Denali's Birthday

That's right, when you are in love with your dog as much as I am, they get birthday parties. Last month marked my girl's 2nd birthday. And I held a party for her and her friends at work. My coworkers looked at me like I was a crazy, but succumbed to the fun in the end.

Denali recieved a special Birthday Girl crown that she wore proudly (and which I constructed out of felt)

And a dog-friendly cake.

She waited patiently...

before they dug in!

I got this recipe from my friend Emily and the dogs LOVED it. And bonus: nobody got the runs!

Peanut Butter Carrot Cake

Naturally sweet, colorful and flavorful, this cake is simple and easy to make. Great for Fall.

1 cup flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 cup peanut butter
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 cup shredded carrots
1 tsp. vanilla
1/3 cup honey
1 egg

Mix flour and baking soda. Add remaining ingredients. Pour into greased 8" round cake pan and bake at 350° for 30 minutes. Let cool. Puree cottage cheese in blender for icing. Decorate with more peanut butter and carrots.

My boss even wrote a post about the party on his blog for work. It was a really fun day.

Before We Go...

Last month, Hubby and I went on a trek to the South. We had such a blast on our week-long trip, but I was so sad to leave my girl. The morning before we left, Hubby was going to drop her off at her good friend Murray's house to stay for the week. So I had to say goodbye before I left for work. And I totally cried because I had never been away from her so long. (I know she's just a dog, but she's MY dog!)

So, later that day Geoff sent me this:

And I totally cried again!

Don't worry, more on our trip coming soon.

Last night, my husband and I enjoyed a fabulous dinner (pot roast) and a lovely movie at my mother’s house. It was a nice was to end the week.

Hubby met me there in his own car, so at the end of the night, we waved by to Mom and Mark and hopped into our respective vehicles. Now, there is something that you all might not know about me. I’m deeply competitive and I prefer to drive fast… and Geoff knows it.

He was in front of me at the beginning of the trek home. I was calm. Told myself we were adults and racing is for idiotic teenagers. As we pulled onto the onramp to 405 he’s going slowly. Not unbearably so, just enough to make me sigh and check if there was anyone in the next lane so that I could drive at my comfortable limit. There wasn’t. So I pulled around him. We were right next to each other. He started making faces at me and I laughed. And after a few minutes I decided that yes, we were racing and I wanted to win. So I pulled into the carpool lane (don’t worry mom, totally legal, it was after 7) and got way ahead of him. I couldn’t even see him anymore. This was going to be cake.

As I pulled onto I-5 I still couldn’t see him, so I just drove as I normally would. When I got off the freeway, the light at the intersection was red, while I waited, who else, but Hubby pulled up right behind me and mockingly yanked his glasses off of his face and scrutinized me. I waved.

The light turned green, and the street splits into two lanes. He pulled up next to me and the guy in front of me decided to take a left. Foiled! Hubby zoomed past me. I sighed, because I knew that the street turned back into a single lane street in a couple of blocks all the way to our house. I was defeated.

But alas, we came to a fork in the road which offered 2 ways home. Turn left or go straight. He turned left. I went straight. His route might be slightly longer in distance, but incurs a very steep hill and has a 35 MPH speed limit. Mine has a 25 MPH speed limit and 2 speed bumps. Being the competitive creature that I am, I hit 40 and took the speed bumps at 25 (the contents of my trunk were completely trashed) all the while keeping a sharp eye for cats and children (hey, I’m not a monster, ok) but my efforts were futile, I was too slow.

I saw Hubby cross the street I was coming down and he was going real slow, like 5 MPH. Mocking me all the way. I cursed at him. We were a ½ block from the house. The final obstacle was a round-about that sits at the top of our hill. Hubby ALWAYS takes the round about counter clockwise, which is the law. He has always been very firm about that. Tonight was no exception. His slowness, mockery, and law abiding ways made him loose the race. I cut him off at the round-about and pulled in front of the house. Victory was mine.

Best day of my life.

Just kidding.

Family Sillouette Seiries

For our latest sewing bee project we were asked to create something that we could hang on the wall and admire. And lately, I’ve really been into the whole heritage/legacy thing and I saw this idea of fabric silhouettes in a book.

I made Hubby’s first because he’s bald and I figured he would be easiest (love you, Baby). When I showed it to him, I asked if he would like any words printed on his. He immediately decided upon “Papa Bear.” And thus the series was born.

