Progress is being made!

And I am developing some muscle!  It is all slow going as my asthma is acting up due to some medication I am taking for the hip injury.....sort of a catch 22 situation! 

 We laid out the paths with some of the extra gravel, and put in the fence posts for the espaliered trees.  The rain barrels and self watering planters will keep people from ever trying to park or walk in the garden!

This picture is four days after a torrential rain.  Picture this with water so deep it covered the path paving stones in several places!!  Dirt delivery was delayed while I dug a channel through the parking pad to drain it.

We spent the long weekend cobbling together more self watering planters.  We will have line of four of them along the chain link fence with pole beans to hide it.

We planted a green and a purple grape at the join in the two panels but the grape vines will take a few years to grow up and make the fence attractive.  I am going to do a triple cordon with the main stems twisted around each other and green and purple cordons alternating on both sides. (Being an artist sure makes gardening complicated!)

The dirt was delivered with only four inch deep ruts left in the edge of the parking area and the foot of the garden.  It was a BIIIG truck!  Ten yards of dirt looks like this.  Had to dump it in the middle as there was a phone wire in the way.

 The local Robin thinks it should be a wealth of worms.  I hope it will be too, but for now it is pretty wormless.  It has dirt, sand, peat moss and manure.  Num.  I just want to run my fingers through it!  DH says yuk!

 The trees were planted before the dirt arrived.  We dug half holes, put in the trees and then built up to the graft line with potting soil.  We filled in around after the soil arrived.  First is a Nor-Kent Apple, second is a Manor Plum, then a Crimson Passion Cherry and finally three Honey Berry bushes which are not self fertile.  We had to replant the last one as it washed out in the deluge.  Thirty feet of espaliered orchard  only two feet wide and paths both sides for harvesting.....I am an optimist......

Bless our little birds.  We fashioned a temporary birdbath which they refused to even notice until we put a little forest around it.  I wonder what they will do when we plant the forest in the garden.

1. This is an extra picture that I do not know how it got here, and cannot figure out how to delete.

We worked hard all weekend.  I was supposed to go to a fabric dying day on the Monday with my stitching group, but my DH gave me a sad-eyed puppy dog look and said that if I would stay home with him he would be my slave-for-a-day in the garden.  He won't admit it but he enjoys gardening as much as I do, but he is not too enamoured with the initial set up of a brand new space, it is a powerful lot of work!

We are a pair of cane-toting old folk, and do a lot of sitting enjoying each other's and the bird's company between spurts of strenuous work!!

DH has been bringing home perennials that we had farmed out last fall when we were told we had to move.  Quite a few did not make the winter, but we have a lot of lilies, iris, a painted daisy, a false sunflower, and something that we have no idea what it is.  We may have transplanted a magnificent weed!

I will be picking up a beautiful rhubarb from our old garden tomorrow.  It was given to me by a good friend and has sentimental value.  I think I will pick up some of the horse radish as well. (I left some roots and had great fun imagining the horse radish erupting up through the floor behind the new teller cages!  I'm baaad!)  (Construction has been delayed on the new Credit Union, they are haggling with the Town over parking....or so the rumour goes....). 

The beds are filling.  I want them to be a good foot higher in the centre but will wait to see how much dirt is left.  The harvesting path looks a bit like a drunk laid it!  Blame that on my meds!  Kind of quirky though.

The trees are all nicely nestled in, and there is some green coming after only six days...WOW!  That's Boughen Nurseries in Valley River, MB.  Last year was their 100'th Anniversary.  Everything is guaranteed to leaf out and their service is great. (The owner's wife and I used to show horses together many many moons ago.)

I gotta go as I have been sorely neglecting my office work......not as much fun as gardening!

Long time, no see!

Whooeeee, time flies when you are not having fun too!

Spring is the busy time for General Meetings of the two art groups I belong to.  As I am on the board of both, I am very involved.  One group is setting up their annual show and I am the Applications Co-ordinator and have been spending hours and hours with that.

I injured my hip again with the move in December, and am still, five months later, in severe pain and it has slowed me down to a crawl, not that I am very fast to begin with.  It is hard to be inspired and work on art when you are exhausted from dealing with constant pain.  DH has been a life saver with the help he gives me around the house, but he can't create art for me. 

