Chicken Giveaway

I dumped my tea kettle for this very efficient water kettle. It boils water, like in 2 seconds (lol). My chickie doesn't really care for being perched so high.

Much better on my Desert Rose teapot.

I came up with a giveaway for everyone who reads this blog - you can tell your friends too.
To win this chicken pot holder, all you have to do is send me a postcard (or a letter). It must be postmarked between Feb 7 - 24, 2015).

This helps out my amazing mail carrier with more mail volume. My address is below.
I will draw randomly - seriously- the best postcard photo, the best joke, the best drawing, it will be my favorite card.

International peoples are welcome, I will post this chicken hot pad to the winner at the end of February.
Rural mail count goes from February 7 - 28, but I chose to end this giveaway on the 24th so I can receive your entry during mail count.

You might get extra points if you state on your postcard or in your letter how many other stamped pieces of mail you sent out during this time.
Or maybe you know some good chicken jokes.
Or, you can sketch flying airplanes, with chickie pilots.

I told you it would be a random pick.














***For the next three weeks, my rural postal route is being counted (Feb 7 - 28).
 
I have the best carrier and I like to support her so I will be posting extra letters and packages this month from my home to help her out.
Counting rural routes determines a carriers salary - an evaluation.
Mail volume has re-bounded since the recession with first class mail up over 1.5%.

Her route has not been counted in four years so she should see a huge boost in salary for the long days she has been putting in. She starts her day at 6:30/7am and ends it around 5/6pm. She generally works five days a week with a sub on Saturdays.

I've written about mail count before:
1. How your rural carrier gets paid.

2. Letter Writing.

3. Who to write to.

A lot of rural routes are being counted this month, not just mine. Whether you live on a rural route or know someone who does, I would like to encourage you to write more snail mail, especially this month.

Hot Pad Thank You

At work Monday morning, I received  a surprise package. 
Once home, I opened it to find some Insulbright from a customer who had ordered a couple of handmade items off my etsy site.

 I immediately cut and sewed four hot pads with this cool postcard fabric so I can send two her way as a lovely thank you for the supplies and acknowledging that I can always use Insulbright.

For those that don't know what Insulbright is, it's a foil punched batting that withstands heat making it great to insert into hot pads or anything that gets near the heat.


***For the next three weeks, my rural postal route is being counted (Feb 7 - 28).
 
I have the best carrier and I like to support her so I will be posting extra letters and packages this month from my home to help her out.
Counting rural routes determines a carriers salary - an evaluation.
Mail volume has re-bounded since the recession with first class mail up over 1.5%.

Her route has not been counted in four years so she should see a huge boost in salary for the long days she has been putting in. She starts her day at 6:30/7am and ends it around 5/6pm. She generally works five days a week with a sub on Saturdays.

I've written about mail count before:
1. How your rural carrier gets paid.

2. Letter Writing.
3. Who to write to.

A lot of rural routes are being counted this month, not just mine. Whether you live on a rural route or know someone who does, I would like to encourage you to write more snail mail.

Postcrossing has talked about going off-line in February and committing to just writing letters.
They have a Month of Letters Challenge up right now for February.
I have noticed when I conscientiously turn off my laptop for longer periods, I get more done on the sewing front.

I love getting mail - above post - surprise package in my mail. Who doesn't like finding something beyond circulars in their mail box?
Here's an easy way to post more letters. Add a teabag to your card and ask the recipient to have a cup of tea with you. I swear I could hear smiles while my friends opened up that envelope. It will cost  a bit extra for that tea bag - as long as it's under a quarter-inch in thickness, it should be 70 cents (49 cent regular forever stamp plus 21 cent non-machinable stamp).

I would love it if you would send me a postcard (February 7 - 28, 2015):
Kathy
24463 S. Skylane Dr
Canby, OR 97013

Chicken Hot Pads

I had a productive rainy day Sunday sewing time.
And I needed to change my blog post photo from the last one. Eewww.

Everyone I know was watching the super bowl but me. I've never been into football that much, can't drink the beer {Glutens, barley, hops :'( }. I almost watched it because Pencil Girl helped make the giant lion who made an appearance at the half time show.

