Never Done

El Luchador

2012-03-07T19:24:00.002-08:00

This is El Luchador.

El Luchador is a Mexican Wrestler.

And he is stronger than an elephant.

This crocheted figure is about 6" (don't let his small stature fool you, he took that elephant). The pattern is from Owlishly, who also designed the centerpiece pattern that I used in the Flower Girl Mobile.

I made this for my nephew Aidan, who took up wrestling this year, and just rocked at it. Aidan is a very dedicated kid and open to trying new things. This trait impresses me to no end.

More pillow covers

2012-03-02T14:07:00.001-08:00

After completing the guest pillow covers for our office, I took a second look at the pillow covers in our living room (from Ikea) and decided that I was over them. So back to Bolt I went and I purchased the same fabric pattern but in a different color.

I had four square down pillow forms from Ikea that I intended to re-use, but our biggest complaint about them was that they were too flat. So I opened them all up and divided one bag between three others. This allowed them to all be a little bit bulkier. That said, I would not recommend doing this indoors, as opening up four down pillows makes quite a mess.

I decided to use a different technique on these pillows than the last ones (for learning purposes only). I followed the pattern in Sewing in a Straight Line to create zipper closures for the covers. After sewing all those bags for Christmas the zippers didn't pose much of a problem, and the way they were created was quite interesting (it involved a basting stitch over the zipper, which was ripped out later). This is the only pattern from the book that I've used so far, but I found it pretty easy to follow (the pattern was called "World's Easiest Zippered Throw Pillow", afterall). There are two quilts in the book that I would really like to make, which is why I bought it, but if you look like the model shown on the cover of the book, there are probably a couple dresses/skirts that you'd like as well.

The new pillows add a nice touch to our green couch (which was really punchy enough already), but Mike and I have our eyes on a new charcoal couch cover, which if we ever purchase, will really make these new pillows pop!

Susanna's Birthday Weekend

2012-02-29T18:38:00.001-08:00

Last week Susanna had her 35th birthday! Thanks to Playmobil, She got flocked via text message.

Mike and I headed up to celebrate with her for an action-packed weekend, full of snow, smelt fishing, boat riding and even a little antiquing.

Like last year, our trip was anchored by the LaConner Smelt Derby. But unlike last year, this year the day was dry, and we even caught a couple fish (about 3 smelt and 1 herring total)!

Not large enough to eat, nor to win the derby, but at least we caught something!

This is Mike, reeling in his line to call it a day,

and then realizing that he's had a tiny smelt on the line the whole time.

Oops.

After we had our fill of the Derby (oh, about 15 minutes in and I was done, but we did last for an hour or so) we headed over to hop on Clayton's new fishing boat. He's only had it in the water for about a week, and we were eager to check it out. He'll be shipping it up to Alaska soon and then he'll fly up to begin his fishing season next month.

We all piled in and cruised up and down the Channel. Clayton pulled a couple of 360's in the middle of the channel - that thing turned on a dime.

Aidan testing out a fish hold - when he goes up this summer it'll be one of his jobs to clean this hold out.

Sleep Shorts

2012-02-22T18:25:00.000-08:00

A major goal of mine for 2012 is to sew some clothes for myself. I've only ever made baby clothes and doll clothes before, so this is a big step for me. To keep it simple, I started with the boxer short pattern in Fabric-by-Fabric One-Yard Wonders. I wanted to make these for my sisters and myself, so I omitted the "boxer flap" portion so that the pattern could be for sleep shorts.

I ended up making three pairs, with only one slight variation (I ran out of 3/4" elastic for the band, so I substituted 1" elastic). Each pair of shorts uses 1-yard of fabric. I chose flannel, as recommended in the book, and picked up two yards of the 5 Funky Monkeys by Erin Michael, one yard in each color. For myself, I used solid coral-colored flannel.

This pattern was pretty quick, however I was slowed down a little by having to create hidden seam edges. Since I don't own a serger (yet), and since I couldn't line the shorts, I really didn't want messy, fraying fabric edges. I think they turned out really well, but it was quite time consuming. I've now got my eye on a serger.

This is what the seams look like on the inside.

And this is what they look like on the outside.

I slept in my pair last night, and they were very comfy!

Mosaics!

2012-02-19T14:44:00.000-08:00

Mike and I just wrapped up a mosaic workshop through Portland Community College. It was a 5-hour Saturday workshop, with a couple hours on evenings before and after the workshop to discuss project ideas and grout the finished piece. We took the class because Mike has always been interested in mosaic tiling, and I have an interest anytime there's a craft that we can do together.

Mike and I have very different approaches to beginning new projects, therefore our outcomes are different too. I chose a small project (in hindsight it was perhaps a little too small - lots of little pieces to cut); something that I wasn't too invested in so that I could just have fun with it. Mike chose a larger project; something that he had invested a lot of interest in, and something that he really, really wanted to do just right. As a result, my project is done and he's still working on his. Since his isn't complete I'll save it for another blog post. In the meantime here's a picture tutorial of my mosaic process:

My simple sketch

I chose to work with stained glass shards, and apply the shards to a piece of framed clear glass. The idea is that my piece can hang in a window, with the light shining through, and it will glow. Our instructor recommended purchasing a picture frame, removing the back piece, and then gluing the glass to the frame. There were a couple of added advantages to this approach: I could put my sketch behind the clear glass and use it to guide me in placing my glass shards, and cutting glass is much easier than cutting ceramic tile.

Our main cutting tools were Running Pliers (left) and Glass Nippers (right). The running pliers have a little cutting wheel on one side used to score the glass sheets, and then the pliers are used to break the glass along the score line. The nippers are used to "nip" little pieces of glass off a large piece. This helps in shaping. I used the nippers a lot because my pieces were so small.

We started with larger sheets of glass and then cut them down into smaller shards. We purchased most of our glass at Cline Glass, making use of their "Tips & Tails" bins. These are the ends that get cut off the larger sheets when making big panes of glass. They are sold by the pound and are significantly cheaper than buying square sheets ($3/lb vs. $12/lb). Problem is that the color options are limited and you don't ever know what's going to be there. Lucky for me there was lots of blue and green. We also picked up some smaller glass shards at Scrap for only $1.50/lb.

Once I had some pieces cut I started laying them out on my glass. It's a bit like working a puzzle; trying to make all the pieces fit together. The instructor said it's much faster to cut your pieces to fit rather than spend the time searching through your shards for the perfect piece. She's right, but there's something fun about the challenge of finding the exact fit as well.

The instructor encouraged us all to try her "tape trick", which I found to be pretty handy. The idea is that after you have a small section laid out how you want it, place a strip of packing tape over the pieces (secure one end to the frame, and apply the rest over the shards). Lift up the other end and all of your pieces will be ready to apply glue. Apply glue to the back side of the shards and then lay them back down. Keep the tape in place until the glue has dried. I didn't let the glue dry completely because my piece was so small that I needed to remove some tape so that I could keep working. For glue we used PVA glue (Elmers, Alenes, etc).

After all the shards were glued down, and dry, it was time to grout. I don't have photos of the process because my hands were a little messy. The materials were pretty simple:

Mixing up grout is a "guesstimating" process. But for my small piece I really didn't need much (about a small yogurt container's worth). I added a little water, and folded it until it was the consistency of pie dough. Using my hands (gloved), I rubbed it into the grout lines using circular motions. Once it was fully grouted I used a damp rag (not wet - you don't want to add any more water to the grout) to wipe off the excess.

Once I got it home I painted the frame black and added some black glass beads for eyes. Then I put it in the window...

Glow, baby, glow!

Handmade Christmas: Passport Covers

2012-02-16T07:23:00.000-08:00

One last Christmas gift project for my sisters and brother-in-laws were passport covers. I found the tutorial at BunnyBum and whipped up 8 of them pretty quickly (the first was a practice "throw-away"). I lined a few of them with contrasting colors before it dawned on me that when in use the inside would never be seen. After that I just used the same fabric.

This was an extremely easy project, and for the travelers in your life it might be a good way to distinguish passports quickly. It's also a great way to use up leftover fabric scraps.

In case of an emergency...

2012-02-12T15:45:00.000-08:00

One of my goals for 2011 was to compile an emergency bag for Mike and I. Living in the Pacific Northwest there is always the risk of an earthquake, and although they've been quite rare/mild so far, there has been talk of a "big one" in more recent years. It eases my mind (a little) to know that we've completed this goal. It makes me feel like we have some sort of "plan".

There are lots of online resources for the "necessary" items in an emergency kit. There are also lots of pre-packaged emergency kits available for purchase. I reviewed lots and lots of resources, and for awhile contemplated purchasing the ready-made kits. However, when I reviewed the cost of the kits, then factored in all of the extra stuff I'd have to buy to supplement it (to fit our specific needs), I realized that the cost wasn't any cheaper. Not only that, but I didn't get a choice of items in the ready-made kits, and some of the stuff was rather cheap looking.

That said, here is the list of items in our kit:

A lot of this stuff was purchased on Amazon, but some of it we already had on hand or was easy to pick up at the grocery store.

I haven't tested any of this yet (happily, no need) but while reading the reviews for these products I encountered lots of people who had tested them, which factored heavily in the purchase of specific brands.

Sustenance
Datrex 3600 Emergency food bars
Datrex Emergency Water packets

Water treatment tablets
Water bottle
collapsible drinking cup

Fire & Light

Hybrid solar-powered flashlights
Industrial-grade lightsticks
Bear Grylls fire starter
Waterproof Matches

Sanitation & Medical
Medique first aid kit
Emergency Mylar blankets
Baby wipes
Pack towel (super absorbent)

Shelter
Tube tent
Nylon rope

Tools
Swiss Army knife

Extras
Backpack to put everything in
Deck of cards

Things I still need to add
Old pair of glasses
Bucket (for carrying & for sanitation)
Purell

What's New?

