Iorek's Birthday Sweatshirt

Iorek's almost finished Birthday Sweatshirt!

Iorek got a black zip up hoody too for his birthday back in April.  His mom, Dianah, just got one for hers too!  Unlike Di's, Ioreks is all hand sewn.  There were so many little tiny pieces that I figured hand sewing would be easiest and it was.  It went super fast once I had all the details cut out.

Work in progress.

I started with a letterpress card that Jasper got for his birthday.  It inspired me to see if I could somewhat duplicate the design idea onto fabric.  This is what I came up with and I am pleased. 

Face details all hand sewn on.

You can see above that I toyed with many ideas about how to do the little details.  I ended up going with non black horns to get more contrast.  Again here, I used wool felt.  Always have, always will.  When it gets washed in hot soapy water it will just all the more bind together and be well held and bound.

Face hand sewn to "mane."

I cut out the mane after I had the face sewn on.  For some reason this made it easier for me.  I guess I forgot to keep taking pictures of the end of the process but you can see by the finished photos of Iorek in his sweatshirt what it turned out like.

Mane hand sewn to horns.

I debated about adding feet.  Something similar to the hands/claws.  In the end I didn't do feet/claws and I like it.  Kinda like he's a monster in his jammies!

"I can make you smile!"

The only thing about hand sewing is that you just gotta be ready to switch colors a lot.  I wanted to match most of my thread to the felt color but you could do a contrast thread color and use it on all of the felt.  If you just get a bunch of needles threaded to begin with then it doesn't seem so daunting to stop and thread a new color each time you need it.

Ready to run the Top Pot Donuts Kids 1K!

The 03 has two functions.  It mimics the sporty gear we see all over the place now so it makes it a bit trendy, if I do dare say so myself.  And, it is Iorek and Jasper and our friend Rowan's birth year.  I am working on Jasper and Rowan's sweatshirts now.  They will be "monsters" too, similar, but different, and all with the 03 on the other side.  They plan to be a little gang of seven year old monsters!  They already are that gang, little monsters, but now they have uniforms!

Jasper and Iorek cracking up.

I adore these two kiddos.  This is how they are when they are together.  Laughing, giggling, smiling, bossing, singing, making music, doing magic shows, investigating, exploring, reading, explaining, spazzing, tumbling, negotiating, bickering, loving and still laughing.  We adore you Iorek!  Thanks for being Jasper's good, good, buddy!  You are an official 7 year old monster gang member!  Congratulations!

Do you Google Reader?

This is just a quick post to make sure you all know about Google Reader.  I kinda assume everyone does but maybe you don't.  I didn't.  For a long time.  And I wish I would have known about Google Reader.  I can't bare to think what I missed!

If you read websites regularly or, especially, if you love to browse blogs, like I do, you will want to investigate Google Reader!  I have listed every blog I love to look at in Google Reader and every day I check Google Reader and only the blogs that have posted something new will be there for me to read!  Do you get it?!  It's like getting a new magazine, every day, with only new content, no repeats! 

I think this is crazy genius!  Silly ol' technologically inept me.  Yep, I think its the bees knees and I want to tell you so!

I even have my own blog listed in there because I love to see it pop up with all the other "totally famous" blogs that I love to read and am inspired by.  Also, since these are my fav blogs, there is often content I want to share with my besties, and there are several easy ways to do that directly from each individual post. 

Do you use Google Reader?  I want to know more.  How do you use it?  What do you do with it?  I will bet you a million bucks right now that it does way more cool stuff then I even know about it.  This would be a good bet for any y'all out there to take!  I'm tellin' ya!  I wonder what else it does that would make my head spin?

Anyhow, get Google Reader if you don't already have it.  Add my blog in there too and then you don't have to come here to check on me all the time!  I'll pop right up with your favorite blogs and only when I have published a new post.  Lucky you!

Live, Laugh, Love...Make, Do, Mend.... !

Rib Cage Love

Dianah's rib cage sweatshirt

Way back in January, I guess it was, according to Dianah, she herself told me about this great sweatshirt she had seen in a local shop here in Seattle.  She wanted it SO BAD but couldn't afford the over $100 price tag.  Of course we LOVE to support our local hand-makers but there just wasn't room in her budget for a new $100 plus sweatshirt. 

enlarged stencil found on Internet

So she is telling me about it, on and on, I love it, I love it, I love it, and I am just thinking, the whole time, I will just make you one for your birthday.  How hard could it be?  I did finally, a few months later, make my way to see THE actual sweatshirt and low and behold, I KNEW I could duplicate it, make something very similar, but with my little touches and have it be close enough that it would still be the sweatshirt Di had been coveting.  Also, it wouldn't cost me nearly $100 to make!

stencil cut out and layed out

So as Dianah's birthday was approaching I was making my way toward the final design and implementation of said design onto a great, almost new, but totally second hand, thrifted black zip-up hoody sweatshirt.  The sweatshirt was the only one little tricky piece to this operation.  I knew if I looked long and hard enough I could find a great one used and not have to buy a brand new one.  It was just a matter of staying on the hunt!  The sweatshirt was located at one of the many fantastic thrift stores in Tucson, Arizona!  When we were there in April I still hadn't found the ideal zip hoody but since I was thrifting my toosh off every day I finally scored the perfect one!

some wool felt pieces cut out and layed out

  In the photos you will see some the steps it took me to get to the final stage: Di loving it and wearing it every. single. day.  Once I had it finished and could see for myself how well it turned out, I just could not wait to give it to her.  It was killing me to not talk about it to her and just give it to her as soon as I was done.  When she did finally open her gift I was jumping up and down like a child and clapping my hands!  What a goof ball!  But it was perfect because we were having a fire in our "tiny" backyard pit and she was cold and needed a hoody to be warm so I tore into the house, grabbed the gift bag, and shoved it in her hands.  "Open, open, open," I demanded!  She was thrilled!  Smiles all around!

pinning in progress

So besides locating the sweatshirt, I had a few other items to attend to.  I had to find a stencil to suit me.  Also, I knew I was adding the little hear under the ribs because that was big part of what Di liked about the original hoody, but thankfully I know how to make hearts so that was an easy step!  The search online for rib cage stencils didn't take long and I was able to enlarge it on my printer/scanner to get the size I wanted.  I only needed to cut out one side of the cage to make the entire thing because each side was the exact same.  Go figure!  The sternum part was a big guessing game because I could not remember if the "original" had one but after much debate between Chad and I, we both decided it looked cool, splitting the one in the stencil, down the middle, and having the zipper go up through the middle of it. 

 

close up of pinning. 

I didn't have any white wool felt on hand so I got that at Ben Franklin.  I got the red there too but a few months back when I was working on Iorek's birthday sweatshirt.  Iorek is Dianah's son and Jasper's real good friend.  I will do a post of his sweatshirt soon!  Anyhow, besides the felt I just needed a million tons of pins!  Some of you know that when I sew, I usually don't use pins at all, or very little.  But for a project like this, you will lose your mind if you try to go pinless!  I knew for best results I would need to pin the heck out of it, get lots of pokes, and I would end up with the perfect finished product! 

the entire thing PINNED!

So then it was time to sew!  I just picked a place and started!  What else can you do?!  I just made sure my sewing machine was loaded with good white thread and began.  As I got one rib done, I would take the pins out and cut the loose threads so I could begin to see what it would look like.  I got into a rhythm and just blissed out on it.  Zen sewing, if you will.  It is thrilling to have a project come together so easily and be able to see your progress so quickly.  It empowers you.  I felt like Super Sewer Girl Super Hero with no seam ripping being my Super Power!

almost finished!  label applied.  heart hand sewing left to do.

I did finish with inserting one of my own home made labels.  And I knew I was going to finish the heart by hand sewing the edges, in between the ribs.  Once that was all done, it was ready to go.  I was so excited by how it turned out!  Very pleased!

close up of hand stitching on heart.

You can see the machine stitching on the ribs in the picture above.  Some places I got too close to the edge and didn't want to chance it not being well attached so I just went back over those spots and restitched inside, more on the rib.  I did not seam rip the original stitching, in those cases, I just left them double stitched and I really like how it gives it more character and makes it look really handmade. 

And oh,  I always use wool felt too, never acrylic.  Not only is the wool natural fiber and much preferred, it will also begin to bind to the sweatshirt each time it is washed.  Oh the wonder of wool!

Dianah in her sweatshirt!!!

Make a gift, give it with love, and be happy!

Create, Upcycle, Reuse, and Make!

Succulent Chair

Yes, Folks!  This is a sedum chair!  And No, you can't sit on it!

I thought I would just keep sharing the things I upcycle or repurpose or deconstruct or reconstruct so you can see what kind of silly ideas I have!

Chair with mesh screen applied.

 Some of you know that I have a space at M & M Antiques in Monroe, Washington.  I rent a space to sell all crazy stuff I collect and I don't have to be there to sell it.  Oh, the beauty of it!  Anyways, those of you who do know me, know that I am a total collector, borderline hoarder, and that when you come to my house you rarely see the same thing twice.  Well, not really, but I do like to live with things for a while, see how they feel, and then recycle them thru my space at M & M when I am ready for them to find their next homes!  You all probably know that this is kinda my business.  I buy items at estate, rummage, yard, garage, tag sales and auctions, flea markets, thrift stores, and other antique stores and then I resell them.  Often, I buy things I love and want, and then when I feel I can let go of them, I sell them at the mall.  And often, I deconstruct, reconstruct or upcycle something, like this half broken chair, into something new and fabulous and then sell it.  I certainly don't make a ton of money doing this but I get to be creative and it also earns me just enough dough to spend the next month, to buy more cool junk!

