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Archive for April, 2009

Oh, Happy Day

Thursday, April 30th, 2009

Got out early, in the sunshine, and planted my garden. Felt so good. I save space for tomatoes. I might plant some corn, too. Today I planted lettuce, cucumber, zucchini, eggplant, peppers, chard, sweet peas and strawberries plus several herbs. I planted carrot, radish and green bean seeds.

This bed has herbs and lettuce and the strawberries.

theherblettucebed

Another view. My beds are triangular because of the weird shape of the yard.

herblettucebed2

Here is the tumbler composter which is cooking away.

composttumbler

Look, I already have a strawberry.

firststrawberry

I was also excited to find several buds on the peony I planted last year.

peonybud

Miss Mia came by after school to hang out with me. We practiced sewing on the Janome sewing machine. She loves to do the fancy stitches. Look how grown up she is becoming.

miatoday

I cooked a delicious pork tenderloin with pineapple and Asian seasonings in the crockpot and the whole family had dinner here.

It was such a beautiful, bright day, so I took advantage and photographed a bunch of quilts that I want to get on my website. I also have to send better photos of the two quilts going to Sacred threads in June.

While Mia was sewing, I started a second scrap piece, but didn’t have time to finish it.

Tomorrow, I finally get to have my eye exam and select new glass frames. Woo hoo!

That is about all there is to report from my happy day.

Spurned and Moving On

Wednesday, April 29th, 2009

Snickers/Scooter was given to someone else today. The husband came home from work with the news that a co-worker wanted the pup. I guess it all worked out since I have not heard that he is available again. I was very sad. I really felt that he was meant to be our boy. I moped around a lot today. Call me crazy!!

This afternoon, I finally got my act together and went out to the closest store with thread and bought some to quilt the identity piece. Pretty good color matching.

identitythread

While at the beach, I started doing some hand stitching on this funky tree piece that i started way back when in a class with Rayna. I pulled the stitching out because it was too regular. I am going to start over. While we were there, we found this strange little bead store with great prices. Terry blogged about it here. I found some embellishments that might work with this piece.

funkytreeembelishments

We got the organic fertilizer worked into the garden beds and placed the plants around. I will go down to plant them in the morning, if I get a nice sun break like we had this afternoon. I bought a set of Wells Lamont garden gloves at Costco. I just love them – great color!!

limegreengloves

There is a glove for every need. I especially like the ones that are waterproof for working in sopping wet soil!!

Tomorrow, I get to have a visit from Miss Mia while Steph takes Miles to an appointment. This may be a standing Thursday play date. I’m excited.

New Project and a Puppy

Tuesday, April 28th, 2009

I have been a bit distracted. I went to the dark side over the week-end — I am now on Facebook. I am having fun reconnecting with family and old friends and connecting in a new way with many of my fiber friends.

I managed to get in some studio time today, working on the 12 X 12 challenge. Of course, I can’t show you that. I have had in mind to start a long term project that would get me in the studio more often to do small works. I have so many scraps of fabric, many of them fused. I often ask myself why I am saving them. Earlier this year, I thought about making small art pieces with my scraps and batting pieces. My plan is to finish each piece with a zigzag edging, with the intention of combining them as a large work, eventually. Because of my post show blues, I just couldn’t muster the creative energy to get started. Tonight, I did it. Here is my first piece. Each one will be labeled on the muslin backing with the date it was made. Here is Scrap042809.

scrap042809

scrapback

And so we shall see how this plays out.

Puppy? Say what? Yes, I need a more energetic dog to get me out on aerobic walks. Maggie doesn’t enjoy the long walks. I have been looking at the Humane Society website and other places. Mr C really wants a Labradoodle, but they are generally very expensive. Today, I decided to check out Craig’s list and found a 6 month old Labradoodle who needs to be rehomed. His family has an older dog with a tumor in his neck and he can no longer play with the puppy. Long story short, Snickers is coming to visit us tomorrow evening. If he stays with us, we will rename him Scooter, chosen by Mr C. Here is a photo that his current family sent me.

labradoodle

Hopefully the rain will diminish tomorrow so that I can plant my garden. I purchased herbs and starter veggies on Sunday and they have been sitting and waiting to be planted.

Home Again, Home Again

Friday, April 24th, 2009

Jiggety jig. I am all rested and destressed after a couple of beautiful days at the beach with friends. I am still allergy plagued, but dealing with it.

Here is a photo synopsis of the trip. You can see all the photos HERE.

We had a beautiful view of the Pacific Ocean, the beach and 3 Arches Rocks from our house on the hill.

Sunset on Wednesday evening.

wednesdaysunset

A clear and sunny morning on Thursday.

fridaymorning

A rainbow later in the day. We also had some hail.

rainbowleftside

You can see the hillside above the beach and our house.

housefrombeach

Here is a closeup of the house.

housecloseup

Terry, Beth and Reva got to work on Wednesday afternoon.

atwork

Terry made this crow while at the beach.

terrysbirdfinished

Gale was working on a bird nest from these wonderful fabric strips.

galesnestwork2

Beth made some wonderful soup for us to have on Wednesday night. It was so good, we decided to stay in on Thursday night and have the leftovers and the snacks that we had brought with us. Here is the gang digging in.

diggingin

I can’t show you what I did because I did more work on my 12 X 12 piece. Terry guessed what it was and she is doing the same thing, but it will be a different take. We, of course, stopped at the Tillamook Cheese factory for the requisite ice cream lunch before hitting the road for home. Mr C and Maggie were happy to see me. I took Maggie for a nice walk and Mr C and I went out for dinner where I ehjoyed roasted halibut – mmm good.

Heading West

Tuesday, April 21st, 2009

STASH is off to the beach tomorrow for our annual April retreat. We are staying for a couple of nights and coming home on Friday. I am so up for some R & R that I am not even packing that much sewing to do. I will continue cutting the fabrics for my 12 X 12 piece. There is no Internet access at the beach house so I will be off line — hope I don’t go into withdrawal!! I am taking my computer, just in case I might pick up a wifi signal some place in the hood. The weather will be in the 50’s and partly sunny — I will be happy with that.

2009-cfg-2-web

This is a photo of the guild showcase at the Contemporary Craft Museum. Guilds who are members of the museum get to showcase work at the museum. The Columbia Fiberarts Guild has work there through the end of May. That is my Indigo Moons hanging on the right.