Turns out this whole thing was freaky-simple. All I had to do was:

1) Take a profile picture of my subject
2) Blow up the picture on the computer screen to desired size
3) Trace out silhouette on tracing paper
4) Cut out the shape
5) Trace around cut out onto desired fabric (If you are using a light quilting fabric you might want to consider a stabilizer, but that’s optional)
6) Cut out shape
7) Adhere to background fabric (Again, you might want to consider a stabilizer for the background)
8) Stitch into place
9) Stamp on words (optional, I used just regular stamp ink, like for paper)
10) Cut out background fabric to fit your frame

See? Ten easy steps. Each project took maybe 45 minutes. And it was totally worth it. Now I smile every time I look up at the wall. And I know these are going to hang in our home for a long time.

The Amazing Casserole-Dish-Transport-Device

When we moved into my Grandmother's house we had to go through her things and divide them up. Sell what could be sold; keep what should be kept, etc. While filtering through her kitchen things I came across an absolutely horrible, but freakin brilliant casserole-dish-transport-device. It was peach, of course, my grandmother sure loved peach. In fact the entire house was some version of peach. I'm serious. Floor to ceiling. Carpet, fireplace, furniture, curtain, blinds... even the CIELING WAS PEACH!! Anyway, I digress. The casserole thing (I don't know if it had a name of its own or not) was peach and quilted with peach lace trimming. Absolutely awful. But I kept it. Because if nothing else, it would provide me with a template to make my very own casserole-dish-transport-device.

And lo...

Isn't it fun? The design is so simple, though some of my measurements did go awry. I originally wanted a 10" pie dish to fit, and it can, but it’s a bit tight. Still, this was an easy project. I used 2 wooden sticks for the handles and a piece of plywood at the bottom for stability. I like it so much, that I decided to make another BIGGER one for my lasagna pan. Now, somebody invite me to a potluck pronto!

Don't Stop the Beet

Before the weather got so pickin hot, I came away with a slew of goodies from the garden. I think my 2nd Annual Gardening Experiment went rather well. I learned alot of things like: plant garlic October not February, digging out new garden beds sucks, and no matter how excited you are you cannot start your seeds in January. They will die. All of them.

But some things did work out, see!

Aren't they beautiful? Look at those beets! I don't even like beets, but they sure were fun to grow. Look at the color! I was so proud. At least I ate about half of my little crop by juicing those buggers and mixing them with other distinctly un-beet-like things. They're good for the kidneys anyway. Hubby won't touch them with a 10 foot pole, but to be honest I didn't really try with him. I only know one way to cook beets and that is to roast them with salt and pepper. Folks, that just won't do it.

I had to give alot them away to people who do like them and will give them a good home. I was at a picnic the other day and my boss made a beet salad (out of my beets) that was pretty good, but I forgot to ask how he made it. You guys have any good recipes out there? Or any good beet stories? After all, they can turn your poop pink if you eat enough of them. That might really scare someone and made a great story. I'm not saying that happened to me, I'm just saying it could have happened to someone...

ok it might have happened to me.

Cards Cards Cards

I'm definitely one of those people who has a rather difficult time sitting still. Don't get me wrong, I love to "relax", sit back, and watch movies with my main squeeze, but I have found that it is damn near impossible to literally sit and watch and that's it. I've always got a project in my hands. Lately I've really been getting into card making. Its so fun and easy and you get instant gratification because your project is finished in 3 minutes. Every time I finish one I run up to Hubby and show it off like I'm in second grade and I just discovered the genius that is the macaroni necklace. He always fawns appropriately. And I love him for that.


Here are a couple that I've cooked up. I've leaned heavily on inspiration from (read "copied") other cardmakers, but that's only because they have way better ideas than I do.

I also made this super-cute pincushion tomato out of some scraps! Fresh picked. (Based off of a Heather Bailey pattern) Fun!

Calling ALL Local Sewers

Ok ok, I KNOW that my readers consist of maybe 8 people and of those 8, maybe 2 of them likes to sew, but I thought I would give this a shot nonetheless.

My little sewing group is in search of members to join and share their talents/ideas/projects with us. We meet once a month on the 3rd Wednesday mostly within the Seattle-Bellevue region. We're pretty spread out between Everett and Des Moines, so we gravitate towards the middle. We meet, chat, and show off the projects that we worked on. We each take turns in hosting and choosing what the project-of-the-month is. And for the most part, they have been pretty small, which is to say manageable for a person with a full-time job to finish. We've made things like fabric bowls, bags, scarves, pillows, and such. This month we are doing a free-form wall hanging project, which I am very excited to do. All that to say, we are not professionals, so don't be shy.  Its a fun way to learn new techniques and pointers from others.

