tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-54665012024-03-14T01:46:41.985-07:00DolciDeleriarandom musings & free associationsChristina Gilmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05863554438201805194noreply@blogger.comBlogger629125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5466501.post-46029731489735076692016-09-08T18:02:00.002-07:002016-09-08T18:02:31.875-07:00Playing with Other People's ToysRecently, Caitlyn got a weekend with her grandparents and met her grandmother's <a href="http://saoriglobal.com/">Saori</a> loom. Sharing the results of her explorations was the very first thing she wanted to do when we arrived on Sunday evening to collect her. Then, because she was *that* excited, she insisted that I meet the loom as well.<br />
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I may have spent the rest of the evening weaving.<br />
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<img alt="my first Saori weaving" src="http://www.dolcideleria.com/images/blogger/IMG_0487.jpg" height="400" style="display: block; margin: 0 auto;" width="600" /><br />
I had a small lap loom when I was a kid, and I remember generally liking weaving with it. I didn't really pursue it beyond that, never really figuring out what to do besides repetitive stripes or how to make something larger than the roughly piece-of-paper-sized fabric the lap loom could produce. Maybe I would have done more with it if I'd had an amazing yarn and fiber stash. Acrylic yarn circa 1985 was, well, somewhat less than inspiring.<br />
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Lianna's loom is larger than a piece of paper and her fiber stash is a thing of beauty. I wove this rectangle (table topper? oversize placemat?) spontaneously, with no real planning, guided roughly by a sense of "this yarn might look nice next to the one I was just using." Eventually the spectrum nature became obvious and I ran with it. And because Lianna's fiber stash is not boring worsted weight acrylic yarn but full of colors and textures of all sorts (yarns! strips of fabric! fuzzy! smooth! fringey! barely twisted!), the resulting fabric is interesting and diverse. It's "freestyle" weaving, with no plan and no rules.<br />
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<img alt="my first Saori weaving" src="http://www.dolcideleria.com/images/blogger/IMG_0488.jpg" height="400" style="display: block; margin: 0 auto;" width="600" /><br />
I can see the benefit in such an activity for someone as rigidly organized as myself. The reassurance that something nice can happen when there is no plan, no checklist. I probably need more of those reminders.<br />
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Perhaps I'll have to arrange a weaving weekend for both Caitlyn and myself. <br />
Christina Gilmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05863554438201805194noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5466501.post-55462237580212442452016-08-30T10:45:00.000-07:002016-08-30T10:45:07.992-07:00Kids Art Week WrapupIt took us more than the prescribed week, but Caitlyn and I did finish Carla Sonheim's <a href="http://carlasonheim.blogs.com/kids_art_week_2016/">Kids Art Week</a> video lesson series. Here's a sampling of my favorites of our results:<br />
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<img alt="cross-eyed owl" src="http://www.dolcideleria.com/images/blogger/IMG_3155.jpg" height="600" style="display: block; margin: auto;" width="455" /><br />
I painted this cross-eyed owl in the style of Jean Dubuffet. The process used salt as a resist with the watercolor, something I'd read about yet never tried (not really surprising since the amount of watercolor I do is pretty much zero). I really like the resulting texture! The black is an acrylic over the watercolor, something I doubt I would have thought to do on my own (mixing paint types, is that even allowed???). So this week was a win by Day Two: I learned two new things!<br />
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<img alt="clockworks" src="http://www.dolcideleria.com/images/blogger/IMG_3159.jpg" height="600" style="display: block; margin: auto;" width="515" /><br />
Day Three was all about collage art in the style of Robert Motherwell. This is Caitlyn's collage because I like it so much better than I like mine. Lots of movement and bold colors in hers. Mine is dull; I used a black crayon for my lines (as per instructions), but Caitlyn's painted lines are so much more vibrant. The collage process didn't really sing for me quite the way the watercolor did, but maybe that's more a reflection of the ingredients? Would it have been more appealing with other papers and a base that wasn't half a shopping bag?<br />
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<img alt="well lined houses" src="http://www.dolcideleria.com/images/blogger/lined_houses.jpg" height="777" style="display: block; margin: auto;" width="490"/><br />
These are our houses in the style of Hundertwasser. Again, I like Caitlyn's better than mine. I stayed too close to the instructions; Caitlyn used watercolor and I stuck with the suggested markers. Our marker collection, despite being a thing that fills a good size storage tub, is nevertheless full of markers I don't like. Many are old and the colors are fading (but not quite faded enough to throw out), and most of them came from basic kid sets so the colors aren't that great to begin with. Getting the colors to bleed nicely under a wash of water was also difficult since I either got no bleed at all or so much bleed that it was all mush. Caitlyn's painting has much better colors and a fun interpretation of the instructions while mine is rather, yawn, boring.<br />
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<img alt="strange puppies" src="http://www.dolcideleria.com/images/blogger/two_dogs.jpg" height="593" style="display: block; margin: auto;" width="400" /><br />
The week also included something Carla called "Picasso Dogs," which used collage and paint and an element of randomness to create vaguely cubist style dogs. I didn't care so much for this one, but in the interest of completeness, here are our results. I'll leave it to you to figure which dog belongs to Caitlyn and which to me.<br />
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We had a good time with Carla's videos, though, and I'm thinking about ways to keep elements of Kids Art Week in our usual routine. I really liked the directed nature of things; having an assignment works well for me and it provides Caitlyn with a starting point from which she can choose to off-road or not as the inspiration strikes. Carla has a collection of other <a href="http://carlasonheim.com/store/">art classes available via video</a> as does <a href="http://www.craftsy.com/classes/painting?_ct=wberqbdql-sbqiiui&_ctp=painting/recommended">Craftsy</a> (and probably others). I've done a little poking at YouTube and so far haven't found anything that appeals (of course, that could be the result of not searching through YouTube with a sufficiently fine-tooth comb). So perhaps we'll try a class in watercolor later this fall.Christina Gilmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05863554438201805194noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5466501.post-66784368520647277842016-08-26T16:14:00.000-07:002016-08-26T16:50:39.909-07:00Apple Processing Day<img alt="apples" src="http://www.dolcideleria.com/images/blogger/IMG_4195.jpg" height="491" style="display: block; margin: auto; 0;" width="600" /><br />
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Our backyard apple tree produced 14 pounds of usable fruit this year. It took two of us, with the ladder and some careful contortioning, to harvest nearly all of it. I don't do anything to protect the fruit from the rest of Nature, no spraying and no little fruit socks. (I bought a package of fruit socks one year, and the process of getting one sock on one apple while I was still standing on the ground was challenging enough that I've never been inspired to try to do it from the top of a ladder.) The resulting fruit is occasionally occupied but rarely to the point where the entire apple is compromised. And since I'm cutting the apples up to process them anyway, it's not that big a deal to cut out the icky bits.<br />
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<img alt="apple pie filling" src="http://www.dolcideleria.com/images/blogger/IMG_3268.jpg" height="600" style="display: block; margin: auto; 0;" width="461" /><br />
I now have 6 pints and 2 quarts of apple pie filling in the freezer. I expect some of the pints will be thawed and warmed for winter breakfast toppings. And any pie I make will probably need both quarts of filling. I don't do skinny pies.<br />
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<img alt="apple butter" src="http://www.dolcideleria.com/images/blogger/IMG_3274.jpg" height="600" style="display: block; margin: auto; 0;" width="520" /><br />
And I have 20 half-pints of apple butter! This is the first year I've done apple butter, partly due to its reputation for taking hours and hours. Maybe it's just that my apples are on the softer side, but they cooked down quickly and then thickened before I'd managed to wash and sterilize all my jars. My apple butter is more intensely seasoned than the recipe, with the cinnamon quadrupled (at least) and the clove probably doubled. All the taste testers on hand declared it good before canning but I find I'm still wondering if I shouldn't have kept going with the spices.<br />
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I may surprise myself, but at the moment, I think that concludes the seasonal preserving for this year. It's less than I usually do (not mentioned: the pear preserve, the pear butter, the peach butter, the raisins, the bell peppers, and the zucchini) but I'm discovering a lack of motivation when I think of doing much more. Perhaps over the winter I'll spend some time figuring out why the things that I've done so willingly for the last decade or so suddenly have lost their shine.Christina Gilmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05863554438201805194noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5466501.post-59931165537431913252016-07-26T17:54:00.001-07:002016-07-26T17:54:57.417-07:00Kids Art Week, Day 1<img src="http://www.dolcideleria.com/images/blogger/IMG_3147.jpg" width="600" height="464" alt="Caitlyn"/><br />
Caitlyn and I are following along with <a href="http://carlasonheim.blogs.com/">Carla Sonheim</a>'s 2016 installment of <a href="http://carlasonheim.blogs.com/kids_art_week_2016/">Kids Art Week</a>. Five days of free how-to art project posts with each project inspired by the work of a famous artist.<br />
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Caitlyn's a good artist already, having produced some nicely drawn dragons last December. I like the idea of making more art myself, but I find myself frequently stymied by the blank page. One would think I'd have some clue how to handle that since I write a fair bit. Maybe it's that I can call the writing "journaling" and string together free-association thoughts until there's something sensible. Maybe words are just a more comfortable medium for me. Maybe words are more ephemeral and it's easier to throw out the gibberish. Despite my intentions to be more artistic, I find it challenging to get out the paints or the pencils. It's not hard for me to write about things we are doing or explore my inner landscapes with words, but settling on <i>what</i> to draw seems impossible. When I'm writing, I add and delete words, move them around like blocks, until I'm satisfied with what I've said. Strange that the idea of placing and removing line after line seems so daunting.<br />
