Sunday Sevens 3-05-17

Tags

Columbia River, Indivisible, politics, Rep. Dan Newhouse, Richland, sewing, Spokane, Sunday Sevens, Womens March Spokane, WSU-TC

I’m trying to get back into a more regular posting schedule here, so I thought I’d take up doing Sunday Sevens again.  It’s a good place to put those sort of random interesting bits and pieces of your life (and I am all about random).  My pictures this week are actually going to be highlights from the last few months, as I’ve got a bit of a stockpile at the moment.  As always, all credit goes to the ever-fabulous Natalie of Threads and Bobbins for getting Sunday Sevens started!

First, let’s go alllll the way back to Xmas, because I made a couple of pretty cool gifts that I never managed to blog about.

For my sister, I made some unpaper towels and a fabric basket to store them in.

I braved the big Thanksgiving sale at Joann’s to get these really fun flannels (this is a pretty serious level of dedication for me), then I matched them up with cute cottons from the stash.

I’m really liking the basket idea for these, and want to make one for my own unpaper towels one of these days.  I get that people like rolling them up and storing them like paper towels, but it kind of makes them a pain to use.  The basket is a better way to store them, I think, if you have the counter space for it.

I also made a charging station for all my partner’s gadgets.

Yeah, it’s a little droopy.  Obviously I needed a stiffer interfacing.  I sewed along the corner seams and that helped it sit up a bit better.

I made this to fit the shelf where he keeps all his bits and pieces that require charging (which is currently a tangle of cords).

I made buttonholes of various sizes along the back to put the plugs through.

He has yet to put this to use (he’s planning to organize his office, but it’s a bit of a big project, if you get my meaning), but I think it’s going to eventually be really handy.  The execution on this could use a little work, but I really like the concept.

Now for some demos!  Three so far this year, I suspect many more to come.

In mid-January, the Democratic Party called for demonstrations in support of the ACA (Obamacare), and I went to the one in Richland (next town over).  At the last minute, my honey decided to come with, but warned me that he thought we might be the only ones there.  Eastern Washington state is pretty conservative–Republicans outnumber Dems 2-to-1–and it was 15F and snowing that day.

200 people showed up!

Best I could do, being short and at the back.  (And can I just mention how much I want that guy’s gorgeous red hair?!?  I mean, yeah, politics, but I know how to multitask.)

For some reason, they had us gather on the outdoor stage, and it was covered in a sheet of ice–I’m kind of amazed nobody slid off the edge of the stage–but folks were undeterred and fired up!

Then, the following weekend, partner and I drove to Spokane for the Women’s March.  Some folks had thrown a local event together at the last minute, but they planned to walk a labyrinth and meditate, and no way did I want to meditate–I wanted to yell!  So we went to Spokane and it was an amazing experience.  2,000 people were expected, but as we drove through downtown, I thought it sure looked like a lot more than that.  When we lined up with the huge crowd at the start, a woman we talked to told us that they had stopped letting people into the Convention Center for the pre-march rally when they reached 5,000 people in there.  News reports afterward estimated 8,000 attended.

And I should have pictures for you, but my camera would not cooperate.  Sigh.

But we marched and it was great–so much positive energy and determination to fight for what’s right.  Great mix of all ages, races, genders; it meant a lot to me to see all those people come out for this event after the horror of the election.  I was expecting some counter-demonstrators, but the only ones I saw were at the start–three or four young dudebros snickering on the sidelines.  One of them yelled out something about “making it great again,” but was ignored.  It felt like it was finally OUR time to be heard, not theirs.

Did get the camera working for this shot of the park with decorations appropriate to the occasion.

Finally, last weekend, our local Indivisible group organized a town hall at the Washington State University Tri-Cities campus.  Our local Representative–I feel like that word should be in quotes–is Republican Dan Newhouse, and he is one of the 200 or so Reps that are refusing to hold the traditional town hall meetings in their districts.  So we held one without him.  Constituents asked him questions that were videotaped to be delivered to his office.  Great idea, well-executed, and lots of smart, well-informed people there to keep the pressure on him to do the right thing.

I also took the opportunity while I was out there to take a walk along the river path and snap a few photos.

I love these, but the best thing about them is that they swivel around their poles when the wind blows!

Looking across the Columbia River.

Next event is a rally on Wednesday for International Women’s Day.  We are keeping the pressure on and the energy up!

Have a great week, everybody, and take care of yourselves.

STH

 

 

Sewing, Snow, and Stuff

Tags

clothing, Columbia Point, FNWF, Healthy and Happy: SSWD, Oregon, Portland, quilting, Richland, sewing, travel, Washington

From today’s walk:  14F and enough wind to make the snow “fall” horizontally.  😦

Hello all, and I hope January is treating you well!