If there is anybody out there, man or woman, young or old, big or small, who has a passion for all things sewing (or knows someone who does), and would like to join us, please let me know. We would love to have you!

Travel Bags

I embroidered these simple draw-string bags for my mother-in-law who recently took a 3 week trip to France. I figured she could use them for her delicates or dirty boots, or whatever she pleased. I liked them to much, I think I will have to make some up for myself, if I ever decide to travel anywhere that is. The patterns used are the Bon Voyage iron-ons from Sublime Stitching. (I love them!)

Deception Pass

I forgot to mention our little camping trip to Deception Pass State Park a couple of months ago and just came across these pictures.

And is this not the cutest man you've ever seen in your life? "Why is he holding a giant log?" you might ask. I asked myself that same thing. Boys will be boys I guess.

Oh Yeah, and...

...we went skydiving. How have I not mentioned this?

We got 2 gift certificates for tandem skydiving from our good friends Mike and Jenn when we got married. We put it off for a long time, but they expire this year, so we finally made the call. We were jittery the whole drive down to Toledo. Upon arrival, they gave us each a 5 page (front and back) document to read and sign. The first thing we had to initial said "I acknowledge that skydiving is dangerous and I could die. If I die this skydiving company will not be sued." We didn't even bother reading the rest. What else was there, really?Just signed and handed it over.

We had arrived early on a Saturday morning in June. So we had to wait around a couple of hours for the fog to burn off before they were going to take anyone up. Even after I signed the “I might die” paper, I was relatively calm. The staff seemed really nice and professional. I had accepted what I was doing. They walked us through some light training, which basically said to have fun and hold our legs up when we land otherwise we’d slam into the ground face first like a cartoon. And that was fine with me.

Then after the sun came out, the skydive girl came up to us and said, “Alright, who wants to go first?” My hand was in the air before she had even finished her sentence. I always prefer to go first when I’m nervous. Gets it over with quickly. So I suited up, kissed my Hubby goodbye and squeezed into the world’s teeniest plane with my tandem-guy (his name was Scrub), my camera girl (her name was Wendy), an independent jumper, and the pilot (I don’t know their names.)

As we taxied out to take off, I marveled at the fact that I was still relatively calm. Even after we took off and I was looking out the little window, I still felt good…excited even! I checked the altitude… 2,000 feet. All the houses and trees were getting smaller. “What a view,” I said to myself. I checked again…3,500 feet “This little plane isn’t so bad,” I thought. I checked again… 4,500 feet. At that point, the pilot announced that he would open the hatch to let out the independent jumper, in a couple minutes, who had just come along for the ride. I was like, “Uh, ok.” Mind you, I wasn’t strapped to Scrub yet. And he had the parachute. And there were no seatbelts. I was just sitting there.

At 5,000 feet, the pilot reached over and opened the hatch, and it got loud, and it got windy, and the guy jumped out. And it finally hit me. I mean it really sank in. “Ohmygod, I’m about to jump out of a plane. I could die!!!” Then the pilot closed the hatch and we continued to climb. I was out-of-my-mind terrified. I was trembling head-to-foot.

At 7,000 feet, Scrub told me to assume the position so he could harness me in. I obeyed. After he checked that we were good to go, the pilot reached over again, flung open the hatch, and Wendy backed out, and hung off the side so she could get a shot of us. She must really have a pair on her letmetellyou. Scrub and I scooted up, he yelled at me to put my foot out on the ledge…

And let me pause right here folks, because that was probably the hardest thing I have EVER had to do. Scrub was yelling and pointing to the ledge. And I wanted to obey, I did, but this other voice in my head was screaming too, and louder. “Don’t put your foot on that ledge! Because YOU     WILL    DIE!!!” It was quite the internal struggle, I watched in slow motion as my foot finally reached the step, shaking all the way. And just then, Scrub pushed away. And we were off

In all truthfulness, I'm glad I did it. It was a fun experience. After we let go, there was really nothing else for me to do, so I just spread my arms and enjoyed the 45 second freefall and a 5 minute slow coast to the ground from 10,000 feet...and lived.

I counted 6 different mountains from that height. And after the parachute went up, it was completely quiet and very peaceful. Scrub gave me a panoramic view of the area. I really wish I could figure out how to upload the movie we got. It’s quite something. Ah well, at least I have some picts.

When my mother saw this picture of Geoff, she asked if he screamed like a girl, he replied, "No. I screamed like a man."

