Crafting : Scrapbuster Pinwheel Quilt

Today I'm going to share my next December craft - a square lap quilt for cosy nights, hot chocolate and reading by the fire!

In this quilt:

1. I tried out the traditional pinwheel quilt pattern.
2. I made my own binding (2nd to date!)
3. Attempted mitered corners!
4. I refined my quilting techniques such as minimizing bunching up as I laid out my quilt sandwich.
5. This project is a good scrap buster! I used up a good bit of my scrap fabric lying around.




Assembling the pinwheel squares:

1. I cut out 72 pieces of 3 7/8" squares of plain fabric and 72 pieces of 3 7/8" squares of printed fabric.

2. Take one plain square and one printed square and align them with right sides facing.

3. Draw a diagonal line on one of the wrong sides of this pair of fabric.

4. Sew 1/4" away on both sides of this diagonal, and then cut the fabric down the diagonal.

You should get 144 squares made up of one plain and one printed fabric. This is your basic block. Now arrange them to your taste by putting 4 blocks together to create a pinwheel block, like the ones pictured above. You should end up with 36 pinwheel blocks.




Now to assemble the quilt top (all with 1/4" seam allowance):

1. Stitch 6 pinwheel blocks in a row. You will have 6 rows.

2. Then stitch the rows together. You will end up with a square quilt top, 6 blocks by 6 blocks.


And then assemble the quilt by laying the batting between the quilt top and the quilt backing, like a sandwich. The quilt top and quilt backing should have their right sides facing out.

I've learnt from past experiences to safety pin my quilt sandwich at regular intervals, all over the quilt, to prevent the batting from bunching up on the inside.

When you are sure you got your quilt sandwich laid out as flat as you possibly can, you can proceed with stitching the sandwich together to secure the batting in place.



I have chosen to stitch-in-the-ditch by sewing over the existing stitches of my blocks, so it looks like this on the back.





Align and pin the binding so the raw edges meet the edges of the top of the quilt. Start the binding on one side of the quilt, but in the middle. Leave a tail of about 5" to 8" on both ends, but leave about a 3" gap between the binding tails. Like in the picture above.


Here I'm going to attempt to explain how I miter my corners. Remember this is my first attempt:



When pinning the binding to the quilt top, leave an excess triangle when you come to a corner. This will give you enough binding to work with when you flip the binding over to the back of the quilt. Pretend you are pinching a triangular corner.

Once the pinning is done, sew the binding to the quilt top with a 1/4" seam allowance. When you reach the end, lay the two tails flat on the quilt and mark where the two ends meet. Sew the binding together (not on the quilt) at the mark, and trim off excess. Then sew the binding onto the quilt, like before, with a 1/4" seam allowance.

Trim excess batting bulk before turning the binding to the other side. I find pressing the seams as I flip the binding helps a lot!




Here's how I attack the corners. Attempt one side of the quilt at a time!
Press and fold one side of the binding down first.




Then press and fold the other side down. It should fall in place nicely!




Secure with binding clips ( or in my case, hair clips!) Then carefully hand sew, with slip-stitching, the binding to the back of the quilt!




Ta-daa! I'm ready for the cold winter nights!



Linking up to some crafty fun here!

Crafting: DIY Tissue Paper Pomanders

Alright here's the low-down on the tissue paper pomanders : they are super easy to make, but they are very time consuming. Especially if you are making them in large quantities, or making a huge-ass pomander.




Materials:

An 8" or 10" styrofoam ball
White tissue paper
Gauge wire
Acrylic paint
Spray bottle
Scissors
Wire cutter
Hot Glue gun and glue sticks



First, get ready to make a gazillion tissue paper flowers before we even try to make a pomander. So:



(1) You will need tons of tissue paper cut into rectangles measuring 5" by 10". Each flower is made up of 4 layers of 5"x10" rectangles. I stack 4 pieces of tissue paper at once before cutting them into the rectangles.

