Dear Spring Green

Project #2: Finishing a Pillow

2011-05-04T07:30:00.000-07:00

I was super lucky and was able to take Elizabeth Hartman's Free Motion Quilting class at Modern Domestic. If you have never taken a class there, and you are a local, you should! Our class was a nice small size, and I felt like I had lots of time to ask lots of questions and get help when I needed it. Elizabeth is a wonderful instructor and I wholeheartedly recommend her class!

My pillow!

We spent the first day cutting our fabric and learning how to practice quilting with a walking foot. On our second day we practiced quilting on a second quilt sandwich with our free motion, or darning foot.

This was supposed to be wonkier lines.
I learned I have to start really wonky for them to stay wonky as I go.

I had ordered a free motion foot and a walking foot years ago, knowing that someday I would want to use them to quilt something I had finished. I was pretty nervous to put them on my machine, but after the first class I came home and hooked up the walking foot. It was awesome! And after the second class, I came home and hooked up my free motion foot, and it was awesome too!

Pebble quilting!!! Oh I was super excited to learn this one.

I finished up my pillow at home, and took it to our quilt guild meeting for show and tell. Yay! I had something to show! Not a quilt yet, but I'll get there.

Stippling. The hardest for me! I held my breath the whole time I did this square.
It turned out much better than I thought it would.

The fun part of this is I did most of it with little ones (literally) tugging on my sleeves...and pants. So if I can quilt like that, imagine what will happen if I have a little time to myself.

Leafy vines! I wanted to try stars on vines, but the ones I did looked like sad wierd triangles.

I am super happy I was able to take this class. I know I will be able to keep practicing the techniques and improve with time. What is your favorite quilting (or other!) class you have ever taken?

Today I am Grateful for:
1. Sewing! Quilting! It makes me happy.
2. PMQG.
3. Learning new things.
4. Living so near PDX. So many amazing ladies belong to my quilt guild! I am lucky!

A Royal Garden

2011-04-29T01:30:00.000-07:00

I love royal weddings! I remember waking up early to see Prince Charles and Lady Diana get married when I was a little girl. Now, I am going to get up very early to see Prince William wed Kate Middleton today!

Our flowers last year!

Molly and I have been picking out our seeds for our flower garden. We have been royally influenced in our choices this year.

Sweet William is going to marry...

Flowering Kale, I mean Kate.

She is as sweet as an English Daisy.

She will become a part of the Royal Family!

The Archbishop of Canterbury will marry them.

And they will live happily ever after in misty Anglesey, Britain!

Are you looking for something cute to do with your little ones to mark the occaision? Look here! (And then look at the other ideas to the right!)

Today I am grateful for:

1. Tivo. If I don't get up early enough, Tivo will record it for me!

2. Summer is coming! We can plant soon. I have big plans for the garden this year.

Vancouver Adventures

2011-04-27T07:30:00.000-07:00

We had a rainy spring break week. I wish the weather had been better, but we had one day (sort of) with sun. I think Mother Nature must be holding back for a super-terrific summer she has planned for us. Right? (Say yes.)

We decided to stick closer to home and have our adventure here in Vancouver.

The Pearson Air Museum is close by, and we went to visit! It is located in a large hangar in Fort Vancouver, near Officer's Row and downtown Vancouver.

The rudders and tail fin wiggle on this one! The propeller spins too.

Helicopter!

There are plenty of cute things for little ones to do, and lots of really great information for older children and adults on the history of flight, and specifically the history of flight in the northwest.

Here is part of the museum. There is so much more!

The museum is housed in this hangar.

They even had a Snoopy plane. Molly is pretty crazy about Snoopy ever since her Grammy showed her "It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown". She thinks Snoopy is hilarious. Though I am not sure she was as impressed with the Red Baron plane as I was.

As we walked through the parking lot when we were finished with the museum, we smelled something wonderful. I had heard that there was a wonderful bakery nearby, so we followed our noses.

The Julia Bakery is located not *too* far from Pearson Air Museum! We had to get out the GPS to find it though :). Molly chose a cookie, I had a blueberry scone, and Marshall had a bun with prosciotto, ham, and olives baked inside. We all liked our choices.

Mmmm scones!

Today I am grateful for:

1. Healthy kids! I am probably jinxing it, but everyone has been healthy for awhile.

2. Family to share holidays with!

3. Intermittent sunny weather.

4. A great crafting room to sew in. I know I am lucky to have one!

5. My Dads! I have two, and one has a birthday today! Happy birthday Dad! (Ha, just realized he used to oversee/something the Pearson Air Field when he worked for the city. What a coincidence!)

Happy Easter!

2011-04-26T07:30:00.000-07:00

I hope everyone had a Happy Easter!

Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.

Praise the Lord!

Psalms 150:6

Project #1: Ironing Board Cover

2011-04-09T07:30:00.000-07:00

I finally got my first project done. I wanted to do one a week, ha ha. Oh well, it is a start!

I love that iron holder thingy- it is from IKEA. So are the wall hanging containers. But they are super old. Now they have these...

I recovered my ironing board. It was an old cover, one we had had since we got married (10+ years old). At Christmas I had ironed some fusible interfacing the wrong way - down - and it had become sticky. So as a temporary fix, I put a piece of waxed paper on the sticky spot. And then it wasn't fun to iron anymore. Not that it ever was fun, but it was even less so when I was dealing with the wax paper and sticky spot.

So! A new cover became one of my project goals for the year. I wanted a bright spot of yellow in the room and I had these in my stash. Perfect. Except the polka dot was too short. I remembered seeing a picture of a pattern from Cotton Way of patchwork ironing board covers, and I thought oh! I can do something simple to make my fabric stretch. I added the gingham to make it a bit longer, and it worked!

I followed pretty much the same pattern for making the cover as I did here when I made the mini one.

It sure is bright and pretty- and I am enjoying being able to iron things again!

Today I am Grateful for:
1. A sunny spring like day! We went for a long walk and the flowers and trees were awesome. Yay spring!
2. Jack's teeth. He is getting some new molars, and so nursing is off and on, but I am grateful he will be able to chew things up better with his new teeth.
3. My little girl is four. Oh my. This deserves it's own post, but oh. Four. So big!

