My Last Post....

... of the year! Did I worry you all? Tee Hee!
I had intended to blog earlier today but the battery in my camera needed charging... I just hate it when that happens. Well anyway here I am so let's get started. Walking and sewing, two of my favorite things. First the sewing. I have been making a few new things for my little shop. Eyeglass cases and some more pouches. These little pouches are a bit smaller but can be clipped onto a belt loop, which makes them really great. They are very handy if you are out taking a walk and want to take along your cell phone, house keys etc.

I love having a bright colorful eyeglass case. I so enjoyed sewing these that I have made a few of them.
Are you a sock monkey fan? I just love this fabric!How about a fun little turtle pouch. As you can probably tell I am having great time with all this new wonderful fabric.
A special request from my daughter had me making this ID card holder. She has to wear one at work all day and wondered if I could come up with something that also was combined with a small pouch. How lucky was she that I was in a very creative mood. I made her not one but three of them. (Sorry I forgot to take pic's of the other two). It is so much fun when you have an idea in your mind and it actually turns out the way that you see it. Quite often I have a great idea and it turns out really crappy and I have to go back to the drawing board.

Well that's the sewing part now for the walking part. Yesterday was just a spectacular day here in the Pacific Northwest. It was very cold but the sun was shining. So we bundled up and off we went. Hubby's camera was working over time. If you can believe we actually counted 35 Bald Eagles down at the Nisqually Refuge. They were all high up in the trees overlooking the Nisqually River. It was indeed a sight to see. This one flew right over the top of us. I thought hubby was going to fall over backwards taking this pic. All the ducks are starting to return and a whole lot of pairing up is going on. This is an Asian Wigeon. There were several Sea Lions in the river. Just like the Bald Eagles I am sure they were getting their fill of salmon.

Well the sun is shining again so it's time for me to bundle up and head on out.

I hope you all have a wonderful New Year!

See you soon!

Once upon a time....

.... a long time ago ( well just over 3 months ago) I used to blog! So here I am back again hoping that I will be able to blog a bit more regularly than I have been doing.

What a year it has been! I have made pounds upon pounds of soap and bath products that I think I could now do it in my sleep... in fact I think at times I probably have. Every weekend since the middle of July I have stayed at my daughters house soaping away, sometimes til 2 o'clock in the morning. As we got closer and closer to Christmas we were literally working around the clock. It was a tremendous amount of work for just two people. We made it fun though and chocolate helped a lot!

I do have to admit that I did have some time for other things to. I still ventured out on my lovely walks and hubby still took those great pictures. This is Joan. All 1500 hundred pounds of her. I met her on a delightful day at the Point Defiance Zoo in Tacoma. She was so very kind to share her wonderful fishy breath with us! I kind of like Joan... what a gal!

I made a point of trying to walk regularly down at the Nisqually Refuge (one of my favorite places in the whole wide world). We have so many terrific photo's that it is going to be really hard to pick some, but here goes. A Yellow Rumped Warbler sitting atop a measuring stick.
A Golden Crowned Kinglet looking very beautiful on a moss covered branch. A tiny Hummingbird catching snowflakes on his tongue. A Ruby Crowned Kinglet that was quite hard to photograph as they barely stay still for a second. I have to admit that this was the first time I had seen a Great Egret down at the refuge so I was pretty excited and stood watching him (or her) for quite sometime.
Well I could fill many pages with all of the animal pic's that were taken in the last 3 months. I will save the rest for future blogging.

Like many of you I still have sewing and knitting projects that are unfinished. I did manage to get some more socks knitted though and were very welcomed by my feet while out walking.

I also made a few things for my little Etsy store... and even sold a few things too.
These little pouches were fun and pretty quick to make. I just realized that I never showed some of the soaps that I made. We had an idea to make tiny guest soaps like little cakes for tea. We were really pleased with the results. Many people bought these for stocking stuffers.

Well I think that is about it for now... don't want to bore you with to long of a post.
Before I go I just wanted to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and the most wonderful New Year.

See you soon... I promise!

