Sunflowers Are A Sign

The garden is entering it's glory. I'll have enough tomatoes by this weekend to start canning them. I'm pretty simple - stewed tomatoes are simple and easy and QUICK. I use pint jars so if someone needs two cups of tomatoes for a recipe, we're good.

I tried really hard with the garden this year. A big plus is that my family crisis's got moved to the back burner. The forced overtime at work is still difficult, so free time is at a premium. 

I decided to try not blogging to free up some time. Well that was a fail. Pretty soon the photos pile up and I start hiding from dealing with them. Then my iphone told me I'd reached a cloud limit. Well, actually, it sounded like apple was threatening me. Solution was to deal with photos.

By blogging a little bit instead of a lot.

I don't keep most of these photos. I do have files set up on my desktop for Flowers, Family and what I've made. This makes it easier to transfer to the external hard drive. Still hiding, but a little more organized. The rest of the photos are deleted.

Wendy's Wish Salvia

The grapes are turning colors

I have this week off work. I'm trying a liver cleanse (2 -3 weeks) in an effort to get some relief from the SIBO bloating and inflammation. I was ready for some quiet to concentrate on this particular diet. I'm only on day five, so it's too soon to have an idea if it's helpful.

I already eat a very restrictive diet because of the Leaky Gut/auto-immune responses. This time, I am giving up chocolate (and sugar)for three weeks  and meat for the next five days. Vegetarian is not something I've tried as I'm allergic to some veggies and getting enough protein to get through the long work day is difficult.

But I don't have to work so I timed this part to coincide with days off.
I use chocolate for stress and for extra calories to get through my work days. I had wanted to try something like this for a while but... yeah.

In sewing news, I made another pair of work shorts. My red ribbon (fair!) blue shorts from last year are getting a tad faded and worn. All that blue thread on blue fabric makes my eyes twitch with all the top-stitching involved.

I will say, this new pair probably won't win a ribbon for even top-stitching. And I mixed up my pockets (six!). I put the side pocket on the back side. NO worries - not ripping that off - because the pocket flap on the side seam pocket mostly fit.

 After sewing miles of topstitching, I was ready for some fun sewing. These are my favorite M&M's, Peanut Butter. But have you tried the new coffee flavored ones? A customer brought in some he found at Walgreen's and they were pretty tasty. I had just started this diet so I ate two and passed the packet off to my co-worker with strict instructions not to show them to me.

Anyway - you just cut apart the bag and sew it  back together with some lining fabric and a zipper. Cute little pouches already destined to two nephews and one lucky friend.

 I pondered for a while on how much to charge for these in my etsy store but I'm not sure I would ever sell one. I sell my other zippy's for $18 - 22 dollars. Would you pay $20 for this small snack-size pouch? It will hold coins, other small stuff, two regular small packets of m&m's.

When I don't think I can get enough for my time or trouble, I gift my makes. Crazy attitude.

But do you know how long it took me to get to charging $18? Here in Canby, I'd be lucky to sell a small zippy bag for two bucks.

 I used the backs too with their UPC codes.

Inside is the bottom of the bag stitched on as a 'label'.

Sunflowers just mean summer is coming to a close and autumn beginning. You can already see the leaves turning.
It's hot here this week but the nights cool down fast - another sign.

I've got a long list of things to do this week, but I'm concentrating on sewing in the morning and listing on etsy in the hotter afternoons.
I still need to finish digging my potatoes and another basil snip and dry.
I am also trying to re-organize my stuff. Mostly with the thought of not looking at it where it got laid down with good intentions.

For this liver cleanse, I am also concentrating on eating more to keep certain cravings at bay. I've had many conversations with my docs about eating more to actually lose weight. I am relying entirely too much on chocolate so I am hopeful I can get that energy craving to a back burner. I don't eat sugar as a rule except in chocolate.

Happy End of Summer thoughts to you.

Biking To Work

 During the summer, I try to bike to work as often as I can.
Definitely worth the ten years I spent trying to transfer to  the same town in which I live.

There's only about four months where I can do it often enough with my work schedule and the way sunrise and sunset fall.

I live 3 1/2 miles away from work - although it could be 4 miles as my road is 1/2 mile long. In any case it takes me 20 minutes to ride in and 22 minutes to ride out. I have two little hills coming in and two bigger hills going home.

Many people, as in 92%, profess great alarm at me biking. They are 100% afraid to try anything though. So I discount their fears.

It's very safe. I taught my kids to ride safely on the country roads around here. I showed them how to pick the safest routes ahead of time and *plan ahead*.

Last summer was awesome as we stayed below 100' super hot days all summer and this summer is shaping up to be the same. Drivers are as cautious as me - because they know me.

I had a somewhat close call near my home (on the big arterial country road (with the 3-foot ditches)) last year when my neighbor had to pass me - at that particular moment, with oncoming traffic. My neighbor - whose husband bikes miles and miles - I was so surprised.  She called later to apologize. On that side of the road the ditch has mellowed out so if I had to, I have a safe place to steer my bike.