Brought to You by the Letter D

2011-03-16T07:30:00.000-07:00

Daffodils! Donuts! We went on another adventure this past rainy Sunday. Molly is getting used to the idea. When she got into the car after church, she asked, "Where are we going on our 'venture?"

My little yellow flower in the daffodil field.

So off we went to pick daffodils! This is a great little Vancouver spot that was written up in The Columbian (our local paper) last year. Each dozen you pick costs only 50 cents. My favorite flower is the daffodil (Wait...I am lying, I love lilacs too...so maybe they tie for my favorite flower). It's so fun to fill the house with their happy sunny faces in the spring. Molly and I cut 48 daffodils and had to stop because our hands were too cold- it was pouring rain. I am thinking about going to get more this next week. It is so nice to have fresh flowers in the house! If you go, bring a plastic bag and a pair of scissors for easy cutting and carrying.

Doooonnnuuttttssss (ala Homer Simpson)

Next, we accessed our app Portland Essentials and off we went in search of donuts. The Helen Barnhard Bakery has been around since 1924. Helen started the bakery in her kitchen. The little bakery was super sweet (har har) and by the time we got there, our donuts were even half off! And delicious! Another D!

I wanted a cinnamon roll, but they were all sold out. So darn (D!), we will have to go back. Oh dear (D!). Someone stop me.

Thanks to Evelyn and Another Yarn for all the great ideas for new things to do in Portland! (See comments last post.) My list is growing!

Grateful List:
1. I am thankful for all the people out there who can help everyone effected by the earthquake and tsunami in Japan. It is times like this I want to be a doctor or a nurse. Or a nuclear physisist. You know, one of those. So I could help.

2. I am grateful for Jen. She told me I can do it (no TV for Lent) and I am. And it is not that bad, but every once in a while, I have to take a deep breath and step away from the remote.

3. Inspiration. I wish I could do this in 40 days. Even though I can't on that level, I can go slower, and make it happen! It might take me a bit longer. I am okay with that.

4. Spring! The croci (I looked it up) are beautiful and purple, and the daffodils, well, I already covered that!

Adventures in Portland

2011-03-09T07:30:00.000-08:00

I recently got a new phone. I have needed one for awhile, but being me, I had just gotten used to the old one. It was two years old, maybe older? I just found a calendar option on it the other day. Oh well. Marshall ordered a refurbished iPhone for me. I have been having a lot of fun finding new applications for it. Some I have found for Molly, and some for me. In the next few months I'll blog about the ones Molly is using.

Screenshot taken from the iTunes Store

I found one for the whole family the other day called "Portland Essentials". It has a lot of fun little categories like "Hidden Gems" and "Child Friendly". We are having great fun planning our trips around Portland based on it. Sunday we went on our first adventure!

Screenshot taken from the iTunes Store

We were going to go to Voodoo Donuts, but the line was crazy. So we decided to go to Mother's Bistro and Bar. Yum! It was around noon when we arrived, and we had a 45 minute wait (ha ha, so much for not waiting). The staff were wonderful and so sweet to the children, and we had a lovely little table in the back. I really enjoyed looking around at the decor, lots of fun chandeliers and mirrors. The food was good, I had the crab cakes sandwich, Molly had the cheeseburger and fries, and Marshall had the biscuits and gravy. We all liked our meals. They are well known for their macaroni and cheese, next time I will order that. Then we walked over to the Portland Saturday Market.

Yum.

After we walked through the market, we walked along the park and played in the grass. A lovely girl named Karen gave Molly the ball she is playing with below. Isn't that sweet? She said she bought it that day to give away to a little one.

Molly and her new ball. Part of Portland Saturday Market is in the background.

We are looking forward to our next adventure in Portland. We are thinking trying again for Voodoo Donuts, a bicycle ride along the river or maybe a tram ride!

Do you live in Portland? Ever been to Portland? What is your favorite place to go/thing to do? We would love to hear your ideas!

Today I am Grateful For:

1. Semi-healthy children right now. Yay!

2. Molly and Jack entertaining each other today for about 15 minutes. It was so fun to watch. Quietly. While I got something done. :)

3. The purple crocus poking up their pretty heads in our flower beds outside. Yay spring!

4. Kona solids. I picked up a bunch today on sale for a secret project.

5. My husband for holding Jack on his lap at night so I can sew/clean/sort/whatever. (He doesn't like to sleep without one of us holding him. Molly went through a similar phase.)

So, on one last note...I am thinking about giving up television/movies for Lent. Am I crazy? Or crazy smart? Or will I go crazy? I don't watch television during the day, it is usually at night after the kids go to bed that we watch something. I am not sure of this yet. I thought at first it was a good idea, now I am thinking otherwise. Which probably means I should do it. Gah.

Cranberry Picking on My Parent's Farm

2011-03-06T07:30:00.000-08:00

Yeah, so blogging. It seems to be taking a back seat to life right now, but here is a little fall catch-up from me...I promise I will get back in the swing of things soon!

The cranberry bog on my parent's farm in Oregon.

This past Thanksgiving, I was able to pick cranberries with my Mom in my parent's cranberry bog. Normally, we just call this the pasture. But I will be all fancy and call it a cranberry bog, because that is what part of it is now!

When we were kids, we always strung popcorn and cranberries together to decorate the Christmas tree. In early January, we would take the stale strings down and place them outside in the trees for the birds to eat. Well...fast forward 20 or so years, and my Dad was walking around in the pasture one fall (I think it was 2008) and noticed that there were red berries underfoot. He looked closer, and discovered our cranberry bog! The birds had eaten the Christmas tree decorations, and when they "went to the birdy bathroom" as they were flying, enough of them went in the same area. This area is right near our pond, and quite swampy. The seeds from the cranberries took root, and et voila! Cranberry bog!

Here are some hiding. I am going to get you!

Did you know most of the world's cranberries are grown and harvested in the United States and Canada? And they like the coastal areas, so Oregon and Washington both have lots of cranberry farms. This is a great little video on how a wet harvest looks.

