May Madness

 I'm gonna throw a bunch of photos at you.

May has been super busy and I think The Daily Drizzle is finally fizzling out. Another of my favorite Iris above with the Bearded Iris close behind. That will be the end until next year.

  My friend from Kyoto sent me some special items for my birthday earlier this month.
She is getting to be an awesome airplane spotter.
 She found a keychain of the Torii Gates which was one of my favorite sites in Kyoto.

 My sis sent me a Marimeko plate. Also, the cute dish towel on the left.

I had to have a huge talk with myself. I've been hoarding pretty dish towels lately because a certain someone in the household doesn't understand kitchen rules. I made myself put it out anyway. And I ended up shout-ing it, as there are already scorch marks and tumeric from our curried chicken. (le sigh)

I made two more Clothesline bowls for easy peasy gifts and they were well received.

 This was my birthday/anniversary dinner. Yummy. Steamed clams on zucchini noodles. I think I need a spiralizer after all. Super delicious. Just a savory wine sauce instead of a cream sauce.

My iphone isn't great at capturing Mt. Hood in the distance. Lots of snow this year.

  I then "Gave" myself another gift of clumping bamboo. My friend, Teresa, mentioned she had five varieties and I penciled her into my birthday week off.

If you've ever had the joy of dividing bamboo... I took a sharp shovel with me and got a teeny bit of four of her varieties. The black bamboo would have needed a pick ax. ...and maybe very strong young men.

Nearby her is an old favorite restaurant of mine (and hers). My hubby and I came on the very first warm and sunny day and ate our dinners.
The sliding doors were open to the dappled shade along the Sandy River (very high this year).

My hubs had the famous chicken and dumplings. Which I can no longer eat (flour). My dinner was very tasty too. For the life of me, writing this, I can't recall what I ate.

I got to some of my weeding during my week off, but there is still lots to do.
Below are three medium sized blueberry plants. It has been so soggy that this section had to wait until the ground dried out a bit. Maybe in a week or two.

Right to the left of the weedy area is a section that looks all pretty in it's new barkdust coat.

The other morning, I awoke to this pretty picture out my bedroom window.
The Stearman got pulled out for some air.
The pink early morning air with my lovely Weigelia in front

Part of my birthday week was volunteering for Junk Refunk. A local business owner that is an Annie Sloan stockist put it on. Cheryl has previously done two street markets in town and brought a lot of people (and their money) into Canbyland. She needed some help so I volunteered.

I had forgotten how much I love volunteering. With my job, it's nearly impossible to commit to anything except getting through the long work days.
 
This one vendor, who is local, makes these awesome crowns. Because I was The Most Awesome Volunteer - ever-.

I have some escalating family problems, one in crisis mode. I also have one of the four clerks MIA for an indefinite time at work. Overtime will be the norm as if it wasn't already.

I am going to unblog for a while. I'll still be on Instagram more frequently (RocketGirl50). If you want to see my photos, that's a good place right now. I am seriously time challenged right now.

Trying to find time for sewing and unleashing my creative juices just got harder. If I do find a chance to make anything, I will try to blog just because I like the documentation and my notes.

Next week, I'll be visiting DD in Alaska, so I may have another go at blogging by iphone. Or, not. Photos seem to be more permanent on the blog (as a storage solution). We'll see how it goes.

We plan to go halibut fishing out of Homer and also a flight seeing trip around Denali. I'm especially looking forward to  Denali as this has been an awesome snow year up there as well.


Keep well and have a delicious summer.

Cork Wallet

 One of the nephews suffers from  having a December 18th birthday.
At 14 years old, I think it's high time he learns about the combined birthday/Christmas gift.

Of course I caved.
I'm the airplane auntie.

 This was a quick, easy sew. I would do one part different, but otherwise the directions were very clear to follow.

Made with cork fabric, the pattern is designed with non-fraying materials in mind. This produces a very thin wallet.

The back piece is cork and it is 'lined' with cotton fabric (did you notice the airplanes?).
The pattern has you cut the cork and cotton lining separately and then make them the same size by folding in the 'seam allowances' of the cotton fabric just so and it will magically match the cork fabric dimensions. Sure. Between the cotton stretching as I ironed the raw edges under and the cork stretching a wee bit. Ahem.