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After the first day of Kids Art Week, I'm discovering that I really appreciated the "assignment". Maybe this is something I should look into: a series of assigned projects to build confidence, a way to become more fluent with the tools and techniques without the burden of finding subject matter. When I was in high school, I tended to write stories in response to writing assignments. I tried a few times to just sit down and write a story but the constraints of an assignment (none of which I can remember now although I can remember (and probably still have somewhere) the stories I wrote in response) produced better results. Constraints help: the original <i>Star Wars</i> movies are better than the prequels precisely because of the (mostly financial) constraints. <br />
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I'm terrible at making up the assignments for myself, though. I compromise the process by giving myself constraints that aren't really a challenge. Or I discount the necessity of the project because it came from me, not a professor or a client, resulting in the "assignment" always sliding to the bottom of my to-do list. This would be part of my larger issue of devaluing efforts I make for myself, since those are easily viewed as being selfish. I'm too well trained to put things for myself last, after everything I could do that would benefit someone else. Creative projects purely for my own development (never mind enjoyment) come only after every other possible thing has been accomplished. Since there will always be dust bunnies and cat hair to vacuum, I never reach the end of that list.<br />
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<img src="http://www.dolcideleria.com/images/blogger/IMG_3145.jpg" width="600" height="475" alt="Christina"/><br />
This first project was simple and fun to do. I'm tentatively hopeful that I'll learn just enough confidence to be inspired to revisit our art supplies more frequently.<br />
Christina Gilmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05863554438201805194noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5466501.post-68254759071255965122016-06-29T13:48:00.002-07:002016-06-29T13:48:54.677-07:00Taffy Pulling, Because Science!It started with an idle comment. It ended up a many-houred end-of-school-year sugar-coated event. <br />
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<img alt="gloppy" src="http://www.dolcideleria.com/images/blogger/IMG_24125.jpg" height="450" width="600" style="display:block; margin: auto; 0;"/><br />
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This goopy stuff is homemade salt water taffy. An exploration of sugar, chemistry, and the relative strength of various arms.<br />
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I gave the kids (Caitlyn and some homeschool friends) a short lecture about atomic structure, molecular bonds, solutions (and why it's not a reaction), and what it means to be supersaturated. I'm never really sure how these little talks land with the kids; Caitlyn always says very positive things but the others are often so quiet I'm not at all certain anything sticks. I've decided to take the steady deluge approach: if they are always swimming in lots of knowledge, eventually some of it will osmosis its way to permanence, right?<br />
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(Interested in doing something similar? I used <a href="https://www.exploratorium.edu/cooking/candy/recipe-taffy.html#">this</a>, <a href="https://www.exploratorium.edu/cooking/candy/sugar.html#">this</a>, and <a href="https://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/education/resources/highschool/chemmatters/past-issues/archive-2014-2015/candymaking.html">this</a> to prop up my distant high school chemistry.)<br />
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Then, on to the sweet part! Taffy syrup needs to cook over low heat until it's 260 degrees. High heat will scorch the sugar (don't stir or you'll end up with gritty candy), so this process is long and slow. I sent the kids outside and read half a novel.<br />
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<img alt="boiling" src="http://www.dolcideleria.com/images/blogger/IMG_24097.jpg" height="600" width="450" style="display:block; margin: auto; 0;"/><br />
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Two hours later, we finally hit the proper temperature. For taffy, you want the candy to cool quickly, before crystals can form. This is also the point when you add any flavorings. The kids chose peppermint, which vaporized on contact with the molten sugar and cleared the sinuses of everyone in the kitchen.<br />
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<img alt="cooling" src="http://www.dolcideleria.com/images/blogger/IMG_24106.jpg" height="450" width="600" style="display:block; margin: auto; 0;"/><br />
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As soon as you can touch it without injury, you start pulling. The point of pulling taffy (it's stretch and fold, really) is to incorporate air into the candy. This makes it light and chewy in texture.<br />
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<img alt="starting to pull" src="http://www.dolcideleria.com/images/blogger/IMG_24118.jpg" height="450" width="600" style="display:block; margin: auto; 0;"/><br />
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Of course, it's really sticky. We started with cornstarch on our fingers and that wasn't at all effective. Cornstarch all over the hands wasn't much better, buying you a couple of minutes of reduced stickiness. Butter was more effective, but it also worked its way into the candy, leaving you, well, sticky. I wonder if starting with butter and then having someone sprinkle powdered sugar in as the butter was absorbed would be effective. I'm guessing that if you can pull the taffy long enough, it becomes less sticky, but I'd need to make more taffy to test this theory.<br />
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<img alt="pulling" src="http://www.dolcideleria.com/images/blogger/IMG_24138.jpg" height="600" width="450" style="display:block; margin: auto; 0;"/><br />
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Eventually, it does become white, opaque, and firmer to the touch. And you become aware of which arm is your dominant (the one that hurts less) and how you could probably benefit from some additional exercises to tone up those shoulder and upper arm muscles. There were 8 of us (kids and adults) pulling taffy, and we probably should have pulled it longer than we did. Pulling it all myself doesn't sound like fun at all. <br />
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<img alt="homemade salt water taffy" src="http://www.dolcideleria.com/images/blogger/IMG_2969.jpg" height="600" width="450" style="display:block; margin: auto; 0;"/><br />
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The final product is pretty fine taffy. It's light and chewy, pleasantly peppermint without searing your sinuses (having done that already). Each of the kids involved got to take home a ziploc of candy. Not a bad way to mark the end of the school year!<br />
Christina Gilmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05863554438201805194noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5466501.post-14197495525702212972016-06-17T10:30:00.000-07:002016-06-29T13:49:53.860-07:00Thinking about Rocks and Time (Trail of Two Forests)There's something surreal about rocks that clearly show they were once liquid. Reading about lava flows is one thing. Sure, it says the rock was liquid, and I don't doubt it. But getting up close to a rock, with all of it's solid hardness, and finding a curved and rippled surface not unlike some cake batters kind of puts it in perspective. Once upon a time, this solid surface moved like water.<br />
<img alt="tree mold, Trail of Two Forests" src="http://www.dolcideleria.com/images/blogger/IMG_22801.jpg" height="450" width="600" style="display:block; margin: auto; 0;"/><br />
You can see the ripples in this photo, at about the 2 o'clock position on the tree mold. Roughly 2000 years ago, Mt. St. Helens erupted lava which engulfed a forest. Even as the trees burned, they were still cooler than the lava, causing it to solidify around the trees. The flow moved on, leaving molds of the trees behind, sometimes with detailed impressions of the bark captured in stone.<br />
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The idea of Mt. St. Helens erupting lava is strange to me. I know that all our Cascade volcanoes are composite volcanoes, built of multiple layers of various ejecta, sometimes ash, sometimes lava. Still, because the 1980 eruption was so heavily ash-dominated, it's been easy to think that that's what Cascade volcanoes do. It's probably important to compare the south side of the mountain with its lava-based landmarks with the blasted northern face. One mountain, multiple expressions.<br />
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Still, it's surreal. Humans aren't good at thinking in geologic time. Our lives are too short to really grasp the scale. This is a hole that's 2000 years old. (Why isn't it more full of debris?) Before the hole there was a tree who had lived long enough to gain many inches in diameter, which stood on soil built up after previous eruptions, which built a mountain on rocks pushed onto the margin of the North American continent at a time when that landmass was more tropical than today. I know this. But it's only by seeing and experiencing that I begin to understand it, that the relative scale becomes clearer.<br />
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It's an understanding that is simultaneously depressing and liberating. I am so small. Life goes on, with fragile mosses reclaiming an inhospitable basaltic landscape.Christina Gilmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05863554438201805194noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5466501.post-71504168730215349162016-06-08T15:58:00.000-07:002016-06-29T13:51:05.345-07:00A Morning VisitorWasabi was on a bit more of a tear than usual this morning, which made total sense once we realized we had a visitor:<br />
<img alt="raccoon in cherry tree" src="http://www.dolcideleria.com/images/blogger/IMG_22871.jpg" height="543" style="display: block; margin: auto; 0;" width="600" /><br />
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We spent the rest of breakfast watching her clamber around in the cherry tree, rather systematically eating all the cherries. Good thing I don't expect harvestable fruit from that tree!<br />
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<img alt="raccoon in cherry tree" src="http://www.dolcideleria.com/images/blogger/IMG_22899.jpg" height="600" style="display: block; margin: auto; 0;" width="587" /><br />
She (I'm assuming it's female based on <a href="http://www.raccoonatticguide.com/daytime.html">this site</a> which says that while commonly nocturnal, raccoons can be active during the day, especially if there are kits back in the den. Raccoon kits typically arrive in April and May, and Mama tends to stay with them for a year.) walked as far out on the limbs as possible, backing up only when the bend in the limb started to threaten an imminent fall. <br />
