New Blip On My Radar...

"Hooter Hiders", "Bebe Au Lait", Nursing Covers, call them what you will, about a month or so ago, I'd never even heard of them. Then a gal that I've sewn a couple of projects for asked me if I thought I could sew her one for the baby she's having soon...well, first I had to figure out exactly what they were, once I did, I was pretty confident I could make one, they really aren't too complicated. So, I offered her a bit of a deal to get two, since some of the supplies, the boning and D-rings come packaged with more than you'd need for just one cover. I have to say though that because I like options, I like to also give other people options...so when it came to figuring out what to use to fasten the neck strap, I considered velcro an option. When I asked her about her preference, she said definitely D-rings, the velcro would make too much noise and wake a sleeping baby...silly me, of course velcro would wake a sleeping baby! I got such a kick out of that, I guess there's somethings that (for me at least) are learned through experience, and I'm pretty much at zero on nursing baby experience!

So here are a few shots of my finished products, I am quite proud of them. Also, this is the first time I've posted pictures with my new labels sewn onto one of my handmade items...I love the labels, they give everything a very finished look. Learning to make something new is always very satisfying, having it turn out well is even sweeter! The funny thing about these nursing covers is that now I see them everywhere, a lady at Costco has one out, another gal at an outlet mall I go to from time to time had one resting on her stroller. It turns out that several of my mommy friends use them or plan to use them. I'm now going to be making a few more for friends. I am a little amused by this new hobby of mine, but I have to say that I am proud of the fact that I have the skill to make them!

Finishing Up

This post is going to be full of promises of future posts, kind of the nature of what is going on in my life...so much keeping me busy that I have to tackle one thing at a time or else end up too overwhelmed to do anything. Sooo, the picture above is representative of two things...one, it is the top surface of my new desk. It is finished up as far as the husband's building it...but it still needs drawer pulls. The drawers are built flush with the fram of the desk, a beautiful, very clean looking effect, but inorder to be able to open the drawers and properly use the desk, I need drawer pulls. The plan is to make it down to one of my favorite stores ever, Anthropologie, to see if they've got what I want. Really, any excuse to go to that store is fine by me, the closest one is down in Seattle (there are two stores there actually), which is about a 45 min to 1 hour drive on a no-traffic Sunday...perfect! The flower in the milk bottle vase is kind of part of a new promise to myself. I've been trying to keep fresh flowers on my bedstand, sometimes just a single stem, and I'd like to do the same on my new desk in my new home office. Recently I've been bringing in sunflowers and dahlias, since that's what is in bloom in my garden. As the fall and winter approach I may have to become a little more creative about where I get my flowers, I may even have to (dread) buy them. So, that is my goal...so simple, but it makes me happy!

So far the first half of today has been a time to finish up a few projects. I begin training for my new job on Monday - this will be the first time that I've started a new job while staying at home. I think the idea of working from home is still very odd to me, I guess it hasn't sunk in completely. If I were to talk with a friend who works from home about their job, I'd still experience a little bit of longing, wishing that I could have their situation...I guess it hasn't hit me that I do have that situation. Again, it's still kind of odd to me.

But, I have felt a little anxious about finishing up some projects that have been put off to the side for the past few weeks. One of those is the quilt for a friend's baby that I showed a little sneak preview of the other day. The other project is two nursing covers ie- "Hooter Hiders" or "Bebe au Laits". I am making them for the same gal that I made a Happy Birthday banner for not too long ago. She's an amazing mother of 5 with her 6th on the way. I admire her not just for enormity of her task, 6 children is alot! But, I also admire her because she's been able to trust me, someone who has never made a nursing cover before, to give it my best try. In general, I appreciate that she wants to support someone in her community, it helps of course that it's me, but even if I remove myself from the equation, I still admire someone who is willing to take a different route from typical retail purchasing. I will post some pictures of the covers sometime in the next few days. I am also excited to share some pictures of the baby quilt I made, it turned out very sweet, I'm proud of my work, and I learned a ton from making it.

