Pickles!!

I am so proud of myself!  This past weekend I made pickles for the first time ever!  The best part is the cucumbers came from my very own garden!  That's right!!  I grew them myself!  I only ended up harvesting enough to make 4 jars of pickles but it was super exciting.  We have to wait a few more days before we can try them but the boys are excited to be my guinea pigs.  For Christmas my wonderful hubby bought me Food in Jars so I could get more canning tips and try some new recipes.  This is a fabulous book and the author has a wonderful blog full of tips, tricks, recommendations on equipment, give a ways, and more. 

Since I started my hand at growing vegetables, I have wanted to grow pickling cucumbers so I could make pickles.  I finally did it this year.  To my surprise it was super simple.  I didn't have great luck growing them.  I expected to get a much larger yield than I did, but I'll cut myself some slack as it was my first attempt. 





Hopefully they will meet my expectations and taste fabulous!

This Moment

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. Inspired by Soule Mama.

Camping Cut Short

Camping in the Northwest can be iffy pretty much year round.  You might call it a box of chocolates.  You never know what you're gonna get.  Camping the first week of August, in the middle of the state however, pretty much guarantees you dry weather.  Well, not this year.  We had planned to spend two nights camping.  Instead we spent one night camping, in the rain.  Woke up to two sick family members.  Tried to have fun anyway and went bowling and played mini put-put.  Thing 3 threw a fit about 7 holes in, sat down and refused to play.  Then refused to move from the shade under the tree.  Back at the campsite a swarm of bees had made themselves at home.  Thing 2 wouldn't even go into the campsite!  So we called it.  Packed up the gear and headed home while the rain started to come down again. 

I did get to try out my birthday present!  It took a while to figure out the cooking with coals thing, but managed to make a delicious raspberry dump cobbler and used the lid for pancakes.  It definitely cooks slower but I think it just takes time to get the ratio of coals for the food and conditions.

Birthday Present

If you had told me 10 years ago, or even 5 years ago, that I would be excited about getting a dutch oven for camping as a birthday present, I would have said you were nuts! You get dirty camping. You have to sleep outside. And the bugs! Don't get me started on the bugs! What changed? I guess giving birth to boys did it to me. Or maybe it was the introduction of Scouting into our lives that did it. My brand spankin' new 12 inch deep dutch oven has been stripped and seasoned and ready for it's inaugural camping trip! Back in January I attended a Scout leadership training where they offered all sorts of classes for leaders to take. One of which was a fantastic class on dutch oven cooking. The instructor was a master dutch oven chef. I mean, this man actually competes in dutch oven cooking competitions and brings home the ribbon! I had no idea these things existed! Dutch oven masters and dutch oven competitions! Who better to learn the ins and outs of how to use a dutch oven from. Tomorrow we head out for three days, two nights of camping at a lake about 3 hours away. It's the lake I spent a week at every summer with my family growing up so it holds all sorts of memories for me. Last night hubby and I, okay, I poured thru my dutch oven cookbooks to decide what recipes I should try. This trip I will be making a raspberry cobbler, biscuits, pancakes and eggs with this bad boy. Wish me luck!!

Jamboree Trading Patches

Thing 1 has been working hard for over a year from attending meetings to fundraising to be able to attend the National Boy Scout Jamboree that happens only every 4 years.  There is just about everything a young boy would want to do from archery to gun ranges, skate board parks, to mountain biking, rock climbing to scuba diving.  With all of these wonderful activities to do, one of their favorite activities is to patch trade.  Scouts come from all around the country and even a few from around the world to jamboree.  Each troop designs a set of patches that represents their area.  For instance, a set of patches from Detroit is all about American built cars.  Being from the Northwest, our patches were Native American artwork.  Scouts meet other scouts from all over the country and trade patches with each other.  As soon as we found out about this activity for Jamboree, I knew Thing 1 would be interested in this in a big way and managing the patches could be a messy thing if he was just throwing them in his duffel. 

