Double-Sided Clutch

 This was a fun make.
Detailed in one of my facebook sewing groups, this double-sided clutch was super easy in it's simplicity.

I've made three so far with these Ikea fabrics.

One sold to a special person so I added in some other Canby-made goodies: hand-crocheted face scrubbies and honeysuckle lotion.

The clutch has three pocket compartments so you stay organized. Very ingenious pattern idea.

On my second one, I decided to add a leather strap to the side, riveted on. Purely decorative. The leather strap was scavenged from a vintage leather belt.

My Bloodgood Laceleaf Japanese Maple is in full leaf. It's about 27 years old and huge. I could prune it up to see the twisted trunk but then you would need to do that every year. Too much work. I just trim up from the ground so it's fairly even. My old dog, Rocket, used to love lying underneath with his head peeping out.

I've got to find our original landscape plans. I swear this variety is Bloodgood but all the internet sites say bloodgood is an upright maple.

And here it is from the other direction with my dwarf purple bearded iris's and weigelia in the foreground. with the stinkin' purple violets getting all weedy in there.

I'm also getting my patio pots ready for the summer. The hanging baskets and the 'groupings'. We're getting some nice May weather with not too much rain so things are growing fast.

purple columbine

These rhodies were given to me free. The homeowner changed out her landscape and they've done quite well for me.

Morning dew on those delicate pink blossoms.

The Daily Drizzle

Purple Lilac dripping

Flowering Currant dripping

Flowering Plum dripping

Mini Iris's dripping

 What do you do when you are getting increasingly irked by The Daily Drizzle.

Oregon has had it's year of ice and snow, which happens every ten years or so. But the rain and gray skies continue. I would give anything for two consecutive days of sunshine. My garden is still so soggy, I think my sweet peas will rot before they grow.

We joke, of course: "Oregonians don't tan, we rust."

Actually, we just fall prey to seasonal something disorder where the gray clouds occupy 100% of our conversations. And you can tell the native Oregonians from the transplanted. Oregonians whine really, really well. (as soon as the UFO sun comes out, we will be whining about the the heat, the glare, the ...)

In any case, I sewed some more cork lip balm teeny zippy bags.
In my RunningWithHandmade etsy shop right now. (If you look at the web page view of my blog, the shop showcases on the sidebar).

This is a great way to use up scraps, especially of my high-priced cork fabric. I'm happy to use up every square inch of this fabric.
 
I'm even contemplating a blog post listing the Top Twenty Things You Can Sew With Your Cork Scraps. I dislike these lists, especially the sewing ones. The lists are generally not curated, tested, or tried out. I've seen tutorials/patterns on these lists that are a nightmare to sew with poorly written instructions, etc.. The author of those lists is blatantly passing along bad info. 

In order for me to write one of those posts, I would have to try out each entry. No hardship there as I like trying new patterns/tutorials.

Over the course of trying new patterns/tutorials, one acquires lots of hardware. I need to use up what I have. In the photo above, there's just a couple that match.

Cute reproduction 1930's Dogs at play linings.

EOS ball style lip balm pouches

Since January, we've only had a few days with full sun. None consecutive. It's getting on our nerves a bit. Normally, I turn off the heat in our house about April 15th. This year, as we approach May, it's still on.

I think we are finally past the frost date. I recall a few years ago, one occurring on my Mom's birthday of April 19th, but I think we are free and clear - if the drizzle ever lets up.


In fact, this is a fabulous year for all those new people moving to Portland  (173/day) dreaming of getting back to nature, going green, making a difference, actually being an artist and getting paid, etc.


People watch Portlandia and then want to move here to experience Oregon. They slave away at their non-profit dreaming of owning a farm and being one with nature. At five years, they make the leap to getting that farm, usually on five acres (5 acres! lol). It takes another five years to figure out that it is impossible to make money on five acres. That getting back to nature is a 24/7 hell hole of a job, Trying to keep the organics - organic. The animals housed humanely is really all about the amount of manure and where else can you put it.
The never ending rain ought to help clinch this year's hopefuls.