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<img alt="raccoon in cherry tree" src="http://www.dolcideleria.com/images/blogger/IMG_22910.jpg" height="600" style="display: block; margin: auto; 0;" width="467" /><br />
She never fell, despite precariously reaching for that elusive fruit. <br />
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<img alt="raccoon in cherry tree" src="http://www.dolcideleria.com/images/blogger/IMG_22917.jpg" height="600" style="display: block; margin: auto; 0;" width="478" /><br />
She seemed on the small side (young? female?) compared to the few other raccoons we've seen in the backyard. And she was missing her tail. From where we were, it looked like a fairly recent loss. Did she escape a trap? Get into a fight?<br />
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We must have stood and watched her for 20 minutes or more. She ate nearly all the fruit in the tree, then cleaned up the ground below. She seemed remarkably comfortable up there, even engaging in some grooming/itch-scratching a good 10-12 feet up.<br />
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Then, having eaten everything, she crossed the yard, squeezed herself through the fence slats, and sauntered off.<br />
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Christina Gilmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05863554438201805194noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5466501.post-49265342443825829262014-06-11T10:40:00.001-07:002014-06-11T10:40:25.702-07:00May's reportIt's official: individual detailed reports of what I've been doing are completely beyond my capacity at the moment. So, here's the overview of what we did in May: <br />
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We joined some friends at <a href="http://www.luco.org/">LUCO</a>'s Chamber Music Cabaret. There was a piccolo trio, and Caitlyn got pulled from the audience to read raffle ticket winning numbers.<br />
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<img src="http://www.dolcideleria.com/images/blogger/IMG_14281.jpg" width="550" height="367" alt="at Little Wing Farm" style="display:block; margin: auto; 0;"/><br />
Caitlyn and I joined some of our homeschool friends for <a href="http://journal.dolcideleria.com/2013/12/field-trip-rockridge-orchards.html">another field trip to a farm</a>. This time we drove across the mountains to Little Wing Farm where we spent the day touring the orchards and generally traipsing around. <br />
<img src="http://www.dolcideleria.com/images/blogger/IMG_14233.jpg" width="367" height="550" alt="howling at Little Wing Farm" style="display:block; margin: auto; 0;"/><br />
Caitlyn has been having a digression from her all-consuming cat interest to think about wolves. This means howling, which I generally don't allow in our urban settings (I worry about all the neighborhood dogs she'll set to barking). Out on the farm, she can howl all she likes, which she most definitely did.<br />
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<a href="http://www.seattlefarmersmarkets.org/markets/columbia_city">Our farmers' market</a> opened. This is always a good thing. And our weather has been so glorious so early this year that we've started our picnic dinners already.<br />
<img src="http://www.dolcideleria.com/images/blogger/IMG_0693.jpg" width="445" height="550" alt="at NW Railway Museum" style="display:block; margin: auto; 0;"/><br />
Caitlyn and I joined in another homeschool field trip to the Northwest Railway Museum. The program skewed a little young for Caitlyn but she enjoyed the train ride to <a href="http://instagram.com/p/nwWUfZlTP4/">Snoqualmie Falls</a>.<br />
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I <a href="http://instagram.com/p/n1DekjlTKo/">quilted my disappearing nine patch quilt</a>.<br />
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Wasabi went to the vet for the usual annual check up. Trimming his claws was suggested, only to have Caitlyn declare, loudly, "I like being scratched with his claws. You can't trim them!"<br />
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We saw <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1587310/">Malificent</a>. Caitlyn loved it. She came home and made a Malificent figure with her Legos and started building a castle.<br />
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Rock Club had a raffle-auction hybrid event. Caitlyn came home with a jar of raw opal pieces. I now have a large and shiny geode.<br />
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We dyed and stuffed <a href="http://instagram.com/p/ooEidsFTEq/">12 dozen confetti eggs</a> for Solstice.<br />
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The homeschool Stewardship Squad had an event <a href="http://cheastymtview.com/">in our local woods</a>. Caitlyn and I joined in the bucket brigade, moving wood chip mulch from the top of the hill down to the new plants. This is part of the <a href="http://www.beaconbikepark.com/">continuing project</a> to reclaim, restore and reimagine part of Seattle's urban forest, a part that's been neglected for far too long. We'll be at this for a while.<br />
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<img src="http://www.dolcideleria.com/images/blogger/IMG_14508.jpg" width="550" height="367" alt="at Toboton Creek Farm" style="display:block; margin: auto; 0;"/><br />
We had another farm field trip, this time to <a href="http://tobotoncreekenterprises.com/Our%20Farm.html">Toboton Creek Farm</a> where we visited with goats (meat and dairy) and lots of free ranging birds. The kids all got to try milking and our hosts sent us home with eggs less than 24 hours old.<br />
<img src="http://www.dolcideleria.com/images/blogger/IMG_0739.jpg" width="550" height="410" alt="at Toboton Creek Farm" style="display:block; margin: auto; 0;"/><br />
And we got to help bottle feed some of the babies! Awww...<br />
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I finally took pictures of some projects that have been done for a while:<br />
<img src="http://www.dolcideleria.com/images/blogger/IMG_14375.jpg" width="402" height="550" alt="fan shawl" style="display:block; margin: auto; 0;"/><br />
This <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/fan-of-tassels-shawl">fan shawl</a>, which was quick and simple and is just the thing to throw over my shoulders when I'm working at the computer.<br />
<img src="http://www.dolcideleria.com/images/blogger/IMG_14383.jpg" width="421" height="550" alt="touch of gray shawl" style="display:block; margin: auto; 0;"/><br />
This shawl, which is a simplified variation on <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/a-touch-of-gray">this one</a> (I didn't do the tassels). Just another wear-it-around-the-house shawl. But both of these have used up my collection of Homespun yarn; I can start to think about some of the yummy yarns we have in the shop.<br />
<img src="http://www.dolcideleria.com/images/blogger/IMG_14385.jpg" width="510" height="550" alt="quilt repair" style="display:block; margin: auto; 0;"/><br />
I think my grandfather made this quilt for me when I was small. It's binding had fallen apart and most of the hand quilting had broken loose. I requilted and rebound it, and it has returned to Caitlyn's room to be part of forts and other cosy constructions.<br />
<img src="http://www.dolcideleria.com/images/blogger/IMG_14598.jpg" width="438" height="500" alt="Lined drawstring bag for Town Square Fabric & Yarn" style="display:block; margin: auto; 0;"/><br />
I made another lined drawstring bag. This one is a sample for <a href="http://townsquarefabric.com/">the shop</a>; I'll be teaching it as a class next month. I'm not at all sure this is a good idea.<br />
<img src="http://www.dolcideleria.com/images/blogger/IMG_14601.jpg" width="550" height="458" alt="new skirt" style="display:block; margin: auto; 0;"/><br />
I finally finished sewing something for me. The skirt is Vogue 9850. I cut this out more than a year ago. Now that is finished, I'm not sure I like the pleats in the front, at least maybe not in this fabric. It's a little bulkier looking than I was hoping for (although maybe it's the photo, or the shirt I'm wearing?) Anyway, I think I may be ready to let this pattern go.<br />
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I'm giving myself permission to continue posting infrequently and irregularly. There may or may not be a wrap up for June, or any other month this summer. I'm trying to post more at <a href="http://instagram.com/kittarlin">Instagram</a/> because it's shorter/faster. Follow me there. And I'll post here again when I can. ::Waving::Christina Gilmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05863554438201805194noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5466501.post-10640568170096292682014-05-29T22:33:00.001-07:002014-05-29T22:33:44.480-07:00Sew.Quilt.Give. NewsNow that I've recovered (tee hee) from the Most Epic Quilt that was the result of me being "in charge" at Sew.Quilt.Give. in March 2013, I can move forward with the March 2014 quilt. I hope I've kept this one easier and smaller.<br />
<img src="http://www.dolcideleria.com/images/blogger/IMG_14371.jpg" width="510" height="550" alt="blocks for SQGMar14" style="display:block; margin: 0 auto;"/><br />
I missed out on the Scrappy Trip Along that whipped around the interwebs last year, so that's what I asked for. I requested ocean blues and greens, referencing the Pacific along the <a href="http://journal.dolcideleria.com/2014/03/field-trip-california-coast-and-cousins.html">Central California Coast</a> as a color guide. I'm planning a Barn Raising layout, just as soon as I clean up enough of the floor.<br />
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If you want to see some of our finished quilts, check out this <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/sunnyincal/14130390926/in/pool-1606736@N20">wonky cross quilt</a> (from <a href="http://journal.dolcideleria.com/2013/11/bee-blocks.html">last November</a>) and the <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/7craftycats/13748787984/">Shattered</a> quilt (from <a href="http://journal.dolcideleria.com/2013/08/shattered-glass-blocks.html">August</a>). The big "slab" quilt from <a href="http://journal.dolcideleria.com/2013/10/a-great-big-red-block.html">September</a> is <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/mpress/14282746703/in/pool-1606736@N20">coming together</a>, too.<br />
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The request for May was for <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/8384538@N03/8139607830/">Scrappy Sprout</a> blocks.<br />
<img src="http://www.dolcideleria.com/images/blogger/IMG_14487.jpg" width="550" height="390" alt="scrappy sprouts" style="display:block; margin: 0 auto;"><br />
Nice and springy, don't you think? They are basically nine-patch blocks with a couple of artfully placed half-square triangles. Of course, I misread the tutorial photo and cut out squares enough for the sprout leaves to be nine-patches, with the neutral squares as an extra row (making the block 3x4). I made 3 extra blocks because wasn't that the best use for the extra tiny squares? I mean, they'd just get lost if I put them back in the fabric bins, right?Christina Gilmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05863554438201805194noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5466501.post-59954324721778120392014-05-12T22:35:00.000-07:002014-05-12T22:35:38.453-07:00Things that Happened in April Looks like posting monthly summaries is just about all the blogging I'm doing these days. Our days are filled so full, and sometimes there's not much to say about any one thing. Ebbs and flows.<br />
