A Post Of Sheer Randomness

I was wondering to myself how it got to be the end of February already and what the heck have I gotten done since the first of the year?

 

Looking back through my photo's for the last two months I realized that I did actually get a few things accomplished.

 

 

I dusted off the sewing machine and made a couple of purses/bags using video tutorials from youtube.

 This is one I finished up this morning, it makes me anxious for spring.

  I got so inspired making the first bag that I went in search of another tutorial to make another one with some fabric I found in my stash.  Below is a flower I made last year but didn't really find anything I wanted to put it on so it sat in my container full of flowers, that is until I realized that I used the same fabrics in the bag.  I love it when things work out.

 

 

Another thing I got accomplished was canning some beef stew and some red beans.  I even got some chicken canned which I posted about here.

 

I spent a couple of days last week at my daughter Maria's house.  She is the one with the mini farm and has taken to raising pygmy goats. 

 This is one of the cutest babies, he is a cuddler.  He wasn't very cooperative when it came to having his picture taken.

 

This doe on the other hand was all too ready to pose.

 

This is their dog Soley, she was another one that wanted to be in the pictures.

Now, how is that for randomness?

Day Trip To The Pacific Ocean

Hubby and I took a getaway day and headed for the Pacific Ocean.

It was a beautiful day (mostly sunny and that is considered beautiful in the Pacific Northwest this time of year).

 

It takes less than 2 hours to get to the beach from where we live and one of our favorite spots is Astoria, Oregon.  You know, that place where Goonies was filmed?  Astoria is situated on the Oregon side of the Columbia River at the mouth of the river where it enters the Pacific Ocean.  It has many historical homes and points of interest, a town built around the fishing industry.

 

Here is a picture taken of the Columbia river looking across to Washington.  You can see a ship anchored out in the middle.

 

 

 

This is a quaint little dry docked boat that they have converted into a little Fish and Chips take-out.

On any given day you will find lines and lines of people waiting to order the best halibut F & C's around.  This is a must stop whenever we are there.

 

 

 

This is the little sandy pathway that you can drive down to get out on the beach.  Yes, we took my car out on the beach, brave of us don't you think?

 

Just another shot of the surf.  I love the suns reflection on the water

 

 

I am not sure if everyone knows it or not but a lot of debris from the Japan tsunami has been washing up along the coast Washington and Oregon.  We did some beach combing looking for some treasures.  This is the lid of a little brown bottle we found.  Could it be from Japan???

 

 

Here is the side view of the bottle.

 

Hubby found a couple of unique looking light bulbs.  They may very well be from Japan or even something just tossed overboard off a ship or fishing boat, I choose to believe they are from some building or warehouse that was washed out into the ocean.

 

 

I don't think this little shoe made it all the way from Japan, it was in too good of shape.  I will bet however that someone's mom is wondering where little Johnny put his other beach shoe though.

 

We almost hated to leave.  I love nice little unplanned getaways.

No Need to Buy Expensive Toys

 

Now that we have had our puppy Paige for about a year now I have to laugh at all the silly doggie toys we have bought for her over the year.  We bought stuffed monkeys, rope chew toys, balls, bones and various other cute pet playthings.

 

The other day she found a rolled up fabric flower that I had made but had cleaned out some craft supplies and tossed it into the trash because it wasn't quite what I had in mind when I made it.

She thought she had found the treasure of the century.  She spent days chewing on it until it unraveled.  I tied a knot in the center so she could grab onto it better and it has become the event of the day if you throw it for her to fetch.

 

 

 

 

 

TOY CONTENTMENT!

 

Just think of all the money I could have saved if I had let her explore more in my craft room.

Latest Rag Quilt

Let me just say this:  True quilters who can coordinate fabric, cut precise quilt pieces and manage to meticulously and perfectly put them all together with all seams matching exactly have my complete respect and admiration.

 

Now, for those who admire beautiful quilts but feel inadequate to make one themselves here is your answer.  Rag quilts are easy to make,  that's right I said EASY!  They are forgiving if your seams don't match, which I have not been able to conquer in my lifetime and for which I hold out no unrealistic hope of ever perfecting.

 

 

I used 4 Moda Charm Packs (Little black dress series) that I found on ETSY, each pack includes 42 pre-cut 5" squares which totaled 168 squares.  For the backing I used muslin.  It is actually  more of a throw than a bed quilt measuring 56"x49".

 

  Once you finish your quilt you clip all the exposed seams then wash it in the washing machine and dry in the dryer which causes the seems to fray and fluff.

As you can see by the photo below there will be lots of little threads left behind which I am sure will eventually fall off.

This quilt took about 2 1/2 days to complete.