Gardening season has started

Since we live in the middle of Philadelphia, our backyard is a concrete slab. We've had alot of success with container gardening, back there, thanks to this gift from our friends S&C. This is our first summer trying vegetables, but with the greatest urban gardening center right down the street, we got lots of valuable advice about which veggie starters would make it in containers. The lettuce is a bit of a risk, because of the spacing, but we're gonna see how it pans out.

Lettuce! That is, indeed, an old radiator cover that's in the backyard. I'm thinking of spray painting it with rustoleum in a nice bright color!

This is actually a spruce that survived the winter. It sprouts beautiful green leaves that turn to a brilliant yellow.

That's our blackberry plant on the left, which also survived the winter, and a couple veggies (tomatoes, I think) on the right. I can't wait to get those window boxes back up on the front of the house because I have a great idea for what's going in them!

Tomatoes and mint in the front, another survivor from last year, and japanese eggplant in the back silver pot that also has survivor mint from last summer! Did you know that planting mint and basil helps keep mosquitos and flies away? Last year, we had a 4th of July BBQ and that mint was picked fresh and mashed into a delicious vodka/lemonade punch!

Tomato plants. The one on the right is sharing space with some oregano!

My plan for the summer is to do something about the ugly concrete floor of the backyard, once our house construction is done and all the equipment is out of there. (Imagine climbing over power tools to plant those tomatoes!) I've seen people paint concrete on TV home improvement shows, or Ikea also sells this decking that we could just put over the concrete. Have any of you guys ever had to do something to make your concrete back yard look better?

Hello, beautiful

Say hello to my new friend. Hopefully, she will be wearing my sweater and shrug designs in the future. Thanks be to Craigslist. I was thinking of naming her. Any suggestions?

So close!

I was going to wait until the whole thing was done, but I'm too impatient. Here's a sneak peek at the facade of our Philly row home. Our awesome contractor and his peeps chipped away the damaged areas of the stucco and re-covered the entire surface in the metal mesh that you are supposed to use for stucco. (Our neighborhood isn't known for expert workmanship...that's for sure.) They also removed the rotting wood lintels and sills, and replaced them with limestone slabs. The stucco is a synthetic material with the added gray pigment that I selected. The synthetic is believed to last longer and crack less. The first pic is a "before" image that I took on the day we signed the contract for the house, back in 2006.




Now that the biggest part of the project is done, we'll move on to the little things like replacing the front doors and restoring the original features of the house facade: the cornice, the transom, and the wood framing around the windows. We had originally considered fully restoring the cornice by having our contractor recreate the decorative finials that adorn most original cornices in Philly, but a neighbor of ours did a really nice, polished, and cheaper job on her cornice, and I loved the modern look of it, so we are going to go in that direction. I've picked out a color to paint the door, window frames, and cornice. It's a green called Happy Camper! Perfect for my mood, today!

Whew! Sorry, folks! This last week has been a whirlwind of other projects. Today, I'm working from home while my contractors work on refacing our house. It's kind of another design project of mine as I'm working with the guys to design a more modern cornice for the top of our row house, and I've been fretting over a paint color for that piece, and the front door, that will really pop against our new dark gray stucco. And there will also be a glass etching project in store, for the safety glass that will be installed in our newly-excavated transom!

In the meantime, I've finished my very first sewing project and here's the final product!




I love that I reversed the fabrics on the strap so that you could see some of the faux bois print without having to look inside to the lining. I've been carrying it around like a purse for the last week, just so I can show it off. I can't thank the ladies at Spool enough...their intro to sewing class really has me believing that I might actually be able to use a sewing machine, after all!

I finally got around to setting up my Christmas present from my husband, too. Now I just have to find some time to sit down and re-learn how to use it.


Behold, a knitting machine! I have a blanket idea and a shrug/ponchette idea, but I might start with the blanket first because it's more straight forward. I'll post updates!

One last thing! I just found out that I'll be covering the Phillies' Stitch n'Pitch night, for my Examiner blog, on April 29th. I don't know if I'm more excited about having a press pass for an MLB game, or being able to knit while I watch the world champs at work!

Vote for Pedro...I mean, VOTE FOR ME!

I know I've been delinquent, y'all. I have a couple projects that I've been trying to finish up and show off. In the meantime, I've entered two project photos in a contest at Martha Stewart.com, and the winner will get a copy of her new Craft Encyclopedia! So head over there, check my stuff out. I'm under the user name LauraDraperDesigns - I've posted the projects here already, but I'm trying to get picture views for judging purposes. And please, comment to your hearts' content!

You can see all the entries here.

So sew me!

What do these two fabrics have in common? They are both going to be used by yours truly to make a bag in my very first sewing class at Spool! I'm so excited to be learning how to sew. I sort of knew the basics from watching my mother and grandmother make things, but I've never sat down to learn how to use a machine and all the technical terms that come with being a sewer. Tonight, we cut our fabrics, cleaned them up (including cutting off the selvage), learned how to thread the sewing machine and maneuver it, and we created a seam allowance.

Some of my friends have been surprised to see me launch this blog, along with the one I have at Examiner. Even though I took a bit of a sabbatical as a young adult, I was a pretty creative kid. I used to design and hand-sew clothes for my Barbie dolls out of scraps of fabric from whatever my mother was sewing. I also loved making jewelry; my favorite project was making macrame-style bracelets from embroidery floss. But somewhere around late middle school, I decided I was going to become a lawyer, and suddenly, there was less encouragement for my creative pursuits and more for the academic ones. When I was in college, many of my closest friends were art or theater majors, but I rarely got involved in their art projects because I think I felt like I couldn't be both a lawyer and a crafter. I was going to be a career woman, and something in me feared the idea of straying from that path. I can't put my finger on how I got that idea, but it was my husband who actually opened my eyes to idea that I could make my own path. You see, he's always had a deep respect for this lady and he informed me that she was a model and a wall street trader before she brought her creative talents to the mainstream. (Plus, she was the product of a women's college, just like me!) It made me realize that it IS possible to "do it all," even if you don't end up having a multi-million dollar corporation as a result. (I'd settle for just being an editor in her crafts department, thankyouverymuch.)

I do think Martha would be proud that my first sewing project involves her latest obsession: faux bois. But no matter where my path takes me, I'm truly hoping that it will be one that is full of fun and creativity, even if the things I make don't go any farther than my friends and family.

I finally see the light...

The Pete Lamp is finally complete! This project was inspired by a hanging lamp in the Long Island City abode of my friends, Stacey and Pete. Pete's version was smaller, but the idea was the same: kraft paper coated in shellac and attached to a basic Ikea light cord set. For my version, I made a frame out of garden mesh and electrical ties, so that I could make the lamp a bit bigger. I also added the stencil, which was done with black spray paint. Everything is held together with spray adhesive. I kind of like how the grid shows through the paper when the light is on, but a google search will reveal places where you can buy top and bottom rings for homemade lampshades, so that you can re-create this shape without the grid.

A word of warning: if you choose to make one for yourself, use one of the flourescent energy-efficient bulbs, please. Not only are they more eco-conscious, they also emit less heat, which is a good thing when you are working with a paper lamp and all. If you are still nervous about combustion, I hear that there are flame retardant sprays out there, although my trip to my local Home Depot was fruitless on that front.