making a quilt is fun to do, fun to do, fun to do

Projects pending:

1.  Hank and George's baby clothes cut into 6" squares: to be made into 2 quilts. Still have more cutting to do.

2.  These blocks will be sewn together to make a quilt I am very excited about, but trying to keep this a surprise for the recipient.

3.  This quilt top is done, but, again, I don't want to show too much yet. I can't resist sharing sometimes. I wrote about the prep here.

4.  Trying to figure out why my fiddle leaf fig is developing dry brown spots on the leaves. Sounds like too much sun, but it gets the most indirect light in the house. Any advice?

lizards and diapers and ferns

I bought this Boston fern last week at Lowes. I like it a lot and I hope it will survive our dry climate. I've been trying to gift it a humid environment by spraying it with water everyday. I also put an open diaper at the base of the urn, and then the fern in its original pot on top of that. That way, any overage of watering will be absorbed by the diaper and hopefully provide some humidity at the roots. Any tips or thoughts from fern lovers?

Unrelated to the fern, and twice as interesting, we had an un-welcomed lizard visitor for about 10 minutes. When we opened the door for a friend stopping by, a large lizard, trapped between my friend and the door, found his escape route into our house. He scrambled to a corner by the master bedroom door. Mark happened to be in the master bedroom, so I called him on his cell and asked him to save us/me. As soon as he opened the door, the lizard skidded awkwardly under the hall closet door. Not much traction on our wood floors - he was unusually slow.

Mark cleared 10 wheat buckets and the vacuum out of the closet, and I got a cheap disposable bowl so he could trap the thing. (The bowl went straight to the trash after this ordeal. Mark suggested I just wash it. Nope. Not a chance. I also mopped the floor.)

The boys were fascinated.

The release was a relief. But that lizard has since been back to his old tricks - hanging out at our front door, looking for bugs, I presume. Didn't he learn his lesson?

I could not have handled a lizard hiding in our house. What if I stepped on him in the dark? What if he crawled into my shoes? Or my bed? The. Willies.

LAND THAT I LOVE

The flags are out. The kids are at a movie with Mark, the babies are napping, and I am feeling patriotic. I downloaded this Pledge of Allegiance print for free right here. I also can't stop listening to The Washington Post.

I planted my mini flag in one of my jade plants.

[I replaced the original wispy grass after it's short life.  Too much water?  Not enough natural sun?  I don't know.  But I did notice the same wispy grass at Anthropologie, that I was originally copying, was also dead the last time I was in the store.  They still had it on a display table and somehow it works at Anthropologie.  Doesn't work in my house.  I love my new jade plants.]

The little breeze we have today is just perfect for flying a flag. Thanks cubscouts!

And though my sweet potato vines are not particularly patriotic, they are growing like crazy, which makes me happy.  Everyday the vines are exploding with growth.

God Bless America!

wispy grass: as seen at anthropologie

I finally made it to Lowe's this weekend and found some grassy-grass for my soft Ikea baskets.  My Anthropologie plant and basket quest is [almost]* complete.  And I am satisfied. Except that I bought 3 good sized grass plants, and only have 2 Ikea baskets that are big enough.  The other 2 are small. 

One of the kids said, "Oh, we got sweaters for the plants?"


Another plant I already had fits nicely into one of the smaller baskets. 

Here's the grass with and without the basket.  I also bought plastic pots at Lowe's to protect the basket from water.  I still need to transplant them.

*When I find some nice looking succulents, they're also coming home with me.  Also need to get another set of baskets. Maybe Home Depot AND Ikea this weekend. 
Who am I kidding?  I won't make it to either for another 6 weeks.  So no, not really done.  Darn.

what i'm up to

• Making this quilt. I am loving this nicey jane fabric.

• Trip to Ikea last week. 

I went by myself, which was quite nice.  Mark does not like to browse at that store.  But I do, so he opted to stay home with the kids while I perused.  

One of my purchases was this cute striped tote for $6. {it has been sitting next to my sewing machine, waiting for a more permanent storage place, but I like looking at it.} 

Also some cute baskets I originally saw at Anthropologie. They contained beautiful grassy plants and succulents. When I inquired of their price, the sales girl told me they were not for sale, but their design director had bought them at Ikea. So that was the main purpose of my trip.  When I get the plants, I will share my discovery with you.