Did you know Oregon has 383 words to describe rain? just kidding, I think.

Project Snap Bags

Another bit of sewing I did this weekend. A couple of snap bags. I haven't made snap bags in forever. A look via my blog search bar (web page - not available on mobile devices) reveals it was spring of 2014.
I was always fond of the dinosaur snap bag that I made for my nephew.


I was trolling the net looking for a project to make (for a certain purpose coming up) and I came across these mesh zippered bags on the Sew4Home website. They used mesh and fold over elastic and were cute... then I read the first comment and made these snap bags instead of a zipper installation

This is a plastic mesh screen I bought at the now defunct RCT fabrics for a pet carrying duffle bag. Which I have yet to make. But I have all the supplies.

I changed up the tutorial to finish my top dfferently. Plus, I didn't have any colored elastic (?). I also only had a smidge of fold-over elastic (FOE) and finished the second with grosgrain ribbon folded in half instead.

These are 8" wide x 7.5" high. The mesh is opaque. You can kinda see what's inside.

Anyhoo - you want to know about the snap - don't you? It's an old tape measure cut into pieces.
When you bend it, it makes a snap sound.

My tape is about one inch shorter than the width. Up there at the top, I inserted the tape and made a pocket to keep it in place. When you open the bag, it SNAPS open. And closes back up. Ingenuous? They are. I just love the snap. There's a video below - turn your volume way up.

I'm a fidgeter. I just love opening and closing these bags repetitively - just to hear snap!

Back of project bag.

Miniature Irises - a month later than last year. Not as warm.

My construction notes for later: 8" wide. Cut mesh 12.5" long, fabric 2.75" wide. Thin batting, and sf-101 on two of the fabric pieces.

A Pint Of Green Juice

I was a good girl this morning. I made a huge batch of green juice for a healthier May. 

The last time I drank my green juice was early in April. I had not been feeling well with my auto-immune and I have a horrible habit of thinking, if I feel so crummy, then I can eat whatever, as I can't possibly feel any worse.

Logically - that doesn't work. I do feel worse -- not being vigilant eating well for my auto-immune. It's funny where internal beliefs drive us.

Then I saw a beautiful bouquet of Mock-Orange in my Instagram feed and when I was all finished cleaning up the juicing operation, I went out and cut myself a bouquet. Right next to these fragrant Mock Orange blooms were these luscious Iris's. Love the deep purple against the white.

 Cleaning out the fridge for juicing, I came across this Cauliflower moldering in the vegetable drawer. I turned it into a quick soup.

Cream of Cauliflower Soup
Non-dairy, non-soy.

Head of cauliflower cut up into chunks, trim off the icky bits.
Steamed in beef stock (or whatever liquid you have lurking in your fridge).
If you use water, you'll need to adjust herbs.
2 tsp. dried Thyme
dash salt

When tender - about 20 minutes, turn off heat and let sit while you finish your juicing clean-up.

Use your stick blender to blend and mush the cauliflower, slowly adding coconut milk until you feel it is the right amount. Between 2 -3 cups. Blend until smooth.


easy peasy dinner for tonight.

 My green juice always seems to taste better in cool glasses.
Thank you dear daughter.

Today's Green Juice.
In your juicer:
3 granny smith apples
1 1/2 bunches of celery

In your blender:
Use juice from apples and celery to blend:
1 giant bag of fresh spring greens - spinach, kale, arugula, etc.
5 baby bok choy's ('cuz baby veggies taste better?)
4 zucchini

and today I added:
Stalk rhubarb
2 tbsps sea kelp
1 cup Hemp hearts

I have heard Rhubarb is  anti-parasitic. My doc thinks my fatigue and depression this spring might spring from a parasite I picked up during my January trip to Hawaii when I was so tired after the Christmas work (63 hrs/wk!).

