Pincushion, take two. Progress, but still not quite right. I'll keep trying.

Two things I don't want to forget to tell you about:

1. I've been enjoying Kingdom on hulu. I'm trying to stretch out the
   six episodes to last as long as possible. I've already added the
   second season to my netflix queue. I love these British dramas set
   in small towns (Monarch of the Glen, Ballykissangel), where the
   scenery is as important as any of the characters. Just lovely.
2. Mary Jane's Farm magazine is now bi-monthly. The last three issues
   are dog-eared and well-read on my nightstand. Every issue has lots
   of helpful information, recipes and patterns. If you're a wannabe
   farm girl, don't miss it!

Well, I played chicken with Mother Nature, and she won, of course. The last frost date in our little town is Memorial Day weekend. I had no patience, and went ahead and planted lots of things a couple weeks early, as you know. Memorial Day weekend approached, and the weather stayed lovely and warm. And then Sunday night, Memorial Day eve, it was as frosty as can be. I thought maybe most of my tomatoes and peppers would make it, but then, for the second night in a row we had frost. That was the end of them. Next year I'm going to try planting at the same time, but covering the tomatoes until the end of May. Last Saturday I went to a beekeeping class at City Farmer Nursery, and afterward picked out some new tomatoes and peppers. They're larger than the original plants, so I'm not really behind.

Lots of seeds are also coming up, and I have to say, there's something so fulfilling about growing from seeds. Beans and cucumbers are all sprouting, and three out of four squares of peas are coming up too. Basil and cilantro are very slowly growing, but only one radish out of sixteen sprouted, so I'm trying again and I replanted more seeds yesterday. The potatoes are doing well, and I added another layer of soil to their cans. They've already sprouted through, and I'm going to have to add more again soon.

I also built a trellis, I just followed instructions in the Square Foot Gardening book, it was pretty easy. I used electrical conduit pipes and some tomato netting. We'll see how sturdy it is, one of the bean plants is just about ready to start climbing.

All my beans sprouted, so I had to pull a couple out:

The lavender is starting to bloom, and I found some feverfew that had reseeded itself from a plant I planted several years ago. I think they are so sweet. Roses are blooming too.

 

I visited with the little chickens in their rusty pen for a bit today too:

They have that nice little house to sleep in, and what do they do? The curl up on top of each other in the farthest corner in the pen, out in the open. Silly little pea-brains.

Coming soon: cooking news and beekeeping news!

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Every now and then I like to have a pajama day, a nice lazy day during which I never bother getting dressed. A nap is also a requirement. Sometimes, however, I want to have a slightly more productive yet still relaxed sort of day. These days are best observed when the weather is warm and the sky is blue, and everyone else is at work, and you can just do whatever you want. Attire must be comfortable, just a notch above pajamas-because you might just go out in public (but only if you feel like it), and must include flip-flops. That’s the kind of day I had on Friday. I’ve been needing a couple days off, so I told Mr. HeyLucy I wasn’t going to work Friday or Monday, but he shouldn’t expect much out of me, I was only going to do whatever I felt like doing at the moment.

Here’s how my flip-flop day commenced. I slept in until eight, which is not too late, but enough to feel like I got a little bonus sleep. I took care of the basic morning chores in a leisurely manner (unlike my usual rush to get everybody fed and watered on my way out the door), and finished assembling and painting another box for my beehive. I glued and nailed the ten frames that fit inside. I have a little more to do with the frames, but I’ll tell you about that later.

Because a new hobby requires as many cute new accessories as possible, I whipped up a little headscarf from Weekend Sewing. The first time I wore my hat and veil to work the bees, my hair got twisted up and fell in my face, and you can’t exactly reach in and move it once you’ve got 10,000 buzzing bees in front of you. It worked perfectly when I wore it for yesterday’s hive inspection. Although it’s quite adorable, and I’ve worn it for most of the weekend while working in the yard, it’s not particularly flattering with my short hair poking out the back, so I’m afraid I will not be able to model it for you.

This pattern was just as easy as can be, and took all of 30 minutes. I highly recommend it!

Before leaving to go for a nice swim, I enjoyed a quick breakfast of Greek yogurt and strawberries. One of the best things about living in Southern California is our ridiculously long strawberry season, and I had the most perfect strawberries.

I headed to the pool, swam for a half hour or so, and then I got to just lay in the sun for another half hour. It was perfectly warm, with a tiny breeze and the bluest sky. It was such a treat since I usually swim on my lunch hour, which means 30 minutes in the pool and then rush to shower and dry my hair and get back to my desk.

I went out to lunch with a good book and had some spicy Thai food. I ordered some extra to take home for our dinner, and then headed over to Lowe’s to pick up everything I needed to build a raised bed for a vegetable garden this Summer.

