tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21594489764916562642024-03-04T23:54:49.859-08:00One Here One Therequilt a little here, sew a little thereHelen C.http://www.blogger.com/profile/01642693988969351325noreply@blogger.comBlogger70125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2159448976491656264.post-92031422939747899812015-08-18T22:59:00.002-07:002015-08-18T22:59:45.150-07:00Square Foot Garden: Why Community Gardens are the Best Gardens. And Fall crops. I had to leave my garden for almost three weeks. In the middle of summer. Just as the green beans were coming in. Hard to do. Very hard. But made easier by my community I garden with. An email out to the others with raised beds in the garden, asking for help watering when I was gone (and with hopes they would harvest a few things) kept my garden more beautiful than I could have hoped. I nervously headed to the garden after my return to town, not sure what disaster I would find. But, I found this lovely garden:<br />
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Lush and ready for harvest. If anything, I wish that my lovely water crew had helped themselves to more veggies- the green beans were a bit starchy and after I picked some I gave up on them. So, I did a little maintenance on my return (mainly tying up wild tomatoes trying to refuse the trellis and picking corn) and said many quiet thank yous to my watering crew. Below is my first harvest after arriving home:</div>
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The corn was disappointingly not so sweet. I thought maybe I waited too long to harvest... but some of my later planted is the same as well. Maybe variety? Who knows. Maybe a question for the OSU extension services. <br />
As I picked corn I pulled the stalks and set them aside to dry for fall decor. I also started plotting fall crops. As predicted early in the summer, I'm trying broccoli/sprouts/cauliflower again. I went from starts, as I'm about 5 weeks too late for seeds. We'll see. I'm skeptical, but I also hate blank garden space.<br />
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In go the new plants! As the corn gets pulled, I keep adding to it. Some onion seeds and carrot seeds. Looking forward to seeing if I really prolong the harvest season.<br />
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I've also enjoyed garden cooking- below is an all garden meal (except the mushrooms). Finding a way to stay ahead of the veggies is the final trick in all this gardening.<br />
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<br />Helen C.http://www.blogger.com/profile/01642693988969351325noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2159448976491656264.post-32461042803158188722015-07-14T23:02:00.000-07:002015-07-14T23:02:24.660-07:00Square Foot Gardening: The Corn is as High as and Elephant's Eye!Here, in the deep of summer, this garden looks so different than last February. The hot crops are moving fast. We have corn! Tall and wonderful. <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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It just grew so fast that my tomatoes are having trouble getting their fair share of light. Note of next year- plant the onions in front of the tomatoes. They stay little for so long.<br />
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In between the corn, green beans are coming in and onions are slowly being picked. I threw in some more carrot and beet seeds where I pulled out other things. I also started the cucumber up the trellis where once the peas stood strong.</div>
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I've always avoided cucumbers and other vine things- I don't want them taking over precious space- but when I discovered I could trellis them?? Well... now we are on to something. Grow UP not OUT when square foot gardening is the game. </div>
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Today's harvest had green beans, one cucumber, and an onion. Fingers crossed I time my out of town time so I can enjoy corn and tomatoes on my return. </div>
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And, when you find yourself without a baby teething toy, any beet will do</div>
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Or green bean, as the situation calls for</div>
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Pinkies up! We are very fancy at our garden. </div>
Helen C.http://www.blogger.com/profile/01642693988969351325noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2159448976491656264.post-89643040818868633012015-06-21T22:36:00.000-07:002015-06-21T22:37:06.932-07:00Square Foot Gardening: Rotating Crops and Notes to Self<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
With grad school done, I can garden and update about it. But for now, a quick list of things to help me out when I'm planning next year. </div>
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Potatoes need more room. They dominated everything. Next year they either get an 18 inch row, or I move onto potato cages I've read so much about. The onions and tomatoes suffered as the plants grew. </div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">HUGE! The poor onions tried to get out from under them... but there was no escape</td></tr>
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-Growing potatoes is FUN, despite the large amount of space they need. The first harvest below:</div>
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I'm doomed never to grow anything in the Brassica family. Despite planting the brussels sprouts in Feb, with the very warm spring we've had, I got loose sprouts. I pulled them out so other things could grow. I know me, I'll probably try a fall crop like a sucker.<br />
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It took about 12 weeks for the potatoes to set enough to pick. We got mostly baby potatoes- delicious, but next year I want to leave them in a spot where I can let them grow for longer. Look at the giant space opened up in the garden when I pulled them, finally. </div>
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Carrots are awesome and way better than radishes. Every year I do radishes because the grow fast and are ready to pick quick, which is fun. But we never eat them. Carrots, on the other hand, are devoured and the joy of picking it only adds to the fun. </div>
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Totally worth giving up some space to flowers. Sweet Peas and Poppies. It makes the garden look so sweet. </div>
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<span style="text-align: left;">Peas should be staggered in plant times. I planted them all at once and we are eating peas with everything- just this week I pulled out all the vines and picked off the last ones. </span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkvLGBIfl98m3OOD8jzektY4qI8_PHnctaIdDVTm-YfyDP5jOkrY-PX9VOHskxwd9iBMhUcDkzcENJm5-OnkFlqxDlUHCS2-ojEYp5Af2Red8dcbNltlxh2XJfYG8xCgnAwRwA_PlqlfQ/s1600/20150617_135702.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkvLGBIfl98m3OOD8jzektY4qI8_PHnctaIdDVTm-YfyDP5jOkrY-PX9VOHskxwd9iBMhUcDkzcENJm5-OnkFlqxDlUHCS2-ojEYp5Af2Red8dcbNltlxh2XJfYG8xCgnAwRwA_PlqlfQ/s400/20150617_135702.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">So many peas</td></tr>
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I've enjoyed the thought I put into the changing garden this year. Instead of thinking of each square as one vegetable, I tried to plan out multiple items for each square by accounting for grow time and weather. Cool weather early spring plants vs hot weather summer plants.<br />
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Pulling out the potatoes and peas made room for corn, green beans, carrots, and spinach. Watching the different squares change and moving through the spring and summer season with different veggies to look forward to has been fun.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIV_ZLUNvjzQOpAKtaBAed6V2PNrKlovOhuS2Kq7ckJbARbdkdDShSxlv11baayM5Jjwb8m0BkT19eT7FY5zhjYiRolTk7vtr4h4ae7g-VUMC-4PtyafyhYcEVoUet-exg7FNSSYTH_aE/s1600/20150617_131211.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIV_ZLUNvjzQOpAKtaBAed6V2PNrKlovOhuS2Kq7ckJbARbdkdDShSxlv11baayM5Jjwb8m0BkT19eT7FY5zhjYiRolTk7vtr4h4ae7g-VUMC-4PtyafyhYcEVoUet-exg7FNSSYTH_aE/s400/20150617_131211.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Potatoes gone- before the peas were pulled</td></tr>
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The bounty changes week to week- finally we have beets and some bigger onions. It's lovely. </div>
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The next few weeks will bring lots of watering, tending, and fussing over my tomatoes. I also decided to put in a cucumber plant and I'm going to trellis it where the peas were, hopefully preventing it from taking over the garden. Happy Solstice! SUMMER!!!!!<br />
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Helen C.http://www.blogger.com/profile/01642693988969351325noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2159448976491656264.post-22815174079273036062015-04-30T22:04:00.001-07:002015-04-30T22:04:05.717-07:00Square Foot Garden: The Onion Experiment<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
We went for a walk this weekend, on down to check on the garden. It's growing so fast, I wish I could be there every day. </div>
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The tricking thing about square foot gardening is that things really do get PACKED in. The brussel sprouts are probably still 2-3 weeks from being ready for harvest (or more? I don't know) and they are shading beet seedlings and pushing over onions. The potatoes are the same, I have no idea how big they will get before they are ready to dig up, but they are pushing into peas and the spaces I set aside for green beans. I think the key is to stagger crops. Green beans will go in next week and the first potatoes will come up a week later. It's a constant rotation of the new and the old.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAdC5BDXQkDzRsv_oTd0SMTMZh-9_glutvixc0GRAkOZHkqe76_8ta12VM8a5vMs22iTixl-L2w7yjpDR5yRrBntuQBY4anj1Oo0DAKlipR2YNJULNh0ODQ9klF5E3Rf8btm6-qXQMU6k/s1600/20150426_083735.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAdC5BDXQkDzRsv_oTd0SMTMZh-9_glutvixc0GRAkOZHkqe76_8ta12VM8a5vMs22iTixl-L2w7yjpDR5yRrBntuQBY4anj1Oo0DAKlipR2YNJULNh0ODQ9klF5E3Rf8btm6-qXQMU6k/s1600/20150426_083735.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></a></div>
Onions have been my experiment. The large onions in the picture below were planted from bulb sets in late February. It seemed silly to plant a small onion just so I can grow it into a bigger onion. All that energy already put into growing it, tending it, picking it, drying it, then shipping it so I could plant it. But I went ahead and tried it out. The small ones near the bottom of the picture were also onion sets, but they looked more like small green chives that had been picked by the root and bundled. Not quite as silly as the other onion sets. I planted them three weeks ago and they seem to be doing fine. They are about the same size as my THIRD onion experiment- just between the large onions and potatoes- which was planting from seed in late February. So far, I'm impressed. If started early enough they seem to give the same result as the sets I planted a few weeks ago.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjHXIm8hliMiEzN1vQ77uh-662Il08bUkfXGnnIUXlq8Urakd9ZqV2c51j5OwXkoUGeYkvqLseUEJpwOw7srmm6v27z-Avf8P5W2yvawkmkYSobGT7CE0UQjXmQQEzSHY0a65oqLmcavQ/s1600/20150426_083742.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjHXIm8hliMiEzN1vQ77uh-662Il08bUkfXGnnIUXlq8Urakd9ZqV2c51j5OwXkoUGeYkvqLseUEJpwOw7srmm6v27z-Avf8P5W2yvawkmkYSobGT7CE0UQjXmQQEzSHY0a65oqLmcavQ/s1600/20150426_083742.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></a></div>
