I Can't Blame My Machine For Everything This Time

We bought my son a white shirt from the charity store. It's a size small and a bit tight around the bottom and it gaped open. I told him that I could add a buttonhole and after figuring out where the best place would be, I got the machine ready. It's been a while since I made a buttonhole so I got out my instruction book, put the buttonhole foot on and started sewing. But all it did was go back and forth so I was making a lump of thread! It turned out that the instructions were for 2 different models and I had looked at the wrong one and had the dial set at the wrong letter.

Ripped that bit and tried again. Had another mess. Realized that it was stitch width and not length that was suppose to be at number 4. Rip. But I dropped the seam ripper and reaching down to pick it up from the sofa, I stabbed myself with it. Blood! Couldn't continue on a white shirt with my finger bleeding, so I had to wait for that to stop.

Sewed the first long side and then a short side and when I started on the second long side the zigzag wasn't close together like it was on the first side. I didn't know what to do, so I turned the material around and sewed it backwards with the first setting. I got it done finally and the button sewn on.

Next I'll tackle the sleeves. He wants them short.

Asparagus

Today I tried asparagus for the first time. I keep seeing recipes for it and so I thought it was about time to buy some. I wanted a simple recipe so that we could basically just taste the asparagus itself. So I melted a bit of butter in some olive oil in a frying pan and added the asparagus. I turned it a few times as it started getting brown. Of course I forgot to add the salt as it was cooking as I tend not to salt things but we added it before eating. I don't think that I'll be one of those people who look forward to asparagus season but if I notice that it is on sale, I might try to cook it some other way. Like in a soup or on a pizza or grilled. I was curious to see if it could be eaten raw and after googling it, it seems like it can.

Summer seemed to arrive overnight. A few days ago I was still wearing a light scarf around my neck and my gloves and today it was too hot to wear anything more than a t-shirt. I hope it lasts for awhile.

Happy Mother's Day!

21 Mother's Days ago I got my first Mother's Day gift. It was a food processor and it is still working! Some of the parts are broken but I've learned to live without them. Today my son made griddle scones for breakfast. It's so nice when I don't have to cook. My son made this card and got me this box of chocolates that I was going to buy myself. Didn't he make a great card?

We prefer our cakes cold and 'aged' so we made this Zebra Cake that I tested for Carla's cookbook yesterday. It's fun making Zebra Cakes and I recommend trying it. It was a good choice for my Mother's Day Cake. Well chocolate anything is good for my Mother's Day!

Gardening

Last summer I had a few things growing on our balcony. They didn't grow very well and so we didn't get very much produce! I did find out though that we don't like ruccola and I should try to find someone to give the seeds to before they are too old to use anymore.

In this container I've got basil on the left and kale on the right. I keep reading about kale and seeing recipes for it but I've never seen it in the store. I shouldn't say never because I only bothered to find out what it is in Finnish over the winter, so maybe they just sell it in the summer. I found seeds though, so I decided to try and grow some. I read somewhere that a grape container is a good greenhouse for seeds so I tried it. The stickers on the top were difficult to get off but I thought that they blocked too much of the little sunshine that there is.


Here there should be dill on the left and basil on the right. I was surprised that the dill hadn't sprouted yet. It's such a fine plant that I would have thought that it would sprout quickly. I guess the seeds could be dead. I'll have to wait a few days and see what happens. I have no idea when I should try to put them outside!