Cartoonists, herbs and serging

Above: Patricia, me and Kate at Ryan's Cartoonist Photo Shoot. Photo by Ryan Couldrey.



Ryan also took the photo above; you can see the rest of the photos in his Cartoonist Photo Shoot on Flickr.



Has anyone out there ever used those dry peat pellets? They're amazing little things, aren't they? They look like mini coasters at first but add water and TA-DAAH...



I'm using some to start some seedlings. It still seems like such a magical process to me. I take a small envelope of tiny dots, sprinkle the dots over these expanded coasters, and a few weeks later (in theory, anyway) GREEN LIVING THINGS appear! That (in theory) grow up into BIGGER LIVING THINGS!



I mostly like planting things that I can eat. Yesterday I planted summer savory, thai basil, sweet basil, cherry tomatoes, forget-me-nots (can't eat those, but I like them anyway), parsley and something else I forget.

Speaking of cooking, thanks to my friend Ray for the belated birthday gift:



Can't wait to try some of these recipes; I've never cooked Mexican before and have been intrigued (and hungry) when Ray's told me about recipes he's made from this book.



Last night, I decided to rethread my serger from scratch (yes, again). Some of you may think me crazy, but there was a method in my madness. First of all, I figured I could use the practice; I don't want to stay scared of threading forever! And it was MUCH easier this time around, only taking me about 15 minutes instead of over an hour. It's mainly the lower looper thread that's a challenge, I find, but even that is handleable with a pair of tweezers and some patience.



I also wanted to use different coloured threads so I can get a better grasp of what all the threads are doing when I make adjustments to thread tension, stitch lengths, differential, etc. I'm starting to save and record my experiments in a binder that I can use for reference in the future.

I also played around some more with doing a rolled hem, which requires opening up one of the side covers and changing the needle plate setting. Considering I've only had my serger for one week today, I figure I'm doing okay.

And y'know, I think I'm ready to use my serger on an actual sewing project...

Babylon Five Virgin update

SPOILER WARNING: The blog below focuses on my reports while watching Babylon Five for the first time. An LJ feed is also available. If you haven't seen B5 yet and don't want spoilers, please DO NOT click below.

Season 3, Episode 54: Severed Dreams
Season 3, Episode 55: Ceremonies of Light and Dark
Season 3, Episode 56: Sic Transit Vir





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