I grew up with rhubarb and seriously dislike the texture - stewed rhubarb anyone? But I'm willing to try anything and oftentimes, veggies taste better as juice.
The hemp hearts were something new at my store and I thought I'd try them. The sea kelp was bought a while ago and forgotten about.

The only other weird thing about juicing is I prefer the green. If you add blueberries - it's brown. as in - eeuuwhw. If you add beets for the sweetener instead of apples, it's red, which is slightly better than brown.

I prefer green. I can't tolerate too much fruit, so my juice is mostly veggies.

And hubby has asked, "what's that taste like?"  me: "like drinking your veggies". I wouldn't do it if I weren't so sick. I try to use organic as much as possible. It's like 30 minutes to clean up, so I make enough for the week.

My sweet SIL gave me this little garden ornament for my birthday.

May Flowers

Wow! All of my Iris's are in bloom at the same time.
They are my favorite flower and I've only come across two varieties of Iris that behave badly.

The photo -at top- is one of my faves
with variegated broad sword leaves and a beautiful blue-purple bloom.


 
This ruffled bearded Iris appeared one spring and seems to like my yard.

 Lots of Purple Bearded Iris hang out under the fir trees. The top soil is drier which the iris love.

 Way down my yard towards the runway is the remains of the Leopard's Bane and some free-wheeling California Poppies.

 I just love Iris's.

 Then I see the sweet Columbine starting to bloom and I quickly ditch the iris for these cutie pies.

May and June is when my acre really shines. I used to have a garden goal of being able to pick flowers any day of the year. I've moved on towards less effort in maintaining the yard. Even though  I have all-season color, these next two months are stunning.

Someone was re-doing their yard and tossed these beauties.
They quickly found a home in Canbyland.

I don't know their name and I'm much too lazy to look it up so I call them my Free Rhodies.

 The light was a little crazy this morning on this peony. It almost looks like frost tipping the blooms. It's just closed up against the cooler night air. Peonies are in their element in the late afternoon showing off their Scarlet O'hara hoop skirts at teatime.

 Hanging baskets on the patio - I hung them up today. I potted them up a few weeks ago and I usually set them on the protected side of the patio so the wind and weird spring weather doesn't mess with them while they get going.

I pot my own. Most of the baskets that are sold right now are already root-bound - which means more blooms to entice you to buy. -- Which also means that by July 4th, unless you water them three times a day, they will start looking very sad.

I like mine to look good in the late summer and I'm also quite lazy. I don't want to water more than once every day or so. Who's got time?

My pots are old Rubbermaid brand water reservoir pots. They hold a couple of inches of water for the roots to suck up on the hot days. These pots are more than twenty years old. Most plastic pots only last a few years before the UV (aka sunlight) rots the plastic.

 I bought this Stearman weather vane many years ago for hubbies birthday. It's made from salvaged kitchen aluminum tart dishes among other things.

 And look at those strawberries. Blooming crazy right now - berries 2nd week of June. Not the (CA) ones with white middles. Our Oregon Strawberries are red throughout and much sweeter.

 More Iris's near the patio.

Rusty trying to "STAY" so I can get a photo.

Off to my sewing room to do something - not sure what yet. Then to watch The Avengers this eveing at the movie theater.

Flowering Cherry Trees - At Home

Kwanzan flowering cherry

Home.

Favorite dwarf iris

I took the dog out for his morning walk and snapped a few photos around my yard.

I somehow had pretty amazing dry weather while in japan. Even when the day was chilly, I mostly had sunshine for my travels.

At home, it mostly rained, making our (ahead of schedule) spring go crazy.

Rhody, azalea, red tulip

I try to glory in the blooms.
That sneaky artillery weed is about to fire off it's seeds.

Patio bed with 24yr old red emperor tulips

My back walkway from house to hangar culminating in star magnolia.

Good to be back.