2012-02-07T21:33:00.000-08:00

Cauliflower

This vegetable is not in heavy rotation at our house. Not for dislike, but rather because I don't know what to do with it. Other than serve it raw, or in a marinated salad (my contribution to our 2009 Thanksgiving dinner) I have always drawn a blank. Until I came across a little blurb in one of my magazines about mashed cauliflower. So I gave it a try last night - very tasty!
Far fewer carbs than mashed potatoes, and aside from a bit grainier texture, I'd say they are just as good.

Ingredients:
1 head of cauliflower (medium), cut into florets
1 sweet yellow onion (medium), cut into rings
1-2 cloves of garlic, minced
1/4 cup buttermilk
salt & pepper

Steam or blanch the cauliflower until it's fork tender.
Saute the sweet onions.
Add all ingredients to a food processor and "process" until smooth.

The texture is a bit grainy, but also creamy, and the onions make it quite sweet! I imagine that you can add/subtract any number of items to suit specific taste preferences. Next time I'll add a bit of cumin...

Kindle Fire

Mike bought me a Kindle Fire for Christmas, and I am thoroughly enjoying it. I haven't given up books, but having the Kindle has become incredibly handy, particularly since I've had to ride the bus for the last 6 weeks. The Fire is also awesome because it's a fully-functioning tablet, allowing me to access the internet, email, play games, watch movies, etc. I've taken full advantage of the Amazon Prime lending library too (I just finished Sugarland, which I fully recommend).

Zumba

Old to many, but new to me. This is my second week of trying Zumba and I really like it. I think that I'll love it as soon as I learn all the moves and don't have to think so much. I get bored easily so every year I try to find a new exercise regimen. Since I love to dance, Zumba is a good fit. And an hour of exercise has never gone by so fast!

Mosaic

Mike and I signed up for a class through Portland Community College and we met for the first time last week. We spent the weekend picking up tools, sifting through bins of stained glass and searching the web for image inspiration. This Saturday is our big workshop day and I can't wait to see what we create by the end of it.

Timberline Skiing

2012-02-04T09:01:00.000-08:00

Last week Mike and I spent a beautiful afternoon on Mount Hood at the Timberline Ski Resort.

I am a "fairweather" skier - in order for me to really enjoy it all the elements have to come together. This was one of those trips: the weather was warm and sunny - not a cloud in the sky.

The slopes were wide open and the runs were long. The line waits were non-existent. And the views were incredible.

Mount Jefferson in the distance

Silcox Hut, buried up to the roof

So much room to myself!

At the end of the day we packed up our gear and grabbed a beer in the historic Timberline Lodge - always worth a trip, even if skiing is not part of the plan.

Handmade Birthday: Hamburger

2012-02-01T13:23:00.000-08:00

Because I wasn't sure if the Toy Lamp for Aidan's birthday was going to turn out, I made him a second, back-up present. Susanna told me that Aidan had really been wanting a handcrafted hamburger, and he didn't care if it was crocheted, sewn or needle-felted. I decided to sew him one out of wool felt, using the pattern in Big Little Felt Universe (same source for the tools and fruit/veggie basket). This pattern was very easy to follow and worked up quickly - I got most of it done on a car ride to the coast and back. I omitted the onions because they looked a little bulky (but I figured a 9-year-old wouldn't be that interested in onions anyway).

For easy wrapping, I just encompassed it in a sheet of aluminum foil.

Handmade Birthday: Toy Lamp

2012-01-30T07:32:00.000-08:00

I found this project at Turning Stones and I knew I had to make it for someone. Since my nephew turned 9 just after Christmas, and since he's such a fan of toy figurines and handmade crafts, I thought that he'd appreciate this. Turning Stones has a pretty good tutorial on how to make this, and I followed her advice very closely.

First, I found a bunch of random toys at Goodwill, along with a tabletop lamp base. I also pulled out a few toys from my toy box stash to supplement.

I decided that the two largest pieces, the gorilla and the dragon, were going to be my feature pieces so I determined their placement first. From there I started gluing on the smaller pieces around them, and crafted a storyline for the piece as I went along (of course, the storyline is not necessary, but it did make it more interesting for me, and helped me determine placement for the many pieces). It took about four hours to glue everything on, but the time passed fairly quickly. I used the Loctite quick-drying gel superglue recommended on Turning Stones. At first I purchased the wrong Loctite glue, and after holding the piece on the lamp for five minutes with nothing happening, I quickly realized my mistake and purchased new glue (I went through 3 bottles of glue for this project).

I had to do a little cutting and carving to get all the pieces to fit, particulary to make it look like the gorilla is hanging onto the lamp. For that I cut off his right arm, then glued it back on raised up.
After all the pieces were glued on, it was time for a coat of plastic primer spray paint, and then...

... multiple coats of turquoise spray paint!

Dragon and Gorilla are fighting for dominance over the city (Dragon's weapon of choice? A lobster, of course).

The citizens are irate, traffic has come to a standstill, sewer monsters are escaping, and bad guys are taking advantage of the mayhem.

The citizens are arming themselves and taking to the streets. It's a fight of good against evil!

Carnival Birthday Party

2012-01-27T09:16:00.000-08:00

In between Christmas and New Years Day, Aidan turned 9!

Last year Mike and I spent some time with him brainstorming ideas for a Carnival-themed birthday party. Unfortunately it wasn't able to happen for his 8th birthday, but one year later we all managed to pull it off.

The party was planned for the afternoon, and Aidan invited about 15 kids. Luckily there were just as many adults on hand to help out.

Auntie Sara worked up the invitations while I pulled together some signs for each of the game stations.

Susanna made booklets that contained game tickets for each station and the kids were supposed to try each game once before going back to their favorite ones.

Each kid got a ticket booklet and a container to hold the tickets that they won at each game.

After all the games had been played once, they could start cashing in their tickets for prizes.

In addition to corndogs, juice boxes and chips, Susanna got a new cotton candy machine for the party; Sara was a trooper as she cranked out cone after cone.

We had six game stations, including:

The Guessing Game: where the winning guesses took home the jars of candy.

A Squirt Gun Shooting Game: ping pong balls were set up on bottles, and each kid had 10 seconds to squirt as many off as possible. Note the cool labels applied to empty beer and wine bottles.

The Balloon Pop: a classic using darts, balloons and big sheet of plywood.

The Bean Bag Toss: tossing beanbags through holes cut out of plywood.

The Ping Pong Bounce: a tricky one that required some precision. Kids could bounce the balls off the floor or off a small wooden ramp. This was the hardest game, but I was surprised at how many times this one was attempted.

The Ring Toss: our only purchased game, which included inflatable "posts" and plastic rings to be tossed over each post.

This portion of the party lasted about two hours, which was followed up by eating, presents, and then finally an hour or so of running around outside and getting really muddy and hyped up on sugar. All of the adults "crashed" at about the same time as the kids. Needless to say, we slept well that night.

Handmade Christmas: Moose Head

2012-01-23T18:21:00.000-08:00

My brother-in-law is a very hard person to get a gift for. He has what he wants, and he doesn't want much. However, he didn't have a miniature moose head. He does now.

For scale, the wooden plaque is about 4" high. The rest is all wool roving; there are pipe cleaners in the antlers to give them some stability and the eyes are black beads.

In case this seems like a random gift, here's a little background context:

This is about 1/10 of his collection, so as you can imagine, the moose head fits right in.

Mount Baker Skiing

2012-01-21T09:38:00.000-08:00

As mentioned, Mike and I finally got up to go skiing this year. We were thwarted last year; first in January during our trip to Bend, then again in February when our trip to Mt. Baker was canceled due to too much snow. As a result it's been quite a few years since we've been skiing/snowboarding. With Sara and Bobby in town over Christmas (avid skiers/boarders) and since our nephew Aidan wanted to learn to snowboard, we had plenty of motivation to get up the mountain this year.

On our first trip up we took Aidan with us so that his uncles could give him some lessons on snowboarding.

Bobby gets Aidan suited up.

Then shows him how it's done.

Aidan was a great listener and caught on quick.

While Mike and I took the first shift with Aidan on the Daisy Slope, Sara and Bobby took off for some runs.

We switched it up after lunch so that Mike and I could get a couple hours in. And a couple hours was all it took to wear us out.

Our second day up at Mt. Baker, with several day's rest in between, was a lot of fun, until Mike caught a back edge and ended up on his head. We ended our day in the new Raven's Hut lodge while Mike got his wits back. Thank goodness for helmets.

Handmade Christmas: Leather Bracelets

2012-01-19T13:59:00.000-08:00

Earlier this Fall on one of our trips to Hood River I found a bracelet at the Ruddy Duck that perfectly went with my recent tunic purchase. It was $35 though, and I just felt like I could make it for less. Turns out I could, but it required a fair amount of effort. I ended up making two for myself, then two more for my sisters. Sara's is above in red and Susanna's is green.

The general materials are 8' - 9' of leather cord cut into 4" - 6" lengths (depends on wrist size and clasp length), cord clamps, small pieces of leather, clasp, heavy duty thread and a strong, yet thin needle.

The leather strands are clamped together at each end and then the clamp is covered with two pieces of leather. I hand-sewed the leather together, and included a magnetic clasp.

New Year's Eve

2012-01-18T07:43:00.000-08:00

This year for New Year's Eve we were still visiting our family, so we got to attend Susanna and Clayton's annual party. It was a lovely affair; everybody brought food and drink (Susanna made some delicious pulled pork) and Susanna had craft activities for the kids (though, I couldn't help myself and I made a sock puppet too!).

Everybody brought a gift for the white elephant gift exchange, as well. Clayton ended up with some lovely Hello Kitty slippers:

Mike got a new t-shirt (I'll try not to be offended):

And Bobby got a new book:

The kids even had their own gift exchange, only they brought gifts that were less "white elephant" and more fun! The kids were all happy with their gifts, but there was one stand-out gift that everybody loved: a Rose Art Tattoo Writer (basically a pen that vibrates). Bobby doled out tattoo after tattoo after tattoo...

Handmade Christmas: Hot Water Bottle & Eye Mask

2012-01-16T14:01:00.000-08:00

For Remi and Andrew, new parents to Freya, and struggling with lack of sleep right now, I made a couple of items to help them relax.

