A sweet winter surprise

I have a row of pots on my upstairs windowsill. The cold makes them sad and the plants are merely biding time until spring. No one seems to have the energy for much growing. I've got baby spider plants and baby basil stalks that I thought I would experimentally attempt to overwinter. And in that basil pot I also have a renegade morning glory. I decided to let her stay too although I have to gently untwine her tendrils from her neighboring basil on occasion.

My clemency has been rewarded in the form of a purple blossom brightening this grayest of seasons. A beautiful morning gift.

Spring in my kitchen

Inspired a bit by this blogger's challenge to grow something, anything, delighted with this idea, and encouraged by both husband and enthusiastic four-year-old, we planted some sweet pepper seeds. After watering and waiting and watering and waiting I was secretly beginning to get nervous.

And then one day, in one egg shell planter, it appeared. A tiny bent "u" of a pale seedling stem lifting itself from the dark of the soil.

Since then, new sprouts, new leaves, new growth appears every day. An official count is taken and discussions of where to place so many plants this summer takes place over meals. I am still finding it difficult to imagine these tiny baby plants as sturdy stalks producing large, hollow peppers for our happy snacking. Such a miracle!

Nearby, we watch progress as caterpillars ordered from Insect Lore (thanks, Grandma!) crawl around, hang around, quadruple in size, experiment with their silk strings, and at last begin the magic of encasing themselves in their brown chrysalises, each accented by the glint of metallic gold. As soon as they've completed this stage, we'll pin them up inside our butterfly house and wait for our winged friends to emerge.

And if all that isn't enough, we're growing an onion that sprouted in the pantry. Just to see what happens (that's the crazy wild green thing on the right hand side of the above photo).

Perhaps these projects aren't exactly art – but the beauty of our natural world never fails to amaze and inspire me.

Happy spring!

What I'm reading…

Hello there, dear readers. Sorry about the lapse last week. I have been in the mood for scrapbooking (scissors and paper and tape) and photobooking (Snapfish) and neither of those activities make good posts. And I am getting ready for – or awkwardly in the middle of – some other projects. So this week I will just give you a peek into what's been going on. More details to come in the future!

All off the new shelf at the library (of course!):

We Love Color: 16 Iconic Quilt Designers Create with Kona Solids 
And you all know I very much love color! Although I am not about to start a new quilt (yet) I was very impressed with these made just from solid colors. They were striking and some of the quilting was very impressive.

Terrarium Craft: Create 50 Magical, Miniature Worlds 
Totally was not seeking out this book. But there it was! Truly magical and definitely on my future to-do list. Awesome use of fascinating objects in these these masterpieces – shells, rocks, sands, even pretties like beads and vintage jewelry.

This Is Not My Hat 
This isn't a crafty book but it is inspiring all the same. I really love this illustrator (Jon Klassen). This latest title shares the same hint of dark humor as his previous book I Want My Hat Back. For a craft-related read I would recommend the magical knitting story, Extra Yarn, that he also illustrated.

succulents of summertime

Ok, I gushed about these last September. And I am still excited about them now. I have seen pots of them at farmer's markets and at local greenhouses. I finally splurged on my own container. Since it is healthy and growing, I think I am going to start one of these frames soon. Ooh la la! Gardening and crafting combined!

purple, pink, and lovely lime

Now that I have completely redone my front and back gardens and filled any available space in the side yard with plants and flowers, I have moved on to an attempt at some container gardening. Something has to scratch my greenhouse itch!

We visited a HomeGoods store when were in Ohio where I picked up the pot for a mere $15. The plants I chose followed the color scheme already established up fronts: reddish purples, pinks, and lime green. I am especially excited to see this hot pink grass get taller!

Note: The white tag is for the plant I know as "sweet potato vine."