And that's the latest garden fun. Here's hoping we can get some tomatoes and green beans in this weekend- it might be a squeeze but I want to go for it.Helen C.http://www.blogger.com/profile/01642693988969351325noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2159448976491656264.post-28978895727336894282015-04-11T17:40:00.002-07:002015-04-11T17:41:49.274-07:00Square Foot Gardening: In anticipation of greater thingsToday, I built a trellis. Because, one day the little early pea sprouts will be looking for a place to climb. We have a yard full of bamboo, since our neighbor planted a running bamboo, and we are constantly cutting it back. That leaves us with more than enough for yearly projects.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNFHDtsY9EdUXgC2SqBo85kTxWYHMNUoL_FyD7uq7pQIcd4uQ3ZsL_0AYiRqrzZVOAnQu9xoy2AVZVXc_ldtOjUP0RaaaQTNh45T_SPAVR5Tus-5cw5h_OUD5WAICC-WeeDORXifvke7U/s1600/20150411_114317.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNFHDtsY9EdUXgC2SqBo85kTxWYHMNUoL_FyD7uq7pQIcd4uQ3ZsL_0AYiRqrzZVOAnQu9xoy2AVZVXc_ldtOjUP0RaaaQTNh45T_SPAVR5Tus-5cw5h_OUD5WAICC-WeeDORXifvke7U/s1600/20150411_114317.jpg" height="400" width="300" /></a></div>
I started with some fresh cut bamboo and some wire caging left over from a project involving rock and concrete. The bamboo needed a bit of a hair cut.<br />
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Regular loppers did the trick and I took all the extra limbs off the bamboo stalk. Bamboo is a lot less overwhelming after a trim- kind of the way a fluffy kitty looks after it's thrown in a pool of water.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiI5LnpePl6u1qNn_n4FKbkQSRLAvLPKTlv9qLJnzUepzIM2aWd2AseRcurAVYJGhNVJLVoAS6UOBIWk0_2ZJjOJv721BR_sfx9NcMrwpFlnUT9HUQ4DHq5WdUpgbo16j34LLjOi7R_ozU/s1600/20150411_121831.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiI5LnpePl6u1qNn_n4FKbkQSRLAvLPKTlv9qLJnzUepzIM2aWd2AseRcurAVYJGhNVJLVoAS6UOBIWk0_2ZJjOJv721BR_sfx9NcMrwpFlnUT9HUQ4DHq5WdUpgbo16j34LLjOi7R_ozU/s1600/20150411_121831.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></a></div>
I actually wove the bamboo through the wire caging, Over/Under, then I lashed it to the perimeter with kite string<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjStRx6camJxm0oXb5h9bMWbTbLE_PWxticpbZTbfYKAQTvjca5Mc_O5h400rF0P4XuBK7dXX2xCiXGMK10MpDp31tL2pr1DRYzCtFKc2Hm4VpRHvnUGMsSQnm_K6IigLlHjpr7BDdyOqA/s1600/20150411_122928.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjStRx6camJxm0oXb5h9bMWbTbLE_PWxticpbZTbfYKAQTvjca5Mc_O5h400rF0P4XuBK7dXX2xCiXGMK10MpDp31tL2pr1DRYzCtFKc2Hm4VpRHvnUGMsSQnm_K6IigLlHjpr7BDdyOqA/s1600/20150411_122928.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></div>
I made a frame around the top and two sides. I didn't even lash the sides, except at the top where the joint between the two pieces of bamboo.<br />
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I also wove some of the thinner bamboo through in a diagonal pattern. You can see that the sides go down an extra 18 inches (ish) so it can be put in the garden. Ta-Da! It's pretty sweet.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEim3V1_Y_cWCkb_JXtPZGrqkvHFq9aOi5v3pclyWIjIirYe9Gj8RtcATSDMEdXXsKkDDQyJ4N_M8-Dm33bUOE4sUPWU_GwSZipvBl_lwSVroW2BSjdMOY5amIyBdVtvilqL_iWhY-t1VXQ/s1600/20150411_131121.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEim3V1_Y_cWCkb_JXtPZGrqkvHFq9aOi5v3pclyWIjIirYe9Gj8RtcATSDMEdXXsKkDDQyJ4N_M8-Dm33bUOE4sUPWU_GwSZipvBl_lwSVroW2BSjdMOY5amIyBdVtvilqL_iWhY-t1VXQ/s1600/20150411_131121.jpg" height="400" width="300" /></a></div>
The real fun was transporting it. It wasn't heavy, but it was large. 7 feet across. You can see the hot-pink string that tied it to the mirrors. My husband was the grandmaster behind this plan. We also had only about a mile to drive.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhk8JZ1_1rZmjcn0yTprFFtlkSxaVfb5AUKPNfan58dG-CEpdutAPPCsyL9KUbDnasZmUZHplFLUEVQuI6uzf4iZWWz0v8N-W6zzAd4BhFOsrC2I49rGhYkFhHccHfUKXkFuvP1N9HvuOg/s1600/20150411_131835.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhk8JZ1_1rZmjcn0yTprFFtlkSxaVfb5AUKPNfan58dG-CEpdutAPPCsyL9KUbDnasZmUZHplFLUEVQuI6uzf4iZWWz0v8N-W6zzAd4BhFOsrC2I49rGhYkFhHccHfUKXkFuvP1N9HvuOg/s1600/20150411_131835.jpg" height="400" width="300" /></a></div>
Ready to put it in the garden~ we could hardly wait. When did I become such a garden nerd?<br />
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Yes! It's lovely!! And just what I hoped for. The little peas at the base are just barely ready to reach it, but hopefully with some warm weather we'll see those lovely veggies climbing to the top.<br />
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And we had our first harvest! The best part about radishes is how fast they grow....</div>
<br />Helen C.http://www.blogger.com/profile/01642693988969351325noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2159448976491656264.post-14761729769677554102015-04-08T22:27:00.002-07:002015-04-08T22:33:13.205-07:00Square Foot Gardening: Slow Spring Start<span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;"><i>If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need.</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;"><i>Marcus Tullius Cicero</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;"><br /></span>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCnnsYWneOQTghQRLlkdLMA1WcH2R6GsITM8fVSGVJj92RZ0gzJ4b7l-ipBfQUYlF-gRdVYJ9EcYrW8Y2Zmp47iuZftdot8n5UjVU0p0KJT_O8M7x3go1NkFPuhC0qcBIwUzFPeESkvbg/s1600/20150405_111503.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCnnsYWneOQTghQRLlkdLMA1WcH2R6GsITM8fVSGVJj92RZ0gzJ4b7l-ipBfQUYlF-gRdVYJ9EcYrW8Y2Zmp47iuZftdot8n5UjVU0p0KJT_O8M7x3go1NkFPuhC0qcBIwUzFPeESkvbg/s1600/20150405_111503.jpg" height="400" width="300" /></a><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">Starting seeds as early I did has been an experiment- and a lovely one. Because, I have a garden! It doesn't grow with the leaps and bounds of a summer garden, but peas have sprouted, potatoes are up, the onions are doing well, little radishes are moving along quickly, and the brussel sprout starts should give us something delicious to eat before summer gets too hot. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">Even with the slower spring growth- comparing this pictures to the one from last post shows how much it's really taken off. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">I need to build and get a trellis in for the peas- they are growing slow but they'll want something to hang onto soon. I have plans for a bamboo trellis- my lesson for last year is to make it TALL. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">The hot February that had me inspired to start has been replaced by a normal April that reminds me there is still time to do more and do it well .</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">With spring comes the first signs of slugs. SLUGS. Last year I let some bugs go, accepted the little holes in the leaves- but this year I'm going to war. I feel protective of my little pea sprouts and my precious carrots. So I broke out round one of slug defense- the classic beer trap. Do you see it tucked in there? Look close--</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">There- at the bottom of the picture- my first defense. When we went to empty them after a week I had about 12 dead slugs. HA! Hopefully it's keeping my little plants safe. I'm also going to try grinding up egg shells into a dust and putting it around the garden. Supposedly slugs won't crawl over it. We'll see. If I use the shells from easter eggs I'll have a pretty little slug barrier. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">Look at these plants grow! If I could be in the garden every day, I would be. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;"><br /></span>Helen C.http://www.blogger.com/profile/01642693988969351325noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2159448976491656264.post-66822225098934040542015-03-02T23:14:00.001-08:002015-03-02T23:15:11.973-08:00Square Foot Garden: Best Laid PlansToday brussel sprouts went into six square originally marked for garlic, beets, and beans. But- the little starts at the garden store called to me and things are easy to rearrange when they are on paper. Plus, it's fun to see some green in the garden. Sometimes the seeds in the ground feel so theoretical it's hard to wait until they sprout.<br />
I planted two per square, which will probably prove to be a little snug as they get bigger. We'll see.<br />
Sweet little sprouts:<br />
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<br />Helen C.http://www.blogger.com/profile/01642693988969351325noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2159448976491656264.post-38513034308537080712015-02-25T21:28:00.002-08:002015-02-25T21:28:55.307-08:00Square Foot Garden: The Plan<span style="font-size: large;"><i>In winter, I plot and plan. In spring I move. -Henry Rollins</i></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhe7R68i-bOMoHSaHpx1jMSrbHhS85c2WVAvK3nGWuoNL8or6oAuwS_jj22RmFomWwUiWN26_f24gUV5-0wwcHOB5Rfvo-jwyPHUqQITDabkzXV7vl55S-6pbfngCARaI7EImXTTtlU5PI/s1600/catalog_cover-2015.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhe7R68i-bOMoHSaHpx1jMSrbHhS85c2WVAvK3nGWuoNL8or6oAuwS_jj22RmFomWwUiWN26_f24gUV5-0wwcHOB5Rfvo-jwyPHUqQITDabkzXV7vl55S-6pbfngCARaI7EImXTTtlU5PI/s1600/catalog_cover-2015.jpg" height="400" width="296" /></a>It all started with this- the seed catalogue made it's appearance in January and I found myself carelessly flipping through pages.<br />
Then I was folding down corners, marking pages to come back to, making mental notes of things I wanted to plant.<br />
Then, for the first time, I really read the descriptions of how and when to plant certain seeds. I noticed recommendation for soil temperature and for care. I found a few things that could go in the ground early- forty and forty five degree soil for germination. Suddenly, spring felt close again.<br />
So, I started to plan. I made lists of veggies we wanted to try for the first time (potatoes!), veggies we wanted to be sure an grow again (peas! beans! tomatoes!), and the veggies I wanted to take a break from (broccoli, cherry tomatoes).<br />
And then I really got into it. I started regrouping things by plant times and soil temperatures so I could think about planting order and what I could start.<br />
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I roughed out this plan:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFi0h5KCotinvkYEt1dpYYlUBOkVc1XsYNtaxL3jB0ar0VpmPTxndITYm6bSbDDxP8OaDMZ27tm9pVoRb4cLiQkk2B3K2kb1NT_XlQs4s1kFfnBHB5g0uM43ghagF8KcsQE78T9qwJuzI/s1600/20150225_181743.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFi0h5KCotinvkYEt1dpYYlUBOkVc1XsYNtaxL3jB0ar0VpmPTxndITYm6bSbDDxP8OaDMZ27tm9pVoRb4cLiQkk2B3K2kb1NT_XlQs4s1kFfnBHB5g0uM43ghagF8KcsQE78T9qwJuzI/s1600/20150225_181743.jpg" height="400" width="300" /></a></div>
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You can see, on the side, things are sorted by temp. I also made a code for the order I would plant thing and started to think about what I could plant in a square when my early crops are done. It's all a grand experiment.<br />
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I'm doing square foot gardening for the second year. My plot is about 6ft by 8ft, which is huge. Last year I spent a lot of time researching how many of each seed I could put per square foot. There's lots out there to guide anyone who is interested.<br />
This year, I'm trusting my math skills a little more. If something says it need to be three inches apart to grow, I know that means I can do about nine seeds and still leave enough room to not crowd too close to the edge of the square.<br />
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I learned a lot last year. Like, trellising tomatoes is amazing- but I can be even more aggressive in pruning and tying them. And I should expect much to grow in the squares right in front of these tomatoes.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3x3Mz0yMjFkcotGSQKsR3b-w-wsciQgRTe6j7SYhtWPqvTcqN5KAQLzQ5z7WQP4tu8ukQpH0sKBFieXW1jQAO4uAMRtKowt8hpkCmDUAmV0IPeIk2pi1SDDa-eXF00OU6NIpLEdpISB8/s1600/20150225_181656.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3x3Mz0yMjFkcotGSQKsR3b-w-wsciQgRTe6j7SYhtWPqvTcqN5KAQLzQ5z7WQP4tu8ukQpH0sKBFieXW1jQAO4uAMRtKowt8hpkCmDUAmV0IPeIk2pi1SDDa-eXF00OU6NIpLEdpISB8/s1600/20150225_181656.jpg" height="400" width="300" /></a><br />
Anyway, after my rough draft, I started this one:<br />
This one is a little easier to read and I tried to leave room in the squares for extra notes- things like variety, date planted, etc.<br />
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So far I have in the peas, sweet pea flowers, the onion, and the garlic. Potatoes go in this week. Then I'll just be in a waiting game until those first sprouts come up. That's always the best feeling.<br />
