Running With Rocket

New Sewing Room

2013-05-19T18:16:00.001-07:00

I have too much fabric.

Those boxes filling the closet are filled with Satins, Xmas, Brocades, Pendleton, Wools, Airplanes, Battings, RickRacks, Zippers, Buttons, Patterns.

Although, there is still the cutting table to fill up -- 12 drawers (IKEA kitchen island), the 2 drawers under the window seat, and the bookcase for cotton fabrics on the right hand wall.

The machines are still covered.

It's all going to fit.

Absolutely.

Really.

I've sent for help.

Halibut Beer Bits

2013-05-18T18:35:00.001-07:00

Halibut was on sale at Thriftway this week.
I made halibut beer bits.

I'd forgotten how good these are.
Crispy crunchy outside with succulent halibut that melts in your mouth.

Totally not gluten-free or grain-free.

Use Krusteaz pancake batter and add beer until it's tad thinner than pancake batter.
The beer batter thickens to just the right consistency to coat 1" cubes of halibut.

Heat (a high heat) oil until 350'.

I used 48oz in a 3qt saucepan.

Cook one to two beer bits to get temperature stabilized, halibut done, & outside a deep golden brown.

Once temp. is stabilized, fry only three or four cubes at a time to keep temp. of oil constant.

While you're waiting for oil to get hot enough - do not leave unattended --make some homemade cocktail sauce.

1cup ketchup
Swig Worcestershire sauce
Spoonful horseradish sauce
2 jigs of lemon juice.

Stir until blended.

These were delish.

Hints:
Slightly frozen halibut is easier to slice.
Try to keep oil at 350'. Finesse that temperature knob.
Cut your halibut into uniform pieces. These will cook at similar times.

You can also use Tartar sauce.
Krusteaz only - don't substitute.
However, any beer will work.

Beer Can Hats - Revival

2013-05-15T07:47:00.001-07:00

Dinner Outside

2013-05-11T19:20:00.001-07:00

I've hosed down the patio, arranged all the plants, scrubbed the table.

Let the summer begin.

BBQ hamburger with avocado, french fries, watermelon.

SMS Spring Giveaway Winners

2013-05-11T13:05:00.000-07:00

Thank you for all the dreams. Sewing people tend to want to sew more - if money were no object.

My three winners:
1. Debra Lee from Needle D won the 4th of July combo - including how to crochet a beer can hat!
Debra Lee's dream? "I would stay home and make dolls all day and attend every retreat around the world! Call me crazy but I want a can hat!"

2. Diane from Archimede's Bathtub won the Seersucker scraps. She said, " I would move to a beautiful house somewhere tropical."

3. Margaret from Kolorful Scraps won the MopHead Doll Books. Her dream? "I would travel with my husband all over the United States. I could stop at all the fabric stores on the way "

Congratulations and thank you!
Emails have been sent out- waiting for addresses for a Monday run to the PO.

Patio Is Ready For Summer (Almost)

2013-05-09T16:49:00.001-07:00

Seven hanging baskets ready to hang. I tend towards wanting the hanging baskets in August & September when I am so tired of watering and flowers are rather sparse.

There are a lot of vendors selling baskets this time of year that look pretty but are already root-bound. They likely won't bloom much past 4th of July. Mine have lots of rooms now so they can become root-bound in late summer.

More pots to spread around the patio.

It's been a warm spring here in Canbyland. My sister just had snow in MN last week but we are on our third month of an unusually dry spring. Just glorious on the flowers.

Behind all this greenery is the neighbor's house. I'm still working on my living fence but this will cut the "view".

Last February, I scheduled five days off - here in May. I had hoped the floors would be done and my plan was to spend the five days re-organizing the sewing room and guest room. Alas, I'm on plan B instead. Floor guys will put finish coats on next week!.
Plan B is to get my garden and yard in shape.

Plant the potatoes, try to hold off on the tomatoes. Last week we were still getting below 40' at night. Except the temps have been above 80' during the day so it is incredibly tempting to put everything in the ground 'early'.

Finish weeding and spring clean-up of the flower beds. Move stuff, dump stuff.

