Spring Gardening (Finally)

After a very cold start to April, we finally have temperatures warm enough to allow gardening. Paul has been very busy starting seedlings (mostly flowers) indoors in the early spring, and has been transplanting them to the garden.  Yesterday we went to buy vegetable seedlings, plus some annuals for color.  I planted them, and it was so easy because Paul had thoroughly prepped the square-foot boxes for me.  So it basically took less than an hour to have my vegetable garden started:

The first four boxes planted, another box in the way back has chives that return each year, 

and Paul's innovative use of old windows as a modified greenhouse can be seen in the back. 

While we were working, a very friendly duck paid us a visit.

We nicknamed her "Soccer Duck".

As I was photographing her, she mistook my phone for food and reached up and nipped me by mistake.  It didn't hurt thankfully.  This photo is right before that, as she is reaching up!

Tackling The Mending

Today was the first Sunday in a long time where I was not working or otherwise engaged in the afternoon.  Tyler was at a friend's house, and Paul was (and is, still, at this moment) helping Robert with calculus.  I was inspired to take care of some new, and some long overdue, mending.  It started when I was ironing the creases out of the top sheet of a newer set of sheets I had gotten.  I did not notice when first using them that there was a defect in the stitching.  The zigzag that folded over the top part had caught some of the sheet.  This bothered me!  So I decided to fix it.  Paul also had requested that I fix his pants - the hem had come out from under the cuff.  While looking for some scrap muslin to test zigzag stitches on for the sheet, I uncovered a host of mending that has been patiently waiting for me.  Here's what I had:

1. The top sheet
2. A casual shirt that needed the neckline altered
3. Paul's pants
4. My dressy winter coat's two buttons
5. A strap
6. Two pair of Ty's pants that I had intended on turning into shorts (However, the Little Boy has grown so, these pants will never fit again, so they will be donated - less mending to do!)

First I sampled different sizes of zigzag, 

trying to duplicate the stitching on the sheet.

I did not take a picture before ripping out the defect, but you can see the crease and the old needle puncture marks in this photo after I had repaired it.  (In this close-up, the repair looks uneven, but from a few feet away, you cant't see.)

Here it is from a distance.  My ripper is pointing to the repaired area.

I bought this shirt on a sale, not realizing it how much of a boat-neck it had.  I cannot stand things against the front of my neck, should have realized before purchasing, but it was such a deal!  So I cut into the middle of the boat-neck, then turned down the front.  It is not a super alteration, but I can use this shirt for casual activities like gardening or cleaning.  

Paul's pants.

My old coat's buttons.  They had both fallen off.  I wear this coat to church every Sunday in cold weather.  It is a Halston that my friend found cheap in a thrift shop, gave to me because it was too big for her after all.  I have had it for at least five years, probably longer.  It is worn, but still looks nice, and keeps me toasty (very much needed in our area, especially this April, which has no resemblance to spring yet).  

The sewing machine all tucked away.  You'll note that it no longer resides in my dining room, rather Robert's unused room (although he will reclaim it for a month or so in late summer, before he moves to Portland for his graduate program).