moving swiftly on from my letter to Rowan, and not thinking about my fight with the 'slugs from hell' that seem to have decided to target me in the past few weeks...i'm not talking about some little 'mamby pamby' slugs here, oh no, i'm talking about those great big banana slugs over 4" or 5" long. they have demolished all the lovely orange marigolds our #4 planted and are now working their way through the white pansies. i have never bought 'slug killer' stuff before but i think i am being tested beyond all limits with tolerating them. it is probably because i don't like to kill them that they have 'homed' in on me and asked their friends and families to move in as well...i think i have reached breaking point, it's just a matter of time before i buy myself some slug killing potion from the store..
i have distracted myself from the 'slug ball' that is going on outside my front door by dusting down Miss Margery and unearthing some doilies and lace. my first project... the skirt with the bleach dots...my 'most favorite skirt' in the world that i so foolishly ruined has now become my 'even more favoriter skirt' in the world...i decided to go with the doilies and appliqued them on with some cartwheel stitching...
while i was at it, i jazzed up a linen skirt from NoaNoa that had lovely pockets on the front but you just couldn't see them, so with a bit of hand embroidery i forever captured my favorite Carpenters song...
and then i turned my attention to a 'school uniform' cardi i picked up in the UK this summer from good old H&M...oh how i wish we had this store here. i changed out the buttons and added a little bit of lace at the back of the neck...
continuing to raid her closet for more willing 'victims' ~ Tif
i really love your newly emblished clothing items, soooo pretty. it's a lovely distraction from knitting, i have the same fustrations when trying to figure out patterns.
ReplyDeletei feel for you...slugs used to wander up and down my hallway, when i used to live in a bottom floor studio next to the garden. i used to place my shoes outside till one day, after i arrived at work and felt something "funny" in my shoe, can you believe i pulled my foot out of my shoe, and the top of my white cotton socks was covered in a black mess, i knew right away what it was. i almost threw up running to the ladies room. can you imagine me walking to the bus, standing on the bus for 25 mins, then walking another 10 mins to my job with a stow away in my shoe? pretty gross right? well, it's the grossest thing that ever happened to me. i ended up washing my foot in the sink in the ladies room and my coworker said to me "what?? you threw your socks away???"
hope your day is as lovely as you made mine i got the cover in the mail, it's so well made + beautiful, thank you thank you!
Lily
okay so now i feeling a little sick here...i am imagining the feeling of the 'slug in the shoe' business and it is quite awful...the only experience i have had with things in shoes is way back, when i wore Dr Martens...i walked 3 miles to work, spent 8 hours on my feet and walked home 3 miles...all the time feeling my ankle bothering me, but not wanting to bother with unlacing the things...when i got home and removed my boot i found a round soft mushy thing in the boot. turned out to be a whole pita bread that my man had thought would be terrible amusing to place in my boot, thinking i would notice it as i placed my foot in...i still wish to this day that i had taken that pita bread and made him a sandwich for lunch the next day...
ReplyDeleteglad the cushion cover cheered your day :)
Gorgeous skirt - love the embroidery. Noanoa was my favourite shop in Denmark.
ReplyDeleteEeew... slugs make me squirm!! :p I hated them when I was a little and would accidentally run over one with my bike or step on one while running down a dark path! Yuck!
ReplyDeleteYour clothing refashions are so inspiring!! I love the embroidery and additions on the skirts especially. I think I shall have to work a little needle magic on some of my clothes; especially since I'm basically stuck on the sofa for the next two or three months due to illness. :p Thanks for the lovely inspiration!!
Take care and keep up your blogging; I really love reading your musings and about your newest projects!
What, no photos of the great big banana slugs? I can't imagine anything creepier than a 4-5" slimy, spineless arthropod!
ReplyDeletehey tif..
ReplyDeletewishing you could raid my closet..
beautiful!
xo laura
Your newly embellished clothing items are so inspiring! I love buttons, but I don't like sewing them on. Do you have a machine or do you do them all by hand?
ReplyDeleteAh the slugs. I saw a particularly large specimen sliming it's way across my deck this morning. I forgot to thank it for mucking up my window. Then again, at half a foot, they're not exactly the kind of slugs you really want to interact with...
ReplyDeleteBut here's some pleasant news for you (well, it was news to me this week anyway) H&M are opening a store in the U-District next year!
Love the skirts btw! Lovely details as always :)
SAVE THE PANSIES AND KILL THE SLUGS.
ReplyDeleteLove your skirts and I love a good cardi and yours is a good one - NOW ...
Have a happy day - Rachaelxo
maggi, that is music to my ears...and my girls, oh happy day :)
ReplyDeleteJunkyard Jennifer, i sew them on by hand, i have not mastered the art of machine sewing on buttons...too scared to try, so i do it the old fashioned way using contrasting colored embroidery thread to add a little touch :)
They came out so lovely, love the little lace in the back of cardigan!
ReplyDeleteEverytime I hear about H&M I feel like moving back to New York, I cry knowing that there is none in Texas...How can that be possible?
don't got to the store for slug killer. let them die happy. just get an old jam jar, bury it in your soil near the slugs flower of choice, so that the top is still open to the air and put a few inches of beer into the jar. The slugs, attracted by the smell of the beer, will dive in and not be able to get out. I know it's not particularly friendly but it's a bit nicer that the shop versions and it does work. You will have the grim job of pulling the jar out and emptying the contents though!
ReplyDeleteslugs
ReplyDeletethey have to be evicted
like you i just cannot bring myself to kill them - in my last garden i had so many pretty cottage garden lovelies that the big fat slimey devils loved.
each night at the start of their annual invasion i would drag stephen kicking and screaming in to said garden to join me in
SLUG PATROL
yep - collection of every slug from the tiny to the huge all gathered in buckets then driven about a mile down the road to the nearest forest where they could run free and multiply.
madness - but it worked - the numbers were reduced, the plants flourished and any survivor of the patrol was allowed to stay under a strict watch - the bucket standing by acting as a warning.
but my neighbour was always suspicious and dare i admit a little wary of us.......
tracy x
Tif, slugs love weetabix and will eat that rather than you flowers if you put it down.
ReplyDeleteI know you won't believe me but the big slugs do less damage than the wee ones.
if you aren't sqeamish leave weetabix out for 3 nights - the slugs publicise the party and by the 3rd night it will be heaving with slugs that you can dispose of in one go,
J
x
oh Debbie, the beer in the jar trick...i have tried that before in my gardens in the UK and it worked a treat, alas my plants are not in the ground but in pots sitting on concrete steps...
ReplyDeleteTracy, i can totally see you and your bucket of slugs...it is exactly what i would expect from a 'creature lover' such as yourself.
Jane, fabulous idea with the weetabix...and even more brilliant i can buy them here, my boys have them every morning for breakfast...
Strang isn't it we have all been worrying about the threat of climate change when the real problem is that slugs and dare I also mention snails are quietly taking over the place. We have had an invasiuon this year. For weeks I carefully nutured veggies on my windowsill and when they seemed strong enough put them out to face the mercies of the weather and ...yes you've guessed it they were eaten overnight by an army of the slimy ones. Love your lacy bits. Wendy
ReplyDeleteI have a kitchen slug - Mr Sluggie.
ReplyDeleteActually dogs can catch something very nasty from slugs that can't be cured so since discovering this I evict Mr S - he usually takes 3 days to find his way back and then he gets thrown out again...