Clarity...perhaps

It is that time of year again...

2012-02-12T21:29:00.000-08:00

The garden is underway. There had been a major lack of winter this year so a few weeks ago my brother planted the first round of seeds, kale, broccoli and some herbs. Then recently Katie helped plant the next round.

The first round are getting pretty big.

Here are the ones Katie planted, just starting to sprout.

We have moved the plant shelving in the garage this year with the mild weather, so far it is working out good. We will soon be working on the backyard getting the ground ready for the garden and attempting to landscape the rest of the backyard.

Babies coming...

2012-01-20T22:56:00.000-08:00

Two of my AmeriCorps *NCCC team members announced that they were pregnant a little while ago. First is Jodi who announced she was having a baby boy, he is due February 29. Next was Anna who is evening out the boy/girl ratio with a baby girl due three weeks later in March.

What better reason to get busy sewing and make some baby quilts! I chose the Baby Lattice Quilt by Amy Smart through the Moda Bake Shop using Lily and Will and Lily & Will II. I did not take many in progress pictures but I was really happy with how they came out.

Before quilting:

After quilting and binding:

A closer look at the binding and the back fabric:

After quilting and binding:

Another look at the top:

A closer look at the binding and back fabric:

Hopefully these will keep the new babies comfortable and warm.

Throw the bean bag...

2012-01-07T22:44:00.000-08:00

Recently my Mother saw the bean bags at her library and decided to to try cleaning them. When you think about it bean bags at the library can be a little disgusting after hundreds of storytimes. She took them apart, discovered rice inside, cleaned the fabric then put them back together. Katie was very excited to have the bean bags around. I had been meaning to make some bean bags for awhile but never gotten around to it. Well the cleaning of the library bean bags was motivation. We went to the fabric store looked for some fabric, we found a remnant of a very Katie fabric. It is an outdoor canvas and very heavy duty.

My Mom cut the fabric, sewed bags then filled them with rice.

Katie really likes her bean bags, she throws them around and dances with them. Olive likes them too.

Happy Birthday Katie! Part 2

2011-12-24T10:43:00.000-08:00

After returning from Disneyland it was Katie's birthday. I did not plan a big party this year because of our trip so the plan was for a small party at home and to invite Grandma, Papa and Uncle. There were still streamers, balloons and helium from last years party so I brought those out and decorated. Katie really liked the balloons.

Katie had a small pile of gifts and one large one that she was really interested in.

When she finally got to unwrap it, she was thrilled that it was a kitchen from Grandma and Papa. (Mama and Grandma had frantically put it together while she took her nap)

I got her a pink fluffy dress up skirt which she really likes and would never take off if I would let her.

Next came the cake. Katie had debated between pink inside, brown on the outside and pink sprinkles or brown inside pink outside with pink sprinkles. Finally option two won. I consulted with the Food Librarian and went with the Devil's Food Cake from Dorie Greenspan's Baking: From My Home to Yours and a butter cream frosting dyed pink.

She was very happy with her cake.

After the cake it was back to her kitchen

Happy Birthday Katie! Part 1

2011-12-24T10:22:00.000-08:00

My little girl turned three this week, hard to believe she is already three! To celebrate we went to Disneyland for three days, this was her first trip.

The first ride we went on was the carousel.

Of course we got a pink mickey hat with her name on the back.

We checked out the huge tree.

And of course the castle, this was what Katie was looking forward to the most.

Katie got two buttons, one for her birthday and on for her first visit.

On our second day we were finally able to get on Its A Small World which Katie really liked.

We visited Tinkerbell's Fairy Woods.

Katie stole my sunglasses.

We went to Minnie's Character breakfast, Chip and Dale, Eeyore and Rafiki all tried to talk to Katie but there was only one character she was excited to see...

Luckily Katie did not get swept up in the princess over load, she did get a pink princess pen but she also got a baby Minnie.

And the highlight of the trip was getting a balloon with a flashing led light inside.

On our last day Katie's cold was really wearing her down so we did not stay too long but we did ride Pirates (no fear from Katie) and the steam boat.

It was a great trip, I did not think about it being one of the busiest weeks of the year at Disneyland but we managed the crowds fairly well.

Spiders

2011-11-16T22:16:00.000-08:00

As you might remember I made Katie some bright napkins a little while ago. They have been very successful, she loves using them. They also cut down on our paper towel usage which I also wanted to do. On a trip to the local quilt store I let Katie pick one yard of any fabric she wanted to make more napkins. We looked at the pinks, watermelon prints, cherry prints and all sorts of colorful fabrics. Suddenly she saw the Halloween fabrics at the front of the store, she saw spiders and we looked no further.

Katie has a great love of spiders, people keep thinking she will be afraid of them but she likes them. She has been given several plastic spiders which she really enjoys, so I was not too surprised she chose the spider fabric.

Like before I cut squares but then I zigzag stitched the edges.

Katie likes using her spider napkins which makes us both happy.

I Like Big Bundts 2011

2011-11-14T22:12:00.000-08:00

It's that time of year again! My friend Mary the Food Librarian celebrates National Bundt Day with 30 days of bundts, crazy and awesome!! For my submission this year I selected the Pumpkin Spice Bundt from Day 10. It was easy to make and tasted great. I took it to a potluck and was told by one person all made them want a pumpkin spice latte.

Car Diddy Bag

2011-11-05T21:15:00.000-07:00

I finished another project! This time I decided to make the Car Diddy Bag from the Moda Bake Shop. I used Moda's Strawberry Fields fabric.

First I cut the 5" and 3" squares.

Next I matched them up and sewed them.

Once they were sewn each square was cut into four and mixed up.

I then sewed the triangles together. The squares were then sewn together in 3x3.

The next step was to make the strap using small squares. There was a gap in my sewing time with the construction of Katie's Halloween costume. Somehow most of the squares needed for the strap disappeared. So I used a 10" square and sort of made it up. It worked but I did not get any pictures. After that came the lining. This pattern called for laminated cotton which was a small challenge to find. I bought a yard of it but only needed two 11" squares.

The lining squares are sewn together and then attached to the bag, before you know it, its done!

Here it is in the car, ready for whatever Katie manages to put in it.

Big Picture

2011-11-04T23:15:00.000-07:00

While I have been posting what we have been canning it has been mentioned that it might be good to see how many of these jars there are. I have not actually counted them. There are some in the refrigerator and some have been given away but here is a look at my counter.

The boxes are full and some jars are stacked double.

Now in the cabinet above this counter I have some dishes, printed recipes, etc... I have filled in as much space as I can with jars, just ignore all of that in the picture, it looked better before I started smashing it all in there.

Hopefully we will not have an earthquake anytime soon or I may loose some food!

Monterey

2011-11-02T10:06:00.000-07:00

I recently went to a conference in Monterey. I went up a few days early and took Katie and my Mom with me. On the way up we stopped in San Simeon. First we ate lunch at Sebastian's, it was delicious.

Next, we went to Hearst Castle.

There were a lot of steps.

The buildings were beautiful and so were the gardens.

The pool was also impressive, Katie wanted to get in but I convinced her we forgot her swimming suit.

The view of the ocean was great.

Afterwards we went to the beach, Katie kept busy with collecting shells and rocks.

The next day we stopped at a seal viewing area, there were a lot of them and Katie loved them.

We drove up Hwy 1 which was beautiful but took awhile, once in Monterey we went to the Aquarium. Katie liked the jelly fish and the shark.

The next day I went to an all day pre-conference and Katie and Grandma went to the beach.

Katie and Grandma went home the next day while I stayed for the conference. Everyone had a good time.

Halloween

2011-11-02T09:48:00.000-07:00

In preparation for Halloween we had to carve/decorate some pumpkins.

We bought some potato head kits last year and used them this year.

First up was the pirate, we also had a Frankenstein one that I did not get a picture of.

Next we needed to empty some seeds out of pumpkins, Katie's reaction was "ewww" so I got the job.

Katie then started using another light up kit, this required a hammer and Katie really liked that.

Here is that finished pumpkin.

Next I had Katie draw a happy face on the pumpkin and Kevin cut it out, I think it was cute.

A few months ago my Mom and I took Katie to the fabric store to to pick a pattern for her costume. She debated between Alice in Wonderland and a Pirate. In the end the pirate won.

Grandma did most of the sewing. We had to buy white eyelet and dye it black since it was impossible to find black in the right size. It came out adorable.