What's a quilter to do?  Design a bag of course!  I designed this bag to be large enough to hold all the patches but small enough to be able to throw in his day pack.  It had to be masculine so he would actually carry it.  It has just a simple zipper on the top with a ribbon tied to the pull.  Inside there is one divider.  One side stitched with KEEP and one side stitched with TRADE so he could keep his council patches that he wanted to trade with others separate from those he had already traded for.

When you give a hand-made to a 14 year old boy, you have to accept the fact that you might only get a "thanks mom" type of response.  You know the one.  Small voice, no inflection, no emotion.  It's the same response you get at the end of a school day when you ask how was their day.  "fine".  Thing 1 surprised me by being super excited about it and gave me a genuine "Thank you Mom" with a hug!

Bag front

Bag back

Bag inside with divider

This Moment

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. Inspired by Soule Mama.

Big Boy Room

Amidst all the cars, sea of Legos, video games, Boy Scouts, Cub Scouts, soccer, karate, laser tag, did I mention video games?, just sometimes I'm able to do something with my boys that actually interests me as well as the boys.  A few summers ago I was working on a project and Thing 1 said he wanted to sew something.  Of course, that prompted Thing 2 to want to participate as well.  I proposed they help make a quilt for Thing 3.  It look well over a year, but the boys stitched all these car blocks and road sign blocks for their baby brother.  I handled the piecing and quilting but what a special project to work on with the boys and to have for the youngest of the family.  Of course, this called for a room makeover, converting Thing 3's room from a little boy room to a bigger boy room.  The finished piece is now proudly hanging on his wall.

 

Tow Mater and Lightning McQueen cross stitch projects hang over the new dresser.

This adorable kid table has been passed around the family quite a bit.  It was in my hubby's room when he was young, I believe it spent some time in storage to then be dug out for my nephew's room.  It has now made it to Thing 3's room and looks so cute!

The Transportation quilt on the bed was originally made for Thing 1 when his nursery was converted.  We worked on each block together, him deciding which car or truck block we would make next and what color it should be.  It has spent time on the beds of all three boys now.

The name letters were super simple to put together.  A little bit of paint, some striped scrapbook paper and a few top coats and voila!

A special little corner for reading and a few toys.

Thing 3 loves his new room!  I wonder how long the Car theme will last before it needs another update.

Ninja!!!





Sometimes you get to make a project that is just fun.  Okay, so this is "fun"ctional.  Thing 3 loves to carry around his Lego mini's and needed something to carry them around in.  Honestly, I was tired of stepping on them and finding random dudes in my purse, so I decided to make him a little carry case.

 

Online coloring pages have become my absolute favorite source for embroidery patterns.  You can find just about anything you want to stitch for kids.  I found this coloring sheet for Ninjago to use for the top of the box.  The pattern for this box can be found at Sew Sweetness.  I love the embroidery on the original design as well but let's face it.  That wasn't going to work for this project.  The dividers were a bit cumbersome to place inside the case once constructed.  If I was to do this case again, I would measure out the inside of the case first and adjust the dividers to fit.

 

The Lego mini's now have a home!  Now if I can just get him to actually use it, that would be the true victory.

 

This Moment

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. Inspired by Soule Mama.

Speed, I Am Speed...or maybe not



 

Nice hiatus from the blog huh?  Honestly I never meant to be away for so long.  Sometimes life just takes over and runs rampant.  I have a bunch of projects to post so get ready!

 

Lightening McQueen is finished!!  These cross stitch kits were so fun to put together.  It felt like it took a decade to finish, but it's done and now hanging in Thing 3's bedroom over his dresser.  His room had a little makeover.  All the baby items were removed and big boy things went in! 

 

Completed cross stitches just make me happy.  Of course I love having a project finished, but I love the look of cross stitch.  It always makes me want to run out and get another one to start.  Then I remember the pain of how long they take and I resist the urge.  Besides, I have a stack of unfinished projects calling my name.  Maybe there will be another in the near future.  We'll see.