Close up of seat with wire.  Just used a staple gun to adhere mesh to bottom of chair.

 I found this chair at "my" antique mall.  Melanie and Mildred are really the owners but I will say "my" here and in future posts because I am often talking about several places at once and this is just easier.  So, at my mall, the other day, here was this seatless chair, sitting outside the door, for sale, for beans.  Beans, I tell ya.  And before I even knew how cheap it was, I knew what I was doing with it.  Onward Ho with the sedum/succulent obsession!  One of the uber spectacular or seriously dangerous, depending on how you look at it, things about being a vendor at M & M is that they let us "dealer charge" anything we want.  What this means is that when I want something in the store, I just say "Dealer Charge" and the money comes out of my next months check.  See.  Uber spectacular and seriously dangerous!  I have to be careful to make sure I actually do get a check at the end of each month!  But the great thing is that you don't have to have cash up front to take what you want.  So far it has served me well, to be able to dealer charge, and I have been able to bring home some fabulous finds that I would not have been able to otherwise.

I used Gutter Guard!  I got a few rolls of this at a tag sale for about $1.  I got all they had since I envisioned it as the perfect material for this type of project.  I cut it with old dull scissors and didn't have to use wire snips.  It's not nearly as "pokey" as chicken wire.

The next garden patio project I am working on is the succulent table.  I can't wait to show you the finished product!  I found a perfect metal frame a the end of last summer and knew it was the perfect thing for this specific project I had in mind.  It has some wicker around the edges of it.... kinda hard to explain but I will have plenty of pictures for that post! 

Here is the chair, AFTER Spanish moss was layed down, when the soil was added to prepare for the sedums.  This is a fine layer of moss with a fine layer of soil added on top.  It doesn't take much and since you can fertilize it with your organic fish fertilizer throughout the season, you can get away with a small amount of soil.

After I had the chair prepped to this point, I just started going around to all the various patches of sedums and succulents in my gardens and teasing out bits and pieces here and there.  I gathered several kinds, types and colors and brought them to the chair and began laying them out.  Remember, sedums have pretty shallow root systems so I just do the "laying on" method where you just kind tuck the sedums in where you want them to be.  I arranged the seat for variation in color and texture and then gave it a little sprinkle of soil around and in between them to fill in little spaces.  Then I finished with a good watering of organic liquid fish fertilizer water and Voila!  A gorgeous little planter if I do say so myself!

Hope you readers are thinking about what you have to plant with sedums!  The possibilities are endless! 

Plant what you love, dig in the earth, imagine beauty in the disgarded and ordinary!

Westport

This is what I woke up to in our hotel room on Mother's Day.  Just LOVE it!

Best little surf shop in Westport!

Feet at the beach!

Me: getting up

Me: trying to stay up

Me: happy and pooped

Jasper: learning to respect the power

Jasper, instant pro

August on one of many waves caught

Family photo at the beach after Gus' 15th Birthday dinner.

Loving the Ocean

Celebrate, be with the ones you love, and love the ones your with!

Evelyn Evelyn!

OK, so Blogger is not being nice to me again and keeps trying to publish this post, half done, and it wont let me align left!  Bugger!

No matter!  Evelyn Evelyn!  August and I are going to see this performance on Wednesday night at the Showbox Market.  If you aren't busy, you should check it out!  Not sure if tickets are still available though, and it wouldn't surprise me if its sold out. 

 Do you love weird, wacky, cabaret, vaudeville, burlesque, theatrical, craziness like I do?  Yes?  Then this is right up your alley! 

Amanda Palmer and Jason Webley are the duo behind Evelyn Evelyn.  Amanda was/is part of the Dresden Dolls and Jason Webley is also a well known accordion player who Chad and I saw in Portland last summer when he opened for Neko Case or The Avett Brothers, can't remember which. 

Anyhow, Amanda is married to Neil Gaiman.  Yes, THE Neil Gaiman.  And as Kirsten so aptly put it, "you're supposed to be impressed right here!"  

Look up all three of these cats and see if you might want to check them out the next time they roll thru town or out there on the inter web.  Fun, Fun, Fun!

Check this out on YouTube and prepare to be smitten: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Om5LtHKMrio

See what thrills you, have fun, and be happy!

Sedums and Succulents w/ Tutorial, Part 2

(My apologizes if you found/got only half, or actually, less than half, of the last post, Part 1, originally.  The system I use to publish these posts is called Blogger and for some reason it has taken on a self-publishing mind of its own.  After I worked on and edited various posts for three hours the other night, Blogger decided to publish half of the original Sedum and Succulent post and make the entire second half disappear into the interweb abyss.  Thus, I have had to rewrite all of what was originally the end of the first draft and dole it out in two parts.  Also, I cleaned up the end of the, now, part one, so that it has closure and doesn't just drop off into la la land.  Thanks Blogger!)

So this is the magnificent baseball pitchers ball holder!  Isn't it glorious?  For me, this has the perfect color green and just the right patina.  I need to get some rust stopping stuff to rub or spray on it so it will stay just like it is.  The moment I saw this at a yard sale, for $5, my heart did a little flip flop because I knew exactly what I would use it for.  It has been such a great planter for a variety of plants, including sedums and succulents, over the last few years.  But now that I look at it I can also envision it being used in a big bathroom to hold towels or in an art studio to hold supplies.  For now it will stay a planter though!  It has this big wire basket top on it and I knew I could use my amassed assortment of Spanish Moss to do the trick of holding in the soil and thus turning it from ball holder to cheery planter box!

Spanish Moss has the wonderful capability of being absorbent, holding moisture, and acting as a barrier so your soil wont fall out of pretty, lacy, wirey containers.  I have used it so many times and below I will show you a super easy method using it to make a planter for your own sedums, succulents or other plants.  Its so simple it's a little ridiculous to presume anyone would need to be told how but since I was making some I figured I'd document it and offer it up! 

Here is another view of my favorite deck planter and then I will show you the little galvanized "chicken food" containers hanging off of it.

The baseball planter has a variety of plants in it, ever evolving, and some sedums too.  When I am ready to do a major replanting in there, like more than a couple plants, I just take some handfuls of Spanish moss and start packing it around the sides so I can add some more compost and soil and it wont all run out thru the metal basket.  Pretty cool and its holding up well. 

Last summer I found these galvanized chicken food containers and they have a few little clips on the back that you just bend over the edge of the basket to hold them on.  When I saw these for 25 cents each, I snagged them since I knew they would be good sedum planters.  Just like all the other galvanized containers I buy, I got them home and started poking drainage holes in the bottom and then filling them up with clumps of sedums dug out of my yard.  The baseball planter was the perfect hanging spot for them!

Another great thing about sedums and succulents is that they tend to have shallow root systems so you can kind of lay them on soil, no need to dig big holes, and just kinda pack soil around them and then keep them very moist for a few weeks.  And having shallow roots, it seems that every little piece you pull off will have a least one little root attached to it so you can mix and match and plant different bits here and there to get  a nice blend.  Shallow roots lend themselves to shallow planters so you can find all kinds of interesting shallow containers to use for planting sedums and they make great gifts!

Below I will give you a peek of my favorite galvanized planter on the front deck.  I probably just should have thrown this in the last post, Part 1, but  wanted to give it its due!

TA DA!

This beauty is a galvanized tool caddy!  Or was.  I love it!  Now it's my favorite galvanized piece, and we all know, now, how much I love galvy!

See how the "handle bar" is a long narrow trough?  So cool.  And it lends itself to being planted with sedums, especially, since like I said before, you can just lay your little tiny pieces of sedum in there, mix and match and blend and end up with an array of color and texture. 

The bottom was divided into 8 compartments so I tried to put a piece of each of the sedums I was using in each of the spaces.  You wouldn't believe how sparse and not full this planter looked when I made it.  I thought it would never fill in but by the end of last summer it was full and robust, brimming with color and blooms. 

Here is a close up.

Originally I thought I would make this and sell it at the antique mall but I have gone and gotten all precious about it and now I am finding it hard to let go of.  I guess I'm not ready yet.  Maybe by the end of this summer I will be able to let it go to a new home. 

Up next I have a quick little photo tutorial for you on how you can use Spanish moss to make sweet and pretty planters. First I will show you the very small, cone shaped, hanging wire baskets I was planting.  I have two of them so they will look nice hanging one on each side of somewhere:

This is fairly small, like handful size.  You might be able to get a better glimpse of the top hooky thingy in the following photos.

Here are the supplies you need to have gathered:

1. 
   
   as many open weave, wire type planters as you want to fill
2. 
   
   a combo of soil and compost.  I also always water mine in with organic liquid fish fertilizer since that's what I have on hand and use on all my potted plants so you may want to have some fertilizer handy too.
3. 
   
   as much Spanish moss as you can get your hands on, or at least a bag full for a couple small planters.  For some reason I am always finding moss at tag sales so I have quite the assortment and just keep using up what I have.  I am sure you can get it at hardware or home improvement/garden centers though.  (There may be some controversy as to the harvesting of said Spanish Moss so it makes me feel better, somehow, to buy it second hand.  Go figure!)

4.   sedums and succulents!  Like I said, I just go dig mine from many various places around my yard and gardens but you can get them at stores or you could beg, barrow, or steal some from a friend, neighbor or foe!  Take your pick!