Katie went to school and had a party, when I picked her up we went to my work potluck. One of my coworkers gave her a big spider which she tried to scare everyone with.

After a nap we visited Great Grandma, the Littlerock Library and then went to the Trunk or Treat. They had a bounce house which Katie got in early.

One of the other families brought a snake which Katie was very to get to hold.

Once everyone was set up Katie went Trick or Treating.

They also had a cake walk, Katie tried forever and did not win until very late. Even after she won she continued to walk around with everyone and jump on empty number.

Later she went back to the bounce house and eventually climbed the ladder and went down the slide, over and over and over again.

It was a long but very enjoyable day, I cant wait till next year!

Playing in the Desert

2011-10-11T21:50:00.000-07:00

This last weekend we went with my parents and their metal detecting club on the annual trip to the middle of nowhere. They have a claim that people with 4x4 ability can access and do treasure hunting contest, have a chili cook off and more. We traveled up for the day, Katie was very excited to get to go play in the desert.

Katie and I started the day going for a walk.

We took a shade tent and Katie's cot, soon she put Kitty down for a nap.

Not too long after it was Katie's nap time.

After nap time she played in the dirt a little.

Soon it was time for the big hunt. Basically an area is roped off and a bunch of coins and tokens are planted. The participants are allowed to search for a timed period and keep what they find. Katie was ready to go.

She caught up with her Papa and the rest of the group.

Although Katie did not go through with the hunt she did reap the reward, whatever my parents find goes into Katie's piggy bank.

Katie wandered off singing and glancing back to see how far I would let her go, this was about as far as I was comfortable with!

By the end of the day she had added to her collection lots of bullet casings and come clay pigeons that had not broken in the shooting match. She spent some time sorting out her collection.

It was a great day, we all had fun even though the chili did not win. I figure we will be back again next year.

Canning Part III

2011-09-18T17:55:00.000-07:00

Yes it is true...the canning continues. Luckily the tomato harvest has slowed down, for awhile we were getting 12 lbs a week! We have made quite a lot of the Tomato Basil Simmer Sauce mention earlier. This weekend my CSA offered a 20 lb box of Granny Smith for $10, you can not beat that price so it was time to can apples and catch up on the blog.

Lets start with Yellow Pear Tomato Preserves

You might notice the table cloth, Katie picked it for Halloween which of course means it goes on the table now. The recommended serving is to pour it over something like brie and eat it with crackers. Sounds good to me. We found this recipe on the internet.

Tomato Salsa

This is a basic salsa but used up a ton of peppers. It came from Joy of Pickling.

These are Refrigerator Pickled Tomatillos

I have not tried them yet but hear they are pretty good. These also come from Joy of Pickling.

To start off the apple here is Spiced Apple Rings

These are yummy! The recipe came from You Can Can.

Spiced Apple Chutney

I am really liking these chutney's, this winter we will be making a lot of roasts slathered in these.

Apple Preserves

(the photo is dark, I forgot to get a picture when there was still light outside) We made biscuits tonight and tried these preserves, the taste reminds me of ginger ale, tart and gingery. It comes from the Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving.

Maple Apple Onion Relish

This one I think will be really good. It comes from The Complete Book of Pickling.

Labor Day Weekend Project

2011-09-06T16:57:00.000-07:00

Over Labor Day weekend I decided it was time to get started painting the interior of the house. The paint that came in the house is very flat and poor quality. If Katie touches a wall with a dirty hand or anything gets on the wall it is quickly absorbed by the paint and will not come off. Any scrubbing of the walls, even gently removes the paint. Recently Katie decided to write on her bedroom wall with a washable maker, this should not have been a problem but my cleaning it off removed the paint. Another factor was that the color on the walls looked very dark in Katie's room and it really needed to be brightened up. It became clear that it was time to repaint and her room was a good place to start.

I went with Yolo Colorhouse paint again to try and make it as environmentally friendly as possible. I collected some paint chips and let Katie pick the color. She had originally debated between pink and white but when she saw the paint chips she wanted white, the color is Air 01.

Here you can see a light spot on the wall, that is the new paint color on top of the old.

Katie was of course my willing assistant and really wanted to help.

When we finally got started putting primer on the wall she was having a lot of fun, almost too much fun. After a little while I decided to just put on Sesame Street to keep Katie busy while I worked or we might not get done or there might be paint everywhere.

Here the walls have been primed and the color is starting to go on, it looks yellow against the white but is nice warm light cream when dry.

This is the finished product, the sun was already down so there are some weird shadows but you get the idea.

Her furniture, mostly pink, looks good against the color. I also cut off the coax cables that were sprouting in her walls (when they come drill a hole in the wall and push the cable through) and patched them over. Her room is no longer cable/satellite ready but I do not have to push furniture up against the cables to keep them away from her.

Katie loves it, she kept coming in once the paint was up and telling me it was "so pretty" and that she liked it. Her room is now bright and cheery through the day rather than dark, even at night her little lamp is now enough light for the room.

Labor Day Finish

2011-09-05T17:13:00.000-07:00

I have been posting about this quilt as I went along, I think all together it took about a year and a half to finish, today I finally sewed the last stitch. I am not sure what craziness overcame me when I decided to hand stitch all of the binding but I am glad I did, it came out looking good. I figured the easiest way to photograph it would be on a bed.

Here is the finished top:

Some detail:

The binding is white with a pink print.

Here is a look at the back. I used a print from the Moda Sent with Love fabric line (the same fabric collection that is on the front) for the center, two extra rows of squares and some coordinating pink and red at the top and bottom.

Here you can see the quilting pattern I chose, I believe it is "Blown in the Wind", the quilting was done by The Quilt Studio.

The quilt is a little large for my bed but I really like it and I am really glad I finally finished it!

Note: I have now washed and dryed the quilt, it has shrunk a bit and no longer drags on the floor. Of course Katie needs to sleep under it tonight because "its so pretty".

Fair Time

2011-08-30T21:56:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we all went to the Antelope Valley Fair. I had entered a quilt and we also entered Zucchini Relish and two types of squash pickles. Although my humble quilt did not win anything we won a 2nd, 3rd and Honorable Mention for the canned goods.

Katie was mostly looking forward to seeing animals. I had planned on letting her ride the ponies but we never found them. However there were sheep that could be rode, I did not sign her up for that but we did look at them with Uncle's help

Katie also tried a taco.

And played in a corn box.

Katie was very excited about the cows and took a ton of pictures of them, I managed to get one of her.

She and papa played by the waterfall until they started getting wet.

Katie also liked the goats, they were more her size and now she tells papa she wants a goat.

It was great weather and overall a great day at the Fair!

Pink Butterflies

2011-08-20T14:30:00.000-07:00

When I was little my Mom made a lot of my clothes. Awhile ago I got some patterns for Katie and some very pink fabric with little white butterfly's. Last weekend my Mom finished Katie's dress. I think it came out adorable.

Here she is modeling it.

This is her "are you done yet Mom?" look.

Canning Part II

2011-08-11T00:34:00.000-07:00

The canning has continued around here. So lets take a look and catch up on what has been made.

These are Sweet Spiced Zucchini Pickles. I have not tried them yet but they are supposed to taste like spiced apples.

Next up is peach jam. I attempted making this last year but the peaches were wrong so it did not turn out. This year however it came out great. This recipe came from Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving.

Also from peaches is Peach Chutney from The Complete Book of Pickles. I am excited to try this out, it smells and looks awesome.

To use massive amounts of tomatoes we have made this Tomato Basil Simmer Sauce for the past two weekends in an attempt to wipe out the piles of tomatoes on my counters.

These slimy slug looking things are eggplant pickles. They actually do not taste that bad! The recipe came from Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving.

And finally we have Southwest Salsa. I am still working on getting a salsa I really like. This one took six jalapenos so I really thought it would be spicy but it was mild. This one came from The Complete Book of Year-Round Small-Batch Preserving.

Hugs and Kisses from the Park

2011-08-09T22:38:00.000-07:00

This set of quilts is called Hugs and Kisses from the Park and is another Moda Bake Shop pattern. I actually got this one in a kit that came with most of the fabric. The name comes from the line of fabric which is called Central Park by Kate Spain. The design is x's and o's, hugs and kisses. It stared with jelly rolls of fabric, one in white and one print. The prints are divided into citrus (orange/yellows) and berry (purple/blues).

