Like a heart transplant but cuter!

So...mostly pics today....

I am obsessed with vintage sewing patterns.  No, really.  Obsessed.  Once you start collecting them, you just keep finding more and more that you 'need'.  Well, I am working on a 50's dress....

To begin...I do not know how to sew.  I have never taken a class.  I have a sewing machine that does not do anything automatically...well, except sew.  Why not start with a dress!  The first bodice was a nightmare, but the second was much better.  It is really hard to understand the directions if you don't know the lingo...

The dress is not done, but it also does not really look like this any more.  I didn't like the round neckline of the bodice...so I figured out a way to give it a v-neck down the back and a wrapping v-neck on the front...much better. 

An apron pattern from the 40's or 50's...original, uncut pattern...This apron was for our cousin who just got married...She had an apron on her registry and I said..."Shucks, I am now a seamstress...I will make her an apron that is cuter than the one she registered for..."

A close-up of the fabrics used...

And an apron for my very bestest friend's birthday...this is from the same pattern...

Fabrics

RUFFLES!!!!!!  I love the fullness of the skirts on vintage patterns.  They make you feel so girly...

And I have done some experimenting with my flowers....Hydrangea: I read somewhere that you can transplant the little branches with new stringy vines and grow whole new plants...well....

So where did I get these new offshoots???  If any of the bottom branches are laying on the ground...actually touching it...or even better, if part of the branch gets buried by some dirt...it will start to grow its own little roots.

So, I dug a hole in a wet, cool, shaded part of my flower gardens.  The most important thing with these tiny little transplants is that they need water...tons of water.  Like every day.  And direct sunlight and heat are a certain death sentence.

I found two decent little starts.  I trimmed the flower off of the one on the right...I thought "the less the plant has to feed, the better"  And after a month I can report that the one on the right (which really just barely had any little root fingers) has died.  Totally dead.  The plant on the left looked dead...the leaves have nearly all fallen off and it is kind of weepy...but upon closer inspection today...I saw little purple spots at intervals up and down the branch...they are tiny little leaf buds...REALLY!!!!  I have no idea if it will survive the winter (perhaps I should give it to the The Bon Savant for his indoor winter garden?) but I am so excited to know that it is possible!!!!

Other than that...the sirs started school on Monday.  I not been very productive these three days...but I am starting to hear the whisperings of the Project Fairy...You will definitely hear more from me now that it is just Madam Lu and I for most of the day...

Sweltering Summer

As you all know by now your Mistress adores winter.  I delight in the cool nights and breezy days of fall.  I immerse myself in the promise of summer joy while digging in my beds all spring long.

However, summer has been a huge let-down for the second year in a row.  So. Hot. So. Miserable.

I have in fact spent most of the season in a pool or at the lake.  My flower beds are a disaster.

On a good note...Sir E is a master at the front crawl, backstroke, and breaststroke.  I have never seen anyone immediately swim a perfect butterfly until I watched this child's first attempt.  He is doing standing dives off the board and kneeling dives off the high-dive.  The child has found his calling.

Sir M is also a sea monkey and with another year of lessons, I can only assume he will be an expert as well.

I know you are wondering about Madam Lu.  Well, she can scoop and kick, blow bubbles, and dunk her face in the water...but only if and when she feels like it.  Her class is 30 minutes long and she has done her "tricks" within the first 5 minutes.  After that she pretty much wants to be left to her own industry.

So, in honor of the heat, I have a new recipe that I made up tonight.  Summer Chicken Wraps...they are GOOD!

So, chop up tomatoes and add finely chopped onion.  I don't care which kind of onion you use...I just use what I have.

The marinade is simply whatever fruity vinaigrette (I have Strawberry Chardonnay this week) you have on hand and a couple jots of tabasco.  Flavor it to taste.  I made this for the heirs and therefore did not make it super hot.  The tabasco mostly cuts some of the sweet from the vinaigrette.

Add fresh or frozen corn.  You could also add cucumber if you have any laying around.  Pour some of your mixed vinaigrette over this mix and let sit.  I vacuumed one wing of the cottage, took the dogs out, let the dogs in, checked email, took dogs out and brought back in again.  The veggies were perfect.

