Just a quick note...

I can't believe its less than a week until Thanksgiving! As I sit on my couch typing this post I'm listening to the wind blow outside and cringing at the 20 degree temperatures outside knowing that I still have to take the dogs for the their evening walk....My coworker, Bettie, likes to remind me there are x amount days until Christmas....I'm wondering if the count down will begin at 365 on December 26....

I'm half way through my third round of my weight loss program and I think this round is going really well.

As Bettie likes to tell me each morning I have 35 days to finish my Christmas projects, I'm happy to report that my Christmas projects are almost done...My goal is to have them in the mail two weeks before Christmas.

I can't put off the after dinner walk any longer I must take the dogs for a freezing walk...

Just a quick update:)

Well my weekend was short this week. I'm working for one of my coworkers on tomorrow, she needed the day offered to work for me on Sunday. So I'll be able fly down to Pdx this weekend to help her out with staging my grandparents home and just maybe visit my friend Mo while she is in town.

I've been super busy in my sewing room. Finishing gifts that should have been done months ago (we hope to be able to deliver one of said gifts in person very soon) and starting work on the pile of Christmas presents that I have to finish in time to put in the mail prior to December 25, 2010. I will post pictures as each gift is received.

A week ago I started another round of my weightloss program. You can read more about it on my here.

Accomplishments!!!

Two major accomplishments to announce today:

One - I finished Paul's Dr. Who Scarf last weekend. Just in time to give it to him for our 2nd wedding anniversary.



Paul posing with his new Dr. Who season 18 scarf. Below are the only two Dr. Who Scarves that I will ever knit. If you are a Dr. Who fan find someone else to knit your scarf.

Two - I rode my bike to work today for first time.

Random Thoughts

As summer comes to a close...I realize there are things I have yet to accomplish. Going hiking on a regular basis, riding my bike to work, getting organized around the house. As I think about these things I also realize that life is "a work in progress". My husband and I might not be driving out every week to a different mountain trail but we can "hike" around the hill in Seattle that we live on...me being more open and willing to walk up a steep block or two. Any remembering as I walk up a hill that there is no race, just like I would walk at a snails pace on hiking trail I can do the same on the sidewalk in Seattle. I can ride my bike anytime of year... it just might be a little colder than it would be in summer.

My house is a little cleaner and dishes are being done on regular basis... compromise helped me accomplish this goal.

Morning philosophy done time to head to the shower.

Quilting AdventuresI

This past weekend my mom and I were supposed to go to the Roslyn Quilt Show. Due to some scheduling hick ups I was unable to get the correct day off from work. So instead we spent the day working on one of her quilts. This quilt top belongs to her boss. This quilt was a gift from her boss' mother the fabrics collected on her travel adventures. Last November mom and I bought the fabric for the borders and backing.

Sunday we spent the day sewing the boarders and getting the backing ready. The last thing we did was load the quilt onto my quilting frame. We had already decided that we would hand tie the quilt. Tonight we got together after dinner and hand tied the quilt.

close up shot of the quilt squares

My Mom

The quilt is almost finished.

More Kitchen Adventures

Canning Peaches

Each year mom and I both say that we want to get together and can peaches. Well we finally did..two weeks ago we canned 28 cans of peaches after work one evening.

Adventures in Jam making

Thursday was a raspberry picking day. My husband and I stumbled out of bed early so that we could make it to Harvold's farm in Carnation before they closed. The rumor was that the field opened early and closed when the majority of berries for picked for the day. Usually before noon. We also had to return the car we had borrowed from my parents so we had two reasons for the journey out to the Snoqualmie Valley.

Within an hour Paul and I picked 14.5 pounds for raspberries. On the way home we stopped at Fredmeyer's and picked up the necessary canning supplies. Paul and I have been gradually making changes to our diet. Eliminating processed foods like sugar and replacing them with unprocessed alternatives like honey, increasing the amount whole fruits and vegetables in our daily food intake with green smoothies each morning packed with fruits, flax seed, fish oil and a green vegetables...With these changes came a new adventure in cooking....Honey sweetened jam.