The eye pillow is covered with flannel and filled with lavender, flax seed and rice and can be heated in the microwave. The hot water bottle cover is also made of flannel, and fits over a standard-sized hot water bottle. This is another example of second time's a charm: the first cover was made out of corduroy and I accidentally sewed the wrong sides together. I took a break and sewed Freya's Kimono, and realizing that I had leftover fabric, I tried a second attempt at the cover, this time making it fully lined. It's a snug fit, but should keep them cozy!

Handmade Christmas: Pin Cushion

2012-01-12T13:25:00.000-08:00

I made this awhile back without knowing who it would go to. I gave away pincushions to almost everybody I know who sews, so this one has been waiting for a new sewer to emerge. Since my friend Anja took up sewing this year I thought, Aha!

The base is a twig nest (from a craft store). The cushion is fabric and fiberfill (attached with glue to the base), with two stacked buttons sewn in the center. The foam/feather bird is leftover from my wedding decorations (also available at craft stores), and the six straight pins are made from polymer clay, with a little bit of felt for the nests.

Handmade Christmas: Freya's Kimono

2012-01-11T09:04:00.000-08:00

It was my niece Freya's first Christmas, and even though she was only a month old, I couldn't leave her out of the homemade present line-up.

Since she's a little young to "enjoy" a present, I thought I'd make something that would be useful. That resulted in the decision to make a clothing item - my first attempt at clothes in over 10 years. I selected the Lucy's Kimono pattern out of Weekend Sewing*, which was a bust. The author left out instructions, and must have assumed that the inside seams would be serged because they looked horrible when left raw. After my first attempt I threw it aside (it'll now be doll clothing) and made it again, but this time I lined it with some nice soft gray flannel. It's a little large yet (Freya's still too small for newborn clothes!), but she should fit it sometime this late winter/early spring. And in the Pacific Northwest one can always use an extra jacket!

* Here is my Amazon review of this book - not recommended:
I've sewn two of the patterns from this book, and tomorrow it goes to Goodwill. Both of the patterns I used were missing information; crucial instructions were left out and the finished photos contained items that the pattern didn't call for. I was able to finish both pieces because I have enough sewing experience to make it work, but after finishing them it seems like the author made things more difficult than needed. I give this book three stars because it has some good ideas. Sadly, the instructions just weren't executed well.

Handmade Christmas: Shower Pocket

2012-01-09T14:26:00.000-08:00

When Susanna visited at Thanksgiving she came up with a idea: she wanted a place to store her travel shampoo & conditioner bottles while in the shower, without having to leave them on the side of the tub. We brainstormed the Shower Pocket and when she left I set to work. It's basically two layers, and each layer is lined/double-sided using the same laminated cotton. I sewed the two layers together, and then divided the smaller layer in two by sewing down the middle. I added a little dimension to the first layer by cutting in the corners. I added two loops at the top to hang on suction cup hooks (stored in the pockets). Susanna can hang this in the shower and keep her travel-sized bottles of shampoo and conditioner handy.

When not hanging in the shower, the top portion (with the loops) folds over the bottles (which are kept in the pockets) and the entire thing folds in half vertically and is secured with a magnetic closure. This can be thrown in the suitcase or larger toiletry case and packed away. If the bottles leak, no problem, just rinse that laminated cotton off!

Update: It works!

Christmas to New Years, and everything in between

2012-01-07T09:39:00.000-08:00

After scrambling to finish making all our Christmas presents (more posts to come), Mike and I escaped for 10 days to Bow, WA, to my mother's house on the mouth of the Samish River. Though not a winter wonderland, the land is truly wonderful.

Our vacation was bracketed by Christmas and New Years, with Aidan's 9th Birthday Party in the middle (future posts). During that time ...

... we walked to the bakery,

we cuddled with Freya,

we ate copious amounts of food (including, but not limited to: fresh bread from BreadFarm, raclette, soup, soup, and more soup, an Umbrian grape & sausage dish, lasagna, pulled pork, cookies, pie, caramels and chocolate corn chips),

we played Mexican train dominoes and our new favorite word-guessing game,

we visited Clayton's new boat, still in fabrication,

we went skiing at Mount Baker,

we celebrated Aidan's 9th birthday with a Carnival Party,

we rang in the New Year at Susanna's,

and we just plain wore ourselves out.

Handmade Christmas: Bulk Food Bags

2012-01-06T10:25:00.000-08:00

Staying away from zippers, but sticking to the bag theme, the last bags I made were 2 sets of bulk food bags for Sara & Bobby and Remi & Andrew.

I made the bags from unbleached cotton muslin and cotton drawstring in various colors. The drawstring bags are quite simple to make, but a little on the tedious side. Since I don't have a serger I used a zigzag stitch on all the inside seams after sewing the bags together with a regular straight stitch. I'm hoping this will prevent lots of little strings from intermingling with the oats.

The graphics were applied using freezer paper stencils and fabric paint/pens. I had varying degrees of success with the stencils (paint bled under the stencil in some areas) and as a result all of the graphics are outlined with fabric pens.

I bought the fabric paint from Michael's, and at the time they only had these very florescent colors. I would have preferred red, but the "berry pink" was the closest they had. I noticed that the paints I bought are no longer at Michael's, so maybe their new colors are better. I also know that our local shop Collage has a lot of fabric paint and pens.

I made a few extra bags, but I didn't have the energy to decorate them. I kept them for myself, and since they're smaller I'll use them when I purchase herbs, spices, nuts and seeds.

A little less plastic out there in the landfill!

Handmade Christmas: Corduroy Clutch

2012-01-05T07:23:00.000-08:00

At this point I started to get a little tired of those zippers, but I still wanted to make a bag for my sister Sara. I found this really cool, thin corduroy fabric at Bolt for the outside, and dug through my stash to find the medium wale rust corduroy for the interior. I also purchased some magnetic closures to play with, which worked pretty well. I made two previous iterations of this bag, and for those I just used neodymium magnets for closures. These were much easier to work with, and third time was the charm for this bag!

Handmade Christmas: Pleated Clutch

2012-01-04T08:39:00.000-08:00

After sewing all those zipper bags I thought I'd mix it up - not yet tired of zippers, I found a pattern for a gathered clutch at Noodlehead. I used wool suiting for the outside and yellow cotton for the liner, and zippy red zipper (plastic). It was generally pretty easy to pull together on the sewing machine, though if I make it again I think I'll add a hand loop.

It's just the right size for a chocolate bar.

Handmade Christmas: Zipper Pouches

2012-01-03T13:08:00.000-08:00

Back from a wonderful holiday with family in NW Washington, and kicking off the new year a little bit sleepy!

Before I left I posted a few of my Handmade Christmas project posts (soap and hedgehog). Because I have been on 32-hour work weeks this fall I decided to use my extra time to make most of my Christmas presents. What I didn't count on was that such a task would require more than 8 hours a week, which means that our house has been a mess for the last month, I hardly cooked dinner, we didn't have a Christmas tree or lights, and I'm exhausted. That said - I loved every minute of it.
Many of the projects I found online or in books, some I made up and others came to me by way of friends or family. Some I had to make 2 or 3 times before I found success, and amazingly, some came together the first try! I hope that all of the recipients enjoy them as much as I enjoyed making them, and if not, I hope that they can fake it.

Zipper bags were my first project this year. I thought they would be great for many people on my list, and everybody can use an extra bag. This was also my first time sewing zippers, so that was an experience.

Once I got the hang of it though, I went a little crazy. As a result, everybody got a bag. The two above bags are adapted from a pattern at Prudent Baby. I used this pattern for three bags in three different sizes. For the outside fabric I used coated/laminated cotton (raindrop pattern) or oil cloth (apple pattern). The inside liner is PUL. The zippers shown above are plastic sport zippers, but I used a metal zipper on a third bag (not shown). It might rust if the bag was used to hold wet objects, but the metal zipper does look really cool.

I used a second pattern from Prudent Baby, this Boxy Pouch, which can also be adapted to a myriad of sizes. I made it in two sizes, using both oilcloth and cotton (dot pattern). The larger bag (at left) seems to be the perfect size for some very small diapers and ointment, though the recipient assured me that he could find many ways to fill it up!

Handmade Christmas: A Hedgehog Mugshot

2011-12-21T13:12:00.000-08:00

This little hedgehog, cousin to this one, is holding a big stuffed felt heart. He recently flew to California to send a whole lot of love to my cousin Christine.

He's handsewn from wool felt, and his "needles" are needlefelted wool roving yarn. I used it as hair for this doll, and it's very fun to work with. I'd like to find another skein of it, perhaps in yellow, orange and black too. The heart is simply sewn out of felt as well. I originally made it as an ornament for our holiday party, but I don't have a lot of use for heart ornaments. So a few quick snips, and it's been repurposed!

Handmade Christmas: "Making" Soap

2011-12-18T21:45:00.000-08:00

Mike and I spend a lot of money every month buying handmade soap from New Seasons, so I've been wanting to make my own for a long time in the hopes of cutting down costs. Last year Rebecca gifted us two handmade bars of soap that we just loved. While I thought the bars were a great success, she quickly declared that she would not be doing it again. She had made her soap from scratch and had a very difficult time getting all the ingredients to balance out and come together.

At our sewing get-together in October Danielle mentioned that we could buy premade soap blocks from craft stores and add our own scents and additives; altogether eliminating the need to "make" the soap. Last weekend we made this idea into a project!

I purchased two blocks of shea butter soap from Michaels, and Mom gave me a block of clear glycerin soap. Rebecca bought the Olive Oil and Goats Milk soap blocks, as well as some clear.

Danielle set us up with scents and colors. My favorite scents were lemongrass, rosemary and teatree. She also had all sorts of additives for us to use, including, lavendar, herbs, oatmeal, spices and tea.

The process is pretty simple. Cut the large soap blocks into smaller pieces (they are already portioned into ice cube sized pieces). Melt the cubes four at a time for 1 minute in the microwave. Next, add "goodies" and mix it up! We used plastic soap molds (also available at craft stores), and before adding the soap we sprayed each mold with rubbing alcohol.

