Lampshade

The ancient fabric of my lampshade was torn, and so I decided to give it a redo, without spending a penny. I just used an old curtain that I had in my closet.

Here's the skeleton of the shade:

I cut the lace curtain into a base piece that wrapped around the entire frame, and cut the rest into 4 inch strips. I sewed these strips into tubes, ran a basting stitch down the middle, and gathered them.

 Each gathered strip was sewn onto the base fabric, and then the completed pile of ruffles was hand stitched onto the frame.

I'm a little concerned that the lacy ruffles are too much with the rather ornate base of the lamp, but I like it nonetheless.


Now that I have completed my fun project for the day, I'm going to do some school work/writing. I probably should have reversed the order of my day, but I had some friends over this morning for breakfast and a few hours of crafting.

Pallet Garden

I saw the idea on Pinterest a while ago, and slowly began to gather materials.

I found a wooden pallet at a construction site across the street.

I got some landscape fabric from the Joshua Farm when I was back east one weekend.

I intended to staple the fabric around the edges of the pallet and then fill with compost and soil, but then I had the great idea to simply sew it into bags and fill with compost, then slide them into the pallet. So I sewed the bags, and drove to the farm here on campus to pick up some free compost. Alas, there was none, so I had to wait until the next time I drove back east, and I got some from my brother. Here are the bags, ready to slide into the channels. This required some jumping around and flattening, but was feasible.

After I had gotten all the bags in the pallet, I turned it on its edge. I have a black plastic tray underneath (again, compliments of Joshua Farm).

I poked an upside down plastic bottle, with the bottom cut off and holes poked into the sides for a drip irrigation system, into the top of each bag.

And then last night I transplanted my first few babies into the fabric, cutting a slice with a utility knife at each place I wanted to plant. Parsley, garlic chives, lettuce, bok choy, and mint.

We'll see how these things fare when the sun hits them today. I'm a bit nervous. I gave them a good watering last night, and again this morning, just to try to keep things moist.
I have a few other planters that I soon hope to fill- I just need to figure out some drainage issues.
But here's my balcony garden in progress.

And a quick glimpse at my back porch garden- in various states of assembly. The peas look great, I'm just waiting for them to burst forth into bloom. And I hope to start harvesting my first few radishes in a week or so. I'm already enjoying the mint and chives, and of course feasting my eyes on the beauty of the green.

I'm thankful for the little bit of space that I have- I so desperately need an active, nurturing outlet for my creativity!