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This plan will change- and it will change a lot- before the summer is over. I know that. But a plan gets me started and gives me something to hang my hat on.<br />
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Below are some of the onion sets being set in place for growing. I put them close together and I'll thin the when they start going.<br />
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<br />Helen C.http://www.blogger.com/profile/01642693988969351325noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2159448976491656264.post-36526025683479307572015-02-22T19:47:00.001-08:002015-02-22T19:59:15.887-08:00Square Foot Garden: Prepping the bed<span style="font-size: large;"><i>"We are stardust. We are golden. And we got to get ourselves back to the garden"- Joni Mitchell</i></span><br />
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Somehow, here in the middle of February, spring found Portland. Signs of spring, as my daughter would say, are everywhere. For instance, this slug we've already found creeping in our new plants:<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgF7yp6L1qU9ZXS9JrTef41AifMG_DpHol2zjJCyrhIkLc6vycJE8FO73LjNYjAlQnStdfxynfr48q6rZ8TZB6u0FJw9mmTTmId4NPaqIRGjxsXGunivRRcxvctZEbjo2h9afgk1Kt9ZaU/s1600/20150222_112816.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgF7yp6L1qU9ZXS9JrTef41AifMG_DpHol2zjJCyrhIkLc6vycJE8FO73LjNYjAlQnStdfxynfr48q6rZ8TZB6u0FJw9mmTTmId4NPaqIRGjxsXGunivRRcxvctZEbjo2h9afgk1Kt9ZaU/s1600/20150222_112816.jpg" height="400" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"It feels all sticky" she says with no qualms</td></tr>
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So, my gardening adventure begins again. The bedraggled vines of finished veggies, the forgotten last tomatoes of last October-- mere memories as I flip through the seed catalogue, plotting the great comeback that is SPRING.<br />
And while I hope, with grad school coming to a close this May, that soon I'll have sewing projects to share and crafting successes to celebrate- I thought sharing this gardening adventure post worthy as well. Not to mention, a record for when it starts again next spring.<br />
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This is year three in my fabulous garden plot. With no sun in our own yard, I use a community spot at the neighborhood middle school. Year 1- I threw some things in and had a cherry tomato that took over everything. Some good harvest, but lots of missed opportunity. Year 2- I discovered square foot gardening. My math heart could not resist. Squares, math, order, LOVELY. But still, lots to learn. So now, Year 3, I'm ready to make even more of my space.<br />
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The bed had a few remnants of my attempts at winter crops. Not wanting to say goodbye to my garden last year, I planted some carrots. I think they would be something great if I gave them another month, but I'm not willing to do so at the expense of waiting to get other plants in, so out they came.<br />
We dug up the soil turned it all, then got ready to add another layer of new compost. The school will do this as a service, but not until community service day at the end of April. Since I just discovered that peas can go in NOW, I couldn't wait.<br />
So, here's where we started:<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCDuQOqHv-eF5dD3og4SFF0qaYw46Bw9FvFbWM03awFPF2WBoq-ScdulMjRLEKQ3tq5pDWE7DzP4wYeSjQIlLhyJ9WzXKdv5gatd5AHZFdH6WRHpulFjWrQk8T9PB5Uj0bXd6QHuxdYMc/s1600/20150222_112849.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCDuQOqHv-eF5dD3og4SFF0qaYw46Bw9FvFbWM03awFPF2WBoq-ScdulMjRLEKQ3tq5pDWE7DzP4wYeSjQIlLhyJ9WzXKdv5gatd5AHZFdH6WRHpulFjWrQk8T9PB5Uj0bXd6QHuxdYMc/s1600/20150222_112849.jpg" height="400" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">New dirt waiting to join the old</td></tr>
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We brought in three bags of good garden bed compost and spread it out and worked it in with the dirt from last year. I don't plan on fertilizing much beyond that. </div>
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Then we started putting in the grid. The idea here is to plant things by the square foot, not by the row. We just stuck thumb tacs in every 12 inches into the frame and wrapped string around each one. M continued to spread dirt for us. </div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPjnDNsIkbtuKbLuoAnwXIlsJsDfjEqYYs3aYbeE_uHo4XoZgrJLGzXiYQaVre2FbpTemy8h5UyibeXFY4IRKsIw0iZ4wvWW8iO5pUWUCVMG6Q9Q_ZYbSA9bFUHN0MPBCu6oA1mCkI6tM/s1600/20150222_114034.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPjnDNsIkbtuKbLuoAnwXIlsJsDfjEqYYs3aYbeE_uHo4XoZgrJLGzXiYQaVre2FbpTemy8h5UyibeXFY4IRKsIw0iZ4wvWW8iO5pUWUCVMG6Q9Q_ZYbSA9bFUHN0MPBCu6oA1mCkI6tM/s1600/20150222_114034.jpg" height="400" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">laying out the grid</td></tr>
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Now, that's a beautiful garden. Ready for anything. We put in a few peas today. Yeah! Soil temp for peas only needs to be 40 degrees and the Oregon State extension services says to plant them in February. Who knew we could get this rolling so soon! Soon to come- radishes and potatoes- also cool weather starts.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6FnSzTDoupUElK1u2LknBzNnG2bNsddk75WW8Ku4AO6CCHh2dXn2N7inR9BGD7-jx2JhOl-_om1rOiIw5Dww07AVxsPdkC810GzGC4JeMZ1X8-IzNwSAD9ClrLJ_cbpZRcc86CT-SPZA/s1600/20150222_115119.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6FnSzTDoupUElK1u2LknBzNnG2bNsddk75WW8Ku4AO6CCHh2dXn2N7inR9BGD7-jx2JhOl-_om1rOiIw5Dww07AVxsPdkC810GzGC4JeMZ1X8-IzNwSAD9ClrLJ_cbpZRcc86CT-SPZA/s1600/20150222_115119.jpg" height="400" width="300" /></a></div>
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And so it begins! Spring! Garden! A life outside grad school! But for now, I need to hit the books again.<br />
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<br />Helen C.http://www.blogger.com/profile/01642693988969351325noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2159448976491656264.post-2333661844517828002013-11-10T22:58:00.000-08:002013-11-10T22:58:50.102-08:00Make it Perfect- Sprout The dress I finished last night. My first NON Oliver and S. Here it is in the strange 11pm sewing room light:<br />
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The company is <a href="http://www.makeitperfect.com.au/MIP/Sprout.html">Make it Perfect </a>and the pattern in <a href="http://www.makeitperfect.com.au/MIP/Sprout.html">Sprout</a>. The dress is advertised as a winter dress- lined with flannel, long sleeves, hood. Just what we needed around here.<br />
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Notes about the pattern:<br />
1) Make it Perfect is Australian based, so the sizing is different. I had to poke around online to guess which size translated to baby's size. I went with size four.<br />
2) This pattern is an easier one- but I'm still glad I spent the last two years on Oliver and S. Those directions are full of hints and EVERY step needed for a professional finish. This pattern didn't have all that- but it was easy to learn what I used from my past experience.<br />
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So, the thing that had me on pins and needles all night- would the dress fit? Did I guess correctly?<br />
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YES!! I did! It fit really well! And she wore it all day with comfort and ease. Played in it, ran it in, napped in it. Lovely. <br />
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I've only been using fabric from my stash. It's time to make a real dent in that fabric stash. It feels great. The floral was a Liberty cotton on sale at Bolt Fabrics and the blue lining was a flannel I bought tons of at Mill End for the back of her baby quilt. I adjusted the hemming so to blue would poke out at the sleeve and the bottom hem. <br />
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I knew pigtails would be just the thing for this dress. With a little lunch to distract her, we managed to wrangle a few hair ties in. <br />
I would change a few things in the next go around. 1) I would either make the sleeve longer or just go up a size in the bodice. With the flannel lining, I'm worried she'll outgrow it quickly. 2) I would use the hood pattern from the school days Oliver and S jacket. It has three pieces instead of two and I like the finish of it. <br />I just find it amazing I can even think about veering from a pattern at ALL to make something work better for me. This sewing thing has really been a journey.... and I have so much more to learn!<br />
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So much running in the new dress meant a little time with Dada was needed. I think we'll see a lot of the dress this winter. <br />
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<br />Helen C.http://www.blogger.com/profile/01642693988969351325noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2159448976491656264.post-70560407402487939992013-11-09T23:25:00.001-08:002013-11-09T23:25:49.699-08:00Ice Cream in October<i><b><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Eighteen luscious, scrumptious flavors<br />Chocolate, lime and cherry,<br />Coffee, pumpkin, fudge banana<br />Caramel cream and boysenberry.<br />Rocky road and toasted almond,<br />Butterscotch, vanilla dip,<br />Butter brickle, apple ripple,<br />Coconut and mocha chip,<br />Brandy peach and lemon custard,<br />Each scoop lovely, smooth and round,<br />Tallest ice cream cone in town,<br />Lying there (sniff) on the ground.</span></span></b></i><br />
<i><b><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></b></i>
<i><b><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">-Shel Silverstein</span></span></b></i><br />
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Oliver and S. How I love! And the Ice Cream dress pattern? The best. I've made the dress four times now and the shirt version once. Maybe not 18 luscious flavors- but I'm on my way!<br />
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This particular version is a size four. FOUR! I held it up to the six month size I first made- unreal. That thing about babies growing up fast? True. All true. (Wrinkles in the picture? Because she wore it before I did the photo shoot)<br />
Check the adorable bunny fabric. Perfect. <br />
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I made the dress one size bigger than I thought I needed because I didn't want to work and work... then have it not fit. But, I forgot, Oliver and S does a little of that for you. So, it's a little big. <br />
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Even a little big, it's perfect for some bunny I know. She wore it all day, put toys in the pocket (is there any other reason to have a pocket?)</div>
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Had to get the the Star Wars shot in all this. She used it as a suitcase, and went on a journey to a galaxy far far away. <br />
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Another success. Seeing her in clothes I made... worth it all.<br />
I have another finished, she'll try it on in the morning, fingers crossed it fits. It's not an Oliver and S pattern. Still though, it turned out. Ha! Flannel lined and long sleeves- something for these winter months. <br />
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<br />Helen C.http://www.blogger.com/profile/01642693988969351325noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2159448976491656264.post-15179956959934283822013-06-20T01:07:00.001-07:002013-06-20T19:58:34.209-07:00Late night"<i>Now I know my ABCs, next time won't you sing with me?"</i><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuPy-wJXGLyZGXNy_VarpmC6z9sjawut2SIEh3M_Nl813SwD6dWDb7WQPydNKCqcj7MQAxi00fSUQVr0015TtiHkMmA8iA7RDl1-duVykAjZYcUKTJ8ft5TA5e8ri9EwOyK59TLygGe8U/s1600/IMG_1296.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuPy-wJXGLyZGXNy_VarpmC6z9sjawut2SIEh3M_Nl813SwD6dWDb7WQPydNKCqcj7MQAxi00fSUQVr0015TtiHkMmA8iA7RDl1-duVykAjZYcUKTJ8ft5TA5e8ri9EwOyK59TLygGe8U/s400/IMG_1296.JPG" width="265" /></a>I don't know. I just found myself in THAT situation. You know, the situation where I'm in a one week professional development class for graduate credit, homework to do, a baby to get to bed, and a sewing project that just HAD to be finished.<br />