   

I have a friend who is dire need of replacing her chicky hot pad so I dug out the box from where it had been stored for a few years and found that I already had some chickens cut out and ready to sew. I used to make these for holiday bazaars.

The wings are pockets for your hands. She keeps hers sitting/nesting over the teapot handle.

My zips came in so I was able to finish using up my laminate and I also used this free 'suede'  sample swatch from Spoonflower. Just the right size to make this Dumd Valentine Pouch.

This one might be my favorite. Soft airplanes.

I tried top-stitching on the vinyl laminate with a dull sewing machine needle and the backside is cruddy with skipped stitches. I am contemplating tossing this one or doing a giveaway. I spent about two seconds thinking about ripping out the top stitching and hand stitching around the heart instead with a thicker thread (the holes in the laminate are permanent). It might have to go into the time-out closet.

SIBO Stuff and a Possible Graphic Photo

**not a sewing post

Update on keeping Kathy healthy:


I rarely talk about the medical crap I go through in order to stay functional. It's so negative and this blog needs to be a positive place for me to be.

 I have a stressful job (benefits), a stressful family (don't we all?) and precarious health as my body does not manage stress well. Anything I can do to minimize stress is a good thing (EFT, meditation, mindful meditation, creating and sewing).


I had a SIBO test last January (2014) and we all remembered about it back in October. The lab never sent my results which turned out to be positive.

Many of the symptoms listed are spot on: Food sensitivities, bloating, gastric distress, skin rashes, chronic fatigue, brain fogs,  migraines. Leaky Gut, Blastocystis Parasite - I've found out a few things over the years but could never quite identify/name/diagnose what was wrong with me.  The good news is there is a treatment available for SIBO.


So, this January, I am following up on the SIBO (see siboinfo.com).

Early January, I took Rifaxamin - an antibiotic. This was to kill off the bacteria overgrowth in my small intestine.
Initially, I felt great. The bloating was way down. But as soon as a few days afterwards - starting bloating again.

Following the GAPs diet. Which is difficult.
I figure, I will keep starting over on the GAPs diet till it becomes natural to eat this way. Essentially, a more liquid diet to get nutrition to the upper small intestine so lower part can heal. There are three stages and I get stuck at stage 1 and 2.

SIBO says that the small intestine is not doing it's job, motility is hampered or not happening.
Which leads to fermentation of bad bacteria in the small intestine and food particles going thru intestinal walls leading to immune responses (i.e. Leaky Gut).

GAPs diet tries to starve out the bacteria by eating every 4 -5 hours (3 -4 meals/day) instead of snacking. This is also supposed to help get intestinal motility back in action. I get about two days in and my head hurts and I don't want to drink any more broth or green juice. This is probably the bacteria die-off. I also have trouble eating fermented foods like sauerkraut but this is supposed to be a great pro-biotic in the GAPs diet.  Dealing with that now.

I retook the SIBO breath test a week ago - waiting on results. Probably still positive.

Also doing some intravenous vitamins like zinc and others to help provide healing nutrients.
Also doing acupuncture to aid in regaining motility and healing.

Too graphic?

The plan is to possibly re-take rifaximin in early March before I leave to Japan on the 16th.

Since the first round of Rifaximin, I have felt less (constant) bloating - a bit more intermittent. The inflammation and the bloating are really difficult to live with.

One of the things that has helped since last October is L-Glutamine. I have lost 10 lbs (4 months) using this everyday.
I have only been able to lose weight when I took foods out of my diet (food sensitivities/allergens). But there is no more food to take out. I am in constant vigilance to get enough food to be functional while minimizing my immune responses.

And that's why we are trying the Armour Thyroid right now - to see if that will help as well.
My thyroid for the last 15 years has been 'normal', 'low normal', etc. depending on how I feel when I do the blood tests.  My naturopath and my voodoo hippie doc both think, "let's try this too."  Although, the first week on it was constant headaches as my body got used to this new thing. This is my first day not waking up with a headache.

My main concern is being healthy enough to manage Japan in March. I plan on taking quite a bit of emergency food. For most of the time, I will be staying with a friend, so it will be as easy as I can make it, 'enjoying' 2 weeks of Japanese food. This friend also sews, so we will be talking sewing 24/7 which will jump-start my creativity.