Favorite Iris just started popping open.

Coral Bells next to a varigated Weigelia.

May: this bed has filled in a lot since I took a photo back in early April.
The Kousa Dogwood did not like 80' days and threw off it's lovely coral blossoms

Early April - see all the weed-free space?
The Kousa Dogwood was just pinking up - on the center left.

At my birthday lunch. My Mom & Dad and older sister took me to lunch at my favorite Moroccan Restaurant in Wilsonville, Dar Essalam.
One of the few restaurants where I have several food choices I can eat. The chef will special order for me as well. This is a good restaurant for me and my food sensitivities.

After lunch, my dad wanted to go by AT&T. He was ready to look at smart phones and I was showing him how versatile the camera is.

10th Spring SewMamaSew Giveaway Day

2013-05-06T05:29:00.000-07:00

Welcome!
Thank you for visiting my giveaway today. I love SewMamaSew's Giveaways even though I don't have enough time in the day to visit all the ones I would love to win.
I enjoy seeing all the other sewing/quilting./knitting/ being crafty blogs that are out there.

I have three prizes for you to win.

Up for grabs are:

1.   4th of July combo. Including a crocheted budweiser beer hat pattern! This is so retro- it's on trend for this 4th! Daisy Kingdom 4th of July Table topper, 4th of July Vest (V.I.P. Dream Spinners) to sew and embellish, pattern to re-purpose beer cans/your drink of choice.

2.    Seersucker scraps. Fun whale patterned fabric. Kid themed. Hearts and Whales are the biggest pieces - others are cut squares (quilt?). whales spouting amongst stars, Hearts, tiny 1/4" hearts & stars, blue, peach & pink solids and small florals.

3.   Mop Head Doll Patterns. Six booklets to make all the mop head dolls you will desire.

I sew mostly garments and crafts. Last year I was on a crazy bag/purse making kick which I hope to god is finished so I can move onto something else. I have a modern quilt pattern for our bed that I would love to make and need just time and the background fabrics to start sewing it. All the 'fussy' fabrics are in my possession.
I have been working the day job over 50 hours per week since September and my sewing has been pitiful indeed.
My junior clerk came back this month for a few weeks enabling me to work only about 40 hrs/wk.
This is better but it's still not working.

At 50hrs/wk I can hardly think of anything else except work and keeping my health up.
At 40 hrs/wk, I started 'dreaming' about sewing again;

My dream - if money and benefits were no object - would be to quit the day job and go whole-hog into running my etsy store and sewing for it. I would have time for my friends again and the flexibility to mesh with their schedules. I could re-institute my wednesday kindle lunches with my mom. My creativity would soar.

What about you? If money and benefits were no object, what is your dream?
Comment in a sentence or two and I will pull numbers out of a hat on Friday night and post Saturday, May 11th. Happy dreaming.

Please take the time to thank SewMamaSew for coordinating another (10! 10! 10!) Great Giveaway day. To enter more drawings, please click here.

small print: Open for everyone. USA and all the other countries.
Drawing open from Monday May 6, 2013 - May 10, 2013 at 6pm.
Oh- if you have a prize preference, indicate in your comment.
Three winners!!!

Birthday Treats

2013-05-04T06:01:00.001-07:00

My Japanese friend surprised me with a package filled with airplane birthday love.

These two fabrics have Oregon written on them along with hundreds of other quilty names.

Janine and I met during a SewMamaSew giveaway day -- online. Turned out she grew up right behind me in Canbyland.

She met her honey while living in Japan. She's been living in Japan for 25 years.

Dot Liner shaped liked a mail delivery van.
No idea what a dot liner does but it's stinkin' Japanese cute in it's packaging.

Sewing charms: Thread, Sewing machine, Stork Scissors, Buttons, Tape Measure, Sewing Basket.

Thank you for the birthday wishes.
ありがとう ( I hope google translate got this right...)

Speaking of SMS, their Spring Giveaway Day (week) starts Monday.

I will raid my garage - still in midst of installing wood floors - and put together 2 or 3 "prizes".