I’ve got some frosty pictures to show you, as well as some news, and, most importantly, sewing!

I participated in Friday Night With Friends last night, and did some work on another colorblocked fleece pullover.  Do you remember the wild flowered fleece remnant I got from SCRAP?  It’s now become this:

It’s hard to see here, but I’ve put in a black zipper which I took out of a cheap and nasty waist pack.  I like the long zipper pull on it. 

I’m using an old pattern (dated 1994), also from SCRAP, which should win some sort of award for least promising cover photos ever.

Don’t bother fitting–just make everything as large as possible!

The line drawings, though, show that this is a nice basic pullover that’s perfect for colorblocking (i.e., not a lot of seams to complicate matters).

The fit on this thing is SUPER weird, though.  It’s designed to fit some sort of busty linebacker, as far as I can tell.  In order to get those slightly-dropped shoulders, I had to bring the sleeves up a full three inches.  I also had to narrow the sleeves by 4″ so they wouldn’t be massive.  I took in the side seams, but I’ve still got all this room for the huge bust that I don’t have, and it’s now too tight at the hips.  More work to be done there, needless to say.

And I can use all the fleece I can get.  It has been SO COLD and SO SNOWY here–pretty unusual winter for us this year.  I haven’t taken many photos because it’s been way too damn cold to go outside much, but here’s another one from this afternoon.

I’m starting to understand why “snowbirds” here travel south in the winter, while these obviously-not-very-bright geese and I stay here for some reason.

Partner and I took a trip to Portland last month and apparently brought the bad weather with us.  It was a bit warmer than at home, which meant the snow had thawed halfway and had the usual Portland rain on top of it. 

BRRRR . . . I had packed for typical Portland weather, not this, so I wound up wearing many, many layers at a time.

Always looking for color.

A small part of the large stained glass window in the fire station near the waterfront Saturday Market.

In other news, you remember the sew-along that I was doing with the Sew-Alongs and Sewing Contests Facebook group, right?  Well, I won!  The prize package consisted of several indie patterns, plus a gift certificate for some fabric–WOOT!  And I’ve also been asked to run a 2-week sew-along in the group, to be announced tomorrow.  That should be super fun and get me to FINALLY use some fabric I’ve had forever.  Stay tuned for more on that.

I plan to focus more on quilting than clothing this year, though.  I didn’t feel inclined to do any sort of wrap-up post at the end of the year, but I did look through what I’d made in 2016 and realized I managed to not finish a single quilt!   I’ve been missing quilting and I want to get back to it.  I’ve pulled out my blocks for the RSC 2015 quilt and I would like to finish that up–it’s way past time that I finally made a queen-size quilt for our bed.  In addition to that, I’ve got a commission to make a simple baby quilt for a friend of my sister’s, and my niece will need one for her baby that’s due this summer.

So that’s the plan for the moment.  I’m really glad I don’t have to actually stick to these plans that I make, as they’re constantly evolving, but that’s the plan right now.  Until it isn’t.  Which could happen at any moment.

Anyway, I hope you’re enjoying your January and keeping your feet warm (currently my number one goal).

STH

Sunday Sevens 03-14-16

Tags

Bellevue, Bellevue Botanical Garden, Heidi, Howard Amon Park, Oregon, quilting, Richland, sewing, Splendid Sampler, Sunday Sevens, Washington

Sunday Sevens is a weekly (or occasional, in my case) series in which we share some pictures from the parts of our lives that aren’t covered in regular blog posts.  The ever-fabulous Natalie from Threads and Bobbins is the one who got it started.

Been getting out a little bit here and there, so I have some better pics this week.

Will you just look at this plump little guy!  I took a walk in Howard Amon Park the other day and a couple was sitting on a bench surrounded by birds and squirrels.  This one ran off with his treat and ate it sitting in a tree nearby.

I was having a particularly bad day recently and decided I needed to buy myself a present.  Quick trip to Tuesday Morning for some fat quarters ensued.  Happy colors!

Which then went into some more Splendid Sampler blocks.

My partner and I drove the route for the 300k ride coming up this Saturday.  This is in eastern Oregon, but it looks a bit like Scotland to me.  We saw many cattle, some sheep and deer, but very few cars or people that day.

This past weekend, my honey had a 200k bike ride in the Seattle area, so we headed up on Friday evening and I got to spend a lovely Saturday with my friend Heidi.  This is the Bellevue Botanical Garden.

Ferns growing on trees!

And flowering trees!

Have a great week, everybody.