So, with most {some} of my homework behind me, I jumped in to the project. And, with a husband out of town I had nobody to hold me accountable to my bed time...well, except myself... and myself kept saying, "one more letter, one more letter"<br />
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For this project I used a tutorial I found through pinterest- it led me to<a href="http://chezbeeperbebe.blogspot.com/2009/10/tutorial-how-to-make-plush-alphabet.html"> Chez Beeper Bebe</a> and her tutorial. I changed her letter template- I realized (I think) that she was just using Arial black on an outline setting, and I wanted bigger letters... so I made my own templates. Also, this set does not have magnets in them, but magnets are ordered and another set will be made this weekend.<br />
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I found the "scrap busting" aspect of the project delightful. Fun to watch that pile shrink a little, while reliving memories of the original projects the scraps came from. And, since I dream of getting my craft room organized this summer, it's probably important I reduce my fabric supply to make the task easier, right? <br />
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Helen C.http://www.blogger.com/profile/01642693988969351325noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2159448976491656264.post-62516418067666365512013-06-16T14:09:00.000-07:002013-06-20T19:57:03.065-07:00to the fathers!<style>
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<i><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">my father moved
through dooms of love </span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">through sames of am through haves of give, </span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">singing each
morning out of each night </span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">my father moved through depths of height </span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">-e.e. cummings </span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> So, I'll admit it. I'm a groupie. An e.e. cummings groupie. Like so many before me and so many after... I just love reading his words. <i>i carry your heart with me</i> has long been my definition of love, my love theme of life. I once wrote a lesson plan designed to teach some of his less erotic poetry to 3-5th graders. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">So, as I planned a father's day gift, sifting through the myriad of weird stuff out there in pintrest/Internet land, I came across e.e. cumming's poem that he wrote after his father died. How have I missed this poem? Every word of it made me want to meet this man, this father, this person. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I found one stanza that particularly made me think of my husband and combined it with hand prints- baby's first painting!- and I think the end result is perfection. I stuck it in a frame (and then took a not so great picture) and it's a treasure for always. So sweet. </span></div>
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The stanza I went with was:<br />
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<i><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">My father moved through theys of we,</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">singing each new leaf out of each tree</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">(and every child was sure that spring</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">danced when she heard my father sing)</span></i></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1cA8h1SgvOlpkXCoJjbM-hjo7enWCK8PkWgXHudcm7IC5ZeOnokpVezQ9kjoA_eJaJCPeNQRz2kKWj6ghfXNDqCLqWNnwCc6mjD5FE7-NoKBp2cVZNTRl3j1XSvuUM5iqQ_Y0Fd8sjBg/s1600/P1020783.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1cA8h1SgvOlpkXCoJjbM-hjo7enWCK8PkWgXHudcm7IC5ZeOnokpVezQ9kjoA_eJaJCPeNQRz2kKWj6ghfXNDqCLqWNnwCc6mjD5FE7-NoKBp2cVZNTRl3j1XSvuUM5iqQ_Y0Fd8sjBg/s320/P1020783.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">singing in spring for a very new daughter</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> Getting into the paint with baby just got me excited to get some more messy arts and crafts going this summer. There is freedom in knowing I can turn on the sprinkler and get a clean baby through more "play time". </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">So, father's day to all. I'm so thankful that my daughter has such a sweet, caring, thoughtful, smart, interesting, loving man to be her father. </span></div>
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my father moved through dooms of love
through sames of am through haves of give,
singing each morning out of each night
my father moved through depths of height
- See more at: http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/15405#sthash.vpq1CazO.dp</div>
<div style="left: -1988px; position: absolute; top: -1999px;">
<div style="left: -1988px; position: absolute; top: -1999px;">
my father moved through dooms of love
through sames of am through haves of give,
singing each morning out of each night
my father moved through depths of height
- See more at: http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/15405#sthash.vpq1CazO.dpuf</div>
my father moved through dooms of love
through sames of am through haves of give,
singing each morning out of each night
my father moved through depths of height - See more at: http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/15405#sthash.vpq1CazO.dpuf</div>
Helen C.http://www.blogger.com/profile/01642693988969351325noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2159448976491656264.post-16533971760508451812013-06-14T20:36:00.004-07:002013-06-20T19:45:37.189-07:00Fiesta time!<i>Cinco de Mayo is holiday time,</i><br />
<i>holiday time</i><br />
<i>in Mexico!</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>-</i>From some song I sang in a first grade class recital. It's never left my brain.<br />
<br />
I had a little fun for Cinco de Mayo. I justified it by saying I would put her in this outfit again... but truly... this was a one time outfit. And it rocked.<br />
Once I saw the tutorial for the skirt on <a href="http://www.danamadeit.com/2013/05/tutorial-fiesta-skirts-for-cinco-de-mayo.html">Dana Made it </a>I couldn't turn back. She makes it all look so easy and fun. And it was. I see more fiesta style twirly skirts in our future. It was a great way to use up some of the random trim I've had around- lace, ric rac... I actually had to hold back a little. <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHzZKyeSgGr2BcPa7QWuTyM-w2tWhvZErViID_iflM37M5oAl1gSZIn_KPmhnIKcbdc9gWR1_S3HiUwqeHc4S6pMZqqLK1uW_1gDLFuA4CRB7OODspb7yF9aSPR3pB-6MjIqfE5RH5dUw/s1600/IMG_0723.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHzZKyeSgGr2BcPa7QWuTyM-w2tWhvZErViID_iflM37M5oAl1gSZIn_KPmhnIKcbdc9gWR1_S3HiUwqeHc4S6pMZqqLK1uW_1gDLFuA4CRB7OODspb7yF9aSPR3pB-6MjIqfE5RH5dUw/s640/IMG_0723.JPG" width="425" /></a></div>
Of course, once I had the skirt, she needed a little shirt. Using freezer paper, I cut out the stencil, ironed it on, painted and waited for it to dry. So sweet. I've used the same technique for another outfit I made for her, it's a fun way to dress up a simple onsie or t-shirt.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgk9vEMTpm0qzsW7Vy4DP7-4M97Y4UlyiGRZ33zZ_2cPuPvRYIt1FaQIvNCPt4uDeBdTEUJ4esyMmGE7hA7uP-jQJAU9SttoUf2MxsrVukUsU31dbrCOrZKZswIwaVfkcpdvHxXL_Dl94I/s1600/IMG_0517.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgk9vEMTpm0qzsW7Vy4DP7-4M97Y4UlyiGRZ33zZ_2cPuPvRYIt1FaQIvNCPt4uDeBdTEUJ4esyMmGE7hA7uP-jQJAU9SttoUf2MxsrVukUsU31dbrCOrZKZswIwaVfkcpdvHxXL_Dl94I/s320/IMG_0517.JPG" width="213" /></a></div>
This Bunny outfit was done a few weeks before the Cinco de Mayo outfit. I think it's pretty much the greatest onsie ever. <br />
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A little burro, a little fiesta, a little skirt, a little fun.<br />
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<br />Helen C.http://www.blogger.com/profile/01642693988969351325noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2159448976491656264.post-20618559950994521002013-04-28T14:58:00.002-07:002013-04-28T15:11:51.543-07:00Hitchhiker's Guide to a Birthday<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"> </span><i style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;">"All right," said Deep Thought. "The Answer to the Great Question..."</span></i></span></div>
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<i><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;">"Yes..!"</span></i></div>
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<i><i><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;">"Of Life, the Universe and Everything..." said Deep Thought.</span></i></i></div>
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<span style="color: #181818; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;"></span></i></span>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><i><span style="color: #181818; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;"><i style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;">"Yes...!"</span></i></span></i></span></div>
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</span><span style="color: #181818; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;"></span></i></span>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><i><span style="color: #181818; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;"><i style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;">"Is..." said Deep Thought, and paused.</span></i></span></i></span></div>
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><i><span style="color: #181818; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;">
</span><span style="color: #181818; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: center;">
<i style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;">"Yes...!"</span></i></div>
</span><span style="color: #181818; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: center;">
<i style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;">"Is..."</span></i></div>
</span><span style="color: #181818; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: center;">
<i style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;">"Yes...!!!...?"</span></i></div>
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<i style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;">"Forty-two," said Deep Thought, with infinite majesty and calm.” </span></i></div>