First Stearman Flight For 2013

2013-04-27T07:58:00.000-07:00

Glorious evening for flying.

Willamette Valley is Spring green.

This is the Molalla River.

Trying to catch that sparkle off the water

The Molalla tends to wind around.

Farmer's catch ponds.

Same catch ponds with the 'sparkle'.

Filbert orchard leafing out - right/center.

Some spring burning of debris across the valley.

Instrument panel right in front of me. Lower left is the altimeter - cruising about 1200' above the valley.

80' on the valley floor. I brought a light jacket just in case 1000' feet up was cooler.
Probably would have been okay but you can't hop out and grab a jacket in a Stearman open-cockpit biplane. You need to be prepared. And it is always cooler up there at altitude.

I get most of my photo 'success' in the air by setting my digital camera on the 'beach' setting. The smarty pants phone is near worthless up here with all the glare on the screen. Not to mention it does not have a strap to hang onto like my digital camera does. I would not like the windstream to whip that phone out of my hands.

The last three photos are attempting to segregate the haze/smog out of the horizon but this is a struggle for my little digital camera.

Mt. Hood received quite a bit of snow and still offers spring skiing. No sudden snow melts provoking the rivers to rise this year. Nice quiet spring so far.

Final Episode of The Great British Sewing Bee

2013-04-24T18:19:00.001-07:00

Here's the final.

There will be another series filmed next year. If you live in Britain, you can call up casting for your opportunity!

Great British Sewing Bee, episode 3 -semifinal

2013-04-18T20:03:00.001-07:00

Episode 3

Great British Sewing Bee, episode 2

2013-04-15T09:00:00.000-07:00

Episode 2.

More info: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0165nj8/episodes/guide

Great British Sewing Bee

2013-04-14T09:00:00.000-07:00

This is what I wanted Project Runway to be.

Wind-Blown Randomness

2013-04-13T15:51:00.001-07:00

Spring Cleaning

2013-04-08T18:42:00.001-07:00

This is how we do it.

Two and a half years ago we put in hickory wood floors. We were going to put carpet in the bedrooms -- and then a political game happened at work.

The game involved dumping my hours down to ten/wk.

No extra spending.

Fast forward and I won the game last summer. This involved a lot of overtime.

My two and a half sewing rooms were not organized at all. I was spending way too much time losing stuff.

Wood floors are the way to go for easy pin & thread pickup. One room will be sewing --ONLY.

The other room will be a guest room plus storage for the kid's stuff.

Period.

Sewing stuff put back will be organized and labeled.

hahahahaha ha

How's your spring cleaning going?

2013-04-03T19:51:00.001-07:00

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Mending & Pattern Making

2013-03-31T18:23:00.002-07:00

Apron repair.
Lost the hang of the blog thing and forgot to take the "major holes at midsection" photos otherwise known as embarrassing gapes in my work apron.

I resolved the big darning stitches by sewing a letter down over it all.
That's a ladybug stamp.

I was going to add some random thread addressing to help stabilize the layers but my new machine had a meltdown. It claims there is a big thread knot under the stitch plate which is invisible to me. Gah - probably broke the dang computer.

I have to wait until tomorrow before I can call and ask for help. . . .
(And yes, I did try the ON/OFF button to try and re-set.)

________________________________________________

My junior clerk came back and worked Saturday, giving me an unexpected and very welcome WEEKEND!

Woohoo!
At 70+ degrees, I utilized my time Saturday weeding.
My goal for this weekend was not Easter as we celebrated my mom's 80th last weekend thus taking care of familial duties.

Instead, I wanted to spend my whole two days with Yard Time, Clean The House Time and some Sewing Time.

I managed all three!. The house had not been cleaned in a month as my laundry days have been taken over by the other commitments that landed on my only free day of the week.
With junior clerk back for an undetermined time, I will be taking some time off from Work trying to downsize to about 35 hrs (50+ since September)

I love these shorts for work. They have a knit waistband that is comfortable on my auto-immune stomach. Alas, my three pairs have worn out. Dang it.
Could I find anymore?