Strips of print and white are sewn together then cut into set of squares.

These sets are sewn into sets of four, then those fours become eight. When you put two set of eight together they make a X or an O depending on how you lay them down. This is the berry top:

And citrus:

Once the squares are made you create rows by adding a strip of white between each square. Next a strip of white goes on the top and bottom of the rows.

All of the rows are sewn together and you have a completed quilt top. One row is also completed to go on the back of the quilt. Next you sandwich the quilt and do the quilting. The binding is a scrappy binding which I had never done before. It involves connecting the extra strips of fabric to make the long binding.

The binding is then machine sewed on the front and hand sewn on the back. I have completed the citrus quilt, the berry just needs the binding sewn. I had a deadline with this project since I entered it into our local fair and the quilt had to be turned in last Sunday. I started this quilt in May and here it is completed.

The back:

The front:

Canning Part I

2011-08-06T00:28:00.000-07:00

The garden has really kicked into high production lately which means we have been eating a lot and canning even more. Well to be honest my brother has planned and completed a lot of the canning.

One of the first things I made was Strawberry Rhubarb jam using the strawberries we picked a few months ago at Underwood Farms.

For some reason the solids of the jam rise to the top, I have read many causes for it, it has happened before but it still tastes good so I do not mind. This recipe came from the Pectin box.

Next we have Salsa Verde.

It is a tomatillo salsa from Ball Blue Book Guide to Preserving it is very mild in flavor so I want to find one with a little kick next time.

These are Dill Zucchini Pickles

This is one we are entering in the AV Fair this year. They came from Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving. They are some pretty awesome looking spears, I have not tried them yet.

Zucchini Relish is one we made last year and the stuff is amazing, not to mention very pretty.

There is a lot of chopping involved here but the relish is far superior to pickle in my opinion, the flavor is not as sweet. This one came from Ball Blue Book Guide to Preserving.

Next are Zucchini Pickles

The zucchini pickles which came from somewhere I can not recall. Sliced and preserved much like a regular pickle.

Now we have English Bread and Butter Pickles

A regular pickle made with cucumber and bread and butter flavored. Also unknown recipe at this time.

And finally for today Tomatillo Sauce

This is a tomatillo sauce that has several recipes it can be used for later. This one smelled great while cooking and came from Well-Preserved.

Garden...

2011-07-17T21:15:00.000-07:00

The garden continues to do well.We are now getting squash, eggplant, tomatoes and cucumber at a pretty good rate. There has been a lot of canning/pickling around here lately but that will be another post.

One tomato plant has grown like crazy, it is over six feet tall, by far the largest in the garden.

The corn is also getting taller and now has little baby corn cobs.

There are a lot of watermelon and other melons appearing.

Katie really, really wants this watermelon under her hands here. We now have to watch her in the garden because she always wants to bring it in to eat it.

Here is a view of part of the garden.

We have picked some of the peppers, there are a lot of them getting ready.

Katie likes to check on them, not all are productive right now.

Katie's favorite thing to collect is tomatoes, she knows they need to be either red or yellow. She will collect handfuls and run to me very excited and proud of what she has.

Sometimes she lets Uncle help her get tomatoes too.

July 4th

2011-07-16T21:01:00.000-07:00

This 4th of July we decided to stay home. Since we live in a firework legal zone I figured we could entertain ourselves at home and avoid the crowds at the big show. Katie and I started the day playing.

Katie also spent time in the garden trying to convince the watermelon to grow faster, she cant wait for the watermelon.

It was my Mom's birthday, she gets a fireworks show for her birthday every year! Once it got dark we headed out to the driveway to start my safe and sane show. At first Katie was excited but soon she was hiding behind the cars. Many neighbors were setting off all sorts of fireworks so the show was pretty much all around us.

After some safety instruction we got to Katie's favorite part of the night, sparklers!

She really liked the sparklers and it went well, no injuries or anything at all. Overall it was a great day.

Cloth Napkins

2011-06-28T18:57:00.000-07:00

In an effort to use less disposable product in the house I recently decided we should use some cloth napkins. There are many tutorials to make them and they are pretty simple. First Katie and I went to the fabric store and I let Katie pick some fabric.

Its bright and colorful, just like Katie. Next I cut the fabric into 12 inch squares.

Finally I sewed a seam around the edges.

Just like that we have a cloth napkin. I intend to make any more since I imagine we will go through them quickly.

Garden Update

2011-06-25T19:35:00.000-07:00

Last week sweet potato plants were added to the garden, all but one squash did not make it so there was some extra space to plant them.

Katie likes to check the tomatoes, always looking to see if they have changed color yet.

The tomatoes are getting bigger almost every day it seems.

This yellow pear tomato has already reached the top of the cage and the tomatoes are almost ready.

The corn is also getting bigger.

Here are the peppers and eggplant.

Katie is showing us one of the eggplant.

The cantaloupe and watermelon are spreading and have small melons.

Katie is checking on the one squash plant and the baby squash.

The broccoli and peas are pretty much done and we will soon start planting more of the fall crop seeds.

Sent With Love Quilt

2011-06-24T19:17:00.000-07:00

This past week I have been off work! Well actually I left my job with the County, my last day was a week ago. I have accepted a job at a Santa Clarita Library and have been working for about a month getting things ready for their opening from my home. So this last week I have been spending a few hours a day working from home, I start traveling to my new job Monday. So what all this means is that I have had time sew this week...during the day! I have of course been able to rest and relax too, its been nice to spend the days with Katie again.

This is a picture I have posted before. I started this quilt over a year ago but packed it up when I moved. I was determined to finish it and have been working on it between other projects. This is supposed to be for my bed but I think it came out a little bigger than I planned.

I selected the fabric for the red colors but it is way more hearts/pink that I would like, the fabric is Moda's Sent With Love. Here you can see a little over half of the top from when I was sewing the rows together.

The quilt is 90"x98". For the back I used tow rows I had left over and did a row of red fabric, a strip of squares, a pink/red print for the fabric line, a strip of squares and then pink, it is even larger than the quilt so I was not able to take pictures of it. I am sending the top, backing and batting to the longarm quilter I use, when it comes back I will do the binding. Here they are ready to be boxed.

I will post an update of how it comes out and my progress when it comes back.

Katie at the Zoo

2011-06-15T20:43:00.000-07:00

Not to long ago Katie and I were invited to a birthday party/zoo trip for the son of a friend who I went to high school with. It was Trystan's third birthday. The day started out with a party next to the Zoo at Griffith Park. I had never been there and there is a lot of construction right now, it was in interesting adventure. Once we were there it was fun.

Afterwards we went to the zoo. One of the first things we went to was the waterfall.

And of course the flamingos are there on your way in. They were fighting and caused quite a stir.

Katie got to see the giraffes pretty close.

Before we went Katie has said she wanted to see monkeys and a moose. Well there is no moose at the LA Zoo but she did see gorillas and a chimpanzee. The hippopotamus was Katie's favorite this time, he was very active and kept opening his mouth which is apparently very funny. Katie also consulted the map to see where we should go next.

The new elephant enclosure was very nice. As we were leaving we stopped and sat for a few minutes when along came an elephant. Katie got very excited and kept calling the elephant to her. A volunteer told us his name was Billy, so then Katie kept calling "Billy come here", Billy did not listen to Katie because he was eating at the time.

Outside there were several painted elephants, we had to go through them and say all their colors.

The zoo is an enjoyable time.

Pool Time

2011-06-13T22:21:00.000-07:00

Since summer is coming and it usually gets hot here in the desert I wanted to get Katie a little bit bigger pool than she had last year. On a recent trip to the store I picked up what I hoped would be a good sized pool and two tarps. This last Sunday Uncle came over to help set it up.

First he staked a tarp to the ground. If I had grass this would not have been needed but the grass did not come back this year, I think last years lack of water while it was on the market did it in. Next year will be better. After the tarp was down we pumped the pool up with a hand pump, (note to self- we need an electric pump in the future), then came the water. It took some time for the water to fill.

When Katie woke from her nap she was more than willing to put on her swimming suit and be slathered with sunscreen, well maybe not on the sunscreen part. Then she wanted someone to go into the pool with her and Mommy volunteered, Olive jumped on the side and considered it.

Soon Katie was having fun walking around and splashing.

For awhile she sat on the side and bounced, she was also somehow able to lay on the side and take "naps".