</span></i><span style="color: #181818; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;">― </span><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4.Douglas_Adams" style="color: #666600; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none;">Douglas Adams</a><span style="color: #181818; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;">, </span><span style="color: #181818; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;"><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/3078186" style="color: #666600;"><b>The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy</b></a></span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">My husband loves birthdays. In general. All birthdays. And so, as his birthday approaches the excitment builds. Always. And, when we can pull it off, we go for a big party with a theme, friends, food and drink. And this year, we pulled it off. </span></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiN6e8PooJOuwEhX8xrXWGXx31DKs4WYP3nNR9y8LoBnZOpSCxH_4ane6TZsyP3bMfXaNtouUBc01kmk-g4qgWzb5SWCwBDRoEFqoz_GZy2136gMeGpDnEVo3YT6M24t94GryQToYGDfVU/s1600/IMG_0697.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="background-color: white; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiN6e8PooJOuwEhX8xrXWGXx31DKs4WYP3nNR9y8LoBnZOpSCxH_4ane6TZsyP3bMfXaNtouUBc01kmk-g4qgWzb5SWCwBDRoEFqoz_GZy2136gMeGpDnEVo3YT6M24t94GryQToYGDfVU/s400/IMG_0697.JPG" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Sign on the front door</span></span></td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Yes, this year my husband turned 42. Being an amazingly awesome nerd, this meant only one thing. He needed to have Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy birthday party. We weren't sure what that meant, exactly, but it had to happen. So I got to work. There is really not much out there in internet land on Hitchhiker birthdays. (Weird, right? Ha.). So, I got creative and got to work. </span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Of course, there had to be dolphins. Dolphins leaving the earth right before it's destroyed by Volgons.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; line-height: 18px;"><i>“For instance, on the planet Earth, man had always assumed that he was more intelligent than dolphins because he had achieved so much—the wheel, New York, wars and so on—whilst all the dolphins had ever done was muck about in the water having a good time. But conversely, the dolphins had always believed that they were far more intelligent than man—for precisely the same reasons.”</i></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"> So, we had Dolphins. I found a party supply store that shipped FOR FREE and then I got them filled at Dollar Tree. Speech bubble added by us, of course. </span></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxu3-b1br-Ccgt5qyxO1CVJpGkwZ85G_OoOqag0bC0k5JSo7S09yciziYexZPfIUoAb8vGoppOWJxtgnDNTupHC1lysHobtAJZUP55iGreAljAES9aFa78wRc-1gXR8TpFcj3DDIqO0Vw/s1600/IMG_0703.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="background-color: white; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxu3-b1br-Ccgt5qyxO1CVJpGkwZ85G_OoOqag0bC0k5JSo7S09yciziYexZPfIUoAb8vGoppOWJxtgnDNTupHC1lysHobtAJZUP55iGreAljAES9aFa78wRc-1gXR8TpFcj3DDIqO0Vw/s400/IMG_0703.JPG" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">"So Long, and thanks for all the fish!"</span></span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkYbJCLhaqR4r1qFq6Gr87TDXLlbkq9gN42KleKDzQ7XxLelJZpzHfhGkYAVx4sx7XHegzIz8ivTxmUzuYN-vMZ8m2u7IlUW_CDilZ9CSAEW5HntHR-THfQ513usNX9dZ1l3RonidOlWk/s1600/IMG_0615.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="background-color: white; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkYbJCLhaqR4r1qFq6Gr87TDXLlbkq9gN42KleKDzQ7XxLelJZpzHfhGkYAVx4sx7XHegzIz8ivTxmUzuYN-vMZ8m2u7IlUW_CDilZ9CSAEW5HntHR-THfQ513usNX9dZ1l3RonidOlWk/s400/IMG_0615.JPG" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Who doesn't love a dolphin?</span></span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhD_CT-ifGwRILuPVu_y3zBElKVVAaWpYQAmh1R2jWxp3sNxR5jmQ8NZ3TZOnBnBmMr9QOkXM5dW1aKVb0M4I1g1ttNVbY8r3HIFgVYLMAskTv1BnpzP9P8bdn0URKAiRqw0THhgmVL50g/s1600/IMG_0616.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="background-color: white; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhD_CT-ifGwRILuPVu_y3zBElKVVAaWpYQAmh1R2jWxp3sNxR5jmQ8NZ3TZOnBnBmMr9QOkXM5dW1aKVb0M4I1g1ttNVbY8r3HIFgVYLMAskTv1BnpzP9P8bdn0URKAiRqw0THhgmVL50g/s400/IMG_0616.JPG" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Dolphin Kisses to the Birthday boy.</span></span></td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">You'll notice the 42 towel. A towel is an essential part of galaxy travel. </span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; line-height: 18px;"><i>“A towel, [The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy] says, is about the most massively useful thing an interstellar hitchhiker can have. "</i></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">I made "42" towels for decor- and guests were encouraged to take one home (I mean, what would we do with 20 towels decorated with the number 42?)</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">I used the freezer paper stencil method that's been floating around internet craft land. My sister had already tried it and confirmed it as an awesome technique. To make it easier, I used a Cricut machine (but I'm still pining for a Silhouette, if it must be known). The freezer paper worked in the machine wonderfully. I ironed the stencil down, painted with fabric paint, and let it dry. Then I peeled off the freezer paper and I had a fantastic little towel. </span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhT_mZkGznczwLBed1pCVNxfE2oYu_-4Iz3zPu1qLUBXl7roSjZogewGqykdBLdfmT8kSyAhiUw3WbsRG6-2nhMF-E03xUP6-bYMqR7k9w_0RgNGg-0d0puMNWxrkb4-HVvAhFzzUA0jCY/s1600/IMG_0705.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="background-color: white; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhT_mZkGznczwLBed1pCVNxfE2oYu_-4Iz3zPu1qLUBXl7roSjZogewGqykdBLdfmT8kSyAhiUw3WbsRG6-2nhMF-E03xUP6-bYMqR7k9w_0RgNGg-0d0puMNWxrkb4-HVvAhFzzUA0jCY/s400/IMG_0705.JPG" width="266" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="color: #181818;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">I hung them around as part of the decor. </span></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXvwnhTCSWFirADhmq_IMHYxQw88jsJTgEpMwXQb969vT7fLyP9r92gTbwWJIuoH7gSa6dLhqFk3BnGjLnthHqGXkxYkVnULPO-r9bZXKrQbU2Hvs5DxGLgRtNTcJBeZSwJpLFQo93i-Q/s1600/IMG_0612.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="background-color: white; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXvwnhTCSWFirADhmq_IMHYxQw88jsJTgEpMwXQb969vT7fLyP9r92gTbwWJIuoH7gSa6dLhqFk3BnGjLnthHqGXkxYkVnULPO-r9bZXKrQbU2Hvs5DxGLgRtNTcJBeZSwJpLFQo93i-Q/s400/IMG_0612.JPG" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">42 towels and dolphins</span></span></td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: white; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">The weather held for the day and we had a perfect back deck party and BBQ. We had galactic lights strung and ready for the evening. </span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXLxmBmrHuT9gneCGHhGVCqcpKTvatToAqNFcIA1a58sQ2wTWOeBrihlTtuknUhVsSeOguaRLrKALs_l7YLb-iVsBTHsrgIsodxjyXd8pR_7UQ5_ZWG_Wq75jxtQnuLLnWlXJUw7coPso/s1600/IMG_0613.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="background-color: white; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXLxmBmrHuT9gneCGHhGVCqcpKTvatToAqNFcIA1a58sQ2wTWOeBrihlTtuknUhVsSeOguaRLrKALs_l7YLb-iVsBTHsrgIsodxjyXd8pR_7UQ5_ZWG_Wq75jxtQnuLLnWlXJUw7coPso/s400/IMG_0613.JPG" width="400" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"> It seemed almost too convenient that petunias are part of a great scene in the book AND are currently being sold at every garden center right now.</span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;"><i><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">"<span style="line-height: 19.1875px;">Curiously enough, the only thing that went through the mind of the bowl of petunias as it fell was 'Oh no, not again.' </span><span style="line-height: 19.1875px;">Many people have speculated that if we knew exactly why the bowl of petunias had thought that we would know a lot more about the nature of the Universe than we do now."</span></span></i></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.1875px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"> We had pots of flowers all over the deck... nice to have decor that isn't thrown away when we are done with the party.</span></span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWC71g7qhtDyZDMtcP-QdxBbPmJqT1yYV7DpycpnhnGcasuVsxRwuDsqmjjjzZtXwwfogBIcBr64v4DLXNcIHmN5uVyQD3tbjJrKTDox4ujY6fwdlD58QnyFpSFWJyCWlJoSMixaaxaF0/s1600/IMG_0617.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="background-color: white; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWC71g7qhtDyZDMtcP-QdxBbPmJqT1yYV7DpycpnhnGcasuVsxRwuDsqmjjjzZtXwwfogBIcBr64v4DLXNcIHmN5uVyQD3tbjJrKTDox4ujY6fwdlD58QnyFpSFWJyCWlJoSMixaaxaF0/s400/IMG_0617.JPG" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Petunias falling to the ground</span></span></td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">The petunia scene came up in a couple of outfits people wore. Not only did this friend have a pot of petunias he wore the entire party- he had a tiny whale pin that looked like it was falling with the petunias. </span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhh6glcVXoLINextiTO76NhVOErfFXB7Vw-Rk62biBZbAJGBwgUvnIS81Z0kGb36oV8-LBwDgyggk6MtHbUlrNYu9D83YYKlOjUOZzB0wSkwlBE98N2qYGTiWCblzYm5XB0Ga6f-0pb7yI/s1600/IMG_0609.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="background-color: white; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhh6glcVXoLINextiTO76NhVOErfFXB7Vw-Rk62biBZbAJGBwgUvnIS81Z0kGb36oV8-LBwDgyggk6MtHbUlrNYu9D83YYKlOjUOZzB0wSkwlBE98N2qYGTiWCblzYm5XB0Ga6f-0pb7yI/s400/IMG_0609.JPG" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">bathrobe, towel, petunias and whale!</span></span></td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><i><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">
“Another thing that got forgotten was the fact that against all probability a sperm whale had suddenly been called into existence several miles above the surface of an alien planet.</span></i></span><span style="background-color: white;"><i><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">And since this is not a naturally tenable position for a whale, this poor innocent creature had very little time to come to terms with its identity as a whale before it then had to come to terms with not being a whale any more."</span></i></span><br />
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<span style="color: #181818;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">And, one particularly fun (and camera shy) 13 year old wore this shirt:</span></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><img height="640" src="http://a.tgcdn.net/images/products/zoom/d2b3_fail_whale.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="318" /></span></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">From "ThinkGeek.com"</span></span></td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">And what did we serve for food and drink?... well, along with normal BBQ fare we had goldfish and Swedish fish ("So long, and thanks for all the fish."). A friend brought homemade chips and salsa with custom signs in it.</span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyAYEZR714Y6klinMwFEojl55eZLIDpxJFul_meJf4EaeSBP2yAqivPns8AwlclUbAhKEkreQ_oRZYMwDUn81uMGFcr2x_vRhQxgnyYbeQ8IeVo7U49n-5A1RR4PgB-jyFEkyDoYfpbKs/s1600/IMG_0693.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="background-color: white; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyAYEZR714Y6klinMwFEojl55eZLIDpxJFul_meJf4EaeSBP2yAqivPns8AwlclUbAhKEkreQ_oRZYMwDUn81uMGFcr2x_vRhQxgnyYbeQ8IeVo7U49n-5A1RR4PgB-jyFEkyDoYfpbKs/s400/IMG_0693.JPG" width="266" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"> And of course, our own take on the Pan Galactic Garble Blaster.</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>"The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy also mentions alcohol. It says that the best drink in existence is the Pan Galactic Gargle Blaster. The effect of which is like having your brains smashed out with a slice of lemon wrapped round a large gold brick."</i></span></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisMsL7xZNngRPogUkcZmiFB24RYoeiQuw8exhHRlvLNP6HM4H7z_7b56jcCYGKXQAcLzWtx2hlAgSpiQ2D-TM7Yv0j22oqgZIdqwQHMWwwrqHdgNOwiBi7SXC92BZNjpWGV7N59Pfo5X4/s1600/IMG_0610.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="background-color: white; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisMsL7xZNngRPogUkcZmiFB24RYoeiQuw8exhHRlvLNP6HM4H7z_7b56jcCYGKXQAcLzWtx2hlAgSpiQ2D-TM7Yv0j22oqgZIdqwQHMWwwrqHdgNOwiBi7SXC92BZNjpWGV7N59Pfo5X4/s320/IMG_0610.JPG" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">We decided best to make the drink family friendly and allow for adults to add brain smashing ingredients as they saw fit. Basically I mixed containers of limeade, lemonade, grapefruit juice, and 7up. I sliced up lemons and limes and let them float in it. We put this sign next to it:</span></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><img height="400" src="http://markarayner.com/images-10/va-pangalactic.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="279" /></span></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">An amazing graphic from internet land...</span></span></td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">For a take on the infinite improbability drive, husband covered the alcohol choices in paper. Adding it to your drink was a hit of the improbability button- anything might happen!