Drying Laundry

My niece just moved back to the states after living in Singapore for the last year and a half. She brought back a folding laundry rack cuz no one uses/has a dryer over there. Nor does much of the world. But, here in the states, we all have electric clothes dryers.

After my trip to Japan two years ago, I lusted after a simple drying solution. But all the outdoor drying tools in the USA were permanently attached to your house or inconveniently placed as an umbrella in the lawn. All vetoed by the other person in the household.

All amazon sells is the tiny version of the foldable rack above - suitable for drying lightweight items like lingerie.

I was raised to be environmentally conscious. I compost, re-use what I buy for other purposes, try to keep my (destined-for-the-landfill) garbage to a minimum and generally leave the planet a better place for my children.

So I wanted this foldable, small footprint rack above bad enough to beg my friend in Kyoto to send me two. They are each big enough for a medium load of laundry.

In Singapore and Japan, they also have rods across their patios for hanging big stuff and these racks just hook over them.
I still want to install a big rod across my patio  but I have found a way to use these racks year-round just by hanging it off my kitchen chair.

What I have found in nearly two years of using them?
1. My knit tshirts stay long and no longer shrink "up".
2. Less pilling and everything lasts longer.
3. duh - less energy usage.
4. In the summer, most items are dry by the end of the day. In the winter, inside my house, they are dry in less than two days.
5. Planning ahead if you want to wear that favorite shirt/shorts on a certain day skillset.
6. I still have a dryer for emergencies.
7. In my two person household, in the winter, I use the dryer once a month for sheets and towels. In the summer, they go outside.
8. With my auto-immune bloating tummy, I love the fact that my tshirts stay the original length still.
9. It only takes 5 -10 minutes to clip everything on to the rack.
10. Pencil Girl asked if clothing got musty in the winter and I haven't found it to be so.

This very quickly became my routine and I don't really think about doing it differently.
It's easy to do - my first indicator of success.

Can't recall if I showed pictures of the two planes in the hangar. Still doo-hicking around with the J-5. Still hasn't gone on it's maiden voyage.
And the big old Stearman biplane.

Hope you hop over to my IG feed - RocketGirl50. I just figured out how to use my gorilla tripod to take a video of me skinning tomatoes. Exciting times, I tell you.

March Randoms

Lots of rain here in Oregon. We get a cold, snowy, icy winter about once every ten years. Our spring, which can be as long as five months, is getting off to a slow start. The occasional dry day yields awesome photos.

Today, we have a dry day, yet the rivers are all very close to flooding. Another two days of rain and there is a rumor that we will have two dry days in a row. Woot!

Spotted at my creative friend's shop, Retro Revival, here in Canbyland.
The best blue hat ever.

I can't help but wonder who wore this hat and who encouraged her to wear it.

Creative girl won't let me have this plane.

But I did find some airplane wrapping paper at the dollar store when I was scrounging for green gifts for St. Patrick's Day.

Busy with trying to get  my spring pruning done on the (so far) one dry day off I've had from work. Hopefully the long-range forecast for a dry Sunday will happen and I can get the grapes pruned. Maybe the sweet peas planted......

Up in Alaska, they are having a good snow year. Unfortunately the moose find foraging difficult when a snow year happens and they are quite cranky this year. Taken near where my daughter lives. I don't actually know who to acknowledge the video to.

I haven't made time to sew lately, too much on my plate, getting a little cranky myself.

SewExpo 2017

I am still processing this last weekend. At the literal last minute (6:43am), I was allowed time off work to attend SewExpo in Puyallup, Washington.

Pencil Girl had been up there since Tuesday and Kyle, from VacuumingTheLawn, was planning to attend. I wanted to go badly but someone else had the time off at work. Miracles do happen - even if the process is too tortuous to watch.

I watched serious sewing inspiration unfold before my eyes and I think I have the last puzzle piece to my future business plan. Since I came home, I have  been busy researching and figuring out how this puzzle piece will enable me to work from home and earn the income I need.

 I met Deb from Simplicity Patterns. She made this dress at the last hour before the show. You would never know how this pattern became this cutie-pie dress from looking at the pattern envelope. She added this denim pleated trim after making the dress and her discerning eye is apparently why she works for Simplicity patterns.

 Here she is holding that pattern up - pardon that lighting. Those were flutter sleeves on the envelope. It's always nice to meet someone shorter than myself who can fit for her figure. --- And then add the pizazz that makes it work.

