sewinsight

i have no excuse...

...for the blog silence.    

Just can't seem to find the time.  But I am home with B for the two weeks of his school vacation and am taking a few minutes this morning (thanks for the nudge K).  The blog silence is a combination of many things - work, being a mom, not having much crafty stuff to share, and strangely the puppy has taken over some.  I know it isn't an excuse, plenty of people have puppies, babies, etc and still manage to blog, but basically I think I have a hard time taking time to do something for myself (don't we all), I feel quite guilty if I do.  But, moving on, here is what we have been up to the last couple of months.

We spent a stormy November weekend away at Seabrook on the Washington Coast with some good friends.  Two nights in a rented beach house, good food, games, walks, and conversation.  Kids had a blast on the bunk beds and the storm that blew through felt like it would blow through the walls at times.  

In December my Dad came for a visit all the way from the stormy coast of Newfoundland, Canada.  We were so happy to get to see him, it had been about 4 years since he was here last.  B grew quite possessive of Grandpa, asking when he would be back as he headed out to have a visit with one of my siblings.  We have since discovered Skype and had a great chat with him, back at home now, on the computer last night.  It is so different to be able to chat with someone and "see" them.  Somehow it feels like a much better visit than on the phone.  He even took their laptop and gave us a "tour" of their home there.  In the photo above we went to see the fishing boats that are docked just minutes from our house, Dad is a photographer in his retired life and it was interesting to hear about the differences between our fishing boats (which fish in Alaska) and the ones in Newfoundland, the styles of the boats are very different.  

A trip to my favorite coffee shop for hot chocolate and cappuccino was lots of fun too.

We celebrated the season this year by decorating a Gingerbread train with Daddy, held our now annual Gingerbread Cookie decorating party at the beginning of December, and had lots of visits with friends and family.  

At the beginning of B's school break last week, we headed downtown to enjoy the Holiday activities.  Unfortunately so did the rest of Seattle.  The line to see the Gingerbread Houses at the Sheraton was so long I couldn't even see the entrance - so we skipped it - as was the line for the Carousel.  But we did enjoy the a capella carolers (above), and had a great time poking through Daiso in Westlake Mall.  A little hard to explain the homeless Santa charging people to sit on his lap, though.  Ah the big bad world. 

I am finding that six can be an interesting age, the frustration and grumpiness and yet also the pure joy and excitement of the season.  I loved watching him over Christmas, the care he took in putting together a note, cookies, milk and carrots (for the reindeer) and the joy the next morning when he woke up.  But that then couples with the frustration of not getting his way, or feeling he is not understood.  

On the "crafting" front not much is happening.  Most of our basement is ripped up for a do-it-yourself (translated to "will take a long time") remodel so my sewing room is gone and everything is boxed up.  I have been knitting and took a class to finally finish my sweater, but then am not happy with the result so I have set it aside for now.  It is frustrating to not be totally thrilled with something I spent so much time on, so I need to get past that before I try to finish it.

Knitting is something I can still do, doesn't take much space.  I have finished several of the beret style hats I showed earlier and am most of the way thought this hat for my man, but it is my first time working off a chart, which I find is like reading another language, and it just doesn't come easily.  I finally took to just writing out each line, which helps.  The hat is brain taxing, which I like, but I don't always pick it up when I am tired at night.  My current "easy" project is the kids scarf from Last Minute Knitted Gifts, which is a really easy pattern, but fun because it is a combination of two colors of Noro Silk Garden yarns, so the colors of the stripes changes often and it is fun to see how the overall look changes.  I will post photos when I get done.

You still with me?  I guess I did have a lot to say.  Happy New Year and I will try to post again soon.  

Summer camps

Recently I offered (because I don't have quite enough on my plate with being a mom/wife, working, being the PTA Treasurer, etc.) to help B's old preschool set up their summer camp program.  As we get closer, more information can be found here, on their website.  I have found myself having so much fun with that, putting together themes and ideas.  Some of the ideas we came up with are (including some one day camps, as well as week long ones):

• Nature Camp - old school crafts like the God's Eyes that Blair did here, singing campfire songs, doing leaf rubbings, etc.
• Magic Camp - learning how to do magic tricks
• Board games (one day)
• Amazon - learning about the rainforest, I found some great craft books and websites.
• Sherwood Forest - Robin Hood, Maid Marion and their band of merry men
• Ring of Fire - learning about the Philippines, Japan, Indonesia and other places that form the "Ring of Fire" in the Pacific Ocean
• Olympics Camp - they did this one last year and it was great
• Sailing the 7 Seas - Pirates, sharks, whales and everything under the sea
• Theater - putting on a play they work on for the week
• City of the Future - I love this one as I was (and am) fascinated by the future as a kid.  Looking at what things go into making a city, and what they think the city of the future will be like, then building a model of it.
• A Week at the Museum (a play on the title of the movie, A Night...) - where they will learn about different arts - photography, still life, sculpture, abstract art, pop art, etc. and then go see it all in the museum.
• Young Chefs - learning about cooking and all that goes into making the food we eat, visiting a "pea patch" to see how food grows, visiting a working restaurant kitchen, cooking some dishes, learning about composting and nutrition.
• Space Explorers - Basically a Star Wars camp with less emphasis on the "wars" part.  Mask making, crafts, some cooking (we have the two Star Wars cookbooks), and developing their own planets - creating a world with it's own climate and creatures.
• Wet - Sticky - Fuzzy  basically a crafts camp, making all things wet, sticky and fuzzy.  

