“We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time.”-T. S. Eliot
“Exploring is an innate part of being human. We’re all explorers when we’re born. Unfortunately, it seems to get drummed out of many of us as we get older, but it’s there, I think, in all of us. And for me that moment of discovery is just so thrilling, on any level, that I think anybody that’s experienced it is pretty quickly addicted to it.”-Edith Widder
“That is the exploration that awaits you! Not mapping stars and studying nebula, but charting the unknown possibilities of existence.”-Leonard Nimoy
“Kids should be allowed to break stuff more often. That’s a consequence of exploration. Exploration is what you do when you don’t know what you’re doing. That’s what scientists do every day.”-Neil deGrasse Tyson
“Just living is not enough… one must have sunshine, freedom, and a little flower.”- Hans Christian Andersen
“To me a lush carpet of pine needles or spongy grass is more welcome than the most luxurious Persian rug.”- Helen Keller
“If people sat outside and looked at the stars each night, I’ll bet they’d live a lot differently.”-Bill Watterson
“Trees love to toss and sway; they make such happy noises.”-Emily Carr
“It is not so much for its beauty that the forest makes a claim upon men’s hearts, as for that subtle something, that quality of air that emanation from old trees, that so wonderfully changes and renews a weary spirit.”- Robert Louis Stevenson
“In nature, nothing is perfect and everything is perfect. Trees can be contorted, bent in weird ways, and they’re still beautiful.”-Alice Walker
“There is no excuse for using someone’s mental health as a stick with which to beat them.”- Luciana Berger
“I knew well enough that one could fracture one’s legs and arms and recover afterward, but I did not know that you could fracture the brain in your head and recover from that too.” ― Vincent van Gogh
“It’s like any other part of your body – your mental health gets sick, and it needs treatment.”- Olly Alexander
“Around a third of parents still worry that they will look like a bad mother or father if their child has a mental health problem. Parenting is hard enough without letting prejudices stop us from asking for the help we need for ourselves and our children.”-Kate Middleton
“Anything that’s human is mentionable, and anything that is mentionable can be more manageable. When we can talk about our feelings, they become less overwhelming, less upsetting, and less scary.” — Fred Rogers
“Painting is poetry that is seen rather than felt, and poetry is painting that is felt rather than seen.”― Leonardo da Vinci
“Art hurts. Art urges voyages – and it is easier to stay at home.”- Gwendolyn Brooks
“The most beautiful experience we can have is the mysterious. It is the fundamental emotion that stands at the cradle of true art and true science.” ― Albert Einstein, The World As I See It
“Art is the most beautiful of all lies.”-Claude Debussy
“Art is not what you see, but what you make others see.”-Edgar Degas
“I found I could say things with color and shapes that I couldn’t say any other way– things I had no words for.” -Georgia O’Keefe
A lot of my sewing groups have been running extra challenges with fun prizes and percentages off patterns, so you know I’ve been abandoning my previous projects like a snake shedding skin. 🙂 For this particular challenge though, I was able to fill a couple of wardrobe holes.
The idea of a Capsule Wardrobe has it’s roots in minimalist culture as a way to get the most out of a few pieces. They are all supposed to mix and match, so you have lots of options. Generally this means picking a focus fabric and carefully thinking about prints.
I called it my “Picture Perfect” Capsule, because I needed a few new work things, especially something for my new headshot. I had planned to sew up mostly solids and did succeed in getting some more made. I had to abandon part of it though, as I ran out of tracing paper.
This particular challenge was sponsored by Made for Mermaids and Patterns for Pirates. They are PDF pattern companies run by two sisters. The vibes are similar. Made for Mermaids tends to be softer and more flowy. Pirates seems to have more sleek things. I have a bunch of patterns from both, so was excited to use new ones. The deal was that you had to use only patterns from both companies and you could mash them together if you wanted to. You had to have 9 items total and could use up to four previously made items.
Mine ended up being almost all Patterns for Pirates by accident. More of them fit into my capsule idea and I ran out of time and tracing paper to include the Eloise and the Lauren from Made for Mermaids. Here’s what my original concept was:
It took me a while to combine the fabrics, as I didn’t start with a main fabric. Once I realized that having a main fabric would help pull everything together, I settled on this one: a floral Liverpool with a navy background.