Actually, the quilt experience made me feel a bit braver about the idea of attempting the king sized quilt for our bed that I've been kind of dreaming about for the past several months. I've been collecting fabrics here and there in shades of blue and green, all sorts of patterns. The fabrics have been purchased locally, but also on our trips to Brazil, NYC, and Hawaii. It is going to be a big project, so I'll probably wait until after I'm settled into my new routine to get started. But, doing a quilt that turned out nicely gave me the confidence to imagine being able to successfully make my dream quilt.

That's probably enough rambling for now, I've got things to do!

Lots Happening Here

It's been a busy week. I had a few friends that I know from my last job over for a little lunch party...it was fun to set a nice table, I hadn't done that in a while. The flowers came from my garden, sunflowers and dahlias.I have also been working on a quilt for a friend's baby...he was born a little over a week ago and has had a few health issues. I want to have the quilt finished this week so I can give it to his mama to wrap him in. I am using an all cotton batting and I am going to use a soft blue and brown striped flannel for the backing, it will coordinate perfectly with the block colors and will be smooth on his baby skin.Another thing that's going on is that this 4'x12' piece of hardwood gym floor is currently being turned into my new home office desk. It came from the RE Store in Bellingham. They sell recycled building materials from tear downs. This was from the Carver Gym at Western Washington University.I'll have more pictures to share as the desk and the quilt are finished up. It seems like the next week is only going to get busier and busier.

Red Hot Peppers

I have never before in my life grown peppers. These lovely cayanne peppers turn red as they ripen. I honestly don't really know exactly how I am going to use them. If you have any great ideas, now would be the time to leave a comment. I like spicy food, but I don't seek it out in abundance. Can I dry these bad boys? What about putting them into vinegar or olive oil? Any advice would be appreciated! I'll also be poking around on epicurious.com a bit to see if there are any helpful ideas, if I find anything that stands out I may just try it and report back!

Bloomin' Artichoke

This was interesting to me, so I thought I'd share. The picture above is of one of the artichokes that's been growing in my garden this summer. I've already picked and enjoyed several, man those things are yummy with some olive oil or butter and garlic! But, I actually didn't eat the very first one that was ready for picking. A little grub had taken up residence in it by eating his way towards the heart. I had pried him out with a popcycle stick and fed him to the chickens - he deserved his unfortunate fate for ruining one of my hard-earned summer treats. I left the artichoke he'd ruined on the plant for a couple more weeks as a decoy for anymore grubs that may have come along...there were several smaller artichokes growing at the time that I wanted to protect, so sacrificing the largest one even further made sense to me. Well, eventually I did pick a few of the un-lived-in artichokes and at the same time picked the ruined one and threw it in the general viscinity of our compost pile. The chickens like to visit the pile when they free range, so I figured they'd get it eventually. Well, about 3 weeks later I went out to throw some kitchen scraps out to the pile and I saw the most gorgeous bloom in a shade of purple off to the side of the compost. Maybe this is ordinary to some folks, but I've never in my life actually seen in person what an artichoke looks like when it blooms. I suppose I shouldn't be suprised, I did know that artichokes are flowers, but the seeing just how pretty this prickly but tasty little plant can be was amazing.

The green of an artichoke is one of my favorite colors...I guess because it falls into the "earth tones" that you see people use to decorate with in Tuscany, I love those colors. But the vibrant purple of it's bloom is in a whole different category! The picture below only somewhat does the color justice. It definately stuck out in a pile of decaying vegetable scraps and dead plant stocks from the garden. It's suprises like this that truly make gardening interesting to me.

Thoughts On A Sunny Afternoon in August

Remember how I mentioned that some of my handmade items were being sold at a great shop in my town? Well, the owner, Michelle, made mention of me in a recent blog post...very cool, huh?

