Spring is here and it always means a lot of work for me. So, while I am still working on a few sewing and knitting projects, I have a bunch of other little things taking up my time.

I finally finished cleaning up my 1970's Rayleigh bicycle. It was covered in rust. But, with time and a lot of elbow grease (and some rust remover), my husband and I have it looking pretty good.

For comparison, here is some of the rust before and after.

before

after

I now get to ride it to work. All it needs is a rack on the back and a basket in the front. And maybe a Colette Cooper bag to use for work.

Another one of my hobbies is vegetable gardening. This year, I set up my beds with pea gravel over landscaping fabric around them. I want to cut back on the grass and weeds that try to grow in my beds and stop my strawberry plants from trying to take over the yard.

The bed with green leaves is my strawberry patch.

Now, I am going to fill the beds with my lovely kitchen compost (which is now dirt from sitting over the winter). Then, I am going to re-lay my watering system (the black lines in the above picture).

The watering system is a must in the hot, dry summers here (especially, if you have a full time job). They are long, skinny soaker hoses (from Lee Valley) that I have hooked up to a timer. That way, the beds get watered early in the morning and consistently. I also graded my beds so the water will run down them and get all the way to the ends.

After I lay the hoses, I put mulch everywhere to stop weeds from growing and to keep the water in the ground (less evaporation). This has worked pretty well for me for the last couple of years.

Spring also means spring cleaning in the house. Another project is putting together an Ikea dresser. It's a plain pine dresser that I want to dress up. So, I have concocted a nice steal wool and vinegar stain. I'll do a follow up post on how it turns out.


More to come!