After that I pulled a couple of coordinating colored fabrics. The purple rayon spandex below really wanted to be an Eloise and I have it cut out, just not finished yet. The glittery blue is actually on a black background and is ITY, which is a cool, slippery feeling fabric. The flamingo is a rayon challis, I believe. The green next to it is another rayon spandex, but it’s thicker and more slinky feeling than the purple. It could possibly be bamboo rayon, but I’ve never felt that, so I don’t know for sure.
The main dress is a Patterns for Pirates Sweetheart Dress. It has a full circle skirt and is very dramatic and excellent for twirling. I may have twirled every time I got compliments on it. 😉
The only thing I didn’t like is that the neckline feels like it’s strangling me. I’m going to scoop it out lower for comfort.
My original pre-made items (we were allowed 4) for my capsule were a pair of grey leggings, a navy floral Brunch Blouse from P4P and a grey cardigan. I switched it up at the end as the cardi didn’t really go and I was running behind on time. I decided that after all the work clothes, I would probably need an after work outfit and used my vaccination outfit as my final two pieces.
This is the Made for Mermaid Penelope dress. I have been waiting a long time to make it, as it seemed very complicated. It has princess seams which run straight down from the shoulders, making it drape nicely and flare at the bottom. It has cap, short, 3/4, and long sleeve options. It also has mini, knee, and maxi length skirt options. My sleeves were slightly longer than the short sleeve.
This is fine in the front for work, but is a bit shorter than it probably should be, due to my curves at the back. I’ll most likely be wearing this with leggings or shorts when I do wear it to work. I really like how it looks on me and will definitely make more.
This beauty is the Patterns for Pirates Gala Gown in the knee length option. It’s made out of ITY, which stands for Interlock Twisted Yarn. It’s silky, slippery, and cool to the touch. It also rolls like crazy and was super annoying to sew! I wore this dress for my professional headshot and it made me feel special and confident. It’s got a fantastic twirl factor too. The pattern is complicated, with many pieces, but not difficult to put together. I did forget to add in the pockets though.
I love it and had a grand time swishing around in it. It also looks flattering on pretty much everyone that I have seen make it. I’m interested to try it with some other fabrics.
This is a Brunch Blouse from Patterns for Pirates. I think it’s rayon challis. It’s nice and drapey to wear. I switched this out for the Eloise.
I made pants to go with it! They are super comfy! I have been irrationally afraid to make the Patterns for Pirates SOS pants for a while, but they weren’t that hard to make. I do need to grade out at the hips. This pair has some pulling in the seams. But I do have plans to make more with my fancy pants fabrics. Excuse the wrinkles, I forgot pictures before wearing them.
Overall, it was fun to push myself to try new and somewhat intimidating patterns. I will make all of them again and it’s boosted my confidence in trying more of my patterns. I should be on a pattern buying ban, but we all know that’ll never happen. 😂
I think I’ll go find some more capsule options and work on filling my wardrobe holes next! Wish me luck!
“There are those who say fate is something beyond our command. That destiny is not our own. But I know better. Our fate lives within us. You only have to be brave enough to see it.” — Merida, Brave
“Your only limit is your soul.” — Gusteau, Ratatoullie
“Adventure is out there!” — Ellie, Up
“I am your wife! I’m the greatest good you’re ever gonna get.” – Frozone’s Wife, The Incredibles
“I never look back, darling. It distracts me from the now.” — Edna Mode, The Incredibles
“We only have a short time on this planet. You want to become the person that you were born to be. Don’t waste your time on all the junk of life. Spend your precious hours doing what will bring out the real you. The brilliant passionate you, that’s ready to contribute to something meaningful into this world.” ~ Joe, Soul
Hello and welcome to the blog post where I have garden fever and muse about how best to run off the squirrels! if you have any tips, please let me know!
We had a really nice weekend last weekend and ended up getting my third garden bed started! We need about 10 more bricks to make it two layers and are going to be getting garden dirt in two weeks. A friend who gardens as well has a truck and we’re going to be splitting a yard of garden dirt with her. I think the beds will like a nice soil refresh. I also put as many worms as I could find into them while we moved things around. We also got fancy and added pea gravel around the beds to keep the weeds down hopefully. We’re going to get another batch of it and make it a thicker layer around the front and on the sides of the garden.
Here’s the third bed. It’s positioned under the apple tree somewhat, so will be my shade loving plant bed. I’m planning on moving the rhubarb there too.
Sorry for the weird angle. I was attempting not to get the neighbor in the picture. He’s a little grumpy, so we try not to irritate him. This bed is one brick smaller than the other beds for ease of reaching across. I think it will work out really well. I think the middle bed will be tomatoes, as they seemed to do the best there. The last bed will be berries.