 The McCall's Fashion Runway Show was amazing and inspirational. Gertie is another blogger who has made this industry work for her. She not only designs patterns and fabric, she is now rockin' the runway.

 Alongside her on the runway was a new to me blogger, Riva LaDiva (washington state). The runway patter was done by Melissa Watson (Oregon!). Her mom helped create the Palmer & Pletch Method of sewing (also Oregon).

These are all people who have made sewing create a living for themselves.

The trends this year are all about the sleeves. From Flutters to Cold Shoulders (shoulder cut-out), anything you do to make sleeves amazing is something to aspire to.

Next to her on the left is Kyle, from Vacuuming The Lawn, who is an amazing technical sewist  from the east coast who I specifically prayed to the gods of vacation to meet up ***in person***.

 Just loved this t shirt knit. I bought two lengths of knit for t-shirts because this show is evolving into garment sewing with vendors bringing those type of sewing materials. Quilting is still huge but it was nice to see some of the sewing notions available to learn about and buy that make sewing your own clothes successful.

I think we all agreed this booth, Style Maker Fabrics, was spot on with trendy fabrics.

 And, of course, the airplane spotting continues. This was in the ByAnnie booth with a ten dollar pattern. I already own this airplane block from numerous historical patterns. Her booth features her patterns and the supplies that make a bag better. Another person who has made sewing work for her.

 A little bit of cute irony. They did have the fabric available from which they fussy cut these little blocks. However, in a fat quarter of material, this was one of 20 sewing quotes.

Irony is the opposite of wrinkly. An embroidery project for the future.

 This piece was a bit overdone with the cut-outs. But I loved it for the inspiration when I make bags - having the under material peep out through cut-outs in the vinyl.

 Babylock's Embroidery machine. It can digitize your designs so you don't have to rely on someone elses designs and fonts. I'm thinking deep airplane thoughts here.

Just peeping out from under my arm is my big Pendleton shopping bag. It holds a million little purchases.

 In the same booth as the squirrel at the start of this post. If I ever quilted - I am in love with this strip applique method of adding texture and depth. 
Thankfully - I don't quilt.

Cuz - they sold kits.

Tempting - so tempting.

 Free Motion Quilting (FMQ) in a dragonfly motif.    Love.

My bag from Pacific Fabrics - with an airplane on it. You have to spend $50 to get the bag which is usually no trouble as this Washington fabric store understands marketing to sewists. They stocked pocket tissues with sewing machines on them. They often have airplane fabric, but also other cool fabrics that you must buy.

So, a funny story::: I went early on Saturday  morning before the crowds hit so I could look at everything in the Pacific Fabric booth. Then I took advantage of the cheap coat/bag check to store my Pacific Fabrics haul for the day so I didn't have to cart around heavy stuff.

I didn't know they closed promptly at 6pm. We were sitting in the food court chatting and eating and Pencil Girl had to go off to her Satuday Night Quilter's Evening Out show. Kyle and  I got up to go and get my bag and the door was locked. Tight. Then we had to find someone with keys. To open it up - cuz my car keys were in my coat. Just a little adventure....

Long post, too busy to figure out how to make several posts. Thank you for reading so far.
SewExpo is the best sewing show out there and I'm lucky enough to live 2 hrs and 40 minutes away from it.

I'm back on overtime, so my free time has been used up thinking deep thoughts about the future which is creeping quickly towards me. I'm happy the Sewing Gods intervened and made this trip possible.

Little Cork Coin Pouch

 Inspiration from one of my facebook sewing groups. I almost derailed to make this right then and there. But I held firm and finished my other two "must do" projects.

This one was super fast to sew. No lining. The cork fabric is backed by a thin knit fabric which works quite well for a finished look inside.

The facebook sewist placed a cut-out heart there but my patch was round, therefore the cut-out was a circle.

Too stinkin'cute. And fast.



***...and two days later, added a copper rivet at the connector for strength. See first photo.

Cauliflower Rice

 I am in love with my new Vitamix blender. 2 horsepower of serious business.
While out to dinner with friends last week, we had Cauliflower Rice. So, so, easy to make.
Especially with the Vitamix. Bob - our cook - no - our chef,  served it as a side dish with fresh pineapple.

I'll write my 'recipe' at the bottom of this post if you are interested.