So one of my crazy fantasies one day is to work on a cranberry farm at harvest time. I have always wanted to do this! I really like cranberries, especially in my Mom's cranberry orange bread. They are such a versatile little fruit. You can eat them, sauce them, bake them, even decorate with them!

Here is my Mom (well, her hand anyway) picking cranberries.
She wears disposable gloves so her hands don't get wet. But they do get cold!

We picked for about 30-40 minutes and got quite a few. It was cold and wet so we went inside to see how many we had.

Oooh magical cranberries! Aren't my Mom's hands pretty? I have always thought so.

Here are the cranberries floating in a plastic tub.

When you want to separate the cranberries from all the little leaves and things that stick to them, you float them in a pan or bowl. Just like the real cranberry farmers do it, just on a much smaller scale!

See underneath? That is all the stuff I don't want in my cranberry orange bread!

Gorgeous!

And when you are all done? Lucious yummy cranberries to eat! Or mix into your favorite bread recipe!

Here is my mom's yummy cranberry orange bread recipe.

Margaret's Cranberry Orange Bread

Makes: 1 loaf (large)

Bake at: 325 degrees F

2 cups flour

1 cup sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup melted margerine or butter

3/4 cup orange juice

1 tablespoon grated orange rind

1 egg, well beaten

1 cup magical cranberries chopped up!

1/2 cup nuts- your choice- optional

Mix dry ingredients together very well in a large mixing bowl. Mix wet ingredients together. Make a well in the dry ingredients and pour the wet ingredients into the well. Mix them both together until just moistened. Add your cranberries and nuts and stir gently. Bake in a greased loaf pan for 60-70 minutes at 325 degrees F. Store 24 hours after baking but before cutting. (It is a little more firm this way). Makes 1 loaf (large!) of cranberry orange bread. Be sure to watch them closely if using smaller loaf pans or muffin tins and cut your baking time down.

I would have shown you finished loaves, but Molly and I made them and I doubled the butter by accident. Oops! They weren't very pretty, but they still tasted great :).

Enjoy!

Stop Freaking Out Resolution, and More!

2011-01-30T07:30:00.000-08:00

I can't stand a picture-less post on my blog, so here is my winter mantel.
I always want to spell mantel with the l and the e switched around. It looks funny to me this way.

I have a tendency to overthink things. A lot. I think about them and think about them, and then don't do anything because I am scared of the results. Or the process. I do this with everything. EVERYTHING! It is soooo frustrating.

I went to hear Amy Karol of Angry Chicken speak at Powell's last fall when her new book came out, and she said something that was super awesome. (I am paraphrasing here...) She said that we should treat our first time doing something as a practice run, and expect it won't turn out like we want it to. If we just expect that- and it does turn out well, then wahoo! If it doesn't, well, then you know what to fix the next time. When she said that (or you know, something close to it) it was like something released for me- it made sense, and someone (Angry Chicken no less!) had given me permission to mess up. It is okay to mess up.

So my first New Year's Resolution is to stop freaking out. Stop overthinking things. Just sew. Just repair. Just finish something.

Here is my big resolution this year: I will be sewing/making/repairing/finishing one thing a week this year. I have a bunch of things just waiting to be finished, and 2011 is their year! I will also blog it, whatever it is. It might be a box that needs to be emptied from our move a year and a half ago, it might be a sewing project that I promised someone I would finish for them. I am going to stop overthinking things and get something finished.

So here are the other New Year's Resolutions that I would like to make public (because it might light the fire I need under my bum to get going on them if I tell you):

1. Stated above- get 1 project a week finished.
2. Open my Etsy shop. Soonish.
3. Blog once a week, twice if possible.
4. Stop volunteering for things. Full stop. My plate is full.
5. Stick to my budgeted allowance.
6. Get rid of stuff.

Okay, that sounds great! I am full of excitement about this year, and can't wait to get a start on my list. After this stomach flu goes away. (Seriously- I always get the flu shot and I always get the flu! I know, I know, not all flu viruses are in that shot- but still- I am putting it out there to the universe- I DON'T WANT THE FLU ANYMORE. STOP GIVING IT TO ME.)

And I am sorry I was gone so long from this space. This fall was a bit overwhelming. I am back now though! Happy Halloween! Happy Thanksgiving! Happy Christmas/Holidays! Happy New Year!

I am also going to add things I am thankful for to the bottom of each blog entry from now on!

Things I am thankful for today:
1. My beautiful semi-healthy children. (Flu/colds/new teeth!)
2. Marshall. We are like peas and carrots, and I don't tell him enough how great he is. Honey, you are great. I love you.
3. Living in the NW. It makes me so happy.
4. A home. Food. My husband is employed. All good things that I don't take for granted.
5. The people who read this blog. Thank you!

A Little Happy Zombie and a Pincushion Swap at PMQG

2010-10-26T07:30:00.000-07:00

We had another great meeting last Thursday night at Portland Modern Quilt Guild. The Happy Zombie, Monica Solorio- Snow, talked about her Holiday Happy line of fabric (so cute- must get gnomes), getting started in the fabric designing business, and behind the fabric industry scenes information. Did you know she designed those cute little "Claus Gnomas" in all the colors of the line? Lecien only released the red, and I am going to write to them that I would love to see the other colors released too! I can just imagine a bunch of gnoma claus' on my couch. I love Monica, she is so funny, down-to-earth, and just lovely to listen to. She makes me laugh!

We also had a pincushion swap! We put our handmade creations in a plain paper bag, put them all on a table, and then choose one. I made this one, which Katie chose.

That's a Munki-Munki chicken in the middle!

The little dish is from Pier 1.
And little pom poms! I have a happy place in my heart for pom poms.
I am a true child of the 70's.

And I got this one, which Amber made! It couldn't be more perfect for me- aliens, a little Flea Market Fancy (I only have one fat quarter of this fabric line and continue to drool over the bits I see online), and I think she told me she dyed the pieces on the back. Amazing!

I love those aliens! Munki Munki again! The Flea Market Fancy is on the right.
I think the piece above the aliens is dyed too!

And it looks completely different on the back- these are the pieces I believe she dyed.