 

Sweet Baby Girl Quilt

Being a mommy of three boys with 4 nephews and only two nieces, it's not very often I get the pleasure of making something girly.  In fact, when the opportunity came up to make a friend of mine at work a baby girl quilt, I jumped at the chance!  I do have some pinks and purples but they are very dated and mainly scraps.  What's a girl to do?  Go shopping!!

 

 Aren't those just yummy?

There are a handful of traditional patterns I have yet to make that are on my "bucket quilt list".  I have always wanted to make a double wedding ring and the dresden plate.  Those two patterns are high on my list to make at some point in my life.  The dresden plate pattern has always felt overly girlie to me so I haven't chosen it...until now. 

The plates are machine appliqued with an invisible thread so it went together quickly.  I kept the quilting very simple.  A sweet flower in the center of the plate, a quarter inch stitching around each petal, a repeat of the sweet flower with a leaf vine connecting them around the plate and a simple zig-zag thru the pieced sashing. 

Many of my projects in recent years have seemed to have a need for speed.  I have always been a girl for tradition.  Especially when it comes to quilting.  Hand quilting and hand applique were the only way to go.  Insert three young men into my life with a career that keeps me hopping and there just isn't time if I ever want to complete a quilt in less than a year...or several.  I started machine quilting after "Thing 2" was born and haven't looked back.  I hope that someday in my future I will be able to get back to quilting my work by hand.  For now pieces will need to be done for speed, and functionality. 

I hope this quilt sees many spit-ups, diaper blow-outs, drool and many, many washes.  It's just as sweet as the baby girl who will use and abuse it.

Absent

As anyone and everyone can witness, I have been MIA for a while.  There are stretches of time in one's life where life takes over.  Time for simple pleasures like this blog, sewing, peeing, are just not there due to being over-committed.  The amount of hours needed for work has increased dramatically over the past several months.  Kid activities and volunteering for said activities has taken the rest of the hours in the day.  It has been months of running from sun up to sun down every day, all day long.  I know we are all busy and say yes to more than we should. This has just been a stretch of time that got a little out of hand.

I'm starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel however and am excited to post about some of the great things that have happend over the past few months from closing out the Farmer's Market to a finished baby quilt and new projects! 

Travel Bag

When we decided to take a family trip this summer I started giving much thought to the logistics of course.  I'm a planner and list maker.  The logistics of traveling with 5 boys and 4 adults was the first thing that needed my attention.  How to pack for 3 boys ages 13, 8, 3 plus two adults was at the top of my list. 

Since we were flying I needed to figure out how to consolidate items and pack only the necessities. One of the easiest to combine was my purse and the all important diaper/snack bag.  After perusing the closet of bags I realized all the backpacks were, well, manly.  Most of them are logo'd bags from work so they are designed primarily for men and to hold a laptop.  All the other bags were tote bag style.  Anyone that has traveled with a three year old boy will know, you absolutely must have both hands free.  Not one hand free and the other trying to hold your tote from swinging and hitting your kid in the head. 

What's a designer to do?  Make your own cute backpack of course!

I found this lovely pattern for the backpack.  I did add the side water bottle pockets for mine that a drafted.  There must be a spot for the sippy cup after all.

I made this matching clutch for my wallet and lipgloss. 

Cute and functional.  Win win!

This Moment

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. Inspired by Soule Mama.

Shop Hop

Shop Hop.  One of my absolute favorite days of the year!  My bestie and I have participated in the old lady road rally, or Western Washington Quilt Shop Hop for several years.  What could possibly be better than spending an entire day driving from one quilt store to another until you drop! 

For those of you that have never experienced a shop hop, let me explain.  All quilt stores in a certain region participate in Shop Hop.  Each store creates a block all using the same line of fabric.  At each store you receive the block pattern, and the fabric to make the block.  You have a passport that gets stamped at each location.  If you visit 16 stores you can turn in your passport to be entered in a drawing for multiple prizes. 