 I had this last week off and my little sis came out from Minnesota to sort out some family interventions. I'd love to write well about depression and aging parents but cannot come up with words that would describe the problems without getting too much into family politics.

My older sister has sunk into a deep depression and our daily visits seemed to help but she would not leave her house. Her son who lives with her is very worried. An unintended success was finding out the nephew needed a business casual suit for interviews he is involved in. So the aunties took him suit shopping.

This sister gets to her doctors appointments and grocery shopping but does nothing non-essential.

My mom and dad are in their 80's and downsized 2 1/2 years ago to a single story home in the same town. With my older sister and brother not available (they live local), I feel this burden on my shoulders. They are about 35 minutes away from me with good traffic. With my long work hours, we feel they are increasingly isolated.

Our third and recent snowstorm brought this home when my little sister and I arrived to find no one had come over to shovel off their driveway or check that they were okay (seven days). They had plenty of food (old school preparedness) but still... one of their new neighbors has boys in their 20's... This wouldn't happen in my neighborhood.

The plow blade came down their street and left ice boulders blocking their driveway. If they had needed to get out, they couldn't.

I cleared their drive and  created a walkway that melted off in the sun. It was a pretty thick layer of ice covered by snow.

My sis and I came up with some suggestions to finalize the week and thoroughly piss off those family members.
At least we can rely on our Oregon weather to be finished with snow for the winter. (knock on wood)

We spent eight days working these family problems.
That's when I discovered the amazing fluffy ice the vitamix makes. OMG - best Margarita's ever.
The vitamix didn't even change sounds fluffing up that ice.

If you look again at the photo of my sis above, she fell while out running in the snow & ice in Minnesota three days before she came. It's a broken ankle. She came out with a knee scooter, an immobilizing boot and we also had crutches.

In our Oregon snow & ice.

You really can't kick her to the curb for trying to get stubborn family members to improve their lot. We played the sympathy card for all  it was worth.

 I did manage one fun morning that week meeting up with Pencil Girl at Fabric Depot. We had tried to meet up a few days previously but Portland was pretty bad with ice compared to where we live. On one day, meeting a nephew for lunch, we turned off the bare interstate onto five lanes of rutted ice. Pencil Girl and I met up later once the ice had melted.

She was looking to improve her niece's prom dress which was already awesome, so we solved the world's problems in the lace and bridal section.

Cuddle airplanes and look at the red chevron cuddle. Very soft.

After dropping my sister off at the airport, I decided to drive to a couple of estate sales south of my town and found some treasures. Garage sale therapy.

My Creative Friend went to one of them before me. It was the estate of one of the Keil's. Their ancestors founded the Aurora Colony.

She bought a large box of old photographs and found some that she will need to donate to the Aurora Museum. Including a child's handwritten history in a composition book from the 20's.

This magazine page fell out and she almost gave it to me - look at the silly airplane. This is just the right-hand corner of the illustration. "Drawn, ever so Roughly by Michelson Hollywood" is inscribed at the bottom corner. Looks like vintage satire magazine advertising from the 40's.  It gave me a huge smile to read all the little captions.


Cauliflower Rice

1 head of Cauliflower
Small can of Coconut Milk (1/2 cup)
Seasoning
Walnut Oil or Olive oil
Fresh Pineapple, diced fine.
Sausages

Chop cauliflower up roughly, discarding the leaves and stem areas. 

Toss into vitamix and Pulse until like grains of rice.

Heat a tablespoon of oil in skillet. Transfer 'rice' to pan and cook on Medium high for 5 - 8 minutes with lid over rice to help steam it.

Add seasonings (I used a cajun seasoning and a seasoned salt shaker)

Add Coconut milk and heat through.

I added chopped sausages and topped it with the pineapple for a main dish.

I will have leftovers for a few days too. Yum.

Candy Airplane Tutorial

I thought it was easy enough to look at my photos of my candy airplanes in order to make your own and then I got a couple of emails questioning how I put it together.

Supply list:
Fuselage: Baby Ruths or other 'stiff' long candy bars.
Wings: Air Heads
Wing support and tail empennage: Single Starbursts
Wheels: Rolos
Propeller: Taffy or mini Tootsie Rolls
Big pile of hot glue sticks (and your hot glue gun).

You'll need a Baby Ruth or any other candy bar that is long like a fuselage. Almond Joys used to not work because they are two pieces and it's not stiff enough to use as a fuselage. I noticed last time at the store they have added a stiffer cardboard to the bottom for support.
I've used starbursts, Uno bars - anything that is long and will support the wings.

