26 May, 2014

Happy Memorial Day




We had BBQ baby back ribs and watermelon out on the patio today.
Happy Memorial Day





 
This is one of the recipes I can do in my sleep. (Yes, I took a nap today)
Slow cook your baby back ribs in a foil cocoon at 300'f for a few hours until the meat starts falling off the bone. I usually cut up my baby back ribs into three rib sections.
I might throw a dry rub on, or not.

Fire up the BBQ. Turn heat down to medium. Place ribs on the rack and start slathering on BBQ sauce. I look for a sauce without corn syrup or wheat in it. I could make my own but that takes too much time for a holiday. Turn every 5 or 10 minutes and slather some more BBQ sauce on. Keep slathering as sides 'dry'. I try to get three complete turns of BBQ sauce to cook on before serving but that doesn't always happen.

We don't have kids home so we have leftovers. mmmm....mmmmm.
 

Next up, my second attempt to re-create Fifty Licks Lemon Sorbet.

My daughter found this 'ice cream' for me. It has coconut milk, sugar, lemon juice, star anise & saffron.
Fifty-Licks was distributing through Whole Foods but then drew back to their Portland Food Cart on Clinton. To my dismay.


I'm not a huge ice cream lover but to someone with multiple & devastating food sensitivities, this discontinuation of my lemon sorbet was sad. Sad.


So I tried to make some last summer.
 I did a great job re-creating the flavor but I didn't have an ice cream freezer. I dutifully stuck my concoction into the freezer and whipped it good every 15 minutes.

Yummy but it had Ice Crystals.




I found this ice cream freezer at a garage sale two weeks ago and tried out my 'recipe' again. Less ice crystals but creamier.

Need to test  more batches.


LEMON SORBET
Recipe - so far....

2 cans Coconut milk
3/4 cup Sugar
6 Meyer Lemons (The smaller, juicier lemons), skins grated and then cut up and juiced.

2 -3 Star Anise (pulverised in herb grinder)

1 - 2 sacks of ice - depending on the size of your ice cream freezer.
Rock salt (and no, regular salt does not help)


Throw your metal container part of the ice cream freezer into the freezer to get cold

Grate the skin of your lemons with your smallest grater.
Then juice those lemons.
{I saw one recipe where they just quartered the lemons and threw everything into a food chopper/blender.}

You can get Star Anise at my Thriftway or some place with a good bulk foods spice area.

If you can find Saffron there, good - buy the tiniest amount. I can't find it and you will only use it for this recipe so it became 'not necessary'.


Open your cans of coconut milk and pour/scrape everything into a pan.
Add your 1/2 - 3/4 cup Sugar
Your star anise
Your lemon zest and juice.

At this point you can throw this mixture into the fridge to get nice and cold or just go with it.
Pour into your cold metal can.

Attach your churn thingy and the lid. Pour your ice around the perimeter, layering rock salt occasionally.
Turn it on.

Check after 15 minutes, scrape down sides.

Mine took 30 minutes.


A good finish to the day.

Formula 1 Sewing






I have a long time friend who lives in Gothenberg, Sweden, who is mad about Formula 1 racing.
As someone who also loves her hobby (airplanesairplanesairplanes), I can totally get on board about her obsession.

Even though she had to explain, patiently, the extreme difference between Formula 1 and Nascar.



It's been two years since I discovered Tuike's obsession.
 It's taken two years to find Formula 1 fabric.

I thought I'd have to print my own.
Which is problematic, since all of her favorite Formula 1 race drivers have their photos super copyrighted.



I discovered this Formula 1 fabric in Ireland (of all places!) on Etsy and the shop owner was happy to post some my way. 

Ironic? Fabric travels West 6000 miles to be cut up and reassembled and then posted East 6000 miles. And it might have come from the USA originally.   Well traveled fabric.








I made her the key fob straight away. Very easy project if you have the hardware. I bought mine on Etsy and then the key fob hardware sat in my hardware drawer for the better part of a year.
Then I sewed her this little wallet/purse with my Formula 1 fabric. I made one a week or so ago off a long-ago-posted tutorial.
A little small for Smarty pants phones of 2014, I slightly enlarged the dimensions by 1/2" longer and 1/4" wider. This allowed me to put my phone in the back pocket.

My fabric is home dec weight and worked just as well as quilting cottons in this wee little ID purse.
I made several changes to the original pattern. Number one was losing the double fold bias binding to cover the raw edges inside. I changed it to single fold  for less 'density' at the corners. In fact, I might even just serge the raw edges and leave off the binding next time.




I actually have, somewhere, in my sewing room another fabric I  bought to make pillow cases for Tuike. It wasn't totally Formula 1 but I had plans. It's now lost in the invisible special place. However, the good news is, while tossing the sewing room this time, I found my pink chalk pencil marker I had misplaced a good while ago. As in, I bought another one because it is one of my favorite notions.




16 May, 2014

WInner, Winner, Chicken Dinner


WINNER, WINNER, CHICKEN DINNER

The SewMamaSew Giveaways for May 2014 are now closed.

If you want to see more photos of the items up for grabs and view the comments,
then you can link back here:

SewMamaSew Giveaway #1 is here.

SewMamaSew Giveaway #2 is here


My two Winners have been notified and hopefully we'll all get our acts together to get this into the post on Monday!


Giveaway#1

For giveaway #1, I sewed this Boxy Zip Pouch and asked contestants to tell me what they would store inside.
Chocolate won out. The **official** answer count:
Chocolate stash - hidden in plain site in this bag - 17 people
Knit stuff - 12 commenters
EPP (english paper piecing) - 8 peoples.



