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.

Around The World Blog Hop

 Welcome to the Around the World Blog Hop making a stop today on Running With Rocket.

I was tagged by Marilyn  of Shades of Bold to participate today in this Around the World blog hop that is traveling through the blogosphere.  Hopefully you will discover more about myself and why I blog and also to find some new blogs that just might make it onto your Bloglovin' list.

Marilyn makes stunning bags and so do I (humble :-)).  I love to sew and craft and I have a dedicated sewing room that I  finished two years ago. I've been blogging since 2008(!)- writing about sewing, my auto-immune, my airplane.  Yes,  I  live on an airpark. When we want to go flying, we roll open the hangar doors and pull the plane out. The runway is at the edge of my backyard. Which I also like to play in. I live on an acre where I garden - both flowers and the edible things. The blog has turned out to be a surprisingly good place to put all those flower photos.

Yes, I have sewn the cockpit cover and the luggage compartment for this all fabric Stearman Biplane.

My name is Kathy. I started blogging because I like writing and I take lots of photos. This  blog has turned into a big rambling journal for flying and flower photos as well as documenting items I've made. I don't know about you but my memory is going and I enjoy backtracking once in a while to view what I've made or to find a recipe that sits well in my tummy with my auto-immune.

I work in a day job that  is usually less than 40 hrs/wk but in the last three years, that job has turned pretty demanding. I need the creative outlet that sewing involves and I've made a couple of really cool bloggy friends over the years.

I've been sewing since I was four. It wasn't until I started blogging that I found out this was unusual. I started off sewing garments and designed my Barbie's clothes - I still have the tiny patterns. When I got married, I sewed a lot of my children's clothing and this is when I learned to copy Ready to Wear (RTW). The children's patterns at that time were about a foot too long with gigantic ease. My family has always been frugal so we learned how to read pattern layouts in order to buy less fabric than the envelope suggested.

 I sewed for years without a serger and I only bought one about four years ago and I love it.
Love It.   How did I sew so much without one - my Bernina serger is probably my favorite part of sewing now.

I will sew just about anything that tickles my fancy. I am also very good at saying "No" without any hesitation. This is my creative outlet.


Anyway, the Around The World Blog Hop asks us to answer the same four questions and at the end, I'll tag two more bloggers that I think you would enjoy and they will post next Monday.




1. What am I working on?
That pincushion above - I finished it yesterday afternoon. My bloggy friend Benta over at SlikStitches posted a little teaser photo of a gift for someone and it turned out the rest of us wanted one to organize our needles too.

How many types of sewing machine needles do you use? I have a variety because I sew through thin rayon all the way through leather. I buy them at garage sales because the price of fifty cents to a dollar does not make me swear as much when I break a needle at ram speed.

 The back side which will always be down had a little patchwork zakka moment. You'll notice a few of my favorite fabrics - some airplanes, some japanese, some mini-stripes.  I wanted to do this Benta-gift justice and post a huge thank you to her for doing the machine needles embroidery.

What - you don't know what this pincushion is for???
It's for when you need to change out your needle for another project but you feel there is still some sharpness left in the needle.   --Instead of putting them willy-nilly on the cutting table next to the sewing machine - ahem.

My other project: I'm waiting for these beauties to ripen. Another 20 days?


 2.)  How does my work differ from others of its genre?
I have a genre? Good lord. I suppose my projects differ because I can't stick to a pattern as written even when I do the writing/measurements. I'm kind of a think-as-I-sew sew-er. Let's just say I need to make it more difficult than it has to be.

Snap Bag. Paper pieced Bee.

 3.)  Why do I create what I do? I am 100% committed to handmade gifts. I make what I like or what intrigues me. My brain loves engineering and I enjoy figuring out how something was made.  I make copies from RTW  a lot. I like the detailing that you cannot find on home sewing patterns.
Taking time to create balances out the stressful parts of my life.
I sew garments as well as dabbling in quilting (tedious).

I give away most of what I make. The few remaining items get placed on Etsy. I am unable to make duplicates - just sayin'. Once I've mastered a skill, I'm ready to move on.

I made this tote bag for my niece. 
I had some internet inspiration but I did a design as you go construction.

4.)  How does my creating process work?
2 am. Seriously - don't you have the best thoughts at 2 am?
For instance, in the bag above, the reverse side is the reverse of the van - the back window flips out to feature a cell phone pocket.

I hope you enjoyed visiting me.

And now the Around the World Blog Hop goes on.  I have picked two great bloggers to be my taggees for next Monday:

 

Kyle from Vacuuming the Lawn is a great garment sew-er as well as bag maker. I noticed Kyle a couple of years ago commenting on the same sewing blogs I was reading.  She just sewed two stretch lace gym tanks and they are awesome. She blogs about her fitting intrigues and posts great flower photos from the Princeton Farmers Market. She recently made this gorgeous dress - go look at what she sewed!

 

Janine  of Crafty Tokyo Mama is someone I met during a SewMamaSew giveaway day. I was intrigued about her haunted house in Amity (oregon) and come to find out - she is from Oregon. She has lived in Japan for the last 25 years - most recently Kyoto. She sells her creations in her Etsy store - she is definitely good at making 1000 bags! and blogs about life in Japan and her sewing adventures at CraftyTokyoMama. She shows stunning photos of the different shrines and festivals that  make up Japanese life. She made this Patriotic Table Runner last month that I love.

one last airplane picture - 'cuz you know how cool it is to own one!
No - I am not the pilot - just the navigator. My hubby has his license. . When times are rough at the day job, flying in an open cockpit biplane is positively guaranteed to blow out the cobwebs. Or as we say, "reach out and touch the hand of God."