The above soap has a little blue coloring and glitter! Soap that Barbie would like!

Next we poured the soap into the mold, sprayed the tops with alcohol again (to eliminate bubbles) and let the molds set up. We put some of them in the fridge to get them to set faster. If you do this, the soap will start to "sweat" when you bring it back into room temperature, so be prepared to wrap them up quickly.

I made a wide variety of soaps - above is Chai Spice, and below are Chai Oatmeal, Chamomile Lemongrass, Oatmeal with Almond Oil and Lavender Vanilla. I also made a Kitchen Herb, TeaTree and Cinnamon Oatmeal.

Rebecca was making gifts for her nieces and nephews, so she brought small rubber toys to suspend in each soap bar. The tricky part was getting them to stay directly in the middle of each soap bar.

This project was a great success (at least the making part was - I haven't actually tried to use any of the soaps yet). All of the materials are easily available at Michaels Craft Stores and online (Hobby Lobby for one). Price wise, it's cheaper to make the soap this way than to buy it. The large soap blocks are $10 at Michaels, and you get about 12 bars per block (varies depending on the size of your molds). The scents range from $3-$5, and the additives can be super cheap (oatmeal) or a little pricier (lavender and lemongrass). All in all, I think I made each bar for around $2. That doesn't include the cost of labor, but since this was so fun and easy, I think it's safe to call it a wash (a clean one).

Two Lovely Ladies

2011-12-08T11:30:00.000-08:00

When my friend Patty commissioned me to make her grandson a mobile she also ordered two dolls for her granddaughters. Recently completed and mailed off, here they are!

These are much like the other dolls I've made, with a few unique features. I found a new yarn for the brown hair; it's very suede-like, though Aidan thought it was shoelaces. Their eyes are black beads instead of the safety eyes, and I tried out a new style for their mouths. I also had too much fun making all their clothes - providing a few extra outfits for mix and match.

Guest Pillow Covers

2011-12-05T09:04:00.000-08:00

With our new guestroom/office recently completed (sans wood trim), I've been finding ways to gussy it up a little, while still keeping it functional as both a guestroom and an office.

I wanted some accent pillows on the couch/sofabed, but I knew I wouldn't have any place to store them when the sofabed was in use. I also had guest pillows that needed a place to live when the sofabed was not in use.

As a result, the accent pillows became guest pillows, and the guest pillows became the accent pillows.

I fell in love with the front fabric at Bolt and waited until their big sale before buying it. I didn't want to spend the money to get enough to make full two pillows however, so I got just enough to make pillow fronts. For the back I used far less expensive cotton fabric (flannel for one, just plain quilting cotton for another). The backs are quite simple, no fasteners, and are easy to remove and clean.

Then, after Thanksgiving we went to Fabric Depot and Susanna found a sample piece of fabric in their "Yard Sale" for $1.25. Perfect for a third pillow!

I now have a ridiculous number of throw pillows for one small couch.

Thankful for Turkey

2011-11-30T18:04:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving has come and gone - I took six days off to prepare, enjoy and clean up. We spent the time surrounded by family and food. We relaxed plenty, crafted some, and shopped a little. It was perfect (except that Sara and Bobby weren't here - that would have been perfect).

Mike and I hosted the holiday meal in Portland this year for one very important reason - we wanted to meet our new niece!

Remi and Andrew welcomed their daughter Freya on the 22nd, but were unable to leave the hospital until the 26th. With the family in town we were all able to get up to the hospital repeatedly for visits, and even bring them turkey dinner (courtesy of New Seasons).

For those of us not at the hospital, we gathered at our house on Thursday afternoon for some hanging out, football and food.

We ended up with a Yam dish, a Potato dish and two Sweet Potato dishes. We also had Pumpkin Fondue and two Pumpkin pies. There was a cranberry relish and a cranberry jelly roll. Not least were the Bread and the Bread Pudding. In the center of it all was our 22-pound Turkey. Simply cooked, and simply delicious.

Post-dinner, Pre-pie

Leftovers

Aidan & Mike played endless games of Xbox football.

I asked Papa & Sharon to cut shapes out of re-positionable vinyl for use in marking glasses. I only asked for simple shapes, but they went above and beyond...

We got the hot tub wired up and completed in time for Thanksgiving (check that one off the list).

Aidan got an early Christmas present from Mike and I - tickets for he and Mike to go to the Civil War game at UO. In preparation, Susanna and I decorated masks for them to wear to the game (and one for me, for next year). We used Sharpie oil-based paint pens (awesome) and glow-in-the-dark hockey masks.

Mike said they had a great time, and that it was so much fun to see the excitement on Aidan's face. After the game they were able to go down on the field and toss the football around. Something we've never done before, and Aidan was pretty thrilled. It made the 8 hours in traffic all worth it.

Sewing Machine Cover

2011-11-21T17:14:00.000-08:00

I've been giving my old Pfaff Sewing Machine a workout lately with so many Christmas presents in the making. I decided to return the love and make the machine a cover.

With a yard of apple oilcloth and some aqua bias tape, this project took about 40 minutes. I measured the dimensions of the machine and cut out three pieces (2 end pieces and one long piece that stretched from front to back). I added the bias tape last because I wasn't sure if all the edges would properly align once sewn together (they didn't). After trimming off half an inch, I added the bias tape and it was finished.

Of course the presser foot needed a home too. Using one rectangle, I sewed up the bottom and side, gusseted the bottom corners (see here for a tutorial) and added bias tape to the open top. I couldn't figure out my "snap" tool, so I found some black velcro and sewed that in.

Since I still had plenty of oilcloth left, I decided to make a sewing scrap/trash bag as well. I followed the same method as with the presser foot bag, just minus the velcro closure. And to avoid being too matchy-matchy, I used orange bias tape instead of aqua.

Coffee Table

2011-11-18T23:36:00.000-08:00

Mike and I have been searching for a coffee table for years. We have a small living room, but we do a lot of living in it. We wanted a coffee table that matched our aesthetic, our lifestyle and our budget. Unfortunately we couldn't find the trifecta. Our solution was to have Mike build something.

So while I was sewing with friends Mike enrolled in a weekend class at The Joinery to make us the Hotchberg Coffee Table. Handcrafted from Cherry, with Walnut risers and end pegs, it fits perfectly in our living room.

Mike's class took place over a Tuesday evening, followed by two full days on Saturday and Sunday. He had a great time working in the shop and had wonderful things to say about the instructor (Ariel) and the incredible tools that they had to use.

Clamps and a planing sander

A multitude of routers

Part of our "living experience" in our house includes entertaining and sometimes eating dinner in the living room. While we have these awesome handmade coasters from my Mom, there are times where we don't want to worry that everybody is using a coaster.

For those times, I made a fitted cover for the coffee table out of laminated cotton (coated cotton).

I simply traced the table top onto the back-side of the fabric and cut it out with an 1/8" bleed. The edges are 2" strips of fabric, trimmed with orange bias tape, then sewn onto the top cover. I sewed the corners so that they slightly angle in, which results in a snug fit. Luckily I got a little too much of this fabric, so tomorrow I'll be finding some additional projects to use it on!

Nailed It!

2011-11-12T21:49:00.000-08:00

Sweet Max, of the round cheeks and red curls, turned 2 this month!
And within days of that event, Momma Kate and Papa Jamie bought a house!

Knowing that Max would have to help Mom and Dad out with the new place, I made him this set of tools for his birthday.

The hammer and saw patterns are from the book Big Little Felt Universe (same place I found the patterns for Lilly's fruit & veggie basket). To complete the set I sewed two blocks of "wood" and some felt nails. The blocks have lined holes in them that the nails can be hammered into. The blocks also have magnets in them so that they can be stuck together and then "sawn" apart. I only had 1/8" neodymium magnets so the hold is not that strong. I've order some larger ones though, so I'll be prepared for next time!

Scenes from Fall Pumpkin Hunting

2011-11-09T12:09:00.000-08:00

Ducks & Cougars

2011-11-07T17:56:00.000-08:00

Last weekend we took our annual trip to Eugene for some University of Oregon football.
And this year we were joined by Alan and his nephew, Adam.

While we came prepared with rain jackets, ponchos and down jackets, it turned out to be a fabulous Fall day - sweatshirt weather!

The ducks warm up

We partook of hot dogs, salmon sandwiches, popcorn and soft pretzels. It's not a real game unless copious amounts of nitrates are consumed.

UO beat Washington State 43 - 23

After the game we headed to our rental house and tossed the football around in the front yard (I was told that while very good at pushing, I lack a little knowledge on the rules of the game). After we burned off the football game food, we headed to Ninkasi for more soft pretzels (best ever) and beer, then to La Perla Pizzeria for some excellent Napoleonic Pizza. I highly recommend the Bianca al Prosciutto.

Another great trip to Eugene - Happy Anniversary Mike!

Happy Halloween!

2011-10-31T16:15:00.000-07:00

An October Sewing Saturday

2011-10-30T15:54:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday I was the happy host of some stitchin-n-bitchin. Or rather a sewing-chatting-eating get-together. I was joined by my oldest Portland friend, Rebecca; my nearest Portland friend (and neighbor) Anja; and my newest Portland friend, Danielle.

Rebecca, Anja, Danielle and me

We came to the table with our sewing machines, materials, projects in mind and varying levels of skill.

I can't show what I made because it's the prototype for some christmas gifts, but I can share that it was my first experience sewing zippers, and it was so addictive that I was up at 7 am the following morning to make two more!

Painted Pottery

2011-10-27T20:32:00.000-07:00

Last month Mike and I took advantage of a local Groupon at Mimosa Studios. It's been many years since we painted pottery together, but I always find it relaxing. Unfortunately Mike finds it very stressful. I must have forgotten that part.

One of the cool things about Mimosa Studios is that you can bring your own food and drink - including beer. This is a feature that I find very relaxing.

