Knit Knotted Scarves

 Pencil Girl sent this photo to me this morning from her 4-H sewing group.
They made these awesome scarves made from old tshirts.

 I immediately replied with "Off with their heads!"
lol
I try not to show faces - especially if I didn't ask permission beforehand. I also rarely post photos of me. Nor do I name people when I post faces. All part of my internet confusion game.

Anyway - aren't these nifty? They cut one inch strips from the bottom of tshirts and knotted them together with a pattern from Linda Lee. Kind of like a big macrame project.

 I also finished this week my (stupid*%$#@&##) hedgehog bags. They have a front zippered pocket with vinyl so you can see inside. I sell them as Lipsense bags in my RunningWithHandmade etsy shop.

I was chatting with another sewing blogger about how someone should make (and photograph) all the ways you can make zipper ends for toiletry pouches for a quick look at BEFORE you sew.

I picked the wrong way - which worked on the first bag. However, the next ones rebelled.
Which started to  make me very grumpy until I sat down with my seam ripper and made them right. 

So, there!

 Hubs is dorking around in the hangar. Making everything onto rolling stock (if it didn't roll before), re-painting walls, generally being crazy. But, both planes do fit inside.

That J-5 (orange) is so almost ready to start it's engine and take it's maiden voyage.

 I made four rope bowls for gifts this last two weeks. Two sewing peoples guilted me into sorting my scrap bin(s) and afterwards, it was a quick grab of the ziploc bag to utilize small scraps in the color I wanted.

 One went to Finland, Two to the UK (with second winging it's way to Ireland), and the final one to my CreativeGirl friend.  I discovered, I had been remiss in making her an orange one (her favorite color). I have one more to make (later, much later) as a gift to another sewing friend. We'll maybe call her MarineGirl.

 We had some 34' nights recently - a little early, so I made haste and cleaned off my back patio, throwing the houseplants into the garage. That frost was a little too close for comfort.

This frog is a particularly ugly lumpy brownish green color - not the cute spring green of my other frogs.

My dear daughter, is on a fall camping trip from Seattle down Highway 101 to Yosimite. She stopped off for a very quick 21 minute visit, hauling our Christmas Present!

 How perfect it is. Got the mountains, the fly fisherman, the river, the floatplane. All etched on ceramic tile and then hand-glazed. One of a kind perfectness. Might be the best gift ever.

This from my daughter who lives in Alaska.
This photo was taken recently on the way to Seward. I just love this picture of the mountains with their dusting of fresh snow and the reflection in the water.

I'm planning to make note cards from this image.

Linking to the 2017 Elm Street Quilts BAG IT event.

A Week Off

I sewed every day.

We are hiding inside because of near 100' heat all week and smoke from the wild fires trapped in the Willamette valley.

I knew it would be hot when I started  my vacation time. Perfect for doing my liver cleanse and sewing. My biggest plan was to sew in the cooler mornings and list items for sale in my etsy shops in the hotter (damp & sticky) afternoons.

  We still don't have the (orange) Piper J-5 airplane flying. Hubby is still dorking around on this and that. But look, They both fit inside the hangar. Our other airplane is a Stearman biplane.

 I had a little time before my hair appointment to take photos of the dahlia fields.
1:30pm and my iphone still takes awesome photos.

Yes, I managed to get my hair cut (not since october!) and I got in on someone else's cancellation to the dentist as well.

I usually set up my dental appt about 9 months out and hope for the best. My work schedule changes so frequently, I finally make it on the fourth cancellation. My dentist's crew know where I work and they will try and fit me in until an appointment 'sticks'.

Somehow, I don't think you should try this with your hairdresser. I needed a haircut back in April and here it is - September. Six inches gone.

I tried out some online selling places and was successful with my old Riccar. So nice to see it go to a good home. And clean out my garage a little. This machine does an awesome straight stitch but I have two others that do the same. I might still sell my Singer Stylist as I have my grandma's old Singer 301.
Not right now. The stylist sits in a nice cabinet with I put in the bedroom for a place to set down stuff.

