I’ve been whining for the past couple days on Twitter about wanting to know if dressmaking is easier or harder than quilting.

The reason I ask is because I am comfortable as a seamstress, and so don’t want to take on a project that is going to bore me.

I finally used my new machine today (new being a relative term, but then I haven’t sewn since 6 months before Grandmom moved to Morgantown, so it’s been awhile), and after initial battles that resulting in (GASP) reading the instructions, everything seems to be working well. Not thrilled with the low/slow power, but as it was a gift, can’t complain too much, can I?

Click through for two outfits I’ve made; these were probably my two most complex projects:
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Apparently it’s camera day for me.

Here is sunset from my porch.

Yeah, my garden is still a mess and I am resigned that it will remain so until next year. But there are still a few bright spots of beauty.

A volunteer sunflower!
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You may remember that a couple weeks ago someone busted up part of our fence.

Yesterday, Michael finally got around to making the preliminary fixes. He had to purchase new support poles, but the rails managed to (somehow) come through unscathed, and so could be used again.

He just go the poles in the ground yesterday to get the fence up. Cementing them in the ground will come later.

Why do I have a fence you may ask? Because this is not even close to the first time someone has driven into your yard. (They have also take out the light post, driven into the upper yard, and knocked the hell out of the railing around the parking space.)

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This is what we discovered this morning when we left for work.

My garden is still a mess, and probably will be for the remainder of the year. I’m still not 100% yet, it’s too hot, and we’ve been traveling too much.

Luckily, I’ve done so much work over the past several years, much of the garden is self-maintaining, and doing well with benign neglect.

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It is really wet outside.

Riiiiight

Another thing we did yesterday was go Newell WV to visit the Homer Laughlin China Co and Fiestaware Outlet.

As previously mentioned, I have Fiestaware for my dishes. I like the variety of colors, and the fact it’s a WV company is just icing on the cake. However, I wouldn’t have gone to the factory/outlet except for the fact that Jeri was considering Fiestaware for her new dishes, so we went. (Why yes, Michael does have the patience of a saint.)

I added some extra dishes to what I already have, and picked up some matching napkins, but what was most awesome (and what Michael talked me into) was Fiestaware flatware.

Just perfect.

However, what fascinated me most was the giant pile of broken dishes outside the factory.

Since I was quite tired and sore by this time, Jeri got the closeup of the pile.

Go view the larger size. It’s fascinating.

Here it is, the first flower pr0n since I broke my ankle!

I missed a lot of flowers: peonies, bearded irises, dutch irises, and a lot of my day lilies, though most of them still seem to have buds.

(as always, click through to see the expanded set on Flickr)

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Gerbera Daisy
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Yeah, there are a couple purchased annuals in here, but I have a lot of flowers blooming already. (I cannot take a good picture of the lilac, but it’s blooming so heavily you can smell it all the way up on the porch.)

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Most of my garden is filled with perennials, which is nice because it means minimal work for me, aside from keeping the beds clean. However, the deck was sorely in need to some type of color, so (don’t tell Grandmom) I spent a ridiculous amount of money yesterday, and with the excluding on a mature foxglove (to replace the one that never took) everything I purchased was an annual. So now the flower boxes look nice, and we’ve got color on the porch, and flowers Grandmom can see.

I love Gerbera daisies. Although they can be moved inside during the winter, in our house they tend to become kitty salad bar, and don’t survive.
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