Cooking, Walking and Knitting

Once again it was another busy weekend... they all seem to be like that lately! Hubby found a wonderful recipe from this magazine. Have I mentioned that hubby is a bit of a wine aficionado... don't you love that word. I can hardly believe it. I just did a spell check on it and I got it right! Good grief, I am so surprised! Anyway where was I... Oh yes the recipe. It was on the front cover and it looked really yummy and best of all it called for lots of fresh tomatoes... and those we have by the ton! So here is the finished recipe. It tasted as great as it looked. The addition of all those fresh from the garden tomatoes made it light and wonderful. It was the perfect meal after returning from a lovely long walk. I hope that this photo of a young Peregrine Falcon having his dinner doesn't make you to squeamish. I had thought that maybe I shouldn't post it but it was on our walk and as you know I always take you along and show you all the wildlife that we spot. We watched it for the longest time. He was about 150 yards from us and didn't seem to mind that we were looking at him. Toward early evening on our walk we spotted this very large Beaver having his dinner... this time it was more of a salad. He was happily munching away clearing a path as he went. I always love walking in the early evening. We see so many different kinds of animals than we do during the day. Not to mention it makes me really sleepy and ready for a good nights sleep. Sometimes I can hardly keep my eyes open sitting on the couch after we return home. But I did keep them open long enough........ to get started on the sleeves of daughters sweater!
All in all I was quite pleased with our weekend. We saw a lot and did a lot. I like weekends like that, don't you?
See you soon!

This and that!

What a wonderful crop of tomatoes we have had this year. Not sure if it was the weather or the type of tomatoes, but we have a ton. The neighbors are happy of course, as they get plenty of them. I already have noticed a difference in the garden though. I don't think summer will be with us to much longer. Some of the leaves on the trees are already changing color and some of my flowers are starting to look a little tired. Looks like soon I will be doing some garden work getting it ready for the Autumn. I have had this lovely pattern book from Rowan for quite a while. There are lots of great patterns in it that I would love to make. Quite often I can only find one or two that I like and I really dislike having to by the whole book just for a couple of patterns. So this summer I have been working on a lovely sweater from this book for my daughter.
It really is a very easy pattern to knit. If I can just get to sit awhile and work some on it then I just may get it finished so she can at least wear it once before the cooler weather comes. I already have the front and the back finished and it has been blocked. Now I just have to finish off the sleeves. It is made in the loveliest shade of pale pink. Maybe I will just have to turn off the phone, not answer the door and just say no until I have it complete! A few nights ago we had the most wonderful full moon. Hubby was home so out came his new camera. Yes I did say new camera.... this is becoming a very expensive hobby! Well after numerous shots he was very happy with this one. He was in and house a lot and just happened to let in a pesky mosquito which proceeded to make a meal on one of my arms which itched immensely and produced a lump the size of a small mountain. Needless to say I wasn't a happy camper that night! It's OK though he made up for it by making me a lovely cup of tea... so all is forgiven.

Time to go and water those tired looking plants... see you soon!

My wonderful goodies!

Just thought I would pop in and show you my wonderful goodies that I received today from the lovely Pat who has a blog called The Sewing Room. I was simply overwhelmed with her generosity. Pat and I were swap partners from a swap over at Lisa's blog a while ago. It is strange how we were both paired up as we have both had a bit of a tough summer this year. If you go on over to Pat's wonderful blog you will understand. So sit back and let me show you all the wonderful things in my swap package.
All the little packages were beautifully wrapped and came with a very lovely card.
The first thing that I unwrapped was this great apron. It was so expertly sewn and I am just thrilled that it is mine!
Next was this wonderful hat and a matching pair of fingerless mitts! Oh my goodness, how did she know that I needed both! These will be sure to keep me warm this fall and winter while hubby and I are out on our nature walks.
After opening another little package I was rewarded with a new pen. This one is going into my purse for jotting things down while I am at the fabric, craft shops etc;
Can you believe there is more! Candy for my sweet tooth. The little packet of Love Hearts made me smile as I haven't eaten them since I was a child.
Look at these beautiful beads. These will come in very handy for some upcoming graft projects.
Yes there is still more! A lavender filled heart... how generous is she!
A little note pad to go along with my new pen.
Whew! Finally a British knitting magazine! This I will savor from cover to cover this afternoon while having some tea.

Thank you Pat. I am just speechless with all these wonderful gifts.
Hope you have enjoyed my "show and tell" today. It actually felt good to blog again. I promise I will try to not stay away so long before my next post.
See you soon!

Still here

Just wanted to pop in to say that I am still here and enjoying the summer as I hope you all are. My goodness August already. Time is just flying by.

I am so pleased with my hanging flower basket again this year. It does take a lot of water and feeding but it is oh so worth it. I can only imagine how much it must weigh and hope that my poor old porch can take all that weight!

I do still have quite a few things to take care of but I will be popping in from time to time just to say hello.

See you soon!

Sadness

We lost a dear family member over the weekend so I will be taking a little bloggy break. I won't be gone long... I just need a little time to myself.