This is a bag of Spanish moss.  Depending on what size planter you have, you may need one to several handfuls.  Also, depending on the spacing of the wire or weave on your container, you may need more or less.  I use as little as I can get away with and that has always been enough.  You may get a little soil leakage at first but that's to be expected.  As long as ALL your soil isn't pouring out when you water your planter, your fine.  So start with a handful and go from there.

Here is some Spanish moss out of the bag.  For my small planters, I used less than a handful.  When you open the bag and try to rip a handful out, you may find that it is all bound together.  You can rip or pull it apart or even cut it with your sheers. 

Here you can see how much moss I used around the inside edges of the basket and then how I filled it with soil.  When you start with the moss, begin lightly packing it around all the sides and bottom of your container.  Like I said before, you don't need a ton of moss.  Go lite at first and then take a look at it.  Are there big gaps anywhere?  Is it super thick in some spots and thin in others?  Tease the moss apart as much as possible so you aren't "wasting" it and even out the moss thickness too.  These little hanging cones didn't take much soil but your next step is to introduce the soil to the moss lined container and see how they get along!  Does your soil pour out somewhere, even before you try to water it?  That would be a problem but totally fixable.  Just push the soil aside or dump/pour it out and pack more moss in the thin spots.  Once you are comfortable with the way the moss lined container is holing the dry soil, you are ready to lay in your sedums.

Here is my clump of sedums I plucked out of my garden.  This was enough for both of my small planters so I just teased this clump apart into two equalish sizes and was ready to "plant" the sedum.

Here is the "laying on of sedum!"  See how a few of the sedum pieces are hanging over the sides and look loose and wily?  Well I just used my finger to tuck those in so they will get a good rooted start.  With some trailing sedums you could leave some falling over the edges but with these type, I tucked them in for good measure.  You are almost finished!  Now you just need to give a nice bold soaking of water.  I don't think you can over-water these little guys so dose them up real good!  I use my fish fertilizer water here so they get a nice jolt of nutrition to get them on their merry growing way.

Voila!

Now you can just look around and find a nice little spot to hang your basket or place you container and watch it grow and fill in.  If you are using more than one kind of sedum or succulent, leave just a little space around them so they have space to multiply.  They will multiply no matter what, and they will push and mass together and look like they have always been there, like a bright mosaic or carpet of color and texture, but its nice to give them a little starting space so they have room to root and bind in.

Here is the other one.  Kinda hard to see the cone shape here.  Right now these are hanging off the baseball planter while they root in but they may end up hanging near each side of a walkway in the back, if they don't get given as gifts. 

My next step in blog land is to set up a photos account with one of the main sites so when we make these projects we can post/share pictures of our finished items for all to see!  I will work on that and let you know.....

I hope you have fun making some planters this spring and summer!  Let me know if you do and how it all went!

Do what you do, plant something, be happy, and be bright!

Sedums and Succulents Part 1

This is an old Sears and Roebuck Craftsman Viscosimeter.  It had something to do with paint and enamel originally.  I saw it as the perfect little cup to hold sedums!

I have a fair number of sedums and succulents growing in my garden and in containers around my yard and on my deck.  I cannot identify any of them, except the hens and chicks, but I know they are lovely.  I know that some of them are called stonecrops and some are called wallpeppers but I don't know which is which.  I have no books on them but these two look like they could be helpful. 

Galvanized bucket of hens and chicks.

Sedums and succulents are so versatile and I use them to fill in areas of the rockery, fill in moss-lined wire containers, fill in my Martha Stewart inspired hypertufa containers I made a few summers back, and also to fill in, or stuff in, terra cotta strawberry planters that have never been introduced to a strawberry before!  I even have an old baseball pitchers ball holder that I have turned into a moss lined sedum and plant container! I gotta tell ya, when I saw this thing at a yard sale for $5 my heart nearly thumped outta my chest!  Its gotta be my most favorite planter I own, besides the galvanized metal tool box/caddy one that you will also see in Part 2.

Another galvanized planter.  Its super easy to poke holes in the bottoms of galvanized vessels to turn them into planters with drainage holes.  I have been known to use hammer and nails, drills, and awls!

I have been taking some photos lately of the the many plants in and around my gardens and I have also put together a little photo tutorial on how to use Spanish moss, sedums, and wire containers to create wonderful and unusual garden art planters!  They make great gifts spur of the moment so I always try to keep several "extra" ones around for "just in case."  Also, when you are making one sedum planter, its just as easy to make 3 or 10 since you have all the materials out anyhow.  And its just as easy to water 20 or 50 containers too once you have them planted!  Tutorial in Part 2.

This wire one hangs just below the one above.  This one is meant to hang over the edge of a deck railing but since the one above is heavy enough, it holds it down just the right way, on this odd, random metal frame box type thingy I found at a sale.  This one hangs off, the one above sits atop it.

Here are a few photos of the many types of sedums I have in the garden and rock walls.  When I need some for planters, I just dig out small clumps from all the different types around the gardens.

Another thing I love about the variety of sedums and succulents is that you also get a variety of blooms.  These aren't so much in bloom yet but looking at the variety reminds me that in fact their bloom sets them apart even more.

Here is some more galvanized goodness:

I have an issue with/addiction to galvanized anything.  Can you tell there is a pattern here?  I seem to be pulled right to the dull matte grayish loveliness of it.  It speaks to me.  Here,  I am just showing you the ones that I have planted.  I have umpteen others that are awaiting planting too.

Around here we like to say things like, "can you pass me that Galvy container so I can throw some dirt in it?"  Or, "How about grabbing me that Galvy watering can, please."  And, at tag sales, to my children,  "Quick!  Snag that Galvy piece before someone else does!"  No Galvy goes unnoticed in these parts!  In Part 2 I will show you my favorite galvanized planter, full of sedums!

 There is the galvanized watering can collection too.  Some of the watering cans are planted with pansies (one of my all time favs), and some I use for summer vases, and some, I guess, I could actually use to water plants, but I tend to use my sprayer hose for that.  I digress.  Back to sedums and succulents.

Below are some of the many terra cotta strawberry/sedum planters and hypertufa sedum planters I have strewn about as well:

Here is a hypertufa with trailing sedums.  Another great thing about sedums is they spread around a lot and multiply.  I like that since I have never had to buy any sedums.  I just divy them up and keep moving them to fill in new spots or containers.  The wonder of division!

Here is one of the strawberry planters filled with a variety of sedums in the pockets.  The top is planted with a black elderberry tree that I am trying to  grow bigger before planting out out in the yard and it also has some sedums and snowbells growing in the top too.  It seems every time I plant a smallish size shrub or tree in the yard, Chad cant see them so he whacks em down with the edge trimmer, every. single. time. 

You never know, or at least I don't, which sedums will take off like gang busters and which will take the slow track.  I always try to balance out the colors, texture and size when planting a container like this but sometime it just doesn't matter and the sweet little sedums procure a mind of their own!  Look how the one type above grew out a huge mass on the left and the other pockets look wimpy in comparison?!

Here is another with Delphinium planted in the top.  The delphinium will bloom a few times if you cut it back each time it is done.  This one appears more balanced then the one above and has somehow managed to look almost perfect this spring!

Another hypertufa.  Its been a few summers since I last made these and I have been collecting interesting shaped containers for the next time I make more.  Making these cementish containers is fun to do as a group.  Any of you locals out there want to plan a date to make these at my pad?  Its easy enough to divy up the cost once the materials are bought and the quantities the materials come in are enough for a few of us to make many planters.  Just a thought......

Here is another "pocket planter," meant for strawberries.  This one has a miniature topiary Japanese maple tree growing out of it and I will be planting pansies around the trunk, soon.  Here again is an example of how some sedums are strong men and some are dainty waifs.  The pocket on the left that looks empty is just some tiny little sedum that are slow in coming on this spring but I bet they will catch up and fill in just fine.

So I am going to leave you with a few images of open weave or wire type containers that are best planted with the use and help of Spanish Moss.  In Part 2 I will take you thru a ridiculously easy "how to plant containers with Spanish Moss tutorial."  And in Part 2 I will show you my 2 favorite planters of all time, the baseball holder planter and the galvy tool caddy!  I know, I know, you think I am nuts because you cant picture what the heck I am talking about.  But trust me, if you love container gardening and/or repurposing or upcycling items you find, you will LOVE this as much as me!  Until Part 2, here are a few things to view:

Here are some wire type containers that can be planted with the use of Spanish moss, just like the other hanging wire container way above.  Oh, I guess its kinda obvious but just in case it isn't so clear, the whole point of the Spanish Moss is that you can use it around the inside of the container TO HOLD THE SOIL IN!  Brilliant!  Opens up a whole arena of possibilities for what you can plant in.  I seem to always plant these with sedums but in no way are you limited to said plant. 

Here are some unplanted examples of wire type or open weave planters that will benefit from the use of Spanish Moss:

These look white from the flash but truly they are not painted at all and in fact are grayish darkish metal.

Until part 2, make what you love, love what you make and do what makes you happy!

New Labels and Baby Gifts

An example of my new homemade labels!

Hello and happy Tuesday!  I have several posts I am working on editing and here is a short fast one for ya! 