I am always so happy to go the PMQG meetings. It's so nice to be around so many lovely women who love fabric and sewing as much as I do!

Confessions a la Clover Lane

2010-10-20T07:30:00.000-07:00

I read the funniest post today, and thought about what I would say if I had my own confessions. So here they are you lucky readers! (Sarcasm.)

1. I have a game I play in my head every so often. I don't think anyone else plays this game. At least, that is the sense I had when I told my husband about it the other day. It's only taken 12 years for him to know how weird I am. Anyway. The world has been sucked through a black hole, or something, and doesn't exist anymore. And each person that used to be on the Earth has to say one thing they wish would be on the new Earth. And if no one says it, it won't be there. And you can't say a person, because that doesn't count. And how could you pick just one person? So I alternate between the choices of green grass, blue sky, clouds, rain, and the ocean. I have a hard time making up my mind. I think it's my way of being thankful for the amazing things that are right out my front door each day. I always feel a bit surprised and quite thrilled at how pretty our world is each day when I step outside. We are so very lucky to live here. (And by here, I mean Earth. Not Vancouver, Washington specifically. Although it is very pretty here too.)

2. Earlier this year I declared in my head (In my head! Ha, that doesn't work! I should have declared it to blogland. That seems to motivate me better.) that this would be the year of unfinished projects. I would take one project each week and finally FINALLY finish it. Then I realized that between nursing, reading stories, laundry, playing with playdough, fixing meals, coloring, changing diapers, fixing snacks, blah blah blah, that it wasn't working. But you know, this still might work. I won't give up on this one yet. Just writing about it makes me excited about the idea again.

3. I tried to cut my own hair about a month ago. I cut my husbands, I cut my Mom's once in a while (just trimming), I have cut my FIL's, and my Dad's. I even cut my sister Elizabeth's. That was a bit of a disaster (sorry Betsy!) but I didn't remember that part until later. So, why not mine? I even pretended and "practiced" in the mirror before I tried it. I thought about the way I would do it, and how I would be slow and methodical. And then I looked like...oh gosh, I don't know- it was just soooo bad. I stopped at one point and put the scissors down and laughed maniacally at myself. And then I picked them up again, thinking I could fix it! What is wrong with me? Then I tried to have my husband fix it, that didn't work. He's a good hubby for trying. And so for a week or so, I had it up in a loopy ponytail so no one could see what I had done until I could get a proper haircut from someone with training for gosh sakes. And my stylist? What a nice lady. She didn't laugh at me. At least while I was there.

4. My bum is gone. My front appendages (you know what I am talking about) fell down in my first pregnancy with Molly, and that was sad. They used to be a little (oh who am I kidding, a lot) perkier, and I thought, well, I knew that was coming. Everyone warns you about that. But no one warned me that my bum would flatten out in a pregnancy! It used to have a cute little pop to it, but now, it is quite flat after my pregnancy with Jack. None of my old pants fit me correctly anymore. Today I was thinking about how I wished I had a "before" picture. Of just my bum. In clothes of course. So I knew what I wanted it to look like again. Like I wouldn't recognize if it was there again? Ha. I have to google how to get it back. I mean google what exercises to do. Maybe it just wanted to join my front appendages by going south too. Sigh.

5. I stack up newspapers I haven't had time to read and won't let my husband recycle them until I have read them. This must drive him crazy. But I feel like I will miss some news that I should know about, and so I keep them and read them, and even though it is months later I learn about what is happening in the world. Or rather, what happened in the world.

6. I hoard candy from certain holidays. If you open my freezer a few months after Easter, you are likely to find Cadbury Mini-Eggs. And if you open my cupboard a few months after Halloween, you will see candy corn. It's like I think the world's supply will dry up and someone will decide that we shouldn't make those candies anymore for these specific holidays and I would be so sad and so I must buy extra and hide them in my kitchen just in case. I used to buy extra Cadbury Creme Eggs and freeze those too, but one year I bought like, fifty? And after that I thought ENOUGH, no more of those.

A Pattern Review and a Birthday Present

2010-10-16T07:30:00.000-07:00

My cousin's birthday was in late September and I wanted to try something new. I had purchased Terry Atkinson's Cash and Carry pattern this summer, and I had the perfect fabric for my cousin- swedish fish!

Yay! A completed project!

The pattern was great. It was easy to follow and I think it turned out almost like the picture. Molly even helped with this one. She was so sad to see it go that we started to make her one too. We still need to finish it!

I tried the top pattern in this picture.

I like the squishiness that the fusible fleece gives the pouch, but it wasn't easy to push through my sewing machine. I am trying Molly's pouch with flannel inside instead, and we will see how that works out.

It's a little slanted on the sides- next time I won't cut the zipper down so much.

I had everything I needed in my stash for this project! I love that!

Bee Vintage- August Blocks for Jen

2010-09-30T07:30:00.000-07:00

Oh my hexagon. That is my new swear phrase! I didn't think that these would be so hard, but for me, they were.

Jen asked for shabby chic colors and she loves pink. I like this one the best!

I am part of a quilting bee called Bee Vintage. Each month a new "Queen Bee" is the head of the quilting bee and lets all the others know what quilt block to make for them. When we are finished, we send them through the mail to the Queen Bee. The Queen Bee makes a quilt from all the blocks we send. Our bee uses vintage sheets for our quilt blocks.

Jen was our Queen Bee for August, and she asked for hexagon blocks. The tutorial we all used was this one by Julie of Jaybird Quilts. The cutting instructions were here. I had a hard time wrapping my head around the moving of my ruler (brain cells, come back! I miss you!) but once I got it, it was easy. At one point I had to call in my math-minded hubby and he even cut some of the triangles for me. Sewing on the other hand...I need to figure out the pressing and matching of seams a little better. My seam ripper and I bonded quite a bit during this project.

Here is it's mate.

I couldn't take any cute clothesline pictures this time. It was raining. And dark outside. And I needed to get these in the mail the next day. My pictures are a bit dark as a result, sorry!

It really is quite brilliant how these work- take a look at the tutorial if you haven't already!

And the last one!