But I have a solution of cutting the cotton fabric first. Then I will use a template cut from card stock that is near the finished size to help with ironing the raw edges under. Then I will lay my finished cotton lining on top of the cork fabric and draw an outline and cut out. Then they will match easier.

Except for turning the raw edges under on the cotton lining, all other edges are raw - hence the name of the pattern - Rawly Wallet by Clo Bird Designs.

 There is a 3-piece credit card pocket on the right side of the wallet and an ID slip pocket on the left. You can customize by adding more card pockets to both sides. You can add decoration to the front or onto the pocket. I added a piece of the fabric selvedge to the ID pocket - "Flying High".

Folded in half, it's quite slim.

I'm going to make more of these as these wallets are quick to sew.

It's A Thing

It's a thing.

A couple of weeks ago, a potato with only one stamp showed up at work postage due.
On the front was an address and on the back was "Test For Wedding".
And the recipient paid the postage due.

It got me thinking.

I sent an Idaho baker to the 15 year old nephew for his birthday.
He texted me that he received it.

I immediately texted him back, "Did you find the money inside?"

If you aren't already laughing, then I was dying in the aisle.

The nephew was left wondering, "Is there money inside?"

So I'm telling this story to various peoples and fully 50% also wonder how I got the money inside. And proceed to tell me how they would do it.

The other 50% get the joke.

Fast forward a week or so to summer camps and moms sending small packages to their kidlets.
Many camps autocratically declare, "Do not send candy."

I show the photo and say, "Why not send a potato?"

It's officially, now a thing.


Most bakers weigh 12 -13 oz, so it will cost you $4.35 to send one. I put four Int'l stamps on (space available) for $4.60.

Crafty Tokyo Mama Thank You

Way back in March, I received some early birthday gifts from my dear friend in Kyoto. She knows my fondness for airplanes and fabric and regularly indulges me.

How perfect is this biplane postcard? We never see such cuteness here in the states.

Except - after I put it together and was getting ready to toss the punchout, I noticed it was made by HALLMARK! In China. We have Hallmarks here. I think Hallmark originated here in the states. Do we have awesome biplane postcards? No.

 And she sent me a second biplane - from the DAISO store!
Daiso helps make some  sweet packaging. Everything Janine sends me is perfectly wrapped in kawaii cuteness.. Stitckers, patterned bags, you name it. I need a Daiso store of my own!
{I save all her packaging to re-use}

Even her postal stamps she chooses are perfect. 

Airplanes, japanese geishas, Mail boxes (Red cylinder at bottom left)

She covered a journal book in awesome airplane fabric and then gifted me with the same airplane timetables fabric to play with.  :-)

Look at that Kawaii airplane ribbon.

She always picks out items with birds in them too.
Her parakeet, Trixie, just passed away. Trixie was one extraordinary pet.


When I am putting together a gift to send to her, I keep a lookout for bird fabrics and western/patriotic items. TV series and movies.

 She sent me some socks, a tiny coin purse she sewed for me and two doilies she crocheted for me - such beautiful colors.

My gifts all comes with origami notes, cute notepaper that can fold into shapes. I think she sent me eight different happy mail items. I feel well loved by her thoughtfulness.

This is where we are not similar - I usually am cramming as much as I can into a flat rate package to send to Japan. I'm still learning to put washi tape on my etsy orders...

 She also sent me some Japanese patterns which are read right to left from the top to the bottom and then over to the left. You follow the pictures in numerical order.
This one was for the four pocket card case.

 This one is for a tissue holder.
 
In Japan, you must carry your own tissues and a cloth for wiping your hands for when You are out and about and need to use the restroom. Toilet paper and towels are a rarity in public bathrooms. Of course, you need cute tissue holder accessories.

Again, she sent me the extra fabric - you obviously notice the airplanes?

 

See the Hallmark logo in the bottom right?

 Janine and I met online via the SewMamaSew Giveaway Day. Several years ago now.

I read her blog, She read mine. We both sew. We both like old things. She grew up just south of where I live. Her family is all in Oregon. We had many similar ideas and dreams.