Sweet Tree Pillow

This is another sewing group project, but I thought I would use it as a warm up for the family tree project I'm working up. And it turned out specatularly well... if I do say so myself.

This whole thing was finished in about 2 hours.

I used a natural colored linen blend fabric for the pillow. The purple tree that you see is actually a pieced-together stamp that I made. Then I used some fabric paint to stamp it on, piece by piece. First the trunk, then main branches, then smaller branches. Next I cut out the leaves out of some leftover scraps and sewed them on with a criss-cross stitch. After that, just sew the pillow pieces together, stuff it, seal it, and Voila! Tree pillow.

Soon, I'm going to make a much bigger version of this to hang on the wall where the leaves will have our ancestor’s names going back 5 generations. Should be pretty bitchin.

Oh, Hello again...

Ah yes. Another wide gap in the posts. And I got a ton of excuses, but who really cares? So here is the first of another string of posts to update ya'll on what I've been up to.

First off, I recently joined a sewing group and here is one of the projects we did. It is a woven fabric bowl and it was really fun to do. Plus I LOVE how it turned out. I will definately make more. Here is the tutorial for anyone who's interested. The tutorial uses a machine to sew it, but I did it by hand. The cording I got was real fat and wouldn't fit in the machine, plus it was something easy to do while watched movies.

On a more personal note, today marks the last day of my vacation. Boo. And I just checked my work email. Which was a poor idea on my part. Anyway, Puppy, Hubby, and I rented a cabin out on Gold Bar on the Snohomish River for a week. We invited our folks to come out as well. They didn't stay the whole time, though. It was awesome vacation spot. It was a 5 acre fenced property so Puppy just ran wild for a solid week. She loved it. We loved it. We went hiking, river-tubing, hot-tubing, shopping, and played wiffle ball. There was also alot of sleeping, lounging, eating, drinking, and laughing. It was super fun. So sad its over.

Bunch of Cuties

Its a little blurry, but OMG sooooo cute. Had to share...

The Almost Quilt

You see this quilt? Perhaps you don't. You probably just see little piles of fabric, but I see a quilt. A lovely quilt. But this poor quilt has been sitting here in pieces for weeks. The sun keeps coming out. I'm drawn outside to dig in the ground. But I must find time for this almost quilt. It'll really be something someday. Perhaps exposing my procrastination to the blogging world will spur those sewing juices. Only more time will tell. Perhaps I should also post about cleaning out the gutters or painting the basement...hmmm, maybe not.

A Lovely Spring Cleanse

I was recently at a dinner with the family and my good friend told me that frankly she was quite sick of the lack of updates to my blog. In fact I think the word "threat" may have been used.  So... here I am! And let us play a bit of catch up.
Last month I did a "nutritional cleanse" which basically means there is a super long list of foods I'm supposed to refrian from for a month, consistent exercise, attend a few informative classes (about health and food), and get regular treatments from my doctor which were somewhat similar to going to the spa. Doesn't sound too bad, right? Check out my list of bad foods:

• Dairy
• Wheat/Gluten
• Soy (including tofu, soy milk, or edemame)
• Sugar
• Eggs
• Corn 
• Caffeine
• Alcohol
• Nightshades (Tomatoes, Potatoes, Peppers, etc)
• Citrus
• Peanuts
• Pork
• Shellfish

Yikes, right? When this list was displayed in the class people's mouths fell open. Yikes indeed. Not only would I be without cheese or bread or PIZZA for an entire month, but it also looked as though I was going to have to prepare every single meal for the duration. Now I love cooking, but its tough for me to cook for every meal, every day. Usually time, hunger, and a lack of ingrediants are my biggest obstacles. And try to find a pre-made meal anywhere that does not contain any of the above. Go ahead. I dare you. I don't live in city anymore. There are no vegan, health food coops around here. We have safeway. So I had to get creative.


So let's see the good list:

• Beans, Lentils, and Rice
• Aramanth, Quinoa, Millet, and Buckwheat (actually gluten free, despite the name)
• Beef, Chicken, Fish
• Non-nightshade veggies
• Non-citrus fruit
• Honey, Agave, or Maple Syrup
• All Nuts except Peanuts
• Dairy Alternatives (Rice, Almond, Coconut, and Hemp <- my fav)
• Herbal Tea

It was rough, but you know what? I felt great! No joke. I lost a little bit of weight, about 10lbs in 20 days. I had more energy. I slept better. Even my skin and hair seemed healthier. Of course I missed my bad foods so much that I don't feel quite as awesome anymore, but I'm working on it. On the plus side. I came up with some great recipes for some clean wholesome food.