Book Review: Sewing in No Time

2010-09-25T07:30:00.000-07:00

I have a shelf of very inspirational craft books, and instead of just looking at them for ideas (like normal!) I've been making projects to spruce up my craft room. Today I am reviewing one of them, Sewing in No Time: 50 Step-by-Step Weekend Projects Made Easy. I bought this one from Joann's with my 40% off coupon. Yay coupons!

This book was written by Emma Hardy. She is a contributor to both the british magazine Marie Claire, and the french magazine Marie Claire Idees.The french magazine is a super fun but spendy magazine to get here in the United States. It is full of crafty ideas and just lovely eye candy! I have only ever seen issues online. Someday when I go to France I will haunt newsstands to find one to bring home with me. See the Eiffel Tower? Notre Dame? No thanks, I just want a magazine. Hee hee.

Whimsical print circa a long time ago from Joann's home dec section.

I chose the project "Ironing Board Cover" on pages 114-115. I had thrifted a small tabletop ironing board from Salvation Army for about two dollars. I already had the batting, the home decorator weight cotton, muslin, and the cording in my stash. It's fun when I have almost everything I need to start and finish a project.

Here is the very nice looking back, if I do say so myself.

I thought the directions were very good. Emma Hardy gives approximations on measurements for this particular project, not exact sizes. This is due to the nature of this project- all ironing boards are not the same size. (Other projects do include exact measurements.) The pictures are clear and easy to follow. I would consider myself a beginner sewist, so I think most people could follow the directions for the projects in this book.

Instructions on Ironing Board Cover in the book.

I was even able to have Molly help me with this project! Normally you would find me saying, "Oooh put the scissors down! No, don't touch the iron! Oh dear, no that fabric can't be your cape, it's the ironing board cover! Come back! AGH!" For a change, we were able to do this together. I won't say it went perfectly, but it wasn't super frustrating. (This means I didn't have to think too hard about the directions- I could pay attention to a 3 year old, a 4 month old, AND we could create and sew something! Not so easy these days for me...and a good thing about this book!)

Judy loves hearts, she was born on Valentine's Day!

I also made a variation on the laundry bag project. This was made for my MIL Judy back in February. I thought she needed something to carry her knitting in, and a roll for her knitting needles. I shrunk the dimensions for this project so she could carry a medium sized knitting project in the bag along with her knitting roll.

Instructions on the Laundry Bag from the book.

I don't know if I can call this an official book review as I have only made two of the projects in this book. There are several other projects that I have looked at and would like to make. That counts, right? Most craft books have a higher ratio of things I won't make versus what I would like to make, this seems to be the opposite. There are a lot of wonderful ideas in here, and I plan on making more from Sewing in No Time. Here are a few more pictures of fun projects from the book!

Cute little toy bags. I am not a fan of embellishments. I think I'd leave off the flower. But I love the animals peeking out- so cute! Maybe I would just put googly eyes on each bag. Then they are always looking at you! That is either hilarious or creepy. I can't decide. (Okay, I am siding with hilarious. I love googly eyes!)

I have fantasies about making play tents for Molly and Jack. Oooh, I revealed his name to the interwebs!
Yep, it's John Henry, nicknamed Jack. He is named for my grandfather.

Ahhh, a peg bag. I still haven't decided what I want mine to look like on my lovely clothesline.

Bee Vintage- July Blocks for Emily

2010-08-08T07:30:00.000-07:00

Crazy blue, pink, and green sheet that I found thrifting turns into a cute Sawtooth Star!

I am a part of a quilting bee called Bee Vintage. Each month a new "Queen Bee" is the head of the quilting bee and lets all the others know what quilt block to make for them. When we are finished, we send them through the mail to the Queen Bee. The Queen Bee makes a quilt from all the blocks that we send. Our bee uses vintage sheets for our quilt blocks.

I thought I would be on top of the whole bee thing- but here it is the end of July/beginning of August and I just finished the quilt blocks up. Hmm...having a three year old and a three month old isn't very conducive to crafting! It took me three days to do three Sawtooth Stars...yikes.

I love this sweet little blue and green floral print.

Emily asked for Sawtooth Stars. I think I have made these before, but...well, maybe it's just my imagination. I love that in the process of making them, you make flying geese blocks.

I couldn't resist adding a little yellow!

In our bee, we use our thrifted sheets we have on hand. If we want the group to add something specific to our blocks, we send it out ahead of time. It's a lot of fun to dig through my sheets and fat quarters and find just the right print for each block. I had a bit of a hard time deciding! And one of the best parts of being in a bee each month is I get to make a new block I've never made before. How fun!

This is my first bee and I am not sure what to send with my bee blocks. I sent a note and an extra vintage sheet fat quarter with this set for Emily. Does anyone have any tips for me on bee etiquette?

Thrifty Thursday Finds- Pyrex!

2010-08-05T07:00:00.000-07:00

I am always looking for fun sets of pyrex when I go thrifting. I found both of these sets at garage sales so far this summer.

Colonial Blue Pyrex

This set, called Colonial Blue, was two dollars at a church sale. There was a lady digging through a box that hadn't yet been unpacked at this sale, and she found a whole set of this - marked one dollar. Lucky!

Butterprint Cinderella Pyrex

This set, called Butterprint, was six dollars at a garage sale down the street. I love this turquoise/aqua color! It was so fun to find the whole set in one place. These are called Cinderella bowls. They have a pouring spout and a handle.

Whenever I go to Goodwill, Value Village, garage sales, and thrift stores I look for pieces of pyrex. So far I have had the best luck at garage sales. Jeni's blog is a wealth of information on pyrex. She has a guide to common patterns, promotional patterns, guide to solids, numbering and sizes, and tips for cleaning pyrex. Another fun blog is Pyrex Love.

I know I have enough collections going on (fabric, beads, fabric) so I am trying to be selective and only pick the pieces that have a pattern or color I love, or a shape I will use. I am hoping to come across the Friendship bowls at some point. My sister Elizabeth likes these a lot too. So maybe we need two. In nesting sets, please!

