Planet Nice Crafts

There are flowers blooming, birds chirping, and quite a bit of craft time.  Each of the snowmen and the battle gnome had their wash paint completed and glaze (Woodland Scenics’ Scenic Cement ™ ) and glitter applied. Here are the final project photos, no more words required. Another project has been re-started. This purple linen top was originally sewn by me to go with the purple linen pants that were altered in Consistency! (November 12, 2021 – I can’t believe it has been that long).  The Before Photo The pants went from unused to being a wardrobe staple. I was trying to do a repeat with this top. I don’t remember the origin of the idea to try to make it into a wrap top (the bad thing about infrequent blog posts) – perhaps the voluminous material available? This New Look pattern, N6700, has been my inspiration.  The color is a challenge, its not the best for me and my pale skin but the pants have been a great neutral. Because I wanted a top that is less blah, I have used...

Hello Everyone! Three months have passed but after reviewing August's post, the conclusion is activity here at Planet Nice Crafts has been incredibly consistent. The precious free time has been dominated by garden activities. The garden will be the focus today along with bird and sewing updates.  Here is the 2021 harvest report: Watermelons: five (3 medium, 2 small) were ready late August through mid-September and they were fantastic. This was the first time growing and the plants were low maintenance because of more resistance to cucumber beetle havoc. Cucumbers: better than 2020, but could have used more! I lost the plants late August due to the beetles. Tomatoes, peppers, ground cherries, and tomatillos: very good. All did well until the bugs and cooler temperatures got them in late October. Beans: disappointing, affected by aphids and both crops (Spring and late Summer planted) died too early. Pumpkins: three (1 medium and 2 small) harvested on Halloween. Kale: too much a...

  Hello Everyone! Finally, some rain the past week which lead to a few free hours to write to you instead of setting up and watching sprinklers. I hope the summer has gone well for you so far. Funny that kids are going back to school next week but summer goes until September 21 technically. The emphasis as of late has been the garden, not just watering, but feeble attempts to contain the weeds, harvesting, cooking, and taking photos. The longest duration harvests have been kale and poppy seeds. The green beans came in with a flourish but were finished and just not looking very good, so they were extracted and a few bean seeds planted in their place. The tomatoes have started ripening, the fruits are big and tend to be very juicy and messy. The peppers look great and just started too with the tomatillo and ground cherries not quite hitting their stride yet. The cucurbits - cucumbers, watermelon, and pumpkin - are growing and doing battle with the cucumber beetles. We ...

Hello Everyone! I hope 2021 has treated you well thus far – even with the remaining challenges. It has been pretty good here at Planet Nice Crafts. The weather has been mild up to about a week ago and then normal, wintry weather kicked in but still very nice. As much time as possible has been devoted to crafts and experimental baking. Baking and cooking are somewhat unique because they provide adventure and immediate benefit, something to eat. So if there was a choice between baking or cooking and crafting when the fridge and freezer are quite bare, you can guess which one wins. Food brings community across the animal kingdom. With the addition of safflower seed to the birdbath, winter visitors have been numerous and all are welcome. The cardinals have been daily visitors. They provide entertainment and are not demanding so I would put them in the preferred category. I think it is interesting to watch the interaction between the females and males. I have never seen them eat at the ...

Hello Everyone! We are hanging in here at Planet Nice Crafts. The weather has been quite nice this month so outside time was taken advantage of as much as possible with exercise and gardening. Though I had high hopes, the garden petered out soon after the last post during the first week of October. There was a chilly evening and almost everything (except the kale, of course) decided to pack it in for the growing season. The tomatillo was the first to give up followed by the string beans and the pumpkins. The tomatoes and peppers held in as best as they could until the last harvest was picked last weekend. Not everything was ripe so I am trying to ripen the pumpkins, tomatoes, and peppers indoors with mixed success. All at the plot is tidied up for the winter except for the kale, a couple of cabbages that refuse to grow, and delicate peas. We are supposed to get some nice weather next week here in the Chicago area but I think it will be a very lucky occurrence if the peas make it – they...