So - what did I sew? A new pair of work shorts with all the topstitching and pockets. A lot of lipsense bags and a custom order of a doTERRA essential oil bag. I also finished two UFO's and working on a third.

I also listed a crazy amount of stuff for etsy but there is still a mountain in my garage that needs to be listed as well.

How did my liver cleanse go? Well - I'm finishing it up now. Basically, it was an elimination diet of anything with allergens and five days of being a vegetarian. No chocolate (sugar) and no coffee.

I failed.
On the chocolate.

I made it to Saturday -- about 10 days in and caved.

I disliked being vegetarian. Mostly because I can't eat beans (legumes - big allergen) and I can only tolerate rice once or twice a month. A lot of my allergens, I can tolerate in small doses but the effects accumulate and I can get really non-functonal fast. I can eat some nuts but they don't really get digested with my small intestine not behaving well.

There's a surprising amount of protein in dark leafy greens - which I juice. Each glass of green juice probably contains at least 8 grams of protein and I drank green juice 2 -3 times a day.

I was also taking  a product based on pea protein and I was reacting to that as well.

However, all the extra B-vitamins? Tremendous mental acuity and focus.
I didn't peter out around 2 or 3pm. I was good at the beginning about eating more to keep (chocolate) cravings at bay but slacked off if I got the wee bit busy.

If I do this again, and I will, I will skip the product and go straight to a liver cleanse without pea protein.

I had high hopes this cleanse would clear up some skin issues (yet another symptom of not getting enough nutrients because of my small intestine). Some cleared but the rest are still there. Less stress (no daily smack-down) helped.

My eyes seem to be clearer. Rested.

  My niece recently moved back to the area from living in Singapore, so I went and visited on Saturday. So much fun to see my practice grand-kids! The girls still remembered me and had to show me e.v.e.r.y.t.h.i.n.g.

I stopped at Ikea on my way and this button rug continues to taunt me. If I had a place for a white rug. I get so tempted to just buy it and stash it but I don't need more clutter.

I also took care of some clutter piles around the house. Bundles dropped with good intentions.

I cleaned the inside of my car after living out of it the past year, or so.

And I got my laser printer back printing after a year. It stopped working when we had a power outage and it took a year in the time-out closet for me to get up the time to sit down and uninstall and reinstall, fingers crossed, and it worked. Big smile.

Potato Planting

This spring has been soggy and cold. I planted my potatoes today - a bit late, but the soil finally dried out enough to till.

And my snap peas did not rot in the ground - they are all of 4 inches high.
Also a late plant in mid-April.

 Anyhow - I thought as I was digging holes that I would share some potato tips.
These are Norland Reds.

The first thing to do is cut them up. Two eyes per piece. See those growths that look like warts? Those are called eyes. Some of the eyes are really growing, others are teeny with just a pink/red spot on the potato skin.

On these smaller reds, you can cut them up into two or three pieces. Let them 'dry' for a few hours. This seals the wet part so it grows instead of rotting.

Your holes should be about 2 feet apart and about 10 inches deep. Or so. By the 20th hole, whatever floats your boat. You can add fertilizer or compost if you desire but my soil is pretty awesome for potatoes.

Place two pieces of potatoes at the bottom of each hole with eyes up to the sky.
Cover the hole halfway with dirt. We'll be infilling later as the green shoots emerge.

 That's it.

 Onto the patio. Most of the hanging baskets and pots have been pruned, churned up, and planted. Lots of time-release fertilizer and slug bait. These hanging baskets are heavy feeders and need extra food to grow.

If you look closely, I have hung my airplane decorations.  My kids painted these over twenty years ago from wood kits. They have held up remarkably good hanging outside all summer.

Flying Potatoes And Tutorial

Two more gifts finished.

And the extras put into the etsy shop. (Yay! me).

I still need to finish an outstanding purse order from five weeks ago. The fabrics are cut out and interfaced - there's a procrastinating slug inside me about this project. However, the 12 hour days are now scheduled and not merely an emergency. It needs to be finished today.

These microwave potato bags are a must-have if you want restaurant quality baked potatoes in a quarter of the time it takes in the oven.

Dear hubby's last one finally gave up the ghost after three years of continuous use.