I decided at Christmas to make a pattern and it only took me three months to do so.

These shorts have a lot of top-stitching details as well as RTW construction details. I have never seen a commercial pattern with this many pocket details (3 different pockets). Nor the two panel front piece. Is this to save on material to maximize fabric usage when bulk sewing?

You can see the flap pocket place on the lower side seam. Then there are cargo/patch pockets at the waist zone. This cargo pocket overlaps the seam on the front pieces. It appears to be just top-stitching but there is a rectangular side piece and a narrower 'crotch' piece.

From what I could see, I will be sewing these two pieces together to create one front piece and then adding the cargo pocket. Then I will switch to the back piece (all one big pattern piece) and add the back pocket, then stitch at the side seams to the front. Then I add the side seam flap pocket.

After this is together, I will repeat for the left side with the addition of a fake fly.
These pieces are then seamed at center thru the crotch and up the backside.

Finish with serging on a knit waistband and hemming.

All cut out on my swedish tracing paper.

I'm pretty rough with my seam allowance markings. I allow a big 1/4 inch for the serger and more for fold overs on this particular pocket. These are not fitted shorts - so I don't need to be exact.
I add copious notes right on the pattern piece because I imagine it might be another three months before I can sew these. We'll see.

Side seam pocket needs a flap. When I was cutting this one out, I noticed I forgot to add seam allowances as this one will be turned but remembered in time before the scissors had their way.

This cargo pocket got snipped from the shorts. This is a great way to go if you are pattern-making and sewing within sight of each other but my sewing time has become negligent at best with Work intruding and I don't know how junior clerk coming back before her re-assignment and possible new boss will impact my hours.

Because of all the top-stitching, all of the seams were well-defined. I cut off the knit waistband as well as cutting the crotch seam apart leaving me a left and a right 'leg'. Then I laid these flat pieces out on my tracing paper and rough sketched against those top-stitching lines. I wanted to keep the leg intact because of the extra pieces and when I do get back to the project, I will have the original short mostly intact so I can remember how I thought I was going to construct these babies.

Then, there is the fake fly.

And all the top-stitching. With top-stitching thread that is thicker.

I hope all of you had a tremendously beautiful Easter and got to play with eggs and chocolate.
Happy Easter!

Happy Easter!

2013-03-31T09:00:00.000-07:00

Lovingly borrowed from MousesHouses.

Don't Discuss Bloomers With Every Man You Know

2013-03-28T09:00:00.000-07:00

Susan B. Anthony said that the bicycle “has done more to emancipate women than anything else in the world,” but in the 1890s, bike-riding women weren’t exactly free to bike as they wished. Check out this list of 41 “don’ts” for female cyclists, published in 1895 by New York World:

Don’t be a fright.
Don’t faint on the road.
Don’t wear a man’s cap.
Don’t wear tight garters.
Don’t forget your toolbag
Don’t attempt a “century.”
Don’t coast. It is dangerous.
Don’t boast of your long rides.
Don’t criticize people’s “legs.”
Don’t wear loud hued leggings.
Don’t cultivate a “bicycle face.”
Don’t refuse assistance up a hill.
Don’t wear clothes that don’t fit.
Don’t neglect a “light’s out” cry.
Don’t wear jewelry while on a tour.
Don’t race. Leave that to the scorchers.
Don’t wear laced boots. They are tiresome.
Don’t imagine everybody is looking at you.
Don’t go to church in your bicycle costume.
Don’t wear a garden party hat with bloomers.
Don’t contest the right of way with cable cars.
Don’t chew gum. Exercise your jaws in private.
Don’t wear white kid gloves. Silk is the thing.
Don’t ask, “What do you think of my bloomers?”
Don’t use bicycle slang. Leave that to the boys.
Don’t go out after dark without a male escort.
Don’t without a needle, thread and thimble.
Don’t try to have every article of your attire “match.”
Don’t let your golden hair be hanging down your back.
Don’t allow dear little Fido to accompany you
Don’t scratch a match on the seat of your bloomers.
Don’t discuss bloomers with every man you know.
Don’t appear in public until you have learned to ride well.
Don’t overdo things. Let cycling be a recreation, not a labor.
Don’t ignore the laws of the road because you are a woman.
Don’t try to ride in your brother’s clothes “to see how it feels.”
Don’t scream if you meet a cow. If she sees you first, she will run.
Don’t cultivate everything that is up to date because yon ride a wheel.
Don’t emulate your brother’s attitude if he rides parallel with the ground.
Don’t undertake a long ride if you are not confident of performing it easily.
Don’t appear to be up on “records” and “record smashing.” That is sporty.