One of the two flats of raspberries that we picked with my jug of honey sitting along side. I was pleasantly surprised to see that the honey came from Moses Lake, Washington and I didn't have to pay an arm and a leg from the local farmer's market for 1/2 gallon jug.

Don't mind my messy kitchen I'm in full jam making mode with the hot water bath going. Someday my dream kitchen will have a ton of counter space. Until then I'll make of the most of counter space.

Almost time to ladle this delicious red sauce into hot jars. I'm sure you'll find it odd that I don't eat jam after it has been canned. I only like it fresh out of the pan.

Two jars filled and a few more to go.

From raspberry bush to sealed jar all in a days work. Raspberry jam ready for Paul's PB & J sandwiches and holiday gifts.

All good things must come to end:)

I've been enjoying the last seven days off from work...but I must return to work tomorrow morning to begin my usual work week of three twelve hour shifts followed by fours days off.

My husband took an extra day off work this week so we got to enjoy three days off together in a row. A rare treat for us. Tuesday we enjoyed a lazy day of sleeping in, dog walking and going out for ramen in the international district. Wednesday Paul had a craving for our favorite pizza restaurant in Portland so we headed South and arrived just in time for Apizza Scholls to open for dinner. Along the way we stopped at the Bayside quilting store in Olympia and after dinner we checked out Twisted a knitting store in Portland. Although I was not in the market to purchase any quilting or knitting supplies I did find some very interesting yarn. If you are the type that wants to purchase items that were made close to home you can now buy yarn that was made in Oregon using sustainable practices check out the imperial ranch.

Just today Paul and I went berry picking for the first time together. Growing up in the Snoqualmie Valley I went berry picking several times with my mom. So today was a first time with Paul. Hopefully it will be one of many time for Paul and I enjoy harvesting our food. My kitchen adventures is a topic for another post soon to come.

Tomorrow I head back to work full of fun memories of my week away from work.

The Quilt Gathering 2010

Each opportunity I have a for a road trip is always exciting. I like being able to just let the miles cruise beneath the wheels of the car soaking up the scenery as I drive by. Friday afternoon I headed East and North to Okonagan, Washington. My adventures took me East over Snoqualmie Pass and then North over Blewette Pass. As I was driving a long it hit me that I have traveled this road many times during my teenage years on my way up to Silver Star Mountain for family ski trips. I don't remember the section of road between Wenatchee and Okonogan along the river....All I can say is that I must have had my nose buried in a book...

My destination was the 10th Annual Quilt Gathering for my friend Mo's family. The women in her family gathering each to honor their grandmother's life. We eat, quilt, socialize, sleep a little bit, share our projects from the past year and quilt some more.

Pictures from the quilt gathering can be found here.

Mo's mom made individual goodie bags for everyone coming to the quilt gathering. Each bag was personalized to the individual. Everyone brings a little something to add to each person's bag.

Knitting Project....

I need to give a little back ground on this project... Last November I went up to Anchorage to visit my friend Mo. She has lived a variety of places but usually always ends back up in Alaska. While visiting her in Anchorage I wandered into the Oomingmak store . Its really a co-op for native communities and the knitted items that they make from Musk Ox yarn aka Qiviut yarn. The Qiviut yarn is very soft, very warm and very expensive.... Something I could never justify purchasing for myself. My husband bought me a skein of qiviut for my birthday. It took me a while to decide what I was going to make with it... something for myself of course, but I had to find just the right pattern.

After consulting my pattern books and borrowing a book from Mo. I settled on a pattern from this book. If you are knitting anything from this book you should check for any errata's for pattern edit

Usually I have at least two knitting projects going at the same time. One for the bus and one for at work. My at work project is a season 18 doctor who scarf for my husband. Eventually it will be 14 or 15 feet long. With the air conditioning on the fritz at work it was simply too hot have a really scarf draped over my lap. So I took the opportunity to spend more time on my bus knitting project.

Here I've made it through the first two charts for the pattern and I'm contemplating modifying the pattern because it seems like that will be a little too short for my liking. I like my hats to cover my ears completely.
The finished product! I can't wait for fall to arrive so I can wear my new hat.