The sense I get from reading anecdotal stories of the treatment plan are hopeful and may not cure forever but give me some relief from the horrible food sensitivities and all the other symptoms.

Currently, most of these doctor visits are out-of-pocket. They are not covered by insurance. I am spending what time I feel good in working on my online sales listings to generate income to pay for these necessary helpful healing steps.

I will say, these last couple of weeks, I have had sales that have paid for the intravenous vitamins and acupuncture visits in a way that makes me think - serendipity - meant to be - I'm on the right path for healing.

Amaryllis and Winter

I originally bought amaryllis bulbs as hostess gifts for the holidays. When said holidays rolled around these were only knee-high to a grasshopper and what with all the holiday fuss and bothers, I forgot for the first two parties and by the third, had reconciled with myself that four (!) looked much better on the windowsill than one lonely amaryllis.




We have been blessed with a couple of 50+'  days where the sun shines and you forget about foggy, grey, drizzly, sad January in Oregon. Where you smell Spring coming.

I trimmed up the raspberries and the grapes. They are now ready to burst forth here in the next few weeks. They won't get wild for a couple of months but they do better if you do a hard pruning now.

We kept 7 middle-aged fir trees and I am so glad we did. My replacement trees for the ones we cut down are coming along nicely but they aren't tall yet.

Those fir trees were home to hummingbird nests, bats in the belfry, owls, and other flying critters. This winter we have seen not one but two eagles flying around - probably to the dismay of tiny rabbits and voles but what a wonderous sight to behold. I think hawks might be prettier, but eagles - wowza.

Laney Hobo Bag In Linen

 I was fairly productive sewing-wise Sunday. It was raining cats & dogs outside. Just because we (Willamette Valley) have experienced a few days that proclaim Spring is coming - Mother Nature told us to back off a bit before we plant our gardens.

 This is a very cute Laney Hobo Bag - free pattern by Swoon Pattern. It's well written for the confident beginner sew-er. I say confident because the middle piece - perfect for fussy cutting/patchwork/embroidery is eased onto the side pieces. A bit of a curve there and while pinning often was addressed, cutting notches to help seam lie flat was not.  


There are only two pattern pieces. The side pieces need to be cut mirror-image which is clearly stated in the pattern. I think that's an advance beginner skill as well.

I, being an intermediate sew-er had to add a curved back slip pocket (with contrast piping - stash)  as well as a welted zipper pocket inside. Whats a purse without pockets? Bag jumble from hell.

I also added a little slip ring ??? at the top of the handle to hide the seams. It's made out of the lining material to add a little subtle bling.

 I did a welt zipper pocket inside and let the pocket lining 'appear' around the zipper.

 I cheated made this out of some linen -blend fabric that was reversible so even when I cut my interfacing not with a mirror image, I managed.

 Which is why I still say confident beginner because while you may remember to cut out the main side panels with mirror cutting, I am confident you will forget when it comes time to cut out your interfacing.

I interfaced only the main fabric as both fabrics were heavier than quilting cottons

I almost did not add the ties at the top middle because I would never tie these but I found some ribbon in stash that matched and went with it as a design element instead of a practical, useful, element.

The Laney Hobo Bag was easy to sew. Easy to add some design usefulness (pockets). In the mid-size of bags. This one is very spring/summer in off-white linen.

The link is here.




Doing almost nothing on a Sunday except watching the birds fight.
{Bad video from smart phone through kitchen window.
--See if you notice the neighbor's cat near the end}

Four Valentines

Back side Hula

She's my favorite!

I have a trip planned to Tokyo and Kyoto in March and I can't wait to see what other fabrics I've been missing. We don't have these cute laminates in the USA - we have some, but not these.

My friend buys scrap bags at her local fabric store in Kyoto and oftentimes, they slip a piece of laminate inside. She sent me four laminate scraps at Christmas and they got dumped on my ironing board.
The scraps aren't big enough by themselves to make much but they are just the right size to make these little earbud pouches.

They are now used as well as the rest of my nylon zipper stash.
I got a double score on my New Year's Resolution of sewing the fashion fabric until it's gonegonegone.