Pilots Without Pants

Here's a silly video that I swear is true. On my pinky finger, Cross it, hope to die, whatever.






Buy yours now.

Better Day

I had to place yesterday's ranting post into the 'draft' file. It was a tad negative and while it felt good to write and publish, it needs to go back under the bed for now.

Today was a much better day, health-wise & weather-wise. No one deserves to read about when I get cranky.


I felt much better this morning and bright & early, weeded for an hour or so in my long flower bed.
Then I took a long shower after fixing my little hair dye 'moment" from Saturday. It's still brighter than I wanted but it will fade to just about right in a few weeks.

I finished up some loose ends regarding our upcoming trip to Sweden & Finland and was going to go to the store for the week ahead but hubby beat me to it. I got all my giveaway, care package  & order packages all ready to go to the post office tomorrow and then we went flying.

Blowing the cobwebs out of my brain.
Lovely day.
Thank you.

Strawberries. More sun, More sun.

Forgotten name. Helio? Small 4" tall mat of flowers that follow the sun.

 

Nora Barlow Columbine

The Almighty Foxglove

 Iris's with the variegated sword leaves.

Nootka Roses

Everything's Amazing & Nobody's Happy

My son sent this video clip to me. You have to read my story first.

They talk about Rotary Phones in this video. Remember these?
I still have mine. For when the power goes out - it will still connect.

I remember having my niece over to do some serious crafting. We were playng with reverse applique with different colors of felt. Cute picture of a bird. To finish it off we did some embroidery plus some sequins, 'cause everything's better with glittery sequins.
Anyway, I showed her how to do the Lazy Daisy Stitch.
One time, that 's all it took.
This niece of mine is super smart.

Later on, before she headed home, we were in my walk-in closet, where at the time I did my sewing. (they make walk-in closets huge). We were going through some choice pieces of fabric for her to take home when she spied my orange rotary phone.
She stared at it. Baffled, she asked me how did it work. I replied, "you just stick your finger in the number hole you want and spin the dial over to the stop and let go."

Really baffled now, "how does that work?"

I went over and showed her how you stick your finger in the hole, take it over to the stop and let go. She was still struggling to grasp this simple concept.
"Let's call grandma, do you remember her number?"

She finally got a call through to Grandma, amazed at how much work one needs to go into to call someone. Nowadays, we have to add the area code too so it really is more work.

This whole episode just cracked me up. 8 years old and grasping complicated embroidery stitches but cannot conceptualize a rotary phone.

now, go watch this video.

SMS GIveaway- Pincushion

<<<<Giveaway now closed. Thank you to everyone who entered. It was a difficult decision as to where to send my airplane pincusion but in the end, randomness prevailed and Hueisei of Love It, Sew It. . . won the big drawing.>>>>

I see a lot of other sew-ers adding their Zakka style creations to the giveaway.   Since my day job dumped a few more hours on me than is possible in a given day, my giveaway needed to be something I had already made.

Please take a moment, --tie a string around your finger, --enter it into your Smart Phone - to remember to THANK SewMamaSew for facilitating all of the wonderful giveaways.

So I give you the Zakka Pincushion with a little airplane flair and because I couldn't imagine using it as a pincushion, I filled it with some fresh smelling lavender.
It is a dual-use Pincushion/Sachet.

Everybody is invited to post a comment on how long you have been sewing.
I will ship internationally.

Giveaway will end when I literally stumble home from work Friday night (25th) and turn on the laptop.
Please make sure your email is somewhere.

My first giveaway for some vintage sewing supplies is here.

SMS Giveaway Day - post 1

SewMamaSew - a great online fabric store from my neck of the woods facilitates the best hordes (hoarders) of givers ever. I have participated several years and have met new blogging friends along the way.
<<>>
I did the whole random number thing and it picked a low number. #3.
Candy from Candykins Crafts.
Thank you EVERYONE for entering this drawing.
Please take a minute to plug SewMamaSew on Facebook for facilitating this week of fantastic giveaways.

Here's one of my giveaways.
A big bunch of vintage sewing treasures. Buttons, eyelet trim, seam bindings, rick rack, snaps, self-threading needles. I took the photo before the light faded but I will (most definitely) find more vintage fun stuff to load up the package.
Whatever fits in a priority flat-rate envelope will be sent to one lucky sew-er.
I took some photos but will fill that envelope to the brim with as many notions and sundry as I can fit inside (haberdashery for those folks on the other side of the pond)

If you haven't been here before, I love to haunt garage sales and I find more vintage sewing goodies than I can possibly use. You can see some of it for sale in my etsy shop and many of my creations feature my finds. I live with an airplane, a lab, a husband, an acre of flowers and the kids rooms house my growing collection of machines and fabrics and crafty stuff.
I tend to ramble on about whatever is in my head.

To enter, leave me a comment  telling me what type of sewing machine that you use (the most) and why.
I am thinking of buying a new machine for Christmas. I sew just about anything - from airplane cockpit covers to tiny little purses. Cute clothes for my nieces. I don't quilt a lot but use the quilting in some of my creations.

Open to anyone - International too!
Open until Friday evening (25th) when I stumble home from work and turn on the laptop.

Winner will be determined by total randomness and please make sure your e-mail is accessible.

Please check out SewMamaSew for more wonderful giveaways.

*****>>>>>Kathy here commenting on her own blog:
I find it fascinating that the majority of you sew on old, cheap machines.
Which I do too. A 60's Singer that does great and occasionally on an similar-decade Riccar. Nothing fancy - just the straight stitch and zigzag.