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I completely failed to do anything for <a href="http://www.kidsclothesweek.com/">Kids Clothing Week</a>. I meant to sew for Caitlyn but then decided I needed to finish something things that had been lying around for ages first. That took way longer than anticipated. Pictures later.<br />
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<img src="http://www.dolcideleria.com/images/blogger/IMG_0638.jpg" width="534" height="550" alt="Caitlyn sews." style="display:block; margin: 0 auto;"/><br />
On the other hand, Caitlyn actually used the sewing machine. We made 100 fabric grab baggies.<br />
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We saw the Broadway (touring) version of <a href="http://www.lionking.com/about">The Lion King</a>. It was supposed to be an early birthday surprise for Caitlyn but I think she caught on before we got there. Oh well. She loved it, of course. I liked the mix of actors and puppetry.<br />
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<img src="http://www.dolcideleria.com/images/blogger/IMG_0636.jpg" width="535" height="550" alt="Caitlyn the tiger" style="display:block; margin: 0 auto;"/> Whirligig, a festival of bouncy houses, came to the Seattle Center. Caitlyn bought herself a painted face then bounced for several hours, sweating and smudging her face. She said it was totally worth the $8, even if we had to wash most of it off before heading home.<br />
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<img src="http://www.dolcideleria.com/images/blogger/IMG_0640.jpg" width="407" height="500" alt="Hiking buddies" style="display:block; margin: 0 auto;"/>Caitlyn and I joined some friends for a hike on Tiger Mountain.<br />
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We saw an <a href="https://www.facebook.com/IMPulseCircus">IMPulse Circus Collective</a> performance at the Moisture Festival. The finale included toilet paper being flung at the audience... Caitlyn thought <a href="http://instagram.com/p/mwZYhXFTPU/">this was amazing</a>.<br />
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<img src="http://www.dolcideleria.com/images/blogger/IMG_13835.jpg" width="403" height="550" alt="Ian's latest shirt" style="display:block; margin: 0 auto;"/>I finished this shirt for Ian. I don't have anything new to say about it. It's the same pattern as <a href="http://journal.dolcideleria.com/2013/03/waiting-for-sunshine.html">this one</a> and the one I made <a href="http://journal.dolcideleria.com/2014/04/marching-by.html">in March</a>.<br />
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<a href="http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/ng-live">National Geographic Live</a> came to town. We saw lectures/presentations by <a href="http://www.carstenpeter.com/index_en.php">Carsten Peter</a> and <a href="https://science.jpl.nasa.gov/people/Hand/">Kevin Hand</a>. <br />
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I've been spending my Fridays at <a href="http://www.townsquarefabric.com">Town Square Fabric & Yarn</a> and working on their web presence during the rest of the week. Good stuff!<br />
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There was a Passover Seder, an Easter Brunch, my birthday, and a rock and gem show, all in one week. Caitlyn participated in the silent auction at the rock show and came home with picture jasper, peacock ore and other pretty things.<br />
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<img src="http://www.dolcideleria.com/images/blogger/IMG_14010.jpg" width="550" height="367" alt="NW Trek Bison" style="display:block; margin: 0 auto;"/>We squeezed in a field trip to <a href="http://www.nwtrek.org/">Northwest Trek</a> before the month ended. Yes, that's a bison. Yes, he was that close.<br />
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We've already had two field trips in May Maybe I'll get actual posts written about them before I have to do another month-in-review post like this one. Maybe I'll just go take a nap.Christina Gilmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05863554438201805194noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5466501.post-30597361925081784522014-04-10T22:27:00.000-07:002016-08-19T14:25:56.387-07:00Four Hundred Twelve Inches, ApproximatelyI know I've talked a lot about how big this quilt got. But, hello, 10 feet of quilt is a lot of quilt. There was a lot of binding to do. Someone is going to have more quilt than they know what to do with.<br />
<img src="http://www.dolcideleria.com/images/blogger/SQGMar13_big.jpg" width="600" height="436" alt="SQGMar13" style="display:block; margin:0 auto;"/><br />
There are three of us holding that quilt up. It's even big enough for our local dinosaur.<br />
<img src="http://www.dolcideleria.com/images/blogger/IMG_13644.jpg" width="550" height="444" alt="SQGMar13" style="display:block; margin:0 auto;"/><br />
Maybe I've learned to be a bit more precise about my quilt plans. Somehow the size of the thing never crossed my mind while I was dreaming it up. It probably wouldn't have hurt to do a sketch either. I was envisioning something more scattered, with more empty space. With that sort of layout, I could have made two, maybe three quilts. Thank goodness for my friend Marissa and her long arm machine.<br />
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But for all that it isn't what I was aiming for, it's going to be hard to let it go. Sew.Quilt.Give. is a charity bee; this quilt was never going to stay with me. Even knowing that I shouldn't get attached, somehow I still do. Finding a home for it has been difficult. I don't want to just donate it to the nearest shelter or something; I want it to go where it will be loved but not (too) abused. (Cue all sorts of complicated feelings about privilege, fate, standards, grace, etc.)<br />
<img src="http://www.dolcideleria.com/images/blogger/IMG_13633.jpg" width="550" height="367" alt="SQGMar13" style="display:block; margin:0 auto;"/><br />
The <a href="http://www.komonews.com/news/local/Massive-mudslide-blocks-road-destroys-home-near--251711901.html">mudslide up in Oso</a> is less than 2 hours away from me. As of this morning, the official death toll was 36, with 9 people still missing. The slide is a square mile in size, with the debris measuring in at 1,500 feet long by 4,400 feet wide and 30 to 40 feet deep. (Thanks, <a href=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014_Oso_mudslide">Wikipedia</a>.) <br />
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There were houses there, and they are gone now, with everything in them. Socks and toothbrushes are easy to replace and the Red Cross is all over things like that. What about the memories? The treasures? That tablecloth Great-Grandma embroidered, the one that is on the holiday table every year? The toasting glasses from your wedding? The years of photo albums, the ones you always thought maybe you should digitize but never got around to?<br />
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<a href="http://layersofhopequilting911.blogspot.com/">Layers of Hope - Quilting 911</a> runs a quilt-focused charity that delivers handmade quilts to 911 operators and other first responders. Because of her previous work and because she's based in Washington, someone asked if she'd coordinate quilt donations for the families devastated by the Oso mudslide. This isn't immediate need kind of donating; this is about giving something special and handmade to people who have lost all their own memory-laden special things. It's about giving something to the first responders, the people who run in when most of us would run away.<br />
<img src="http://www.dolcideleria.com/images/blogger/IMG_13646.jpg" width="469" height="550" alt="SQGMar13" style="display:block; margin:0 auto;"/><br />
So, that's where this huge quilt (which I kinda wish I'd named something other than "SQGMar13", but I didn't, and there you go) is headed. Maybe I'll get a picture from Jean when she collects donations from <a href="http://townsquarefabric.com/2014/03/can-you-donate-for-the-wa-mudslide-victims/">Town Square Fabric & Yarn</a>. Maybe the final recipient will Google me based on the label from the back. Maybe I'll just imagine this quilt on a bed or being hauled off to make The Biggest Blanket Fort Ever. Maybe I'll never know. Christina Gilmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05863554438201805194noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5466501.post-73901505720489214132014-04-01T20:35:00.000-07:002014-04-01T20:35:36.011-07:00Marching ByThings that happened in March:<ul><li>Caitlyn played two roles, Mellifleur and Maudlin, in Robin Hood, her latest theatre production at <a href="http://youththeatre.org/">Youth Theatre Northwest</a>. She's looking forward to Alice@Wonderland in the summer.</li><li>I finally managed to meet one of our homeschool goals, getting Caitlyn and I to <a href="http://www.seattleartmuseum.org/">SAM</a> for Free First Thursday. This time we saw the Miró exhibit. Now, I just have to do it again!</li><li>The peas came up.<br />
<img src="http://www.dolcideleria.com/images/blogger/IMG_13610.jpg" width="550" height="450" alt="peas!" style="display:block; margin: 0 auto;"/></li><li>We saw a presentation of <a href="http://events.nationalgeographic.com/events/speakers/2014/03/11/hidden-life-wolves-sea3/">National Geographic Live: The Secret Life of Wolves</a>. Caitlyn cried at the end.</li><li>I joined the <a href="http://seattlemodernquiltguild.com/">Seattle Modern Quilt Guild</a>, my first quilt guild membership ever. Either quilting is getting popular or I'm getting older. Last time I checked out a guild (in LA), I was the youngest person in the room. I don't think I can say that now.</li><li>I declined a bundle of free fat quarters since the odds of me completing anything for the guild's Modern Metalics Challenge are way long.</li><li>Caitlyn got to see PNB's production of <a href="http://www.pnb.org/Season/13-14/Pinocchio/">Pinocchio</a>.</li> <li>I finished binding <a href="http://journal.dolcideleria.com/search/label/SQGMar13">SQGMar13</a>.</li><li>I joined <a href="http://instagram.com/kittarlin#">Instagram</a>.</li><li>The sun came out.<br />
<img src="http://www.dolcideleria.com/images/blogger/mud_puddles.jpg" width="550" height="410" alt="Exploring knee deep mud puddles" style="display:block; margin: 0 auto;"/></li><li>I made another drawstring bag. <br />
<img src="http://www.dolcideleria.com/images/blogger/IMG_13460.jpg" width="407" height="550" alt="camera bag" style="display:block; margin: 0 auto;"/><br />
It's all stashed fabric, including the remanent of fleece I used to give it extra cushiness for the camera that lives inside, which makes me happy.</li><li>I made a shirt for Ian. <br />
<img src="http://www.dolcideleria.com/images/blogger/IMG_13496.jpg" width="550" height="367" alt="a new shirt" style="display:block; margin: 0 auto;"/><br />