Knitting

I really am addicted to sock knitting. My blue socks are almost finished. I once again stuck with a very plain rib pattern and concentrated on knitting a good sock. When I was a young girl and just starting out with knitting I wanted to jump right in at the deep end and knit a sweater with a lace pattern for my very first project. I can still hear my mother telling me that I should learn to walk before I run! So here we are all those years later and I finally did listen to her and made two pair of plain decent socks that I am quite happy with. But now.... ....well I think I am ready to run a bit and get a bit more adventurous! Look at this scrumptious yummy sock yarn. I just couldn't resist buying some. It's lovely and soft and I can hardly wait to get my little itchy sock knitting fingers on it!
But it will have to wait for just a little bit as my daughter and I will be going to the annual Lavender Festival in Sequim on Friday. We love taking a trip there to see and smell all the wonderful sights and to indulge in our all time favorite... Lavender Ice Cream! If only we could bring a trunk load home with us. So it's been a bit of a busy week trying to get everything finished around here before we go. We will be leaving quite early on Friday so we can get there at a decent time. I should have lots of pic's to show when I get home. Now that our weather has warmed up enough we have been having our dinner out in the garden. It never fails that there is at least one uninvited guest that shows up. This time it was a little chipmunk. He sat up in our pine tree staring at us while we ate. I think he was hoping for us to share our meal. Such cute little things, aren't they? Earlier in the day... and I mean really early we went out for another nature walk. It was around 7.30 in the morning and it really is a lovely way to start the day. We were the only two people about so it was nice and quiet and the air was fresh and cool. The young Barn Swallows are all leaving their nests now but still trying to get that last feed from mom. I am amazed that one of them didn't fly into us as they were swooping down everywhere. The highlight of the morning though was watching this amazing..... ... River Otter. There were actually three of them. We think it was a mother and her two babies. They splashed and played and even caught a good size fish which they all squabbled over. We stood for the longest time while hubby happily clicked away with his camera. I don't honestly think that they would have stuck around as long if there had been more people about. Lucky us!

Well that's it from me until after I get back from my little trip. Enjoy the rest of your week. See you soon!

Wool and Mink

Well these are definitely not the prettiest socks in my drawer. But they are certainly the warmest. I had this yarn laying around the house and I wanted to see if I could knit and also enjoy making socks. Well yes to both! Although not very pretty they will be wonderfully warm this winter paired up with my boots. In fact I enjoyed making these so much that....... I have started another pair! With the temperatures starting to warm up here I find sock knitting much nicer to do right now than my big ripple blanket. It is going to get just a bit to warm to sit under my ripple while crocheting it. As you know I do so love knitting with thin yarn. So making socks with this type of yarn is just so much fun. I have started off with a very plain pattern but as time goes on I am hoping to get a bit more fancy.

Now for the Mink part, I bet you are all wondering what I am talking about. No I didn't knit a pair of mink socks! But we did see...... this wonderful little Mink down by the river while walking. Isn't he wonderful! He was happily rolling about on the bank in the sun. We also watched as he went back into the river and nabbed a fish for lunch. This is the first time we have seen a Mink while out walking. I hope he sticks around. We also saw a mommy Wood duck and her babies. She was being very protective of them and kept them all very close to her.

Now I am off to catch up on all the things that were put on the back burner while we were enjoying our long July 4th weekend.

Have a super Tuesday!

Birthday and Twilight

Today is officially our daughter's birthday but we celebrated over the weekend. Her birthday barbecue was just lovely even if we did have to move the whole thing indoors. Our backyard faces a bluff that over looks the Puget Sound. Even though we are quite a bit a way we still get all the cool breezes that come off the water. It's great when we are having a hot summer day as it cools us down quite nicely. But not so great when we are only having lukewarm days. All in all though it was a terrific day. When you have wonderful family and good food what more could you ask for.
Her birthday cake was just delicious! As usual we all ate far to much so Monday was a lighter meal day to try and even things out a bit. To cap off her birthday we are going to a sneak preview of the new Twilight movie tonight. We have sneaky peek tickets for the 9 o'clock showing. Looks like it will be a late night for us. It wasn't all play and no work while she was here. We made up several batches of our whipped soap. I just love taking a bath with this! Not a bad afternoons work even if I do say so!

Well that's it for now as my day is going to be a busy one. I do have one other bit of news though... can you believe I am finally knitting a pair of socks! I have one and a half socks done already. So far things are going smoothly and I am just thrilled. I'll show them off in my next post.

Have a great Tuesday everyone!