mish mash

beautiful flowers from the folks for my birthday... had to clear the craft supplies off of the center of the table to set this elegant bouquet amid crayon and paper chaos, but it made me smile everyday!

Garden: Two tomato plants, carrots, chives, eggplant, zucchini, strawberry, pole beans, bush beans, pumpkin... ambitious set for two small beds. This picture is so it looks like we are growing something other than pumpkins, which really is what is growing...

but the rest seem to be struggling along okay.

Sewing: Had a big burst when I got off of work this summer. Stayed up too late repeatedly with a sinus infection and it made it a bit worse, so I have taken a little break. I do have plans though... plans....some of these included clothes! Seriously! I swore off anything as complicated as a sleeve a long time ago (and may take that vow back up... I just have a tough time with "Easing" anything) but when faced with the choice to take both kids shopping or just making Owen some summer jammies, I chose the latter.

Took me two nights, and an outing without Owen's exuberant fabric opinions to pick something he would like but something that I could also bear to look at... turned out okay (except for the sleeves which turned out a touch blousy), I'm quite proud. Made me brave enough to try a dress for Kaylee's birthday.

I got this pattern and book idea from http://noodleheads.blogspot.com/2010/07/unicorn-dress.html, they had it at the japanese bookstore so I took it as a sign to give it a whirl. I loved it! The length maybe was more a tunic length for the growing girl, but after staring at instructions in japanese for a good week, I got up the courage to give it a try...

Pretty cute.

One last sewing project...

peg bears from one yard wonders sewing book. I made three 'cause they looked so strait forward and easy... took a little while really and more circle sewing than I like. I didn't really take a picture of all three before one found a home with a 3-year old friend on her birthday, but Owen loves his and designed and took this picture for me... cute.

The boys did some fun craft projects on our camping trip. Owen has gotten interested in making books and really lots of drawing in general... robots, gardens, flowers, rainbows, sunshine, fish, all sorts of cool things, so he did a book. He and Joaquin did a sort of prayer flag art hanging thing that we strung up with some decorated flags, leaves, felt bits, etc... just a nice bright spot in our sea of green.

summer, at last, really, I think...

Well, the sun has finally decided to shine more days than it doesn't... at least the last week or so (of course we still had two rainy'uns). Anyhow, its July... and its raspberry season! Yum! Picked out at Smith Berry Barn, which I really liked, a little fancier than Rowell Bros, nice store, nicer restrooms (as in not porta potties), organic, nice sandwich cafe across the street... a touch more per pound (1.50 v. .99 at R.B.) but I am happier feeding Grace some treats while in the field with the organic farm. Anyhow, I may have managed about 11 lbs, though I can't find my receipt. Got about 12 jars (two pints, 10 half pints) of beautiful Jam out of it (pomona pectin recipe but with just over the minimal amount of sugar suggested). I also canned up some cherries this year again... they were my favorite last year to enjoy over yogurt. So I used two recipes last year, one was much better than the other, but I can't remember. SO... I'll note that I did the brandy cherries recipe in the Blue canning book but with Amaretto instead of brandy. In two of the jars, I tried adding three tablespoons of chocolate liquor to two of the jars before topping them off with the syrup. Also a few standard cold-pack jars to share with the kids :)

Also love being able to have a picnic dinner on the deck with the warm evenings. Salads, cheese, bread, salami sometimes... no cooking, so tasty, so refreshing... esp with Brian's homebrew. His IPA and raspberry wheat are my favorites so far!

Can't decide

Drive the new car out to the coast to try it out for a long drive, solo with both kids, on a grey and probably rainy day, but we can meet up with B. at his fishing tourney and distract him from his duties... OR drive around town pick up some strawberries (let someone else pick this time), try to hit the summit of awesome (craft show), and ?? play date? Loading and unloading kiddos multiple times.

I should say, we had a wonderful strawberry picking day last Friday with Val and family. WE did pretty well, but with both kids (though still with loads of berries), settled for one large batch of jam to split between us... sixteen cups, one box o' pomona pectin = 16 half pints IF four of the jars wouldn't have broken in the boiling pot... What the heck? Not entirely sure what's going on there. Otherwise, we probably ate a flat worth at home, froze and bagged the rest up for both of us. still need to deliver those, but will have to remember to do a good job eating strawberry shortcake this year... oh the things we do.

Update: Ended up sticking around town, and of course B. calls with a report that the sun came out on the coast... Had a really nice day none-the-less: Awesome play date with Val, Joaquin, Esme and Li Fong. Owen reports that Val and Joaquin are his favorite friends. Li Fong made him a pretty darned cool LED bracelet that won Ooos and aaahs at the Show of Awesome (craft show). After a fun morning, headed to the above craft show, got a few posters for Brian (Beer) and Ryan (Coffee), a cute winter hat for Gracie, and owen got to make a few fun buttons, Grabbed a coffee and an orange at Grendel, headed to Joann's for some gear for art projects, grabbed dinner at burgerville, kids in bed before 8, Heading to bed at a reasonable hour!

All in all, a good choice.

Roll it out

Another baby quilt... for Vanessa and Dave's baby due this month. I can't help myself, I gave it to them early in case I don't catch them immediately after they have the baby. You know, like immediately! I can't stand having the pretty peacock blue and the sweet plaid boarder around the house without some little one on it. Once again, a design borrowed from http://katiedid.squarespace.com/katie-did-journal/2009/1/27/quilt-how-to.html. I love her stuff, but the clothes are still beyond my skill/patience level. This quilt is easy peasy though and looks so cool... and gets even cooler after washing! Basically I had the blue and a flannel polka-dot (Next time I'd go for two solids though)

and sewed back and forth making big ol' zig-zags four times changing the top thread each time. It was perfect for putting my new sewing machine (YAY) through its paces... (story to follow).