The pile of fabric in the rocking chair is just a tiny bit shorter now.</li><li><a href="http://townsquarefabric.com/">Town Square Fabric & Yarn</a> opened in Burien. I'm there on Fridays - come say hi!</li><li>I offered to crochet a sample for the shop. Could someone check that I'm feeling ok?</li><li>Stewardship Squad visited <a href="http://us5.campaign-archive1.com/?u=36b55c88b5e09727c13487c7b&id=0404e962fd&e=0b0c7900fe">Cheasty at Mt. View</a>. We mulched and moved some rocks.<br />
</li><li>I went on another Spring Cleaning binge. We've let go of some odds and ends that were just hanging around. I'm hopeful that this is the year we <i>finally</i> replace the light in our bedroom. I still think we should paint.</li><li>Caitlyn won the Juniors' door prize at Rock Club.<br />
<img src="http://www.dolcideleria.com/images/blogger/IMG_13553.jpg" width="550" height="480" alt="Caitlyn's first thunder egg" style="display:block; margin: 0 auto;"/> She has her first thunder egg.</li></ul>Christina Gilmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05863554438201805194noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5466501.post-54425031657832241302014-03-14T16:36:00.000-07:002014-03-14T16:36:57.133-07:00Field Trip: Snow at Mt. RainierCaitlyn loves snow. That's a horribly brief and to the point sentence that doesn't convey the <i>degree</i> to which Caitlyn loves snow.<br />
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Of course, we live in a place that gets only occasional snow. When it snows here, it's pretty and it's fun, (usually) not enough to seriously snarl things up, although to an eight year old, I think the snarling is part of the fun. I've explained how more snow in Seattle wouldn't be a good thing, but I guess I've not been terribly convincing. I've made some effort to explain how months of snow might not be fun, but that's flopped as well.<br />
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I don't think our recent outing to the snow at Mt. Rainier has done anything for Caitlyn except reinforce her notion that Snow = Fun.<br />
<img src="http://www.dolcideleria.com/images/blogger/IMG_2127.jpg" width="550" height="413" alt="Caitlyn in a snow tunnel" style="display: block; margin: 0 auto;"/><br />
Yeah, she looks like she's having a <i>terrible</i> time.<br />
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Actually, the weekend was a fine lesson in perseverance. We'd gone with friends (6 adults, 3 kids - perhaps the most ideal ratio possible) to do some cross country skiing, something most of us hadn't done in years, if at all. Our first time out, Caitlyn fell frequently. (I fell too, within 5 minutes of putting the skis on, and lightly sprained my wrist. I had taken a quilt for binding in the evenings and then <i>couldn't hold a needle</i>.) There were tears and so much frustration; at one point, she looked at Ian and me and demanded, "Is this supposed to be fun?" She'd fall, she'd struggle to get up, she'd fall again. <br />
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But by the end of the weekend, she was getting back on her feet more easily and doing better at keeping up with the other kids.<br />
<img src="http://www.dolcideleria.com/images/blogger/IMG_2129.jpg" width="550" height="413" alt="Caitlyn on skis" style="display: block; margin: 0 auto;"/><br />
She invented silly names for all the different ways she could fall down, then demonstrated them all. She preferred skiing in the tracks of others but didn't balk much at the idea of forging her own path when it might get her somewhere interesting.<br />
<img src="http://www.dolcideleria.com/images/blogger/IMG_2137.jpg" width="550" height="413" alt="Snow!" style="display: block; margin: 0 auto;"/><br />
We had a wonderful time. It snowed while we were there, so we had fresh snow and the magic of falling snow. Our outings were short enough to be fun without being exhausting. We had good food, good company. It was quiet (except for the vuvuzela) and scenic and altogether lovely.<br />
<img src="http://www.dolcideleria.com/images/blogger/IMG_2134.jpg" width="413" height="550" alt="Snow!" style="display: block; margin: 0 auto;"/><br />
We probably haven't done anything to convince Caitlyn that snow is anything but a fantastic playground. She's been praying for snow in Seattle since we got home.<br />
<img src="http://www.dolcideleria.com/images/blogger/IMG_2133.jpg" width="550" height="413" alt="Caitlyn on skis" style="display: block; margin: 0 auto;"/><br />
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Christina Gilmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05863554438201805194noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5466501.post-76565429973230318032014-03-08T11:25:00.000-08:002014-03-08T11:25:20.611-08:00Sew.Quilt.Give Block Update<img src="http://www.dolcideleria.com/images/blogger/IMG_13435.jpg" width="550" height="318" alt="Wonky Churn Dash blocks" style="display:block; margin: 0 auto;"/><br />
Sew.Quilt.Give. asked for Wonky Churn Dash blocks (<a href="www.urbanstitches.com/wonky-churn-dash-block-tutorial/">tutorial here</a>) in pinks and at any size for February. I'm super curious how this quilt is going to turn out. The Churn Dash is an old (traditional) quilt block and although I think of myself more as a "traditional" quilter (as opposed to "modern"), this one has never really appealed. I think the wonkiness helps, though.<br />
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The blocks we made <a href="http://journal.dolcideleria.com/2013/07/tardy-bee-blocks.html">last June</a> have reappeared as a finished quilt. <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/56335509@N06/12164169654/">Check it out.</a> I quite like how this one came out: it's scrappy but not overwhelmingly so; I like the diamond chains in the layout; and I even like the different background colors, something I don't like whenever I imagine it. Nothing like seeing it for real!<br />
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It's now been a year since I was "queen bee" for Sew.Quilt.Give. I'm so close to being done with last March's quilt, just one more side to bind, I think. (No, I don't know for sure since I avoid unfolding any more of the quilt than is absolutely necessary. I'll just bind it until I'm done.)<br />
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But it's my turn to lead the bee again, regardless of what's done or not. I've hopefully asked for something easier this year: scrappy trip around the world blocks (<a href="http://quiltville.blogspot.com/2005/06/scrappy-trips-around-world.html">tutorial here</a>) in the blues and blue-greens of the Central California Pacific. Washington's ocean is grayer than I'd like for this quilt, and I'd like no more than a hint of tropical blues. Think pelicans and surfers, sea lions and cypress trees, foggy mornings and mermaid hair.<br />
<img src="http://www.dolcideleria.com/images/blogger/IMG_13442.jpg" width="545" height="550" alt="Scrappy Trip block in blues" style="display:block; margin: 0 auto;"/><br />
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<img src="http://www.dolcideleria.com/images/blogger/IMG_13447.jpg" width="550" height="532" alt="Scrappy Trip block in blues" style="display:block; margin: 0 auto;"/><br />
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<img src="http://www.dolcideleria.com/images/blogger/IMG_13450.jpg" width="545" height="550" alt="Scrappy Trip block in blues" style="display:block; margin: 0 auto;"/><br />
(I took these pictures in a hurry on a cloudy morning - I don't think reality is quite as dark as it appears!)<br />
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I plan to lay all the blocks out in a barn raising layout, so the final quilt should be only 5 or 6 feet square, depending on how many blocks I get. That's a perfectly reasonable lap quilt size and way less intensive than last year's epic undertaking!<br />
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Wish me luck!<br />
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Christina Gilmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05863554438201805194noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5466501.post-2922078819918657172014-03-04T16:26:00.000-08:002014-03-04T16:26:31.298-08:00Sew Grateful Winners!Congratulations to the winners of my Sew Grateful giveaway!<br />
<img src="http://www.dolcideleria.com/images/blogger/random-24-11.png" width="" height="" alt="Random numbers from Random.org" style="display:block; margin: 0 auto;"/><br />
Fabric #1, the peach colored silk, is headed off to Commenter #24, Emily, who said:<br />
<img src="http://www.dolcideleria.com/images/blogger/comment-24.png" width="" height="" alt="Comment #24" style="display:block; margin: 0 auto;"/><br />
And Fabric #2, the lighter weight bronze silk, is off to Commenter #11, Laurie, who said:<br />
<img src="http://www.dolcideleria.com/images/blogger/comment-11.png" width="" height="" alt="Comment #24" style="display:block; margin: 0 auto;"/><br />
Congratulations to both of you! Your new fabric will be on it's way on Thursday, since the post office is right next Caitlyn's circus class.<br />
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And thanks to everyone who commented. I think 30 comments is a high water mark for this here little space on Teh Interwebs. Thanks for stopping by! Do feel free to stop by again for tea and muffins, quilting and sewing, gardens and randomness.Christina Gilmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05863554438201805194noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5466501.post-5152866212778788852014-03-01T21:12:00.000-08:002014-03-01T21:12:04.188-08:00Field Trip: California, Coast, and CousinsWelcome to March! I’ve got little daffodils blooming in the backyard to remind us that it’s not going to be cold and gray forever. It can rain some more, though. I’d feel better heading into summer with more snow in the mountains first.<br />
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Back at the beginning of February, to help my grandmother celebrate her 90th birthday, we took a week off from the chill of Seattle and trekked to California. We had a lovely birthday dinner with family, and Caitlyn got to spend time with her cousins, whom we don’t see nearly often enough. <br />
<img src="http://www.dolcideleria.com/images/blogger/IMG_0501.jpg" width="410" height="550" alt="kids in a tree" style="display:block; margin: 0 auto;"/><br />
The adults managed to pry the kids away from binge sessions of Minecraft long enough to go for a hike or two. <br />
<img src="http://www.dolcideleria.com/images/blogger/IMG_0506.jpg" width="410" height="550" alt="hibernating ladybugs" style="display:block; margin: 0 auto;"/><br />
The woods were still cold, although the kids caught some banana slugs in the act of reproduction so I guess it wasn’t <i>that</i> cold. These ladybugs were still hibernating, though. It’s really tempting to knock some of them into your hand so they’ll warm up and crawl around, but then you have to give them back and hope their neighbors will take them in and keep them warm after you walk away. I’d never seen ladybugs cluster like this. Monarch butterflies do something similar, although I’ve always managed to miss them. <br />
<img src="http://www.dolcideleria.com/images/blogger/IMG_0484.jpg" width="550" height="410" alt="Pacific from West Cliff" style="display:block; margin: 0 auto;"/><br />
We took a couple of walks by the ocean. When I think "ocean", this is what I see: dark blues, rocks, sea lions, waves dotted with surfers. I guess that’s what happens when this is the ocean you grow up with.<br />