We are both avid gardeners, and we are looking forward to turning this yard which is presently all parking lot and weeds:

into a respectable flower garden with fruit trees.

We have doubled the width of the sidewalk on the right, put in posts for espaliered trees (apple, plum, cherry and two honey berries) tilled it all and discovered that the back twelve feet of yard that we are not leaving for parking is 8 inches deep in gravel!!

We had the gravel dug out, saved some in our garden planters to use as paths, and we had enough left over to fill all  the pot holes in the back lane!  A good three and a half yards of the stuff.

We then had the top scraped off the dirt at the front and pushed it into the hole left by the gravel removal.  I am now plotting out the paths and building them up with gravel upon which we will put the broken pieces of patio tiles in an interesting pattern.  Then we will have twelve yards of good topsoil mixed with manure spread over everything, then dig down to find the paths, thus making raised beds.

Sounds easy, doesn't it?  NOT!  I am good for filling and placing three half filled pails of gravel then I sit for a while and watch the birds!  The paths are inching their way along slowly.  My Dr. has told me I can take a lot more Tylenol 3 than I normally do, and with that easing the pain when I work, I really think that the exercise and weight lifting is actually helping to heal my hips.  That and my weekly massages.

(You don't have five deep therapeutic massages in twelve days!  Ask me how I know!  That is a whole 'nother story!!  I thought I would get a jump start on it since our Income Tax refund arrived and I can now afford it.  Another NOT!  I am down to once a week and trying to be patient.)

In the studio I am working on a "hat".  I have volunteered to do several hats for an exhibit of a hat collection.  Various artists are taking the life time collection of hats to turn them into something wondrous.  My 'Buttoned Down Winter Wedding' is almost done, base is ready to have the Outrageous added!

I am also decorating some shoes.  The smallest and most impossibly high heeled shoes I can find at the self-help will be turned into more Outrageousness!  I am hoping to sell these at a gallery as table ornaments.  I also have some commitments for art quilts, and need a lot of new pieces for the show at the end of October.  I think I will have to chain myself to my sewing machine!

I will also try to blog a lot more often.

Happy Spring!



Just for laughs

This is part of what I had to start with there are 80 boxes in these two rows alone!


DH and I emptied pretty much the last 26 today.

The next project will be his Egg Carving studio. After that we will hang the pictures in the living room.....priorities you know!!

Now see the previous post for the whole story.....

Back in the land of Creativity, and a mystery

It has been a long four months in which we found a new home, moved a business, a household, and two art studios!  On New Years Eve mind you!!  I can now catch up on my Blog, and start creating again. 

I had set myself a deadline of Feb. 29 to get my studio unpacked and have only missed it by four days.  Not withstanding the bit of sorting and tidying that is left.   But DH has just informed me that there are boxes out in the garage that would not fit into the studio when we moved in...sigh...I know I am missing some stuff yet, but will wait till the weather is warmer to root around out there.  All my plastic bins are out there and have to be arranged yet, but it is too cold.

We have more or less the same set up as the last place, business and studio in one big room, but it is smaller.

The ties are in a double wide clothes closet, then the hallway past our office has bookcases with buttons, upholstery, yarn and my rat tail cord.

Across the hallway is a fabric cabinet and plastic bins with mostly Mom's stash; a very eclectic collection!  This forms a wall for the office.

Looking to the right to the back wall of the studio is my Paverpol cupboard, a fabric cabinet, a bookshelf with fabric, and another bookshelf with fabric, stands for polymer clay people, spray paint and indoor gardening supplies.

My cutting table is under that bit of clutter and under the table are six rolling bins of novelty fabrics.  The grey stack is novelty fabric and beads.

Standing in front of the cutting table and looking toward the windows and the houseplants.  (the basement suite does not have much light for plants so they are in my studio again.

But the configuration is the same, my back to the window when sewing, and looking out the window through the plants when beading or ironing.  These windows are sure a lot smaller than the three patio doors I am used to!  Big whine :( !!

Under the plants are six wooden cubes which house my gemstone beads and polymer clay supplies.  The tall white rolling cabinet houses gemstones and beads and the fabrics I am currently working with and a drawer full of fabric with fusible on it ready to be made into something wonderfull.....big grin.