</span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;"><i><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">"Side effects of using the Infinite Improbability Drive include temporary (and sometimes permanent,) changes to environment and morphological structure, hallucinations, and the calling into being of large marine mammals. An incredible range of highly improbable things can happen."</span></i></span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMN6lLE-zYJjLv7JI-yx5l6OslqJp8PeFrjUB027BJV_AzHAuy6r5P7tJ54gGSxDURb6eTIYqGR2w0mbrxhjEBYhgHDW93mNBPDHt82aXwC81-3dIAwYAW6fRlLfTRfFTWSOCgykcwmeI/s1600/IMG_0696.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="background-color: white; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMN6lLE-zYJjLv7JI-yx5l6OslqJp8PeFrjUB027BJV_AzHAuy6r5P7tJ54gGSxDURb6eTIYqGR2w0mbrxhjEBYhgHDW93mNBPDHt82aXwC81-3dIAwYAW6fRlLfTRfFTWSOCgykcwmeI/s400/IMG_0696.JPG" width="266" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Infinite improbability drive</span></span></td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Of course, we had cake. The cake. was. awesome. I bought a cake from the greatest place in town- they wrote on it for me- then I made mice.</span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>"These creatures you call mice, you see, they are not quite as they appear. They are merely the protrusion into our dimension of vastly huperintelligent pandimensional beings."</i></span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"> I melted white chocolate in the microwave, dipped </span><span style="font-size: 14.44444465637207px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17.98611068725586px;">maraschino</span><span style="font-size: 14px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"> cherries in it, attached a Hershey's Hug and used sliced almonds for ears. I put them ALL over the cake. Delightful. </span></span></h1>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiny8V7Bk7Deedx0MPBtiPma1N8k4iLbm8QJTkAduMwpo3tPsz0FoOkS-IWdqd3OwtsKobNeX1_Avb8-iRgV-L3Wg8jPVUtfuKzLquKl4ZX5YaBPEdmKZDukZjFGiBhdgokbk_KHejAl40/s1600/IMG_0671.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="background-color: white; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiny8V7Bk7Deedx0MPBtiPma1N8k4iLbm8QJTkAduMwpo3tPsz0FoOkS-IWdqd3OwtsKobNeX1_Avb8-iRgV-L3Wg8jPVUtfuKzLquKl4ZX5YaBPEdmKZDukZjFGiBhdgokbk_KHejAl40/s400/IMG_0671.JPG" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Ack! There are mice on that cake!</span></span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYUSeGqSH8xR6mJL94NGWAzYou7MbG6mfPGEvJdCN7kOo9n-WfFDU7qiGXTPhFPB4TcqNAYHqO3QfpDLxj0hKxA9bDlwmXpdmvZxJYoP-metXhszsBY6H9T-PMAljnc8S83vF6ezxwXhU/s1600/IMG_0677.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="background-color: white; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYUSeGqSH8xR6mJL94NGWAzYou7MbG6mfPGEvJdCN7kOo9n-WfFDU7qiGXTPhFPB4TcqNAYHqO3QfpDLxj0hKxA9bDlwmXpdmvZxJYoP-metXhszsBY6H9T-PMAljnc8S83vF6ezxwXhU/s400/IMG_0677.JPG" width="266" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">ready to blow out the candles</span></span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpo7PtH1L1vrw7-t6F7GktFbgEc7Eu0euPM7NO2dOC-35aEw6EHLXz3CLv3wBXRFx34_DUW_spla9KSSEOm96ry_g49yl_2GJ1knJfl5VkJNEX8G8T5T3fwnIxXeAZQaaaUSbpIEhAuJU/s1600/IMG_0687.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="background-color: white; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpo7PtH1L1vrw7-t6F7GktFbgEc7Eu0euPM7NO2dOC-35aEw6EHLXz3CLv3wBXRFx34_DUW_spla9KSSEOm96ry_g49yl_2GJ1knJfl5VkJNEX8G8T5T3fwnIxXeAZQaaaUSbpIEhAuJU/s400/IMG_0687.JPG" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">white mice- the smartest life form on earth. Kind of. </span></span></td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; text-align: left;">It was a general, smashing, wonderful time. So great to see friends, so great to be able to include our daughter. Fun to enjoy some unusually nice weather for April. Glad to toast another year with a great guy!</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoZF9v_k6hJ05V3S6YwZY0jQTEOJQxS18PfC9ktNAQ56BU_KaV7Rh4LoyvESp2ohbekQ4FuYnnM8l8tuDsZfAcooc_u-b_C8KDAX2qZ0LOf7_gW509qTIwfRegh9LlqTp4UXDQ9VDjEkk/s1600/IMG_0621.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="background-color: white; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoZF9v_k6hJ05V3S6YwZY0jQTEOJQxS18PfC9ktNAQ56BU_KaV7Rh4LoyvESp2ohbekQ4FuYnnM8l8tuDsZfAcooc_u-b_C8KDAX2qZ0LOf7_gW509qTIwfRegh9LlqTp4UXDQ9VDjEkk/s400/IMG_0621.JPG" width="266" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">The lemon hat, to get his brain going</span></span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsbbJIJjddI9ZVvi95WOpw4Xp5_PCAcjxaRg6xQfWnm8moiVb3m4g0gw4v76oB29SGBWTRzZgKf0TQUQNuJcRB_x353COjveZlPVm5FJfFyePVCHj0DCYqpSbDI1FtduqYL0lKc6l4M2g/s1600/IMG_0638.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="background-color: white; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsbbJIJjddI9ZVvi95WOpw4Xp5_PCAcjxaRg6xQfWnm8moiVb3m4g0gw4v76oB29SGBWTRzZgKf0TQUQNuJcRB_x353COjveZlPVm5FJfFyePVCHj0DCYqpSbDI1FtduqYL0lKc6l4M2g/s400/IMG_0638.JPG" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Our real answer to Life, the Universe, and Everything</span></span></td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuGUrcjPAwkndwSuSUZoxmRapW0cFOFrWN_aRjpsZ4GKnLcPs89w0ZtG9i7v4s_no6FHbj9Qm8lTMCxBhLmRnYjnuqfYxHkZOBxbLJsUOd5KFv51FetPILcQaDwNYvFTxjH7TOpHlOWjc/s1600/IMG_0657.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="background-color: white; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuGUrcjPAwkndwSuSUZoxmRapW0cFOFrWN_aRjpsZ4GKnLcPs89w0ZtG9i7v4s_no6FHbj9Qm8lTMCxBhLmRnYjnuqfYxHkZOBxbLJsUOd5KFv51FetPILcQaDwNYvFTxjH7TOpHlOWjc/s400/IMG_0657.JPG" width="266" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Relaxing together</span></span></td></tr>
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Helen C.http://www.blogger.com/profile/01642693988969351325noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2159448976491656264.post-30552647582097342722013-04-19T20:45:00.001-07:002013-04-19T20:55:37.523-07:00At the zoo<b>We're going to the zoo, zoo, zoo! How about you, you, you? You can come too, too too, we're going to the zoo, zoo, zoo.</b><br />
<i>-Going to the Zoo by Peter, Paul and Mary.</i><br />
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Today we took the new jacket out for a run at the zoo. A long trip to the zoo. It was a delightful, rainy day-the bright jacket served us perfectly.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKD4KfNVk-bai81-IcDBYKSdomIQ43axwCT4BOUiPwWf047_tHg6HEFno5xB2PD8ECOaK1_lUpscmo-Kl9A4LoYbTtBsqUgutnqEYcn0EGq_3MKT6lissNN7keDUYWoOfPun3TfvSDsRM/s1600/IMG_0555.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKD4KfNVk-bai81-IcDBYKSdomIQ43axwCT4BOUiPwWf047_tHg6HEFno5xB2PD8ECOaK1_lUpscmo-Kl9A4LoYbTtBsqUgutnqEYcn0EGq_3MKT6lissNN7keDUYWoOfPun3TfvSDsRM/s400/IMG_0555.JPG" width="266" /></a></div>
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I love the bright fabric. Just love. In the past, I don't think I would have picked it- but the bright colors match baby's bright personality. And the jacket turned out beautifully. What a sweet pattern. We couldn't use the flash in with the elephants- the baby elephant was running and playing- so this one turned out a little blurry, but it shows the hood. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmWVRUQn7eCqulFmbAcAUvt1LJYXh6xd8CsELBGZwE6E7YsdDtK6lvQBg2ELsmBUzwzENKVeypugVeO0JvI352uOwmO2IHUV1UpElFerNzpPQxKSvtpqSFvwwuDlQ7f7eo_jL6sbBWXhs/s1600/IMG_0552.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmWVRUQn7eCqulFmbAcAUvt1LJYXh6xd8CsELBGZwE6E7YsdDtK6lvQBg2ELsmBUzwzENKVeypugVeO0JvI352uOwmO2IHUV1UpElFerNzpPQxKSvtpqSFvwwuDlQ7f7eo_jL6sbBWXhs/s400/IMG_0552.JPG" width="266" /></a></div>
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Such a sweet little thing. The hood of the jacket is so sweet, but it will never get worn. Even in the rain, baby pushes that hood back and puts her face up to the sky. She's a little outside girl. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKHcYSau91R4PgrbljRcT_743usagAPFpHbBQIXW0nz1VOPpeijN1zLogDBrmDkH841nw5aEZszEx2nRoumohRSx1LUOdtWGFs3VVm39hpElEsx6QTh0ufatSW-g_2LHNCRhIfEX-wOaU/s1600/IMG_0561.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKHcYSau91R4PgrbljRcT_743usagAPFpHbBQIXW0nz1VOPpeijN1zLogDBrmDkH841nw5aEZszEx2nRoumohRSx1LUOdtWGFs3VVm39hpElEsx6QTh0ufatSW-g_2LHNCRhIfEX-wOaU/s400/IMG_0561.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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The 2T size proved to be a little big- meaning I get to roll the sleeves back and show of the lining fabric. I love the blue lining, I think it tempers the bright jacket a bit. </div>
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It worked well for hippo rides:</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTUOxMf-p_jM5q9J9TAwh8RD_laEgXvnBdxlnEH4O4eBVKFkAmVBinX3ZBWZPFz3-ZGCLQn-W-2Gx_5cnjkBPm-lzJsOIJfMAbvzZNkA2-UBkpvCFYJz3GUEph5KSlhJiDTETW1tKkW-A/s1600/IMG_0563.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTUOxMf-p_jM5q9J9TAwh8RD_laEgXvnBdxlnEH4O4eBVKFkAmVBinX3ZBWZPFz3-ZGCLQn-W-2Gx_5cnjkBPm-lzJsOIJfMAbvzZNkA2-UBkpvCFYJz3GUEph5KSlhJiDTETW1tKkW-A/s400/IMG_0563.JPG" width="266" /></a></div>
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And elephant rides:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIYkiJkLNzSDxDPA8_SH-btfcnRQiB-Oe5MCYAETltSuX95rtQIcdJohZB7zNawm99E2OyrG8BuK4sKsjiI-wKMOucxrFTDJ8MXSKaPXVAg_UE3AROb3eOEN62a0a0H9KIF7H9YjYqoVU/s1600/IMG_0568.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIYkiJkLNzSDxDPA8_SH-btfcnRQiB-Oe5MCYAETltSuX95rtQIcdJohZB7zNawm99E2OyrG8BuK4sKsjiI-wKMOucxrFTDJ8MXSKaPXVAg_UE3AROb3eOEN62a0a0H9KIF7H9YjYqoVU/s400/IMG_0568.JPG" width="266" /></a></div>
And camel rides:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTRkXkArAaPi3zxQh4F20VPEVxebhi2ROQZQjmQR2CveTqzeQxwQpUDEnT_mm2UJ7-diV58-SjhqTSrLXrlg0TG5JLmwSmdXlQCKuyPuuXXfxw0_xFAKVFT-kbXf782g23WzwxB4onoPk/s1600/IMG_0574.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTRkXkArAaPi3zxQh4F20VPEVxebhi2ROQZQjmQR2CveTqzeQxwQpUDEnT_mm2UJ7-diV58-SjhqTSrLXrlg0TG5JLmwSmdXlQCKuyPuuXXfxw0_xFAKVFT-kbXf782g23WzwxB4onoPk/s400/IMG_0574.JPG" width="266" /></a></div>
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I love seeing her ride the same statues I did as a kid. </div>
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The process for making the jacket went well. The sleeves were the hardest part. Working with the larger pieces proved easier. Using the lighter weight fabric probably made it easier too. </div>
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Lovely lovely. Something sweet for such a happy girl. It doesn't get better. </div>
Helen C.http://www.blogger.com/profile/01642693988969351325noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2159448976491656264.post-74516186118333520822013-04-11T19:51:00.000-07:002013-04-11T20:32:45.665-07:00For Spring, We Begin Again<b>"The beginning is the most important part of the work."</b><br />
<b>Plato <i>The Republic</i></b><br />
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With my graduate class behind me, and no more classes until the summer... it's time to get my creative on again. I had to dig my machine out of the sewing room- a sign that it's been much too long since it's last use- and get her set up again. Not that I have hours to spare, but I have a few moments I can make some choice about how to spend, and I CHOOSE SEWING!<br />
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So, I find myself at the start of a project.<br />
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It's time for another School Days Jacket. How I love oliver & s. I still love the jacket I made the first time around with this pattern. So perfect. </div>
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This time I'm going for a spring/summer jacket- so I found a light-weight, bright corduroys and I'm lining it with a quilting cotton. So, I've jumped in to it. I traced pieces (size 2T) onto Swedish Tracing paper, ironed the fabric, and pinned it all down. </div>
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In just a short bit, I had this:</div>
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A pile of cut pieces. Now I've got all the pieces ready to go- time to fire up the machine and turn them into a jacket! As great as my graduate class was...(and it really was awesome)...it's nice to be creating again. </div>
