I planted my tomato plants early this year as it has been hot and dry now for over a month, and in the last few weeks it has regularly been getting into the 90s. We seem set to go into a drought and a long, hot summer, which the prospect of is more than a little unpleasant (my first summer here it was over 100 F for 55 days in a row. Think on that.) But the upside is that I planted early without worry of frost.
I have taken over a back porch behind my building. It gets better light than the front porch and a water hose is set up right next to it, so it seem fortuitous.
Five tomato plants, two pepper plants and some basil is in there with the tomatoes.
Plus I have little green tomatoes already on the vine
I have never had tomatoes on the vine so early-- usually they don't start springing up until July or so, but this little plant seems determined to get going! It is pretty exciting to have my garden-in-pots back. I just hope that no critters discover it and plunder the fruits.
Meanwhile I am working on a really boring Habu scarf in stockinette stitch. It just keeps going on forever and ever and I don't want to bore you with pictures, so instead I am going to talk about the new contraption I picked up the other day-- my new stitching stand.
A lot of the stands out there for cross-stitch or needlepoint are attached to scroll frames. I don't use scroll frames (I prefer Q-snaps or stretcher bars) and usually I stitch with one hand holding the frame, which works fine for smaller pieces, but I discovered that on my larger pieces it didn't work because the frame grew so heavy with all the extra fabric, and clumsy to hold when you were working on certain parts of the design. I envied a few of the women who had stands and then when the shop owner said that she had found a small company that makes clamp stands in Austin I got excited, because that is what I wanted. She ordered one for the shop and I tried it and loved it, so she placed an order for me and I picked up my new stand yesterday.
(Don't laugh at my plastic tablecloth- Milo scratches at the table and even though its almost brand-new, the top has some horrible marks I cannot get out-- so to prevent further damage I buy these plastic tablecloths at the dollar store whenever they have them and just try to keep the table covered from kitty claws.)
It can sit on the table or your lap (works great in my recliner on my lap) and the clamp can hold any kind of frame or hoop, meaning it is good not only for cross-stitch, but needlepoint, punch needle or rug hooking (as long as you use some kind of frame or hoop.) And it is adjustable and folds down flat, so it can easily go places. Plus, as far as stands go, it was reasonably priced. So now I can get back on my big project (I had avoided it because it was getting hard to stitch because of the weight). Super excited!!! A nice treat for myself and one I think that will be a good investment.
I'm very jealous of your tomatoe plnts. We've been so cold up here everything is late. We had a very warm weekend last weekend, but this coming thenights will get down into the 30's.
your cross-stitch is lovely.
Posted by: Rebekah | April 12, 2011 at 09:33 AM