This is my Garden Gnome and his sidekick, Hedgehog Mushroom.

In order to complete our pieces, with three coats of every color, it took two 3-hour visits. We spaced them out over the month to prevent pottery-painting burnout.

After we finished it took about a week for them to be fired and glazed. When we picked up the brown paper bag this is what we found...

Mike's turtle turned out very well! Most of his colors were opaque (except that pesky purple). He even achieved a cool effect on the green by using two different shades in the layers (not intentional - he just forgot which colors he was using).

Hedgehog Mushroom looks like he's up to no good.

When he doesn't want to be seen he turns his back and pretends he's a mushroom.

And Garden Gnome arrived home to realize that he's a little late for the garden. Luckily he found some pumpkins and made himself quite at home.

Hot-tubbing is in our future!

2011-10-24T17:31:00.000-07:00

Last month Summer became Fall, and Mike scrambled to finish our hot tub "awning/cover".
This month, he wrapped it up!

We got the back of the house painted along with all the trim work on the columns and awning.

Mike got all of the tongue-and-groove wood installed in the soffit and the edges trimmed out.

Soffit vents and lighting were also installed.

And last week we got the hot tub moved into place!

The electrician came today, and it appears that we have some additional work ahead of us, but we're getting close to our first soak in the hot tub!

Ocean Life Mobile

2011-10-19T07:25:00.000-07:00

Last month my "aunt" Patty (also my former 3rd Grade teacher and mom's best friend) commissioned me to make her soon-to-arrive grandson a baby mobile. The theme was "ocean" and her only request was that I include a sea turtle (her son's favorite animal).

I recently designed a whale pattern, so I really wanted to incorporate that into this mobile. This dark blue whale is keeping an eye on those fish...

The sea turtle pattern was adapted from here. The original pattern was for a pincushion and I made a few adjustments to the body and shell.

The jellyfish is a combination of felt and fringe. It was a happy coincidence that the colors matched exactly, as I bought the felt and fringe separately with different purposes in mind - they happily came together to create a jellyfish.

I loved how my crocheted starfish turned out in the Under The Sea Adventure mobile, so I decided to replicate it in sewn felt. You can see that French knots were used for the spines on the front, and a backstitch was used on the back.

The school of white fish are cut from thick wool felt and accented with gold thread. It's only now that I realize that the accent lines look similar to grill lines on cooked fish.

Our Front Porch

2011-10-17T18:00:00.000-07:00

As of last August, this is what our front porch looked like. This is actually a slight improvement over what it looked like when we first bought the house (the steps and section in front of the door were covered in carpet).

However, last month we decided that we were tired of water leaking into our basement, and it was time to demolish the existing front porch (built so that it sloped back toward the house and deposited all rainwater in our basement). We also decided that we had no personal interest in doing the demo ourselves, so we hired Rocky!

This was quoted as a 3-day project, but it actually drug out over a couple of weeks (reasons noted below). Rocky began by knocking out the existing concrete porch and steps and then built up a new form using the concrete from the old porch.

The form was then filled with more rubble, and rebar was added for structural integrity. Lastly, concrete was poured over the top and it was finished with a "brushed" look. Some of the issues we encountered with this project were:

• The porch was poured in two sections and there's a very noticeable line on the porch.

• The steps were made too narrow the first time, so Rocky came back and added an additional 18" to the right side.

• The area in front of the door still sloped back toward the house, so Rocky had to come back yet again to apply an epoxy patch.

The good thing? Rocky came back and fixed all of these issues without question and without an additional fee!

A marked improvement! It still needs to be painted, however that project will have to wait until next summer. In the meantime I've moved our Adirondack rocking chairs to the porch with the hope of spending some time bundled up out there this fall.

Felt Giraffe

2011-10-09T11:39:00.000-07:00

Here's a giraffe that I made last February during that long adventure to my sister Susanna's house.

It took months to actually finish this because I wasn't sure how I was going to add the giraffe spots. I finally found an embossed fabric at Michaels that worked, though It wouldn't have been my first choice for a color combo. I cut out the spots and used felt glue to attach them to the body.

I found the pattern online (cuddles the giraffe), but unfortunately the link is not currently active.
I adapted it by adding spots, a thicker mane, horns, eyelids and lashes. I would love to make this again, and adapt the pattern further by creating thinner legs. It will be less of a "toy" but much more realistic looking.

This was all sewn by hand out of wool/acrylic felt. The eyes are plastic safety eyes, and I added a wire armature inside.

Aprons for CHAP

2011-10-07T16:29:00.000-07:00

I've mentioned the Children's Healing Art Project (CHAP) before - a great non-profit organization in Portland that I've worked with in various ways over the last several years. They do all sorts of wonderful things for children in a health crisis, and as a result they have an incredible list of volunteer opportunities. My schedule doesn't allow me to volunteer during their open hours or for many of their events, but that doesn't keep me from being able to do something - whether it's creating layouts for party invitations, hosting a fundraiser or sewing aprons!

My latest project for CHAP was to sew up two aprons for them to sell at their holiday pop-up store.
CHAP provided the materials, already cut out, and I just had to sew them together - easy! It only took two evenings after work to sew them up, though it took me a month to find two available evenings. My favorite is the pink and blue one because of it's great geometric patterns. I may have to go by their store and buy it for myself.

Mike demonstrates how an apron works.

S is for Sea Shell

2011-09-30T17:01:00.000-07:00

Last March Mike and I visited both coasts of Florida; spending a couple days on Sanibel Island and a couple days in Cocoa Beach. In both locations I collected a few small clam shells with holes in their tops.

Knowing that our four nieces would soon be moving from Pittsburgh to Florida, I gathered them with the intention of making necklaces for each as a welcome to their new home.

Using ribbon/cord for the necklace, I attached the shells and a metal letter charm with jump rings and chain. I can imagine the girls wearing them while running down the beach; their long hair flying out behind. Welcome to the sunshine state, girls!

Summer Becomes Fall

2011-09-25T17:58:00.000-07:00

Our weekend began like this:

And three days later, ended like this:

In between 8 pounds of tomatoes were tamed into two very small jars of spicy-sweet tomato sauce.

Okey-Dokey, Artichokey

2011-09-21T13:11:00.000-07:00

Last weekend my mom graduated from the certificate program at the Gail Harker Creative Studies Center. She's been in this program for the last two years, meeting for one intense week 4 times a year. When she joined she made it clear that we were not to get married, have children or otherwise embark upon anything momentous that would require her participation or full attention (Sara disobeyed a little by getting married, but after waiting 10 years before tying the knot I know that Mom didn't want her to put it off any longer).

As much as we missed having Mom around as much, it was great to hear all about the classes she took, techniques she learned, and to have generally lived vicariously off her enthusiasm.

Last weekend it all culminated in a two-day art show at the new Creative Studies Center in LaConner, WA (Mom had been commuting to their old digs in Oak Harbor, WA).

Flowers for Mom/Nonny

Mom explored a theme of Artichokes for her show.

Dear Artichoke,
I know, I know
It's been a bad year.
Sorry about the
rain flooding your feet
Sorry about the
sun not showing up.
But there you have it.
I cloaked you in manure
just the way you like it.
Now, do your thing.

- Nancy Scagliotti

We're all very proud of you Mom!

A Canadian Crab

2011-09-14T19:35:00.000-07:00

In one short month my cousin (once removed) Cohen, turns 1!

Since Mike and I were heading to British Columbia last weekend, I decided to bring Cohen his birthday present early: one very red, big-eyed Crab.

This is Tipper the Crab, and a pattern for him can be found at Fresh Stitches. A crab seemed like a good idea for one-year-old (easy to grab onto) and it roughly stuck with the theme of the Fish Mobile that I made him a year ago. He is crocheted out of cotton yarn and stuffed with wool batting, and will hopefully survive this next year in one piece.

Though it would have been worth the trip to Canada just to see Cohen, our visit was in fact to participate in the Whistler Gran Fondo. And by participate, I mean drive the cars with all the luggage.

While we drove, Papa, Uncle Joe and cousins Brendan & Katrina rode their bikes the 74.5 miles up the mountain, among 7,000 cyclists in 90 degree heat. Though a little bedraggled at the top, they all made it, and they all had smiles on their faces (albeit, very weary looking smiles).

Luckily we didn't have to drive right back down the mountain, but rented a place at the Tantalus Lodge for the night. My cousin Will flew out from Calgary, and drove up to meet us later that afternoon, and it turned into one great family gathering.

Cohen, Brendan, Katrina, Mike & Will

An aptly named Holiday

2011-09-09T07:56:00.000-07:00

Our Labor Day weekend was labor-intensive.

New 2010 Deck

Last summer we had a deck built off our kitchen, then Mike and I applied some Behr semi-transparent stain to it. Fast forward a year and the deck is looking a little worse for wear. Not horrible mind you, just bad enough to be really irritating to Mike. So much so that he decided it was time for us to refinish it.

2011 Deck: mildew stains and discoloration.

Now according to the man at Miller Paint, refinishing your deck is about a yearly thing. I refuse to refinish the deck every year, and Mike refuses to let our deck weather gray. So we spent 5 solid days over two weekends working on this deck, with the intention that we're going to get it looking so good, and so protected, that we will NOT have to do this again next summer.

First step, remove old stain. We began by pressure-washing to see if that would work. It did, but took an agonizingly long time and really chewed up the wood. Then we tried a stain remover. This was applied with brushes, left to sit for 15 minutes and then THEORETICALLY rinsed off with the pressure washer. This worked about 70%. So after stain stripper and pressure washing, Mike and I proceeded to sand the entire deck.

Sitting for 15 minutes (we could only do about 6 boards at a time, so this took a realllly long time).

Following sanding we used a wood brightener to neutralize the wood pH balance before applying new stain.

Wood Brightener

Early morning brightened wood

Then it was two solid days of staining the deck (two coats) using those same small brushes. This time we went for a solid stain (maximum protection) made by Cabot. We agonized over using solid stain versus semi-solid. We really loved the look of our bright orangey deck and didn't want to lose the look of the wood. However the thought of doing this every year got me over that pretty quickly and we went for solid in "Mission Brown".