My random winner is Weatherbee.

Who said, "
What a great pouch. My husband has been doing a lot of traveling lately, and I think this would be great for storing all of his toiletries.

Thanks for the great giveaway!!"



Thank YOU everyone  for taking the time to comment

Giveaway#2

For giveaway #2 I sewed this clear vinyl zippered pouch. The winner had to let me know which airplane(s) I own.
The WINNER! is  ***DebraKay Neiman***  who correctly guessed;
"I read the blog where you recovered the wings of your Stearman biplane and you mentioned J-5 piper cub which are both fabric covered planes."


1. Stearman Biplane
2. Piper J-5 Cub

A close runner-up was WonderlandbyAlyce who didn't know the answer but popped out
"Definitely a Boeing 787. Thanks! " with proper cheekiness.

I'm definitely thinking about a cheekiness contest for SMS giveaway day next Christmas.....



Installing A Zipper On A Small Pouch

LAST DAY to ENTER ---- And if you're looking for my SewMamaSew giveaways this week (open until May 16 - friday):
SewMamaSew Giveaway #1 is here.

SewMamaSew Giveaway #2 is here




The Stitchin' Post in Sisters, Oregon just sent me this video on a different way to install a zipper on a zippered pouch.

Cool.
Might try it on my next one.

15 May, 2014

Glorious Spring

And if you're looking for my SewMamaSew giveaways this week (open until May 16 - friday):
SewMamaSew Giveaway #1 is here.

SewMamaSew Giveaway #2 is here






Iris


Strawberry


Peony


Nootka Wild Rose




Iris


Nora Barlow Columbine





Hostas


Iris


Viburnum



All these columbines were well behaved under the fir trees but when we removed the leaning trees and these beauties saw the light (all the plants, really), they became spectacular.

 And they gave birth to probably a gazillion babies - which is why they get a bad rap in orderly gardens.

Can't you imagine a fairy wearing one as a cap in the Frog & Toad books?



Weigela - variegated leaf


My favorite variegated leaf Iris. Soft blue blooms


This white Bearded Iris came from Aunt Ruby's garden


This rugosa rose came from an estate sale for a buck.
 Man-eating thorns but the smell is divine.
This is a white Rugosa but the buds have peppermint striping.






Simplicity rose started from a cutting from Creative Friend's fenceline.


To be honest, I'm not sure how I acquired a ruffly bearded Iris in the deepest purple. It's my second favorite Iris (at this time of year)



Sun Rose - Helianthemum


Patio pots started.




I spent a good portion of Sunday getting my patio pots and hanging baskets 'together'. Hosing down the patio, cleaning the table, moving pots to & fro. Trimming and tucking the montana clematis on the pergola as its starts growing and twining after blooming.

We just had a couple of near 90' days (May!) and it was delightful to sit out and be dive-bombed by the stinkin' guerrilla hummingbirds who chirped very clearly, "more syrup, or else".

Back to the usual 70' springy weather tomorrow.


My sister gave me the snail and the frog  and miraculously, they have not crashed and burned.


14 May, 2014

One World Fabrics

And if you're looking for my SewMamaSew giveaways this week (open until May 16 - friday):
SewMamaSew Giveaway #1 is here.

SewMamaSew Giveaway #2 is here







I won this fabulous fat quarter bundle from One World Fabrics. These are yarn-dyed (not printed) fabrics that are used in Japanese quilting.


I was researching Sashiko threads online when I discovered "my neighbor"!
One World Fabrics is an online shop in the next town over. Serendipity.



I'm not much of a joiner, but I have a fondness for people and businesses from Oregon.
Promoting my peeps first.
I signed up for their newsletter and shortly afterwards One World Fabrics announced they had a contest for liking them on Facebook and I WON!


Not sure what I will make yet as I am still in the petting stage. They sit on my kitchen island and I touch them as I wander by.


Gorgeous Japanese quilting books beckon:




Thank you for picking my name!
The owner said they had entries from all over the world and it was a surprise to pick a hometown girl.
And I like surprises.

Head over to their website now and check out all the sashiko supplies.




12 May, 2014

2014 SMS Giveaway 1


Welcome to Running With Rocket, my rambling journal of treasures I make as well as a place to dump all my flower photos.


I made this boxy pouch back in January from a class on Craftsy. It  measures 6.5" long x 5" w x 5" h. The pouch is designed to lay flat but the winner might find it filled with sewing notions.
The blue fabric came all the way from Finland when I visited there two years ago. Does anyone else  plan their vacations around fabric stores?




About me:  I love to sew and craft and currently, I have taken over two and a half rooms in my house in order to play. I also live on an airpark. When we want to go flying, we roll open the hangar doors and pull the plane out. The runway is at the edge of my backyard. Which I also like to play in. I live on an acre where I garden - both flowers and the edible things. The blog has turned out to be a surprisingly good place to put all those flower photos.


If you want to you can follow me on Pinterest, Twitter and/or look at my May Flowers or even follow this blog but it's not necessary. I do invite you to look around my blog.



I have an especial fondness for Sew Mama Sew as they are from my neck of the woods near Portland, Oregon. I absolutely adore all the effort they put into the sewing community. Please take time to look at all the other giveaways that have linked up this year.
http://www.sewmamasew.com/2014/05/giveaway-day-handmade-items-2/


To win my boxy pouch, which is open to all sew-ers, please answer my question:
What would you fill this pouch with?




Giveaway open May 12 - May 16, 2014 Friday evening. Open worldwide.