The AirHeads work well for the wings. In fact, sometime I make single wing aircraft. I haven't really found a substitute for these. In the USA, they are usually sold six strips to a pack - meaning you can get three biplanes out of a pack.

Starburst sold in the big pack. Alternatively, you can buy the single pack and use these. Less expensive to buy the big package. These will support your second wing and also look like a tail on the fuselage.

Rolos, individually wrapped in the big package. Haven't found an alternative for these either. They are round and look like wheels.

The propeller can be made with salt water taffy or mini tootsie rolls. Any candy with paper twisted at the ends will work.

Gather your candy and hot glue gun. It's usually cold when I make these so the glue gets brittle or doesn't bond well with the plastic candy wrappers. These are slightly fragile with tails popping off occasionally. Especially in transit, moving airplanes to their new homes.  Easy fix though.

I also used a (free) priority mailing box, kept flat, on my table to catch any hot glue.

 Put a blob of glue on top of your candy fuselage about 2 inches from one end. Attach one Airhead strip. This is your top wing.

 Flip the candy bar over and attach a starburst not quite at the end of the wing.

 Blobs of glue on both starburst wing supports and also on the candy fuselage and attach bottom wing. Work quickly as glue doesn't really bond with wrappers. You need to place three blobs of glue and place that bottom wing on. I touch each place where the glue is underneath to make sure it connects.

Attach rolo wheels too on this bottom wing.
Either together or about an half-inch apart. Kinda on either side of the fuselage.

There's no wrong way or right way. If your rolos are turned the other way, it will still work.

 Turn plane upright. Add tootsie roll to front of fuselage candy bar.
 
Sometimes, there is empty space up there. In the case of the Baby Ruth, the wrapper was enough support for the propeller Tootsie roll. If it isn't, then use more hot glue to bring empty front space closer to main fuselage.

You're gonna use a lot of hot glue sticks.

 Finally, add another starburst to back of candy fuselage to indicate a tail empennage.

I don't buy candy ahead of time but I do look for the best deals. These babyruths were 2/$1.00 whereas regular candy bars are almost a dollar each.

The big package of starburst were enough to make nearly 50 biplanes.
The package of rolos would have been enough except someone got into them.
The airheads? Who eats these anyway? I actually cleaned out my fred meyers for awhile.
I've used salt water taffy before but I really like the look of the mini tootsie rolls.

There's no wrong way or right way.

Be creative with your candy choices.

Maybe go on to making trains and other funmobiles.

Train wheels are round Mints - York or Pearsons. Peppermints.

Rummaging At The End Of October

 Found at the last church rummage sale. A linen tablecloth bought new at the old Meier & Franks Department Store for $3.98 and then tucked away as too nice to share.

Or, buyer's remorse?
Or, a gift that wasn't quite what the recipient had in mind for their home decor.
Or, it was on sale.
Or, .....????

Still with the tag attached.

 It measures 54" x 70" - just large enough for my dining room table.

 Oh good - you spotted the Piper J-5 ailerons being stored here.

 I just love this grape vine motif with the aqua-grey stripes. Supposedly hand-printed.

 This was found at another church rummage sale. Opening it ----

 Airplane Dominoes! Woot!
Two bits.

 These are the thick - nearly 1/2 inch thick old fashioned dominoes.
28 of them.
I don't need dominoes. I have zero use for them.
But they have airplanes on the back.

  I'm home sick today with the coughing crud. It came on last week and I spent most of the weekend in bed just sleeping, trying not to cough. I think I turned the corner this morning as my energy seems to be coming back. I called in sick because I'm still hacking up sputum samples (as the pharmacist son said).

I had been giving out Smarties last week at work to my very smartest customers. Inspiring Smarty jokes - tailored to the transaction at hand. They lend themselves to humor so well. Laughter is the best. And, most people love these.

Anyway, I was taking a break with two of my carriers who, quite obviously, had a different childhood than mine. Most of us, as children, decided these were pills, to be taken as needed.
These two, however, used to smash them to powder and snort them up their noses.

Yes.

Moving on.

Vilnius, Lithuania

DD is back from her European vacation. She loved Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. Very affordable. Sweden and Helsinki were more expensive.
I love her rooftop photos with all the red roofs.