Back home for the evening, I watched a little Buffy the Vampire Slayer, while knitting, of course. And then, worn out from my perfectly relaxing day, I went to bed and slept like a baby. I feel like such a braggert telling you all about my day, but it was just the nicest ever. I hope everyone takes a flip-flop day soon!

Speaking of knitting, I could use an opinion. I’m nearly done with my pumpkin sweater (Alpaca! Just in time for Summer!) and I have this lovely coral heather laceweight, enough for either the Whisper Cardigan or Featherweight Cardigan (Ravelry link). I just can’t decide. I love the back of Whisper, but being somewhat busty, i don’t know if the front is very flattering. I like the Featherweight Cardi, but it’s still a new enough pattern that there aren’t many finished versions on Ravelry yet. I love Ravelry just because you can see what the finished products look like on a variety of figures. Which do you prefer? Explain please. Oh, and the yarn? Knit Picks Merino Laceweight, $2.99 a hank, either sweater requires two to three hanks, and even including shipping that’s less than $12 total. Bargain sweater!

And one last thing, because this is rather long, but I did one other project recently that I’m quite pleased about. I made a little pin board for above my work table, and it’s so handy and it was very easy. I had a 12″ cork tile laying around, so I cut four one inch strips. I cut one of the strips in half, and then butted two strips together and glued a third, centered between the two. on top. That left the two halves, which I glued on either side of the centered strip, so I ended up with a double layer, 24″ strip of cork. I cut fabric into a 3 1/2 by 28 inch rectangle, and sewed it around the cork I just hung it up with strong double-sided foam tape, and that was that.

So handy! Now of course I’m going to have to make some cute push pins to coordinate. Maybe tomorrow.

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As promised, it's time for the next birthday present here at Hey Lucy! Remember my blue scarf? Made with my new favorite fabric? Here's a little refresher:

 

It turns out that I have enough fabric left for another scarf, so that is today's giveaway gift. Apparently the top five albums thing was really hard, so this one will be a little easier. Since we just about all love fabric around here, tell me what fabric you are loving at the moment, with a link to it, if you can find one. Even if you're not a sew-er, you can probably find an article of clothing that you love because of the fabric. So share! I'm always up for finding pretty new prints and patterns.

Oh, and today is the actual birthday day, and I think I might have overdone it with the celebratory eating. We had some delicious Thai food tonight, but even my spicy-loving self had a little trouble with the spice levels. I think I can finally feel my gums again. When they give you a range of 1-5, don't you think spicy level 3 should be medium and not burn-a-layer-of-skin-off-the-roof-of-your-mouth?

Also, because I am the birthday girl, I get to make up giveaway rules as we go along. Here's what I've got so far: 1. You can win more than one gift, so enter every day. 2. You can win if you are family or a real-life friend, but I truly am going to draw random winners, so your chances are not increased just because I know you. 3. I think those are the only rules so far, but I reserve the right to change them at any time. 

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I think I have the blahs tonight, so this might be a really boring blog post, but apparently I'm not letting that stop me from jabbering away anyhow. I took some pictures of things I've been making, but they are all so boring and uninspiring. Here are the pickles I made, I'm not sure how we'll be able to wait another seven weeks (at the very least) for them to cure.

I have a stack of fabric for some fun Spring projects, and I'm too blah to work on any of it.

 

Left to right: a light, Spring-y top, grey linen for a skirt with rickrack around the bottom, and some birds for a quilt for a baby girl on the way. I have no idea what sort of quilt yet, once these blahs go away, I'm sure I'll think of something.

Maybe Winston can perk me up, what do you think?

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I've been going on and on about me, me, me, but I am also finding so much inspiration out there in the world at the moment. I just thought I'd acknowledge and share some of my favorite things lately. My favorite album at the moment (other than Good Night Human, of course), is Lisa Hannigen's Sea Sew. I'm loving this song so much: 

I also love the cover she hand-stitched herself: 

 

And for a little more handmade goodness, be sure to watch the video for Lille, the video director also made the pop-up books, which are so great!

I know this is everywhere in blogland, but if you haven't had a chance to look at Weekend Sewing, I would suggest you head to the bookstore this week and take a peek.

 

I'm pretty particular about the craft books I bring home, because 1) I only have so much shelf space, and there's not much left, and 2) I already know how to sew, so how-to books not really necessary. I love this one the inspiration and the fact that Heather Ross so creative and such a great writer on top of it all. Her blog is so much fun to read, just for the stories she tells. I am also really hankering for some of her new fabric after seeing this little project (scroll down to see the finished quilted kimono and dress). 

And one last bit of inspiration is this sweater. I'm not sure if it would be flattering on my busty self, but I sure do love it, and may have to make it regardless.

Okay, now I'm off to do some sewing myself. See how inspired I am!

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