(2) Then you need to accordion fold each stack of 4 rectangles. Each fold measures about
1/2" - 5/8" depending on how you like your flowers.
Experiment with a few to help you decide!


(3) I use clothes pegs to keep my accordion folded stacks neat and tidy while I continue to fold more rectangles.




(4) Cut a piece of 6" gauge wire, wrap it around the middle of the folded tissue paper, before twisting the two ends together, like in the picture above.

(5) Rounding the edges of both sides of the tissue paper will give your flower a softer look.






(6) Carefully peel the layers away from the wire, towards the middle, one layer at a time.

(7) When all four layers are peeled and fluffed up, trim the gauge wire to about 1.5" - 2" long. You really don't need a very long stem!



I used white tissue paper because I couldn't find pink / coral tissue paper in large quantities. But the good thing about using white tissue is that you can virtually make ANY color pomanders to suit your needs.




(8) I mixed some pink acrylic paints with water in a spray bottle, shake to mix well, then proceeded to spray ALL my flowers individually. I kept my flowers in the bathroom, next to a space heater so they can dry more quickly!


When you have all your flowers ready, you can start to make your pomanders. I bought my 8" and 10" styrofoam balls from Michaels (a craft store). Here, a glue gun will be very useful!

For demo purposes, I have used a spare tiny styrofoam ball for show because I forgot to take pictures while making the real thing.



(9) To make the ribbon loop for hanging the pomander, cut another piece of wire about 6" again. Cut your desired length of ribbon, knot in the middle to the wire. Again, trim the wire to about 1.5"-2".

(10) Push the wire into the styrofoam ball and hot glue around the wire (and knot, if desired)


Now you can start sticking the tissue flowers into the styrofoam ball. An 8" ball will take about 40-45 flowers, and a 10" ball takes 60-65 flowers. For additional security, with every flower i push into the ball, i hot glue around the base to make sure the flower stays.




Here are the results of the blood, sweat and tears! Ta-daaa!!! It took me a week to make four 8" pomanders and two 10" pomanders. Hope this was useful!

Puppy love : Potty training

I'm sorry if you did a search on google for a beginner's guide to puppy training and found this page.

This is nowhere near a guide to training your puppy, but our grueling experience in the very first week of getting our little Scuffy Nuts. If you're here because you wanted to learn how to train your dog, I sincerely hope you get something out of reading this. On the other hand, if you are an experienced puppy handler, please do not shake your head and close this page after reading. I would appreciate lots of guidance and constructive comments! I'm also still learning! :p



When we brought Scuffy home, he was only eight weeks old. Our very first mistake was to treat him like an adult doggy, since we were so used to Boops and Daisy (my in-laws' dogs). They were pretty trained when we lived with J's parents. We forgot Scuffy needed to learn everything Boops and Daisy already knew.



So Lesson #1. Potty training.

--------------------------------


How to get Scuffy to understand not to do his #1 and #2 in the house?

We still don't have 100% success. However, it has only been the first week. So even though it has been frustrating, we are not discouraged.

Every time he pees and poops in the house, we make him sniff at his mess, smack his bottom and take him outside. We bought a clicker and use it when he successfully does his #1 & #2 outside, and heap lots of praises at the same time. Just be careful not to overuse the clicker, it loses its meaning if the clicks are used randomly and not associated with good behavior.

I take him outside first thing when I wake up in the morning, and also do it just before we go to bed. During the day, I take him out every 2 hours. I read somewhere that the puppy's age in months is approximately the number of hours it can hold its pee. 8 weeks = 2 months = 2 hours.

We try to keep his eating and drinking to a strict routine so we can anticipate when he needs to go potty. We feed him three times a day, but leave the water bowl out for him to drink whenever he needs to.