Blue Cheese crumbles.

So, on your tortilla layer...leaf or romain lettuce (because they actually have some nutritional value as opposed to head lettuce which is just water...) shredded (cold) chicken breast, tomato mixture, and top with blue cheese.

It was delightful and the children gobbled them down!  Very light and crispy-cool on a miserable hot day!

Now, on to some flowers.  Please do not ask the names of any of these lilies.  I have no idea.  These are so bright and I had no idea I had them.  They sort of just appeared this year?

These are nearly white with butter-cream middles.

Some seriously bright yellow.

These are a mix of yellow and pale peachy-orange.  They almost look pink-ish

My glorious hydrangeas are laying down and giving up in the heat.

Of course the knock-out roses love the heat and are splendid.

A clump of Cannas starting to bloom.

Sir M finally lost his first tooth!!!

A trip to South Haven Michigan.  Let me say, we have had absolutely ZERO rain all summer.  Don't you think the skies look a bit grey?  Madam Lu's suit just happened to match the lighthouse!!!

What is THAT????  Yes, oh yes.  A thundering, lightening, downpour of a storm.  We went with a dear friend and her adorable, mannerly, entirely pleasant girls (not pictured because I don't have a consent form).  You can not imagine how trashed her van was...sand, sand, wet sand.

So, after a lovely lunch en-van this is what the sky looked like.  Can you imagine?  Over all a perfect day!

 Well, this really concludes the gist of our summer.  I have been completely negligent in my blogging but with only 3 weeks until the sirs go back to school, you should be seeing more of me soon!

Do You Hollyhock?

Hello All!

A quick little post today...it is supposed to be hotter than the devil's bathtub today so I am going to work on some more drywall sanding in the little Sirs' room.  Hopefully I can get some painting done today too?


So, to show you some updates in the flower beds and some of the disasters I have created as well...

To begin...These boxwoods may have been planted when the home was built?  The roots were twice as big as the plants.

You can see that they are growing OVER the sidewalks.  I tried trimming, but they would have looked like dead sticks...so,

Off to Lowe's to get some $1 treasures...If you are thinking..."By George!  That looks awful!" I quite agree.  However, gardening takes patience (which makes it really good brain exercise for me) and we must look at this through the lens of the future.   I put in 2 double pink knock out roses...one died.  This is why, dear ones, it is always a good idea to buy things on mega clearance.  I filled in the rest of the bed with some perennials that will flower and add color this year and possibly next...until the roses are big enough to dazzle on their own...then I will just move the perennials!

Here is the rose that survived.  See how bright and colorful the leaves are?  This is all new growth!  So, by the end of this summer I will see how big it is and pay a bit more for a partner of similar size.  Patience.

I love this shady patch of vegetation.  Against the brick you can see the hydrangea that I planted this spring has already doubled in size!

And now it is blooming!  It is covered...and looks pretty good for a first year plant.

However, I do not like these tiny petals, not one bit.  The color is terrible.  From a distance, this looks like a spirea (which you all know I despise).  It is supposed to be a traditional, pink only, hydrangea.  If the petals do not get significantly bigger this summer, I may have to put this in the "ugly plant" spots.

Also, going back to the first picture...the lilly bed that I planted last summer is overflowing with blooms.  Stunning!

The pink roses on the front of this will be perfect!

My hollyhock is growing and because I love this one so much, I have added 5 more throughout my beds.  Also, this perennial bed has really filled in since this pic.

The hollyhock is bigger here.

And now she is ready to burst!  She is covered in blossoms.  I can't wait!  See, this bed has filled in.  The very back of the bed has cannas that are growing taller every day.  They should be nearly as tall as the hollyhock in another month.  Did I mention I planted this hollyhock as a bare root just last year???

The bee balm is starting to bloom.

And these daisys are HUGE.  I love them.  when they are just opening they are a butter yellow and then they burst bright white.  They are also pretty thick and sort-of ruffled.  Who knew a daisy could be so multi-faceted?

