Thursday, June 28, 2012

New article up at the Examiner, on cocktail ingredients from your garden!
http://www.examiner.com/article/cocktail-ingredients-from-your-garden

Tuesday, June 19, 2012

New article up at the Examiner, on how to prune those old, once blooming roses!http://www.examiner.com/article/pruning-once-blooming-roses

Thursday, June 14, 2012

New article up at the Examiner, on creating your own garden getaway! (not to be confused with a garden that gets away from you)
http://www.examiner.com/article/creating-your-get-away-garden

Sunday, June 10, 2012

Another clothing remake!

This black blouse is sheer rayon with embroidered vines. It's lovely fabric, but the blouse was at least 12" too big around and those style sleeves look awful on me. Do not like elbow length sleeves!













So I laid it out flat, pinned it together so that the fabric was even and unwrinkled from the side seams in, measured two inches in on each side, all the way down- including the armscyes. And cut the excess fabric, sleeves and all, off, leaving a 1/2" seam allowance.












I then sewed along the new sides, making the side seams open for about 3" up as the original seams had.
















Then I tackled the cut off sleeves. They were almost elbow length, with a large ruffle attached. I wanted that ruffle back on, so I cut it away from the sleeve right against the seam line. This circle is what the ruffle was.















Right sides together, I pinned the ruffle, largest point at the top, into the armsyce. The narrow points didn't quite make it to the bottom of the armsyce, so after I sewed the ruffle to the armsyce I made a narrow, double turned hem along the bottom of the armsyce to finish the edge. I don't normally like to leave an opening like that without a facing, but in this case, with the transparent fabric, it was the best solution- and the easiest!

















The finished top now fits me with a fair amount of ease, and the ruffles make cute cap sleeves. It dresses up a contrasting tank top nicely, and will be great for summer!

Thursday, June 7, 2012

New article up at the Examiner, on the pros and cons of own-root vs. grafted roses: http://www.examiner.com/article/roses-own-root-or-grafted

Saturday, June 2, 2012


My hoya is blooming again. Last year I never got around to taking pictures, so I made sure to get some this time. I was given this plant as a tiny thing, and have actually managed to keep it alive- I have killed hoyas before, sadly. I had no idea who the plant was- I wasn’t even aware there were so many hoyas! When it bloomed with red balls instead of fragrant white stars, I was very startled. 


I don’t even remember who gave me the plant; I thought it was the woman across the street but she says her hoya is the white star one. So I ran through the entire gallery at www.growinghoyas.com and I think it’s Hoya kentiana; the flowers aren’t large enough to be Hoya weyetii. They do produce a *lot* of nectar, which at first made me wonder what was wrong with the plant (“It’s crying! Help it!”). I think it’s kind of cool that it’s a plant from the Philippines. I wonder if my mother ever saw this plant in gardens there?