Katie did not want her baby to miss out and soon she was in the pool too. Baby could of course could jump in the pool and did repeatedly.

She even jumped off the side.

I think the pool will be where Katie is found this summer. The next morning one of the first things Katie did was run to look out the door to see if her pool was still there, it was.

As for the second tarp, it is the pool cover. My brother added more stakes and the tarp is tied down to keep bugs and anything else blowing around out of the pool.

Photos by Katie

2011-06-05T23:19:00.000-07:00

Katie loves taking pictures. She takes my point and shoot camera and will walk around taking pictures of everything but she especially likes taking pictures of people. People seem surprised that she know how to do it but she will watch the screen then hold the button. It is interesting to see things from her perspective, I thought I would share a few of them.

This is one from inside the house looking at the roses in the front yard.

That day she was also taking pictures of her toys. This Frankenstein sings "Monster Mash", he used to dance but I think she pushed the button too much.

Recently she has also been trying to get closer pictures of thing. We are not quite to the point of using the zoom, so she just hold the camera really close. This is her baby lion.

As anyone who tries to take a picture of themselves knows its hard to aim when you cant see the screen on the back. She will say "cheese" and click away.

When her Grandparents were visiting from Northern California she took their picture.

More roses.

A look at the window.

A lot of her pictures are blurry and random but I like that is wants to take them and I save them all. Who know, someday they may be considered her early works.

Garden

2011-06-02T23:16:00.000-07:00

Part of the garden are are growing well, others not so much. The squash have been decimated by some mysterious bugs that we have not been able to find yet. Luckily what is not growing at my house is growing at my parents, so I am hoping it will all even out.

The corn and watermelon are all coming up.

Here are the beans and broccoli.

These lines are a wide variety of peppers, Katie is checking on them.

Behind Katie are the tomatoes, the cages are now staked down around them.

There are now small tomatoes getting ready to get ripe. Katie has to be reminded that they need to change color before we can pick them.

The broccoli are just about ready.

And so are the peas.

Receiving Blanket Quilt

2011-05-27T20:07:00.000-07:00

Katie's Receiving Blanket Quilt is a project I started about a year and a half ago. I wanted to make something useful with her blankets that she could still use even though she has outgrown them. My project got waylaid by packing/moving/broken sewing machine/etc... A few months ago I got around to finishing cutting the fabric.

We have here large squares and small squares.

The small squares we sewn together in sets of two...

Sets of two became sets of four...

Sets of four were attached to the large squares...

These became rows and the rows became the top and bottom of the quilt. Due to the amount of blankets Katie had the front and back of the quilt are the same pattern. I have a set of three blankets with a slightly different color scheme of pink and brown which I cut and was going to use as a border but ultimately did not. I did use a few of the pieces in this quilt to get even numbers.

Now, Katie knew this blanket was being made for her and she wanted nothing more than for me to put it on the floor so she could use it.

Here she is showing us her flexibility.

I think she likes it.

After Katie went to sleep I laid the quilt out. Instead of doing the binding method I went back to my old method of sewing it inside out and flipping it.

Here it is flipped and ready to be sewn up. I sewed around the border (which also closed it) and then sewed lines half and inch on each side of the seams of the large blocks. I then tacked, using the bottom of a button hole stitch in the center of each large square. This should hold it together better, I hope.

This blanket is super soft and warm, I really like how it turned out.

Underwood Family Farm

2011-05-21T18:23:00.000-07:00

Last weekend was my Saturday off for the month so I decided we should take advantage of the day and head out to the Underwood Family Farm in Moorpark. I have been wanting to take Katie there for awhile and now I am sure we will go back.

One of the first things we saw once we went in was the goat pens. Grandma got Katie some feed so she could feed the goats.

Uncle helped her reach the feed chutes. The goat was more than willing to eat it.

There were a lot of animals to look at. This pen had pigeons, a peacock and I am sure some others birds.

Katie was fascinated by the turkey. He kept puffing up his feathers and strutting around.

The mini mules were cute and the white one had devised a method to get food. It would loudly kick the pipe when people walked near it and keep kicking till he got some food.

There were alpacas.

These are some Scottish Highland Cows, crazy looking ones for sure.

Next Katie and I climbed the hay bales.

Then we came back down. Katie discovered she could sit on each bale, slide forward then get to the next one. She was very proud of herself.

There were several tunnels. At first she was hesitant so I went through with her. Lets just say that was the only tunnel mommy went through, they are more Katie's size than mommy's.

They also have a large wood train that Katie really liked.

We also saw chicken and baby chicks.

And of course we had to go back to the train.

Finally we headed out to the crops. The first thing we stopped for was beets, one of Katie's favorite vegetables.

We got red beets, golden beets and candy cane beets. Katie liked to pull them out of the ground and yell "beets!"

The strawberry fields were at the back so Katie hitched a ride on the wagon. As Uncle pulled her away she kept yelling "bye bye mommy" and waving.

Eventually we arrived at the strawberries. I tried to stress to Katie to get the red ones, however once I let her eat one she was done. She would come and ask me for a strawberry then run proudly to Grandma telling her she found one and eat it. Katie would proceed to repeat the process, completely giving up on filling out container with strawberries to take home.

She was very happy in the strawberry fields. This is her smiling while eating a strawberry, notice the strawberry all over her cheeks.

On the way back she decided to run, she ran for quite awhile.

One of the great things about this place is it has a lot of space and is very kid friendly. The have grass areas to have picnics and their produce in the fields is very reasonable priced.

Tomato Cages

2011-05-16T22:10:00.000-07:00

With the garden under way (and fighting attacks from pests) my brother has begun making tomato cages. We bought a huge roll of wire fencing which he is cutting and making into cages. Here is one he made and Katie behind it for scale.

Another look.

And finally the cage on a tomato plant. He is still waiting for some stakes to hold the stakes to the ground but I think they are going to work great.

Ceiling Fan!

2011-05-13T22:16:00.000-07:00

When I had the Gas Company come out to fix the leaks in the house we discussed my high gas bills and what could help. He mentioned ceiling fans. This was something I had been thinking I wanted to get for the living room and he added another reason to put one in. A few months ago my brother and I did some research on what size was needed for the square footage of the room and at what height it should be. I picked out a fan and a drop pole. It took awhile but on a recent Wednesday I had off I convinced my brother to climb up into the roof to see what we could do about installing the fan. Here you can see what the light fixture looked like.

First my brother checked out the current set up in the ceiling. The existing support was not enough to hold the weight of a fan so he had to put in a support bracket that fit between the rafters. It took some work but the old light came down.

This left some wires hanging out of the ceiling.

Olive completely freaked out when Kevin's hand came through the hole.

While Kevin worked on that I unpacked and sorted the contents of the box. Who knew there would be so many little pieces.

I did not get pictures of the rest of the progress but eventually I had a ceiling fan! Of course the weather then got cooler so I have not used it much, but the air circulation has been great and the light is much improved.

Now the other light fixture in the room will be next, eventually.

Growing Garden

2011-04-28T22:18:00.000-07:00

The garden is mostly planted and starting to really grow.

These are the tomatoes, my brother has planted herbs between the plants.

These rows are peppers and eggplant.

This area is melon and the string marks the corn seeds.

Here are the squash.

Here are the peas, they have grown almost half up the fence.

And finally the beets.

Easter

2011-04-25T22:16:00.000-07:00

Sunday was of course Easter. Easter has a whole new meaning with Katie around to enjoy it. The Wednesday before easter we gathered up Grandma and Uncle and set to coloring easter eggs. We colored eggs last year but this year she had a much better concept of what she was doing and she did a great job.

Easter morning Katie discovered that the easter Bunny had left her a basket in the living room. The basket contained books, coloring books, lots of hair clips from Somewhere Out There, a jump rope, rainbow goldfish, a chocolate bunny a a few jelly beans/chocolate eggs. The Easter Bunny wanted Katie to have lots of fun stuff and not too much candy. The jump rope was a hit and mommy was jump roping all over the house to Katie's amusement, the flower shaped handles also work at microphones for Katie to sing and dance with.

Next we got dressed and headed to brunch at church. Great grandpa was there too. Katie took her goldfish and showed everyone the crazy colors.

After we ate we sat outside where Katie ran in circles for awhile.

Then she headed to the planter area and climbed on the rock she always sits on despite Mommy telling her to not mess up her dress.