<img src="http://www.dolcideleria.com/images/blogger/IMG_0536.jpg" width="550" height="410" alt="pelicans" style="display:block; margin: 0 auto;"/> <br />
On one of our walks, we saw dolphins, an otter, and a flight of pelicans in addition to the usual population of two-legged marine mammals.<br />
<img src="http://www.dolcideleria.com/images/blogger/IMG_0546.jpg" width="410" height="550" alt="cold seeps" style="display:block; margin: 0 auto;"/> <br />
And I got to indulge my inner rock geek! You can’t always get to these formations; tide and weather can sometimes make them dangerous or just plain inaccessible. They are Miocene era (7-9 million years ago) cold seeps. Carbon rich gases or fluids (like methane) find their way through the sedimentary stone (Santa Cruz Mudstone, in this case), then react with the sea water, causing a carbonate precipitate. The cold seep structures follow the direction of the cracks in the rock, so they are both horizontal and vertical; the vertical ones look a lot like toilets. <br />
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We missed the Super Bowl chaos while we were away. We aren’t very good sports fans, generally; we followed the game via Twitter only because Seattle’s team was playing. The day we came home, Seattle was celebrating with a parade and a high temperature below freezing. Fun times!<br />
Christina Gilmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05863554438201805194noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5466501.post-7287755493106797002014-02-24T09:50:00.000-08:002014-02-24T09:50:00.296-08:00Sew Grateful Giveaway: Thai silkHooray! It's Sew Grateful Week, the annual event launched by Debi of <a href="http://www.myhappysewingplace.com/">My Happy Sewing Place</a>, and today is Giveaway Day.<br />
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I'm grateful that I have time to sew, even if I sometimes don't think I do. I'm grateful for all the people out there who post tutorials, patterns, reviews, and inspiration. I'm grateful for the people who taught me to sew (that's you, Mom!) and the people who enable me to keep at it (that's you, Ian!).<br />
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And I'm grateful for these giveaways. See, a couple decades ago my grandparents did some world travel. My grandfather took an enormous video recorder to Australia, back when such things rested on your shoulder and didn't live in your phone. No idea how he did that. Somewhere along the way, my grandmother bought some fabric, silk from Thailand, a gift for my mom. The colors didn't quite suit, and the fabric has lived in its gift box for years. Eventually the fabric came to me (the colors don't suit me, either). Because of Sew Grateful Week and the annual giveaway, I can be sure that this fabric will find quality new homes with people who will know what to do with it.<br />
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Which is so much more satisfying than taking it to Goodwill!<br />
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<img src="http://www.dolcideleria.com/images/blogger/IMG_13421.jpg" width="329" height="550" alt="silk" style="display:block; margin: 0 auto;"/><br />
The first fabric is on the crisper side - I don't know a lot about silk as I tend to work more in cotton. It might pleat well? Anyway, it's heavier than what I think of when I think "silk" - definitely not drapey blouse material. It's a peach color with flowers, and there is about four yards of it.<br />
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<img src="http://www.dolcideleria.com/images/blogger/IMG_13427.jpg" width="367" height="550" alt="silk" style="display:block; margin: 0 auto;"/><br />
This one, on the other hand, is all kinds of drapey. It wants to hang in soft folds - no pleats here. It's darker than the other, more bronze than peach, with texture woven in and splashes of color. The black may be calligraphic characters or may be birds. The piece is roughly two yards.<br />
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As far as I know, both fabrics are silk, both are from Thailand, and both are circa late 1980s/early 1990s. And I'm giving them both away.<br />
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Which one speaks to you? What would you make with it? Not that it matters for the giveaway (I'm just curious), but have you sewn with silk before? I work primarily with cottons, both for quilts and clothing, so silk intimidates me. <br />
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Random.org will pick a winner on Monday, March 3. I'll ship international, so all are welcome.<br />
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Good luck! <br />
Christina Gilmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05863554438201805194noreply@blogger.com30tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5466501.post-89905790592693160302014-02-19T10:20:00.000-08:002014-02-19T10:20:08.140-08:00Miscellaneous Little ThingsSometime the makes are small things. Fortunately, I'm not always working on things that are <a href="http://journal.dolcideleria.com/2014/01/a-most-epic-quilt-project.html">10 feet long.</a><br />
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I've extended the stashbusting theme to the box of yarn. Thus far, yarn hasn't been as much of a weakness as fabric, and I've been pretty good about keeping the yarn contained. The box is full, though, so most of my crochet projects have been about finding uses for the things I already have. Thank goodness for Ravelry's search features that let you look for things based on the amount and kind of yarn you have! <br />
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<img alt="Tula Mitts" src="http://www.dolcideleria.com/images/blogger/IMG_13227.jpg" height="450" style="display: block; margin: 0 auto;" width="550" />These are "<a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/tulas-mitts">Tula's Mitts</a>" and I used up some more of the yarn left over from this cowl which I apparently never blogged (the pattern is <a href="http://peoplewebs.blogspot.com/2011/01/pattern-chunky-circle-scarf.html">here</a> and mine is gray, too). The mitts were a quick project and one I might do again, although without the lacy bit. I don't really like how that part came out - too fiddly.<br />
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<img alt="Happy Blue Hat" src="http://www.dolcideleria.com/images/blogger/IMG_13381.jpg" height="367" style="display: block; margin: 0px auto;" width="550" />This utterly-impractical-for-snow hat is "Gloria's Happy Hat" from a free download from CrochetMe. The yarn is left over from <a href="http://journal.dolcideleria.com/2012/02/something-finished.html">this blanket</a>. Don't ask why I had a skein of light blue and a skein of gray left over from that project but absolutely nothing of the navy. <br />
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I'm not sure how much Caitlyn will actually wear this hat. It's more of a fashion accessory than a wear-it-and-be-warm kind of hat. She's always so enthusiastic to receive something (and has no problem requesting things - she has asked for her own version of <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/fan-of-tassels-shawl">this shawl</a> which I made recently (no pictures yet)), but I wonder if the magic is in the receiving and less in the using. Also, I may have made the band a bit tight. My skills at correctly sizing yarn things need work.<br />
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<img alt="Tangle Pocket" src="http://www.dolcideleria.com/images/blogger/IMG_13302.jpg" height="478" style="display: block; margin: 0 auto;" width="550" />I'm hoping she gets more use out of this: Caitlyn's very own "Tangle Pocket", which I made for her for Christmas.<br />
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<img alt="Tangle Pocket" src="http://www.dolcideleria.com/images/blogger/IMG_13318.jpg" height="550" style="display: block; margin: 0 auto;" width="487" />It's a minor revision of the one I <a href="http://journal.dolcideleria.com/2012/11/tangle-storage.html">made for myself</a> a couple years ago; this new one has the pocket added to the inside instead of sewn on the outside. It holds the recommended Micron pens and a pencil in the wide pocket and has two tile pockets, one for blank tiles and one for finished <a href="http://www.zentangle.com/">Zentangles</a>. Caitlyn's been exploring tangling with me on occasion; it might not last but at least she's got a space to store these things.<br />
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I've got plenty of big projects, and always several things going at once. But sometimes it's nice to have a small thing that you can do and be done, yes?<br />
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Christina Gilmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05863554438201805194noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5466501.post-74975166499254861532014-02-16T15:03:00.002-08:002014-02-16T15:03:21.866-08:00Snow Day<img alt="snow on grass" src="http://www.dolcideleria.com/images/blogger/IMG_13396.jpg" height="550" style="display: block; margin: 0 auto;" width="367" /><br />
Despite our general northiness here in Seattle, we don't generally get snow. Thanks to Ye Olde Pacific, we get rain, wind, and cold, but not much snow. When it does, everyone celebrates (at least as long as it hasn't shut down the city - we've done that, too).<br />
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<img alt="snow angel" src="http://www.dolcideleria.com/images/blogger/IMG_13394.jpg" height="550" style="display: block; margin: 0 auto;" width="367" />Last weekend we had perfect Seattle snow: just enough to make it pretty, not enough to cause problems. Although perhaps a half inch more would have been good. Just so Caitlyn's snow angel wouldn't be full of wood chips.<br />
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<img alt="sledding efforts" src="http://www.dolcideleria.com/images/blogger/IMG_13406.jpg" height="550" style="display: block; margin: 0 auto;" width="367" />She did make a grand effort at getting in some sledding. There was just enough snow for a few runs early in the day. Sledding over emerging asphalt and peek-a-boo grass is, well, less than fully satisfying.<br />
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<img alt="building a fort" src="http://www.dolcideleria.com/images/blogger/IMG_0551.jpg" height="410" style="display: block; margin: 0 auto;" width="550" />Since the sledding was substandard, Caitlyn convinced some other kids to help construct a snow fort. See that grass around the fort? We nearly cleared the park of snow cover to build fort walls. I don't know enough about snow to know why Seattle snow doesn't often (in my experience, anyway) clump into nice snowballs. It tends not to be sticky; squeeze it in your hand and it just crumbles. This time, though, once you got a ball started it would hang together pretty well.<br />
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<img alt="finished fort" src="http://www.dolcideleria.com/images/blogger/IMG_0564.jpg" height="410" style="display: block; margin: 0 auto;" width="550" /><br />
Caitlyn oversaw a fort construction party that produced something probably close to 6 feet in diameter with walls about 3 feet high. Not bad, I say!<br />