We managed to meet up here in Oregon a couple of times.

I visited her in Japan a year ago and got to see her for an extended time. You can view many of my blog posts about Japan during the last two weeks of March 2015 by looking in my blog archives (sidebar). Her time in Oregon is packed with family events so it was real delight to spend more time with her when I visited Kyoto. I feel like I've know her all my life.

My niece has recently moved to Singapore. To get there, most flights go through Tokyo. I am making plans for returning to Tokyo. {My niece has a Daiso store in Singapore}.

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.

My Friend Totally Gets Me

 Creative Girl totally gets me. For my birthday, she found me airplanes.
This Blue Corsair will be hung on the patio.

 I love puzzles. Even though she probably found this at a sale, all the pieces were there.
F-14 Tomcat. Jolly Rogers insignia.

Then she followed it up with fabric -- with airplanes on it!

Nice lightweight denim with stripes.

Pretty blues.

Love the metallic blue powder coat.

We're Garage Sale buddies. Which means the best gifts are totally thrifted with bonus points for dickering/haggling.
When I say my friend is worth spending two bucks on, that's high praise indeed where most items go for two bits.

Birthday Sweets

My friend sent this delightful stamp set and it arrived the same day as my big box of fabrics.
Two boxes in the mail!

I had to wait until my carrier delivered them to open.

I'm in my 7th week of postal drama over taking three sick days at the end of my japan vacation. Thank god for unions.

I'm trying to stay under the radar by not grabbing my boxes and ripping them open immediately.

The box was wrapped in a biplane fabric scrap (swoon). The outside was a sturdy paper bag which had a fun design on it when I turned it inside out. Little gnomes.

This is one of those kawaii gifts.

Now to see if I can find that video of the video that showed how to wrap things in fabric with an animal result.

Birthday Fabric

Can you ever have enough fabric?

'My ORE' -upper right. 'Seattle, WA' lower left.

Sewing themed embroidery transfer

These are from Boersma's in McMinnville.

I was recently asked to sew something involving solids. The gal at the fabric store says my version of solids is tone on tone. You can see that in the blue and gray yarn-dyed fabric above. Straight solids are so boring. These will look like solids from afar, but up close, they will have hidden depths.

Plus, I'm becoming a fan of Yoko Saito, designer of japanese taupe patchworks.
Third photo is of infamous hotels which happened to say 'ORE', SEATTLE, WA, & Japan twice - perfect for fussy cutting.
Half is going to japanese friend.

Last photo is of sewing embroidery theme transfers. On sale in the basement.

Pencil Girl and I started our day in the parking lot of Beavertown's Mill End Store.
I had purchased this pattern and fabric on a Craftsy sale two years ago (!) and still had not sewn it up. Pencil Girl offered to tissue fit for me.
In the parking lot.
Very helpful figuring out if I needed an FBA (full bust adj.) or darts or ???
Now I'm all set to cut out my fabric and sew.
{no bets; got 7 weeks of vacation coverage = 12-hr split work days + overtime ahead of me.}
Afterwards, we went inside to find a knit and stretch lace for her pattern review once a month sewing challenge.
She's making a t-shirt with lace over the shoulder part.
I seriously do not know how people shop for fabric online. We touched every piece in that store several times trying to find something that coordinated.

Selfie of us with our j. garden hats.

Is this the seed packet Janine told me to buy - which is all in Japanese?  leaves smell like cinnamon and lemon?

Mill End happens to be next door to Uwajimaya - japanese grocery.
A favorite of mine - there is a book store that sells gifts in the RH back corner.

Pencil Girl gave me this tea set. A coaster and a drawstring bag to hold tea bags. Cute, cute, cute.

We had lunch at Olive Garden, had a truffle at Moonstruck Chocolates and visited a luscious yarn store where we saw muskox yarn at $95/skein.

Teresa's sister brought back some yarn with possum from New Zealand.
I just wonder who gets to gather the hair!

All in all, a very nice birthday, anniversary, and mom's day weekend.

I found this little Moda birdie fabric for Janine at Mill End. Whenever I manage to send off her package.  . . . .

Tomorrow , I've got some baby back ribs planned with some yard work before it starts raining on monday.