Next she tried to smell the iris which had finally bloomed. We had been watching it for a few weeks.

She then told me the rocks were eggs and tried to pick them up.

After church we came home and Katie took a nice long nap. When she woke up she ate some lunch the put her tennis shoes refreshed and ready to hunt down some eggs.

Once outside she was off and running!

After she had collected the last egg she kept telling me they were heavy but she did not want me to help her. Altogether she collected 2 1/2 dozen eggs.

Back inside the house she put them all in egg cartons.

Easter dinner was cooking most of the afternoon and soon it was time for Grandma to make some carrot and raisin salad (basically its ground up carrots and raisins with a little milk added) and Katie of course helped. She said it looked like worms coming out the the grinder, gross but and excellent observation.

Over all it was a great day and everyone had fun. I can't wait till next year!

Camera Strap

2011-04-20T14:28:00.000-07:00

I have recently gotten a new camera and had previously seen a pattern for a camera strap cover here. It looked simple enough and I was able to complete it on a Saturday morning. First I selected six charm squares that were left over from another project. I sewed them together then trimmed off the ends to that it was the length of my strap plus one inch.

Next I ironed on fusible fleece to the back and to give it a quilted look sewed lines roughly every 1/4 inch down the length.

The ends are then folded and sewn then the seam is sewn. Next the strap is turned which turned out to be the hardest part of the project.

Finally I slid it over my camera strap and now I have a cute camera strap cover!

Grapes, Strawberries and More

2011-04-14T23:08:00.000-07:00

The strawberry plants I put in around the roses have started showing up. I think there are four plats that have survived so far. The ones I planted in the other planter I fear are a lost cause since it rained right after they were plated and the planter flooded. These little strawberry plants are pushing through.

The roses above them are growing like crazy and are covered in buds.

This is the planter that the strawberries are not showing up. The flowers that I have planted seem to be doing well. This last weekend we planted a bunch of Cosmo seeds to help fill it in.

These are some Cosmos that we bought and planted along with some garden decorations. The gnome is a favorite of Katie's, he moves around a lot since she like to put him in different places.

In the backyard things are looking very green. The pomegranate tree is getting leaves so the pruning of last Fall must not have been too bad for it.

The blackberry plants seem to not be doing anything, but I will give them a little while longer before I give up hope. The grapes are doing great and will soon need some form of a trellis to hold on to.

After the thaw

2011-04-12T22:57:00.000-07:00

We have had an unusually cold storm lately that cause the weather to freeze at night and caused a little worry about the plants in the garden and delaying the transplant of seedlings to outdoors. It seems all the plants outside came through ok. Last weekend it was time to get the tomatoes and a few other plants into the ground.

Kevin has mapped out where the plants are to go. He started by marking where he needed to dig the holes then started digging.

It took awhile but after dark he was able to get some plants in the ground.

The plants that were previously planted are doing really good and growing.

When we get everything in I will post more pictures.

Katie Update

2011-04-10T22:57:00.000-07:00

Katie has been a busy little lady. She is getting good at helping water the plants in the yard.

One thing Katie has liked to do since I got a digital photo frame is to watch the pictures. It contains pictures of her since she was born and she is fascinated by it. She also will sit at the computer and ask to watch the baby, wanting to see videos of her when she was a baby. She gets very excited about this.

I have gotten my camera back from repaire so Katie is back to taking pictures. She walks around telling everyone to "say cheese" and snaps away.

In order to convince Katie to let me cut her nails I have started to bribe her with nail polish. She wants them painted so I tell her they have to be cut to be colored. This is working surprisingly well so far. This weekend it was purple.

After a few years of growing Katie is finally tall enough to turn on the lights but not quite tall enough to turn them off. This has caused a few bulbs that have not been replaced with cfl's do burn out when I do not realize they are on.

The roses in the front yard are starting to bloom. Katie likes to pull off all the petals and give them to mommy.

And finally my mom found one of Katie's favorite foods at the store today. This girl still loves corn on the cob.

Baby Blanket

2011-04-03T22:24:00.000-07:00

My friend and former coworker Gwendolyn is having a baby! When I was pregnant with Katie she was just three months behind me with her son Sinjin. We were just a few of the many pregnancies in a short period of time at LHQ. She announced late last year that she was pregnant with another one and after seeing her at my housewarming party I knew she was going to have a girl and started looking for a girl looking quilt and fabric. A short while later she confirmed that it was going to be a girl.

I made this quilt along with the Stacked Coin Quilt Doing each step on that one first) and used the same techniques. The pattern I selected was from the Moda Bake Shop Baby Blanket. I really liked the colors used so I went with the Aviary line, I did change the pattern of fabric used for the binding and backing. Here is part of the completed top.

And here is the completed quilt. Those are Katie's feet there on the side.

Here is a look at the completed binding along the edge.

Here is a look at the back and corner of the front.

I am really happy with how it came out.

Katie in the Water

2011-03-31T22:12:00.000-07:00

I signed Katie up for an aquatics class with the city of Lancaster. I had looked all over for classes to get her in the water. I call it a swimming class but they do not actually teach them swimming yet, its more of a water familiarity class. They get them comfortable in the water and moving in it. Katie's first class was Tuesday. Due to my schedule she is taking classes with her Uncle as her adult. Tonight she had her second class.

At her first class she was very reluctant to go in the water. The class is 30 minutes and it took until about the last five till she actually got in the water. Tonight they said it only took her about five minutes till she got in, it was her instructor that convinced her to go.

After he got her in the water she began playing chase the duck with her Uncle, as in she would throw the duck and Uncle would take her to get it and she would throw it again.

She was having fun.

The instructor (I forgot his name) is really good with the kids. During the class he goes around and works with each of them, checking their progress and giving suggestions.

Katie was really excited tonight when she came home, I think this swimming thing may work out just fine.

Current Quilting Projects

2011-03-26T22:49:00.000-07:00

Since I have finished my last quilts I am picking up with two projects that I last worked on over a year and a half ago. I started them but then went back to work, moved, put my stuff in storage, etc and so I am now getting back to them.

The first is a blanket for Katie. It is being made from her receiving blankets. I wanted to put them to another use after she had outgrown them. It will be a combination of 7 inch squares and two by two squares. It will be interesting to see how it will come out.

These are what has been cut so far.

These are waiting to be cut.

My second project is a quilt for my bed. It is being made from Moda's Sent with Love print. I selected it because I liked the red but it actually has a lot of hearts which usually is not my thing but I think it will turn out ok. So far I just have strips that need to be sewn together, it should come together fairly quickly.

Rain Delay

2011-03-25T23:21:00.000-07:00

Work outside has been delayed by all of the rain in the last week. Even walking in the tilled dirt can be slightly hazardous in the rain. Basically its more than a little muddy. Plants have been planted though. There is also a soaker hose for when we start watering again.

The dirt is settling down a little.

Since some plants are now outside and many others are ready to go outside my brother has planted more seeds keeping the plant stand full. Katie of course keeps a close eye on her "babies".

My First Quilt (from start to finish)

2011-03-20T22:44:00.000-07:00

Last year I began my first quilt that I was going to make from start to finish and make like a regular quilt. I selected a Stacked Coin Quilt pattern and used Moda's Giddy charms packs. I made my quilt top slightly larger than the pattern and used an off white fabric with it.

Once the top was completed I made the quilt sandwich with batting and backing. At times like this having a large tile floor is very useful.

The quilt is pinned so that it can be quilted.

Quilting is the scary part that I had never done before. This quilt was to be my practice. Everything I read said to just do it and thats how you will learn. In my previous quilting I always used the technique of layering the quilt, sewing the edges and turning it right side out then sewing in the ditch (along the lines of the quilt). Free motion quilting uses a darning foot and basically you move the quilt to control the stitch length and pattern. It took awhile to get the technique down and get the settings on my machine right. However once I did it only took me a few hours to do this stipple type pattern on the quilt.

Here is a look at the back. I put and extra strip of stacked coins on the back as well. I was pretty happy with how the quilting came out.

Next I trimmed the excess batting and fabric from the quilt and squared it up.

Binding is something else I have never done before. The fabric for the binding is cut into 2 1/2 inch strips and sewn into a continuous strip. The strip is folded and ironed in half. This strip is then pinned to the border of the quilt.