Let me take a second to explain that I'm writing kind of backwards here...I decided after writing the paragraphs below to come back and insert a little disclaimer. I rarely make a blog post without a single picture. I also don't always share a ton of thoughts. I guess my mood today lent itself to no pictures and lots of thoughts. Maybe I'm feeling reflective on this sunny Sunday afternoon in August...I'm frequently a verbal processor, and I infrequently use writing as a way of sorting out my thoughts, it isn't typical for me to "journal". So I won't be offended if no one besides myself is interested in reading this post, it is in many ways much more personal that this blog typically is.

You know, I heard someone say back in my early 20's that when you move somewhere new it will typically take around 2-3 years before that place really begins to feel like "home". Without exception this has proven to be true in my own life. I have been away from California for just over two years now...at first Washington felt like a foreign land that had been cursed with a lack of sunshine. I went through some major seasonal affective disorder (S.A.D.) the first year I was here. In hindsight I needed to have taken a multi-vitamin, an extra vitamin D supplement, and excercised more. Honestly though, depression can be crippling at times, you don't always do for yourself what you should when you feel down. Even though I was now living with my best friend (the husband and I had dated and been engaged long distance for the majority of our relationship before we were married), I was lonely. I made friends at the first job that I worked, and a couple of those friendships have been invaluable to me. But for a long time I've lacked connection. I've felt at times like I'm living in the "movie set" of my husband's life. He grew up in this area and it is home to him. I guess I felt like a prop, or an extra. Being here has at times made me feel like I wasn't living my own story.

I think this past winter set off in me an alarm of sorts. My oldest friend in life came up for a visit. It had been a few years since we'd seen each other. I had the chance to show her a few of my favorite places and we also explored together a neighborhood in Seattle that I'd never been to before. One of my favorite parts of her visit was our day up at Mt. Baker. It was a spectacularly sunny and (for winter) warm day, we didn't even need our jackets. I got to teach her how to snowboard. During her visit we also spent time drawing on onesies together while watching chick-flicks, her sister was newly pregnant at the time, so that inspired our creativity. She is an incredibly talented artist, from a very young age I've always been amazed by and a bit jealous of her talent. Seriously, when we were about seven years old I remember us drawing together and making our own paper dolls, her's were always much better than mine, but when we'd pick our favorites she was gracious enough to pick a few of mine.

In many ways being able to connect my past, in the form of my dear old friend, to my present life, started in me a desire to come out of my shell, to stop feeling like a prop or an extra in someone else's movie and to start being the main role in my own life. I'd been thinking of blogging, I'd already decided to take up sewing again...I felt like I had a million creative ideas swimming around in my head like a giant school of fish. I needed an outlet. In no way do I mean to say that the husband hasn't been considerate of my feelings or made me feel important, he's a fantastic man and a great support to me. I think he's even been confused at times by my restlessness and inability to "fit"...it hasn't been his fault at all, if anything he's always told me that he wants to be there to support me as I figure out how to have happiness and peace in life.

About the same time this past winter and spring, I was growing more and more restless in my job. I've shared in the past that I had not been happy in my last position. There were wonderful things aspects to my experience at that school (new friends being one), but there were also many drawbacks. I felt like I was sacrificing who I was and what I was hoping to be as a professional simply because I needed to stay financially stable. Losing that job really was a good news/bad news moment in my life. It was just under four months that I was "unemployed". Realistically even after I found out I'd lost my job, I still had to finish up the school year, and because my contract was over 12 months, I've continued to earn money for a while now. Maybe I was never truly "unemployed", but in my heart I was. I identified fully with folks who don't want a handout, who don't want to file for unemployment checks, but at the same time don't know if anything else is possible. I have a job now, a job that I am excited about, but I've also been rejected more than a few times for other jobs in the last four months. That's been hard on me. At one point, when I still lived in CA, I had 5 job offers to pick from in a matter of weeks after I'd started to look. I teach math, I have two degrees, a B.S. in mechanical engineering, and a M.A. in Education. I am liscened to teach in two states...in my mental blue print for my life, unemployment is not an option.

