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Bags are my true sewing love and this year I got to sew two of them! The first, a vastly simplified #sidekicktote from @noodlehead531, sewn in May. This is the second time I’ve made this pattern, and also the second time I used this group of fabrics (it’s actually the fifth bag I’ve made for myself with these fabrics!) The pattern has all kinds of cool features, which were a big part of why I purchased the pattern in the first place. But I ended up not really taking advantage of them with my first bag (which I wore out from constant use) and so, for ease and quickness, I just left them out of this bag. I added a bit of English paper piecing to the front for fun. 😀I also sewed a whole bunch of masks, a few of those I did manage to share pictures of back in April. at some point, I lost track of the precise number that I made but I think it was around 175. I did one final push to make around 110 and after I finish those, I decided I didn’t like feeling like a factory. 😉I donated the majority of them and was glad to be able to use up a whole bunch of fabric that I didn’t want anymore in pursuit of providing a way to help keep people safe. I also finished up mending a rag rug which my kids made for me (with my MIL’s help) from their toddler clothes. And finally, I sewed eight flannel baby blankets because pandemic or not, people just keep on having babies! ❤️❤️❤️The end of 2020 is nigh and I managed to share barely any of what I sewed this year. The pandemic drove me outside for solace rather than to my sewing room so I didn’t sew as much as I might have otherwise. (And, to be clear, this is not something that I’m sad about. Being outside really fed my soul this year.) But, I did manage to finish three more baby quilts to donate through the @baltimoremqg, thanks to @sewsobright’s coordination.“Hey kids! Let me tell you a story about the time that your grandma (who sometimes lost all track of reason when it came to sewing and Christmas) finally managed to sew stockings for her children, even though they weren’t even close to babies anymore. And then, after they were sewn, she loved the way they looked but she realized they were so small she couldn’t even fit a baby orange in the toe. (What was she thinking when she designed them?!?!) And meanwhile, she had only sewn your grandpa the world’s most pitiful barely-a-stocking stocking. So a couple years later, she decided that now that her oldest child was in double digits, she should really be sure that everybody had as big and nice of stockings as she did, thanks to her grandma (who, by the way is your great-great-grandma!). But, she was sad to lose the original beautiful tiny stockings she had made. So she ripped them apart, made big stockings (patterned off of the one her grandma had sewn for her) and then sewed the little stockings on top of them! Plus she managed to sew her husband a real stocking too! And that’s the story of how I have perhaps the world’s weirdest stocking. But isn’t it great, just the same?! Merry Christmas!”🎄🎄🎄As has been my practice for the past four years, I made a Christmas pillow for my mother-in-law‘s early December birthday. This year, I decided to make two blocks, paper pieced and from the original #splendidsampler. My original plan was to make two complimentary pillows but I only got one of them done in time for her birthday (was literally hiding in the bedroom finishing up hand sewing the binding, five minutes before we gave it to her! 😂) so we are giving her the other one for Christmas. The pillows are approx. 13”x17”, A totally cute size. All this fabric came from my stash and it’s a good thing that my mother-in-law‘s living room is now full to the brim with Christmas pillows because I have pretty much used up this particular set of fabrics. 😀 it wasn’t until I had almost finished quilting the first pillow, that I realized I had inadvertently chosen one pattern that made an X and the other pattern that make an O. So I managed to make two “hugs and kisses” pillows for a wonderful woman. ❤️Today, I am adding my voice to the much more eloquent chorus of many others to say that Black lives matter. It feels incredibly inadequate to say only that but it’s a start. .My front porch flowers are bringing me so much joy. Perhaps they’ll bring some into your day too? 😘It’s my first 2020 garden harvest! A good sized bunch of radishes, one carrot that overwintered (I doubt it’s going to be edible), and a really delicious assortment of baby greens for salad - it all makes me happy! My peas are taking forever to grow this year so I don’t know that we’re going to get many out of them, but that’s OK. My yard and garden have been my solace and my sanity the past two months. #salmonandsouvlakigardens #organicgardening #growwhatyoueat #baltimoregardenIt’s asparagus season!! Woo hoo! We haven’t had a functional oven during asparagus season since 2016 and so we celebrated by making our very most favorite way to eat asparagus! (Recipe from @smittenkitchen.) It’s been four years since we’ve eaten asparagus pizza and it was just as good as we remembered. 