Conchalea

Great progress, Lawson. All of my HSTs are cut, sewn, & trimmed. I had to take a break from this train ride to finish a blouse I made for my daughter. It’s only been started since fall! And I’m embarrassed to say how long I’ve had the fabric & pattern. Oops. I’m away from home at the moment but when I get back I’ll make the pinwheels & cut out the other parts. So far, so good!

lawsonmugs

No I just picked them today and made the few blocks today. Thank you. I love pansies.

SusieQOH

lawsonmugs- that's beautiful!!!!!!!!
paintmejudy- I grew up in Utica and a lot of my family is still there.

Macybaby

I don't mind the snow unless I have to be driving in it. But I'm not real fond of 18" of it in April! Usually by April we're done with it - with a flurry or two. Normally I have my potatoes planted by this time.

I've got my HST sewn and trimmed, now to make pinwheels. I'm going for the larger size so I have 144 HST to work with.

petthefabric

What do potato plants look like when it's time to harvest?

lawsonmugs

The plants usually look like they are dying. You can carefully dig up a small spot to check on them. Use a potato fork. (Looks like a heavy duty pitch fork. ) I never grew any when I lived in Calif. But I have grown many back here in Missouri. I miss all the avacados and fresh artichokes and asparagus there.

Macybaby

like what Mary said - usually you can start harvesting smaller potatoes much sooner, after the plant has flowered. I've gotten them planted in May and still had enough time for a good harvest to grow.

I'm having a difficult time choosing background fabric. I bought mid/dark grey and am worried it won't work. Not enough contrast with the darker reds.



this is a darker taupe color. Not too bad . . .



I kind of like the light blue, but I don't have enough (1.5 x 4 = 6 yards) so would have to go scrappy for it.





this is a beige/yellow


darker gold



lighter grey floral (this is wide backing, but think it could work)



I tried quite a few others - anything real dark blends too much with the dark red, and anything real light blends too much with the pink - so black and white are out.

What do you all think?

Conchalea

Macybaby, I think the gold in the next-to-last picture makes a striking contrast. I’d choose that one, I think.

marcias

Macybaby, I really like that gold with them and , second choice, the grey floral. Beautiful fabrics.
Marcia in TX

Macybaby

After sleeping on it and not being "in love" with any of the options, I pulled the white back out and think maybe it will work best after all.



Last night when I was looking at white, I thought it was too "washed out" but maybe that is because I was envisioning going dark and my brain was not adjusting. Or it's that I rarely use white as a background, so I'm not drawn to it.

Or it's that we just got 18" of snow and when I look out the window, all I see is white! The grass had just started to get a tinge of green before this hit, and now we have even more in the forecast. Looks like spring is not going to happen here this year. The first year I moved here, we had 90 degree weather in mid April. That's not super common either, but more common than over a foot of snow.