This year, I had to re-route because of a pit bull that is allowed to be off-leash, on the public street. That dog has bitten other neighborhood dogs and I decided to switch my route over one street because I'm pretty sure a girl and her bike will not win against a pit bull.
(And it's my blog, so if any commenters get obnoxious, I will delete you.)
Pit bulls are bred in the Portland area for illegal dog fighting.  I do  not care how nice your pit bull is.

 I don't get to bike past this luscious maple any more. It is my favorite tree in Canby, there are only a few specimens around. It's a bi-color maple that is big and glorious.

Riding my bike to work is a nice work-out. Breathing fresh air into my lungs, huffing and puffing to the top of my two hills, working on different muscle groups than those I use at work.

My ride is short - around 20-22 minutes - just long enough for a work-out  but not so long it becomes a chore.

I leave the house 15 minutes before work if I'm driving, 30 minutes before if I'm biking. There is time to smell the different crops growing on the first part of  my ride. To see and wave to people I know. It does put me in a good mood.

Why are people so afraid of something they haven't tried? Yes, my dad was a physics teacher and cars will always win against a bike. But I have lots of bike lanes. I am not going to bike incautiously. I pick my route with care. It's easier to cross the highway through town at this particular intersection. I don't pick the one where drivers are making too many right hand turns without looking. I also bike on the wide sidewalks if the intersection is dicey.

It was far easier to get around Kyoto on a bike that driving everywhere. I find that to be so (in town) here as well. I didn't have to find parking on parade day - which was a common complaint around me on the 4th of July. I just chained up my bike to a convenient stop sign and stood for our small town parade.

I was talking about biking last summer at the coffee shop and the coffee lady has an 11 year old boy. They lived at one end of town and the school was at the other end. Between them is the old logging trail that is now a bike path. There is no need to even be on a street in order to bike 2 miles to school. Her neighbor, who also has an 11 year old would not allow her boy to bike to school, because of various helicopter parenting concerns. He's 11. He'll be out of the house, hopefully, in just a few years. This is probably the safest biking trail ever and she won't allow her boy to grow up. This boy is driven to school every day. Not even allowed to take the school bus.

Biking is just  one of the adult skills I taught my children.
Although, I think I am the only biker in town that still uses hand & arm turning signals.

 One of my favorite memories of the kids is walking alongside them as they biked through the 4th of July parade in town. Trying not to get caught up in the wild training wheels of the younger crowd.

I did sew last weekend. I was supposed to play with making padded  Doterra oil pouches but I awesomely derailed into making these toiletry bags - specifically, Lipsense bags. The front is a zippered vinyl pocket to show off what you have with a bigger zippered compartment behind. 

Quick and easy.

I didn't use a pattern - just eyeballed the size I wanted it to turn out and I was definitely inspired by an Instagram post.

My family crisis's have settled down a little, so I am hoping to sew more.
My overtime continues.

Finally, some beautiful pics from my son on his recent trip to Canada (Yay! 150 years!) near Banff.

Dog Bone Pouches

 I made these as a thank you to our vet and his staff in helping with our dog over the past few years.

They can use them as treat bags, or whatever bags.

I lined them with a laminate fabric from Ikea  - orange polka dots. Easy to wash.
The outer fabric will remind them they are from the lady at the airpark.

I used a selection of yellow and orange zippers from stash.
Now to fill them with some nice chocolates or something.

 I also mis-placed my template pattern from the last time I made these so my notes here include the dimensions;

From pattern file: cut bone out of printer paper. About 8" x 4" with four rounded knobs.
Fold pattern piece in half and cut  with 1/4" SA -  two linings, two outers. Cut two battings at actual size. Install zipper as per usual. Add pull tab.
Because of different zipper widths, Cut the backings after you finish the front. One back, One lining, one batting/wadding less SA.
Open zip, sew all the way around with 1/4" SA. Turn. Top-stitch.


My sixth one is not top-stitched. I literally ran out of thread - not only at the spool but also on the bobbin. I had about a yard left on the bobbin and six inches on the spool!

I took that as a sign that six is enough and no one will notice that one is not top-stitched around the edges.
Possibly I was tired of making six. Done.

Haleiwa

Haleiwa reminds me of Paia on Maui.

Handcrafted, artsy.

We enjoyed watching an entrepreneur hack open a coconut for us for $6. When you're done drinking the coconut water, you return to the booth and he will cut the coconut meat into small pieces for further enjoyment.



Lots of blooming flowers (winter).





T-shirts.



Boutiques.


Red Dirt t-shirts.



Locally made (somewhere in HI).I liked the leather trim next to the zipper.



These little 5 x 7" zippy pouches on the table were $$ - can you guess? Leave me a guess in the comments. Closest person gets? Tell me what you'd like to win? Kona coffee? Macadamia nuts? Zippy bag?

The slightly bigger, but still simple zipper pouches were even more. The smaller wallets were about the same price as the zippy bags.


Nice patchwork utilization of doilies and fabric to make a bag.



Squint? Can you see the price on this coffee? 12 oz.



Mahalo.


sunrise sunday