But i watch him like a hawk. Especially when he drinks more than usual. Now, I can usually tell when he walks in funny way, like he needs to go. Scuffy is also getting the idea. He whines when he needs to go and then I let him out. So his potty training is coming along, slowly but surely! Woo-hoo!


Phew! And this has just only been one part of living with Scuffy!! There's so much more to tell, and even more to learn!

So sit tight and stay tuned for more Adventures of Scuffy Nuts Russell III!

News from the Garden: Freezing okra for the winter

There's only so much okra I can eat.

I finally googled a method to freeze the gazillion okra (and other vegetables, for that matter) from the garden to save for the winter.

I know my future self will look in retrospect and thank me, especially when I return from Singapore with a whole bunch of sambal belachan to fry the okra in!


Method:

1. Wash and clean okra and separate them into two piles - younger pods (4 inches and under) and larger pods.

2. Carefully slice off the heads of each okra, taking care not to expose the seed cells on the inside.

3. Prepare a big pot of boiling water at the same time, so when you're done slicing off the heads you can place the okra in the boiling water immediately.

4. Start either with the younger pods, or the larger pods first. Blanch younger pods for about 3-4 minutes and larger pods 4-5 minutes.

5. After blanching, dunk okra in another pot of ice cold water to cool okra immediately. Apparently this prevents overcooking. I leave them in the cold water for about 5 minutes while I blanch the next group of okra pods.

6. Drain cooled off okra in a strainer.

7. When okra is sufficiently drained, I divide okra into meal-sized portions. I place these portions in a Food Saver bag and vacuum seal them.



Now J and I found a FoodSaver for real cheap at Goodwill. We bought the FoodSaver + FoodSaver bags for a grand total of $6.99! What a steal! And we'd seen them in the stores going for at least $100! Just buying a roll of FoodSaver bags cost about $10, so yea, it's definitely a steal!

But if you don't have a FoodSaver, you can the more common Zip Loc bags. It doesn't ensure a proper vacuum seal, but I guess it's the next best option.

Guess I'll be doing this with my zucchini and squash soon!

Post Mortem: FIVE Craft Fair Afterthoughts

Via

So this is the following post after the booth display. Just wanted to share my two cents' worth on my first craft fair experience...


ONE.

Booth placement is vital.

If you can, request for a booth space that is in the HEART of all the activity, i.e. in the middle. Chances are, most visitors have already seen the first few booths on their way in and by the time they get to the middle of the fair, they are all psyched and pumped up to BUY! I know that's how I would be, if I were visiting a fair!

I was placed at the beginning (or you could look at it as the end) of the fair. In short, i was on the peripherals. A lot of people who stopped by my store were either new arrivals, or were about to leave. If they were new arrivals, and if they saw something they liked, they almost ALWAYS said they'll return after browsing some more. Out of the 5 who said that, only 1 came back... As a buyer, I would have the same mentality. I like to rein myself in in the beginning, and when I feel like I've seen enough, that's when I'm ready to make some purchases... which of course happens about halfway into the fair. At the same time, people who are leaving the fair are either all SHOPPED OUT, mentally exhausted or visually overstimulated. Some families had hungry (screaming) kids trailing behind, so they were not very likely to stop at any of the booths at the end.


TWO.

Real-time real-life interactions.

This may sound very obvious, but I realised i wasn't very prepared to meet buyers face-to-face. I've only been selling on Etsy, where interactions happen via email and Etsy convos. At the fair, it's real-time interaction. You don't get to edit and delete what you say. I'm glad I work at the museum where person-to-person interactions happen daily, so I'm not fazed by the thought of having to talk to so many people. If you have anxieties meeting people, you should think about preparing yourself mentally. Experience is the best teacher. Just sign up for as many fairs as you can manage (ONE AT A TIME), but the more you get out there, the easier it becomes. I find it easier to start if i just greeted people. I said my "How d'you do"s to everyone that walked past the store. It helps present yourself as an approachable seller, not to mention it is also basic courtesy.




