Blooming

We've been working on the garden, it's that busy time of year when the veggie garden needs to be started. Some of my roses have been happy with the weather and blooming. This one is an old-fashioned shrub that requires little care. This particular variety is called Mademoiselle du Brabant. I like roses that not only look good, but are easy to care for (no spraying for bugs or disease) and smell good. The old-fashioned varieties really do the trick, before that I had many failures with hybrids and thought I just couldn't grow roses. Turns out I was just growing the wrong kind. I want them to smell good too. It's one of the things people do when they see roses in bloom, they usually move in to try to smell them. So if they don't smell good, they are not worth growing. A shame because there are some pretty roses out there that don't smell so good, but again, the old fashioned ones usually have nice scents to boot. I must look funny at the nursery when I'm looking for roses, sniffing all of them before I choose which one I want!

Buttons

I acquired a mixed collection of buttons, and found some containers to hold them all. The studio is coming together - little by little but getting there!

Fresh Squeezed

I was gifted some just-picked citrus, and finally bought an inexpensive juicer so I could enjoy some of the juice oranges (navel oranges, on the right. The ones on the left are Chinese Honey oranges, easy to peel and great for eating.)
Some oranges look a little dirty because that is what they look like when they are just picked. After washing they look much better. This little juicer will make my next batch of lemon curd much easier to make!

Another Tiramisu Adaptation

This baby blanket pattern is addictive! I just had to make another one. This one is 100% cotton.