New article up at the Examiner, on what all those letters and numbers on the tomato descriptions mean!http://www.examiner.com/gardening-in-spokane/tomato-nomenclature

I was actually able to get outside for a bit and do some spring cleanup; pulling weeds, cutting back things that didn't get taken care of last fall, pruning. Miles to go, but the ground is still so wet that I have to stay on the paths and only do what I can reach from there- I don't want to compact the soil in the beds. As it was, I sank down about two inches in one spot just stopping to cut some things- I was only there a couple of minutes! I hate to think what would have happened if I'd been there longer- I'd most likely have gone right down and disappeared.

Some plants are showing little green noses at ground level, and one clematis has fat buds on it. One of the primroses has color showing in its buds. Spring may actually be arriving- although I think it's going to snow again tonight.

New article up at the Examiner, on mini-iris: http://www.examiner.com/gardening-in-spokane/dwarf-iris

It's officially spring. People all over are posting pictures of beautiful plants: daffodils, forsythia, hyacinths. People are posting about having eaten things from their gardens already. Us? About all we could do in that area would be melt some snow to drink.

Something that's not a bracelet!

A stone donut (not sure what kind... it has gray veining in it) in a net of transparent dark red seed beads, branched fringe with glass leaves on the ends, and a herringbone bail.

I have succumbed to Pinterest. Spotted two contests in two days that required having a Pinterest account, so it happened. It does seem kind of useful, for collecting images, although I do that on my hard drive anyway. And it's not useful if the 'net is down.

I amazes me; I put up three boards with only a few pins on each, and they have been repinned like crazy within a couple of hours. It was like tossing a pig into a tank of piranha, I swear, the kind of frenzy that apparently surrounds this web site.

My page is at http://pinterest.com/lauriebrown54/# if anyone is interested; if you have a page, I'd like to follow it

New article up at the Examiner, on the benefits of vegetable garden beds vs. rows: http://www.examiner.com/gardening-in-spokane/beds-or-rows

New article up at the Examiner, about the Backyard Makeover contest that Fine Gardening is having:http://www.examiner.com/gardening-in-spokane/backyard-makeover-contest

Pearl collar: Two needle RAW in two shades of gray pearls in 6mm and 4mm, #11 & #15 silver/gray Charlottes, and just a few black #11s. Husbands opinion? "I guess it looks okay"

New article up  at the Examiner, on growing grass indoors for your cats (wheat or oat grass, that is) http://www.examiner.com/gardening-in-spokane/cat-grass

Skirt from a dress

Because I didn't feel like cleaning the bathroom, I remodeled a yard sale dress into a skirt. It's rayon batik fabric, princess seamed, with buttons up the front. The bottom part fit my bottom part, but the top wouldn't button.

Also, photobomb by Silver.

Measured from the bottom and cut the top off. Getting this measured evenly turned into a nightmare, as the fabric is really stretchy- might even be cut on the bias.

The waist was now 6" too large for me. Happily, there were six seams so I took an inch in on each of them, tapering it to nothing 4" down.

I was going to put a facing at the waist, but there wasn't a big enough piece left over without crazy piecing it. So I did a narrow double turn down, and it worked fine. The top button that was left was only an inch down from the top, so all I had to do for fastening was sew a snap at the very tip top to keep it from sticking up, and I was done!

I'm pretty sure these buttons are coconut shell, to complement the tropical batik!

Latest bracelet: cobalt blue hex #8s in peyote stitch with a dark silver ruffle and decorated with moons and stars!

New article up at the Examiner: Horticulture magazine, through it's shop site GardenersHub.com, is having a sale on books & CDs: http://www.examiner.com/gardening-in-spokane/gardenershub-com-warehouse-sale

Is everyone sick of bracelets yet? Tough. Here's another one; another Russian spiral, but this time mixing bead sizes and types.

New article up at the Examiner, on siting your new vegetable garden!http://www.examiner.com/gardening-in-spokane/siting-the-vegetable-garden

Another bracelet! This is tubular herringbone, like the green one a few days ago, but it alternates bugles and seed beads and I didn't put a spiral on it. The brilliant colors combined with the black makes me think of 1970 black light posters!

New article up at the Examiner; a review of the garden design book "Reflecting Nature"http://www.examiner.com/gardening-in-spokane/reflecting-nature-garden-book-review

Warm, sunny day, so I hung the laundry out to dry for the first time this year. I had to dance around in the snow under the clothesline, but the clothes *almost* dried and they smell so good. There is hope for spring!

New article up at the Examiner, on the first step of vegetable garden planning:http://www.examiner.com/gardening-in-spokane/vegetable-gardening-getting-started

This is the latest bracelet: my try at twisted tubular herringbone. I couldn't figure out how to make it spiral at first, hence the straight section at the end; to keep from pulling it apart to fix it I just made the other end straight tubular herringbone, too!

New article up at the Examiner: a new Timber Press contest. This time the prize is all about growing your own food!http://www.examiner.com/gardening-in-spokane/timber-press-edibles-contest

This necklace has the same history as the butterfly vest: I started it to wear at Steamcon I in 2009. Didn't get it done. I had no idea that branched fringe took so long to do- or used so many beads. (I came very, very close to running out of the beads that make the main branches of the fringe)

It started as a simple band of (I think) brick stitch, with the fringe put on at the same time as picots along the top edge. The band is #8 bright purple seed beads, the bugles are bright purple 4mm, the #11 seeds are reddish purple with some sort of finish on them that makes them appear different colors from different angles. And it's *heavy*

New article up at the Examiner, about the fragrant daphne shrubs:http://www.examiner.com/gardening-in-spokane/shrub-daphne

New article up at the Examiner; Baker Creek Heirloom Seed is having a giveaway of two of there vegetable growing books!http://www.examiner.com/gardening-in-spokane/the-heirloom-life-gardener-giveaway

I've been making a few things, trying to create a little bit of stock before I open my Etsy store. First, another Russian spiral bracelet, this one in red, black and purple. I will have a hard time getting rid of this one, because those are *so* my colors! Actually got the clasp attachment done correctly this time.

Next, a couple of cat dolls. One is made partly with Oriental cottons, a beady fire breathing dragon, vintage button eyes, and Siamese cat coloring. The other is a celestial one similar to one I made earlier, but this one has a tail.

Today I have a blinding migraine that actually sent me back to bed (while I hurt most of the time, very little sends me back to bed) and I am creating nothing.