More random facts about kathy:
Worked in Southeast Alaska as a cook in a gold mining camp. Got to fly in a Beaver and a Huey.
I almost got my flying license.
I love small towns.
I've been sewing all my life.
My juicing/blendering supports my garden as well as the produce manager at my local Thriftway supermarket.
I like to embroider but I'm so done with cross stitch.
I require my daily Sudoku fix {or else}.
My favorite flowers are Iris's.
My old gardening goal was to be able to pick flowers any day of the year.
I love to travel and I'm headed to Kyoto next Spring.
Yes - you can travel with an auto-immune to a country that breathes in soy (#1 bad guy).
I won three blue ribbons (and one white) at our county fair this year.
I can remember four jokes at one time instead of three - making progress here!

Sewing:::  1. Why should you never iron your four-leaf clover?
You don't want to press your good luck.

Flying:::    2. What do you call an alligator who uses a GPS?
haha - a Navi-gator!

Pondering The Blog

I've been thinking about a blog post that Amy (from Angry Chicken) wrote pertaining to - if I can even summarize this -- to being okay with other people's successes. It was a rather profound concept and it dovetailed with coming off of the SewMamaSew giveaway week.

Like other crafters out there, I visited a few blogs (nowhere near the 550 giving things away) and checked out some other sewing blogs. Knitting  blogs, family blogs, crafty blogs. Sheep shearing blog.

Beyond being blown away by other people's creativity, I was also pondering blog design and why we blog at all.

So Amy's post was timely and while sorting mail (and instead of reading other people mail),  I revisited the reasons as to why I blog.

My obvious reasons: I like to write and have nearly forgotten how and I love taking photographs so the two work as a journal of sorts.
This journal is also, on purpose, a positive place for me to be. With work being so stressful and intense right now, it becomes doubly hard to turn off the negativity and be one with a positive outlook. You cannot create if you are mired down in stress, office politics, not to mention back-stabbing people. I try not to let those things come into my blog world. I like to keep mine along the lines of Zen and the art of blogging.

The less obvious reasons: Announcing to the world at large that I need recognition and applause. I think of myself as fairly humble so I hope my blog doesn't offend anyone with it's greatness. (lol)

Another reason that became apparent last year was my auto-immune disease messing with my memory - aka brain fog. I literally go back to some of my posts and cannot remember making that soup or even writing the post. Not to mention old age; but writing a journal is quite helpful for this problem.

Another reason is to document that I do something besides work all week (six days a week). It can be a big morale boost when I am not feeling good and I am tired from working to see that I manage to do quite a few things. I've always pushed myself. I like to stay busy and frequently juggle three things at once so when I slow down to one project occasionally - it can feel wrong.

I do tend towards projects for others - as gifts. Hand-made gifts are great  but I do recognize I need to give myself some of these finished projects - more than I do. Think Selfish Seamstress. So by blogging I am reaching for that goal of taking care of myself.

Repeat after me; We are all a work in progress.

Amy's point of not always being "Good for you" when someone has a success is true for anyone. That their success makes you less somehow and you need to hurry up and perform better is  - wow - I've felt that way.
She brings up a better response of "good for you"  for everyone who this can apply to and then leaving it alone.
I enjoy the process of creating something but by no means do I need to make it perfect and it frequently is not. I tend to stay clear of sewing bloggers who have to have all their quilt triangles perfect or their garments all finished inside with bias tape. Without stringing words together, those perfect bloggers 'intimidate' me a bit - on a sub-conscience level, of course. What Amy is saying is make it simple - just say "good for you" and move on. Take it up to a conscience level.

Short list of blogs (SMS giveaway)  I was not going to read further;
I saw some blogs that were so loaded down with advertising and award buttons  that I could not enjoy them. Let alone find the content.
Many just wanted their number of followers on Facebook to go up but were not really invested in those people.
This newish trend of headline blogging (no examples as I have none of them bookmarked and I certainly cannot find one under pressure)  is distracting as well. I've asked several people about them and no consensus was reached. I think they look commercial - somewhat like reading the USA today newspaper.

Part of the problem of a type-A personality is the amazing amount of stuff in your head so my other big reason to blog is to let the stuff out. Seriously, it's not healthy to keep it all festering inside.
So- I'm right back where I started. No changes on the horizon. Still rambling about whatever is in my head. My blog is still gonna be all about me.


There were sun breaks today when I got home from work so I took care of this corner of a path to the neighbors this afternoon when I got home from work.

I took out the hodge-podge of miscellany plants and put a curve to the plantings with some variegated boxwoods. I am keeping this pathway but need to rework my second brick step as it has sunk a bit. Some barkdust to be spread to keep columbine babies from taking over the corner. That bright light in the upper left-hand corner - ANOTHER SUN BREAK!!!

Since felling 18 large fir trees (small leaning problem) last Spring, I have tried to move on to my next gardening moment but when the shack appears in my photos, it all comes back (good for them - they put a new roof on). Since the sunlight hit this bed, I have been battling growth. The light pink things in the foreground are Azaleas smothered in Lamium. I have both purple and pink varieties and Lamium was such a thoughtful delight when the trees shaded everything but now it is matting over everything in it's path.

Lamium and my snail collection device. Need some? Lamium, I mean?

Two wheelbarrows full today. Lamium, Columbine, Sweet woodruff, hardy geranium, pinks, Asters, Valerian, Forget-me-nots, Cup & Saucer( Canterbury Bells).
Destined for the compost pile.

Brief sunshine caused an Iris to pop.

Nora Barlow Columbine. I still have 10,000 plants. Somebody needs to get some backbone.

 Still sunny but some serious sounding thunder happening to the south of us.