THREE

Be ready to persuade and counter their decisions.

How to turn indecision into sales?? That was one of my major obstacles. A lady said, "Oh I already have too many bags" after she ooh-ed and aah-ed over my tote bags. In response, I said, "If you see something you really like, you can come back! I'll be here till the very end!" In retrospect, I should have said something along the lines of "OH! A girl can never have too MANY bags! If you like this one I can give you a good discount!"

Role play with a family member or friend, to help you get used to persuading people to buy. Come up with marketing ploys to entice people to buy and to buy more, pairing complementary items together, giving discounts etc.



Via

FOUR

Take a walk around.

Make sure you have the opportunity to walk around the fair, when it is not busy, to meet other sellers, or even just to take a look at the wares. It is a good warm-up, especially if you do it at the start of the fair. It helps you get started talking to people, get yourself focused and excited about the event. It can also be good for taking a breather, taking a break from the monotony, or from the hectic selling. (*hopefully it's the latter*)


FIVE

Administrative odds and ends.

Print out a list of the items for sale, the selling price and the lowest prices you're willing to let them go. Be prepared for customized orders, as people have the strangest requests! I had a man buy my quartz crystals that were on display. And I would have made more money selling my elephant collection than my crafts!
Think about your packaging. How are you going to present your sold items to your buyers? I bought some brown paper bags, twine and made some stamped labels. Put some thought into the final packaging because it adds the final touch to the whole selling process. Most importantly, prepare some change!! I completely forgot about that. It was the J-man who reminded me (also because he wanted some change to buy tacos for breakfast!) Bring lots of loose change, depending on how your items are priced.



Via



:: END ::

I do still have some doubts about putting up price tags. I didn't do it this time, so interested buyers had to come up to me to ask for prices. And I think that is better than pricing your items visually. I think that if people are not prepared to pay the price they see, that immediately extinguishes any interest they might have for that item. I also feel like people are less likely to ask for discounts seeing that the items are handmade, therefore works of art. To me, asking for a discount is kinda like demeaning the artist. That is just my POV, and I might be biased :p

But what do you think? Price-tag your items or no?


Hope this helps!! Do you have any craft fair experiences to share?

Post-mortem: Craft Fair Booth Display Tips

Hi y'all!

Now that the craft fair is truly over, I'd like to do a series of posts on craft fairs. I'll kick things off with FIVE booth display starter tips to help newbies like me get started with your very first craft fair! (I hope you're excited as I am!)

So here is my set up for the craft fair!






1. Plan your layout.

Is your craft fair organizer providing anything? Some organizers provide tables or display cases, but for this one, I was not provided with anything. I decided to use 2 tables and arranged them in an L-shape. Check to see the amount of items you are selling to decide on how much space you need. I didn't have very many items to sell, so I used only one long table and one shorter table. You might want to think about a backdrop if you sell items that need to be hung. If you have a tent, you can string up lines across the four pillars for additional display options.


2. Decide on your color scheme.

You'll want to choose a background that best shows off your items for sale. Plain, neutral backgrounds would show off colorful items well, but brightly colored backdrops (whether it be the table cover or a backdrop) would be eye-catching and capture the attention of passers-by too.

My items were of a variety of colors so I had decided from the get-go that I would choose a neutral base color. I was deciding between unbleached muslin and a creamy upholstery fabric I had thrifted from a while back. I picked the latter because it made more sense cost-wise to use the cheaper fabric. Also the creamy fabric is much thicker than the muslin. It hangs well over the table and upholstery fabric is, in general, made to withstand wear and tear. I could reuse the same fabric for future fairs.


3. Play around with different heights and depths

Take away the monotony of a flat level display by making use of stands or placing boxes on top of each other to create different heights. Stack crates together or stand them on their sides, use fabric to create folds to give an illusion of depth. Rearrange your items or group them differently to see the variety of effects you can achieve.

