My First Sewing Project...with some guidance of course

Learning to sew has been on the "to list" for quite some time now. I was always intrigued by Mom's stories of making her own clothes in high school and would love to have such self sufficiency. I have actually had my Mom's sewing machine sitting in our hobby room for months. A couple of weeks ago I finally had my first sewing lesson with a talented friend. She taught me the basics of using a machine, stitch spacing and straight lines (oh and how not to put my fingers in the way of the needle).  We made a fabulous bag...out of a pillowcase! I have a good deal of vintage pillowcases left from the wedding and I love the patterns and fabrics. It was meant to be a market bag but I can't resist using it as a sling purse. I have since attempted my own bag and while I consider it successful as a first try, I know I need to spend more time measuring an cutting. So far I find sewing cathartic and look forward to making it a more regular hobby. 

FROM THIS:

TO THIS:

FOOD MATTERS TRAILER! You must watch this.

Our Front Yard Garden, a work in progress

Two months ago we decided to do a test garden in the front yard by planting veggie starts in 40lb bags of Black Cow Top Soil . It is a test garden because we wanted to make sure that before we did anything semi-permanent, the sunlight was conducive for growing and that we would be able to maintain two veggie gardens. Currently our front yard is a septic drain field with a lift station. The earth is mounded up high making our front yard look like a hill overrun with dollar weed. Septic presence ruled out planting directly in the ground. Given it is our front yard we want to add very aesthetically pleasing elements to the part of our home space that greets neighbors and visitors. Raised beds offer us the best chance of this. 

The "test garden" is thriving, even better than the side garden meaning that the sunlight provided throughout the day is ideal, and even though we must water it daily with a hose, there should be an opportunity for some sort of manual irrigation system that will at least water all beds at once. We have a million house projects to finish this summer and due to the extreme heat and humidity we have decided to postpone installing our raised beds until end of summer beggining of Fall. I am still daydreaming of beautiful raised wood beds, though. This one in particular caught my eyes:



http://scalingbackblog.com/



http://scalingbackblog.com/

This gardener practices "Square Foot Gardening" which I have been tempted to dabble in and may just do in the front yard beds in order to make the most of the space.   love the architectural detail in the wood. It looks like she may have used a cedar to create these beds. 

Sunset Magazine Feature

I also find this VERY attractive although sure to be VERY expensive to do.

Could not leave out a link to this AMAZING front yard garden:

http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/potager/msg0823435124784.html?16