Last week, I think it was Monday or Tuesday, I stayed in my pajamas all day long.  I wasn't feeling top notch and I figured instead of laying in front of the boob tube and watching Fuel TV all day, I would get to work on my already-should-have-been-done atelier labels for all the fun stuff I have been making.  I am not certain that this is the final design but I like what I am seeing so far.  My new sewing machine, the one the boys got me for my Winter Solstice/Christmas gift, has over 80 built in stitches and 120 stitch functions!  woot woot!  It's not anything too primo or over the top but it works just fine for I do right now AND it has the entire alphabet! 

Anywho, since winter I have been meaning and intending to make these labels so I would have a way of marking my territory, so to speak.  Now when I sell an item I have made or when I gift a handmade item to a friend, its orgins will never be unknown!  My handmade goods will go out into the world with a way to be identified and it also adds a tinge of charm.  Here are some of the other examples:

  These are the three types of vintage fabrics I used this time.  Different fabrics next time!

The plan for my next batch of labels will be to make several that are very long, each word after the next, so I can sew them up the sides of inside seems or along edges.  Sometimes your product doesn't allow for a big "inside" label and I will show you what I mean next.  Also, I will be trying to sew the words onto twill tape and I will let y'all know if I have success with that later.  Here is one example, of an item I have been making, that could use a long narrow label, instead of a big fat chunky one.  Warning to all of my pregnant and expectant momma friends- close your eyes if you want some of your Mother Blessing gifts to be a surprise! 

Reversible bibs in vintage fabrics!

See, a bib would benefit from having a long skinny label sewn up one side.

The other way I have been using my labels is like this:

On vintage fabric baby jackets!

Another

This little jacket should fit up to a three month old, easily, although it looks tiny here.

Close up of label inside baby jacket.

The baby jacket is not my own pattern although now that I have worked with it a bit I am considering drafting my own version.  I am thinking more of a kimono style with ties that wrap around to the front....

This patter is from the book One Yard Wonders by Rebecca Yaker, in the section Outfit your Small Wonder, and the pattern was designed by Anna Buchholz.  The bib pattern is also from this book and although I do not have the designer information for this particular one, it is a very universal pattern and you could find it practically anywhere.  I have made or am in the process of making several items from this book and I would highly recommend it to any sewers out there who: A. are short on time but love to sew, B. who have a buttload of fabric laying around and no idea of what to do with it, C. like to make gifts and are fresh out of ideas!  I have made the kids messenger bag for Jasper and am currently working on the folklore bag for myself using some amazing burnt orange/brownish leather I got from the thrift store and whose past life was as an awesome 1970s Taiwanese trench coat!

Sew your hearts out, label what you make, and do what makes you happy!

Surf Bliss, etc.

Surfing, Westport.

I love you Washington.  I love you Pacific coast.  How blessed I feel to be here, now, able to dive....right....in.

Headed to the beach to surf for the turning of the wheel.  Gus turning 15.  Me being a mom for 15 years.  Alright, already.  Here we go.  Off into the wild blue yonder.

Happy Mothers Day to ALL my amazing mom friends and my own Mama.  I admire, respect and look up to you all, so much.  You are an inspiration.  Thank you.

Do what you love!

Clever Nettles

Jasper near the top of our nettle patch!

This post is about Nettles!  The super food kind and the fashionista kind!  I think I finally figured out how to get my photos to load correctly so here it goes!

                                                    Jasper at the nettle patch helping pick!

I have been harvesting, eating and drinking nettles for about 8 years now.  Before I had Jasper I started an herbal apprenticeship at RavenCroft Gardens.  At RavenCroft I was able to study for 3 years and I earned my certificate as a Community Centered Herbalist (CCH). During my time at RavenCroft I learned so much about connecting people, plants and the earth and I have been able to share some of my tiny bit of knowledge with my community.  In my first year at Ravencroft, in the Healing from the Ground Up program, I was able to develop a personal Materia Medica beginning with Nettle, Dandelion, Red Clover, Comfrey, Oatstraw, Burdock, Plantain, Calendula, Kelp and Chickweed.  The majority of our work was based on Susan Weed's book Healing Wise and all of our work was centered on the Wise Woman Tradition.  I cherish my years and time at RavenCroft.  I made such deep connections to women, ideas, theories and practices that changed my life forever.

Nettle Tops

One way that RavenCroft "grew" me was in my learning about Nourishing Herbal infusions and how to wild craft, gather, harvest and use all sorts of weeds, foods, medicines, plants, roots etc.  One of my favorite "weeds" has been Nettle.  I harvest nettle every early spring and hang it by the bunches in my garage to dry.  I used the dry nettle to make nourishing herbal nettle infusion for myself and my family.  Jasper calls it nettle juice and has been drinking it since he was a baby.  I like to drink it cold and especially in the summer when my allergies are acting up.  I use the leftover leaves in soups, quiches, pastas, etc and if I have left over infusion after a few days, I feed it to my plants. 

Nettle bunch hanging to dry.

I make my infusions by weighing out an ounce of dried nettle leaves and stalks and shoving that in a half gallon canning jar.  I fill the jar to the top with hot boiling water and put a plastic cap on it for at least 6 hours.  If I make it at bedtime, I let it sit on the counter all night and put it in the fridge in the morning.  I like to drink it cold so as soon as its good and cold, I just pour the infusion off the top of the nettles and drink away.  Nettles makes my skin, hair and nails so much more healthy and it is LOADED with tons of minerals and vitamins.  No other green vegetable excels nettles in mineral and vitamin content and it is one of the worlds most chlorophyll rich plants.  Recently I have heard nettle lauded as a Super Food and I totally understand why.  There is over 1000mg of calcium in 8oz. of nettle.  Wow!

Close up nettle top.  These are just about to bloom and then Nettle harvest time will be over til next year.

With the fresh nettle I always make a quiche the same night of the first harvest.  This year I made  bacon, shitake and nettle quiches, one with regular pie crust, one with spelt crust.  Jasper ate most of the spelt crust quiche in his lunch the next few days and he loves all things rich and green.  The kid eats seaweed and Nori like its going out of style. 

Close up detail of nettle leaf top.

When we pick nettle, we wear tough gloves so we don't get lots of stings.  We make sure to wear long pants and long sleeves and be mindful of our surroundings.  Jasper has become a pro and can now pick nettle with bare hands without getting stung.  He knows how to pick a leaf, fold and wrap it up, and stick it in his mouth and eat it without a single sting.  Pro! 

Close up detail of nettle leaf bottom.

To me nettle smells peppery.  As a standard brew it is gentle yet powerful.  It nourishes and changes energy.  It is excellent for pregnant and lactating women.  All parts of the plant are useful and both of my boys still make nettle cordage like our northwest native american forebearers did.  No part of nettle is poisonous and you might try locating it under big leaf maples. You would do well to make nettle one of your allys in healing.  I did and its high iron, protein and calcium content have served me so well, especially in my bouts of low blood sugar madness.  I will never be without you nettle.  You are a friend for life!

Bowl full of nettle leaves waiting to be chopped.

Recipe for Nettle, Shitake, Bacon Quiche:
1 premade pie crust ( I buy organic ones at Whole Foods)
4 eggs
1 cup cream or half -n- half
cheese (enough to cover the bottom)
chopped onions, sliced shitake mushrooms, and chopped and cooked bacon
several handfulls (with gloves on!) of fresh nettle leaves chopped
Preheat over to 350.  Line the bottom of your crust with cheese.  This creates an oil barrier layer so the crust shouldn't get too soggy.  Next, fry your onions in olive oil and/or some of the bacon fat. I like to almost carmelize mine and then throw in the mushrooms.  Cook a few minutes and then add in all the chopped nettle.  I did this in a big soup pot that I had cooked the bacon in so with the high sides everything fits before it wilts down.  Meanwhile, whisk the eggs with the cream and set aside.  When nettle, mushrooms and onions are almost done, toss the bacon bits back in and give it a good stir.  Now take all that and pour it in the pie shell, over the cheese.  Then pour the egg/cream mixture over that.  Season and voila!  You are ready to put it on the middle rack in the over and cook for at least 45 minutes.  Watch the crust.  Also, you can place a cooking sheet under the quiche if its very full so the boiled over spills dont get stuck on your oven floor.  Let it cool for ten minutes or so before slicing and then dig in!  Its good cold the next day for lunch too.  Yum!

Please also check out my friends Kimberly and John's website, Learning Herbs, to learn more about herbalism, plants, and how to use them.  Their website is SO FULL of information and I highly recommend it!  You will even see a picture of Jasper and I if you click on Cold and Flu Care!

Anja's spring banner from her awesome blog Clever Nettle.

On a different note, completely, I love fashion!  One of my favorite blogs to visit and scour is Clever Nettle. I almost named my own blog something-something-nettle.  Anja, the blogs proprietress, lives in Portland and I am fairly obsessed with her, on many levels.  Her work is to thrift for awesome vintage and modern-but-cool clothes and she sells them on her Etsy sight, and then she blogs about it.  Dream job.  And she is so cute.  And she very often posts about food in Portland and those of you who know me well do know that I am obsessed with Portland, food, vintage, thrifting, clothes, etc.  Even though I am mostly a t-shirt and jeans kinda gal, I do love fashion and clothes and I have many a packed closet full of cool vintage clothes that I never get to wear around in my daily life.  Sigh. 

Many of the restaurants I have been to in Portland are on Anja's recommendation.  Check out Olympic Provisions, Calderra Public House and Navarre to name a few.

Chad at Olympic Provisions with all the Charcuterie hanging behind him.