So far, I think my blueberry bush is coming back. I’ll have to get some more and am going to try to look for the bush varieties that might do better in the raised bed. My strawberries have come back as well, but I will be moving them into the planters, I think. My raspberries are growing new canes. I need to trim them down before planting them in the bed. I’m planning on trying to stay on top of them so I don’t end up with all raspberries. We may also get some black berries. The rhubarb came back on it’s own, even after I left the pot out all winter and it got snowed on. It seems to be very enthusiastic this year. As I have lots of rhubarb recipes, I’m very excited to see that.
We’re going to try making a pallet into a vertical herb garden this year. A certain Piggy likes to graze on my herbs as well as my tomatoes, so this might help with that. Basically, you take landscape fabric and staple it around the pallet, fill the cracks with dirt, and then go planting happy! It will hopefully work really well, but we’ll see. We got the pallet for free as it had the cinderblocks on it, so even if it doesn’t work out, it won’t have cost much.
I’ve started seeds for the garden and they seem to be working out. I used a bigger seed starting box this year and went all out with my seeds. I found a purple tomatillo variety, which will be fun! Also, several kinds of tomatoes, of course. I believe I have beefsteak, a bunch of container cherry tomatoes, pineapple tomatoes, and some other kinds I cannot remember. Also peppers, both hot and bell. We’re planning on planting the sprouting garlic cloves, but I will probably put them in pots. The onion we planted last year after it sprouted inside survived, but I have no idea how to tell when we should pick it. We have several other onions currently sprouting and my seeds are finally working.
I have also kept several houseplants alive both at home and in my office! I know that seems like a weird thing to brag about, but our house is really dark and seems to have a bad effect on houseplants. The one side of the hallway where we all have offices is slowly infecting everyone else with plant fever. It’s nice to have a window and to be able to keep the not pet friendly plants there. Three plants are currently calling my office home. The original aloe plant is thriving. It’s growing slowly, but it has developed two new shoots since I moved it there.
I also have a huge spider plant named Marvin, with a baby that has been christened Darvin. I’m going to pot Darvin soon, I just keep forgetting the soil. He lives on my bookshelf because he was too big to keep on that little shelf. I’ve hidden some of my lego creations in the leaves.
I have a Croton plant as well. I’m keeping that with no name as Croton sounds like an awesome super hero name. That one is being tricky. I think it needs to be misted regularly. I have repotted it into a pretty white pot, since the picture was taken.
My plants at home are a Christmas Cactus cutting, which seems to be having issues, a nerve plant which is super dramatic, and another peperomia- I killed the first one by overwatering. I also have a ZZ plant which apparently thrives on neglect. It needs watering once every three to four weeks. It also really likes low light, which is perfect for the house.
The coolest plant I have is probably the prayer plant. The Husband christened it Planty the Potted Plant after a character in Phineas and Ferb, a cartoon about these two kids and their secret spy platypus. It’s actually a wholesome and hilarious tv show and we all adore it. It’s put out another leaf since I brought it home and has two more starting. The neat thing about it though is that it closes at night time (Hence the name.) It’s super fun!
Here it is during the day.
The Husband has been notified that he should expect to see more plants when he gets back from his business trips now that he can travel again. I mean, I might be lonely and plants don’t judge (or beg for) the Nutella snack at midnight. 😉
“A hero is someone who understands the responsibility that comes with his freedom.”-Bob Dylan
“The only difference between a hero and the villain is that the villain chooses to use that power in a way that is selfish and hurts other people.”-Chadwick Boseman
“Phryne was getting out of the car. Dot closed her eyes. Miss Fisher was about to happen to someone again.”-Kerry Greenwood, Dead Man’s Chest
“Scared is what you’re feeling. Brave is what you’re doing.”― Emma Donoghue, Room
“Bravery hides in amazing places.”― Kiera Cass, The One
“Research is formalized curiosity. It is poking and prying with a purpose.”-Zora Neale Hurston
“I don’t love studying. I hate studying. I like learning. Learning is beautiful.”-Natalie Portman
“Have you learned the lessons only of those who admired you, and were tender with you, and stood aside for you? Have you not learned great lessons from those who braced themselves against you, and disputed passage with you?”-Walt Whitman
“Learning is not attained by chance, it must be sought for with ardor and diligence.”-Abigail Adams
“The beautiful thing about learning is nobody can take it away from you.”-B. B. King