I found myself so enthused putting this together, it goes back to the ideas I was trying for with the Organized Chaos group I wanted to form, creative ideas of ways to teach children about new things.  I just wish I could teach the camps too, but since that's not going to happen I guess planning is the next best thing (or maybe better, right?).  My friend and I are still doing Organized Chaos outings with our kids, our most recent to come in a post tomorrow, another nature walk.  

Trip to the beach

So our fledgling Organized Chaos group took a nature walk to the beach the other day on a Friday holiday.  This one seemed to be a bit of a architecture lesson as the kids added found pieces to the structures that others had already built on the beach.  Amazing that we live so close to this beach, I really need to get down there more.

 

 

Lunchtime...

 

When we got home B decided he wanted to make a God's Eye, a great craft for this age (6) as he can do it for the most part himself, I just helped him get it started, then went back to the Oatmeal Chocolate Chip cookies I was making.

a new hat for me

Here is my most recently completed knitting project, the Star Crossed Slouchy Beret from ravelry.com.  

After making oodles of hats last fall and winter, I realized I prefer a looser hat, that won't give me "hat hair" so I looked on ravelry and found this pattern.  I made another in a great brown tweed, finished it and passed it right off to my good buddy with a "Happy Birthday" wish, so I don't have a photo but do have another skein of that brown tweed and plan to make one for myself.  

This one is from one skein of blue Manos del Uruguay and is so soft, such nice yarn to work with.  

Food

Recently I saw the movie "Julie and Julia" with a friend, and really enjoyed it, especially the parts with Meryl Streep, as has been widely reviewed as being the stronger part of the movie.  I had read the book "Julie and Julia" so knew somewhat what to expect on that part of the story, but enjoyed so much watching the portrayal of Julia and Paul Child, they were quite a funny pair.  I picked up a copy of Julia Child's book My Life in France and look forward to reading it, once I get through the behemoth book i got recently from the library.

Watching the movie got me to thinking, and while I will never work my way through her book Mastering the Art of French cooking because I don't like eating meat, I did like the idea of stretching myself in the kitchen.  So I went to an equally large book, Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything Vegetarian and would like to work on expanding my repertoire.  I am also totally loving Jamie Oliver's Ministry of Food, which I had ordered out of the UK as it wasn't available in the US at the time.  It looks like it has just come out for the US here, but then you wouldn't have to do all that converting from grams to cups, and where is the fun in that? 

Last weekend we had my Mom and stepfather for dinner, and I made two new recipes from the book, one is the Stuck Pot Rice - which was really good, yogurt and curry, yum.  The other was a dal as I love Indian food and have been wanting to try, but was less excited with the result.  I will have to keep trying.  So I have set an unofficial goal for myself of a new recipe each week, I'll let you know how it goes.

Art lesson with my boy

B has been taking an art class up in Ravenna (neighborhood of Seattle) and I have been blown away with what he has been creating in the class.  It is so nice to see what he can do with someone other than me, and I love the process they work on with them.  The other day he decided he was going to give me an art lesson.  We sat together at the table, each with our own sheet of watercolor paper and a Sharpie, and he showed me (on his paper) line for line what he wanted me to draw.  Then we added color with the water color paints.

 

I found it very interesting to hear his comments, "teaching" me like he has been taught, though some of this might be coming from the art teacher at his school.  Telling me to only do one line at a time, "not like that", etc.  He sure does love being the teacher and I loved watching the drawing come to life, obviously he was making it up as he went along.

 

We ended up with a NASA space ship, though apparently it was originally going to be a pear, he said.

i'm back

Wow - how long has it been.  Sorry for the long silence, it wasn't intentional.  

I think of you all out there, I put posts together in my head, I take photos - sometimes - but it just never seems to come together.  Not for lack of wanting to have time to post, time to breathe, time for myself, but it seems I am last on the list.  Also, a warning from my computer that "my startup disk was full" has kept me from downloading any photos - but now I have a new external drive so happy computer once again.  Final excuse, is that whenever I sneak downstairs while "on duty", inevitably B and the puppy start a ruckus upstairs - usually the sealing of shoes (he prefers flip flops), dirty laundry and legos.