Hope this lasts...

Zen-Tangle

2011-09-08T08:26:00.000-07:00

Ever heard of Zentangle? Susanna calls it doodling. Whatever she calls it, she's good at it.

While looking for something to do on the beach at the end of July, Mom introduced her to the art and she was off and running. In most of the photos from that trip she has her head bent over a notebook. Here are two that she did especially for Mike and I.

My Birthday Weekend

2011-08-29T20:24:00.000-07:00

My birthday weekend began with a Gnoming... akin to a flocking, but with gnomes!
This was a long-distance collaboration between my sister Sara in Ohio, who purchased the gnomes, and Mike, who had to surreptitiously set them up in the yard before I left the house. He did this on Friday, the day before my birthday, because he had planned a surprise overnight trip to the McMenamin's Edgefield for that night, and he wasn't so sure he'd be able to gnome me in the hotel hallway.

The Edgefield is my favorite McMenamin's property - it has beautiful gardens and lawns, the wall murals are plentiful and fantastic, and there are several buildings/places to explore while on the grounds.

A new place for us to discover was the soaking pool at Ruby's Spa. This is one huge outdoor tub, with heated saltwater and lovely flora surrounding it. We went in it twice, and it never felt too crowded. Another amazing plus to this hot tub - they have an outdoor bar and allow you to drink beer while in the tub - bliss.

On the morning of my birthday we had breakfast at the Black Rabbit (can't recommend their breakfast, but the dinner was lovely). After breakfast I opened presents on one of their many wide front porches, then we wandered out to the vegetable garden. Since our veggie garden is less than prolific this year, it was a pleasure to see theirs in full bloom (and to have eaten their carrots, figs and cabbage for dinner the night before).

Thirty-two, and all it's glory.

I loved this trellis and would like to replicate it in my garden next year.

I don't know what this plant is, but it was climbing up a trellis and I loved it and want it.

After our garden foray we met up with Alan, Anja and Lilly and headed East to hike to Tamanawas Falls.

Lilly did really well on this hike, as did Alan and Anja, who had to carry her most of the way in the ninety degree heat. But Lilly walked far more of it than I expected, and would have walked more except part of the trail had steep drop offs on the side. I think this girl takes after her mom in her love of the outdoors.

Sadly, I did not make it to the Falls, as about 1/8 mile from the top I was "sick" and had to head back down. Luckily, I felt better by the time we got back to the car, and it didn't deter me from enjoying my beer and burrito at Everybody's Brewing.

We ended our hiking day the same way we ended all my hikes of the last 32 years - with ice cream.

River Kayaking

2011-08-24T21:46:00.000-07:00

Two weeks ago Mike and I headed North for a boating adventure. The "plan" was to head out to the San Juan islands on Mom & Mark's boat and do a little salmon fishing. Unfortunately that plan was derailed when a leaky boat pump was discovered on Friday afternoon. Not one to let that little setback keep us off the water, Mom suggested taking the kayaks out on the river.

Mom has no less than 7 kayaks. Seven. They range in size, color and use, and we made sure to try them all. On Friday evening Mike, Mom and I headed out to the mouth of the river in a Necky, Dagger, and a sweet little Walden Sunapee.

When we reached the closest bay we rafted up to chat and drink cold beer.

By lovely coincidence we also happened to be celebrating our 3-year wedding anniversary.

On Saturday afternoon we again headed out on the river, this time with Aidan in tow! Literally!

This was Aidan's first time in a kayak solo, so he started out slow. We put him in the Dagger and tied it to the back of Mom's new sit-on-top kayak, a Lifetime Daylite.

When we got past the bridge we asked Aidan if he wanted to untie the rope and paddle around a little on his own. He was game, and got the hang of it so quickly that the training rope was off!

Knowing that we might not get another chance this summer, before we left on Sunday we took the kayaks out for one last paddle.

This time Mike and I tried the Hobies - a pedal boat and a paddle boat in one.

Being morning, the tide was very, very low.

We pulled up to a sand bar to explore before heading back up the river (against the current).

Despite having to change our weekend plans, we had a really great time. The time on the river in the kayaks was wonderful, as was the time with my nephew and mom. Aidan is such a great kid - that wonderful combo of sweetness and sarcasm - something that I can truly appreciate. I loved watching his cautious nature about kayaking, but not being afraid to try it on his own once he felt comfortable. I hope that he can keep that level-headedness about him as he grows into an adult. Mike and I hope to make these kayak weekends a new tradition!

Festive Forest Baby Mobile

2011-08-16T12:30:00.000-07:00

My gift for Remi & Andrew (and ultimately the babe) was a Festive Forest mobile.

I handsewed a Raccoon, Deer, Mouse, Bird and Hedgehog from cut felt. The deer and mouse you've seen before. The others are my new patterns designed especially for this mobile. Finishing touches included needle felted mushrooms, butterfly and dragonfly.

The felt trees were sewn to "velvet" ribbon and the felt banners were glued to white crochet thread.

Mr. Raccoon, all duded up with his purple striped tie. His tail is needle felted from wool roving.

This Bambi has gussied herself up with a big, pink bow.

Little Miss Birdie has donned her favorite hat.

Monsieur Mousie is dapper in beret and scarf.

Ever the party man; Hedgehog has shown up with his good-for-all-occasions party hat on.

Celebration for a future Bambina!

2011-08-13T21:20:00.000-07:00

While Sara and Susanna were in town at the beginning of August we decided to have Remi and Andrew over for cob oven pizza and a little mini-baby shower for their upcoming bambina!

Unable to resist, we added just a touch of pink.

I limited our pizzas to just two combos and I practiced my new pizza dough recipe (courtesy of my Poppy): butternut squash + ricotta + onions and sour cream + pears + prosciutto + blue cheese. Despite some worry on my part, they seemed to be a hit.

There were many presents from Mom, Sara, Susanna and I.

Including an amazing quilt made by Sara.

Congratulations Andrew & Remi!

We're looking forward to meeting our new family member.

Generational

2011-08-10T21:16:00.000-07:00

During the first week of August we had a mini family reunion in Portland, when Grandma, Great-aunt Armeda, and Mom's cousins Peggy, Bev & Don all flew in from California. It was wonderful to see my mom surrounded by so many of her female family members - can you see the resemblance?

My Mom, Nancy

Her Mom, Elsie

Her Sister, Armeda

Her Daughter, Peggy

Her Cousin, Bev

During the day the ladies hit the town in search of shoe sales.

In the evening we hung out in the backyard of their Oregon City rental house; drinking wine, nibbling snacks and talking in our exaggerated Italian way!

Neighborhood kittens made themselves at home.

We ended the evening with a campfire and marshmallows. Aidan roasted them all to perfection (including scorched black at Peggy's request).

Oh how it burns, Bobby

2011-08-05T20:15:00.000-07:00

This post serves as a reminder about why it's very important to wear sunscreen.

Because if you don't, you won't enjoy the hot tub.

Sorry, Bobby - we felt your pain beneath all our laughing.

30 + 40 = 70!

2011-08-01T21:08:00.000-07:00

The passing of a decade is a momentous occasion and should be celebrated! This year we had two decade birthdays to mark: Sara's 30th and Mike's 40th!

Two years ago we celebrated my 30th birthday in Pacific City, OR, and it was so much fun that we chose it as the destination for this year as well. At the end of July, Susanna, Clayton, Aidan, Mom, Mark and Papa all drove down from various towns in Washington, while Sara & Bobby flew out from Ohio and Remi, Mike and I traveled from Portland.

We began the trip to the coast with a stop at the Tillamook Forest Center. Mike and I think this place was so well done, both architecturally and graphically, that we really wanted to show it to Sara and Bobby. We stayed for their 15-minute movie on the Tillamook Burn, and spent some time soaking our feet in the creek out back.

Professor Sara tells how Smokey the Bear was invented.

Mike shows me how he would prepare for a rough stagecoach ride.

In Pacific City we rented a house from VRBO.com that was walking distance from the beach and included a hot tub, game room and large kitchen. There was a lot of talking and eating, with interjected bouts of surfing, climbing, walking, biking and 10 rounds of Mexican Train Dominoes.

Mom was the designated "water bitch" for our sand castle building venture.

Susanna and I were in charge of construction.

Mike assisted and provided some engineering tips.

Aidan worked on a moat for awhile, then concentrated on final decoration, including the set up of a dozen plastic knights.

This was Sara's idea.

Ascending the large sand dune at the north end of the beach in Pacific City is a popular activity. Aidan had boundless energy for this task, and roped his aunts, uncles and grandparents into climbing it multiple times.

Megan and Trevor, who were also out on the coast for a surfing weekend, even managed to convince their dog Stella to climb the dune. Megan lugged the sandboard for everybody to try as well.

There must be some trick to sandboarding that none of us quite figured out. Though everybody got it to move, it wasn't exactly a smooth ride.

Bobby borrowed some wax from another sandboarder in an attempt to move the board along.

After several more attempts we determined that it was just "bad sand".

Megan and Trevor also had access to a skimboard, which was a favorite of Aidan's two years ago. This year he didn't have a wetsuit, so he was content to just share a few pointers with Trevor.

After exhausting the beach activities, we made use of the bocce ball set that Remi brought, for a little "off-road" bocce behind the house.

That activity ended abruptly when a bocce ball made contact with a nest of bees and Aidan was the recipient of their ire.

While Sara and Remi tended to Aidan, Susanna whipped up three pies (banana cream, chocolate cream and mixed berry), grilled salmon for tacos and made fresh tortillas!

The flamingos may seem like an odd touch for a NW Beach weekend, but it was a subtle reference to a wonderful business that Susanna, Mike and I encountered earlier in the month, and wish that we had come up with it.

p.s.. this is how we all felt at the end of each day.

Mouse-a-touille!

2011-07-23T04:00:00.000-07:00

Lilly, our precious little neighbor - the two-year-old who can put a smile on anybody's face - who's laugh is infectious, had a birthday this month too!