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Christina Gilmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05863554438201805194noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5466501.post-41965735405546419682014-02-05T10:38:00.000-08:002014-02-05T10:38:00.641-08:00Cover GirlSometime last year I received an email from Capstone Press inquiring about a photograph on my site. <br />
<img src="http://www.dolcideleria.com/images/blogger/IMG_8131.jpg" width="367" height="550" alt="Caitlyn's halloween costume, 2011" style="display:block; margin: 0 auto;"/><br />
I'd completely forgotten about the whole exchange. Last week, a box appeared on our porch.<br />
<img src="http://www.dolcideleria.com/images/blogger/IMG_13366.jpg" width="525" height="550" alt="Diary of Sarah Gillespie: A Pioneer Farm Girl" style="display:block; margin: 0 auto;"/><br />
You can't tell that's my girl standing in for the actual Sarah Gillespie, but there she is, wearing the "olden times" Halloween outfit I made 3 years ago. Can I gloat just a little?<br />
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The book is part of a new <a href="https://www.capstonepub.com/product/9781476576862">First-Person Histories</a> series that uses diaries of real kids (approximately ages 10 to 16 or so) to make American history more than endless names and dates. In addition to <a href="">Sarah Gillespie</a>, there's <a href="https://www.capstonepub.com/product/9781476541921">Carrie Berry</a> (a Confederate girl), <a href="https://www.capstonepub.com/product/9781476541969">Charlotte Forten</a> (an antebellum free girl), <a href="https://www.capstonepub.com/product/9781476541938">Sallie Hester</a> (a covered wagon girl), <a href="https://www.capstonepub.com/product/9781476541914">Sally Wister</a> (a Colonial Quaker), and <a href="https://www.capstonepub.com/product/9781476541952">William Bircher</a> (a Civil War drummer, and the only boy in the set). <br />
<img src="http://www.dolcideleria.com/images/blogger/IMG_13372.jpg" width="550" height="330" alt="Diary of Sarah Gillespie: A Pioneer Farm Girl" style="display:block; margin: 0 auto;"/><br />
The text is excerpted directly from Sarah's diary, complete with misspellings, optional capitalization and irregular punctuation. (I fully intend to point this out to Caitlyn: when you are writing for yourself, either to keep a personal record or to get a story down on paper, all the niggling mechanical details of writing can be <b>totally ignored</b> in favor of capturing your thoughts. Fixing mechanics is what editing is for, and sometimes editing doesn't happen.) Capstone has augmented the diary with photos and explanatory sidebars, making the book a nice historical introduction and helping you to place Sarah's story in a somewhat broader context.<br />
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When I showed Caitlyn the book, she was thrilled to recognize her dress on the cover. Her very own copy of the book now lives on her bookshelf. Since her face isn't included in the cover art, knowing that it's her feels ever so slightly like being in on something. I'm not doing a very good job of keeping the secret, am I?<br />
Christina Gilmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05863554438201805194noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5466501.post-21338730042126633112014-01-28T09:58:00.000-08:002014-01-28T09:58:00.690-08:00Trying not to lose my scissorsMy sewing space is in our bedroom. There's a table with my two machines which doubles as my cutting table (hooray for Ikea and height adjustable tables!), and there's the ironing board on the other side of the room. While this leaves me some open space for pin basting quilts or playing with colors and fabrics while planning a project, it means I bounce back and forth between the machines and the ironing board a lot.<br />
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I have one pair of fabric scissors. They are forever not where I am.<br />
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There are lots of solutions to the problem: buy more scissors; buy thread nippers to live at the machine; hang the scissors on a chatelaine; carry the scissors with me. I'm attempting that last option first.<br />
<img src="http://www.dolcideleria.com/images/blogger/IMG_13353.jpg" width="550" height="367" alt="sewing apron" style="display:block; margin:0 auto;"/><br />
I'm not much of an apron person (I almost never wear one when I cook), but there's a certain appeal to pockets I can tie onto myself.<br />
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It's a simple apron, somewhat reminiscent of the apron I wore the summer I waitressed, somewhat inspired by an apron sample that was at Stash. All you need is a couple of fat quarters and something extra for the ties. I threw in some interfacing for structure (and because I had some). And if you'll pardon the unevenness of the following photos, you can see how I made it.<br />
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Start with two fat quarters (22 inches wide by 18 inches tall). Cut some strips to be your waistband and ties. My strips were 3 inches by something less than 22 inches, I think. I wasn't being really precise. Piece your strips end-to-end so you have a long strip; check that it is long enough to tie around yourself comfortably.<br />
<img src="http://www.dolcideleria.com/images/blogger/IMG_13290.jpg" width="550" height="367" alt="sewing apron" style="display:block; margin:0 auto;"/><br />
I added some fusible interfacing to the back of one of my fat quarters. This was a last minute decision partially to give the finished apron some structure, partially to be one more layer between me and any pointy ends that I might put in the apron (scissors, seam ripper, etc). I used some random stretch interfacing I had on hand. Trim the edges of the interfacing back from the edges of your fabric to minimize bulk.<br />
<img src="http://www.dolcideleria.com/images/blogger/IMG_13294.jpg" width="550" height="367" alt="sewing apron" style="display:block; margin:0 auto;"/><br />
Take your long strip, fold it in half lengthwise and press. This marks the center line of the band. <br />
<img src="http://www.dolcideleria.com/images/blogger/IMG_13293.jpg" width="550" height="367" alt="sewing apron" style="display:block; margin:0 auto;"/><br />
Since I'd put interfacing in the main part of the apron, I figured some interfacing in the waistband was appropriate. Just add the interfacing to one side of the fold down the center of the strip. I didn't interface the whole thing, just the part I thought would be wrapped around me, leaving the ends more flexible for tying.<br />
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Place the fat quarters right sides together and sew around three sides, leaving one long side open. I used a 1/4 inch seam allowance but you could use whatever is comfortable.<br />
<img src="http://www.dolcideleria.com/images/blogger/IMG_13296.jpg" width="550" height="367" alt="sewing apron" style="display:block; margin:0 auto;"/><br />
Trim your corners. Turn the apron body right sides out. Poke out your corners and press all the edges nice and flat.<br />
<img src="http://www.dolcideleria.com/images/blogger/IMG_13325.jpg" width="550" height="403" alt="sewing apron" style="display:block; margin:0 auto;"/><br />
Find the center of both the apron body and the waistband. Match centers and pin.<br />
<img src="http://www.dolcideleria.com/images/blogger/IMG_13326.jpg" width="550" height="283" alt="sewing apron" style="display:block; margin:0 auto;"/><br />
Then pin the waistband to the apron body along the raw edge, smoothing from the center. Sew or baste with a 1/4 or 3/8 inch seam allowance for the width of the apron body. Press the waistband up from the apron body.<br />
<img src="http://www.dolcideleria.com/images/blogger/IMG_13330.jpg" width="550" height="317" alt="sewing apron" style="display:block; margin:0 auto;"/><br />
Now for the tricky part. Turn up and press all the unstitched edges of the waistband. Use the same measurement as your last seam allowance or go 1/8 inch smaller. Be careful, though. I started at 3/8 and the seam gauge slipped part way to 1/2 inch. I had to back up and repress about half of my waistband. Adjusting something by 1/8 of an inch is harder than it should be.<br />
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Fold the waistband over along the center fold (which you were careful and didn't press out while you were turning up raw edges, right?). Turn in the ends. Pin everything. <br />
<img src="http://www.dolcideleria.com/images/blogger/IMG_13333.jpg" width="367" height="550" alt="sewing apron" style="display:block; margin:0 auto;"/><br />
Edgestitch it all down, all the way around. You should have a nice neat waistband and tie enclosing the raw edge of the top of the apron body.<br />
<img src="http://www.dolcideleria.com/images/blogger/IMG_13340.jpg" width="550" height="367" alt="sewing apron" style="display:block; margin:0 auto;"/><br />
To determine how much to turn up the apron to make the pockets, I tied it on and turned up the lower portion to something that felt right, pinning the edges. I double checked that my fold was straight by taking it off and checking a few points. You want the top edge of your apron pockets to be an equal distance from the bottom of your waistband all the way across.<br />
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Pin your pocket edges and edge or topstitch.<br />
<img src="http://www.dolcideleria.com/images/blogger/IMG_13345.jpg" width="550" height="367" alt="sewing apron" style="display:block; margin:0 auto;"/><br />
Find a comfortable place for the center pocket seam. I don't think I quite centered mine. I did check that my big scissors would fit before marking the stitching line. Mark your line and sew.<br />
<img src="http://www.dolcideleria.com/images/blogger/IMG_13343.jpg" width="550" height="310" alt="sewing apron" style="display:block; margin:0 auto;"/><br />
And that's it. A couple of pockets you can tie on so that your scissors are never abandoned on the other side of the room.<br />
<img src="http://www.dolcideleria.com/images/blogger/IMG_13347.jpg" width="550" height="367" alt="sewing apron" style="display:block; margin:0 auto;"/><br />
These fabrics came from my stash (I have a skirt made from the floral and I've been using up that red since 1997). So, while this project didn't immediately help me unbury my rocking chair, the hope is that I've made something that will contribute to the busting of more stash. And I used up some random interfacing. Here's to the start of another year of sewing, stashbusting, wardrobe improving, and finishing things!Christina Gilmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05863554438201805194noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5466501.post-30350912862739685202014-01-26T16:12:00.001-08:002014-01-26T16:12:37.288-08:00Sew.Quilt.Give. Update<a href="http://www.flickr.com/groups/1606736@N20">Sew.Quilt.Give.</a>, the online quilting bee I participate in, is back for another year of charity quilting. January's blocks were based on <a href="http://www.incolororder.com/2012/02/hst-block-of-month-february.html">this tutorial</a> from In Color Order. Look familiar? I've <a href="http://journal.dolcideleria.com/2012/02/pass-veggies.html">made this block before</a>.<br />
<img src="http://www.dolcideleria.com/images/blogger/IMG_13357.jpg" width="532" height="550" alt="SQG January block" style="display:block; margin: 0 auto;"/><br />
