New Crafts

With my sewing machine in the shop, it's time to turn to other crafts. Stained glass seems interesting. I visited a stained glass store last week (and before that week, I had no idea such a store existed) and with the help of one of my beloved elementary school teachers who works with stained glass, I'm making my first stained glass project (a pear).

I was amazed at the color choices and the way the glass is set up.

Other crafts I want to try: felting and embroidery.  I fell in love with these books by Kata Golda and Alicia Paulson and am eager to try some projects from them!

And last but not least, I'm going to start knitting again! I'm most excited about this because I was knitting for a bit when we lived in New York. I loved it and have no idea why I stopped. I've spent the last couple of days relearning the stitches and getting the hang of it again and hopefully will make something (a hat? scarf?) soon. And Pug's been playing with the yarn...

Visiting The Coast

We were on the coast the last few days...

Pug loves the ocean and so do I.

You never know what you'll find.

The grocery store in Manzanita has the loveliest red benches.

Manzanita's also home to this red birdhouse.

Over in Cannon Beach, a stop at Bruce's Candy Kitchen yielded a caramel apple and...

this delicious caramel and chocolate covered rice krispy bar on a stick.

It was a perfect couple of days.

Crazy Nine Patch Lattice Quilt Part II

I've made a lot of progress on the crazy quilt I'm working on.  Today was the last  class over at Modern Domestic and I'm a little sad it's over... It was nice going over there every Thursday morning and quilting (armed with chai, because it was a little early to be quilting). Elizabeth is a great teacher! Anyhoo, this is the batting and quilt top laid out on my office floor. Elizabeth recommended this method for putting the quilt sandwich together.

Before I did any of this, I vacuumed up a lot of someone's fur.  How does it get everywhere? 

Once the batting and quilt top are smoothed out, you roll it up.

This is how it looks all rolled up.  I must have cookies on the brain because it really reminds me of a Pepperidge Farm Pirouette wafer.

The next step is fun!  Taping down the quilt backing with painters tape to the floor. Make sure to tape the right side down.

The rolled up bit gets unrolled on top of the quilt back.  Once it's in place, baste all layers together with curved safety pins. 

Et voilà!

Learning to machine quilt has been interesting and somewhat challenging.  Here's a picture of the bubble quilting pattern I'm using on every other square.  This is a good pattern to learn on since it's quite forgiving.  For the other squares, I did a more squiggly sort of quilt pattern. 

Here are a couple of the finished squares!  90% is quilted right now.  Unfortunately, my sewing machine was having some issues and had to go in for service.  I won't have it for another two weeks!  I guess I'll finally have time for projects that have been neglected for months, like my baskets...

Caramel Apples, Red Barns

To celebrate fall arriving, I decided to make caramel apples.  There's nothing better than chilly mornings, the smell of woodsmoke outside, and a really good caramel apple.

The recipe (found on All Recipes and modified) was very simple. First and foremost, make sure to chill your apples (6-8) in the fridge overnight.  This helps the caramel to stick.  Put a craft stick or plastic fork in each apple.  Then, melt 14 ounces of caramels (I used Brach's) and 2 Tbsp heavy cream on the stove over low heat.  Stir constantly so it doesn't burn.  I made mine on the thicker side and didn't let it get too liquidy, and I think that also helped the caramel stay on the apples.  Use a spoon to help cover the entire apple in caramel.  I placed my apples on a piece of wax paper... Some of the paper stuck to the bottom, but apparently buttering the paper or dish you put them on will help with this.  Put them in the fridge to set, and you will have a nice delicious set of caramel apples!

Pug was very interested in the caramel apples.  He didn't get any caramel, but he got a little bit of apple.

And I took a walk out in the country...

horses, barns, fields and vineyards

I would love to have my own barn someday!

Quilt Expo

I guess I'm in a quilting phase since most of my posts these days are quilt related.  Well last Saturday was the Quilt Expo in Portland.  I've never been to one before so I decided to go.  The number of quilts and stores was overwhelming so I only stayed an hour or two.  I did find the fabric of my dreams in The Quilted B's shop.  Loveliness!  It's the new Brenda Riddle line for Lecien.

I bought one yard each of four fabrics.  I'll probably get more because I don't know when I'll see fabric so pretty again.  Reminds me of something I'd see in a Shabby Chic shop.

A lot of quilts were on display.  I loved this one made out of Kaffe Fassett fabrics.

This one's so pretty in an 1800's sort of way.

And look! A pug!

Although I would prefer a quilted pug that looked like this:

Oh. My. Baby Pug.

Pug and I just got back from a visit to the alma mater. There was a puppy party for students who miss their dogs (or just like them). Pug was so popular! He was the only pug there and he got so much love from the students. Most of the comments were in the range of, "Oh my gosh. He is the CUTEST pug ever!" Um, I did overhear someone say, "He's a nice dog. He just doesn't have a face." To which I didn't take offense, but hear me out. Pug does have a face, it's just squashed. Anyhoo, I met a few students who were ardent pug enthusiasts as well and we got to talking about baby pugs! I happened to meet some adorable baby pugs at Pacific Pug Rescue's recent event. Here's one of the pugs asleep on the nice gentleman who sat at our table.

One pug is good for now. Pug likes being an only pug.

A Few Of My Favorite Things

With no further ado, here are a few of my favorite things, in no particular order:

fall (photo taken at Minnewaska State Park)

chai

sort-of hidden staircases that you find while you're out walking

posies

old stone walls (photo taken on Block Island)

critters

portland

dessert. pretty teacups.  together is best.

reflections in the water

snow. i've missed it ever since leaving new york (photo taken from old home in ny)

and my most favorite of all...