As with all difficult things in life, I think I've grown from what I've been going through. Looking back I (and the husband) have wasted money in frivolous ways in the past. I have not fully appreciated the amazing belongings I have and the amazing setting in which I live. I have focused more on attaining things than on creating things. The recent challenges in my life have changed me, maybe not completely, but I don't feel like the same person anymore.

I've pushed myself in gardening, sewing, cooking, canning, selling things I've made...I'm glad I've taken the time to blog so much of it. I was embarassed that I'd lost my job, I felt like a loser, but at the same time putting it out there felt honest. It's easy to share success and talent. It's tempting to make life appear to always be sunny and joyful. The reality is that just like my garden has it's share of weeds, so does my life. Fortunately I've been able to suprise even myself with the great things that have happened this summer with my new little business. I am excited to grow it further in the next year.

There are still so many life lessons ahead of me...maybe one day I'll legitimately feel wise. I guess all of this is to say that while I am maybe a few steps closer after these past several months to being wise, I've made to the point where I feel "home", I don't feel like I'm on someone else's set. I've made it my own; my home, our property, my hobbies, my friends, my new business connections, our pets, my new job...all of it has been part of this transition period, it has all helped me settle in and learn to put down roots. I'm grateful for this blogging experience...it's not exactly been what I would have expected, maybe it's offered more than I expected. Even on days that overwhelm me or when I lose my sense of belonging here, I can't deny that I've got a place that brings me joy. Ultimately I love my life here, I feel fortunate. I guess there's plenty more time for the story to continue to unfold.

Can, Can, Can You Do The Can-Can?

I spent a long day in the kitchen, we're talking from 9 am until 8 pm. Admitedly, some of that time was spent eating breakfast and lunch and getting dinner ready, but the rest of the time I was canning food. The pantry is pretty full at this point and I still plan to can pears in a couple of weeks. So here's the canning totals for the summer so far:

saur kraut 12 quarts

marinara sauce 16 pints

pickles 4 quarts

blueberry jam 7 half-pints

strawberry/blackberry jam 4 half-pints

strawberry/nectarine sauce 6 half-pints

raspberry sauce 6 half-pints

nectarines 6 quarts, 2 pints, 27 half-pints

Not bad if I do say so myself. All of that is paid-for, preservative/additive-free food, made from produce that was in picked ripe and in-season. The nice part is that so far the majority of my canning jars are second generation (purchased last year), so the cost to can food has been lower. I've still had to purchase new lids and a couple of cases of quart sized jars, but that's very manageable. Last year was the expensive year, purchasing all of the equipment to make the canning process easy.

All-in-all, with the canned food and the food I've frozen, it seems that we're making progress towards eating in a more local and healthy way than we have in the past. Woooo-hooooo!

New and New

Excuse this fragmented post, I have two unconnected but fun pieces of news to share, starting with the best one, I have recently had reason to celebrate...I got a job! Not just that, but I will be working online from home! This next season of life is very exciting, and much anticipated. I have been on a journey through this whole process. It's been about four months since I lost my old job, but it was even before then that I had begun to have a sense of longing to "be home" more while still being able to earn an income. I feel like I am on the right path now...as I begin the job and grow in my responsibilities I am sure there will be more positive things to come!

The other new bit to share is my hair cut...I went in knowing I was ready for a change. I have one of those fabulous relationships with my stylist, Michelle. I trust her skill and style. I actually met her just a few weeks before my wedding. I'd just moved up to WA from CA and desperately needed a hair intervention before I got married. I still remember getting lost on my way to the salon. I was so frustrated I ended up crying on the phone to the husband (fiance at the time). Michelle instantly understood me and made me feel comfortable. I've been going there since and wouldn't want to go anywhere else.