The binding is then sewn on using the walking foot all the way around the quilt. Then the binding is hand sewn to the back of the quilt. I finished the binding today and planned to take some nice lighted pictures outside but was too excited. Here is the completed quilt.

A closer look at the finished binding.

I also washed it so that it would get that nice crinkly quilt look.

Yeah! I finished my first quilt.

Just One Star

2011-03-19T22:39:00.000-07:00

Last week while reading the blogs I follow I saw an entry on p.s. i quilt for a program called Just One Star. It is a collaboration between Moda fabrics and the Semper Fi Fund with Quilts of Valor. They are asking for 1800 stars to make 100 quilts in 100 days. They provided a pattern and asked that the quilted star be red or blue with a light background. I went through my fabric stash and pulled a blue fabric with small white dots and a red print with small blue flowers. My Mom came over to help and Katie assisted by telling us which shapes were squares, triangles and rectangles. I cut enough fabric to make two of each star.

The color in the pictures look a little different, the blue stars have a white background and the red is a cream color.

I will be mailing these stars off and they will be made into quilts for wounded military members. Hopefully they will provide comfort and warmth.

Grapes, Blackberries and Strawberries

2011-03-18T21:54:00.000-07:00

In addition to the garden I have been working on planting a few other things around the yard as well. Against the back fence I planted two grape plants.

Along the side fence of the back yard I planted two blackberry bushes.

The soil in the backyard was very hard to dig. It took a few days to get the holes dug and I still need to get some sort of edging around them. Katie likes to help water them.

In the front yard I have been working on getting more plants in. I have added another tulip plant and a daffodil that my Mom gave us.

Between the exiting rosebushes I have planted eleven strawberry plants. You can not see them yet but hopefully they will show up soon.

In the other planter there are another eleven strawberry plants and two bleeding heart plants. You can not see any of these yet either but they are there and soon will be growing.

Peas in the ground

2011-03-14T22:34:00.000-07:00

With the soil tilled and composted its time to get some plants in the ground. The peas have been growing like crazy and were very ready to move outside. Katie was willing to assist and you can see how long the plants have grown.

When Kevin started digging holes for the peas he discovered some pvc pipe. Turns out that when previous owners put the pool in they capped off the pipes for the sprinkler system and left all the sprinkler pipe and sprinklers in the ground. There was a short delay while Kevin dug it all up.

Soon it was back to planting, just watch out for the trench.

There are five pea plants ready to go in.

Kevin tore the newspaper off the bottom of the plants but left it at the top in hopes it will keep some of the bugs away. They need a net to climb on but hopefully soon we will be able to enjoy some fresh peas.

Compost in my driveway

2011-03-13T10:06:00.000-07:00

One day last week there was a delivery in my driveway. We had compost delivered to assist the soil in my backyard. Unfortunately they came a little early and blocked my car in the garage but I still made it to work thanks to my Mom.

When Katie and I went out to look at it she kept saying "Its dirt!"

My brother had already tilled the yard in preparation for the compost.

Katie and Kevin got to work, first they shoveled the compost into the cart.

Then they started wheeling the cart to the backyard.

They went down the side of the house to get there, Olive helped too.

Then they dumped the cart in the garden area.

They worked on it all day, Katie changed clothes and eventually the pile of compost was worked down.

But they continued to move it.

Until it was all in the backyard and a fresh layer of compost was ready to be tilled into the soil.

You might notice in the corner the compost bin and a new structure.

My compost bin has been very full. I looked into getting another bin or building one but the cost was a little excessive. My brother came up with making one with chicken wire, did you know it comes in plastic now? He used some posts from my parents house and zip ties. Now there is plenty of space for the composting to expand.

Hunting for Goldfish

2011-03-12T22:05:00.000-08:00

My parents belong to the Antelope Valley Treasure Hunters Society and have once a month outings. This month they went to a park in California City. Katie went along with them and had a great time. When discussing the upcoming trip we asked Katie if she was going to find some gold, her response was she was going to find some goldfish. She didn't come home with goldfish this time but had a pocket full of change.

Katie followed her Grandfather around, he would metal detect and then she would dig. She is sleeping well tonight.

Katie Art

2011-03-10T22:37:00.000-08:00

The front half of the living room is Katie's space. It contains her toys, easel and table. In order to finish the space I wanted to put something on the walls. Having a supply of Katie Art on hand I knew this would be a fun thing to include in her space. I selected three works of art, scanned and printed them on photo paper and framed them. They are now on the wall above her shelves. I also moved the lamp from the library room here so she could have some direct light.

I selected a finger painting, a ladybug with finger print dots and the Katie hand print fish. Please excuse the poor lighting in the photo.

To look around the room, here is the other side of the room near the front door.

This view is the newly covered window and toy box.

Garden Update

2011-03-08T22:36:00.000-08:00

The seedlings, also known to Katie as her babies, are growing like crazy. We now have three shelves with lights.

The peas are going crazy and have now grown past the light, they are in the back here.

Kevin has moved many of the plants into newspaper pots he made.

New seeds have also been planted and are quickly coming up.

Next weekend we are hoping to start moving some plants outside.

Yard Prep

2011-03-03T22:15:00.000-08:00

This Wednesday was my day off and the weather was not too cold so my brother, Katie and I went to work on the yard to get it ready for the garden. My camera stopped working so now I am taking pictures with my phone until it gets fixed. Here is the yard before we got started.

Katie got ready with her hat and gloves, ready to go to work with Olive's help.

Katie grabbed some branches from the pile.

And carried them off to the side yard.

Soon Katie got bored and went on to picking up rocks. This area of the yard is full of sand and gravel from the pool that used to be there.

Once Katie was done with that she tried out a little raking.

When we were done it looked like this.

We are going to have to remove most of the sand and try to get the gravel out next. To improve the soil I am going to be ordering a delivery of compost to till into the ground.

Katie Update

2011-02-26T22:25:00.000-08:00

Katie has been a very busy little girl as I imagine most toddlers are. I have been looking a lot at art activities and things to do with toddlers and one thing I have read in many places is that they learn and function best creatively if their feet are on the floor or a flat surface. The recommendation is that they sit with their feet on the floor or stand. Naturally an easel seemed like a good idea. While at Ikea I got Katie one. One side is a white erase board and the other is a chalk board. I also got her some chalk so when we got home Grandma showed her how to use it.

Katie loves her easel. She brings her chair over and sits at it drawing and coloring. I like the chalk because there is not much else she can draw on that can be damaged like with the crayons.

Katie has also been riding her tricycle, her feet are really close to being able to push the pedals all the way. She has figured out that if she pushes one down the other one comes up and she can push it. Her rides have only been inside due to the cold weather, luckily we have plenty of room.

Katie also got her very first hair cut ever. Her hair has finally gotten long enough that it needed to be trimmed. She now has bangs so her hair will not hang in her face as much and the back was evened up, the longest part cut off was about 1.5 inches. Her Uncle had to hold her but she handled the process of getting it cut very well.

Her hair now curls up and hits her shoulders, also it no longer gets knotted up in the back at night. We all think she looks adorable and she seems to like to too.

There was a pair of overalls that Katie had and loved but she recently outgrew them and she was upset that she could not wear them. I went on a hunt and discovered how difficult finding overalls for a girl is. I spent awhile looking on ebay and everywhere else I could think of and found they were quite expensive. Eventually I did find some and after some shipping drama they finally arrived this week. I think she loves all the pockets!

Curtains

2011-02-23T23:19:00.000-08:00

I have been wanting to get some curtains up in the house to make it feel a little more home like. I have not put curtains up at any of the places I have lived so it feels like a big things to do. However it is a hard decision to make with all the colors and options that are out there. I finally did decide to head to Ikea and get something simple and inexpensive to cover the windows, maybe add a little something to the decor and hopefully give a little insulation from the cold. I went with a simple white color and got all the same curtains for the living rooms, I had planned to get the same ones for my bedroom but miscounted. Those will require another trip. The curtains come in a set width and very long, they are available even longer but at 55"x98" that was long enough. My brother was recruited to put up the hardware for the curtain rods.

The curtains are sold to be hemmed and come with some iron on tape that lets you decide where to hem them. You measure and iron. I thought this would be simple but it was quite a task. Last weekend we put up seven sets of curtains and it took quite awhile but I think it looks more homey now.

The widow in Katie's part of the living room. There is also a bay window in this area but I have not figured out what to do with it yet.

