Behind

This was nearly a month ago.
My sis from MN came into town during a week off that I took to attend SewExpo in Puyallup. She came to help deal with the parents and our sister who is depressed.

We squirreled Mom and (surprise!) our sister away on a beach trip. Our older sis is better than last winter but was sinking fast again in the grey Oregon winter. It was a surprise that she came on the beach trip as she doesn't leave her house.

It was winter.

Blustery, rainy and snowy.

We picked Lincoln City/Newport because that mountain pass sits lower. My temperature gauge sunk to 33' as I was driving....thankfully, it went no lower.

We stopped in Lincoln City to see where the big super moon tides at the end of January hit Kyllo's Restaurant and saw the construction crews already had the windows that blew out back in. ODOT was still repairing the hwy where the tide came up to.

But it was cold and blustery so we hustled back into the car and continued on down to Newport where the weather app said it wasn't raining as much.

Baked oyster. These were so good.

We lunched at Mo's down at the dock and watched the seals in the harbor. We tried to go to the Hatfield Marine Center but *winter hours* - dang. Oh well, Rogue Brewery is always open. Here's my mom - shocking those grandkids.

 Our next stop was actually a detour as we had seen fresh crab at the Newport Thriftway (supermarket) for only $5.99/lb. Awesome price. We stocked up and continued north to the Yaquina Bay Lighthouse. 

My little sis and I journeyed over to Galway, Ireland when my daughter was doing a study abroad and we clearly recall the Cliffs of Moher. One step forward, two steps backwards in that Atlantic wind. That wind was in both our minds at the top of the headland where the lighthouse sits.

But it wasn't raining....

Steamed Clams - afterwards.

I think I had crab three times that week. Winter - post Christmas - is the best time to get fresh dungeness crab. Yummy.

There is light at the end of the tunnel at work with a possible sighting of the new clerk  starting Saturday. (six months after the other clerk retired!). Anyways, that will help downsize all the overtime and long 12-hr split shifts for me.

I've got a couple of unexpected weeks off work coming up and I have already over-scheduled it with jobs that must be done. If you need to know what unexpected means you can email or private message me.

I'm gonna try to get my backlog of photos off my computer as it has caught a wee virus and probably needs a check-up. I need to throw my photo collections onto the external hard drive beforehand. Hopefully, I'll summon up the energy to write a few blog posts with them.

My son's quilt/throw (second time around) is nearly finished. I'm hand-sewing the binding down now. I can't send it to them until April 15th when they move into their house they bought. I may just fly out  to visit them with it in my suitcase instead. And I'll have news on them in another blog post!

Missing Package And No Communication

The Post Office officially sucks at communication.

They ignored my case.
They ignored my sister's case.
They ignored my son - the recipient of two christmas packages that were placed into parcel lockers at his apartment complex.
They won't even address the issue of no keys to the parcel lockers.

Other than geo-tracking them to the parcel lockers, there's been no word.

I filed my priority claim today - one month after the package disappeared.



I went to Fabric Depot today and re-bought all the fabrics. Of course that's impossible. I bought the first fabrics for the quilt in October. The store is sold out of the original fabrics.

Moving on. Pencil Girl was unable to come today, so we did about a thousand messages back and forth.

Anyway, I did want to address a concern of several of my readers. It is highly unlikely your package will go astray. If you package it well, secure the label (inside the box and outside). Utilizing a good condition new box (for stability), wrapping in plastic (in case it gets wet).

In my 40 plus years of shipping packages, I have only had a handful go stray and I send a lot of packages.

I just drew the lottery on an emotionally charged christmas package to my son who moved out of state.

Fabrics all washed and doing their drying thing. I'll cut them out next weekend.

Oh - the photo above is of the beach south of me, down by Coos Bay, Oregon, taken by my cousin. The moon and the waves conspired to provide the BIG wave.
Very exciting winter surf on the Oregon coast.

My new favorite song heard on the radio this morning.
You  have to listen to that piano. mmmm..mmmmm One of the better re-makes of a classic Bob Dylan song: Don't think twice, it's all right.

The Daily Drizzle

Purple Lilac dripping

Flowering Currant dripping

Flowering Plum dripping

Mini Iris's dripping

 What do you do when you are getting increasingly irked by The Daily Drizzle.