Standing in the same place and looking left is my book case, a rolling cabinet with printing and painting and dyeing supplies, my Mother's thread cabinets, my long storage cabinet with my beads, shells and tools on top and on shelves above it. There are four drawers at the top housing knitting needles, crochet hooks, fusibles and stabilisers, underneath is batting, embroidery floss, frames, canvasses and a whole lot of general stuff  This arrangement of shelves and bookcase actually forms the back wall to the office.

Looking right is the back wall of the studio.  I will be putting two cupboards on this wall on either side of my thread rack.  The shoe box is full of thread as are the three flat boxes on the thread cabinet.This is one of my last little sorting jobs.  In the corner by the garage door is my felting machine.

The whole thing is rather like a rabbit warren and there is not an inch to spare.  When we set up the office I lost 2.5 feet of the length of the studio, and if I gain one more pound I will probably get stuck in one of the alleyways!!

One more move like this and I will have my stash memorised!

And now for the Mystery:

What the heck is this?  It turned up in the unpacking.  It may have come out of an old jar of buttons.  The name on the front is Cresor, or Tresor, sorry there is no picture.  Is this a sewing notion of some sort, is there something missing? Should there have been something else hanging off those two clips?  Whatever it is, it is very old

 Enquiring minds want to know!

I am hoping one of you savvy ladies might have some idea here.

Yikes!!

All that is left is the...

Poor Lonely Sewing Machine  Mind you we can see the beautiful floor now.

 

All clearly labelled not to move (six guys having fun...hard to get them to focus).

 

Easy to feed them though...21 donuts some Double Doubles, Hot Chocolate and Coffee, three and a half Extra Large Pizzas and lots of Pepsi.

All that is left is the dining room table, two chairs, a stool and my sewing chair (I have a project to finish), the office and....

 and one bewildered Sundae.  Buddy is still hiding in the bedroom.

I will sweep up all the dust gorillas tomorrow, I am too tired now.

It is delightful to listen to the cats play with their little balls in the completely empty living room and in the almost empty studio.

You know, cats are like children playing with the empty toy boxes.....lots of expensive kitty toys have been unearthed but she is now playing with an empty coffee creamer......rattle, rattle, clackety, clackety......sure echoes in here now.

See I told you so......

There really is a sewing machine back there.....and yes that really is a rain barrel

 

inside the door thawing out!  It is now ready to dump but we need a big strong person to move it. We will get the same guy that brought it in.

I had that table empty again, but it is starting to collect stuff again, I didn't fold it down quick enough.  

Large troupe of people coming tomorrow to move boxes and some furniture, wish us luck, they are all volunteers.

Dianne

I'm in the bag....almost!

It has been a struggle to save my working materials from the over zealous movers, but I am on the home stretch here, the two sides of the bag are done, now I just have to construct it. 

I am planning a zipper closure and an elaborate interior with a zipper section and a few pockets, all trimmed in either gold or silver thread......if I can get my thread and my machine to agree with each other.  I will be using ties for a shoulder strap, just knotting them so there is some adjustment room.

I will be fusing some heavy duty Pellon to the back of these panels to give them stability.  A dragon's hoard weighs a lot.  It is a good thing that my patron wants a museum piece art bag, she is little and will quickly tire carrying this bag, especially if she puts anything in it!!! lol

The dragon is a real sweetie.....she is snuggled down in her hoard and dreaming of laying an egg.  I just stuffed and needle sculpted her this evening.  All she needs is two little red Swarovsky crystals in her nostrils and some tooth whitener.   Any ideas???  Acrylic paint maybe??

There are clear silver-lined seed beads on the ceiling of the cave on the right side, although they do not show in the picture.  I did this to highlight the light comeing in from the cave opening.  I am hoping they will catch the light when the bag is moved.

 

To balance off the skeleton there are three tiny silver crosses in the mix.  Dragons will collect anything shiny, and defend their hoard very fiercely.  Young dragons have difficulty telling rhinestones from real diamonds, but they get better at it as they mature.

It has been a nice break from packing to work on this bag.  It sort of growing on me.....but then so do warts.

Hugs to all,

Dianne