two projects: a sew and a sow

 THE SEW PROJECT
I "met" Karen Stevens on Instagram and fell in love with her slow stitching aesthetic. I bought one of her fun indigo moon zipper pouches from her Easy shop and I do love it. Imagine my delight when she asked me to be a tester for her Modern Japanese Rice Pouch pdf pattern! I pulled out an actual fabric rice bag (basmati, not sushi) from my fabric stash and some of my homegrown, hand dyed indigo and special bits and pieces and stitched up this version of her bag. The bag is easy to follow and Karen has a special 15% off through Thursday.

Here's the other side of my bag. You can follow Karen on Instagram here and check out her website where you'll find a link to her Etsy shop. Check it out!

THE SOW PROJECT

My brother and sister-in-law are moving and cannot take the two funky little hoop houses that they built with them. In mid-September, Batman and I drove down to Massachusetts to rescue one of them. It was a snug fit, but we got the most important parts of the hoop house loaded into the pick up, tied it all down very carefully and hauled it back up to Vermont.

We started working on construction right away. We built a base with new lumber. We thought Batman might run into the typical ledge that follows the spine of the Braintree Hills, but he was able to dig a nice, deep central ditch.

The hoops went up, compost was hauled and added and we were excited about our progress. Then the rains began, the temperature dropped and our scheduled weekend work was postponed...

Finally, this past weekend the sun came out, we bundled up and headed out to finish things up.

Lifting this heavy window unit up onto the base was tricky business, but we did it! (Doug and Ra had used salvaged vinyl windows to create the ends, complete with screens!)

The second end was not as heavy and felt so much easier! We have decided to wait until the late winter to put the plastic sheeting up and over the hoops.

Here's Batman, (who is 6' 5" tall) standing in the house, without bumping his head, thanks to that nice deep ditch he dug.

We are curious to see how much this hoop house will increase our growing season. Imagine fresh greens while there's still spring snow on the ground...fingers crossed! And every time we step into the hoop house we'll take a bit of gratitude with us...for Doug and Ra's generosity. xo

Is there anything as hopeful as sowing seeds in the dirt? All winter long, we'll be able to look out the window and see this hoop house, filled with possibility!