A couple of small projects...

While I have been crocheting and knitting some simple things in the background, there's nothing in that regard that seems worthy of a post. Instead, I thought I'd share of couple of projects I've finished recently to show I haven't been doing nothing.

Since moving into this house in the fall of 2021, I have wanted to replace the laundry room curtains.  Now hold on.  Lest you are thinking, "Laundry room curtains are worthy of a post and photos?!?"  I assure you...  to me, they are.

Truly, the curtains left behind by the previous owners were so sad, replacing them was among my earliest thoughts. But there were more important things to do, or I was too lazy, so that didn't happen until...

Three and a half years later (i.e. a few weeks ago), I stumbled upon some linen (might be a blend) fabric at Hobby Lobby, and I thought it would be good for the job.  I wish I had taken a before picture so you could appreciate the improvement, but I am happier, and (in this room, especially) that is truly all that matters.  

I decided since the door curtain never needs to be pulled back, I would make that one a single panel.  So much easier and quicker than the two panels for the window.

This window gets opened on comfortable days, so two panels was a must.  They weren't difficult at all, just a bit more time consuming to make sure they matched in the middle.

While now I want to paint the walls (or at least the doors to match the walls), these little cafe curtains that have been on my to-do list for several years make me feel like I've accomplished something every time I go into this room.  The laundry room holds a pantry, and is the pathway to the garage and sunroom, so we are in and out of this room many times in a day.  Such a simple thing, but it lifts my mood when I see crisp, fresh curtains hanging there.

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And this next project, I can't get a decent picture of hanging where it is, but I finally got doilies in a shadow box frame:

The picture above has the frame hanging on a wall that is painted in a (I call it pepto bismol terra cotta) color that inspired me to make a collection of doilies in the colors I did.  To be honest, it looks better in the photo, than I think it does in real life - I think because of the lighting, and how the wall color comes through in a photo.  

Trying to get a better lit picture, I moved the frame to the other side of the room and leaned the frame against a lighter (beige-ish) wall:

While I've manipulated the brightness a bit in my photo editing app, just to get these pictures to show some detail, I think I like the whole thing on the lighter wall the best.  But I've driven nails in the terra cotta wall, and I have nothing else to hang there presently, so there it stays until I either come up with something else to hang there, or I patch the holes and touch up the wall up with the same paint - which I'm hoping we have in the garage.  Nevermind that whatever paint is in the garage is at least 3 1/2 years old. 🙄  Coming up with something else to hang on the pepto bismol terra cotta wall may be the easier solution.

So...  I'm open to hearing opinions.  Which wall color do you think works best with this combination of doily colors?  Let me know if you want to drop by and see what this wall color really looks like.  And the second question is...  am I ridiculously late to the "doilies in a frame" party?

Spring garden update...

Sitting in our home office this morning I noticed movement far out in the back yard.  

Swapping out my computer glasses for my regular glasses, I could see it was two rabbits chasing each other in and out of the garden.  I am reminded that a couple of days ago, I found half of my green bean seedlings were nibbled off.  I imagine now they are finishing off the rest. Yesterday I planted new seeds to replace the chewed off seedlings, and as soon as it's dry enough, I'll replant more, if needed.  And then spread some bone meal to try to deter the voracious bunnies.

Spring has been beautiful here - rainy and lush.  Some hot days in the mix, but mostly, it's been pleasant.  The only problem I'm encountering is because of so much rain, I can't finish getting my garden put in.  Greg reminds me it's still early, but somehow I feel behind.  Ah well, I don't control the weather, and even though it's 60 degrees outside today, and perfect for planting, the heavy rain last night has undoubtedly saturated the ground again.  A commitment tomorrow means Thursday afternoon/evening and Friday are my best opportunities to plant more seeds before it rains again.  Hopefully, the soil will dry out enough to plant, but still be soft enough to easily remove weeds that are proliferating out there. 

Meanwhile, I've given over the asparagus patch to fern for the rest of the spring and summer.  It was a pitiful harvest, but I'm going to try some suggestions I've found online and in comments some of you have left to see if this patch can produce some healthier looking spears next year. I do wonder if it's just growing old...

Strawberry picking started this week.  It seems early, but I'm excited that the patch is producing nicely after thinning it out last autumn.  

Some of the strawberries get taken out daily by critters, but I still pick enough that for the previous two springs, and again this spring, I've decided I preferred sharing over netting the plants - and unnetting, and re-netting every other day or so until the plants finish producing.

The sour cherries are starting to ripen, and itty bitty peaches are appearing, so it's time to get serious about clearing out the frozen fruit again.  In spite of giving away fresh strawberries, eating them to our hearts' content, and baking for others, there is still plenty to freeze.  Add sour cherries and peaches, and we can never seem to manage to use up all the frozen fruit I freeze before the next fruit season is upon us.  That said, I haven't bought frozen fruit for a few years now, so there is that!  Even though I am not a big fruit eater, thinking we'll possibly live long enough to have to move from here someday, I imagine I will miss the easy, and essentially free, fruit.

While I wait for the garden soil to dry out, I'm making plans for what else to plant.

I'm not going to buy and transplant so many tomato plants this year, or even peppers, but green beans, cucumbers, zucchini and yellow squash are on the docket, and I'm imaging growing some fun pumpkins and a few flowers again.  Maybe even watermelon.  Though, I'm not sure the garden is big enough for more than one or two vining plants (that need ground space).  And while last autumn I told myself I wanted to till up some more earth to enlarge the garden, I'm not so sure about that at this point.  For now, it's pleasant to imagine summer's harvest, knowing I'll accept whatever limitations (or even failures) present themselves.  Whatever grows that we can eat and share - it's all good.

To close, the irises have faded since the weekend, and I'm so glad I snapped some pictures: