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In a classic case of better late than never, this afternoon I sewed a couple #talltalesblock blocks to contribute to the @baltimoremqg group quilt, being organized by @lindaschiffer. It will be part of the group of prizes for next year’s bingo fundraiser. To me, the first block tells the story of three major projects that I sewed for Marko, all featuring these #edemberley giraffes. Swipe to see the second block, which speaks to me of an amazing classic novel, perhaps Jane Austen’s Persuasion? Thanks so much to @katebasti for allowing our guild to use this block to make this quilt. 😍 . . . #salmonandsouvlakisews #charmcitysewcial #baltimoremqg #baltimoremqgbingo Linda, I will put them in the mail to you tomorrow! Thanks for accepting them late. 🤣I was #missingbmqgretreat today also but we’ve had a wonderful time with my friend and her family up in New York as a fabulous consolation prize. 😀 My favorite non-sewing tools that I use are a small hammer for hammering seams as necessary, ultra fine tip sharpies for tracing things and a wooden chopstick for pushing out corners. @baltimoremqg - thanks for hosting this fun event for those of us who couldn’t make it to the retreat this weekend. For everyone who went, I hope you had an amazing time! #salmonandsouvlakisews (Swipe to see Marko demonstrating why the hammer needs to belong to him. 😂)Fall at Letchworth State Park is so gorgeous! The apple cider donuts from the Castile Cider Mill aren’t so bad themselves. 😍 Seriously, I’ve been waiting for 5 years to be back here in the fall so I could eat another one. 🍎 #salmonandsouvlakitravelsI’m still #missingbmqgretreat today! As you can see, the current state of my sewing room is that it’s not functioning as a sewing room. 🤪 It’s also the room in our house where we put everything we don’t know what to do with at the moment. 🤷♀️ I love how much light the room gets during the day and how much space I have but clearly, I need to get it cleared out so I can actually start sewing again. I sewed six quilts over the summer, which I haven’t even managed to share on Instagram yet. I finished them in the middle of July and haven’t sewn hardly at all since. Here’s hoping I will have something to show for show and share at a @baltimoremqg meeting soon! #baltimoremqg #salmonandsouvlakisews #honestsewingroom P.S. I love my kids with all my heart but I really despise dealing with the change of seasons and their clothing. 🙄 Anybody with me?Hi! I’m Laura and I’m #missingbmqgretreat this weekend. I started quilting almost 10 years ago because I got pregnant and wanted to make a quilt for my baby. ❤️ I love being in the @baltimoremqg because it means that I get to be with other people who are sewing nerds like me at least once a month. 😂 I have also learned so many new skills from and been so inspired by workshops and other members of the guild. . . . #salmonandsouvlakisews #baltimoremqg . . . (and yes, this is me taking a selfie in front of a glacial lake and Spencer Glacier in Alaska this past summer. We took an @alaskarailroad train into the wilderness of Chugach National Forest and then hiked out to get to it. 😍 I even walked barefoot in the water. It was COLD!!! #judgefest19)Ellie turns nine tomorrow! For her birthday, I made her this set of quilted letters to hang on the wall above her top bunk. I used my scraps and a gluestick to make block letters and then matchsticked quilted each one with four layers of @thewarmco warm and white batting. I have no idea how people do entire quilts worth of matchstick quilting because just these five letters took me over two hours. 😂 Actually, two hours of quilting and then using the pinking shears to cut through multiple layers of fabric plus four layers of batting, which wasn’t the funnest thing I’ve ever done in my life. 😉 I am really happy with how they turned out. Let’s hope she is too. 😀#salmonandsouvlakisews #baltimoremqg #charmcitysewcial #matchstickquilting #quiltedletterHeaded out for the official family reunion! #judgefest19 #alaskarailroad #chugachmountains #ilovealaskaSo good to be in Alaska with my family! (Especially my niece 😂) #judgefest19It’s peach season, especially at our house, and so it’s time for my obligatory annual post to remind you to make peach salsa! If you want a recipe, search my blog (link in profile) for “peach salsa”. If you already have a fresh salsa recipe that you like, leave out the cilantro, and add lots of chopped peaches, sliced basil, and olive oil. The flavor is amazing! 😍🍑 . . . Nik has been working really hard the past two weeks, picking the peaches from our tree. The second picture is the last major picking, which he did on Saturday. He picked about 150 peaches. 