Because of Anja and her friend Rachel, that she often speaks of, I am currently obsessed with Swedish Hasbeen shoes.  I think I have to get a pair, pronto, and I think I will be going to Clementine's, in West Seattle, to try some on first.  Also, my obsession has become contagious and I think I pretty much have Erin talked into needing a pair too!  It'll be a girls afternoon on the town and it aint gonna be cheap!

Assorted colors of Swedish Hasbeens!

Anja is leaving for New Orleans in a couple days.  I feel like a stalker but she has been asking for suggestions of places to go see, where to eat, what to do and visit etc.  Again, those of you who know me, know I am profoundly in love with NOLA, its part of my email address, I just went back for the third time in the fall and I do plan to live or stay there for an extended amount of time in the future.  Fingers crossed!

A blurry photo of us in our hotel room at The Hotel Monteleone famous for being haunted and for its Carousel Bar in the lobby.  Also the rumored birthplace of Truman Capote!

So I have been desperately trying to piece together every little bit of what I would want to tell Anja about New Orleans and I am realizing that so much of the magic of the city is that you have some amazing thing to discover at every turn.  There is never a dull moment and I am not sure that you can ever have a bad meal there.  I wonder what it would have been like if I had gone there for the first time armed with a list of "must do" things.  I think it would have been a little different experience, and I would have been glad to have had some guidance, but I also had the luxury and delight of "self discovery" without the pressure or anxiety of "gotta go, gotta go, gotta go."  I would do that to myself with a list.  It would become my boss and I would feel compelled to "accomplish" every item on the list.  And I would not have as many deep, cool, in-the-moment experiences if I went by a list, because, like I said, being me, I would rush to do it all and not leave time for magic and happenstance.  I am beyond certain that Anja would never just do exactly what I suggest she do, but I think I will withhold my desire to rush to share every detail, of every place, of every taste, of every sound that I would want Anja to experience, so she can find her own experiences of the amazing city.  I gotta think of just a few key gems to share and let the rest stay in the magic little place in my brain where the rest of NOLA is perched on a pedestal forevermore!
Gem #1:

Me in front of Elizabeth's Restaurant in the bywater area.  Take a cab from the quarter.  So worth the drive. Best breakfast ever!

Gem #2 (&3)

This is David's Found Objects.  I would also highly recommend checking out Le Garage across the street on Decatur.  In fact, Decatur is where its at.  Next time, I will be staying on lower Decatur, FOR SURE!

Gem #4 and beyond

Walk around and take it all in!

Walk along the Mississippi on the Riverwalk.

Take the ferry to Gretna.  We went to the Gretna Heritage Festival and it was fantastic to get a real dose of local culture and arts!  Yes, we caught a glimpse of Kool and the Gang and saw the awesome New Orleans Bingo Show!

Just watch out for the BIG bugs!

We spent one day driving up to Baton Rouge and exploring there before seeing one of our favorite bands, The Avett Brothers perform.  It was exciting for us because we were in the 6th row or so and the venue was virtually empty.  Here is how excited we were and how empty the place was:

The lack of an audience should in no way reflect the awesomeness of this band!  We were just in the middle of nowhere!  They were originally scheduled to play at House of Blues in the Quarter but for whatever reason had to cancel and at the last minute rescheduled in Baton Rouge so I think people were just not so aware that they were in town.  Lucky us!

Look at some balconies:

Check out some neat houses:

Side note: Have you been watching Treme on HBO?!!  Ohmygawd, I love this show.  The music, the scenery, the vibe.  Love all of it.
This past October was the first time I had been back since Katrina and it was a very different feel in the quarter.  The sense of mysterious and ethereal things, intangible, laying right below the surface, is still there but the many little obscure shops, galleries and eateries are gone for the most part.  I missed that part of it.  There is no lack of people who are ready to share what happened to them during Katrina.  You can still see wrecked buildings and the high water marks on underpasses and structures.  It makes you wonder and leaves a tinge of sadness but I am just so darn happy that the essence of NOLA is still there.  Keep rebuilding NOLA!  I will be back! 

Do you know what it means, to miss New Orleans, when that's where you left your heart?

SWARM!

My very own swarm of honey bees!

So I am sitting inside at the computer desk on Friday, paying bills and minding my own business, when Jasper comes tearing in the house. 
"Mom! Mom! There's a million bees flying around!"
Me: "Oh? Uh huh, well, I'll come out and see in a minute.  I'm kinda busy here."
Him: "NO!  MOM!  You gotta see this!  Its like a black cloud over the roof!"
Me: "Huh? What the F#@$!? (as I am running out the house, through the garage, into the yard) OHMYGAWD!  They are swarming!  Hurry, get in the house!  Where is the video camera!  Get my phone!  Holy Sh%#!  What the hell is happening?!"
And then ever so slight panic ensues as I try to do a million things at once.  Calling Rachel at Beez Neez, Calling Chad, taking video, taking pictures, uncontrollable shaking and giddiness, nausea, sweat, trying not to freak out Jasper, handling Dish Network guys showing up exactly then to put up new dish, frantic reading of the swarming chapter in Beekeeping for Idiots, or is it Dummies?, its Dummies!  And I am marveling all the while....

Full of shock and awe!

(pictures ended up a little outta order)

What happened you might wonder?  My bees decided to swarm and it was amazing to see.  Its hard to describe but I will try.  I am so thankful we didn't miss the drama of it and were here to see it so we knew where they went and that they were in fact our bees!  Jasper knew right away that something wasn't right because there were tens of thousands of bees in the air, all at once, and they were moving somewhat together in a large mass.  Kinda like a black cloud!  They were landing everywhere and trying to figure out where to go.  They were trying to follow their queen and find a temporary home while scout bees went out to look for a permanent home.  They flew over my roof and into the back yard and toward the other end of the house.  They were covering everything: the car, the dish network van, the house, Chad's drift boat, the windows, the trees and bushes, the BBQ, etc.  I thought the dish guys looked pretty freaked out so I told them that obviously they would not want to be trying to get up on my roof right then and that we needed to reschedule.  They didn't want to be out of their van so I explained to them that a swarm of bees are the gentlest bees you ever will meet.  I informed them that when bees get ready to swarm, they gorge themselves on their honey because they do not know how long they will have to be without a home so they fill up.  When they are full like that, they are docile and sweet, and will only sting if they are forced to.  Granted, I myself would not be comfortable up on a roof, with thousands of bees flying around, hoping not to do something to make them sting.  You  see, I was also trying to convince myself that they were OK, that I was OK, that they weren't trying to attack us even though they were "invading" every nook, cranny, and crevice they could find. 

en mass

The bees seemed confused and their uncertainty made me nervous.  Were they going to congregate on the neighbors house or were they going to fly away and be gone for good?  They were clustering up in several spots as they tried to figure out where their queen had landed.  It took close to an hour for them to start really huddling together in the shape you see above.  They cluster for protection and warmth.
Bees swarm for a few reasons.  I am lucky that even though they did swarm, they did it early.  The later bees swarm, the less time there is for the colony to recover and they likely won't produce or winter over well.  Lots of beekeepers have had swarms already this year and its not even May yet.  Tad bit unusual and may be due to our milder winter and robust colonies.  Swarming is a natural and normal instinct for bees, especially older or crowed colonies.  Congestion and poor ventilation are the two main reasons bees swarm.  If I had more experience I may have noticed earlier on that there may have been queen swarm cells, which look like a peanut shell shape, hanging near the bottom of the frames.  Swarm cells are the earliest evidence that bees are thinking of swarming.  When I had last checked my bees I was following the 7/10 rule which dictates that when 7 of 10 frames are covered in bees, its time to add another deep hive body or honey supper, depending on your circumstances.  At the time, I wasn't looking for swarm cells and the bees were not on more than 7 frames.  Bees work from the middle out to the sides so each outside frame will be the last to get drawn out into comb.

Assessing the situation.  Notice the full bee suit even though I am telling you they are the most gentle during a swarm.  Even an experienced beekeeper should wear the veil but I use the whole shbang, including gloves!

When I texted the photos to some friends, several commented that it looked like a giant pine cone.  It did!  A massive wiggling, writhing pine cone!  As they climbed over each other and tried to get closer to the queen they were surrounding, some would fall off and hit the ground.  They would fly right back up and cling on somewhere else.  Several scout bees were still coming and going but they too had filled up on honey and were little slow on the up take.  I wonder where they would have ended up had I not been able to capture them?  Yes, I was able to capture my first swarm!

Several thousand bees weighs more than you would think!

You can tell in the pictures that they are somewhat low to the ground and hanging on a branch.  It is super duper amazing that they stayed in my yard AND that they converged in a spot that was SO EASY to get to.  I did not have to perform acrobatic swarm collection!   I simply had to step up on a ladder and snip the branch they were on so I could lower the whole mass into a box.  Yes, a box folks.  A cardboard moving box.  Crazy, huh?  Once they were in the box I just closed it up and waited to call Rachel back.  Oh yeah, the plan was to go get one of Rachel's old hives and buy ten new frames with wax foundation to stick in there so the bees could have a new home and start to draw out comb in their new hive.  In the course of that Friday afternoon I think I called Rachel at least three times.  And the bee store, it just so happened, had just that day received a shipment of 200 boxes of bees so they were staying open late but were the busiest they ever are. 

Some of the two hundred boxes of bees!  They sell bees in 3 or 4 pound packages with a queen!

Poor sweet Rachel!  She kept getting these frantic, panicked, stunted, random calls from me and she just kept saying don't worry, it will all be OK.  She was so patient with me and even offered for me to get her old hive since she just got out the hospital again from her allergic reactions to another bee sting.  She is giving up her hives now, and also she is moving to Portland, but her boyfriend is a new beekeeper so she will help him but try not to get stung!  So she had a hive for me to take and the timing of all this, as weird as it was, was perfect since the apiary(bee) store was open unusually late, I had time to get out there Friday night, get the supplies I needed, go to Rachel's before dark,  and get home with everything so I could hive the bees the next day. 

Closing them in the box for the night!

Ta Da!

A few left over stragglers.  I put them near the box and they found their way in.

Jasper had a soccer game Saturday morning so I just left the bees in there box home for the night and pulled the box right up next to the house so they would be under the eave.  It was raining so I didn't want them to get too wet.  The next morning they were still in the box!  Rachel had told me they will stay in a swarm for 2 minutes or two weeks, you just never know.  So I was worried that they would take off again before I could give them a proper home to call their own.  When bees swarm, about 50 percent of the colony packs up with the queen and takes flight.  They leave half their family behind.  So in my original hive I still had many thousands of bees but no queen and that is no good.  We talked about me getting a new queen for that hive but you have to have several days of nice weather to bring a new queen home so that she can take here nuptial flight, mate with drones, and return to the hive to begin laying eggs, unhindered by rain, wind, and bad weather.  She is expensive and important and you don't want to chance her not having a good start with bad weather. 

Close up of bees in a package, awaiting pick up to go the their new hive.

Also, there are many reasons for buying a queen from a reputable supplier vs. letting nature take its course.  To let the colony create a new queen, it must have occupied queen cells or cells with eggs.  If eggs are available, the worker bees will take some of them and start the incredible process of raising a new queen.  This can take a month and that is precious time during honey season.  Buying a vigorous mated queen is a fast solution, she is certain to be fertile, and queens left to mate in the wild can produce bees with undesirable characteristics, such as bad temper.  So for now I have their original hive with many bees but no queen and I have some options about what to do with it. 
Now that I have this new hive started (more on this next), I can either still re-queen the original hive and have two fully running hives or I can combine them in a couple weeks and have one mega hive.  Its a tough call for me!  There are pros and cons to each choice.  If I keep the two hives separate then each one of them is starting from scratch and will most likely not have the time to produce any surplus of honey for me to take at the end of summer.  Remember, bees need about 90 pounds of their own honey to get through the coming winter so I can only take what is above and beyond that.  That's a lot of honey! 
Also, I had originally planned to start a second hive this spring but time got away from me and I didn't order my supplies in time.  So here I am with two hives anyhow but the original one is not a second year hive, technically, now that it swarmed.  It has no queen to keep making baby bees, to collect nectar, and make more honey.  But, two hives is twice the work.  The bees do need to be feed in the early spring and late fall here.  Its a lot of sugar syrup and suiting up and filling sticky jars and not letting them run out, etc.  I enjoy the chores of beekeeping but it does take time and commitment and remembering to do it!  It would be easier and cheaper and less time to service one hive, but if I am already doing it for one, I might as well do it for two, right? 

Honey Bee by August Williams

Well, I do have the option of combining these two hives in a couple weeks or so.  It would practically ensure a MOTHERLOAD of honey for me.  But then I would only have one hive and not two like I had hoped I would of.  But one hive is less time, attention, and stickiness!  How bad do I want honey?  I don't feel too greedy about it.  I want to do right by the sweet honey bees.  But I do also want to make my mead this year, with my own bees honey surplus.  And I use all honey to make my preserves each summer so it sure would be nice to have honey for that.  Regardless, I think combining the hives might be the right thing to do this time. 
I still have a week or so to figure this out.  I need to go back to Beez Neez and ask more questions.  Jim and Rachel are so helpful there.  I take lots of notes so I can try to keep all the info sorted out.  Its a lot to take in and file away and get right when the time comes to implement what you think you know!  Thankfully Jim and Rachel are only a phone call away and they hear from me often and are always gracious, kind and encouraging!
Well, I want to get this posted now even though I feel like I am leaving some things out. I didn't get pictures of hiving them on Saturday because it was a crazy day with the Dish guy coming back and the bees still flying all over since it was nice out and they could smell where their queen had been near the back door.  Many of them stayed in the tree and on the backdoor near where the box had been overnight, until they figured out that their queen was in a new hive down in the yard.  I will take pictures of the new hive next time I feed them and do a follow up post in the next few weeks.  Ask away if you have any questions.  Or comment too if you want!  I hope I have some honey to share with y'all in the future.  Here's to the wonder of bees!

Ocho! Plaka Estiatorio!

Ok, so here is a food post for ya.  Ocho in Ballard is an absolute must!  Especially if you are with some real good friends or your boyfriend.  I got to go twice so far, once with each.  If you love Spanish tapas and small plates to share, this is your place.

Above you will see the famous $10 Maragrita.  I kid you not, it is THE BEST margarita I have ever tasted! And I probably don't have to tell you that I have tied many a margarita on! I can only describe it like Sarah did, piney and not at all too sweet.  My reaction after gulping one down was like, oh my lordy, can you mainline those?!

A few weeks back Maurisa and Sarah and I got to have a night out in Ballard with our intention being to eat our way around Ballard until it was time to go.  We started at Ocho and ended up at a fantastic little Greek place called Plaka Estiatorio. 

Here you can see the chalkboard menu and a slice of the tiny kitchen at Ocho.

First though, let me tell ya a little more about Ocho's menu.  Like many of my lovely friends, I like to consider myself, at the very least, an amateur foodie.  I like things fresh, in season, local, organic, and beautiful.  I like the flavors to make sexy with my mouth and I enjoy it when my taste buds have little orgasms.  Yes, I pretty much equate good food with good sex.  Both can get me hot and bothered, in a really good way! 

So at Ocho they have things like Huevo del Diablo which is deviled eggs, salmon roe, pickled onion, tomato dust, fried capers and dill.
Um, hello, can you say yum!
And they have Jamon Serrano: cured spanish ham.  We ate some of that.  Well, more like some of that melted in our mouths.
And Croquetas Borrachas: fried goat cheese with roasted red pepper almond sauce.  Crispy on the outside, creamy on the inside and oh, so delicious.
Setas de Jerez: sherried mushrooms on olive oil toast with arugula.  Earthy yet sweet.  Wish this grew on a tree in my garden.
Albondigas: lamb meatballs with brandy carrot sauce and golden raisins.  Amazing.
Gambas al Ajillo: spicy garlic prawns.  Perfect.
And the evening Chad and I were there I had an asparagus gazpacho that was cooling and refreshing.

But I gotta say.  The one thing I had both times that I could eat all day, every day, day in, day out, over and over is the La Carolina: pancetta wrapped blue cheese stuffed dates in a balsamic reduction.  People!  Is this a dessert?  It was better than dessert.  I wish it were a food group you were required to have 5 servings of per day.  I dream about these little beauties.  And in my dreams they just magically appear in my fridge every time I open it!  Oh, to have it be so.  I didn't even get a picture of them.  I got greedy and ate them fast.  I think Chad got one.  I hope.
Several of the items on the menu have a little star by them and when you look at the key at the bottom of the menu it says: contains raw food, which could kill you.  Blunt.  To the point. And makes me grin.  Love it.
And I haven't even mentioned any of the other fancy cocktails they mix up in this little pixie size space.  You just gotta go see for yourself.  You wont be disappointed.

Plaka is the other place Sarah and Maurisa and I ate at in Ballard.  I thought it was great and again we shared small plates, or Mezedes, as it's called here.  We had our hunk of a waiter pick a wine for us and it was just right.  We shared Patzaria: beets with garlic, fennel, vinegar and olive oil.  Loukaniko: grilled pork sausage.  Octopodi: octopus braised in herbs with lemon and olive oil.  Roasted red pepper and feta dip.  And I think we had some roasted seasonal veggies and potatoes.  It was all delicious.  Although I am pretty much a sucker for anything that has lemon and olive oil.  And the owner of Plaka was so kind and attentive.  He gave me a gorgeous calendar when we left so I can hang it on my wall and daydream about when I get to go to Greece.  Unfortunately, or fortunately, actually, I was in such wonderful company and having such a lovely evening immersed in girl talk, I did not take any pictures here. 

So I will leave you with a few photos from Old Town Ale House,  Chad and I stopped in here the other night to grab a drink and snack before seeing Breathe Owl Breathe at The Tractor.  I will post more about seeing them later but for now I will show you the super cute artwork on the Belgium Trappist Ale I drank.  It made the beer taste extra good!  And those of you who know me, know I have a thing for snails.  Here ya go:

Down where the Sasquatch hide....

Beauty of a day!  A seven year old birthday party.  Rain.  Sun.  Ahhhh, the Northwest.  Just missing a Sasquatch sighting..... Ha! 

I have been wanting to show y'all these lovely badges I made for my Juji (Julie for her 40th!) and for Jasper (for his 7th!).  So so easy yet quite a statement!  Here are some photos below.  I wish I knew how to do a little tutorial for you in case you want to make yourself a badge.  I will try to explain below.  It is really, soooo easy!

Julie's Birthday Badge!

Jasper's 7th Birthday badge!

The back of Julie's badge.

Front and back of Jasper's.