I had long been planning my gift for her - ever since Susanna visited in April and we both purchased the book BIG LITTLE FELT UNIVERSE. It took me a couple of months to narrow down what I wanted to make, but in June when up at Papa's house for a project weekend, I got busy and made this:

A basket full of fruit and vegetables (and a mouse - eeek!)

My favorites are the carrot and head of lettuce. The carrot pattern is in the book, but the lettuce wasn't. There was a pattern for a leaf of lettuce, however, so a little imagination and I was able to turn one leaf into a whole head of them.

This mouse is similar to the one I made my Mom for her birthday.

The pattern is available here.

The basket was crocheted out of Wool-ease Thick & Quick. It's a bit of a squeeze to fit everything into it, but I figured that since she's two these toys will end up all over the house soon anyway!

Time Out: let's celebrate

2011-07-21T20:40:00.000-07:00

In the midst of our current home project scramble, Mike had a birthday!

Though we plan on celebrating with our family at the end of the month, we couldn't let his actual birthday pass by without some acknowledgment. So we celebrated with pizza and cannoli!
But before Mike could sit back and relax with his Italian delicacies, he had to help Papa and I move and assemble furniture, as we attempted to put the house back together after drywalling, painting and carpet installation (note new shelf in above photo).

We fired up the cob oven on Saturday and made all sorts of delicious pizza combinations: my favorite was the Prosciutto + Figs + Blue Cheese.

We even got to finally introduce Rebecca & Ryan to our cob oven!

Though a little tentative at first, they quickly realized that char & ash only serve to enhance the flavor.

We continued Mike's birthday celebration on Sunday with a birthday party for 2-year-old Lilly, our beautiful neighbor and friend, and a child who has some fantastic facial expressions.

Meoww... grrr... Meow

2011-07-12T11:49:00.000-07:00

While we work on painting the house, poor Roople has been relegated to the basement and yard. The paint is almost dry, so in no time at all he'll be back roaming the house and tearing things up.

Needle-felted Roople in Maneki Neko form.

Roople probably doesn't mind the basement too much, as he only has two objectives in life: to annoy me, and to eat. Since his food is in the basement, he really only misses out on annoying me.

The Dream... is a little more realistic now

2011-07-08T08:46:00.001-07:00

Weeks have passed - feels like days. Mike and I have spent the last several weeks working on the upstairs bedroom. We've been working on it over the last few years, but there have always been more pressing matters to attend to. With an impending visit from Sara and Bobby in three weeks, we set a deadline of having 2 bedrooms by the time they arrive. We don't have any illusions that the room will be finished, but "habitable" is our goal (we feel we've reached the point where our guests might be a little sick of sleeping on our couch).

With this goal in mind, Mike finished all the electrical last month, and with the help of our friend Bobby they got all of the eave insulation installed. Next came the plumber to make sure that our plumbing was set up for a sink in the upstairs room. Then Mike and I spent a couple of crazy nights ripping out trim and scraping paint in preparation for the drywallers.

Insulation - the cat kept sneaking up here to sleep in the insulation then would itch like crazy all day.

Mike hates small spaces - but he suffered in the little space over the kitchen in order to get the last of the insulation in.

Pink Panther insulation installed - drywall next!

The little cubby on the left is a built-in shelf for shoe storage and the door on the right provides access to the eaves, if needed.

Over the fourth of July weekend the drywallers arrived to finish the insulation, install, tape and mud drywall, and finally to put a light orange peel texture on all the walls. They finished on Sunday afternoon, at which point Mike and I, along with sister Susanna who graciously volunteered to come help us paint, jumped right into the project.

Susanna masterfully taped with her trusty "green frog" tape.

A coat of Kilz

We managed to finished priming upstairs on Sunday afternoon.

Photo from the top of the stairs - closets on the right.

And we got almost two coats on the walls by Monday evening!

Mike made sure that there were lots of electrical outlets so that we can arrange our furniture in a variety of configurations.

These closets are 3x the size of my current one downstairs.

The large alcove will be where our sink goes and the small alcove to the right will be built-in shelves.

We've got carpet installation scheduled for next week, then we get to work on the baseboards and window trim - the end is in sight! While this work was going on upstairs we also had contractors in to patch all the holes we put in the wall downstairs when we redid the electrical. They patched, then floated and textured the walls to give them a consistent finish. Susanna got primer and one coat of paint on those walls by the end of day Monday, then continued her generosity by extending her train ticket home by one day so that she could put the last coat on the walls on Tuesday while Mike and I were at work.

Thanks Susanna!

Gray Cat, the Amineko

2011-06-21T10:32:00.000-07:00

Gray Cat basks in the sun on his special throne (courtesy of Mom).

Gray Cat sniffs the mint.

Gray Cat looks at me with disdain and superiority.

Last month I got Hello My Name is Amineko from the library. This is a fascinating book - not because it's well-written (it's really not) but because it's a craft book full of photos of crocheted cats. There is only one pattern in this craft book. All the other pages of the book are dedicated to photographing crocheted cats sleeping, eating, playing, hiding, relaxing, etc. I admit, the photos are pretty cute. But I was shocked to find that there was only one pattern. However, it's a pretty easy pattern - crocheting in the round - and the color variations could be limitless. The nose was supposed to be stitched felt, but I needled felted it directly to the cotton yarn. This pattern is also available for free on Ravelry.

Everybody's Brewing

2011-06-20T12:57:00.000-07:00

Mike and I have been spending a lot of time driving out along the gorge on weekend evenings in search of good views and good beer. We went to our favorite restaurant in Hood River a few weeks ago and the bartender recommended that we check out Everybody's Brewing in White Salmon, WA.

So the next weekend we headed back out along the gorge, crossed over the river at Hood River, drove through Bingen and up the hill to Whilte Salmon.

The brewery is in an old brick building with "Goodwill Lodge" on the canopy in low-contrast letters. Needless to say we drove by it the first couple of times. If you look closely, their logo is on the door and an authoritative neon sign in the window tells one to "GET IN HERE".

They have about 10 beers on tap, and my favorite was the Daily Bread Common Ale. Mike tried the Goodwill IPA. I was pleased to see that they have 3 IPAs, so there will be plenty more to try on our next visit. While it was a bit chilly, we ventured out to the patio to take in the wonderful views of Mt. Hood and some glorious green hill that reminded me of Heidi.

To keep in the spirit of the Gorge and Beer, this last weekend we headed to Stevenson, WA to check out the Walking Man Brewery. While their beer is good, the overall experience was decidedly less pleasant and no photos were taken. In the future I will enjoy Walking Man beer from the comfort of my favorite restaurants. There was an excellent ice cream joint in Stevenson, however...

Sun: the cherry on top of my day

2011-06-07T15:00:00.000-07:00

The first weekend in June turned out to be a beautiful one here in the Pacific Northwest. Mike and I spent it with Papa at his house on the Kitsap Peninsula in Washington. Per usual, Mike and I headed up with a couple of projects in tow. Mike brought materials to build carriage doors for our shop (a work in progress, in itself), while I brought my felt and sewing supplies to craft a birthday present for Lilly's upcoming 2nd birthday (more on that later).

Mike laying out his design for the carriage doors.

The view from Pa's hot tub

Homemade pizza! We tried a variation of Alan's Flammkuchen: sour cream, sauerkraut and pears.

I had gone light on the sour cream and kraut thinking it might be too much - Papa piled more on. It was very tasty and I would definitely do this combo again - thanks Alan!

Our dinner table

We took a day trip up to the Skagit Valley to catch Aidan's final game of the season. Our little man hit a home run! He was very cool about it, didn't say much, but I could tell he was really happy to have made such a good play with his family around.

Aidan had quite a fan club present: 4 grandparents, 2 aunts, an uncle and both his parents (even dad was home from Alaska for a week!).

Aidan was pretty thrilled to be able to leave the game in Grandma Joyce's mustang. As he climbed in, a teammate shouted, "sweet ride, Aidan!"

The shop doors in their unfinished state. Mike managed to get them all built before we headed home, now it's just some finishing work and paint. This was our first door project and we learned a lot; particularly about gluing and clamping. Luckily Pa was around with lots of advice and huge stash of large pipe clamps.

Work In Progress: A new doll

2011-06-02T08:45:00.000-07:00

A new work in progress... This doll is a variation on my previous dolls. I've been playing around with the pattern by adding thumbs and toes (covered by those kicks) and a new method of applying hair. This doll is also smaller than my previous dolls, by virtue of the fact that I used DK weight yarn rather than worsted weight. I found this cotton yarn in the sale bin at the Mill Ends Store and went with it because it was a nice flesh color. I also added pipe cleaners to her limbs to give her a little more poseability - it also helps her to stand up.

I whipped up the overalls out of flat felt, and added a couple of antique brass buttons. I had made an extra pair of converse for Vanessa's duck that were too small, but amazingly just fit this doll.

The hair is a 100% wool roving yarn by Twilleys of Stamford (Freedom). I was able to needle felt it directly onto the doll's head and I'm really liking the way it turned out. I'm constantly changing my method for applying hair to dolls, but I think I would do this one again.

As you can see, the poor doll is missing a face. I just haven't decided how I want her to look... in the meantime she sits on the shelf with the perfect poker face.

Nothing says "almost summer" like the firing up of the cob oven

2011-05-31T20:47:00.000-07:00

Our cob oven spent the winter covered in a green tarp, and home to a small green frog. However, as of yesterday it was liberated!

Our friend Bobby spent the day working with us around the house, and to celebrate a successful work day we fired up the oven for the first "cob pizza" of the year.

Lots of new toppings to choose from this time, including: roasted butternut squash, ricotta cheese, pickled peppadew peppers, apricots and broccoli rabe.

As the sun went down we lit up the "campfire" for part II of s'mores-makin! Bobby admitted that he has a hard time just sitting around a campfire, so he used hot coals/embers to start hollowing out a piece of wood, which he hopes to turn into a pig-shaped bowl for his mother. A very intriguing project, to be sure.