STH

 

 

 

Sunday Sevens, 11-08-15: Maximum Color

Tags

Columbia Point, Kennewick, Richland, sewing, Sunday Sevens, swears, Washington, Zintel Canyon Park

Sunday Sevens is a blog series–begun by the ever-fabulous Natalie at Threads and Bobbins–where we put up some pictures of our week and chat a bit about what we’ve been doing.  All are welcome to join in!

Lots of outdoorsy pictures this week, as I actually got my lazy ass out for a walk twice!

On Monday, I did an expedition into the further reaches of Zintel Canyon Park, farther than I’m able to go when my mother’s with me.

Love this colorful plant!  Note how black the wood is here; there was at least one fire at the park this past summer.

Have no idea what this tree is, but the combination of the blue berries and red stems is just gorgeous.  Plenty of birds in this park, but they never seem to eat these berries, so I wonder if they’re poisonous.

Look what I made this week.

Heh.

Instructions are here, though I basically used the idea and ignored the instructions, partly because I didn’t have a functional iron when I made this.

The sweatshirt is from the Eddie Bauer outlet near Portland and I’ve had it in my mending/remake pile for a while now–despite the fact that I looked like a big ol’ fashion DON’T when I wore it–because I love the color and the soft rib-knit fabric.

Removing the bottom band and cuffs made it fit SO much better (seriously, does anybody look good in a sweatshirt with a bottom band?)  I finished the bottom and sleeves with blanket stitch.

I LOVE THIS and plan to wear it every day until Thanksgiving.

OUR LONG NIGHTMARE IS OVER.

On Saturday, my honey and I had a late lunch, then took a walk at Columbia Point in Richland.

Enlarge to see all the colors!

Since the new appliances were delivered, I have cooked SO MANY THINGS.

Here’s Sunday’s dinner:  ham and cheese quiche, herb biscuits, and a salad.

I have so many more pictures from last week’s walks; will throw those up on Flickr later today.

Have a great week, everybody.

STH

Sweater Weather

Tags

Columbia River, Howard Amon Park, knitting, Richland, Sweater Weather, yarnbombing

Just for fun–here are some pics I took in Howard Amon Park in Richland the other day.

This is the second year of Richland Parks and Recreation’s Sweater Weather event.  Participants are assigned a tree to yarnbomb and then folks can vote on which they like the best.

Yeah, it’s a little bit too organized and official to be true guerrilla knitting, but when I took the sweater tour with a Parks and Rec employee last year, he told us that they assigned about 50 trees, but actually wound up with more sweaters than that.

CRAFTS WILL NOT BE CONTAINED.

Still got some fall color happening . . . .

(I walked by this couple twice and the guy was monologuing the whole time.  I don’t speak Spanish, but I know mansplaining when I hear it.)

Blue sky over the Columbia River.

SQWERLS!

I love this one.

JUST THROW ANOTHER HAT ON THERE.

Squirrels are messy eaters.  And seagulls are smarter than they look.

Hang on a little bit longer, lovely autumn!

Sunday Sevens 10-18-15

Tags

cats, Chamna Nature Preserve, Columbia Park, cooking, Kennewick, Richland, Sunday Sevens

Sunday Sevens is a weekly post where we share some photos from our week and yak a bit about what we’ve been up to.  It’s fun and you should join us!  See Natalie over at Threads and Bobbins for more info.

My favorite dinner this week was actually a brinner:  breakfast burritos.  Spicy sausage, scrambled eggs, sauteed veg, cheese, a little fresh tomato and green onion on top, and leftover guacamole.

SO GOOD.

I took a walk in Columbia Park this week and had to get a picture of all the geese.  Please note that they are standing under a “don’t feed the birds” sign because THAT’S WHERE THE MORONS ALWAYS FEED THEM–right under the sign.

*facepalm*

(They were actually edging away from me when I took this, as they’d decided I was a little bit too close and didn’t appear to be packing snacks.)

And then there was this guy.

Yes, the squirrels have the morons pretty well figured out as well.

Butterick patterns were on sale this week, so picked up this one I’ve been eyeing for a while.  Lots of interesting possibilities for mixing and matching knits here.

I feel like I might be falling a little bit in love with sewing knits after pretty much diligently avoiding them for years.

On Saturday, I went on another MeetUp walk, this time to Chamna Natural Preserve in Richland.  Fun time–cool autumn morning with sunshine, some nice people, TWO dogs to pet, AND my honey came along, too.  🙂

That afternoon, after puttering around uselessly for hours without getting anything done, I finally gave in and took a nap with the cats.

Notice that there’s no room for me on MY side of the bed because it’s full of cats.  I had to steal a quilt off the couch and sleep on the other side.  Shelby is deeply suspicious of people sleeping on the wrong side of the bed, but Pooh’s just happy to be taking a nap with his mom.