I Love Sesame Street

2010-08-03T07:00:00.000-07:00

Molly on one of her favorite "rocas" (rocks)

We were taking a walk in our lovely neighborhood the other day. There are three little rocks along the way that Molly loves to sit on, or jump from, or count on the walk. As we came up to her "favorite rocks" this is what happened.

Molly: (pointing to first rock) Uno!

Angie: (turning to Marshall) Did she just say uno?

Marshall: If she says dos I am going to freak out.

Molly: (pointing to second rock) Dos!

Angie and Marshall laugh uncontrollably.

Molly: (pointing to third rock) Place! (translation = tres)

Angie: Molly, where did you learn that?

Molly: Sessa Street! It's spanish!

Molly jumping off roca numero tres (rock number three)
(Did I say that right? I don't know, I googled it. So much for two years of high school spanish...)

I Love a Good Clothesline

2010-07-26T08:30:00.000-07:00

I went a little crazy with the clothespins. Stay duvet cover, stay!

I love the way these things smell:

My hubby cooking dinner (any dinner ha ha)

Freshly mown grass

My children's heads after they have had a bath (that sounds funny)

My Mom's roast beef cooking in the oven (a v. v. good childhood memory)

And clothes fresh from the clothesline.

Last year when we moved down to Washington (it's been a year now!) I asked my hubby Marshall for a clothesline. I always wanted one when we lived in Anchorage, but it wasn't very practical- there is only a very short window of months you can use one. And I always had this picture in my head of snagging moose (and their antlers) in a clothesline in the backyard. Really. But now, we live down in the Lower 48, and there is clothesline weather a great deal of the time! And I haven't seen any moose.

I found a couple of tutorials online, and my handy hubby Marshall was able to put it together for under $25!

A few recommendations:

*Make sure your poles are a little less than 25 feet apart or you will end up buying two packages of nylon clothesline. Not that we had to do this or anything.

*Pick a place where they ground is even. Our backyard (we rent) is not even and is also slightly sloped. When I am hanging out clothes I look up more than down and find myself stumbling about. I probably picked the most uneven spot in the yard. But it gets great sun!

*Look at where the sun is all day long, or at least most of the day, to find a good spot.

*Drill the holes for the clothesline before you put up the poles.

*Let the concrete cure for a few days before you hang up your first load of laundry. If you don't, your poles might move or lean a bit. Don't ask how I know this.

Now I am just looking for the perfect place to keep my clothespins. I love this Etsy seller, her bags are gorgeous! And she uses vintage sheets? Sounds like a match made in clothesline heaven.

Real Japanese Craft Books (in a Real Japanese Book Store)

2010-07-13T09:58:00.000-07:00

I used to order Japanese craft books from Etsy sellers when I lived in Alaska. I would examine the pages up close on the Etsy sites, just those four or five little pictures Etsy allowed for each book, and make a decision on whether or not those pages would be worth the price. Most of the books I bought always made me happy, but I longed for a time I could page through them myself and decide based on the whole book.

I had heard that there was a bookstore in the Portland/Beaverton area that carried the same books. My sister Johanna lives in the Portland/Beaverton area. I didn't investigate further. I already felt guilty about spending time in Target (Alaska didn't get a Target until fall of 2008) when I visited my family, how could I then spend hours in a Japanese bookstore looking at craft books?

So now that I live down in the Lower 48, I finally googled Kinokuniya.

It is 1.8 miles from my sister's house. ONE POINT EIGHT. Ugh.

So I went! The following pictures are officially titled...

Japanese Book Store Eye Candy

For your enjoyment.

And I bought two adorable books.

I love them.

Here they are! The big red one is here. The small one is here. The small book's projects are pretty much what you see on the cover. Small bags for toting your lunch or your shoes. Or paper. But the big red book! Variety! Behold!

I love all the different bags in the big red book. So many choices...

And more choices...

And more choices!

I especially liked how clear the directions seemed in this book. More clear than usual anyway. It's still Japanese.

How cute are these illustrations?! These are the designs for embroidery.

If you don't live close to a Kinokuniya, but know which Japanese craft book you want to order, Alicia of Posy Gets Cosy has a post here that talks about the Beaverton store (the one I went to) and how to order your books through them.

And, if you want to purchase them through Etsy anyway, I loved getting them from this shop or this shop.

So, now I have lots of lovely Japanese craft books. Have I sewn something from them? Uh...not yet. I am dreaming of taking this class here to teach me how someday soon!

Do you have a favorite Japanese craft book? Have you sewn something from one?

I'm in love with vinegar.

2010-07-05T18:53:00.000-07:00

I have been wanting to reduce the amount of very handy, but questionable cleaning products that are in our house. I have seen a lot of wonderful blog posts with different recipes. Lately, I have been cleaning everything (EVERYTHING) with vinegar and baking soda. I was inspired by Libby's post on creating cleaning baskets for her friends for the holidays. Here is what is in my cleaning basket:

Vinegar spray. This is simply 1/2 vinegar, 1/2 water. Vinegar smells when it's wet, but when it dries, you don't smell anything!

Baking soda. This is in a Dollar Store cheese-for-your-pizza shaker. I wanted a plastic one (this one is glass) but I was too impatient and got this. I use the baking soda from the refrigerator for absorbing yucky smells- when it's outlived it's usefulness there, it goes in my cheese shakers for cleaning!

Microfiber cloth. These were from Ross (Dress for Less). I love the primary colors. They SCREAM 'Clean with me!' (At least in my head. It's fun when inanimate objects talk to me.)

Scrubbrush. This one is from the Dollar Store and it is lovely.

Rubber gloves. Always nice to wear when you don't want skin on toilet contact.

Not pictured:

"Magic Eraser". I love LOVE the official Magic Eraser from Mr. Clean. I found an off-brand at the Dollar Store. I think they work about 1/2 as well as the official brand. Next time I will pay more for the real thing. Do you know how fast it will clean your tub and tile? SO FAST. So nice!

Rags. Marshall picked some up years ago at Home Depot and I use them all over the house. It's much better than paper towels! I recently found some flat fold diapers on Etsy that gave me an idea for functional and sweet (and much better looking) rags. So I went out and bought some of the same fabric from Joann's with my 40% off coupon. Now I just need to hem them up and dye them all those pretty shades of green! (Translation = 10 years from now when I find this fabric in a pile in my craft room I might get around to this...)

