Gardening Again

It's been three years since I have really done any gardening and longer still since I've done gardening on a scale large enough to produce much of anything other than a few herbs and flowers and the occasional tomato. Our frequent moves have not been conducive to planting a full scale garden. But our current rental house has a nice multi-level deck.  While we use the upper deck that is near the kitchen area for grilling, eating outside, feeding the birds and star gazing, we haven't used the lower deck--until now.  It is a nice, sunny spot with built in benches and has a nearby faucet and is therefore perfect for container gardening.

Over the years, the movers have managed to break almost all of my terra cotta pots, so I recently made a couple of trips to the garden center and hauled home large plastic containers and many bags of potting soil.

The tomatoes have already doubled in size in the last week.  I planted meslun lettuce mix seeds or nasturtiums around the tomatoes.  The lettuce seeds are sprouting already.

There is a mix of containers from what I had on hand, what the previous tenants left behind and the new ones I just purchased. I planted herb seeds in most of the pots.

The little cucumber is already growing like crazy. I planted only heirloom tomatoes and three types of peppers.

Basil and swiss chard seeds are already sprouting.  The others take longer to germinate.

Not pictured are three hanging planters with strawberry plants that my son asked for. Strawberries were the one thing he wanted to grow.

There is not much green showing yet, but hopefully I can post an update in a few weeks. But, let's be honest, I might just be growing squirrel food. They've already been through daily to dig in the dirt.

Knitting hemp washcloths

For years I've been using those plastic mesh bath puffs because they make nice lather with my homemade soap, but every single one I've purchased in the last couple of years has self destructed in no time at all. So I pulled out a hemp washcloth I bought once upon a time and have been using that instead. I found I liked it better.  I like a nice textured washcloth and decided to knit some more. 

From Loretta at ThoughtfulGemsCrafts on Etsy, I purchased the light fingering weight yarn and knitted the two cloths pictured on small size 2 needles in a simple pattern.  Hemp yarn wears like iron so these should last years and years. I love the natural look.

Each ball of yarn made one nice size washcloth with plenty of yarn left over.

Shop small and get your orders in early

With the popularity of handmade items and a noticeable slow down in the speed of USPS deliveries, a lot of my fellow online arts and crafts vendors are setting an early cut-off date for holiday orders. Scroll down for a peek at some of my all time favorite on-line vendors--many of whom have sales running through today only.

Yesterday's orders ready for today's mail pick-up

Happy Valentines Day

Happy Valentines Day from Sue Runyon Designs.

Pearl Re-stringing before and afters

Since it's the start of a new year and people are thinking about renewing, refreshing and updating, I thought I'd post just a few before and after photos of jewelry that I restored or re-strung this past year. I offer professional pearl re-stringing services and also repair some other types of beaded jewelry.

BEFORE                 AFTER

For more information about my jewelry repair or re-stringing service, take a look at my website.

Sue