Don't Discuss Bloomers With Every Man You Know

Posted by: Erika W. Smith in General on Nov 02, 2012 BUST Magazine

I just read "Lark Rise to Candleford", Flora Thompson's memoir of her Oxfordshire childhood.
Bicycles changed women's lives at the end of the 20th century.

80 Years Young

2013-03-26T19:17:00.001-07:00

The New Machine Rocks

2013-03-16T17:45:00.002-07:00

My creative friend came over and MADE me take my new machine out of the box last weekend. Hard to believe two weeks have passed since Sew Expo!

I still have the overtime at work - which easily bought this beauty - hanging me up. My mom's 80th Birthday bash is next weekend so some free time was spent arranging the ordering of the cake, getting enough Pepsi to float the boat, and three kinds of easter candy so my great-nieces will have something to eat at the old folks party.

After work and cake stuff, I sat down and threaded my new machine and played - just a bit.

Not sure if I was doing it correctly but the bobbin wound up s-l-o-w-l-y.

Maybe you are supposed to wind slowly ( so as not to stretch the thread?) and the machine is gonna make a better sew-er of me! Ha.

This is a scrap of pajama pant knit that happened to be lying around (who hid the sewing room elf???). I put the dual feed foot down and it stitched evenly on this stretchy knit with no adjustments from me. Would I even know how to adjust?

Stitch #188
Look at #207. The ANT. He might be the clincher on my Pfaff deal.

My mom has always liked pepsi so I thought I would get a variety for her party next weekend.
Did you know they stock eleven varieties at Target???
I managed eight into my cart before I had to go some place else. OMG. really.

Which is her favorite???
Mom was a little overwhelmed by choices.

And--wait for it -- my sis asked me to get some wine also - which I never do at Target.
Ready?

I'm the middle sister. The wine falls under my "less than ten bucks" rule. And the label Rocks!
First up is a "REBEL RED", then the "WILD ONE", and finally, "FOREVER COOL"

Not too keen on Merlot so I skipped the Blue top sis. The red is a table wine (!) and the green "Wild One" is a Malbec (?)

tomorrow, a.k.a. Laundry Day: Need to finish taxes.
If it continues to rain, then I can not only play but sew a project.

Frosty Stearman

2013-03-09T06:41:00.001-08:00

It might be 60' with bright blue skies filling us with rumbling spring fever,

but it is flippin' freezing at night.

More Spring Fever

2013-03-08T18:14:00.001-08:00

Rusty & Spring Fever

2013-03-08T17:56:00.001-08:00

Worked all day.
Spring Fever raging.
This weekend - we spring ahead.

Does this mean there is another hour of daylight when I get home from work?

Pencil Girl Made Me Do It

2013-03-04T06:01:00.001-08:00

Pfaff Quilter's Expression 4.0

I had been thinking about a Bernina 450 - mainly because of the 9mm stitch width and the stitch regulator.
I came to SewExpo to check other brands out. I am 30 minutes from dealers who may -or may not - stock all the different machines.
For instance, the Bernina 450 is an older machine -came out five years ago. Difficult to see one in action as the dealers all want to sell their 500 series now.

Anyway--- the Pfaff did one up on that 450 with the dual feed, aka, the walking foot -- permanently attached to engage or disengage without tossing the notion drawer in my sewing room looking for this attachment.

And, even though the overtime money is plentiful right now, I am super pleased to have spent way less than half of what the Bernina would have cost.
Show special - brand new in the box.

Oh --- Why did I fall in love with the 9mm stitch?

The buttonholes look amazing at that width.