This month's bee leader has asked for brights, so I hope these will blend nicely with all the other blocks. I did use prints, but they are of the tone-on-tone variety, so they almost read as solids. Also, I don't think the orange is quite this aggressive in reality; orange is tricky to photograph well, I think.<br />
<img src="http://www.dolcideleria.com/images/blogger/IMG_13359.jpg" width="550" height="548" alt="SQG January block" style="display:block; margin: 0 auto;"/><br />
While we're talk SQG, I'm attaching the binding to my quilt from last March, finally. My friend Marissa and I spend something like 10 hours quilting it on Marissa's long arm a few weeks back. (Thanks, Marissa!) Somehow it's not as huge when you think of it as being 120 inches long, but the minute you convert that distance to feet and realize you're working with <b>10 feet of quilt</b> suddenly it's a smothering quantity.<br />
<img src="http://www.dolcideleria.com/images/blogger/IMG_13373.jpg" width="550" height="367" alt="SQGMar13 binding" style="display:block; margin: 0 auto;"/><br />
So, yeah. I'll be sewing binding for a while. It's only roughly 410 inches all the way around.Christina Gilmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05863554438201805194noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5466501.post-21896033594491005112014-01-16T18:02:00.001-08:002014-01-16T18:02:59.006-08:00Two ShawlsDo people even wear shawls these days? Like, in public? My mom had (still has?) a white shawl which I remember she sometimes wore to church on Easter Sunday. But despite the many shawls I can find on Ravelry (I'm on Ravelry, but it's pretty pointless following me since I don't queue or show off projects there) and in books, I can't think of a single time I've been out and about and have noticed someone wearing a shawl like it was no big thing. The kid I saw wearing his fuzzy team blanket on the way to watch a Seahawks game doesn't count.<br />
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I seem to like making shawls, though. They are big enough to be a satisfying project without getting as unwieldy as a blanket. You don't have to do any fitting. You barely have to think about gauge. And although I'm still trying to figure out how to wear them, especially when I leave the house, they seem like a good idea for me, given my tendency to wear blankets when I'm home. (Don't knock it: a fuzzy crocheted blanket wrapped around you toga-style is perhaps impractical for most things but oh-so-cosy for end of day couch time.)<br />
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This shawl started as a pair of socks. I picked up crocheting because it's a portable crafty project to work on in loose social situations or while waiting for Caitlyn somewhere; quilts don't travel well. Making socks seemed like a good, small project that would finish with something useful. I don't know if it was the pattern or me, but what I ended up with, after finishing one sock and starting the next, was a saggy, sloppy thing, with the weirdest bulge at the top of the foot. This was a sock you could wear over a tennis ball sized growth. I gave up and tore it all out.<br />
<img src="http://www.dolcideleria.com/images/blogger/IMG_13107.jpg" width="330" height="550" alt="a greenish shawl" style="display:block; margin: 0 auto;"/><br />
I found <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/persephone-3">this pattern</a> on Ravelry and used up almost all the sock yarn (just some JoAnn branded wool blend). The pattern probably wants a differnt yarn or maybe just a larger hook. My version is significantly less lacy than the pattern photo.<br />
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But! This shawl isn't so big that I can't wear it under a jacket. If I wear it "backwards" it works as an scarf accent (maybe?); when I get to where I'm going and the big jacket comes off, the scarf turns around and becomes more shawl like, keeping my shoulders warm in cool restaurants. <br />
<img src="http://www.dolcideleria.com/images/blogger/IMG_13112.jpg" width="374" height="550" alt="a greenish shawl" style="display:block; margin: 0 auto;"/><br />
Now, this next shawl is much bigger and I haven't decided how best to wear it. The yarn came from a abandoned and reclaimed knitting project (I used to knit - who knew?). I'd started a sweater back in the mid '90s and either got the wrong yarn, used the wrong needles, or just didn't get the gauge right. After finishing the back and half a sleeve, and after using up more than half the yarn I'd bought, I was clear I was knitting something for someone maybe half my size. The project lived in a bag for years (and moved several times) until finally a friend ripped it all out for me.<br />
<img src="http://www.dolcideleria.com/images/blogger/IMG_13116.jpg" width="317" height="550" alt="a festival shawl" style="display:block; margin: 0 auto;"/><br />
This is a much better use of the yarn. The pattern is <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/festival-shawl">here</a>, and I think I did a much better job matching hook size and yarn weight this second time, too.<br />
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Now, if only I could figure out how or with what to wear this one...Christina Gilmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05863554438201805194noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5466501.post-18554938885436370922014-01-08T17:27:00.000-08:002014-01-08T17:27:23.048-08:00Making the PledgeI really fell off the stashbusting wagon by the end of last year. I don't recall that I made any formal pledge to not buy more fabric; maybe that's why I didn't make it. I'd like to blame something other than myself and either my lack of self-control or my ability to talk myself into anything fabric-related, but I'd only be doing it to make myself feel better. It wasn't the discount's fault. It was only doing what it was supposed to do (get people to buy fabric)... I'm the responsible one who can not eat the chocolate and not read the books when either is available and when I should be doing something else. But fabric at 20-50% off? I guess I need to work on resisting that.<br />
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I have <a href="http://journal.dolcideleria.com/2012/11/nerves.html">this pile, from 2012</a> that spent all of 2013 in my rocking chair, despite my best intentions to convert it to things I could put in my closet. I stitched up <a href="http://journal.dolcideleria.com/2012/11/nerves.html">a few things</a> in 2013, but none from The Pile. <br />
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And then, at the end of the year, I <a href="http://journal.dolcideleria.com/2013/11/not-stashbusting.html">bought more fabric</a>. ::Hangs head:: Some of it I bought because Stash (the little local fabric shop I was working at) was going out of business and I had been eyeballing certain things for months. Some of it was selected by Ian and Caitlyn because they both need new things. <br />
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At least I haven't started buying fabric without a plan for it. Yet.<br />
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The good news here is that the <a href="http://tumbleweedsinthewind.blogspot.com/2014/01/announcing-stashbusting-sewalong-2014.html">Stashbusting Sewalong</a> that I stopped paying attention to last summer is re-launching itself. Hooray for second chances! And so, in the interest of playing by the rules and of putting goals out there where the universe (or at least you fine folks) can reach out and smack me if I get distracted by the shiny things:<blockquote>I, Christina of Dolcideleria, commit to sewing from my stash fabric in 2014. My goal is to finish those quilt tops I've started (thus freeing up storage boxes for fabric that's currently homeless) and to sew up the garments for which I've been collecting fabric. I commit to not purchasing new fabric (unless I need it to finish a WIP) until I am able to sit in my rocking chair once again.</blockquote>Now, I just need to make a goal about making the time to do the sewing. Suggestions?Christina Gilmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05863554438201805194noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5466501.post-78191036399981118302014-01-06T10:41:00.000-08:002014-01-06T10:41:00.454-08:00A Most Epic Quilt Project Ok, that's a bit grandiose of a title. But wow, this project got big!<br />
<img src="http://www.dolcideleria.com/images/blogger/IMG_13237.jpg" width="550" height="194" alt="SQGMar14 Work in Progress" style="display:block; margin: 0 auto;"/><br />
This is the quilt top for last March for <a href="http://www.flickr.com/groups/1606736@N20/">Sew.Quilt.Give.</a> March was my month to request block contributions. <a href="http://journal.dolcideleria.com/2013/03/tutorial-square-in-square-block.html">I asked for square-in-square blocks</a> in a range of sizes with the vague idea that I could float them on point in a spacious background. I'd <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjB8aolmSz4IStc_5s12WMRqhDLu-D7DCFLJOt6qveLMr0_uEcvh4r_oHESC8ia4jUSu7t3rrZAFQwbRDS9Rz54-oE7UDSqTohaOhwLvToUIJLGQN3lp82aEU_H_wyNIvRv7SEp/s1600/IMG_9619.JPG">this quilt</a> from <a href="http://www.cvquiltworks.blogspot.com/">Canton Village Quiltworks</a> in mind, with a touch of <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoh4pWTxeC98mkWtEywTw5f-rFsXNq7KspXWvtIxQ3D-m948mo11R437HybvHirgXBMfz4CSQToPWxldwzFhJw65-RPrqb1-qtOKmeekJ-1y3DOFVc7GFufZyIYqE_gIEbSXPd/s1600/Rasberry+Roll.jpg">this one</a> and <a href="http://sunset-sewing.blogspot.com/2012/01/annas-quilt.html">this one</a>. <br />
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Next time, I really need to bust out the graph paper and turn those vague ideas into something concrete.<br />
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I started off putting a creamy neutral border on each block, to get them all to 12 inches. I made a handful of extra blocks with single squares. This brought the block total to 40, at which point I started trying to find a layout.<br />
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Again, wishing I'd drawn something first!<br />
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Also, forty 12 inch blocks, positioned on point, take up <i>a lot</i> of space. I even thought of making two quilts out the blocks.<br />
<img src="http://www.dolcideleria.com/images/blogger/IMG_13240.jpg" width="550" height="287" alt="SQGMar14 Work in Progress" style="display:block; margin: 0 auto;"/><br />
And because I was still trying to get the floating look, I shashed the whole thing, so it's even bigger. <br />
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Don't get me wrong, this is a fine quilt. But it's not the quilt that was in my head a year ago, not that I'm really sure now what that quilt was (have I learned to sketch out designs first, do you think?), so I'm a touch disappointed.<br />
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On the other hand, the quilt is getting closer to finished (I hope to have it quilted by the end of the month) and it will be a quilt big enough for a queen size bed. All Sew.Quilt.Give. quilts are destined for charity. Do any of my local readers know of a reputable charity who would be interested in a quilt for a teen or adult? I feel sort of silly handing this off to a children's charity...<br />
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Christina Gilmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05863554438201805194noreply@blogger.com2