FOUR!

We've been a little preoccupied with turning four.

It's kind of awesome, as you can see.

Happiest Birthday Miss B.

Last blast of summer

When most people think of Oregon they think rain. And we do get more than our fair share of the wet stuff along with gray days. But what it gives us is a lush green landscape - another thing people often comment on when they visit our little corner of the world.

What many people don't realize is that Eastern Oregon is quite different. On the other side of the Cascades lies an amazingly beautiful high desert. We took the kids there for the first time as a final trip of the summer.

Here we are at the Painted Hills. You can see that the sky looks a bit hazy due to the dozen or so wildfires that had sprung up from lightening strikes in the surrounding areas.

We met this little critter as we were hiking along one of the trails at the Painted Hills.

The landscape is pretty spectacular with all the different colors, each made from various mineral deposits and revealed by erosion over millions of years.

One of our favorite stops along the way was a museum which is part of the John Day

Fossil Beds. Park Ranger Molly talked with us about how they use fossils to discover

what the area was like in the Age of Mammals. Mostly the kids just thought the skulls

and teeth were cool.

As this little one heads off to kindergarten and his sister to preschool, this was a great vacation for capturing the last fleeting days of summer.

And just to prove that I'm still crafting, I have some back-to-school sewing to show you next time!

Lunch

These were too fun to not share!

Picked up these great little sandwich shape cutters the other day and they are a huge hit.

The selection included dinosaurs and hearts, so we were set. We have used large cookie cutters in the past to cut our lunch sandwiches into cute shapes but there was always quite a bit of waste. These cutters, since they're made for sandwiches, are able to neatly eliminate the crusts without wasting too much of the actual bread and filling.

Here's the heart one in action.

This bread is the larger, more rectangular bread (we call it grown-up bread in our house) so you can see that there is a little more waste than you would get with a regular more square loaf. We've tried the cutters with pb&j as well as ham, turkey, and cheese - all with great results.

Lunch is served!

These are also fun for morning toast and hot sandwiches like grilled cheese. Best of all, the kids love them and clean their plates!

Terrariums!

We got our craft on the other day by making some terrariums!

Bailey looks a bit skeptical of the whole thing, but it does involve dirt so she's willing to try.

Owen thought pouring the gravel into the big jars was pretty cool but also kind of loud.

Bailey was happy about the dirt. She loooooves dirt.

I didn't get any pictures of the actual planting because by then I was in the thick of things and pretty dirty myself. But you can see how proud they are of their final creations. Owen decorated his terrarium with dinosaurs.

And Bailey put a butterfly and ladybug in hers.

The terrariums are now in their rooms and they drive the cat crazy. It's kind of awesome.

Summertime fun

We had a fun family outing to our local amusement park. Here in the Pacific Northwest we have learned to seize those summer days when they happen!

Waiting patiently for their balloon creations (Spiderman and a flower, in case you're curious).

Owen's favorite FAVORITE ride is the leap frogger thing. Not that you could tell by the expression on his face.

Bailey had a minor freak-out because of the crowds and the noise but she was happy as a clam on the little cars.

I have my own issues with the airplane ride that includes these guns mounted on the planes. Seriously, it looks like all these parents have sent their kids to sniper camp. But it's hard not to laugh when Owen goes all army-man-super-hero-protector-of-the-universe.

Happy summer!

Little Wallets

I picked up one of Valori Wells' sweet little sewing cards the other day and I could not be more in love. The pattern is for the Little Wallet and it comes on folded cardstock about the size of a greeting card. A full size pattern and all instructions are included. Genius!

The pattern is really simple and I love the result. These three little wallets were whipped up in record time. I think the only modification I made was to use a pearl snap instead of sewing in a regular snap.

I had a lot of fun with the inside pockets, making each one from a different fabric. I'll probably make more to give as gifts, especially since they're the perfect size to hold a gift card.

Today I'm going to start tackling a much larger and more complicated project. I'll keep you posted!

Paper Piecing is a Puzzle

As you already know, I am a huuuuuge fan of the mad piecing skills of the ladies over in the Ringo Pie group on flickr. I stalk the group and am completely amazed at everything they do.

Recently, I was invited to participate in cocorico, another paper piecing bee and I am both excited and nervous!

You see, while I am a huge fan of this type of patchwork, I haven't really done any of it myself. The only paper piecing I've done is the circle of geese block and it was really hard to wrap my brain around the whole concept.

But I accepted the invitation because I am so completely inspired by the other members and don't want to miss this chance to learn more and push myself to develop this skill.

July and August are practice months so I decided to jump right in and draft my very first piecing pattern all by myself - a dragonfly!

Let me tell you, when I finished this block I felt like a total rock star! Something really clicked while working on the pattern and sewing it up wasn't nearly as hard as I thought it would be. There are some little oops places but nothing too bad for a first try. The hardest part for me was definitely figuring out the pattern. I think looking at it and figuring out the puzzle of how to piece it really helped my brain understand this technique in a new way.

There is still an amazing amount to learn but I'm excited to see how this bee develops over the next year.

Do you do paper piecing? Any tips or tricks?

Summer toes

Don't know if summer will ever really arrive here in the Pacific Northwest but my toes are ready just in case! Behold the results of my first ever pedicure:

My feet feel all dressed up for sparkly fun. Now if the sun would just cooperate.

If you've never had a pedicure, I highly recommend one. And if you can go with some truly stellar friends, all the better!