I already had in mind to use a cake stand to display my sets of coasters. Except that I didn't have a cake stand, and I didn't have time to go thrifting for one. So I picked a pretty bronze plate from the kitchen and taped an ornate candle holder to the bottom. I piled my coaster sets on top of the bronze plate-turned-stand to give that additional height. That did the trick. (See picture below)




4. Have fun with props!

Use unconventional items to showcase your items. Besides catching the attention of otherwise uninterested patrons, they also double up great conversational starters.

I googled craft fair display ideas and seen that somebody had made use of a vintage trunk for an alternative display case and I was thrilled!! I had thrifted a cute mustard yellow suitcase a while ago so I decided to include that! Besides, it makes an easy pack-up-and-go option. When my fair was done, it was a breeze to just load up my suitcase and go!

I chanced upon another vintage dish in the kitchen. I love the pretty flowers and just had to find a way to include it into my display. My business cards came into mind. I placed the cards in the middle, threw in a few quartz crystals i picked when I went gem mining, and voila! Pretty dish - check! Quartz crystals - check!

And as the name of my shop is Elephant Is Love, I just had to include my eclectic elephant collection. I picked out my set of 5 ceramic elephants and my wooden elephant. These babies were the focus of my display! I think they garnered more attention than my items. I wasn't disappointed though, they helped draw the attention of passers-by and I was proud of my collection. People were appreciative of the effort I put into my display and I even got to talk to a few fellow elephant lovers!!

Finally, I threw in the huge acorn I picked from the Asheboro Zoo a year ago. I was so glad to see how they all came together so nicely!


5. Have at least one of each of your different items fully displayed.

Make sure every type your product is well represented and clearly displayed so shoppers know exactly what to expect.
I had different types and sizes of bags and pouches for sale, so I made sure for every type of bag/pouch, I displayed at least one standing upright.


I'm still not 100% happy with this display, and plan to rework this. Any suggestions??

My only real anxiety were my bigger tote bags. In my opinion, these bags would look better if they were hung up instead of laid flat on the table. I had grand plans of cutting up a peg board to build a triangular stand, but it involved too much time, cost and logistics. Then I thought if I could borrow a coat rack that would solve the problem. But nope, no such luck. At that very moment, my lovely neighbor came to my rescue and gave me a decorative fabric wrapped hanger. I hooked it on the open suitcase and hung three bags on that.

Booth display complete and I was very relieved pleased!!



Trunk display close up!


And here's a better view of the hanging bags just below the trunk.


Hope this will help some of you out with your booth display too! Feel free to throw some ideas my way. I completely enjoyed myself and thank the heavens we had beautiful perfect weather. Tents weren't provided and I was crossing my fingers (and toes) that it wouldn't rain. In fact, I got a pretty nice tan sitting out in the sun! Win-ning!!!! :)

In my next post I will talk about my experience and lessons learnt after the craft fair. But be patient as I am still recovering from all that hullabaloo!

Have a great week!

Really useful tip: How to keep the creative juices flowing!

So everyone should make a list like this.


Found it here but traced the source back to here

I think #4 is one of my most effective ways to stay creative, productive and efficient. As i mentioned in a previous post keeping the computer away is VERY VERY helpful.

I'd like to add to the list:

#34 making music!

i play my guitar and sometimes, just strumming around i find new rhythms, new strumming patterns and new sequences. and then i jam. just by myself. but i feel so good after. :)

#35 take a walk

nature really inspires. i like to take hikes to look at the patterns Mother Nature creates -- the bark on the tree, the shapes of leaves, the colors of flowers, the light filtering through the trees.

#36 carry a camera wherever you go

or phone, but i don't have a snazzy phone with cool apps. I do have a decent digital camera that i've been playing around with. i love taking pictures of mushrooms found in the wild. Sometimes the pictures come out unexpected. Sometimes, i play around with picnik on flickr to get crazy effects. But take lots and lots of photos. Really.

