Garden Mojo

Queen Eko surveys her domain

So the sewing mojo is still pretty elusive. There have been a lot of distractions. Keeper fought an infection since March...he is better now but drastic measures had to be taken. He is his very own episode of Dr. House so we are just enjoying each day with him because who knows what else will happen next.

There is a smallish muscle in the back of your knee called the popliteal. It does a really important job, apparently, and takes a hell of a long time to get better if you disrespect it. I spent weeks struggling just to go up and down stairs and hills. I had to be very careful at soccer because for a while anything more than a slow walk was tough. I injured it in late March and am only now getting back to normal. Needless to say there is now some weight to lose! What was funny was that my (brilliant!) physio decided that my glutes were too tight and I couldn't squat low enough to properly rehab the knee. He stretched the glutes but then I was working in a range that I haven't been able to since college. Wow did things get sore for a while. He also worked on my arthritic knee and it is working way better....who knew!

We have been doing quite a bit of gardening. We sacrificed the rhododendron in the front bed as it was badly damaged by our snowy winter. The other plants seem much happier. They were all hunching away from it and now it is gone they are all standing up tall. Here are some pictures of the back yard .

We do SCUBA

We have been planning for a while to by a camera for diving. We have not been able to pry it out of Gareth's hands unless its to take a picture of him...see above! More sea life to come.

Fishy Story

Gillian's fish

Brandon's fish - the Whopper
Gareth's fish

Sashimi!

Fun in Hawaii

Yes! We are in Hawaii. Kona on the Big Island. I had to bump this baby from Spring Break due to Gareth's trip to Europe with the EFS Soccer team. So now the kids are playing hookie and we are SCUBA diving.

Our first day out was real winner. We had 2 great dives off the Kona coast and between dives while were doing the requisite surface time we caught 3...yes 3 huge ONO. The one Brandon reeled in was 30lbs. Too cool. Pictures to follow when I get them off the camera.

Squeezed in a little sewing!

You'd think that when the weather is too nasty to be heading outside much that sewing would be easier but for some reason my sewing mojo always heads off somewhere (hopefully warm and with a margarita). I did manage to convince myself into the sewing room for a little adjustment of a pair of pants.




These were the first pair I made for the Hotpatterns plain and simple pants. While I like them they were a bit wide for my taste. I decided to make them bootcut instead.

I think my GAP jeans are the nicest proportion bootcut pants I have so I got out the tape measure and went to work. I measure the front pieces and back piece separately (so not just circumference). For these wool pants I added 1 inch to each measurement. I also ended up taking in the crotch a lot. This alone changed how I feel about these pants. Baggy crotch-itis is one of my pet peeves and with the excellent fit of the Hotpattern pants in the rear it is a shame that the crotch always seemed to have too much fabric.

















They are now a flattering leg lengthening boot cut wool pant. The Murphy's laws of sewing being what they are the invisible zipper, feeling neglected, no doubt, jammed and required replacement with a lapped, more cooperative, zipper.


Sometime later I sneaked in a quick faux wrap top. Neue Mode 23480 with sleeves added by me. Such pretty fabric!! Thanks Ann at Gorgeous Fabrics for such gorgeous fabrics!

This Sunday Son#1 and I are heading to France and Spain with 26 other soccer players. The boys will be playing matches against professional European teams. Your truly is the assistant coach. I am planning on running a separate blog for this trip.