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.

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.

Pokemon

 Erin, from Dog Under My Desk, posted this on Instagram the other day. 

It stuck with me  and I had to make one myself. Out of scraps.
Yes, that is a navy blue zipper.
In all the zippers that I possess, do I have a short black one?

Erin has designed some really cool bags but took a hiatus learning how to be a mom. Of a baby.

Her sewing time just became interrupted.

I think she should write a tutorial for this little circular zippy pouch. It measures 4" in diameter. Get back in the swing of things as a pattern designer.

My funny back side - I need to flatten out the circles so they look more like a circle around that zipper.


Her original earbud pouch appeared here.

Road 15 Zippy Pouch

Cute zippy pouch from the Road 15 fabrics which were still out.
Doing a Bag It series with Elm Street Quilts this month.

Check it out. Great inspiration & great prizes.

 This little cutie patootie is only 6" x 4". I had my scraps out still from making my autumn table runner and decided to use some of the blacks in this line.

Evidently, I was not done with  matchstick quilting.
Although this little bag is so tiny, it went super fast with no insanity breaks needed.

 This is my jade plant. I married into it. Poor, sad, excuse for a house plant, I stuck it outside on the back porch intending it to move on to composting pastures. Every time,  Daisy, our new golden retriever puppy, brushed her tail against it as she gamboled around in the way new puppies do, another branch would come off.

A weird thing happened, as in you should prune your houseplants! -- new growth popped up all over.

I've had this jade plant now for 25 years. It started blooming a few years after it's metamorphosis when I brought it inside for the winter and I've nearly killed it once as you want to leave them out until the first frost (Willamette Valley banana zone - late october/early november). But it came back. You should prune your jade plants. Amazing things happen.

The blooms last 3 -4 months and are star white with a hint of pink. Tiny little things and all the more surprising because people don't expect it.