I was able to purchase several of these green rimmed milk bottle caps from the Queen of Tarte last time she was in town.  She was doing a show in Bothell and there was not a lot to drool over from other vendors but Q.O.T. had these and Kathy and I were drawn to them.  Numbers were already printed on them, just like Jasper's 7, and I instantly had the idea for his birthday badge.  The one I made for Julie has a number under it too but I had to cover it since none of the numbers were 40! 

The first thing I did was take some of my many rolls of crepe paper and started pinching and gathering them and just hand forming them into a circle shape until it looked ruffley.  Then I started on the next color or row, and so on.  Once I had what I wanted, I just used white glue to begin adhering the crimped, ruffled, pinched, circular shaped crepe "wreaths" to the back of the bottle cap.  I just overlapped the crepe where it met in a circle shape.  The caps are a kind of waxy, papery like thing but the white glue seemed to work to adhere it all together. 

Then I had to decide what kind of ribbons I wanted hanging down from the badge.  I have a massive collection of ribbon, vintage and new.  I also have a ton of seam binding, edging, ric rac, etc.  The green "ribbons" I used here are actually like hem tape that you might use to cover a hem on the inside of a garment.  Its cotton and very stretchy and I have several rolls of it so this was a good way to use some up.  I just decided on how I wanted to layer them and then trimmed the ends to make points.  You make the points by folding the ribbon in half length wise and then cut a 'V' shape from the fold to the outer edge.  You can make the points as long or as blunt as you like, depending on how long your 'V' is.  Once I have my layers of dangling ribbon situated, I glue them all at the same time and together, to the back of the ruffley crepe lined bottle cap, on the back.  You can make them hang straight down or flare them at a slight angle.  You could also just do one strand of ribbons or several strands! 

To cover up all the glue, ribbon ends and crepe circles on the back of the badge, I cut out a nice little circle of wool felt, with my pinking shears so it has a 'ruffley' edge too, and glue it on the back.  BEFORE I glue it on though, I hand sew a pin to the felt so I have a way to attach it to my clothes or wherever once its all dry and ready to wear.  I have several leftover early entry badges from The Sandpoint Design and Antique Market so I just detached the safety pin part from the plastic and used the pin to sew to the felt.  There are several types of pin backs at the craft store so you just have to choose what works best for you.  Once the pin is attached to the felt, THEN I glue it to the badge back.  Voila!  You are pretty much done!  You just have to wait for the glue to dry and then wear your badge or give it away!

Here is my sweet Julie with her Birthday badge:

Here is tired Jasper, on his birthday, after horseback riding in the desert, but still wearing his Birthday badge:

Oh!  I almost forgot to mention!  Look at this close up of Julie's badge.  You will notice the background behind the 40.  I used the inside of a Yogi tea box!

I did this specifically for Julie because it reminded me of the amazing henna work she does.  I am tellin' ya, this woman is a master!  Getting a henna blessing from Julie is one of my most favorite things to do when we are together.  It is amazing art that stays with me for days and slowly fades as the time since our last meeting grows.  I need to scan the photos I have of Julie's henna work and do another whole post just on that!  The 40 is just stick on numbers that I glued down and sprayed matte varnish over to help hold them on.

Here's to art, craft, milk caps and crepe paper!

Go make art!

Ships Ahoy!

Ann Wood Pattern Ships in Progress!

Here is our first fleet of Ann Wood boats in progress.  (Dont forget to drool over Ann's stuffed owls while you are visiting her blog!)  I will post some more process photos so you can see our version of it.  These have been painted but are awaiting mast and yard construction.  This was a great family project and it can be done in a weekend or you can stretch it out for a couple months like we did.  Since we made so many to start, we did one step at a time with the entire fleet, so it took a little longer.  Most of the ships you can see here are the original pattern blown up 100% or so.  I do like the bigger size for the amount of time these take to make.  You might as well make big ones because I think they will be easier to see hanging from the ceiling too! 

Above you can see some of our small and large patterns cut out of cereal boxes and a few actually taped together and ready to be paper mached.  I don't think we have any photos of the paper mache day since we all did it and had really sticky fingers!  I just use a mix of flour and water and few drops of white glue for paper mache.  We tore up small pieces of newspaper and just basically followed Ann's directions and did two layers on each.  Let me see if I can find a photo of them all mached.....nope....

Painted inside and out.

I started the draft of this post way back when but was waiting to finish it since I was giving a few ships to friends as gifts and wanted it to be a big surprise for them.  They most likely would not have seen this blog post anyhow but wanted to be on the safe side!  These ships were so fun to construct and Ann Woods work is so inspiring.  I can't wait to try making my own ship design and creating an even bigger, more beefy one, to hang with these.  Check hers out and you will see what I mean.  Ann also does amazing things with cardboard and fabric and her work has been featured in severl magazines worldwide. 

I will post some more process photos and tell ya about what we did:

One side of Jasper's ship with mast inserted.

The other side of Jasper's Ship.

The inside of Jasper's ship.  I love his style!

In all, we made 4 small ships and 5 large ones.  We will keep and hang the 4 we made for ourselves and gift the others.  We have given three small ones away so far and they have been well received!  I will show you here:

Here is the one we made for our friend Steffen for his birthday.  You can kinda see the fabric here.  It has octopus, ship wrecks, seals, fish, seaweed and coral.  This is the other side of the sail:

I used cheese cloth to line the back!  The sail pattern does not call for it to be lined but I got this wild hair and wanted to see if I could make it work.  It looked great and it didn't add a lot of heft, bulk, or stiffness to the sail so that was good.  You can see the detail here of how we painted most of them with thin paint so the newsprint would show thru like Ann's.  Also you can see a little detail of how the sail is hand sewn to the yard.  Sewing the sail to the yard really makes you feel like your ship is coming together!

Here are two sails in progress for two ships.  These each went to Maurisa for her birthday and Julie for her 40th birthday!  I used an old indian paisley spread that had lots of various stains and holes.  I really like the reds, greens, and yellows in the fabric.  I did not line these sails because I liked the gauzey feel of the fabric just the way it was.  Here is Julie's finished ship below:

These ships have string attached so you can hang them from the ceiling.  Also, you might notice the buttons attached to the ends and sides.  I used shell buttons on these and they are meant to be decorative and to use for attaching your sails strings to.  I followed Ann's lead and left all my strings long and dangley.  Love it!

And on this sail I used some contrasting but complimentary fabric to make patches on the sail.  As if the sail had gotten holes while sailing the high seas and needed to be repaired!

We have not finished out own four ships!  I wanted to get the gifts done first so we will be working on ours soon.  I will post more as they get finished.  Please check out Ann's blog and website to get inspired to create these!  And let me know if you, a. come across any more ship patterns, and b. make any of your own!  I will leave you with a group picture of all our ships, with their masts attached, awaiting sails.

Hello from Tucson!

85 degrees and dry, every day.

Standing on water?!

Having a blast at the Vaudeville Variety Circus Sideshow!

Having a lot of fun in Tucson!  Have shopped to the point of needing to buy more luggage, ate fabulous food at Club Congress and Sauce, and went to a Circus Side Show that was the most fun so far! Swimming, soaking up the 81 degree sun, and taking naps. Gotta love a vacation! Jasper turns 7 tomorrow! Going horseback riding, eating Sonoran Dogs, and seeing Goonies at the Loft Theatre. Hiking Bear Canyon to Seven Falls on Friday and maybe go to Bisbee on Saturday. Phew! I will post more pictures when we get home and the videos of the boys taking part in the circus side show! Gotta love Tucson!

Packing for Tucson

So we are off to visit Tucson, once again, for spring break.  Thanks to my benevolent father we have a free place to stay!  This year Jasper is old enough to go horseback riding so that is precisely what we will be doing for his 7th birthday.  He is so excited he is driving me nuts with all the talk about it!  You'd think we were going to the moon the way he carries on.  I guess its fun to be a kid and just travel and be "on vacation" without any worries of getting there, financing the trip, making the meals, cleaning up the condo, etc.  I do look forward to laying about by the pool with my cocktail and magazines, while Jasper frolics and August dips (due to the broken wrist cast), sporting my I-run-so-I-think-I-can-eat-and-drink-whatever-I-damn-well-please-belly fat sloshin' around.  Should feel good to get some sun on the nether regions!  We plan to do the Seven Falls/Bear Canyon Hike in Sabino Canyon, visit Bisbee, Az., and horseback ride at La Posta Quemada Ranch in Colossal Caves Mountain Park.  We love to spend hours at the various locations of Bookmans, browsing the shelves for various media.  And When we aren't swimming at our condo we like to hit the local Pima County Community Center, Northwest YMCA because you can dive in their outdoor pool and, boy howdy, does Jasper ever love to practice his diving!

These are some of the things we do together that we all like.  There is also a ton of good shopping and treasure hunting and gathering to be had in Tucson but the boys don't neccessarily like to be dragged around to do it so we use our communication skills with each othere and I basically lay it out for them.  If mamma gets to do her thing without a lot of complaining and whining, you will get to do your thing.  Otherwise, we just do what mamma wants to do and we may or may not get back to the pool by the end of the day.  It's not a bribe, it's a subtle form of negotiation!  They get it.  And they always find treasure too.  And I buy them stuff on vacation I would never buy at home so they know that too.  Its a win win!  Since we are flying Southwest airlines we each get to take two pieces of luggage, for no extra fees!!  Can you believe it!?  So we will be taking some half empty suitcases with us so we have can stuff them with treasure to bring back!  I think I will wait until I get back to post on all the great shops and places to treasure hunt and even some of the restaurants to eat at there.  You all know how much I love to eat and talk about eatting!