For us it's not about the blocks, it's really not about the prizes.  It's about spending time with my bestie.  Having time for girl talk.  Visiting some fantastic quilt stores and being filled with ideas and inspiration.  It absolutely feeds my soul.  I wish I could run thru these stores snapping pictures of everything we found, but they tend to frown upon that.
This year I managed to keep myself to three new projects.  Two of which I already had on my list of upcoming projects.  I just found the inspiration and fabulous fabric for them.  I only picked up one new project that wasn't on the project list.  This adorable fabric just jumped out at me to make a travel sewing case. 

This was a leisurely year only making it to about 13 stores in one day but it was filled with wonderful conversation and creativity.  I'm inspired to lock myself in my sewing room and not come up for food or screaming kids outside the door.  No matter how loud they or my stomach are.

This Moment

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. Inspired by Soule Mama.

A Special Birthday

Thing 2 just turned 8.  Now you might not say that's a special birthday, and I would agree with you.  It's not hitting double digits, or becoming a teenager, or being old enough to drive.  It turned into a special birthday because we were able to celebrate in a unique way. 

The birthday cake has turned into quite a tradition in our family.  My bestie taught me the basics of cake decorating shortly after Thing 1 was born.  This is certainly a frustrating craft for me but I'm determined at every birthday to make something special for the boys.  Sometimes I fail, sometimes I nail it, but it's always a dramatic experience in the house.  The kids know to leave me alone when I'm working on a cake because I get so frustrated when it doesn't cooperate!  Frosting is nothing like fabric!  I can make fabric do almost anything I want it to.  Frosting and cake seem to have a life all their own.  With this cake tradition, there must be a family dinner to celebrate.  This year it was a small gathering due to a few conflicts and last minute scheduling, but the cake was a hit with the boys.

This might not make much sense to many people, but this is a creeper from the game, Minecraft.  Minecraft is a game that has taken off and they older two play it whenever they possibly can!

The special celebration came during our vacation.  We certainly didn't plan our vacation around Thing 2's birthday.  It just happened to be the only week during summer break that worked for both families.  So Thing 2 had the amazing experience of spending his birthday at Disneyland!  We visited Town Hall on main street where he received his special Happy Birthday button and all the boys received a I'm Celebrating button.  What a day!  He counted.  He received 18 Happy Birthday wishes from Disneyland workers thru the day, rode every ride in the front seat, and was the rebel spy on the Star Tours ride. 

Of course you have to top off your amazing 8th birthday with a large piece of chocolate cake!  This truly was a birthday to remember.

Family Vacation

I know many families that take big vacations several times a year.  Their kids are very well travelled.  Much more so than myself, that's for certain!  Being a family of 5 on one income, large vacations are rare.  We have done our best in the past to do small car trip vacations to have new experiences and spend time together, but big trips haven't been in the budget.  Well, this year was different. 

Conversations about this vacation started this past Christmas.  I had mentioned to my sister-in-law that I thought this might be a good year to take the boys to Disneyland.  Before I knew it we were planning a trip for both our families to travel together.  Five boys, four adults, one week, two theme parks, one museum, and a beach!  My hubby thought we were nuts, and maybe we were, but we had an amazing vacation!

There were many firsts for the boys.  First plane trip for Thing 3.  First rollercoaster for Thing 2.  First time at Disneyland for Thing 2 and 3.  Many first foods tried from calamari to a mint julep.  Virgin of course.  First time seeing the open ocean.  Many firsts indeed.

My head is still full of all the experiences and memories created on this vacation.  Watching the boys faces as they walked into Disneyland for the first time.  Their excited stories as they would come off a ride.  Watching them have wonderful moments with their cousins.  Chasing the waves on the beach and squealing as they got wet.  Trying to dig a hole to China.  Being inspired by the Lego creations at Legoland.  Getting a special behind-the-scenes tour to see how Legos are made.  Watching Thing 3 light up seeing a giant Tigger or riding It's A Small World. Yes, we tourtured the entire family with that ride.  It truly was a vacation I don't think any of us will forget.