Artichokes!

Today I started planting. I don't usually start planting this early, but I've never tried growing artichokes before. I read that you need to grow them indoors for 8 weeks to get starts large enough to transplant. Then, because artichokes are perennials, they need to be exposed to cool weather for a while (but not get frozen) to trick the plants into believing that they've experienced winter. If you skip this step, they won't flower and you won't have any artichokes to eat.

By planting now, I'll have 8 week old transplants in mid to late April. I'm planning to set them out in wall-o-waters so they can experience 4-6 weeks of cold weather before things warm up in June.

The variety I've chosen to plant is Imperial Star. It's a hybrid that it supposed to be well suited to growing as an annual and should mature about 95 days from transplanting. If all goes well, I'll be harvesting artichokes in August!

Refashioning Ideas

When I was little, my mom used some of her old dresses to make new ones for her girls. One of my favorite dresses of all time - the yellow one with the little fuzzy daisies and white dots - was made that way. It had fluttery short sleeves and a full-good-for-spinning skirt. I wore it in the 4th grade melodrama.

I've been going through some clothes lately... stained, cute but wrong size, knees can't be patched anymore times, maternity clothes, unflattering style but nice fabric. There are quite a few pieces that have potential for more than a quilt block.

So I've been poking around online and have found a few cute ideas for refashioning. Here are some that I've liked:

http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=170402.0

http://theemptynestlife.blogspot.com/2009/04/one-skirt-three-little-dresses.html

http://theemptynestlife.blogspot.com/2009/04/upcycle-project-1.html

http://theemptynestlife.blogspot.com/2009/04/upcycle-project-2.html

http://theidearoom.blogspot.com/2009/04/make-girls-nightgown-from-pillow-case.html

I've seen posts for ruffled t-shirts, shorts, all sorts of things. Mostly I've just stumbled across them while reading other people's blogs. Have any of you seen any good posts? Please share in the comments. I'd love some new ideas!