What about you? Do you have any tips on how to stay creative?

Penny Saver Tip #4: Save your jam jars!

I love Mason jars! They're useful, aesthetically pleasing, and ever so versatile!





So i found one laying around the house, looking very sad and empty, and decided i shall find some way to use it as part of my crafting assemblage.



I would love to store buttons except i don't have a very impressive collection. Then,

*diiiinngg*

I decided to transform it into a pincushion / sewing thread storage thingy!




So I took the lid off the jar, traced the outer lid on a scrap piece of fabric, then cut out the circle with a 1" allowance all around. It doesn't really have to be a perfect circle. You'll see why.



Next I grabbed a handful of polyester fiberfill i had lying around the house, placed it on the wrong side of the fabric, and prepared to stuff it through the lid.



Like so.



Then, when you feel that your pincushion has been sufficiently stuffed, replace the inner circular backing and pop it into place.



Next, take a needle and thread, and sew a running stitch through the edges of the fabric. Pull the thread taut to gather the fabric shut. Sew a few more stitches, criss-crossing in any way you want to make sure the fabric is tightly stitched shut. (Which is why in the beginning you didn't really need a perfect circle)



Replace your ready made pincushion through the lid, fill your jar before screwing the lid shut! Ta-daaa!


So easy to make! Will make great gifts for family and friends who craft too!

First harvests!

Still feeling sick and weak, and i've lost my voice completely. So i had no choice but to stay home another day.

But that's ok because seeing these babies in our garden made me feel so much better.


The tomatoes are ripe!


And they're so teeny!


We picked the two ripest ones off the plant and ate them after washing.

Here's how to tell when to pick your tomatoes in the garden.

1. When they turn orangey red (although in some warm climates they do not turn red because the substance that makes them turn red do not form if temperatures are too high)

2. When they are firm to the touch. You don't want them to be rock-hard, or too soft. When they are too soft, they will attract birds and other garden pests.

3. Pick the ripest ones when you want to use them and let the others mature on the plant. It's not good to pick them all at once unless you want to freeze or use them for preserves. They do not last a long time after picking, even when kept in the fridge.

4. If summer has passed and you still have some green tomatoes on the plant, do not leave them. Pick them all off, throw them into a box with some ripe apples for a couple of days and you'll see that they'll ripen. That's because ripening apples produce a gas called ethylene that accelerates the ripening process. Cool huh?

We are eyeing the jalapeno next. Yay!

How to be A More Productive Stitcher

Just came across this article with some awesome tips on how to increase your productivity when it comes to crafting.

I am completely guilty when it comes to zero productivity, using my day job as a major excuse. But there are moments, or should i say, spurts of productivity, especially when i get excited over a project that I've been waiting to work on. This is my version of sewing productivity:

1. Deciding on the project.

I know my schedule and I know when my days off are. So i plan two or three projects that I'm interested in working on. My usual output per day off is ONE completed project, so i don't get all ambitious and plan for six or seven different things. But planning for 2 or 3 projects gives me a choice on the day itself, to see which project takes my whim and fancy.

2. Plan ahead of time, and gather materials needed

With the 2 or 3 projects in mind, i also prepare the materials I would need. I list the things I don't have and try to get them at the craft store by my workplace. That way, I don't have to spend precious minutes on my day off running to the store, when i can just get down to crafting.

3. NO distractions!

I like to check my mail first thing in the mornings, but I know if i whip out my computer, I get sucked into checking my twitter, reading other blogs, browsing through etsy and a gazillion things i do online. So on days off, i have to fight the urge to take out the computer. When i whip out my sewing machine instead of my computer, half the battle is won.