Stitch n Bitch BBQ Tonight

Tonight Paul and I hosted a BBQ at home for my stitch n bitch friends and their significant others. Blenda got a quite a workout tonight making the marinade for our chicken kabobs, salsa, and humus. One of my favorite food blogs that I follow posted a Minty Chicken - Zucchini Kabobs recipe. The Whole Life Nutrition blog is a wonderful source of food information and recipes that good and healthy to make. Our menu for the evening included the kabobs and brats for the meat eaters, black bean veggie burgers for the non meat eaters, with sides of potato salad, and chips with salsa and hummus.

My friends Jane and Rachel were very impressed by the power of my dear "blenda". They watched in awe as I added sesame seeds, lemon juice with seeds and pulp, garbanzo beans and then just started blending away. The hummus was exquisite.

It was fun to have just a few friends over for dinner tonight.

Another long week comes to an end...

I have exactly 21 more minutes left in my shift at work. Its been a long day today and a long two weeks...filled with lots of overtime. My paycheck will appreciate the extra hours next month when I get paid.

Looking back over the past few months I don't think I've had a normal week of work. I'm beginning to realize that I need to develop routines in my every day life. Routines like walking the dogs, planning and preparing meals for my husband and I for every day of the week, getting enough exercise, cleaning house, doing the dishes and the list goes on and on.

My challenge is that whenever I start to develop a routine something will happen (usually doesn't matter if the event was planned or unplanned) and my routine will go out the window never to be resumed once the interruption has passed. Oh...did I mentioned that I'm really good at planning to put the routine in place in the future...ie procrastination.

So here are my third quarter resolutions...
1. exercise regularly
2. keep to a household budget for meal planning and other expenses
3. stick to the meal plan
4. develop routines and habits to keep my home organized.

Patio Garden Update

Paul and I have really been enjoying living back in Queenanne this summer. Last week we went to farmers market just a few blocks from our home. We were a little disappointmented because it seemed like there were more local food vendor's than there were people selling farm fresh produce.

My garden is a little bit behind the vegetables available in the farmers market. But hopefully we will have a good crop of zuccini this year.

My tomato herb box has been doing really well. I think next year this box will be exclusively just herbs and maybe some strawberry plants I'm going to get from a friend in Bellingham. Apparently her strawberry plants grow like weeds in her garden. Lois I'm coming to visit and steal strawberry plants soon. My tomato plants could use a little more sunshine.

This one of my favorite containers that I planted this year. It has a mix of nasturians and sugar snap peas. I planted a matching container with beans and sweet peas, its not doing as well since the puppies apparently like to eat the leaves off the bean plants. So hopefully it will catchup to my sugar snap peas soon since I've moved it out of the puppie relm.

My cold frame boxes are doing really well so far. Paul and I will be enjoying fresh celery soon and hopefully some beets soon.

Our patio is divided into two sections - garden and social intermixed with garden. This is the garden section. You can see the peas climbing up the netting on one side with brussel sprouts in front and beans on the other side.

A good view of the social intermixed with garden side of the patio.

Meet Blenda!

From the moment I witnessed a product demonstration from the mighty vita mix blender I have lusted after a blender that grind the seeds of the fruit in my morning smoothie and grind whatever in my kitchen arsenal needs grinding! My husband wonderful man that he is has put an end to my lust for the perfect kitchen blender....

May I introduce....

Blenda!

My new Blendtec blender.

The blendtec can grind grain, make bread, cook soup and make a fantastic smoothy! All with one blade and one jar. The vita mix requires a separate blade and jar to do any grinding. For entertainment purposes only check out this blendtec link so that you too can answer the age old question of "will it blend?"

See all the pretty vegetables and fruit that Blenda is waiting to turn into healthy goodness... She ground it all up - Several leaves of Kale, one leaf of rainbow chard, 2 carrots, 1 banana, chunks of fresh pineapple and 1/2 cup of blackberries with a little fish oil and water mixed in...


She grinds it all up into a healthy delicious smoothie. What a great way to start the day with a good healthy dose of half of daily quota for fruits and vegetables.