Definitely food for thought on do I need one with more fancy doodads?

However, I did splurge and buy a Bernina 1150mda Serger  a few years back.   I have no clue as to how I got along without it before. I absolutely adore this serger.

Birthday Airplanes

It's my Birthday. I am one of the few people I know who loves her birthday. I always do what I want on my day.

I am also one of the few people I know who revels in my number of years. All of my friends know how old I am. I have zero desire to 'stay' 29 forever and I really look forward to celebrating my day every year. It's an occasion to celebrate. Another year forward.
This year, I went off to Redmond to visit a dear friend who also happens to be my daughter's godmother. I feel like I have known her forever. We stayed up late talking both nights I was there.

On the way back, I turned off the Hwy. to climb the 6 miles to Timberline Lodge. I hadn't been there in forever and the snow zone in May makes it feel much colder than the 50' - 80' in the valley.

Mt. Hood at Timberline

32' there. Necessitating grabbing the polarfleece in the trunk to walk around. 6 miles down the road, back at Hwy 26 and Government Camp, it's 10 degrees warmer.

Rawhide woven Seat bottoms.

Classic Wood Ski's like my Mom & Dad skied on.

North up the mountain?

 I arrived home to find several birthday packages waiting on the counter and the mailbox.

My favorite came from Japan and involved some serious airplane usage. Love it.
Thank you!~

 A zippered pouch, Pincushion, two Macaroon purses,
a fabric pen, and a book on sewing bags. I looked at that book, Girly Bag Collection,  at  Uwajimaya's about a month ago. Were you peeking over my shoulder?

Sometimes I am really lucky in that my Anniversary, my Birthday and Mother's Day often fall on the same weekend creating a triple whammy of a holiday.
Thank you all for celebrating with me.

Zakka Readers

 I became enthused in making Reader cases after a Birthday girl brunch involving my sister-in-law. She took one look at the Zakka pencil case on the right and asked me to make it a tad shorter and thinner to hold her readers.
Which grabbed me by it's particular usefulness as opposed to a Pencil case. I don't need a pencil case. Do you? Although I am still a year or two away from needing readers, the practicality made these a fast gift for friends who do use reading glasses.

SIL has chickens at the farm and she  has liked notepaper I have gifted her with chickens on it. Her reader case became full of chickens.

I went on a little roadtrip to Redmond for my birthday and also needed to make another for my friend as a tiny thank you. She also has chickens but I gave her a "Believe" theme.

I now translate Zakka as a Japanese word to use up your cute scraps. It is amazing how little of a scrap these take as in, I still have cute scraps!

Here's the insides:

The backs:

I added the loop to the side to possibly connect them to a purse or coat as we all know you need three pairs minimum of readers because they are so easily lost. SIL buys the three pack at Costco.

Canby Master Gardener Plant Sale

I helped a friend set up her booth for this show on Friday - between drenching rain showers and tiny sun breaks.
The Spring Garden Fair features free pH soil testing, luscious plants, and decorative garden art.
Held in conjunction with OSU extension services, you can bring all of your garden quandaries in to be answered.

Saturday & Sunday, May 5 & 6th, 2012
at the Clackamas County Fairgrounds in Canby, Oregon.

I get to preview what kind  of plants are coming in by helping set up. Total plant lust.

Finished Purse

I finished this purse this afternoon. I started it two weeks ago, got distracted (moi?) but due to the sun, again, not showing it's face, had to do something inside where it is warm.
This is a second version of Ayumi's Lunchbag. I have been thinking how to add a divider to a purse. You see them in all the retail purses but they are a bit scarce for home sew-ers.

I never think purses, or garments for that matter, have enough pockets. So I added a basic pocket, a zippered pocket and left off sewing the lining when I was trying to decide if I wanted to figure out how to add a zippered pocket to the center divider.
To be honest, I was seriously over-thinking the engineering details and had to take a rest from this project.

Ayumi's Lunchbag features a 'cover' that can be tugged close to keep things inside. I really like my fabric selections for that bag on the right. The main fabrics on both bags is IKEA. Usually offered in a home dec. weight, this fabric helps make the bag stand up.

I added the grommets to my new bag on the right because it was yelling for something to help unify things. There is a tiny bit of orange in the big flower Ikea fabric that I thought I could use to 'band' my pockets but when sewn, it looked lame. The grommets help.

A look back at the lining with inset zipper pocket and basic pocket
before the divider was added.

You can see the divider. It's attached only at the side seams. I sewed the divider as a straight entity when in reality it should have had a trapezoid thing going. I took notes and will incorporate the lesson into the next purse. Because there will another purse to sew.
I still like my idea of bringing purses as part of my thank you gifts for the people I will be staying with on my Sweden/Finland trip. They will pack easily.

Before The High Winds

Fringe tulips

Montana clematis bursting forth from a rhododendron.

Striking contrast of greens and purple. Dwarf Iris.

I was smart to take these pics before the windstorm.
Most of the blossoms are three miles away now.

Freebie Rhody

Leopard''s Bane in amongst the Mock Orange

Montana Clematis

Green table grape budding out.

Overwintered Creeping Charlie - kind of a larkspur bloom.

This bed is coming along

You can still see the shack

Pretty Forget-me-nots blazing around a Korean Spruce.

From next door, looking at my kitchen window.

Back yard, looking toward hangar door.

See these THORNS? -- in the side yard with another baby clematis blooming inside the cage

These might be my favorite Iris's