Spring = Gardening + New Projects = No Blogging

I've been an incredibly crappy blogger lately. No good excuses other than "It's Spring! Yay!", "I'm gardening! Yay!" and "I have a desperate compulsion to design and sew dresses for little girls, despite having none of my own! Yay?" Spring is awesome. I feel myself coming slowly back to life after the creative stasis of Winter. This means I've a list of projects longer than my arm and, quite honestly, not nearly the required time to see them to completion. I'm currently (finally?) installing the recycled patio-stone walkway in my front yard -- the one I've been thinking and talking about since I did a big part of the one in the back yard. It's coming along nicely, but is only a couple feet long. I need to find some more patio stones to smash up for it. If anyone has some they'd like to get rid of, let me know -- I'm happy to come and get them with my van!

I've also been working on a pattern for a simple smock dress. I'm aiming for the Newborn - 4yrs range, with it being a dress at the smaller end of each size, but working as a tunic top at the "almost too small" end of each size. We all know how little girls hate to give up wearing a favorite dress. :)  I'm handsewing the first practice/mock-up dress now because I really enjoy handsewing, but if it works out the way I think it will I'm not far from hauling out the sewing machine and getting down to business. The current plan is tolist them in my Etsy shop -- something else that has suffered abandonment lately. ;)

I've been dragging extra garden plants down to the local park, a couple at a time, and tucking them in here and there. I'm going to keep doing this throughout the summer. The boys are really thrilled about it -- it's given them a sense of "ownership" over a part of their neighbourhood and I've noticed that they're more aware of litter. It's great to see them compelled to keep "their playground" tidy -- if only I could acheive the same effect with their room!