A mossy, jungle pic.  Madam Lu's play-chateau will be here next year!

My chairs are nearly weathered enough.  I will need to make some cushions soon! 

And say hello to my 3 birches on death row.  Really?  Do you see those huge, mossy covered rocks?  Do you see that this is my delight???  Really power guy?

Really.  They all bear the mark of the evil red "X".  Did I mention that birches are my VERY FAVORITE trees ever?  If you have seen "Fern Gully" then you know how I feel about red "x"s.

We will leave that unpleasantness with a picture of my famous hydrangeas!  Holy Smokes!  Each bush is about 5 feet tall.

My beautiful darlings, you are amazing! 

That is all I have time for today.  Hopefully I will have some amazing room transformation pictures before the summer is through!

Because They are Mine

Hi friends!
We have been breaking records here at the Cottage.  We have a record high 95degrees today and May was the second wettest month in our history.  It has been pretty hard getting all of my glorious outdoor plans to come to fruition.

Don't worry, I am keeping myself amused!

Madam Lu and I wandered the fabric store this morning imagining all sorts of craftiness...in case this heat NEVER goes away.

I woke this morning and saw....MY PEONIES ARE BLOOMING!!!

Why is this special?  It is not.  There are peonies blooming all over the city (well, in homes of a certain age...the new tans do not seem to have peonies?).  And my peonies are not special.  They are the same white peonies everyone has.  So, why am I beside myself with joy???

Because they are MY peonies.  And peonies are my FAVORITE flower in the universe.  These white ones are not my favorite color, but they are infinitely special to me because they came with our first house.  I took a little start with me to Agrestic and though I am pretty sure they never made more than 2 tiny flowers there, when it was time to move to the cottage I again uprooted their dear hearts and there you have it.  They have been a source of joy for 10 years.  Those ugly, boring, common flowers.

They do smell amazing.

Right exactly next to my pillow.  Ahhhh!

Also one of my roses bloomed today.  Was God giving me a hug today or what?  She is a bit singed, though aren't we all.

She smells delightful.  The remarkable thing is, I only buy roses on mega clearance...like they look dead.  I guess I like the challenge?  So she is special because she lived last summer and came back again this year.  I don't remember her name but she is an English Tea Rose (because those are the smelly ones).

There was a renegade type of ground cover taking over here, so I spent a day ripping it all out and was left with a little naked spot.  After a quick trip to the Lowe's Nearly Dead Clearance Isle, I planted some plain impatients.  They will fill in until the good ground cover, um, covers that area.

The hanging baskets were another Lowe's Dead Isle Purchase.  I added some freesia which I am hoping will get even more vine-ish and will cover and hang more wild-like.  Give it some time.

So, I took the baker's rack down (not enough sun for those annuals) and took the advice of the Bon Savant bonsavant.blogspot.com and put a climbing hydrangea there.  It loves shade.  It loves brick or stone.  It flowers all summer.  It will get as big as I let it.  Perfect!

Just a picture of one of my lush little corners.  There are some wee little starts of lily-of-the-valley my dear, crazy neighbor gave me.  They are my Crazy Mary Lily O'valley (again, common but special to me).

My tiny little rhubarb.  I have always wanted to grow rhubarb and I just planted these tiny little tubers about a month ago.  Very exciting.

One of my perennial beds.  I know its not much to look at yet.  But this is the creep year.  You know "first they sleep, then they creep, and finally the leap".  Well most of this stuff was planted last year as tiny little tubers or seeds.  So, in another year this should be glorious!  You can't see them yet, but there is a row of crimson cannas growing behind this garden.

And, I can't ever remember what this is called, but it is one of those old fashioned plants my grandparents have and people who live in proper cottages must have.  Hollihocks?  This is one that started as nothing last year and this year it is COVERED in buds.  I planted 2 new ones in this bed this year, so hopefully they will look this good next year! 

That is pretty much all I have time to share for now.  We are still immersed in about 50 projects and, well, you know...raising 3 children!