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<br />
―
<span style="color: black;"><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/14403.Ambrose_Bierce">Ambrose Bierce</a>,
</span><i>
<span style="color: black;"><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/865289">The Devil's Dictionary</a></span></i><br />
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<span style="color: black;">About two years ago I discovered a wonderful, wonderful thing. A crochet pattern for an apple sweater. Or apple cozy. Whatever you call it. It protects the apple in my lunch bag, it keeps the apple cold, and it's just plain adorable. </span><br />
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<span style="color: black;">After making a handful of them and giving them as gifts, I decided it was time for a new adventure. My co-worker packed a banana every day in his lunch. After some trial and error I developed the banana sweater. It's... ridiculous. And awesome. Recently, I got an order for two more! Really! People saw them and wanted them! </span><br />
<span style="color: black;">I had to redevelop the pattern, I couldn't quite remember it, and they came out just like the first one:</span><br />
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<span style="color: black;"> If you are thinking right now, "that Helen, innocent middle school teacher, does she even KNOW what these look like?"... you can slow down there. Believe me, the middle school staff room had a field day with these the moment I brought them in two years ago. Every joke has been made. But all that aside, they really are awesome. I mean, I even got the pattern to match the curve of the banana. (Again, all the jokes have already been made.) This time around I decided to add a label:</span><br />
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It's hard to see- I typed the tag on fabric, I like how it turned out. It was fun to make these knowing that someone else would be buying them and using them. It's all pretty silly, but it felt good to make something. And now that my graduate class is done... I might get a chance to do a few things here and there. <br />
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</i>Helen C.http://www.blogger.com/profile/01642693988969351325noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2159448976491656264.post-11577970569123037732013-02-09T14:28:00.000-08:002013-02-16T21:27:20.908-08:00sweet, soft, and oh so prettyThree crib sheets done. Here are two of the flannel ones. Baby enjoyed checking them out. The tutorial on <a href="http://www.danamadeit.com/2008/07/tutorial-crib-and-toddler-bed-sheets.html">Dana Made It</a> was really wonderful. I'm sure there are many more tutorials like it, but she makes the step by step so easy.<br />
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I also did one from a knit:<br />
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I love the little flowers on it. It's such a sweet print and so SOFT.<br />
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It's fun to have another mama made touch in the nursery. The curtains, the quilt.... and now the sheet.Helen C.http://www.blogger.com/profile/01642693988969351325noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2159448976491656264.post-24180843913603350792013-01-27T19:50:00.000-08:002013-01-27T19:50:31.843-08:00Crib Sheet: MADEI made a crib sheet today following the tutorial at <a href="http://www.danamadeit.com/2008/07/tutorial-crib-and-toddler-bed-sheets.html">Dana Made It</a>. She was right. It was simple. And so much prettier than any from the store. Today's sheet was made from a very very very soft blue flannel I have had for much too long. I didn't take any pictures... but I will with the next one. I have the prettiest green flannel going through the wash right now, can't wait to make it into something pretty.<br />
My next plan is to keep an eye on the sheets at goodwill and find some very soft ones to use.<br />
My {crafting} New Year's resolution it so only sew with fabric I currently have OR with fabric that is bought used. I'm going to try and do this for the entire year. It felt so good to use those two yards of flannel that have been taking up shelf space for two year now.Helen C.http://www.blogger.com/profile/01642693988969351325noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2159448976491656264.post-43106214323820319272012-12-28T16:39:00.000-08:002012-12-28T16:39:15.193-08:00I am still crafting...<i><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">“Take some more tea," the March Hare said to Alice, very earnestly.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">"I've had nothing yet," Alice replied in an offended tone, "so I can't take more."</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">"You mean you can't take </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">less</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">," said the Hatter: "it's very easy to take </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">more</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;"> than nothing."</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">"Nobody asked </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">your</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;"> opinion," said Alice.” </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">― </span><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/8164.Lewis_Carroll" style="background-color: white; color: #666600; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; text-decoration: initial;">Lewis Carroll</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">, </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;"><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/2933712" style="color: #666600; text-decoration: initial;">Alice in Wonderland</a></span></i><br />
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Crafting with a new baby (well, now a ONE YEAR OLD!) is possible. Yes, it means I fall behind in laundry, dishes, and other such exciting things. But I can do it. And I do. The only thing I'm missing is actually writing about it. Since my last post I have:<br />
finished a quilt<br />
sewed a new dress for baby<br />
designed and put on a killer "Little Golden Book" party.<br />
made napkins<br />
ornaments for the tree<br />
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and little things in between. So not bad. And I might even get some pictures of it up.<br />
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My latest project was a set of invites for a tea to invite new members into the chapter of Delta Kappa Gamma, an international group for female educators. Of course, I had to make it way more complicated than it needed to be.... but I just LOVE how these turned out.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwr9jODwgRg2-Zo_jKHjazYtE8J7gis4aZIj4XLS1l9xdhYA80CyLL9F4sg-gHOkjYWIvW_vEGV4VuFPIFt4BIDHsCtMrR-YNeuAoVOiVv9padkUqL_rsvNfgq29muclcaYi42KmVh4OI/s1600/P1040616.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwr9jODwgRg2-Zo_jKHjazYtE8J7gis4aZIj4XLS1l9xdhYA80CyLL9F4sg-gHOkjYWIvW_vEGV4VuFPIFt4BIDHsCtMrR-YNeuAoVOiVv9padkUqL_rsvNfgq29muclcaYi42KmVh4OI/s400/P1040616.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
I used a tutorial I found through (of course) pinterest. The tutorial and template can be found <a href="http://www.ohmyhandmade.com/2012/contributors/diy-teacup-shaped-envelopes/">here</a>. I changed it a little because I wanted the look of the two colors of paper (one for the cup and one for the flap) but I didn't want to paint all my own white paper. So instead of cutting out two pieces of paper, I cut three. The front of the cup, the back, and the "top" or the flap.<br />
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The two rows of stitching on the top are how I attached the "top" flap to the back of the cup. Then I sewed the cup parts together and I had an envelope!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_GKOpy0Lup0GkYvu9jCoc8RlZ8rmeO97VnLVlDqq3pHokc6JcEamymoR6hStCzP1FX9QMVX8xLUb58ZBAru_IYlrsNBZ_OA87n37rUE6dhnmQJ6jpdbiajGHyYShaL9SScdbFpq7UVUk/s1600/P1040617.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_GKOpy0Lup0GkYvu9jCoc8RlZ8rmeO97VnLVlDqq3pHokc6JcEamymoR6hStCzP1FX9QMVX8xLUb58ZBAru_IYlrsNBZ_OA87n37rUE6dhnmQJ6jpdbiajGHyYShaL9SScdbFpq7UVUk/s400/P1040617.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
To make the tea tag I stamped paper and free handed the cut out. I cut the cup template down a bit and used it for the template for the card inside. Then I sewed the tea tag to the card.<br />
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I love it.<br />
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So the crafting continues.<br />
<br />Helen C.http://www.blogger.com/profile/01642693988969351325noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2159448976491656264.post-85037880677490756332012-11-04T21:27:00.000-08:002012-11-04T21:29:19.638-08:00Autumn and a School Days Jacket<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;">Now's the time when children's noses</span></div>
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;">All become as red as roses</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;">And the colour of their faces</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;">Makes me think of orchard places</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;">Where the juicy apples grow,</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;">And tomatoes in a row.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;">-Autumn Song by Katherine Mansfield</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgR_vpQwA4-b3E_GnXqXmC8Bn2joBRthWdXhFBXFCTKkGndrq6KwYzRfPP-2az5U-7Y0JIa0wbRKBNPbAxOWI7nbMJD3lR-xzPTT53WGDllB0fs33VT0GYvtpXuBvc67RqY1F0qMuDxTeA/s1600/P1040304.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgR_vpQwA4-b3E_GnXqXmC8Bn2joBRthWdXhFBXFCTKkGndrq6KwYzRfPP-2az5U-7Y0JIa0wbRKBNPbAxOWI7nbMJD3lR-xzPTT53WGDllB0fs33VT0GYvtpXuBvc67RqY1F0qMuDxTeA/s400/P1040304.JPG" width="300" /></a></div>
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Done! The Olive and S <a href="http://oliverands.com/digital/OLV-OS013SD.html">School Days Jacket</a>. It's lovely. It's delightful. It's the perfect jacket. The whole time I was sewing I worried baby would be too big for it. I picked the 12-18 month sizing. Our little darling suddenly went up to 18 month clothes and we've even bought some 24 month.<br />
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But it seems to fit perfectly. I'm glad it's not any smaller. But I think it will get us through to spring.<br />
Oliver and s proved again to be a wonderful pattern to follow. While challenging, it was not impossible. In fact, the whole thing moved a long smoothly. I had read some sewers had trouble with the hood, but I found that pretty straightforward. I love how it turned out.<br />
The hardest part for me turned out to be the sleeves. I did a lot of learning while I battled it out with FOUR sleeves (darn that awesome lining).<br />
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The outside fabric is a corduroy from Mill End. The inside is the softest woolly material from Joann's. I love how the two go together.<br />
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All the details give the jacket a professional finish. The top-stitched seams, the hidden "unfinished" work. The pretty toggles on the front. Wonderful.<br />
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The lining is made a little big, so there is movement built into the jacket. I just love it.<br />
A special thank you to my parents, who came over and watched the Oregon/USC game and the baby while I sewed. Once I started I couldn't be stopped. It felt great to have some solid hours to get the jacket done.<br />
Even better, though, was the time today to hang out with the little baby who gets to wear this jacket. And she makes it look GOOD.<br />
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<br />Helen C.http://www.blogger.com/profile/01642693988969351325noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2159448976491656264.post-70267808344443190292012-09-29T23:48:00.001-07:002012-09-29T23:48:28.722-07:00Goin' for it. <span style="line-height: 19.600000381469727px;"><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Long hair minimizes the need for barbers; socks can be done without; one leather jacket solves the coat problem for many years' suspenders or superfluous.</span></i></span><br />