I don't have a designated sewing space. My MIL likes the house tidy so i have to take out all my sewing equipment and put them back again when I'm done. Sometimes, the thought of that is enough to put me off crafting. On other days, my to-do list overwhelms me, crafting just seems impossible. Sleeping in is also very enticing, but I'm proud to say, that is ONE obstacle I have conquered. I wake up at the same time every day, regardless of the day of the week. With an erratic work schedule, it's easy. I just imagine i have to wake up for work everyday, instead of thinking, "aww man, it's a sunday, i SHOULD be allowed to sleep in for once!"

Here's the original Sewing Productivity Project. I think it's over, but it's a good exercise to reflect upon my crafting habits, and be more aware of how I can increase my output.



If you're an avid crafter, check the site out for yourself too! Do you have any good tips to share or bad habits to quit?

Natural food dyes for your Easter Egg Hunt!

Via Craftzine

Coming from a non-Christian family, I never celebrated Easter, did not really understand the significance of this day and associated Easter with chocolate bunnies and colorfully decorated eggs.

This Easter, however, the mother-in-law (MIL) invited J and I to go to church. Her son is about as un-religious as I am, but we like keep things cordial, so we oblige on special occasions like Christmas and now, Easter. "Girl, you're about to find out how big a deal Easter is around here!" was what my girlfriend had said to me.

So we were supposed to go BUY our Easter outfits with her tomorrow, but I checked my bank account, looked into my closet and then double checked my bank account, and thought it wise to wear something I had already owned. I did have at least 2 dresses in my closet that I have not worn ever. Knowing how conservative the dress code is (no denim, no dress/ skirt above the knees) I think I might be able to pull it off with a cardigan on my back and maybe a slouch to make my dress look longer?

Anyway, i came across this blog which excited me more than anything else about Easter excites me. The writer teaches you how to make natural food dyes to colour your Easter eggs, and even put flower/leaf patterns on it. It looks so fun, I just might have to try it out myself on -- yes, my next day off!

Here is the page and I hope you have a meaningful and fun Easter holiday!

Penny Saver Tip #3: What to do with a disused photo frame?

The J-man was fumbling around in the dark one night. Only he flipped a photo frame that was hanging on the wall, along with the light switch. As a result,



we have one poor frame feeling slightly abandoned.



But with a screen, a pair of scissors and a handy glue gun,



I made the perfect home for all my randomly strewn earrings!!



Whee!!!

Penny Saver Tip #2: Reuse your egg cartons!

J and I finally started on our garden, it being spring time and all now. We bought some seeds, used some plastic cups for planters and started planting them a few days ago.



We planted broccoli, brussel sprouts, lettuce, thyme, rosemary, Thai basil, onions, 3 different types of squash, snow peas, yard long beans and tomatoes. I planted some sunflowers, marigolds and lavender for flowers, so I can't wait for them to sprout! Being first timers, we were quite unsure of what to do, like how much dirt to cover the seeds with, how much and how often to water. We read articles online but still felt like fidgety first time parents (nothing beats experience over knowledge)

A lovely regular at the museum, a grandmother of triplets, gave me some advice when i approached her yesterday. Grandma Trips, we call her, had brought in some gardening magazines for kids to craft with some weeks ago, so i knew she did some gardening of her own. We got down to some serious gardening talk but the best tip that stuck in my head was to re-use egg cartons as seed planters. Why buy new ones from Walmart or Lowe's when you can easily recycle your trash? Don't know why we didn't think of that in the first place, so we didn't have to waste a gazillion plastic cups!

I love talking to Grandma Trips, she is a gold mine of information.



I think i actually saw the beginnings of the broccoli and sunflowers. Phew! So we didn't kill them with our overzealous watering after all! I do hope the weather gets warmer soon. We don't need sudden frost to put our efforts to waste now, do we?



The J-man also got down and dirty ploughing and tilling the field to get it ready for transplanting. He fenced the area with some leftover bricks in the garden shed so the neighbour's dogs won't get to it (hopefully!) With everything set, we're just crossing our fingers for a good start to a year of bountiful harvests!