this summer. Even a small garden like ours requires so much work, but this year I am enjoying every minute of it. I'm looking forward to harvesting, sharing, cooking, eating and canning (for the first time) all the fruits of our labor.

Some of my enjoyment is due to reading Animal, Vegtable, Miracle: A year in food life by Barbara Kingslover. I recommend this book to every gardner and everyone who wants to eat healthier. I have learned a lot about food from this book and the way Kingslover writes about gardening has inspired me so much.

So this summer I'll be weeding, fertilizing, composting, watering, and eventually picking in our garden.

"Ball Park" Bench Monday

Just had to join in the fun being had in the Flickr "Bench Monday" group.

We've been spending alot of time at the ball park recently. I would have loved to get a shot of baseball players lined up on the bleachers but didn't want the other moms to think I was weird. My own son wasn't even willing to pose for me. So me and the girls snuck off to an empty field for this shot. What, is it not normal to want to take pictures of people standing on things?

summer skirts

I'd like to say that I've been sewing away during my month long blog break, but sadly, I have not. Instead I've been using my spare time to finish up my last full quarter of school and work in our gardens. I have been dreaming of sewing though. This weekend I made time to sew up some summer skirts for my girls.

It was actually almost a necessity. I'm trying very hard to stay in a budget and the girls' summer wardrobe was really lacking. I wanted to reuse their jeans but do more than just cut them off and hem them. Since my 4 year old refuses to wear anything other than dresses and skirts right now, I turned them into skirts. I also cut off the bottom of an old button down shirt and made a skirt out of it too. Then I used a little linen and bias tape to make the last skirt. And wa-la, free summer clothes. Everything came from my stash. And here they are in action.

 

Dave would be proud. I've also been making my own laundry detergent for a few months now. I found the recipe here and even though I was skeptical at first, it really works. Better than anything I've used in the past actually. Plus it feels good, pioneer like, to be able to make something that I need in everyday life.