Red Lentil Soup
Splash of olive oil
1 onion, chopped roughly
2-4 carrots, chopped roughly
1-2 celery stalks, chopped roughly
1/2 tsp salt
2 c red lentils, rinsed & picked over
3-4 c chicken stock
1 Tb cumin

1-2 tsp curry powder

1 can coconut milk
chopped cilantro (optional)
hot sauce (optional)

Heat olive oil in soup pot or dutch oven. Cook onion, carrots, and celery until onions are tender. Toss in the salt, lentils, chicken stock, & spices. Simmer until vegetables are tender and lentils have begun to break down. In batches, puree soup in a blender and return to the pot OR use an emerson blender (a magical tool) to blend in right in the pot. Blend until creamy. Add the coconut milk. Serve hot and topped with cilantro and hot sauce, if desired. 

Asian Breakfast Hash
Splash of olive oil
1 c sliced criminis
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 c raw cashews
2 c cooked kasha (toasted buckwheat)
1 handful spinach, chopped
pinch salt & pepper
2-3 scallions, chopped


Heat the oil in a frying pan. Cook up the mushrooms, garlic,  and the cashews until browned. Throw in the buckwheat and heat it up. Throw in the spinach, cook until it wilts. Salt and pepper to taste (or soy sauce if you can have that.) Served topped with green onion. 


Healthy Easy Fried Rice
Splash of olive oil
3/4c raw cashews
2-3 cloves garlic, miced
2c chopped veggies (I use whatever I got in the fridge, but these work well: broccoli, cabbage, onions, carrots, kale, chard, spinach, mushrooms, boc choy, etc)
2c cooked brown rice


Heat the oil in a pan, brown the garlic, saute the veggies until tender. Add the rice, cook until heated. Top with hot sauce or soy sauce if desired.
These three recipes were my favorites. I also had a few of failures. Once I tried to make a dairy free-sugar-free, tapioca pudding. Not good... no sir, not good at all. 

And the (Belated) Winner Is...

Oh my goodness! You guys, I'm so sorry! I'm late in announcing the winner of my little giveaway. So I'll get right to it... the winner is: Quilting Melodies! Horray! They will receive the very fun Reversible Apron with Lemon Embroidery.

Thank you so much to all who participated! It was a very fun giveaway even though I'm an incredible flake on posting the winner. But hey, life happens, right? I've got a few new things up my sleeve that I will try to post about as soon as I have 2 seconds to rub together. (new quilt for us and a fleece for the pup, its freaking cold outside, have you noticed?)

Anyway, hope you all are having a wonderful holiday season.

FREE Apron Giveaway

Horrah! It is here! Sew Mama Sew's Handmade Holiday giveaway is here! In addition to this blog there will be many many other blogs giving away handmade goods and/or supplies to the crafty world at large. It is a fabulous event!

This year I decided to make a curvy reversible apron. It was inspired by the one in Lotta Jansdotter's Simple Sewing book. One side is black with a stitched floral pattern and the other is solid muslin with a bit on lemon applique.

All you have to do to enter to win this item is leave a comment below and the winner will be randomly selected. Be sure to leave me some way of finding you if you win (by either linking to your own blog or posting some form of contact information.) You have until December the 6th to leave a comment and I will post who the winner is on December 7th. No international shipments, sorry guys!

Incase you have never heard of the epic event known as Handmade Holidays, you should most definitely check it out. Everyday the wonderful folks over at Sew Mama Sew posts new ideas of things you can make for gifts (or for yourself.) An awesome spot for sewing inspiration.

Belated Halloween Post

I know its a wee bit late and this one is just a quickie, but I've had a lot of requests for pictures of the puppy during Halloween. She must have thought she looked cute because she tolerated that costume all day. Who said its over the top to sew your dog a costume for Halloween?

Perhaps the udders were a bit much?

Embroidered Oneies

Stitching is fun but it takes FOREVER. Each of these onesies took like 2 hours! How is that possible?!? I must just be very slow at it. Does it take everyone that long to create such simple designs?  But honestly, totally worth it. Nothing like exploiting silly jokes at a baby's expense.

Clockwise from the bottom left we have a sugar skull, a domokun (I don't know what it is either, Hubby wanted me to make it for them and he found it HILARIOUS that I actually did), an alien in a spaceship, and my personal a favorite the "Mom" tattoo.

Special note to Jenn: when your baby is born I would really appreciate pictures of him/her in the tattoo onesie. It will make me giggle.