Busy week ahead.  I’ve finished the birthday present, so now it’s on to the Cozy Afternoon runner (well, after some mending–bleh).  Birthday festivities are happening Thursday, then we’re off to Portland on Friday for another bike ride and another potluck.

Have a great week, everybody.

STH

Sunday Sevens, 03-08-15

Tags

C Bar, Chamna Nature Preserve, Oregon, Portland, Richland, sewing, Sunday Sevens, travel, Washington

I was such a Domestic Goddess this week, I even impressed myself–made chicken stock and vegetable stock, froze garlic and jalapenos for future use, made a new batch of moisturizer . . . .

Let’s just forget about this little incident, shall we?

Yeah, blender shopping needs to happen soon.

On Monday, I took a walk at Chamna Nature Preserve; every time I go these days, I see more green.

Bonus mysterious urban ruin for Natalie:

My pattern collection outgrew the shoe boxes it was in, so I cleared some space in my sewing room dresser for it.  Which then got me started working on a hand applique UFO project from a class some time ago (cause the stuff in that drawer had to go somewhere).

These are all my clothing patterns; my bag patterns are still in shoe boxes for now, but I dream of the day when I finish enough of my UFOs to get the bag patterns in the dresser, too!

The vintage (1998) pattern I ordered from Etsy finally came!  This is what I’m going to use to replicate the Kelly skirt with a pattern that’s actually in my size.  This one has the button front and pockets; all I’ll have to do is turn the front pleats the other way to make a box pleat.  This length is better for me, too.

No plans to work on this one right away, so it’s going in the pattern stash for now.

Another 1998 pattern; this one I bought when it came out.  I’m contemplating making the red jumper on the pattern envelope in a solid black, so that I have something to wear my VAST collection of necklaces and pendants with.  Almost got some ponte at Joann’s, but I was nervous that it might not be weighty enough for this style.  Hmmm . . . .

On Saturday morning, my honey and I headed to Portland for some “us” time before the frenzy of the cycling season really gets going.  We walked around, shopped a little bit, and both took lots of pictures.  Then we saw Ladysmith Black Mambazo–what a fun show!

On Sunday, we had a wonderful brunch at C Bar in southeast Portland, including this Pulled Pork Breakfast Burrito.  Pork, sauteed red peppers and onions, scrambled egg, potatoes–seriously delicious!  I need to try making this at home soon.

We are home again now and had our barbecued hot dogs (70F is close enough to summer for the Official BBQ Opening Day, I’ve decided), salad, and twice-baked potatoes for dinner.  Now it’s time for exercise, then to bed.

Have a wonderful week, all.

STH

Photography 101, Day 5: Solitude

Tags

Chamna Nature Preserve, photo101, Richland, Washington

Taken at Chamna Nature Preserve, Richland, WA

Sunday Sevens: 1-25-15

Tags

bags, cats, Columbia River, cooking, Hermiston, Howard Amon Park, Oregon, recipe, Richland, sewing, Sunday Sevens, travel, Washington

So I thought I might try something a little different and start doing a Sunday Sevens post every week.  The idea–and thank you to threadsandbobbins.com for starting this–is to take a picture every day and post them together at the end of the week as a way of sharing a little bit more about your life than what you choose to write blog posts about.  I thought it would be a fun way to get some photography practice while sharing some hopefully interesting bits and pieces from life over here.

Because I’m doing this whole blogging business for fun, and rules tend to make things a bit less fun, I’m going to be flexible about the whole taking-exactly-one-picture-a-day thing.  And if the only thing I accomplish in doing this is to firmly establish how utterly boring my life is, I’ll stop doing it.

So here we go.

Early in the week, I finished the last big section of quilting on my travel bag pieces (this is the “before” shot–scroll down for the “after”).

Here’s Pooh, wiped out by a full night of sleeping on the bed with us, getting some much-needed rest on the back of the couch.  (Peeking out from under the fluff is a quilt I made several years ago from Laurel Burch flannel.)

I took my mother out for a walk on Thursday morning.  This is Howard Amon Park in Richland, WA.  Columbia River on the left.

I don’t think the best food stylist in the world could make Butter Chicken look sexy, but it sure tasted good (recipe for Butter Paneer is here; I subbed chicken breast and some veg for the cheese).

Shelby playing with one of her ten million little pieces of fabric.

On Saturday, my honey and I drove part of a cycling route he’s developing for a ride in March.  This is outside Hermiston, OR.  Look–blue sky!

The gray day has leached the green color out of my fabric, but I wanted to show the quilting on this.  This is the side of the travel bag with the zippers in.  Why do I always stress out about zippers even though they always go in just fine?

Oy, brains are troublesome things.

Have a great week, everybody.  I hope you have some sunshine wherever you are.

STH