Roasted

2011-05-30T08:43:00.000-07:00

After a long weekend of working on the garden and house, Mike and I relaxed around our backyard fire pit last night. It was chilly, but very reminiscent of pacific northwest camping adventures. I dug out the roasting sticks for sausages and marshmallows.

On Saturday I tried my hand at making homemade graham crackers. The dough was horrible to work with (terribly tacky) and I had to add so much graham flour to make it workable that they ended up tasting quite dry. However, add a couple roasted marshmallows and chocolate chips to them, and they become rather tasty.

Look, I made a potholder!

2011-05-19T08:05:00.000-07:00

Earlier this month I got an invitation to participate in a crochet-along (CAL) from one of my Ravelry groups, Good Things Together. I've never participated in an "along" before, but I haven't been crocheting as much lately so I figured this would be a good opportunity to make a new project that I didn't have to have a recipient for, or even a reason for. The project was a flower potholder, and as luck would have it, I actually needed a second potholder.

The pattern was designed by Delights-Gem, and you can currently see all of the potholders made during the CAL on her recent blog post. The pattern is posted here.

Happy Birthday, Dear

2011-05-17T12:49:00.000-07:00

Back in my March my lovely friend Rebecca hit the big 3-0. To mark this momentous occasion, I gave her Bambi. Nothing says welcome to your thirties like a toy.

The pattern for this animal is from here.

Waddle! Waddle! Chucks make ya wanna...

2011-05-13T17:38:00.000-07:00

Last weekend Mike and I headed to Bow to finally catch up with my jet-setter mother. We managed to catch her between travels, work and school. We spent a wonderful weekend antiquing in Mount Vernon, Sedro Woolley, Bellingham, Fairhaven and Laconner. I found a fabulous set of white milk-glass cups and Susanna got me a very cool pink lamp for my dollhouse.

We also officially celebrated Mother's Day with a rodent.

Mouse pattern adapted from here.

I made the head a little larger and hand-sewed it from wool felt. The crown is made from wool felt as well, and I added white pom-poms for a little extra bling.

To celebrate spring (which totally isn't here but I thought if we said we were celebrating it then Spring might take the hint) I brought up gifts for Aidan and Vanessa as well.

Back in February when I gave Susanna a Kangaroo with Chucks, Aidan was most impressed and asked if I would make him and his cousin Vanessa animals too.
Aidan chose a Penguin (to go along with the crocheted one I made him earlier) and Vanessa requested a duck (to match the needle-felted one she made last month).

I was happy that they chose animals with only two feet apiece, but these birds were not so easy to make converse for. Achieving balance was no easy feat!

The duck is hand-sewn from wool felt using one of my patterns. The purple converse pattern is the same one that I used for the animals on the Game Time baby mobile.

The penguin is adapted from the book Wild & Wonderful Fleece Animals. I reduced the pattern by 75% and then changed the bottom half to create "legs" and "feet".

Empanadas!

2011-04-30T14:32:00.000-07:00

Last Friday we went to a birthday gathering for Bobby, where we were asked to bring a snack to share. Since I had the day off I wanted to make something new, so I perused the internet and my cookbooks. I came across a recipe for empanadas on Laylita.com. Not only did they look delicious and seem like a good snack food, they also allowed me to use up the crockpot sante fe chicken leftovers. Making the dough was very easy, though rolling it out thin enough was less easy. I rolled out the dough in batches, then used the top half of my OnionSaver as the circle cutter. The cutter made 4" diameter circles, which were large enough for the snacks, but next time I'll make the circles larger so that I can fit more filling inside.

Rather than make a new filling I used the Sante Fe Chicken leftovers from earlier in the week. This was tasty, but perhaps not flavorful enough. When we ate it the first time we served it with cheese, spicy carrots and salsa, so a lot of additional flavor was added. When it's alone inside the pastry it's just lacking a little something. Next time I'll add more seasoning, or perhaps some cheese.

After they were filled I wet the edges with water and sealed them with a folded crimp.

Then I applied an eggwash over their tops.

Then I decided that the folded crimp may not be enough of a seal, so I took a fork and tined all the edges as well. They definitely held together - success!

I had a hankering for elephant

2011-04-22T17:44:00.000-07:00

I wasn't looking for a new craft, I swear. I was happy with the 100 or so that I already have materials for. But this sewn soft toy thing is just addictive. It combines my desire to build 3D objects and my desire to create cuteness. I lie awake at night thinking of ways to add gussets to animals - it's ridiculous.

I am currently obsessed with the color gray, so earlier this month I decided to make an elephant. My goal was to make him out of several pieces so that he'd have as much dimension as possible.

I started my process by searching the internet for images of interesting-looking elephants. I came across a "Softie-along" from some time ago where everybody crafted an elephant and submitted photos of it. I found many cool looking elephants, so using several photos for inspiration I drew up my pattern. Much like the Dinosaur-making process, I made several paper patterns and taped them together before cutting into fabric. I draw my patterns on the computer, because that's what I do. But I do tweak the patterns by hand, then translate those back into my digital pattern.

Similar to the Dinosaur process, I made two fabric elephants (one by hand and one on the machine) as practice. Unlike my first attempt, I didn't even bother to finish the first two fabric elephants as I could tell right away that they were not right. But third time's a charm!

This little guy was sewn on the machine except for his foot pads and tail which I sewed by hand. I used three shades of gray (for visual interest, but also because I didn't have enough of one shade).

His eyes are black buttons that I bought from Fabric Depot, then I added felt lashes and lids (the buttons are really cool - I used them for this monkey, where their detail is more clear).

A little felt crown, a la Babar

A few new recipes...

2011-04-20T13:25:00.000-07:00

In between projects and work, I tend to surf the web looking for new things to cook. Particularly this time of year when it feels like I've been making the same things for months (as opposed to other times of year when I find new things to cook but I don't make them because I just feel like cooking the same things over and over again).
Recently I came across the website SkinnyTaste by Gina, who's goal is to take recipes and reduce their calories while obtaining great taste. A wonderful goal, and one whose effectiveness I thought I'd test. Of the three recipes I tried I would make all of them again, however one thing to note about this source is that some of the recipes are a bit abbreviated in their instructions. For those who have been cooking for awhile, it's not really an issue to figure out what you're supposed to do next. For those who like step-by-step instructions, this may be a problem...

Asian Peanut Noodles with Chicken: In short, this turned out pretty well and Mike said it was good. I only had a couple of issues with it.

The ingredient list called for Sesame Oil. I went to the store, bought an expensive bottle of it, then noticed that she never noted where to use it in the recipe instructions. I threw a little in with the chicken and called it good. I didn't notice the additional flavor so I'm not sure that it was worth the purchase.

The other issue was that the ingredients called for "Better than Peanut Butter" as a PB substitute. This is available at Trader Joes but I didn't have time to drive across town and fight parking at TJ's so I just used real peanut butter. I reduced the amount a little though, and as a result the PB flavor was overpowered by the Sriracha sauce. Next time I'll use the PB substitute or reduce the amount of Sriracha sauce.

Crock Pot Santa Fe Chicken: I really liked this and it was very easy (as crock pot cooking should be). It took about 10 hours to cook on high, which is exactly how long I'm gone each day so the timing was perfect. The only variation was that I didn't have scallions - I didn't miss them. I served it atop Chipotle's Cilantro Lime Rice and chopped romaine, then added spicy pickled carrots and shredded cheese.

Then of course, there is my favorite cooking website, Smitten Kitchen, where Deb impresses me with her kitchen prowess, humor and photography skills. I've made several of her recipes, but most recently I tried the Sally Lunn Bread. It turned out very well and didn't last long. I made this on a Saturday night and we had it for breakfast on Sunday morning. It went fast and I will be making it again very soon.

4 adults + 1 teen + 4 kids + 4 days: Things to Do in Portland

2011-04-12T19:26:00.000-07:00

Last week was spring break for Skagit County schools in Washington state and we invited Susanna and her entourage to come hang out with us in Portland. Susanna arrived Wednesday night with Aidan, his cousin Vanessa, and friend Isaiah in tow. We were joined Thursday night by Susanna's sister-in-law Adrianne, her daughter Alexis and niece Savannah. Are you counting? That's right - 7 people. In our glorified 1-bedroom/1 bathroom house! It was our challenge to make sure that all 9 of us had someplace to sleep and something to do for the next four days. For those of you wondering what to do with four adults, one 19-year-old and four kids ages 2 - 12 for four days, read on.

Susanna kicked off the entertaining on Thursday by taking Isaiah, Vanessa and Aidan to the Children's Museum. I'm not entirely sure what they all did there, but Susanna brought me back a small clay bird to paint and decorate, which is pretty darn cute.

Mike continued the good times by taking the same three kids to see the Winterhawks play at the Rose Garden on Thursday night. Susanna and I relished the adult time by going out to dinner and crocheting a little.

On Friday, everybody (sans Mike & I) went to the Clackamas Aquatic Center to play in the Big Surf, which was then followed up by dinner at Old Town Pizza on MLK Blvd. We chose this restaurant for three reasons: 1) they serve pizza, which pleased everybody's palate, 2) it has very nice atmosphere and good beer, 3) it was the only place I could think of that would seat all of us.

On Saturday, while half of us headed to the Crafty Underdog craft show and Powell's Books, Mike took the same three kids to see some gorge waterfalls along Highway 30.

(try to ignore the large sodas in their hands - it was vacation)

He also took them to the B onneville Lock & Dam and the Bonneville Fish Hatchery to see Herman the Sturgeon.

And finally, we finished up the vacation with a quick lesson in needle-felting for Vanessa and Isaiah.
Vanessa made a yellow duck and Isaiah made a ladybug. They were both excited to learn, and while a few comments were made about how long it was taking to finish, they both stuck with their projects all the way to the end. Vanessa even came back to add a few more details.

Mike and I both had a great time, though we were thoroughly exhausted when everybody left on Sunday. We would definitely have them all back again, though hopefully next time we'll have that second bedroom finished!