Sunflowers Are A Sign

The garden is entering it's glory. I'll have enough tomatoes by this weekend to start canning them. I'm pretty simple - stewed tomatoes are simple and easy and QUICK. I use pint jars so if someone needs two cups of tomatoes for a recipe, we're good.

I tried really hard with the garden this year. A big plus is that my family crisis's got moved to the back burner. The forced overtime at work is still difficult, so free time is at a premium. 

I decided to try not blogging to free up some time. Well that was a fail. Pretty soon the photos pile up and I start hiding from dealing with them. Then my iphone told me I'd reached a cloud limit. Well, actually, it sounded like apple was threatening me. Solution was to deal with photos.

By blogging a little bit instead of a lot.

I don't keep most of these photos. I do have files set up on my desktop for Flowers, Family and what I've made. This makes it easier to transfer to the external hard drive. Still hiding, but a little more organized. The rest of the photos are deleted.

Wendy's Wish Salvia

The grapes are turning colors

I have this week off work. I'm trying a liver cleanse (2 -3 weeks) in an effort to get some relief from the SIBO bloating and inflammation. I was ready for some quiet to concentrate on this particular diet. I'm only on day five, so it's too soon to have an idea if it's helpful.

I already eat a very restrictive diet because of the Leaky Gut/auto-immune responses. This time, I am giving up chocolate (and sugar)for three weeks  and meat for the next five days. Vegetarian is not something I've tried as I'm allergic to some veggies and getting enough protein to get through the long work day is difficult.

But I don't have to work so I timed this part to coincide with days off.
I use chocolate for stress and for extra calories to get through my work days. I had wanted to try something like this for a while but... yeah.

In sewing news, I made another pair of work shorts. My red ribbon (fair!) blue shorts from last year are getting a tad faded and worn. All that blue thread on blue fabric makes my eyes twitch with all the top-stitching involved.

I will say, this new pair probably won't win a ribbon for even top-stitching. And I mixed up my pockets (six!). I put the side pocket on the back side. NO worries - not ripping that off - because the pocket flap on the side seam pocket mostly fit.

 After sewing miles of topstitching, I was ready for some fun sewing. These are my favorite M&M's, Peanut Butter. But have you tried the new coffee flavored ones? A customer brought in some he found at Walgreen's and they were pretty tasty. I had just started this diet so I ate two and passed the packet off to my co-worker with strict instructions not to show them to me.

Anyway - you just cut apart the bag and sew it  back together with some lining fabric and a zipper. Cute little pouches already destined to two nephews and one lucky friend.

 I pondered for a while on how much to charge for these in my etsy store but I'm not sure I would ever sell one. I sell my other zippy's for $18 - 22 dollars. Would you pay $20 for this small snack-size pouch? It will hold coins, other small stuff, two regular small packets of m&m's.

When I don't think I can get enough for my time or trouble, I gift my makes. Crazy attitude.

But do you know how long it took me to get to charging $18? Here in Canby, I'd be lucky to sell a small zippy bag for two bucks.

 I used the backs too with their UPC codes.

Inside is the bottom of the bag stitched on as a 'label'.

Sunflowers just mean summer is coming to a close and autumn beginning. You can already see the leaves turning.
It's hot here this week but the nights cool down fast - another sign.

I've got a long list of things to do this week, but I'm concentrating on sewing in the morning and listing on etsy in the hotter afternoons.
I still need to finish digging my potatoes and another basil snip and dry.
I am also trying to re-organize my stuff. Mostly with the thought of not looking at it where it got laid down with good intentions.

For this liver cleanse, I am also concentrating on eating more to keep certain cravings at bay. I've had many conversations with my docs about eating more to actually lose weight. I am relying entirely too much on chocolate so I am hopeful I can get that energy craving to a back burner. I don't eat sugar as a rule except in chocolate.

Happy End of Summer thoughts to you.

Dahlias And County Fairs

 The dahlias are living the dream.

Bumblebees this morning looked like they were sleeping off a pollen binge.

The garden is behaving itself producing just a few raspberries for breakfast and a few tomatoes for lunch. None of that buckets of produce causing friends to turn and walk the other way when they see you coming with more zucchini. None of that pressure to can (haha - pun intended). Even the weeds are puny (knock on wood).

Time to see which items won blue ribbons at my county fair.

 This is not my quilt (I Don't Quilt) but I love the playful animals getting into adjoining blocks.

And this teal and aqua one? Yum.

 Through the display window - my chicken hotpad making tracks on the chickie wallhanging.

My Mr. Hedgehog lipsense bag was a fair favorite. I bought that fabric from my friend in Kyoto.

 And my only second place red ribbon.  I bought this tote bag as a kit. Determined to follow instructions, I disliked the size of this bag (giant towel bag) and the lack of color interest (beige blah). The night before I had to enter my fair entries, I conceived a brilliant plan of ironing on this Big Book saying. Ahem.

Yes, in my hurry, I ironed it on upside down. I had to rip out the whole pocket area and lining and re-sew the pocket so it could be read.  Even though it did not get a blue ribbon, that red is still worth two bucks!

I made $26 dollars this year - enough to buy another couple of yards of fabric.

And finally, my daughter was able to connive her way into another Denali flightseeing trip (third time this year!) and managed to get herself into the right-hand cockpit seat for a bird's eye view of the mountains in summer. Her aunt (my sis) took her family up to visit Alaska.

August 2017

 After months of cold rainy days this winter and spring, we had no rain for nearly two months until today.  A fine misty rain fell for several hours. There were a few happy dances done in Oregon as the wildfire season has created it's usual summer havoc.

In addition, the wildfire smoke from the British Columbia fires drifted down and we had to breathe smokey air for the last two weeks.

I actually managed a garden this year by planting late. My dahlias are really coming on and this one just started to unfurl this week. Seems to be a spinner in the middle.

 My tomatoes are slow due to the late plant date but in a couple of weeks we will wish to never see another tomato.

 We don't have a dog anymore so my friends, Peter the Rabbit and Cottontail moved in, eating everything in sight.

Except the Basil. Apparently, they dislike basil. They love young cosmo seedlings though. I don't think they like nasturtium either but I'm not sure as they seem to be struggling to get going. The rabbits have provided decent entertainment.

Another reason to blog was given when a new reader searching for an airplane quilt stumbled across my post featuring an estate sale find of a vintage, (and in bad condition),  Lucky Lindy Quilt.

She is re-creating this quilt for her son who just became a pilot. She is hand-stitching her airplane blocks. To celebrate and help, I sent her some small scraps of some of my reproduction feedsack fabrics featuring my favorite subject. Airplanes.

I also shared with her the 8-inch quilt blocks and how they were pieced.

Textiles: Novelty Item: Snap Bag

 My county fair is going on all  next week. The lovely volunteer who tagged my items said there were even fewer entries this year. Which means most of my awesome sewing will win blue ribbons. Not because they are amazing but because no one else took the time.

I would hate to see the demise of the county fair in my lifetime.
My blue ribbons are worth four bucks!

Textiles: Potholder; my chicken potholder

 My son hiked in Yosemite this weekend and climbed Half-Dome after winning a hiking lottery earlier this spring.
They just got back so I look forward to amazing photos this week while sucking down overtime.

And my sis from Minnesota is visiting my daughter in Alaska with her family. This is at the top of Alyeska Resort looking down on Turnagain Arm outside Anchorage.

I love that both of my kids love photography. Such a cool hobby to share.