Oregon has had it's year of ice and snow, which happens every ten years or so. But the rain and gray skies continue. I would give anything for two consecutive days of sunshine. My garden is still so soggy, I think my sweet peas will rot before they grow.

We joke, of course: "Oregonians don't tan, we rust."

Actually, we just fall prey to seasonal something disorder where the gray clouds occupy 100% of our conversations. And you can tell the native Oregonians from the transplanted. Oregonians whine really, really well. (as soon as the UFO sun comes out, we will be whining about the the heat, the glare, the ...)

In any case, I sewed some more cork lip balm teeny zippy bags.
In my RunningWithHandmade etsy shop right now. (If you look at the web page view of my blog, the shop showcases on the sidebar).

This is a great way to use up scraps, especially of my high-priced cork fabric. I'm happy to use up every square inch of this fabric.
 
I'm even contemplating a blog post listing the Top Twenty Things You Can Sew With Your Cork Scraps. I dislike these lists, especially the sewing ones. The lists are generally not curated, tested, or tried out. I've seen tutorials/patterns on these lists that are a nightmare to sew with poorly written instructions, etc.. The author of those lists is blatantly passing along bad info. 

In order for me to write one of those posts, I would have to try out each entry. No hardship there as I like trying new patterns/tutorials.

Over the course of trying new patterns/tutorials, one acquires lots of hardware. I need to use up what I have. In the photo above, there's just a couple that match.

Cute reproduction 1930's Dogs at play linings.

EOS ball style lip balm pouches

Since January, we've only had a few days with full sun. None consecutive. It's getting on our nerves a bit. Normally, I turn off the heat in our house about April 15th. This year, as we approach May, it's still on.

I think we are finally past the frost date. I recall a few years ago, one occurring on my Mom's birthday of April 19th, but I think we are free and clear - if the drizzle ever lets up.


In fact, this is a fabulous year for all those new people moving to Portland  (173/day) dreaming of getting back to nature, going green, making a difference, actually being an artist and getting paid, etc.


People watch Portlandia and then want to move here to experience Oregon. They slave away at their non-profit dreaming of owning a farm and being one with nature. At five years, they make the leap to getting that farm, usually on five acres (5 acres! lol). It takes another five years to figure out that it is impossible to make money on five acres. That getting back to nature is a 24/7 hell hole of a job, Trying to keep the organics - organic. The animals housed humanely is really all about the amount of manure and where else can you put it.
The never ending rain ought to help clinch this year's hopefuls.

Did you know Oregon has 383 words to describe rain? just kidding, I think.

Zion Mennonite Quilt Workshop 2017

Lots of photos below of this years Zion Mennonite Quilters Workshop. 

45 years!
A long-time friend made the above quilts. She likes hand quilting and working in miniature.

She used her vintage Singer sewing machine. quilts,  and doll for the above display.

 I just love applique quilts.
Below are a couple of close-ups of this quilt. Hand-stitched all the way.

 One of my friends, holding forth. The Zion Mennonite Church maintains an amazing array of quilting library templates and books, which you can check out.

 I also adore these postage stamp quilts. Many of the pieces are one inch. Scraps used from feed sacks or clothing articles. In my dreams, I would find the patience to piece all these teeny blocks into something larger.

 I couldn't tell if this one was from a pattern. It combined raw-edge applique with embroidery elements to create a whimsical baby-sized quilt. Love all the scrapiness.

 And, of course, some red work, along with teeny, tiny,  patchwork.

Many of the pieces of this pinwheel quilt are quite tiny as well.
It is hand-quilted and embellished with embroidery

My big fat finger and how big those pieces really are.

 This quilt was all curves and needle-turned applique. Tiny curved pieces on the bias that want to twist and stretch. Truly artistic.

Also hand-quilted with embroidery embellishment.

Wall hanging size

Cute puppy.

 Love this log cabin design

I tried to cull these photos and succeeded somewhat. I hope you enjoyed looking at them.
I'm not much of a quilter, but I do appreciate fine handwork.

These quilts aren't sent out to a long arm quilter, they are nearly all hand quilted, often in a group setting.

Some of the quilts on display go back to when Oregon was settled. Some are from the Aurora colony.


Last years blog post is here.