Life is good, but busy.  B is back at school, first grade and really likes his new teacher and I am so thrilled.  Every day I hear that it was a good/great day and he keeps saying how "nice" his teacher is.  I have been knitting, finished two cabled slouchy berets - one of which I handed to my good buddy as soon as I finished it with a "Happy Early Birthday" wish, the other I have but need to get, and post, a photo.

I have finally jumped the pie crust hurdle.  It seemed so daunting for some reason, but one day I got it in my head that I was going to make a galette and there has been no stopping me.  We have had apple galettes, peach/blackberry galettes, yum.  I have been getting the peaches and apples from the Farmer's Market, and the blackberries courtesy of our neighbor, who though I curse his not cutting his blackberry bushes, have been nice to have.  Do I have a photo?  No, sorry, we usually just eat it up, but I will get one next time.  They are slowly getting better looking too, though the Peach one leaked last weekend, but the Apple was perfect.

Now a few photos then off to Gossip Girl - yes, guilty pleasure.

B is on his first soccer team, first game was last weekend, he was exhausted.

 

Today B and I cut lavender from the garden, I have it in my head that I will do satchels for Christmas, at the very least the shed now smells wonderful as they hang to dry :)

hot stuff

"It's hot" - We are camping in our basement, to escape the heat that is the main floor of our house.  Last night I dragged the mattresses down to the basement, now we are all - mommy, daddy, little B and Blue the dog - spending our time at home down here.  Close quarters, but nice and cool.  Our brick house is great, except in this heat.  

Book - just finished reading Petite Anglaise by Catherine Sanderson, a true story about a British young woman who moves to Paris, eventually starts writing a blog which becomes quite popular and documents her split from "Mr. Frog", her boyfriend and father of her daughter "Tadpole", and a new relationship that follows.  I really enjoyed it, all the more because it was someone's true life.  I resisted the urge to check her blog until I was almost done with the book, fun to find out what she is up to now, about 4 years later.  Her blog is here if you are interested.  

Another book - Now I am reading (among other things, see below) The Secrets of the Fire King by Kim Edwards.  This one I am really enjoying, a series of short stories, something I find I really like.  Some are hit and miss, but for the most part the stories are like little gems, each so different and yet a common voice.

Question - so when I am in the middle of so many books that I can't find a free bookmark, I take it that means I shouldn't start a new book, right?  :)

Night all - stay cool to those of you in the northwest US, the heat wave will pass soon.

signs of summer

We have a heat wave coming next week and I am NOT looking forward to it.  I grew up in Canada and don't do heat well.  We finally broke down last week and Royal got us a little air conditioner, to use when it gets really hot.  Our house is brick and is like a little oven in the heat, just traps it in and holds onto it all night.  Here is a little of what we have been up to recently.

 

Harvesting our first carrot, watching the tomatoes grow (and grow), nibbling our shelling peas, stir frying our swiss chard, and

eating strawberries - we have to be fast to beat our backyard critters to them once they get ripe,

walking to the village for ice cream, and pie (oh my we are loving our new pie shop)

B took a Circus camp and learned to balance a peacock feather on his finger, arm, nose, etc

 

Last week I took an Improv Patchwork Piecing Workshop at The Quilting Loft in Ballard.  The class was taught by Katie of metrosupialdesigns and I really enjoyed it, both for the class, and the group quilting aspect.  I do love sewing and wish there was a way that it could be more of a social thing but I know it is hard to pack all your stuff out someplace - and to find a space with enough room.  Katie and I worked with the scraps I brought, which included some edge pieces of B's quilt.  I incorporated them into a log cabin square using a combination of solids, prints and the quilt strips.  It isn't done but I will be finishing it into a pillow for B's bed.  

lego, lego, cupcakes, lego, cake, lego, lego

Well that about sums it up.  B and I returned from visiting our friends in California last Wednesday and headed straight out to Zootunes to have a picnic dinner with friends and enjoy listening to Ladysmith Black Mambazo.  Then it was straight into B's birthday party prep.  I spent all Thursday and Friday getting ready for the big party on Saturday.  

On Friday, I interspersed baking and decorating the cupcakes and cake (Millennium Falcon) with building the Lego sets B got from us for his birthday.

Saturday was the big party day, and went really smoothly.  The only unknown was that the park doesn't take reservations for tables, so my gallant husband went down at 8:30am, coffee in hand, and was there 10 minutes before others came for the tables, phew!

A good time was had by all, B has some great friends.  After the party, we cleaned up, came home, then I spent the rest of the day building the other Lego sets he got, we are a regular Lego factory over here.  Legos and books, his friends know him well.  

Summer is cruising by over here, B has hit so many milestones in the last couple weeks - learning to ride a bike, suddenly learning to swim, losing his first tooth and getting a new puppy.  Days are filled with work for me, summer camps for him, and then errands and swim lessons after.  I am trying to take advantage of some of the free music concerts around here and look forward to the big Seafair parade in our neighborhood weekend after next.