😍 We also enjoyed an all-local salad as well as another mustard-y hot dog pizza. Swipe to the last picture for the golden beet fritters that rounded out our meal. .In non-mask making news, we have continued our #quarantinebaking adventures and I just remembered I forgot to post pictures! On Easter weekend, we made homemade pizza and pita on Good Friday and then I made sourdough cinnamon rolls for Easter brunch. I used the sourdough pizza dough recipe and sourdough cinnamon rolls recipe from @maurizio. His instructions are impeccable; I am a rebel and don’t follow all of them; and the final product is still great. 😉 We made several different kinds of pizza but the one pictured is a fancy hot dog pizza that Nik had at a gourmet pizza restaurant once. It’s a Dijon mustard sauce with hot dogs, pickles, cheddar cheese, and raw onion as toppings. It might sound weird but it is surprisingly super delicious! #salmonandsouvlakibakes #sourdoughcinnamonrolls #homemadepizza #sourdoughpizza #hotdogpizza #theperfectloafDonated this set of 34 masks to @fablabbaltimore for their work with Housing Our Neighbors, helping those who are experiencing homelessness. Many thanks to @createdomesticity for stocking twill tape, and also for the front porch delivery! ❤️ Thanks also to @makergonnamake for her work on this project! (And please contact her if you’re able to help make masks or donate supplies or money!) #salmonandsouvlakisews #domesticitymasketeers #charmcitysewcial #bmqgsewcialdistancing #ilovebaltimoreAs it turns out, if you want to make 100 pleated masks, you’ll need at least 220 cubic inches of fabric. (In case you’re wondering.) You’ll also need 275-ish yards of twill tape but luckily I have a dealer for that. Thanks Renee, @missceliespants! .Categories
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Monthly Archives: October 2008
Have a lot of green tomatoes?
Does your dining room table look like this? (That would be 5 pounds of green tomatoes, along with a huge bok choy, 2 1/2 pounds of chard, and eggplants if you’re curious.) Then make this! Here’s the link to Farmgirl … Continue reading
Posted in canning
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HB!
Happy Birthday Noah! We love you!From Auntie Laura and Uncle Nik
Posted in family
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Not Poetry Thursday
I’m fresh out of poems for this week (unlike Mom who has a beautiful fall poem up) but here’s a link to a very interesting story by Dana Stabenow, who is a nationally known Alaska author. It’s a pretty interesting … Continue reading
Posted in books
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The advice request part
I decided that other entry was too long so I’m putting the request in a separate entry. If you haven’t already, go read the entry underneath this with all the pictures and then come back. So here’s what I need. … Continue reading
Posted in gardening
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Advice wanted
Hi everyone. I know I’ve been fairly absent from the blogging world. It just seems like there’s so much to do and not enough time to do it in. Plus, I have this perfectionist streak in me that doesn’t want … Continue reading
You know the scene in “Finding Nemo” where they break the filter in the aquarium?
That’s just about what Dillingham’s water looked like until about 15 minutes ago. It’s a wonder he’s still alive. Although my care of him doesn’t show it, I do really love having a goldfish and I’m glad he’s the centerpiece … Continue reading
Posted in just for fun
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Poetry Thursday
NorthBay, A Haiku by me We dug up some mud We counted lots of bivalves Where are the mussels?
Posted in school
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The trouble with statistics…
…is that there’s too many of them. Today, I got to go out on a boat with another group of boys, this time with my ESOL students. We also were looking for clams and the educator for this group said … Continue reading
Posted in school
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Dan can ski?!?
So today I was sitting in “North Bay Live” which is the character education component of North Bay that’s also tied in with what the kids are learning with their environmental ed classes during the day. And they played this … Continue reading
Posted in school
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A busy week
I’m going to North Bay (where Dan Gerding used to work) to hang out with my school’s 6th graders from Wednesday through Friday. I’m not exactly looking forward to hanging out with 86 6th graders for 2 1/2 solid days … Continue reading
Posted in baking, cooking, school
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