Toothbrushes (old), and a dust pan and broom. Handy tools for all those cleaning tasks.

I currently keep one of these baskets of cleaning products on each floor of the house. It really saves me going up and down the stairs when I need to clean something or mop up a quick mess.

One of the most brilliant ideas I have seen is this one, again from Libby. It's a vinegar laundry softener. The Downy ball was only $1.63 at my local Fred Meyer! There are times I add vinegar to my wash load just to get my whites whiter, and to take smells or stains out of clothing. The 1/2 and 1/2 vinegar water spray seems to take out most mild stains out of clothing.

I can't wait to try this great laundry soap! I even have all of the ingredients. My sister Elizabeth (no blog *yet* but super talented- with lovely Etsy shops!) has made this one and she likes it.

And here is a link to all the wonderful things vinegar (and other household ingredients) can do in your home! I look at this page all the time for ideas.

Some things I can't live without (when I am cleaning anyway):

My Shark Steam Mop. Kind of spendy, totally worth it. I use it every few days to clean all the hardwood floors and tile in the house. All it uses is electricity, steam, and distilled water. I love that there are no chemicals. And it really goes quickly. Believe me, I was washing the floors by hand before and well, that wasn't going to last long.

And, my one holdout in the cleaning department that doesn't qualify as a "green" cleaning solution- OxiClean Laundry Spray and OxiClean Versatile Stain Remover Powder. I use the powder to pre-soak stained clothing. I dissolve the powder with a kettle full of boiling water in a large bowl, then place stained items in the bowl. Usually, most stains disappear! If it doesn't work the first time, I do it again. I use the OxiClean Spray on light stains and it is also super effective.

What are your favorite cleaning solutions or cleaning tips?

We're a symmetrical family!

2010-05-15T17:43:00.000-07:00

Our little boy arrived three days early on April 28th at 2:40pm. He was 8 pounds, 11 ounces. I was so happy with his birth- a VBAC, and completely natural too! We are so happy he is here. Molly is a doting big sister. Now we have two girls and two boys in our family (including Mom and Dad).

Recycling Vintage Sheets on Earth Day

2010-04-22T23:26:00.000-07:00

The sheets are ready for the vintage sheet fat quarter swap!

It was a bit daunting to think about cutting all the sheets, so when I saw the advice from My Tiny Robot Heart, I knew ripping was the way to go. That, and my Mom told me it would be a lot faster.

It was a lot easier to rip up all the pretty sheets once I got started. I measured first, found the best way to divide it into a "chubby" fat quarter (usually around 20 x 23 inches, some were smaller though), and made my cuts. I ripped them outside. There are a lot of particles that float around when you do it inside. My mom rips sheets for her rag rugs (seriously cute) and she mentioned that this would be best. Once they were ripped into large strips, I made the second cuts where the fat quarter would be, and ripped those. I ironed each one and folded them the way that our swap master Katie requested.

Blue sheets.

Pink sheets.

Yellow, green, and orange sheets.

I am so excited to participate in my first swap- I can't wait to see what I will get back!

Molly's Golden Birthday

2010-04-19T21:03:00.000-07:00

Molly turned three on the third. I can't believe she is three already! A few years ago when I was still teaching I learned about golden birthdays. When you turn the age of the day of the month you were born on (for example 3 on the 3rd, 23 on the 23rd) it is called your "golden" birthday. When my students had a golden birthday, their parents made it a very special day. I couldn't let Molly's golden birthday pass by without having a big party! We decided to have a Very Hungry Caterpillar party. She probably would have loved a princess party, but I didn't give her that option...bad mommy.

It was a lot of fun to create these large tissue pom-poms from Martha. They really added a punch of color to the dining and living rooms where we had the party. I am imagining them at EVERY party we have from now on- they are that easy.

Marshall covered our two Little Tykes tables with a large plastic green tablecloth (cut in half). I have grand plans for the future to cover these tables with fabric with an elastic hem so they won't slide off easily. I think oilcloth would be best, but I need to find a print that goes with pink and purple chairs.

When the little and big guests arrived, they colored Hungry Caterpillar pictures and bookmarks. while I read them the story of The Very Hungry Caterpillar. I wanted to make these, but I didn't have the pom-poms glued to the clothespins. Two and three year olds around hot glue guns...probably not a good idea.

Marshall moved the pom-poms almost a week after the party. They were so happy and colorful we didn't want to take them down. He hung them in our basement- where Molly's giant play room is. It looks super festive down there now!

I googled a Very Hungry Caterpillar cake, and I found this beautiful cake from Lyndsay at Coco Cakes. Wow! I didn't use fondant (it scares me a little) for the caterpillar's head, and I made a smaller trial cake on Molly's true birthday (a week earlier) to make sure I could do it. When I told her I would be making another one for her birthday party she told me, "I already did that Mom!" Yeah, me too...

I used my Michael's coupon to get a large star tip to make the frosting swirls on the cupcakes, and I also bought the gel food coloring there. Many cupcake and cake blogs say it is easier and faster to achieve the colors of frosting you want with gel food coloring. They are right! I used this recipe for the buttercream frosting, and it turned out pretty yummy! It was a lot easier than I thought it would be too.

This was one of the things I really wanted to get done for her party. So much so, I stayed up until 2 am sewing the buttons on them so I wouldn't worry about them on the day of the party. Ack. I wanted the kids to go home with something special, something Hungry Caterpillar, and something that wouldn't be thrown away. I made crayon rolls with Hungry Caterpillar fabric from here. Tiffany sent this fabric so fast, I was very thankful I could get an early start on them. (Of course, I procrastinated on actually finishing them up...) I love buying hard to find fabric (or well, any fabric) from her!

Here are a few pictures of what they looked like, inside and out.

Nareerath made both these adorable stickers we used on the outside of the goody bags (they say, "Thanks for coming to my party! Love, Molly") and the invitation for Molly's party.