Today I specifically asked her what she thought of my hair - before she'd washed and cut it - I wanted to see if she had any feedback about my new baking soda/vinegar hair routine. Other than my hair being a tad on the dry side (pretty expected considering I get a partial foil a few times a year and used a dryer fairly regularly), she basically gave me her stamp of approval. My next appointment is in the last week of October (after we return from Egypt). I'll get low lights done along with a cut at that time, that way my dark roots that I get when I spend less time in the sunshine don't become my most obvious feature! Michelle advised that for a week prior to that foil and for 3 weeks afterwards I should use a color preserving shampoo/conditioner rather than my current routine. That advice actually works out perfectly for me because I won't have to try to transport baking soda and vinegar in my carry-on to Egypt. (I won't check my bags after a very negative lost-bag experience when we went to Europe last summer!) Instead, I can just bring TSA size-approved shampoo and conditioner with me. I will also in the meantime find a quality and hopefully natural conditioner to keep my hair from getting too dry again.

So there it is, in other news, I am working on a few custom sewing projects for two different gals. I've also re-discovered how much I enjoy grocery shopping solo...with my new flexible schedule I hope to continue to own that responsibility. I guess I had forgotton that I do get a sense of satisfaction from planning meals. I am even thinking of doing a special "30 days of meals" series of posts sometime this fall...we'll see!

Marinara Sauce

Last Saturday I spent many, many hours turning 25 pounds of locally grown tomatoes into 16 pints of marinara sauce (plus enough for Saturday night's dinner). I followed (loosely) the recipe for tomato sauce given in Barbara Kingsolver's book, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle. The reason it took so many hours was that the stock pot I used to make the sauce only held about half of the tomatoes pureed...so two batches were necessary. Each batch has to boil down from a juice consistency to a sauce.

So was it worth it?? I had this discussion with the husband right before we fell asleep at 1 am, exhausted. It was a quick conversation, but essentially I shared with him that it had been worth it...purchased, a jar of sauce that was made from scratch of this quality would go for $3-6, easily. But it is about more than just money...we are trying to be more aware of what we are eating, for the past several years, the husband has suffered migraines when he eats food with preservatives and additives. Since I've known him I have been carefully reading labels. But by making it myself, I know exactly what went into it, sure of the fact that it is good for us. Even more, it feels good to know that I am able to do take whole foods and turn them into something that will nourish us in the months to come. Yes, it was worth it.

Pantry Organized - Check!

The door pictured above leads into the pantry in my kitchen. When ever I show friends my home for the first time, their reaction (usually from women) to this room usually is to it's impressive walk-in size...all the while my impulse is to hide this room because it is usually a cluttered mess.On my summer chore list was the task "clean, de-clutter and organize pantry"...I avoided this task for long enough, this past weekend I decided to tackle the task (along with several other little chores I've been avoiding).I purposely did not take any before pictures, I guess I'm a bit vain, I just didn't see the need to show off the "skeletons" in my closet.I will share that there was a large garbage bag and a half of throw-outs when I was done...very cleansing!To keep things organized, I decided to use my new tag punch to make labels...I am not normally a super organized person, but when I have a decent system for organization in place I can maintain it well even in the busiest of life seasons.

It's not perfect and I'm sure I'll tweak the arrangement a bit as I go, but that will be easier since the tags were attached with bow ties.
I still plan to do some more canning this summer, which will require more space for jars. I want to be able to adjust as I go, so I set aside extra tags to have ready at my fingertips when I need them.

August is a good month to get things like this done around the house...and I always love the way it feels to tackle that summer to-do list!

I Acted Boldly This Past Week...

I put myself completely out of my comfort zone this past week. I went to two different stores... ...to find out what they'd think about selling my handmade goods .One store was the coffee roaster where I've been getting my burlap sacks for the past few months...

The other store is owned by a gal that I met a few weeks ago at the fair, she stopped by my booth and loved what I was selling...

After dropping in at each place early in the week and being met with interest, I spent some time for the rest of the week making several more aprons and a few pillows...
I also spent time stamping the fabric bird labels and bird price tags you see in several of these photos...