It caught fire. Which is alarming. But expected.

Even though I use 100% cotton materials in these bags, this is a known hazard.
These bags produce the moistest, fluffiest baked potatoes. The minimal risk is worth taking instead of using an entire hour to bake potatoes in a traditional oven.

If you want to make your own, I've written you a tutorial at the bottom of the post.

 Look who walked into work the other day? One of Santa's elves!
Is this not the cutest outfit - she even styled her purse with a pompom.
Delicious. (fred meyer stores!)

 Canby's Light Up the Night commenced Friday night with a parade featuring Santa texting? Well, he's not driving...

They formed up the parade right outside my workplace. Since I couldn't get out of my parking lot, I enjoyed the excitement. Small town parades. Big smile

 I found some wine for gifts featuring a biplane from a local vineyard. Be still my heart.

And, finally, my son sent me this photo of his girlfriend's mom's chickies wearing their best outfits sitting on Santa's lap.


Potato Bag Tutorial:

Cut from 100% cotton fabrics;
Try to use cotton thread.

11" x 22" Main fabric
11" x 22" Lining fabric
11" x 22" Warm & Natural 100% cotton batting


Make a quilt sandwich of Lining fabric face down, batting on top, and them place Main fabric face up on top. Quilt as desired.

Trim to a rectangle of 10.5" x 21.5".

Serge(overlock) the short ends. Or, use a tight zigzag. Or, make it more work - fold under twice and stitch.

With Main Fabric face up on table, fold down top serged edge 4". Fold up bottom serged edge 7" (or so). The serged edges will overlap 1 inch.

Baste where overlap is at the side seams. This keeps the top edge even when serging in the next step.
Serge side seams. Or you can use your tight zigzag to finish the edges. Knot off serger tails and trim.

Turn and enjoy:::

Anything polyester has a lower melting point than cotton. Try for 100% cotton.
The bag gets old and breaks down which is why it eventually catches fire.
Do not leave microwave unattended.


MICROWAVE BAKED POTATOES

Wash potatoes, pat dry. Do not prick with fork. Place up to four potatoes in bag and put in microwave on Baked Potato settings.

Marion asked in the comments how many minutes this takes as she doesn't have a baked potato setting on her microwave? I think it's about 5 or 6 minutes. You might need to experiment - adding 45 seconds until you get the fluffy just right.

Keep potatoes inside bag until meal is ready to stay hot.

These bags make the fluffiest baked potatoes with just the right moistness.

Random Makings

I made over 20 biplanes Saturday while watching the new Gilmore Girls special on Netflix. I need to make about ten more. Most will go to my co-workers so they remember Santa delivers in an airplane, as we all know.

 I also finished Miss Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Children.  I feel I am ready for the movie now. My DD told me the second book was so-so. I am giving myself a pass at slogging through this next book and returning to my winter reading. I am particularly into Peter James right now. He writes police detective books out of the UK. I've read two so far as it's been difficult to find at my local libraries.

Those two - Looking Good Dead & Love You Dead were good enough for me to have an ebay moment and I bought both for my mom as a Christmas gift. Powell's Book Store (might be the largest book store in the world - right here in Portland) did not have a single Peter James book.
 
 Because I also bought books through Powell's because their cyber/black friday special was free shipping plus 20% off. Deal!

 The dentist office had a few magazines - this one with two whole joke pages.
And the roses above. Blooming madly in our 50-60 degree November weather.

"Why is Cinderella so bad at Soccer? She's always running away from the ball"
I need more jokes for the kids at work. My co-workers too.

 DD with her inch of snow up in Alaska.

 In September with her cousins in Minnesota.

And the great-nieces in Singapore. They made that awesome turkey!

Lots  more randomness, but I am back working 12 hr days with a one hour lunch and I am tired. Co-worker has a dental emergency involving an IV drip, a hospital, and the eventual resolution of said crisis. Wouldn't wanna be her.

The last Christmas Bazaar in our area is the Red Mitten Bazaar. Opening tonight for a preview ($3/donation). Running two weekends -- Thursday through Sunday. All handmade wonders. No imported stuff.