<span style="line-height: 19.600000381469727px;"><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">- Albert Einstein</span></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 19.600000381469727px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">Hopefully this endeavor will solve baby's coat problem for the winter. So help me, if it turns out not to fit her when I'm done... but then, that's always been my biggest fear with garment sewing. Working and working and then discovering it's not really what I wanted. So far sewing clothes for baby has proved rewarding. And it's all fit. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 19.600000381469727px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">But I digress...</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 19.600000381469727px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">So, I'm doing it. I'm staring on the <a href="http://oliverands.com/digital/OLV-OS013SD.html">Oliver+S School Days Jacke</a>t. Evidenced below:</span></span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjmcpOSU4vwDxnPM96whvxmVhU4rsxlb3kR2z_9lRBLzf_AMwEJDyxXqq39yVLf3Of8Ce_zZ9zn_XpH4HfEOvE9gYaLDCfLyiBAZFStS-yOVpA8pdUnb7Z2sOrqEJorx82fkA-wsSzqmQ/s1600/P1040139.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjmcpOSU4vwDxnPM96whvxmVhU4rsxlb3kR2z_9lRBLzf_AMwEJDyxXqq39yVLf3Of8Ce_zZ9zn_XpH4HfEOvE9gYaLDCfLyiBAZFStS-yOVpA8pdUnb7Z2sOrqEJorx82fkA-wsSzqmQ/s400/P1040139.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Late night cutting session</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">The pattern is now only sold as a digital version, but I checked out a local fabric store called <a href="http://www.boltneighborhood.com/">Bolt</a> and they still had hard copies for sale. Thank goodness. Printing and taping pieces together would have probably stopped me from taking this on. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">As you can probably see in the picture, I used Swedish tracing paper. I love it. When my instructor at a sewing class offered by <a href="http://moderndomesticpdx.com/">Modern Domestic</a> introduced it to me, I was floored. Finally a way to preserve my pattern so I can use it for other sizes in the future. Plus, it's just easier to work with and to pin to fabric than the actual pattern pieces. It's amazing. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 19.600000381469727px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">This pattern intimidates me a bit. It's a big project and there are lots of pieces. See-- it's three scissors of difficulty! My hardest pattern yet.</span></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieqQKTCTddw5U8sW4STa-o76SPuH5dAWvpqY7pNjAa0RcsogxwxKb4mqN2YOHNnG_1Im0y5ij55vj7QHpUWcnk814aw3MqDMrHIPFSL3sSBCPGLQb9bXcMyCFSXxN5XQClo_7eROkEhGw/s1600/P1040142.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieqQKTCTddw5U8sW4STa-o76SPuH5dAWvpqY7pNjAa0RcsogxwxKb4mqN2YOHNnG_1Im0y5ij55vj7QHpUWcnk814aw3MqDMrHIPFSL3sSBCPGLQb9bXcMyCFSXxN5XQClo_7eROkEhGw/s400/P1040142.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 19.600000381469727px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">But if (when) I do finish it will be oh so sweet for the winter months. I'm already regretting not making it one size up, so it fits longer. Hopefully this will get us to spring. I'm using a sweet flowered corduroy I got from the sale section and Mill End (the big one on McLoughlin Blvd.).</span></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyFPSkc-KAUKgFkeSO6eU55WGqwwvi-8wb6UfdTwqV6zsBoBcUHEshV917vi4O_RbZ_F3WdzyNBBXfJUQNYZQYuTNd4j2lKR3YSUeTYeLMpZ6N91DGoxV5ZcCexorNXrnkSeJo7qeXeAg/s1600/P1040140.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyFPSkc-KAUKgFkeSO6eU55WGqwwvi-8wb6UfdTwqV6zsBoBcUHEshV917vi4O_RbZ_F3WdzyNBBXfJUQNYZQYuTNd4j2lKR3YSUeTYeLMpZ6N91DGoxV5ZcCexorNXrnkSeJo7qeXeAg/s320/P1040140.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 19.600000381469727px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 19.600000381469727px;"> I'm still deciding on what to use for the lining, I have a few options. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 19.600000381469727px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 19.600000381469727px;">Here's hoping in a week (or two or three) I have a finished product to show off. Fingers crossed. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 19.600000381469727px;"><br /></span></span>Helen C.http://www.blogger.com/profile/01642693988969351325noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2159448976491656264.post-8277838068548852042012-09-20T10:23:00.000-07:002012-09-20T22:47:31.041-07:00Perfect Little Dress<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicF1U9P5KSZ7xZbmDZDv7pOKQ2eIz36mbXKq302uAmgIgcYooKgUky0ZtW8ukWlBvyLKHBQMqxp7J2_TOrTrhovtsleXX-NWypOA7aRsM1rVxr26cdnQHrzJlULXpXaOL5ut6m5WHOcJw/s1600/P1040101.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicF1U9P5KSZ7xZbmDZDv7pOKQ2eIz36mbXKq302uAmgIgcYooKgUky0ZtW8ukWlBvyLKHBQMqxp7J2_TOrTrhovtsleXX-NWypOA7aRsM1rVxr26cdnQHrzJlULXpXaOL5ut6m5WHOcJw/s400/P1040101.JPG" width="300" /></a></div>
I did it. I sewed the perfect little dress. From the perfect fabric. With the perfect buttons. It's perfect. Once again I turned to an Oliver and S pattern and found it to be.... perfect. The pattern was the <a href="http://oliverands.com/oliver-and-s-patterns/OLV-OS023FR.html">Family Reunion dress </a>. The directions were easy to follow and the details in the dress make it look like a much more complicated pattern that it was. See the pleating?<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCcMCnPyw-ATQsDlXKX1LMjeNbbfzyzZUMXKbtQC8MZGsfLKuwYdPsX5nCZHOHy32PVXg5hW9BBpWkYXMGJwfF_I4YM3ypf8YPv7vgszRrrFQUq-jrZPpR966m48oDDJDCZU3OcHUYdkQ/s1600/P1040103.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCcMCnPyw-ATQsDlXKX1LMjeNbbfzyzZUMXKbtQC8MZGsfLKuwYdPsX5nCZHOHy32PVXg5hW9BBpWkYXMGJwfF_I4YM3ypf8YPv7vgszRrrFQUq-jrZPpR966m48oDDJDCZU3OcHUYdkQ/s320/P1040103.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
And it was so simple!! I actually had the cut out a month ago, but had avoided starting it because I was just sure it would be too hard. Suddenly it hit me that my daughter would not fit it for much longer, so I had reached the point of no return. I gave up a weekend of housework (darn) for sewing.<br />
I love the buttons down the back...<br />
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Look, even the birds like it!!I saved some time by sewing in iron safe plastic snaps, then just putting the buttons on for decor. It makes getting it on and off baby a snap.<br />
I love how it looks classic and old fashioned, without being frumpy.<br />
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And she can move in it! Here she is showing off the back buttons,<br />
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ACK! Baby legs!! I never knew I would love little legs this much. Seriously, who knew?<br />
I love this picture because it shows off the pleats and the detail:<br />
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The detail that doesn't show in any picture is the way an Oliver and S pattern finishes each seam so nicely and really hides most of the raw edges.<br />
And, one more picture to take it home:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinTE4CQVK9GKBaXC24VSPv_kiEerDBLrn9k8z6pL1YOBb9Pcc91ZxBLBL8DKpvDJskmZoknBDtY25wC0N3ZomYZiQf89ym6Y91XXc5JvBbzhA4ejn6MZlmyQo0if5PayREQ-PY-_Gir4k/s1600/P1040118.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinTE4CQVK9GKBaXC24VSPv_kiEerDBLrn9k8z6pL1YOBb9Pcc91ZxBLBL8DKpvDJskmZoknBDtY25wC0N3ZomYZiQf89ym6Y91XXc5JvBbzhA4ejn6MZlmyQo0if5PayREQ-PY-_Gir4k/s320/P1040118.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
FLOWERS!! She wants to eat those dandelions, that's for sure.<br />
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I would say this dress totaled about 10 hours of work. I'm still new at sewing clothes, so I know this time could be shortened significantly. I plan on making the pattern again in the next size up, so hopefully I'll find it moves along a little faster. It was so nice to slow down for a weekend and make something so sweet and perfect for a little person who fits the same description.Helen C.http://www.blogger.com/profile/01642693988969351325noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2159448976491656264.post-37209037957987662032012-05-13T19:59:00.002-07:002012-05-14T21:59:51.593-07:00The gift of time...<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; text-align: left;">M is for the mudflaps you give me for my pickup truck</span><br style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; text-align: left;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; text-align: left;">O is for the Oil I put on my hair</span><br style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; text-align: left;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; text-align: left;">T is for T-bird</span><br style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; text-align: left;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; text-align: left;">H is for Haggard</span><br style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; text-align: left;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; text-align: left;">E is for eggs, and</span><br style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; text-align: left;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; text-align: left;">R is for REDNECK.</span></i></span>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; text-align: left;"><br /></span></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; text-align: left;">"Up against the Wall, Redneck Mother"- Jerry Jeff Walker</span></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; text-align: left;"><br /></span></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; text-align: left;">For my very very FIRST Mother's Day, my husband and daughter showered me with love. Lot's of it. But, perhaps my favorite gift came in the form of TIME. Time to sew!! A little time in my sewing room. I have one thousands things I want to do... but today, being Mother's day, I focused on my little bit of joy who is the reason I even get to celebrate this day. And the result:</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; text-align: left;">Four (one not pictured) new bibs for my baby. Soft soft flannel on one side and terry cloth on the other. She now has four bibs that do NOT tell you how cute she is (very), how much her mother loves her (a lot), or how special she is to Grandpa (super special). Just simple, pretty and sweet. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; text-align: left;">I traced a favorite bib and adjusted a bit, since girly continues to grow. The front flannel I found on sale and Mill End. Love that store. I always feel like I've gone back in time when I walk in and I always find something unique and pretty. The back is just a terry cloth from Jo Ann Fabrics.</span></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKxBr0SIozJawldSB11L-G2QRUBQJSm69cR0oVOEfFO2PYOpgK4sdkfFnlBr1ZDfnzUZxvfGAHWUYbcUF2MLGYOdrbVLoGYvxJ4ihOgft7-IPxkIUsjUjnXMkCGkfHRCIK6ivR0HPT8wY/s1600/2012-05-13+18.34.35.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKxBr0SIozJawldSB11L-G2QRUBQJSm69cR0oVOEfFO2PYOpgK4sdkfFnlBr1ZDfnzUZxvfGAHWUYbcUF2MLGYOdrbVLoGYvxJ4ihOgft7-IPxkIUsjUjnXMkCGkfHRCIK6ivR0HPT8wY/s400/2012-05-13+18.34.35.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; text-align: left;">I copied the technique of a friend who gave us bibs for our baby shower. I sewed them good sides together and turned them. Then I sewed as close to the edge as I could all the way around. Taking an idea from <a href="http://www.nobigdill.com/2012/04/triple-stitched-blanket-tutorial.html">No Big Dill</a>, but instead of triple stitch, I went double. Gives the bib a little more oomph. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; text-align: left;">My little model makes it look good. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; text-align: left;">Happy Mother's Day to all!!</span></span>Helen C.http://www.blogger.com/profile/01642693988969351325noreply@blogger.com2