iseecerulean

I completed the sign, after several attempts to get the lettering right, then crafted a bracket and hung it.  I am finished!

I need to take pictures with a proper backdrop for the submission, but I'm taking a break to just PLAY first.  Thanksgiving (which also happens to be my 50th birthday) is in a couple of days, I’ve got a few days off work, and I intend to enjoy myself.

The English Cottage Kitchen got a good cleaning...so much dust... then after a much deserved break the crew started hauling in groceries.

How many are they expecting for dinner?!?

There is not much of an update, I've been down with THE flu the last couple of weeks.  I'm feeling much better, though not quite myself yet.

I planted a corner of muskmelons.  The melons have been floating around my studio for a couple of years, I picked them up off the sidewalk at work, they fall off the oak trees in the spring...I assume they are baby acorns.  I used a seed packet Brae gave me as a label, I cut a slit in the bottom to insert a toothpick.

I then went on a frenzied search for the plant stakes Kat sent me.  It took me a week to find them.  I want to make plants to match the labels, so didn't want to progress without them...not that anyone will be able to read the labels since the font is so small, but I don't feel good and lack direction, and the stakes give me direction.

Sunflowers.  Okay, I've got a Bonnie Lavish kit for those that someone, don't remember who, gave me.  Maybe I pulled it out of a share box that was circulating a few years ago.

Ha!  This is why I stopped planting sunflowers in my real garden, they turn their faces to the neighbor.  Really though, this angle is looking from the back side of the garden, the sunflowers are facing forward.  I wanted to see the stake in this picture, which makes me think that I should save them for potted plants set at the front of projects, so the stakes can be read, or perhaps for the waiting-to-be-built half-scale bungalow.

(The tall plastic plants in the bottom right corner....Kat gave me those too.)

While I think about stakes and plants I'll busy myself with the rest of the fence, which I'm making from some metal trim stuff that Susan gave me.  I cut some posts from dowel this morning, dipped them in weathering stuff, and will see how they look tonight.

I keep saying "gave me, gave me, gave me"....this is turning into quite a community garden, so to speak.  So far Elizabeth, Kat, Brae, Jodi, and Susan have contributed.  I enjoy being part of our little community.

Ester says "enough with the camera already" "Hi!".

I finished the green bean teepee.  I glued on all the leaves I cut, then looked at it and said "this is good".

Now, I could spend hours plotting out the rest of the plantings on graph paper, or I could just start planting.  I planted.  I've stressful happenings going on at the moment and don't need perfect plant placement planning adding to my mind jumble.

Nancy:  Q is for Queen.  Because what else, really?

I was stuck on the carrot greenery until Elizabeth sent me a box of bits-and-bobs, with, whallah!, carrot tops.  Thank you, E.

The crepe paper for the beet leaves was sent to me some time ago by Jodi.  Thank you, Jodi.

Also, thank you, Fran, for telling me to paint the underside of my warped foam-core board garden base to flatten it.  It worked like a charm.

Nancy:  O is for obtenebrate.

The side that faces the wall...

The side that faces the sun...

Smaller leaves on the top, larger on the bottom.  The medium for the middle remain to glue on yet.

I'm not sure how small I can cut these, the carrot leaves don't look promising now that I've shrunk them down, and the tomato leaves are questionable.

I was right about the carrot leaves.

The others cut okay.  The tomato leaves need another test, the cutting mat I was using was on its last bit of stickiness so the leaves didn't stay put when I pulled the paper up.  The cantaloupe and sweet potato leaves need to be further reduced in size.  Crepe paper doesn't work with the cricut, I'll cut the beet leaves by hand.  I need to do some color tests with markers on the green bean leaves before I go crazy and cut a zillion of them.

The teepee is strung and ready for windy stems. 

Nancy:  K is for knurl.

I will not be able to plant the foam-core garden on my worktable, then transfer it to the project, as it's fairly warped.  I had to clamp and weight it down on my worktable to install the green bean teepee.  I'm going to have to weight it down when I glue it to the project base, which would be impossible if it were planted first.

Husband asked if I was planting mung beans....so, you know, I would have a teepee for my mung hole.  eyeroll

I've got a few leafy vegetables I bought at the Chicago show a couple of trips ago, and a wild rose from the deconstruction of le moulin.  I've also got a partly assembled clematis vine in my stash.  I've decided my garden time is going to be August.  My August.

My next step, which I can do while glue dries, is to design and cut some bean, beet, and carrot leaves with the cricut.

The garden path looked good on graph paper, but crowded and unnecessarily complex in place.

Freddie will demonstrate...

The path is just barely wide enough to walk on.

 There is no room to kneel down to tend a plant.

I will reduce the paths to one.  No straight lines, though.  And I will keep it narrow, since it's not really going to need tending, because there isn't much planting area as it is.

Nancy:  B is for batrachophobia.

Every cottage kitchen needs a garden.

I built a gate, then started a woven fence.

The posts that support the gate aren't glued in yet, so they look crooked for now.  The woven fence works up quickly, though I have to remember to stop every few rows to measure, to make sure it's straight.

The garden is on a foam-core base, so I can remove it, to plant it on my work table.  I laid out pathways with sequin pins, which will be removed when I'm done planting.

I'm planning a different fence for the side, and a second gate for the back.

I finished my edges differently than the tutorial, as I wanted to see the end of the thatch, not turn it under.  The layer of foam-core board I put on the top of the roof was to make the thatch look thicker than a layer of fur.  I saved the fuzz when I shaved the piece for the ridge cap, then glued it along the white edge of the foam-core board.  It worked great.

While the edges dried I gave it an initial trim, tested the ridge cap, which I decided looked fine, and played around with different "hairstyles".

After the glue dried on the edges I gave them a mild scrub with the bristle attachment of the shop-vac, trimmed the edges some more, then stained the thatch golden oak.  I brushed it lightly on the surface and used my gloved fingers to comb and tossle it in.  I didn't worry about even coverage, or saturating the fur down to the bottom layer.  I used the least amount of stain I could to achieve my goal.

I took a nap with Ester while the stain dried :)

After our nap I glued the ridge cap in place, trimmed the edges a bit more, then varnished.  I'll let it dry overnight, then unwrap the house tomorrow.