Every time we visit Tucson we go to San Xavier del Bac Mission.  I might even drag the kids to an Easter service there this year because the place is so darn beautiful!  My boys are used to celebrating Spring Equinox so Easter is usually no big thing for us but Jasper is already begging me to take him to eat the Tohono O'odham tacos that are sold out in front of the mission. The Tohono O'odham Nation has presided in the Sonoran Desert forever.  I will post some photos here from last year so you can see how amazing this place is.

Would you die for this door handle?  I would!

What  you see when you walk in.  Love that scallop trim on the pews!

Look at the paint on these walls.  Its amazing!  And this tiny little door?  Where does it go?!

A little corner with candles.

A super cool ancient font.

I finally figured out how to get my Iphone to cooperate for mobile blogging with pictures so I will post some from Tucson.  You might notice though that for the these mobile posts I have not figured out how to title them as I would like so they will all be called somethingorother media blahblahblah.  I will change them as I can, when I can.  Also, I have just started to add favorite blogs or blogs I read a lot of to the list you will see here so check back often to see updates.  And visit the links.  You will like what you find!

On another note: I have done a major overhaul of my atelier/studio/craft room/work/sewing space and will post pictures soon.  I wish I could just have you all over to see it and open shop!  I have slowly been moving stuff from the garage cupboards into my newer space and it has prompted me to consider what I really need to have and what I can let go of.  Is this ever really possible?  Can you ever give up something that seems like it might have a future use in some awesome art/craft piece?  Do I keep what's unique and discard the ordinary?  What if I get rid of the seemingly ordinary and then when I need it I can't find it anywhere?  I tend to hang on, to a lot of stuff, probably way too long, and now I have a ton-o-stuff.  Every corner, crevice and crack is filled to the brim.  Oh, to have the time to put these items to use.....  How do I find the time to collect these items but not enough time to transfer them into their next existence as pieces of an assemblage of some kind?  Oh, whoa is me...  Must.....Make.....Art.....

Bees in the air!

Jasper with a Mason Bee on his favorite fedora!

Broken Wrist

My baby broke his wrist today.

Almost 15 and broke his wrist.  The left one, the one attached to the hand he writes with.  Major bummer.  No art class, no swimming in Tucson, no horseback riding in Tucson, no homework getting caught up on.

How will he Fly Fish?

How will he surf?

Poor fella.  I hope you feel better soon Gus.  Be a good boy and don't break any more bones.  I love you beautiful boy.  xoxox mom

Bees, Spring and the Magic of Smoke

First package of bees.  Three pounds and a queen!

Last Spring I started beekeeping for the first time.  I was so scared and so elated.  I had always wanted to keep bees but was so afraid of them.  It was a love-hate relationship.  I had decided it was time to face some of my fears and for me that means diving head on into whatever it is that freaks me out.  (I did this with surfing too.  So scared but just dove in.  Literally!) 

Bees it was!

I took a great once a week class at my local apiary store, Beez Neez, and when I finished I passed the test and got my apprentice bee keeping certificate from the Washington State Beekeepers Association.  Yippee!  Now all I had to do was buy some gear, and I was good to go.  I opted for buying a package deal from Bees Neez, the beginners' Deluxe, and it included almost every single thing I needed to get started.  I got 2 assembled deep hive boxes with frames, a screened cedar bottom board & cedar garden lid with metal top, plus an inner cover, The book Bee Keeping for Dummies, a top feeder, full suit, leather gloves, hive tool and smoker.  Although I had all the accoutrement of beekeeping I was still very nervous.  How would I be able to deal with thousands of bees and not pass out?

In this picture above I have, oh, probably about three full layers of clothes on.  It was hot and hard to move.  I had convinced myself that I would be safe if I wore many layers.  That way no bee could sting me.  I took no heed of the fact that bees that are ready to bee hived have been feed so much sugar syrup that they were pretty much drunk and sleepy.  When bees are hived they are typically the most gentle you will ever see them.  You dont even need to use smoke to hive bees.  Once their queen is in place they just want to stay right with her and they are too full to be too annoyed with you. 

 As a side note, it is much easier to deal with bees and piss them off less if you go gloveless and can be agile with your fingertips and less clumsy then when you have bulky gloves on.  In these photos I have gloves off and it was killing me.  I was so scared!  And to this day I have not since, ever, opened their hive or deal with them in any way without my long protective leather gloves on.  Still have progress to make!

Here I am about to take the plug out of three pounds of bees and try not to faint.  You wont be able to tell in these pictures but as I got closer to having to take the plug out, and thus potentially let thousands of bees fly around me, my knees began to shake.  And, actually, I dont just mean shake.  It was more like an uncontrolable quiver that made it so I could barely stand.  I was wobbly and completely driven by fear.  I look back now and it seems so silly.  My bees are so gentle.  And especially during hiving, they are so mellow.  I had little to be scared of but was making it a way bigger deal than it needed to be.  Next time I start a hive I will have a hiving party and invite people over to see me do it.  Its fun, instructional, informative and might help someone else be able to start a hive with having to be sweaty, nervous and freaking out inside!

You can see in this picture I have all my feeding jars filled with sugar syrup and ready to go.  In early spring, newly hived bees wont have a strong nectar and pollan source yet so you have to feed them in western Washington until the big leaf maples bloom.  After that most hives are good to go.  You will also notice I have a spary bottle and it to is filled with sugar syrup.  You use it to spray the sides of their shipping package that is all mesh and they drink it up, get full, and calm down so they can be hived with minimal uproar.  I am sure I definately oversparyed my little bees but they were OK in the end.

Oh my gosh!  Here I am with the queen package in my hands.  I have already, at this point, had to open the package of bees to get her out and I am shaking like a leaf.  Chad said later that he had no idea I was that scared and he was a little concerned about me.  He kept asking if I was OK and if I need his help.  I was so determined to do it on my own but boy was I scared.  Here I am trying to get the plug out that holds the queen in so I can let her out inbetween the middle two frames and then very quickly dump the bees on her and all over the tops of the frames.  Since she had been with her bees for many days during shipping and while they waited for me to pick them up, they were used to each others smell and pheromones so I could direct release her.  If she had not been with them long, I would have hung her little cage between the frames and let them chew their way to each other thru the candy plug and that would have given them enough time to accept each other.  Notice the marking I put on the tops of the frames.  Frames go into a hive in a certain way with a certain side facing out from the middle.  So the arrows help me know which way to put them back in as I inspect them later and the date is so I know when I started using each frame for later down the road when I have more hives to keep track of.

The moment of truth!

Here is the hiving of the honey bees!  Really you are just dumping them over their queen as fast as you can after you put the queen in the frames, and trying to shake out every last bee you can.  I was so nervouse that I ended up setting the box down and leaving it over night as the stragglers found their way into the hive entrance.  It took them several mintues to get down in the frames enough so that I could place the hive cover on top and an empty hive box on that to hold the feeder.  One of that last things you do when hiving bees is placing an entrance reducer at the hive entrance so there is very little space for them to leave or predators to get in.  Once they are established they can defend themselves better and aren't as susceptible to cold, wind, rain, mauraders, etc.

Happy little bee butt inside a fox glove flower!

Here I am, later in summer, going to check my bees to see how they are doing.  Notice I have my smoker and hive tool in hand.  And it looks to me like the entrance reducer is still on so this might be the first time I lite up my smoker and check on the bees.  Most experienced beekeepers will tell you to leave your bees alone if they seem alright.  But as a new beekeeper it is good to get in there more often to see what they are doing, and establish what normal is.  You have to know what to look for, what you are looking at, if they are making brood, storing honey, etc.  So I tried to get in them at least every two weeks or so last summer. 

I discovered the magic of the smoke.  I was still really nervous here since I hadn't used the smoker yet and wasn't sure what they would do in reponse to me getting in there and looking around. 

My bees are so sweet and smoke is magic!  Once I began to understand the magic of the smoke, I calmed down so much.  Smoke is your best friend when you are nervouse like me!  The smoke makes my bees leave me alone and start ingesting lots of honey in case they need to flee and leave home.  If they might have to leave because they think their house is on fire, or before they get ready to swarm and not know how long they will be without food, they fill up their bellies in preperation.

Just last weekend I got in my hive for the first time this spring.  I was nervous again but this time it was because I had noticed so many dead bees in the entrance and all around the front of the hive.  What happened?  I had always understood that if they are healthy they will carry their dead away because they are very tidy and clean.  Was there something wrong with them?  Was the queen gone?  Why weren't they cleaning up?!  Perhaps when we had one of those odd warm winter days they had unclustered and come out to venture but then got really cold again and many died.  It is normal for a hive to reduce in numbers for winter but I had never heard of massive bee death like this unless disease was involved. 

But they look good.  In fact, they look great!  I love my bees!  They are so easy and give so much.  At this time of year and all thru summer we will crane our heads each time we come up the driveway to see what they are doing.  We will watch in amazement as they carry pollen in the baskets on their hind legs in every color of the rainbow.  We will enjoy their honey at the end of summer and use it to make elderberry mead and give it as gifts.  With my bees I can leave and go surfing on the coast for a weekend and they wont die.  They dont need me to feed them food and water every day.  They take care of themselves and they are sweet. 

I love my bees!