35th Annual Quilt Show

This weekend was the 35th Annual Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show in Sisters, Oregon. Each year the town's buildings are covered in quilts. This quilt show is open to anyone who wants to display or sell one of their quilts. Imagine hundreds of quilts that need to be hung on every building in your this small town with only a few hours before people will descend on the town. This is what the people of Sisters Oregon do each year, with the help of their local fire department and volunteers. Then at the end of the day all quilts are taken down and those that have sold are organized so that their new owners can claim their treasures in the morning before departing for home.

My husband and I attended the show for the first time this year. It must be said that my husband loves me dearly and has the patience of Job. Not once did he complain that I took long looking at one quilt or another, or that I spent too much time deciding what to buy.

My husband about half way through the show.

The stitch n post covered with quilts

An upclose shot of the quilt below.

My husband is still smiling after the show.

Some Dramatic Pictures

Normally I keep my weightloss blog and this blog separate...but I want to share some pictures that my husband took of me. At the end of July I started a weightloss program recommended to me by my doctor. To date I have lost almost 59lbs.

Here is the Before picture taken on July 8, 2009

Here is 'in progress picture" 59 pounds later, taken March 28, 2010.

Sewing Day Today...

So between Christmas and my birthday my husband has fully outfitted my sewing room. Hopefully by the end of April I will have my quilting frame and machine set up with a at least one quilt ready for quilting.

Today I spend the afternoon making super cute sun dress for summer and a new pair of pajama pants. I have material to make two more sun dresses and one more pair of pajama pants. I've been putting my new serger sewing machine machine to good work. My goal is to be finished with the other two dresses tomorrow.

This week I've been building the habits of going to an early morning bikram yoga class. I'm in the process of adjusting my sleep cycles to accommodate getting up at 5:15am to be at class by 6:ooam. Even though getting up early is taking a little bit of time to adjust I feel so much better after each class.

Its almost time to plant the garden...

Spring 2010

My husband and I have a new garden area. We designed new garden boxes to be placed around edges of our cozy patio in Queen Anne.

The wood for the cold frame boxes has been cut. The old window frames you see leaning up agains the fence will be the lids for the coldframe boxes. I hope to be able to grow fresh salad greens year round. We got the windows from Seattle's RE store in Ballard out of the free area.

Wood for the other garden boxes all cut and ready for assembly.

The two garden boxes and the tomato box. Three out of six boxes complete.

The first of my three cold frame boxes complete! Well done Sweetie:)

Just thought I would pass along a funny in case anyone needed a good laugh....

SPIRITUAL THOUGHT FOR THE DAY……..
Sometimes when you are angry with someone,

It helps to sit down, take a moment to cool off,

And think about the problem.

Spring is Coming to the Northwest....

For the past couple of morning, I have been greeted with the music of spring as I stepped outside my door. By this I mean the birds are up with the sun and chirping all over the neighborhod.

I finally finished all of my Christmas projects for 2009 and I'm starting to brainstorm about what to make in the course of 2010. Currently I'm working on another DR. Who scarf for my husband. I've deemed this an "at work project" ie something work on during the downtime of my job. Handknit socks are my other knitting obession right now. I'm in the process of trying to clear out my stash of sock knitting yarn so I can justify buying more.

Paul and I getting ready to start our next garden. We went to the home and garden show a couple of weeks ago. We saw a lot of different displays. During the first week of March Paul is going to build me some new garden boxes. Three of them will be cold fram boxes, so I'm looking forward to being able to grow veggies year round in these three boxes. The other boxes will be traditional squarefoot garden boxes deep enough to grown onions, carrots and garlic. One of the cool things we found at the garden show was an alternative to vermiculite and peatmoss, since neither are as renewable as one might think...Coco coir - a by product of coconut husks. I'll give it a try in my garden this year and see how it works.

My second round of my weightloss program is going really well. So far this round I've lost 33 lbs for total 54 lbs since last August.

Starting the New Year in Queen Anne....

Right before Christmas, Paul and I moved back to our favorite neighborhood in Seattle, Queen Anne. We found a wonderful 3 bedroom 1.5 bath duplex on top of the hill. We can both use public transportation to get to and from work.

The amount of walking that Paul and I do on a daily basis has increased exponentially due to the walking the dogs. Speaking of which I need to take the dogs for their after dinner walk soon.

Today is the first day of my next round of weight loss more details on my weightloss blog found at here.