Sewing, Sewing

 I finally finished these QAYG (quilt as you go) bags.
Finally.

 I added a pocket specifically for essential oil storage. I have been on a scrap clean-up in my sewing room. I was guilted into sorting my scraps by color by two very OCD sewing friends and it came in handy when I needed four clothesline bowls in a hurry for gifting.

I figured I would sew together these turquoise and purple scraps too and enter Elm Street Quilt's Bag It   competition. Like, maybe, try to win some awesome prizes....

This project used up (not enough) scraps, one thread spool and one bobbin. 

 Last Saturday, I was able to hook up with Pencil Girl and I made her one of these super quick Pyramid Pouches. They are the size of a coin purse or a small  special pouch to hide some candy. (or a check for the 1/4 beef she lugged over for me)

We met up at Fabric Depot. They were running their warehouse sale. Pencil Girl was looking for fabric for Simplicity 1108. She almost suckered me into buying these two fabrics for the same cardigan. The floral would be the very drapey cardigan with the aqua blue being the bands.

Except I have little time to sew and this cardigan would force me to go buy a black/white tshirt and black jeans. Or something.  She is such an enabler.

I had a hankering for my Apple Cider Caramels. Recipe is from Smitten Kitchen.  ( I might come back and laboriously cut & paste all the hyperlinks in, or not)

 These are THE BEST caramels. They always turn out. They have that apple cider flavor from boiling down a quart of fresh northwest apple cider for 45 minutes to a thick syrup. The recipe is awesome.

 We were at Fabric Depot to buy materials to make this gingham flannel throw.

It's gonna be 70 inches square and we found the fabrics very quickly. But then, I remember WHY I DON"T QUILT. It took nearly an hour to pick out the binding. Not to mention the backing.
Good golly.

 

I washed all the flannel when I got home. Hung it to dry and started cutting my big 10.5" squares right away. No problem on the 'white' which is actually a textured light gray. 

 Then I started on the black and realized it had shrunk widthwise. Instead of 44" wide material, I had 40" wide material. Grrrr,... The "white' had shrunk lengthwise (which is typical!!!)

Screaming texts to Pencil Girl found a solution. Piece the squares. No one will notice - it's flannel.

And the Gray - the medium gray - did the same thing.

I spent most of today sewing all 49 squares together - see - that was the appeal of this throw. Only 49 squares. What could possibly go wrong?

Let's just say my seam ripper and I had a bit of closeness today.

And did you know that flannel stretches when you rip a seam out? And also when ironing? grrr.
Note to self: No more quilts.That's when I found this:

 

Yes, a gray gingham Pendleton throw. At the church rummage sale.
Alas, when I got home and shook it out, it had wool bugs. With some minuscule munched holes.

It did not save me from making this throw.
However some interesting texts back and forth put the thought of felting it into my brain for an unknown at present project. Felting it would take care of any lingering bugs. It's sitting in the garage while I catch my breath from all this sewing inspiration.

 Anyway, my quilt top is finished. All seams sewn, and pressed open.

Leaving you with some more stunning photos from the kids.

Photo credit: DS, Donner Lake, Nevada 2017

Photo credit: DS, Lake Tahoe 2017

Photo credit: DD's friend. Cloud's Rest, Yosemite, California

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.

Sunday Sewing

I needed about twenty more feet of red thread in my bobbin to finish this bag. I've been inundated with images of essential oil bags on the internet. Someone gave me some Doterra samples and the Breathe blend did help when I was fighting the office crud. 

I've made enough zippered bags to try and figure it out myself.

It's a basic pouch with extra padding and little slots to store  your oils upright. I cut a wide (6") strip of fabric that was pretty long (WOF 44") for the slots. I used a scrap of thin batting inside and folded the strip over it. Then I used some 1/4" double wide folded bias tape to bind the raw edges.

I don't have any essential oil bottles, so I used some gutermann thread spools to space my slots.
After sewing the divider lines, I sewed along the bottom edge. pleating the slot flat as I sewed.

I pretty much eyeballed this project as far as sizes go.

Everything was in the right place for when you box the corners to make the base of the bag.
The slots sit on the bottom of the bag which is what I intended but had to guess at the location during construction.

I have enough padded fabric to make an insert to hold some more bottles. This will have a grommet at the corner - if you want to take it out of the bag - you could hook it somewhere.
In fact, it looks like I can get two inserts to fit inside this bag. We'll see.

The rain held off (The Daily Drizzle), so I went out and weeded and pruned for a couple of hours. Made some big piles of stuff that will need to be hauled off to either the compost pile or the burn pile.
 

 It's supposed to get to 75 or 80' by Wednesday. Woohoo. Then the temperature tumbles back down. But at least The Daily Drizzle is sputtering a bit.

 My other project today was to rip off this binding from the swing awning. I replaced this awning a few years ago and it looks grotty from being outside in the weather. I used Sunbrella fabrics which resist UV damage.

 Here is the awning laid out with the binding curled up in a pile.
The whole cover looks grotty, but I need it for a pattern.

Someone gave me some outdoor fabric which may or may not be sunbrella brand. I am going to try washing the binding and re-use it so I don't have to make new. If I recall, it was pretty dang expensive.

The new cover will be khaki green with this brighter green with big blue Hawaiian? blob flowers for the edge pieces. It's all single layer. The binding encases the flippy part edge (stripe) and helps to weigh it down so it's not so flippy in the wind.

 We'll see how it goes. This outdoor swing was gifted to me for Mother's Day (& birthday!) several years ago. Maybe 15 years ago? So this will be my third time re-doing the awning.

Hosta with Forget-me-nots

Mini-Iris

Apple blossom

My Bloodgood Japanese Maple is 26 years old and very, very big and luscious. These are the last of tulips to bloom with a little fringe on top.

That's the Stearman poking out of the hangar. Both planes are inside (mostly). The Piper J-5 has it's wings on and will do a first flight here in a few weeks. Lots of piddly things to check off the list before test run ups can be done.

 I was trying to capture this happy happenstance of the  deep purple iris in front of the neon new green of the spirea bush.

 I took these Spring flower photos a few days ago in between rain showers.

Happy Sunday!

Tag says Flying High