🙌🙌🙌. Last year‘s harvest was better, but we learned from our mistakes from this summer and we’re hoping next year will be even better. Fruit farming is its whole own knowledge base. We will probably end up with about 4 gallon bags of sliced peaches in our freezer for the winter. 😍 . . . If you have been following along in my stories over the past five weeks, you will know that we recently under took a total gut renovation of our kitchen. We are oh so close to being finished and the steel gray granite in the background of the first picture is our new countertop. I told Nik that now that I have such a dramatic background, I’m going to become a Instagram food influencer. 😂 Swipe past the peach picture to hear the first dishwasher load in our kitchen in over 2 1/2 years. It is so nice to have a working dishwasher again! . . . #salmonandsouvlakigardens #salmonandsouvlakicooks #peachsalsa #ediblelandscaping #growyourownfood #organicgardeningDouble Rock never disappoints. 😍 #getoutside #wildandfreekids #salmonandsouvlakiexploresLook! I’m growing a garden patchwork quilt! Also, it’s my best spring garden ever. The secret? Sprinkle SO many seeds, way more than you think you need. Currently growing: arugula and lettuce, 2 kinds of snap peas, 3 kinds of radishes, 2 kinds of turnips, chiogga and golden beets, Swiss chard, cilantro, bok choy, tatsoi, 2 kinds of kales, mustard greens, and an Asian green mix. As I told Nik last night, we are officially in the “eat salad for every meal” season. 😍 Also, my dianthus appears to want to take over the world. I just planted this clumps last year and they have probably tripled in size! #salmonandsouvlakigardens #growwhatyoueat #organicgardeningLast fall, we were raising five swallowtail caterpillars. They turned into chrysalises and then did not emerge as butterflies, meaning that in their wisdom, they knew that they were the generation to overwinter and emerge in the spring to continue the lifecycle. Each chrysalis was in its own quart glass jar and we put them out in the garage to stay cold through the winter. I checked on them a few weeks ago and there were no signs of life. And then I FORGOT ABOUT THEM. 😩 Today, as I went out to our garage to get our wagon for the walk to co-op, I realized I needed to check on what was probably the awful butterfly carnage. Instead, we found three live butterflies!!!!!!!!! Releasing them into the world was one of the coolest things I’ve done in a long time. ❤️😍❤️ Now, we just need to plant a bunch of parsley, to convince the adults to lay their eggs in our garden so we can raise swallowtails all summer. There are still two intact chrysalises, so we moved them to our porch where we can see them . Hopefully, we will be able to release two more soon. 🦋#swallowtailbutterfly #savethepollinators #salmonandsouvlakigardensCategories
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Monthly Archives: March 2015
Sometimes Your Animals Just Need To Be Close
The other day, Mark asked me to help him put Bunny and Puppy on his back. He seems to have fond memories of being worn because now he’s helping out his animals in the same way! 🙂 I made him … Continue reading
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March Sewing: Flowers and a Heart for a Special Baby
I had the privilege of attending a baby shower on Saturday for a friend who is expecting a little girl in May. I made her a little baby blanket and wanting to add a bit of pink to the otherwise … Continue reading
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Favorite Books of 2014: Non-Fiction (everything else)
I read almost 100 books in 2014. Here are my favorites (and yes, I realize I’m nearly 3 months late with this list). I track my reading on Goodreads. So if we’re not friends there, you should join me! Here … Continue reading
My No-Shave Experiment – 121 Days and Counting (The REVEAL)
I haven’t shaved my legs or my armpits in 121 days (since November 22, 2014.) I did this deliberately. That day, I said to myself, “I’m going to shave today and then I’m not going to shave, for a long … Continue reading
Cute Children, Singing
My apologies for overwhelming you with videos this week! Ellie has been teaching Mark her Sunday School songs and here’s one. And, finally, I prove to you that Ellie has progressed beyond “Chukka, chukka, oh wah die” when it comes … Continue reading
Why Sourdough? Why Soaked? Why Even Bother?
A few weeks ago, my friend Liz left this comment on my “Seven Essential Tools for Baking” post. I answered her briefly in a comment there but promised her that I’d write a fuller response because I think it’s a … Continue reading
He Counts In Greek! And Sings in English!
It’s only fair that we show off Mark counting in Greek, right? Ellie had her moment in the spotlight, so here’s Mark’s. Unlike Ellie at this age, Mark is regularly and consistently counting to 20, usually perfectly, on his own. … Continue reading