The other living room window.

The second living room area, my library.

Around the fireplace.

This is in the sewing/office/guest room. These curtains are white with blue flowers but the pictures look pretty bad since the sun had gone down way before I finished.

The curatins are a little long right now but are supposed to shrink with washing. They also have creases since I did not take the time to iron the whole things, just the bottoms. The only windows left are my bedroom, the bay window and the dining room window. I think for the dining room I will make a valance which should be fairly easy. Hopefully I can get my windows covered soon since the morning light shines right in which can be nice but I would not mind taking it down a little.

Beginning the Garden

2011-02-21T23:18:00.000-08:00

The weather has been warming up and spring is coming so of course it is time to start the garden. My brother is the master planner of the gardens this year and has started a blog about it. He started by building a shelving unit that has lighting for the seed germination.

Last week on my day off we started planting the seeds. I was able to get a bunch of these trays at the end of last summer on clearance so they were quite a bargain.

Katie was very excited about this process and was as always very willing to help.

She helped Uncle by putting the seeds in the holes he made. The seeds were going night night and had to be covered up so they could sleep.

Once all the seeds were planted the trays were put on one of the shelves just under the light. One tray has a seed heating pad underneath it as well. The light is set on a timer so the seedlings get the proper amount of light each day.

Half a week later we already have the first seeds that are waking up. Katie and Uncle like to check and see which ones have woken up yet. The beets are exciting because Katie loves beets.

So far some of the beets, cauliflower, broccoli, oregano among others are coming up. By the end of the week round two of the planting will take place.

Compost

2011-02-16T22:01:00.000-08:00

A compost bin is a great way to get rid of yard waste and kitchen garbage and get some great mulch. As a housewarming gift we got a compost bin. In December Katie and I put it together.

We put it in the back yard and filled it with the leaves that accumulated in the yard, trimmings from around the yard, grass clipping from the two times the lawn has been mowed since we moved in and kitchen scraps. My brother and I have turned it once. The hope is that some of it will be ready for the garden in a few months.

Here is a peek inside, with some fresh kitchen scraps and its ready for some more turning.

I have realized I might need to get a second one for when the grass starts to really grow and to keep a rotation of new stuff and what has broken down.

Weekend work

2011-02-14T22:39:00.000-08:00

Last weekend was beautiful weather outside. It definitely does not feel like February. Of course this means its time to get out in the yard and start working. One of the first things I wanted to get done was pruning the roses, my Mom and brother had already done a little work but I wanted to do more. I had not realized that the warm weather has caused them to start budding already.

Before

After

Next was to remove the stumps from the shrubs that had been in front of the bay window of the house and the small tree.

Before

During (there was a lot of manual labor involved)

After

Katie and Olive supervised the entire project

Katie examined the bugs that came out of the ground, here is a caterpillar

We also began planting instead of just tearing out. Here are two new rosebushes and a tulip plant that Katie picked out

The overall affect is it looks much cleaner and neat now, there is more light coming in the bay window and Katie can actually see out it. I have more plants in the garage to add here but that will take another day off.

The Box

2011-02-13T22:38:00.000-08:00

A few months ago I heard about a CSA that was actually in our area. When I lived in Anaheim there were several as well as many farmers markets. Where we live there are not nearly the amount of fresh fruit and vegetable options. Abundant Harvest Organics is the company that I learned about. In December I signed up and we have been picking up a box every Saturday. This has greatly expanded the variety of vegetable we have been eating as well as just being food that actually tastes good. Their citrus is amazing.

Here is what the box looks like, I picked up an extra leek this last weekend.

Now lets look inside

The first layer has a variety of citrus, lavender

Below that is some cabbage, broccoli and potatoes.

And finally there is another leek, shallots, butternut squash and carrots.

Each week the box contents changes and it is seasonal. They also have add ons which I have gotten a few time which add a little extra to the box and usually disappear fast, we have added grapefruit, beets and oranges so far. The web site has recipes for most of the items you could get in your box which help with a some of the more obscure items and gives ideas for new things to try.

Our House

2011-02-08T13:18:00.000-08:00

After spending a large amount of last year looking for a house, bidding on houses, moving our belongings around and living out of suitcases Katie and I finally moved into our house in October. I have already posted a picture of the front of the house so now lets take some time to look around a little more.

This is the back of the house, you can see in the bottom of the picture part of the sand and gravel circle where there used to be an above ground pool. This is where our garden is going.

The pomegranate tree, definitely a selling point, this is located in the corner of the back yard.

This is the large side yard, these trees have been cut down, they were a little out of control. I still have not decided what will be happening here.

Here are a few inside shots before we moved in.

Both showers looked pretty nasty and discolored. They had been scratched, patched and everything else you would expect from showers installed in 1989. This needed to be fixed so I had them resurfaced before we moved in. Here is some before and after pictures. It was a total transformation.

Another large change to the house was to replace the entire heating/air conditioning system with a new energy efficient system. This was necessary when the heater died this winter and hopefully not a cost I will have to face again for a very long time. Also the electrical wiring in the house has issues, its one of those things they notice in the home inspection but might be a little problem or a big problem. We got a referral from a friend for an electrician who was at a loss for what was happening. After two days of work we eventually had power in all but one outlet in the house which is great. Small changes included door knobs and light fixtures. The house is always a work in progress but I can never say I have nothing at all to do.

The garden is one of the main upcoming projects as it will be taking up a large section of the back yard. We (we being mostly my brother) have been removing a lot of the existing plants that were beginning to damage the house and working on adding new ones. I am trying to incorporate edible landscaping, the plants I am adding will hopefully produce fruits or vegetables as well as look nice. These are all things that will be covered in upcoming posts.

Big Girl Bed

2011-02-04T23:23:00.000-08:00

With my back problems and Katie's desire to try and sleep in my bed I decided that for her 2nd birthday Katie would get a bed. I figured I might as well skip the toddler bed and go for the regular size. After much deliberation I picked out Ikea's Hemnes Daybed. It took less then a day to put it together with myself, Katie, my Dad and Brother working on different parts of it.

Here is Katie hard at work.

She was ready to sleep in it even before I got a mattress.

Of course if she is going to have a big girl bed she will be needing a quilt to go with it. I found a pattern for a basic pinwheel design twin size quilt so we went to the store and picked out Katie friendly fabric which was cut into 10"squares.

Next I cut down the center of the square.

The triangles were sewn together to make squares which were sewn into rows. The rows were then sewn together. I did the fabrics randomly but if I had arranged the prints the pinwheel affect would have been much stronger.

Once the top was done I again sent it to the longarm quilter hoping to get it back before Christmas. The quilted pattern on the quilt is a design of ladybugs and flowers. It did arrive in time so Katie got it between her Birthday and Christmas. The finished quilt came out cute I think and looks good with the bed.

I also put a bedrail on her bed so she would not fall out. She has fallen out once but I know it would have been a lot more without it. She really likes having a big girl bed and soon I will probably take the crib out of her room for good.

Quilting Class

2011-02-04T22:59:00.000-08:00

Last August I signed up for a month long quilting class at Jo-Ann's. It consisted of four Sundays and by the last one I was the only person left in the class. We made a king size quilt, here is a picture of it on the last day of class:

The first class consisted of cutting. The second class was starting to piece the squares. The third class put the squares into rows then connected the rows. Finally at the fourth class we made the quilt sandwich. The quilt was laid out with the backing, the batting then the top. This is the point where I decided I should take a picture.

The next step involved putting a few hundred safety pins in the quilt to hold it together then quilting it, stitching the layers together. I started this process but after I got home decided it was too much and sent it out to a longarm quilting service that quilted and binded it. When discussing the project with the teacher we both agreed that making a king sized quilt as your first quilting project was probably not the best idea and that next time they would make them smaller. After the quilt was finished I wrapped it up and gave it to my Mom for Christmas since I have a much smaller bed and thought she might like it. Of course I never took picture of the final product but you can get the idea.

Changes

2011-02-04T22:31:00.000-08:00

A lot has changed since I was last posting on this blog.

First off Katie and I bought a house:

This is from when we first bought it, the tall juniper trees are now gone. Last month it snowed.

We also got a dog, her name is Olive:

Olive was a rescue. She was in a shelter with her puppies and all of them were going to be put to sleep when they were rescued. They kept her and puppies together till they were weaned. A few of the puppies went to new homes the same day Olive came with us. They think she is a poodle/schnauzer mix and is a little over a year old. She and Katie love to terrorize each other but she is a welcome addition to the family.

