WHAT A SAD DAY!

Guys, I dropped my tomato plant off my window ledge Sunday. It went crashing down a single story and it broke my heart. I had 5 tomatoes maturing on her! The two babies plopped right off and I had to pick the other three. I'm so sad ;( I'm not sure if she was done for the season, but hopefully her root system isn't in shock.

Look at the carnage!
Anyway, I have been hoarding bedsheets from my local Salvation Army and Saturday was the big day, I finally cut into them! I made this top using New Look 6895. I'm really happy with it, though I will use a more flowy fabric next time because the ruffles are a bit stiff. The back ruffles, with this print, totally made me look like a clown so I removed them.




Andrew's dad had a retirement party on Saturday, which meant we could bring the dogs and take advantage of their awesome backyard. This is just one of the hilarious photos documenting how wild Muscles becomes when off-leash! And Princess, well, Princess will poop ANYWHERE.

My studio is one GIANT step closer to completion!!

Let me just say Pottery Barn is the bane of my existence. I hate that I love so many things they sell there, just like I love/hate Restoration Hardware. However, there's this one table a ton of ladies who enjoy the sewing pine for, me included:

Oh! What's up, PERFECTION?
It's unfair for PB to style their rooms so brilliantly. Luckily Lowe's sells ClosetMaid 9 Cube organizers which look exactly like the PB table. Bonus: they were on sale & I had a coupon! Originally, I planned to use MDF cut to the size, but a neighbor just happened to discard a better solution. Our bed frame, but in the dark brown we always wanted! I dismantled our bed, saved the headboard and foot board, and voilà, instant tabletop. It couldn't have worked out better and I'm being resourceful.


Another really lucky find were the Fira chests I bought from a guy on Craigslist over a year ago. He sold 5 unopened sets to me for $40! Ikea sold them for $20 each and now they're discontinued. When they're lined up like that, they totally look like a mini apothecary! I plan to make these adorable tables with the other two:

TOO CUTE FOR WORDS.

Oh, technology...

Andrew and I were borrowing internet from one of our neighbors. At first I felt pretty guilty but we never hogged it enough to where it was a problem... or so I thought! "Cher" has since disappeared from our wireless options and we've been without internet since last week. Kind of sucks, kind of rules? I'm sooo easily sucked into the land of twitter & blogs and before I know it, it's 3 in the afternoon and I've done absolutely nothing with my day. So here's to productivity!

Now I can focus on finishing my website and working on all of my projects. I haven't actually started any of my summer sewing because none of my patterns have arrived yet. But Andrew needed a cycling cap so I took a shot at sewing one and it turned out pretty decent. The darts could use a little help and the bill could stand to be lengthened a bit, but all in all I'd say it's a success.

The fabric is a thrifted bed sheet!
My tomato plant is flourishing despite the unnamed creatures crawling in the dirt. I'm trying my hardest to look BEYOND them and accept that it's just part of nature. Look at all the little baby tomatoes!! I'm so proud, they're growing up so fast! The flowers literally bloomed out of no where and within a week teeny tiny little green balls were forming. Look at the amazing difference one week made:



I'm so happy :)
The bugs have gotten the best of my lettuce plants and it breaks my heart a little but whatever. My basil seems to be ok and my goodness, my "hostas" are huge now! Still living in exile outside though...

Sew-Along-Athon

My first dress was based on a sew-along I found about a month or so after it ended, so I made it my mission to find some current and upcoming ones to join. I came across two awesome blogs featuring equally awesome sew-alongs that I knew I had to be a part of. Self-Stitched-September is hosted by Zoe who just wrapped up a challenge called Me-Made-May which I missed. She asks you to take the pledge if you're planning to participate so here is my statement of intent:

I, Jaimielee, sign up as a participant of Self-Stitched-September. I endeavor to wear only handmade and refashioned items of clothing and accessories/jewelery every day for the duration of September 2010, with the exception of sportswear and cycling gear.

The Summer Essentials Sew-Along is hosted by Ali who is asking participants to sew "five(-ish) warm-weather friendly pieces by August(-ish)" - the ish is just right for me. So far I'm think I'll try my hand at a pair of shorts, maybe even a romper! God, would that even be appropriate?? There will definitely be a skirt, at least one dress, possibly a t-shirt depending on whether or not I'm willing to kill myself with stretch knits (yikes), a blouse and a tunic. I'm so excited! Last weekend I picked up 3 dresses and 2 t-shirts to refashion from the Salvation Army so I'll count those towards my September projects and I'll try to keep completely handmade stuff for the summer projects. This is going to be so fun, challenging and stressful and I can't wait to get started :)

Should be packing...

As soon as Andrew woke up he was dying to make breakfast and seriously, it was delicious. We made an omelette with the spinach, shiitake mushrooms and eggs we got at the market yesterday. Added some garlic and onions, cheddar cheese plus apple cider vinegar, AMAAAZING!


For dinner I made another asparagus tart and it was WAY better than the last time I made it. We killed it.


It looks so cute!
We still have more silly apartment showings too and I can't help but get annoyed, but what's the point? By this time next week we'll have moved already :)

Community

I was totally dreading waking up before 7am this morning but I'm so glad I did. The Green City Market was awesome.



Asparagus 2/$7
Spinach $3
Fingerling Potatoes $5
Rocket $3
Mixed Lettuce $5
Avondale Truckle Cheddar $8
Peach Preserves $5
Chipotle Salsa $8
Cremini/Shiitake Mushrooms $17 (won't make this mistake again!)
Honey Oat/Sourdough Bread $10
Eggs $5
Spinach Tart $4
Apples $5

Spent a total of $85 but we really got A LOT and it's all locally grown, organic, sustainable food. If nothing else I feel proud and like a member of the community which I think is lacking in city life, or at least my city life. I also learned that there's a community garden close to our new place! I'm so excited for that.

I told Andrew our goal for today was asparagus and the free starter plant, so we succeeded! I also picked up my tote and membership card which was equally exciting and look at how freakin adorable my baby tomato plant is:

!!!
I really wanted to try some Zeppole di mela (Apple Cider Donuts) from Zullo but we decided to wait and make breakfast at home which was DELICIOUS!!



One farm that really touched me was Growing Home, where we picked up our rocket and mixed lettuce. They have such a great story. I pulled this from their site:

Growing Home was started in 1992 by Les Brown, Director of Policy for the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless... He wrote that “Homeless people are often without roots. They’re not tied down, not connected, not part of their family anymore. Our organic farming program is a way for them to connect with nature – to plant and nurture roots over a period of time. When you get involved in taking responsibility for caring for something, creating an environment that produces growth, then it helps you build self-esteem."