Sewing with knits

First off, let me just say that this is not a sponsored post or anything like that. I went out and purchased a pattern, sewed it up, and want to share my experience.

Okay, that said.... I LOVE THIS PATTERN! It's the Tee for Two from Patterns by Figgy's and it is awesome! Shelly Figueroa is the person behind this company and she's a fellow Portlander.

The Tee for Two pattern is perfect for a beginner sewist and ideal if you're nervous or intimidated about sewing with knits. It's perfect for boys or girls and comes in a wide range of sizes. Best of all - even though I do happen to have a serger, you can make the shirt or dress using your regular home sewing machine!

There are three sleeve options (long, short, and a fluttery cap sleeve) that can be used on either the shirt or dress and you can use all one fabric or mix it up.

This shirt was my very first attempt. I was using knit remnants that I've been saving and used the fluttery sleeve option because that's what worked. I LOVE the raw edge raglan look and since knits don't fray, there's no hemming of the sleeves or bottom of the shirt. Seriously, this pattern comes together so fast it's ridiculous!

And here's the dress version with long sleeves. Miss B picked out the print fabric one day and I had enough to make this dress as well as sleeves for another shirt. I think there's one more dress in the immediate future (and probably some shirts for Owen) and then I'll get back to working on other things.

So, if you're new to sewing with knits or nervous about trying it out, give this pattern a go!

Forty three

Yup. I went and had a birthday yesterday.

So, this is me right now.

Feeling good. Generally happy. Grateful for friends and family. Ready to see what the next year of life will bring.

Spent a lovely quiet day with the family. And spent some quality time sewing up a few things that I'll show you soon!

BabyBot

Finally finished Bailey's BabyBot!

There were definitely some issues with this little bot....

You can see that the body didn't end up exactly square and the legs/feet turned out larger then they were supposed to.

But I still think it's pretty cute! And tiny.

It's been a lot of fun to learn more about amigurumi, though I think it takes a bit more patience than I generally have!

For anyone else wanting to try this type of crochet project I would suggest picking up a good book or searching for beginner tutorials on the web. I would also recommend not worrying too much about size and making them a little larger at first (by using a larger size crochet hook). The smaller they are the more difficult they are to make. This one was made with a size C2 crochet hook and it was definitely a challenge!

Thankfully, my three year old doesn't care at all about perfection. She just wants a little bot to love, and I'm more than happy to oblige.

Vacation!

The kiddos, Grams, and I all headed to the Oregon Coast for a few days to have some fun.

We visited the Hatfield Science Center, which was full of all kinds of amazing displays and this was pretty much my view for most of the afternoon:

There were some great touch pools so that the kiddos could check out the sea stars, anemone, and sea urchins up close.

Of course, the pool at the hotel was a big hit. I loved watching my little water babies waddle down the hallway with all their pool gear.

Of course, they had to see what they would look like as sea divers.

We found this great whale statue while waiting to get into the Oregon Coast Aquarium.

Bailey loved the windows in the floor of the big glass tunnels at the aquarium where she could see the sharks swimming right underneath us. I love that she was so entranced that she felt no self-consciousness about getting right down on the floor to check it all out.

And Owen loved being eye to eye with all of the fish and sharks. He really loved the sting rays, too.

And this is probably my favorite picture from the whole trip!

Or maybe this one. Jellyfish are so amazing!

If you make it to Newport, Oregon, I highly recommend both the Hatfield Science Center (free!) and the Oregon Coast Aquarium. Good times!

Castle Peeps Quilt

Someone's checking out his new quilt!

I've been hanging on to my Castle Peeps fabric for awhile now. I only got fat quarter sets in the blue and green colorways because I knew I wanted to make a quilt for Owen and the red just didn't seem a good fit for him. I supplemented the Peeps with some Kona solids from my local quilt shop.

There are 660 squares that make up the twin size quilt top. Because I wanted a truly random placement I didn't do any strip piecing. That's a lot of squares to sew up! The quilting is a simple straight line on the diagonal. And even though it's hard to see in these pictures, I love the binding, which is a deep eggplant purple Kona. It matches some of the Peeps boots!

Here's the back, just some Moda yardage picked up cheap at the Fabric Depot outdoor sale last summer. If you look closely, you can see that the row of castles on the back looks upside down in this photo. That's so it can be turned down when the quilt is on the bed and be right side up, like you can see here.

And this is what makes it all worthwhile!

Happy Mail

You know it's a good day when something like this shows up in your mailbox:

Kerry is a new blog friend and we've been chatting a bit back and forth. She has a wonderful blog full of inspiring and creative projects so be sure to check it out and say hi. A little while ago I posted a picture of some homemade cinnamon rolls and that prompted a little personal swap.

I sent some really strong cinnamon along with a potholder and some little fabric bits that I thought Kerry would like along with the recipe for the cinnamon rolls. And this is what she sent to me:

Am I lucky or what?! I should mention that there were also two fabulous chocolate bars that obviously didn't last long enough to make it into a photo and some tasty tea.

Really beautiful fabric - all new to me!

And here's the back of the potholder, complete with one of Kerry's handmade tags, which I adore.

And a better look at the front of the potholder. I have it hanging in my kitchen with strict instructions to my husband to not use it! I just want to enjoy looking at it!

Here's the potholder I sent:

And the back has a pocket for your hand:

Thanks for such a fun swap, Kerry!