I've been able to pick a few fruits from my plants already, and let me tell you it is the best feeling! This beautiful strawberry was actually already on the plant when I bought it, in the form of a tiny fruit bud, so I got to watch it grow and grow. It was early, and now more and more of its brothers are showing up on the plant. The first one tasted great; I am very excited about the impending strawberry bounty!

And here are my very first tomatoes! The plant is laden down with clusters of green tomatoes right now, and I have been checking every day waiting for a hint of red. Yesterday I noticed a couple yellow fruits way in the back, so I double-checked the tag, and surprise! It's a yellow tomato plant! (Specifically, the Sweet'n'Neat tomato plant. A tiny little thing, but bears tons of fruit! No staking required! I am a fan!)

I also clipped a couple sprigs of dill and mint, not so muh because I planned to use them, but more in interest of encouraging growth. I laughed as I carried my tiny little harvest inside in one hand. I often see big garden baskets for sale, always with photographs of the basket completely full of eggplants and tomatoes and lettuce leaves and bell peppers. I'm not exactly there yet.

And then Oscar kept trying to grab the herbs for himself! He sat and watched steadily as I took a few pictures, occasionally trying to sneak a paw in to grab them.  

Then I turned my back for five seconds, and the little turd immediately swiped the dill! He chowed down on one clipping and I thought surely he wouldn't like it, but apparently he did because he quickly moved on to the other two.

He also likes cream cheese and biscuits. Cats are weird.

We visisted Mount Vernon (George Washington's estate) recently and I absolutely loved it. The gardens were so amazing. If you come stay with us this summer, prepare to go there!

That last photo is just about my favorite thing ever. Our little family has had lots and lots of outside time lately. This warm spring weather is so great and we are taking advantage of it before it gets too hot and humid to be comfortable!

When I made my star quilt a few weeks ago, I used the Orion quilt pattern, but I left out the most interesting part of the pattern—the arrows. They are really cool, but they are pieced using foundation paper piecing, and I didn't know how to do that. I didn't even really know what it is, although now I can tell you it's a way to easily piece quilt blocks with very precise seams and corners. I've seen some really beautiful blocks made using this technique, particularly During Quiet Time's garden blocks, but it seemed very difficult and fussy to me.

But. I really liked those arrows, so one night I decided to give it a try. As with all new things, it started with a google search for tutorials. There are a ton, but I ended up making this Starry Night block from Fresh Lemons Quilts as a learning sample. I was really confused as I read the tutorial, but I was able to muddle through it once I actually started piecing. After I finished that, I felt pretty good about the basics, so I pulled out some scraps and went to work on the arrow.

(Sorry about the crappy phone photo...)

Not too bad! My biggest problem is sloppy piecing on the center section, which is of course the only portion that is not paper pieced. It was a lot of work, but I think a handful of these blocks would make a really cool quilt.