Let Us Have Lettuce

I decided that today I would harvest some of the lettuce I've been growing in our greenhouse.  It's the first of this new crop. 

I always get my seeds from Territorial Seed Company because they are located close by, and so I figure the seeds are bred to grow well in our climate.  These two varieties of lettuce are bred specifically for greenhouse gardening, and so they are new to me.  The larger leaf is called Arctic King, and the smaller watercress-looking lettuce is called Miner's Lettuce.  I was worried they might be bitter, and they were slightly, but not so that it spoiled the flavor of my salad.  It was so nice to have fresh, clean lettuce on a rainy end-of-October day.

Things in the greenhouse are doing better than I had hoped.  Even though our weather has been cold and rainy for the past week or so, things in the greenhouse don't seem to mind.  Even my orchid and my hibiscus are doing well.  The temperature ranges between 50-70 degrees Farenheit, and it stays moist without being steamy.  I haven't needed to water anything for quite a while.  Even the lettuce leaves had water droplets on them.

The tomatoes are also bred specifically for greenhouse gardening, except for the hanging cherry tomatoes.  Their stems are amazingly sturdy for not having been exposed to any wind.  You can't see them, but I also have some carrots growing in a large pot beneath the hibiscus.  (I always forget to check on them, but I'm assuming they're still wet like everything else.)  I'm sad that all of this is probably going to die while we're gone on our trip, but it looks like we won't get out as soon as we'd hoped.  I'll just keep tending it until the bitter end.  I might be able to foist some of it off on my son and daughter-in-law (Erik and Mae).

George hasn't yet become courageous enough to go into the greenhouse with me.  I keep coaxing him.  I suspect one of these rainy days he'll get curious enough.  He likes being outside with me.  Today was rainy and cold all day though, and so George and Gracie staked out their favorite winter napping places.

As for me, I started on a project I'm making for my neighbor.  She's one of those people who really likes to decorate her home for every holiday, and she also likes blue.  So when I saw this quilt in the December issue of Quilter's World magazine, I was inspired to make it for her.

This is different from any quilt I've made so far.  The tree has Angelina fibers, which I've not used before.  The snowflakes are made using hot set crystals, which I've not used before either.  The materials also called for flannel with a grid, which was rather expensive, and really not worth the trouble in my view.  This is what it looks like:

The instructions for the quilt went to great lengths to tell me how to get the grid of squares straight, and this grid flannel was supposed to be key to making it all work.  The problem was that when I tried laying it out for the quilt sandwich (because this is a quilt-as-you-go project), it was impossible to get the lines to lie perfectly straight.  I ended up just drawing straight lines for myself.  In addition, even though I had it turned upside down, I still had to put another piece of muslin between it and the top so that the lines wouldn't show through.  Imagine how it would have looked had I put the grid lines on top:

So I made two strip sets of the five different shades of blue and then sewed the final seam so that they each formed a tube.  Then I cut the strips the width I needed them, and unsewed the tube in the appropriate space to get the different shades in the right order.

The top left appears to be white, but it's actually a very pale shade of blue.  After that, I sewed them together according to the instructions.  This is what I got finished today:

Next, I'm told to bind it.  The applique will be put on last, and that's when I'll do the Angelina fibers and the hot set crystals.  I have to admit that I'm a little apprehensive about that part.  But I've come this far, and so I might as well be bold with the rest of it.  It's an interesting project.  I'm excited to see it finished, and I know my neighbor will love it.