I have some professional labels being made by an artist I found on etsy, but those are still in the works, so the fabric bird stamps are my current substitute......I actually like them well enough that even once I have my "real" labels, I'm thinking I'll still put a fabric bird stamped label on everything because it adds a nice handmade touch...

...As far as my price tags, those I made with a paper punch...it took a little practice to get the desired effect, but I like how they turned out...
...to attach the tags to items I am going the thrifty route and using strands of jute that come from the coffee sacks...the stuff literally litters my sewing room floor whenever I'm working with coffee sack bags...

...With a cute little safety pin, everything is ready to be priced. I can't tell you why I didn't do this sooner, it'll be much easier to have everything tagged ahead of time rather than using the sign/clothes pin method I have been - although the clothes pins are kind of cute...

...The tags just look a little more professional and finished...
Bungalow Bay Boutique, pictured above, is owner by Michelle, who blogs here. She is an incredibly friendly and energetic person...the type that gives off an amazing energy. I can tell that she and I are going to get along! I plan to go back down to the store in a day or so to check out the window...she said she was going to display my items there! There will definately be pictures!The other place is Camano Island Coffee Roasters...I love it that they focus on socially responsible business practices, all of their coffee is fair trade. The folks there are also friendly and helpful. I've received many compliments from the ladies that work there for my aprons and pillows. Even if I never sold a thing there, I still have benefitted from the ego boost!

So all of this has been a huge area of growth for me recently...putting my creativity out there and taking a risk.

As I type this (Saturday night) I have spent a big chunk of my day in the kitchen. My task today has been to turn 25 pounds of fresh tomatoes into marinara sauce...so far so good, I've already had one batch turn out nicely. The trouble is that my largest pot is only big enough for about half of the sauce, so it's taken twice as long as I figured. We had some of the sauce over spaghetti for dinner, so at least I didn't have to double up and make dinner on top of all of the canning work...and it was a delicious dinner! I'll post some canning pictures later this week.

This weekend hasn't been all work (thankfully!), the husband and I had a date night of sorts last night. We went out to Snow Goose Produce for an ice cream cone - their ice cream really is the best around here! We ate our cones outside and enjoyed the scenery. While we were there a convoy of harvesting combines drove past (it's very much farm land out there)...it's definately harvest season. The weather was a little cooler this past week which was a reminder that fall is around the corner...something I'm dreading and anticipating all at the same time. We took home a 1/2 flat of raspberries (still haven't done anything with them...jam tomorrow perhaps?) and the box of tomatoes that has been my companion today.

Then we went to my favorite kitchen gadgets store, Gretchen's, for a cherry pitter. I tried it out today and love it! It makes me want to get my hands on some more end-of-the-season cherries to freeze or can!

After Gretchen's we went to see Julie and Julia. The husband didn't realize it was such a "chick flick"...I think he's going to try to get me back with a Rambo marathon or something equally as gruelling...he did like the part (don't read if you haven't seen it) where the husband is treated horribly by his blog obsessed wife and she has to apologize and make it all right...I think it reminded him of us (hmmmm?), I think he was just being dramatic :-)

Anyways, Happy Sunday!

Tags!

I should have my tags in the mail soon...they are being made by JennifersJewels from etsy...she also has another shop, StateStreet, with some fabulous tops at very reasonable prices...I'm thinking about this one for myself...possibly!?

Can't wait until those tags show up so I can start using them! I promise there will be pictures of them sewn to my stuff!

Mmmmm Garlic!

Our garlic harvest was small but wonderful. The variety we grew is Italian Soft Neck. I decided to peel and store the cloves in a jar in the 'fridge. It's already been adding delicous flavor to our dinners this week! I only wish I had grown more - around here our view on garlic is there's [almost] no such thing as too much! The husband would tell you that I have been known to push the garlic levels in dishes to the brink. No worries about vampires here!