For the invitation we emailed SillySeiraDesign (Nareerath's Etsy shop) a picture of Molly, and she emailed us a PDF to have printed locally. Perfect! Everything Nareerath created was adorable and received rave reviews from family and friends, not to mention Molly - she loves looking at her "catapiwere" party invitation. We also purchased the cupcake toppers, but then I decided to make the caterpillar cake...so now I'm looking for something to stick them in, they are so sweet.

The party turned out much like I had pictured. BUT there are always ideas I see after everything is done that makes me wish I had a little more time...

A few days ago, I saw this, and wow, if I had the time before the party, I would have loved to dress Molly in a Hungry Caterpillar shirt. And this pull-string pinata? Or this one? How creative! We bought a pull string butterfly from Party City, but had we had enough time to order the butterfly one from Etsy, I would have!

My mail feels like fabric

2010-04-02T22:03:00.000-07:00

My vintage sheet fat quarters from Evelyn.

I am on the counter.

I shouldn't be.

Vintage sheets.

Fat quarters.

In the mail.

I squealed when Marshall told me a package had arrived and "felt like fabric".

When Evelyn from Use the Loot posted she would be putting packages of vintage sheet quarters in the mail (21 fit into my envelope! Wow!) for $15 including shipping, I was super excited. I asked Evelyn for yellows, oranges, and greens in florals and checks. And one checked blue if she had it! She selected these beautiful sheets for me. Thanks Evelyn! I love them! I am planning a vintage sheet nine-patch quilt with these. I have it in my head, now I just need to get started.

I've been collecting sheets for a while, and I have enough that I've joined a fat quarter vintage sheet swap. Katie over at See Katie Sew is running the swap this year. I can send one, or I can send up to eighty. Phew! That would be a lot of vintage sheets.

Eighty is a lot. I don't need eighty. Right? Excuse me while I go count my sheets...

Thrifty Thursday Finds

2010-03-24T20:39:00.000-07:00

I love thrifting. It is one of my favorite things to do. When I lived in Anchorage, Alaska, the thrifting was pretty limited. We had two Value Villages, one Salvation Army, and a few charity run thrift shops that were the most fun to shop at if you wanted a great bargain.

Here in Vancouver, Washington, I am surrounded by thrift stores and loving it! Some of my favorites are again, those smaller ones that are run by charities, but I always go back to my reliable Goodwill (which come to think of it- is also charity run). This last week I had a bit of fun shopping and found these bargains.

This chick has been on my mind for about a year! I first saw it on Morgan's blog, One More Moore. It was in her daughter's Easter basket last year, and I loved it. I even saved a picture of it on my bookmarks so I could remember what it looked like! Funny enough, like my Mom always says, you can find anything you are looking for thrifting! You just have to be a little patient. I was so happy to put this little guy in my cart. He will be in Molly's Easter basket this year.

This book cracked me up. I always go through the craft books at Goodwill, and they always have a diverse selection. It has a bunch of fun (old school) crafts in it. One of my favorites is using a nail to punch holes in recyclable cans, then lighting a candle in them to see the design. Does anyone remember doing that at camp or school? I do! The teacher in me cringes to think of all those little kids with nails and hammers. Oh my.

And my most favorite of all- thrifted sheets! I love these retro daisies with the pink background. I have been collecting 1960's and 1970's sheets for a while and have amassed quite a few. I would love to do a vintage sheet swap- I see that there is one right now at Shari's blog, Sew Make Time. I am not sure I have the nerve to cut into them. I love them so much! I am dreaming of making a nine-patch quilt with them. I think a king size. Ha. First I need to finish the other two quilts sitting in my WIP pile!

My first (pattern-less) bag.

2010-03-21T20:22:00.000-07:00

I have a huge pile of WIP/mending/projects to do. So every time I finish two or three of these *yawn* projects, I reward myself and make something new and exciting.

I made this bag without a pattern. Without making a muslin first. Or thinking about pesky things like how tall I wanted it, or how deep. And it was new! And exciting! And I wasted a bunch of fabric! But I keep telling myself that that is okay. I had fun doing it.

I love this fabric by Timeless Treasures. It is called "Allover Trees". I wanted to feature it in a bag with a linen-look but without the linen price. I used osnaburg from my local Joann's, and I really like how it turned out. It's soft and squishy. To me it looks just like linen. The next time I will add some kind of interfacing to make it a bit more substantial, shorten the handles, and line it with a more neutral color. This is my first attempt at patchwork. I used three different fabrics to frame the tree fabric. The patchwork was time intensive, but I think well worth the effort.

I even made my first zipper pocket, thanks to a tutorial from Natalie at Cinderberry Stitches! (And look! My first links too!)

I'm back!

2010-03-18T22:35:00.000-07:00

Molly at Multnomah Falls on the Columbia Gorge

Let's see.

Things have changed.

My family and I moved. We now live in Vancouver, Washington. We're enjoying an early spring (oh flowers and smelly plants how I love thee)! We are currently living in a house 4 times the size we used to- therefore, I have a CRAFT ROOM of my very own. It is lovely lovely lovely. And our family is also expecting a new little one very soon. Which is kind of funny because...

Lately I have felt like hopping back on the blogging - wagon. I continue to follow (way too many) wonderful blogs by so many talented crafty women (and two men). I am so inspired, I have been sewing! Crocheting! Beading! But...I know in a very short while, I will be looking for 2-5 minutes to sew or create something instead of having small parts of the day to do the same. And blogging? Oh dear. Well, I am going to try!

I Used to Blog in My Head

2009-05-18T01:06:00.000-07:00

So, a new blog.

I discovered blogs shortly after my daughter was born. Reading about other wonderful crafters and moms out there made me feel not so alone in my first days as a mama.

I've been blogging in my head for about a year now.

A little about me...

I live in Alaska. Anchorage, Alaska. I am married to Marshall, and have a two year old daughter named Molly. Before she was born, I decided to stay home with her. Every day is an adventure!

I love to craft. Making jewelry and sewing are my two favorites. I am still figuring out both of these things.

I also like commas, a lot. And exclamation marks. I am restraining myself, I know it's hard to tell. I can't say I'll use them correctly. But I'll try!