It uses a ton of thread, a little more than a very full bobbin's worth every go-round. Top thread was orange, yellow, white and green though the last three are tough to discern in the end... too close in color. I LOVE the plaid floral boarder, it is just right with that blue. Sigh, happy.

Aren't baby quilts perfect, just the right size not to be too cumbersome, but still cuddly, and mine are getting large enough that they would be good lap blankets at least until that teenage growth spurt.

Okay, the poor sewing machine (owner). Brian and I finally decided to get one (europro reviewed on Consumer reports)... nothing too fancy, though much quieter and smoother than my last. Ordered it through e.bay got it set-up after it finally arrived from Canada and to my horror, had problems with it sewing backwards... not all of the time, just some of the time. Sometimes for just a few inches, sometimes all night (of course in the middle of a project, coming in and out of standard running when it felt like it). We just soooo hated to send it back since I finally had my hands on one and really didn't want to pay return shipping and wait....

Anyhow, I finally succumbed and after a few weeks of intermittent working and being infuriating (yes, weeks, I am stubborn) I wrote the dealer and complained asking how to proceed. While I was writing the e.mail, Brian was finally looking at it touching all of the levers and buttons (as I am trying to stop him, telling him to be careful, don't touch that and what everything was like a big ol' know-it-all) until he came across one in the back behind the foot... what's this? Uh, I don't know. Turns out it is a handy dandy new fangled button holer lever thinggy. "What does it do?" you may ask... turns out it controls the direction of stitching so that you can sew all the way around a button hole without much fuss. OR you can knock it occasionally with your fabric causing your machine to unexpectedly change directions because it is not locked like it should be and you have decided that sure, you can sit on the floor and sew so you can watch your movie and be oh so productive, but you can't really see a lot of those levers from your weird angle, so you can swear at your bad sewing machine mojo for weeks before writing a letter of complaint followed 20 minutes later by a letter of retraction and apology... yep, brilliant.

PIF

Pay it Forward... , I am sending a few handmade treats on as part of a PIF that I saw from Deb on facebook. I can't say I often sign up for this sort of thing, but I liked the self-selecting part of it and the concept ...

Worked up a few snack bags inspired by Cascade's snack bags (but I don't have velcro on me... so I went with the old-school fold-over model I remember from my school lunches). Also a few more dishtowels; I'm hanging onto the red pot (it matches one of ours!) but will send the other two on. The Pot and the Mocha Pot are patterns from Posie gets cozy (http://aliciapaulson.com/Pleasant_Kitchen_Dishtowels.pdf) and the whales are from Tigerpup embroidery.

Alas, the parting picture of a beloved mug...

it has been well used in this household. Brian gave this and its mate to his grandparents when he was a kid. We reinherited them when we moved and I loved them. They fit perfectly under the espresso maker (unlike most other mugs which are, of course, too large). Anyhow, although we lost the grandma one years ago, this one just broke in the sink... sadness, but it worked hard. Just the perfect size, perfect translucence and a touch of sweetness.

and just because it cracks me up... one of O.'s teachers at school is a sweet artist (and great with the kids, I really appreciate that he always has an anecdote to share about what Owen is up to). He drew all of the kids robots... O's was a "Good Knitting Bakugan", he was afraid Owen would be upset that his didn't have the elaborate pinchers and gizmos that the other ones had, but Owen was quite pleased that his had knitting needles and was making a scarf... "Arts and Crafts 4-ever!"

Mothers

I have found myself surrounded by more mothers than I can ever remember outside of childhood. I am so, well, I don't have one word for it... blessed, honored, lucky, joyful, thankful to not only be able to celebrate my amazing Mom and wonderful Grandma Mary on Mothers day, but also to take a moment to be thankful for all of the other shoulders to lean on, ears to bend and heartstrings and spirits that encourage that come from the rest of the Moms in my world. I am grateful.

sweetness

Serious sweetness. A new baby quilt for a new baby... and a nice afternoon to spend with the happy family.

This quilt... this quilt was (a) fun to make, (b) not really that tough in spite of many more pieces that I am accustomed to and (c) murder on two sewing machines. My good ol' one that my Mom gave me an age ago pooped out... it had been a while in coming but after the sewing machine repair man, who looked and talked a little bit like a mobster told me not to spend any money on the ol' girl (before granting me a free tuning up out of pity I think). Anyhow, finished her up. Caused an issue with Mom's old singer (though maybe the needle is just in backwards... I donno) where it would only catch the bottom stitch every two inches or so (I haven't tried too very hard to fix it, it was very late) . Anyhow we finally ordered a new sewing machine; a Europro that was ranked well on consumer reports... nothin' too fancy but it sews so smoothly and quietly and with great confidence! Plus it has a few more fancy stitches than my old'un. Anyhow, enough waxing poetic about a sewing machine. The new one has a few more bells and whistles and supposedly can go through several layers of denim without great concern so I'm sold! The quilt is a take on log cabin blocks, based on, well, I think it was a translated japanese sewing book that I checked out from the library ages ago, but forget the name... and I've seen it somewhere on a craft blog somewhere, but can't remember where either. so helpful I know. Anyhow, the idea is that you sew strips of fabric and quilt it directly on squares of batting then attach the backing after the fact. Makes for cute, if not a little wonky, squares. In spite of the sewing machine issues it was in fact a lot of fun to do. I am even so proud that I was able to channel Val when picking out fabrics (she is really good at pulling together nice groupings of fabrics in pretty colors!). She's also really good at putting together some cute babies! She and her sweet Ray of course... Grace loves him!