Good morning Slow Sunday Stitching crew (link to current roundup). First up, a garden update. This has been a week of things flowering!
Both of my cherry tomato plants have bloomed and set the first fruit. Itty bitty green tomatoes! These are Supersweet 100s. These are the ones you can buy 'on the vine' in the grocery produce area with a dozen or more little one inch fruits all in a row. These first sets look like they will have a half dozen or so fruits, but I think the ones later in the season will be more prolific. These need to be caged because they are indeterminate, so they will grow and produce all season. I also have a beefsteak tomato that is a heirloom variety (non-hybrid) so I will be able to save seeds of it. That one hasn't flowered or set any fruit yet, though it does have a cluster of buds.
My sweet bell peppers have also set fruit on one of the three plants. There are three or four little peppers in there!
I am having to water twice a day on this box since the soil isn't very deep. I ran out of compost. I have a coupon for the garden center, so I need to pick up a bag or two, though I far prefer my own.
Now on to crafting. On Millennium, I am well into the bottom border and 8 hours of 10 in this rotation. The top and bottom edges of the borders are each five rows wide. I'm working from the inner edges to the outer edges. There's some shadows and shading where the angel over-robes lap over the 'stonework' of the base that is very confetti. That takes a lot longer than the plain runs along the bottom edge!
And there was a bit of haul this week. I have been saving up for a small diameter interchangeable needle set. Back last year, I had bought a set of US 3 tips and several lengths of cables from DyakCraft (link to their website) to use on the Rosemarkie Waistcoat and liked them so much that when they ran a sale on their "Heavy Metal" sets, I pulled the trigger and bought all the sizes (plus an extra set of US 0, US 1 and US 1.5 for doing socks TAAT contiguous). They aren't cheap (about the same as Addis or other upper end needles), but made in the US of stainless steel and are interchangeable. I love, love their cables - they swivel!
Since I bought a set, they included a case! No more keeping everything in a ziplock baggie.
neat set of needles! sometimes it is very worth it buy a whole set and to have the case too is nice
ReplyDeleteGood tools and good materials make it easier to get good results, that's for sure. My main needles are just Knit Picks Nickel - decent enough but I'm not crazy about their cables. I'd love to upgrade to the DyakCraft Black Nickel interchangeable at some point.
DeleteBeautiful stitching, and great set of needles!
ReplyDeleteHi,
ReplyDeleteLove your Cross Stitch project...it will be
beautiful when done...have a great day!
Your plants are way ahead of mine. I'm still waiting to see if the little seedlings will survive the transfer to the garden.
ReplyDeleteWhat a great needle case you have!
Enjoy your hand stitching today!
Well, you are a good deal further north than I am! It's well into summer here in Kansas - temps in the 90s F. My friend Pam has tomatoes that are ripe already. I didn't plant any early season ones this year, so I'm just happy everything is blooming.
DeleteI only plant cherry tomatoes in order to get a decent yield. I planted a pepper plant, but usually only get one pepper. Do you have any tips for getting more? I love that needle set! Millennium is looking great!
ReplyDelete