And Katie is now all grown up having turned two in December:

She loves music, playing instruments, singing, having people sing to her and playing cds since she can do that by herself now. This is a keyboard I had when I was little, some new batteries and now its hers to play.

Katie also likes to sit at the table with her babies to eat and drink. Elmo is pretty much always invited. The felt food I found at Ikea and it has been pretty popular, we just have to keep it away from Olive.

Katie likes to call Grandma, this usually occurs around 7am.

We are also learning to cook. Katie seems to prefer to do it naked when we are making pancakes in the morning. Usually she does wear clothes, she likes mixing, pouring, scooping and basically anything else she can do to help.

Coming soon...

2011-02-04T11:25:00.000-08:00

Blog is slowly coming back to life, new posts in the works for anyone out there that might still be reading!

Its been awhile...

2009-11-02T20:32:00.000-08:00

So its been awhile since I have posted... I have been busy though. My main projects have been Christmas gifts which have been keeping me busy and of course I cant post since someone might see something they are not supposed to. However I can sow you things I am making for Katie since despite her best efforts she has not mastered surfing the internet yet. I got this project from the book Lotta Jansdotter's Simple Sewing for Baby. The idea was to make large letters that spell something, for example the child's name. This seemed and easy project and it was. I started by finding a font on the computer that I thought would work, I then printed them out a large as I could. I let Katie pick out the fabrics she liked and cut the letters. To assemble them the book suggests just using a zigzag stitch around on the outside around the edge leaving an opening to stuff them.

Once stuffed just sew them shut, easy. I think they came out good.

Jam

2009-08-01T14:05:00.000-07:00

I have been wanting to make some jam for awhile. A little over a week ago I made some strawberry freezer jam that Andrea recommended and had me sample when I was down in LA. That recipe came from here. When in LA I also got some boxes of glass canning jars from my mom. There have been some really good sales on strawberries to I had plenty of those sitting in the refrigerator. Mike however has been talking about picking blackberries and that sounded like fun. The week the three of us headed out to a local regional park and picked a big bowl of berries. That night I made a blackberry pie which went fast and was very yummy. Yesterday I decided to start some jam, blackberry and then strawberry rhubarb based on the recipes in the pectin box. I started with the blackberry yesterday and made the strawberry rhubarb today, the pictures will be of both since I forgot to take many yesterday.

First the berries had to be mashed, I needed five cups.

The set up needed three pans, one boiling with the jars, one boiling with the lids and one for the jam. I used my candy thermometers to make sure the jars and lids were staying at 180 degrees.

The fruit and any lemon juice goes into the pan.

Next the pectin is stirred in and you turn the heat all the way up.

Bring it to a full boil and add the sugar, it takes a lot of sugar!

Return it to a full boil and cook for one minute, you stir constantly through all of this. I noticed at this point I had to turn down the heat a little since it came close to going over with both jams.

After the minute turn off the heat and skim off the foam. The blackberry jam hardly had any, the strawberry had a lot.

Pull a jar from here.

Fill it.

Put the hot lid on it then a band just till there is resistance.

The jar goes back into the water and repeat with the next jar. When you are done put the lid on and gently boil the jars.

They need to cool for 12-24 hours. Here is the finished product.

Blackberry Jam

Strawberry Rhubarb Jam (not sure why the solids went to the top here)

We tried the blackberry last night and it was really good. Not too bad for my first try I think.

Crochet Hook Holder

2009-07-24T14:24:00.000-07:00

For my Mothers birthday I decided to made her a case to hold her crochet hooks. I used the book Sew What!: Bags by Lexie Barnes. First I selected some fabric.

I did add another print after I took this picture. Now of course I got so into making it that I forgot to take pictures but it cam together pretty well.

Here is the inside of it completed.

The back.

And all folded up.

Green Beans and More

2009-07-24T13:44:00.000-07:00

Here is what came out of the garden today. One zucchini, cherry tomatoes, the first yellow pear tomato and a bunch of green beans. We have been getting a fairly steady stream of zucchini and summer squash which I have been cooking up.

Today we finally planted my lemon tree which I received on Mothers Day.

It is in between the fence and the wood deck where there used to be a walking stone. I moved the stone and planted the tree. We plan on redoing the deck so it wont be quiet as close to the tree forever.

The compost bin is doing good and is almost half full. We had a small frog living in it for awhile but I have not been able to find it for the past few days. My other big project has been painting the third guest bedroom. Pictures of that will be coming soon.

6 Months Old

2009-06-27T11:11:00.000-07:00

Last week Katie turned six months old. Six months sure does go by fast. It seems like just yesterday we got this

She was so tiny!

Now look how big she is, almost 16 lbs!

This last week she had her first taste of solid food.

She took her first trip to the beach and really liked the waves and water.

She also got two kittens, Misty and Bruno, this past month.

She can roll over and sit (with a little help getting there) she loves playing with her feet and sticking her tongue out. Her laugh is one of the greatest sounds I have ever heard. Overall she is a happy little girl and the apple of her parents eye.

Compost

2009-06-27T11:04:00.000-07:00

I have been wanting to start a compost bin and thanks to a discount offered by Waste Management we were able to get a discounted bin. It took quite awhile to arrive but this last week when we got home we found the box sitting on out door step, of course some assembly was required. This is what I had when I took everything out of the box.

Of course I had my trusty assistant looking on, actually I think she was just trying to figure out what I was trying to do.

I assembled the compost bin and got it in the yard. Of course then I needed something to put in it and had to rake the yard and bring out the scrap bin from the kitchen. It is now started and hopefully soon I will have some compost!

Garden Gone Crazy

2009-06-18T14:19:00.000-07:00

The garden has gone a little crazy. Turns out we made a small mistake with the fertilizer. When we built the bed Mike added Nitrogen. Turns out that nitrogen is what causes plants to get really big, leafy and green. This sounds good but all of the plants energy is going there instead of the vegetables. Our radishes and beets were lost to this, they were huge leafy vegetables but hardly anything in the dirt. I have worked to add some potassium now to help balance things out but here is where the garden is now.

The carrots which actually have little orange carrots developing.

Spinach and lettuce which we have been eating, but bugs are really eating away at the lettuce.

The tomatoes which are pretty much covering the peppers and eggplant, they are almost taller than the fence. There are small tomatoes on the plants.

The tomatillo which is looking good.

The corn, cucumber and one parsnip.

Watermelon, beans and cantaloupe.

And finally the squash. These are doing good. We have a few small zucchini and it looks like some of the other squash may be coming in soon too.

The rhubarb I planted are growing. The herbs are also getting bigger and more productive. My Mothers Day lemon tree will hopefully go in the ground soon. The dirt is very rocky and clay-like to I am only getting a little of the whole dug each day. That's the garden so far!

Katies Room Makeover

2009-06-08T17:14:00.000-07:00

Katie's bedroom has been on my list as the first one to paint and finish. We recently got a crib from Mike's cousins and so it was time to set up Katie's room. This weekend my parents came to visit so it was the perfect time.

Here is what we started with. The walls were a sage green color and the trim was wood. I referred to the room as the cave since it was usually quite dark even in the middle of the day.

The closet had only been half painted the green and in parts of the room you could see the bright blue and yellow that the room was painted in the past.

My Dad is a painter so he and I got started in the room cutting in and putting up primer. We used Kilz no voc paint.

Clearly one coat of primer was not going to cover this green we had to buy a second gallon and do a second coat.

It was looking much better now. The next day we got busy putting on the paint. The painting went much faster than the primer. I used Yolo Colorhouse paint. Yolo is a great small environmentally friendly paint company. I used Air 04 for the walls and Air 01 for the trim. At first I was afraid the color was too yellow but in the end it was just what I wanted.

One of the first things we brought in was the pieces of the crib, luckily my Mom knew what she was doing and was able to put it together.

Katie really likes it. Next we brought all of Katie's stuff in from the garage and unpacked some things she hadn't gotten to use. Also her books are now out where we can get them, before they were in a cardboard box.

The large rocking chair is the one my parents used when I was little, the small one was mine when I was young. The mobile was finally taken out of the box where I read it was for birth to 5 months but Katie loves it.

Overall Katie and I really like her new room, it finally reflects her personality, bright and cheerful.