Marathon Sewing

Okay - if you sew, and if you like skirts . . . run out and get this book - Sew What! Skirts: 16 Simple Styles You Can Make with Fabulous Fabrics, by Francesca Denhartog & Carole Ann Camp. My daughters and I have been on a sewing frenzy. In the last week, I've made 4 skirts, and my daughters have made 4 (combined). I may have mentioned that I am tall - nearly 6'4", and that makes it very challenging to find clothes that fit. My daughters are 5'11" and Pearly hasn't stopped yet. When I found this book, I was definitely intrigued about making a pattern based on our very tall measurements. When we lived in the Philippines years ago, I took a pattern drafting class. My notes are in a binder and I haven't done anything with it. When I took a look at this book and saw the pictures, I had to give it a try.

We all made the wrap-around skirt first. It uses the fitted A-line skirt pattern. It took about 20 minutes to make the pattern and maybe an hour to sew the skirt (we revised the ties just a bit to make it even more simple). We drafted our pattern on special fabric for patterns so we can use it over again. I love the skirt except that the tie in the front causes my top to bunch up. What am I supposed to wear on top? Any ideas?

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Raspberry Coffeecake and Exercise

Here is a picture of my 17-yr old's 3rd or 4th piece of raspberry coffeecake. Yes, he needs that much butter :) Have you seen his legs? He's one long drink of water with not one ounce of fat. Unfortunately, I "need" butter on my piece, too. I can't imagine eating certain foods without butter. What can I say - I'm a butter snob. And good thing I got a new gadget for my birthday last week (turned 43 woop-DE-DOO) and here is my new techno-toy:

This thing rocks. It had great reviews on Amazon. I've never had a pedometer before. This thing is so cool - it comes with graphing software. Connect it to the computer and the software will chart your steps, aerobic steps, distance, calories, fat grams burned. The program allows you to set goals for yourself and multiple users are able to use the same software. I LOVE it. It is very motivating. I want to keep walking in order to see more graphs. That can only mean good things, right? Omron® Pocket Pedometer HJ-720 ITC. I got mine at Costco.

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Bunny

I readily admit it. I am smitten with this child. His porcelain cheeks, beautiful lips, gorgeous eyes, golden hair. People have said he reminds them of the stereotypical picture of an angel. He's 4. Pretty soon, he'll be five and with that age comes much more independence, confidence, and a few attitudes or two. I'm trying to tuck this moment away in my mind because it is pure sweetness.

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Let's Go Veggies!

Climbing Cukes

We're almost there - our favorite time when we get to pick fresh veggies from our garden. This little cucumber is almost 4 inches long. It's an English cuke, so it will probably grow another foot, but right now the plants are growing so fast, you can see the growth overnight. Amazing.

4-in. baby cuke

I'm "forcing" the cucumber plant to climb. So far so good. I have had to use twine to wrap around some branches to help it to stay, but eventually, they put out little tendrils that wrap around whatever they can grab and eventually can support themselves.

Tendrils

It's been so nice lately. After lots of hot, sunny weather, we got a couple rainy days with nice sunny breaks in the day. We don't mind rain every now and then - as long as it doesn't flood our basement. Here's Tall Dude pushing PJ.

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Backyard happenings

I love this time of year. Flowers are blooming. It's amazing how much this echinacea has grown in 4 years. It was only a 6-inch plant when I bought it and it has multiplied many times each year.


I don't know what this cream-colored freckled flower is. It reminds me of foxglove, but the blossoms are about half the size. Any ideas? I also forgot what the yellow one is, too.


Orange boy is standing by his raised bed garden. The weeds in the background are part of the vacant house/lot next door - the one that the developer wants to put 6 crammed 3-story homes in. We're still fighting this. We knew the ground in this lower portion of our backyard was saturated with water most of the year - even running water that goes into our yard, along our fence line, and into a catch drain in a neighbor's yard. What we didn't know is that it is definitely wetlands. Because of all the water, we rarely have to water the raised beds. When my son planted the seeds, we didn't water at all - that's how moist the ground is. The neighbors are wondering how the developer will deal with the water. Evidently, developers are allowed to pay a fine to fill a wetland. Oh joy. That may deal with the wetland, but what about the stream of water that comes through our yard most of the year - so much water that we cannot do any kind of landscaping or even walk? I try not to think about it - it is very upsetting.

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Wanted to get raspberries

but the variety available was far too perishable for my time constraints, so we picked Obsidian blackberries instead - 27 pounds of Obsidian blackberries. We've never had Obsidian blackberries before. I wondered if I had lost my head for a moment considering blackberries seem to be the prolific weed in everybody's back yard here. But these berries were different - they were huge, the berries stuck out so you didn't have to get your arms scratched by thorns. I told the kids they only had a one-bucket limit and we were out of there in no time. Made 20 pints of jam and some dessert sauce. Check out these twin berries that forgot to separate. Cool, eh?

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