Family Weekend With Hues of Turkey

We are having a spendid time in Eugene with my family. We spent the entire day yesterday cooking, eating ,talking and relaxing. We only left the house once to go for a rainy-day walk.

Jackie usually sleeps 17 hours a day but after all the festivities yesterday, she's planning on a solid 21 today. I'm not sure how that math is going to work out but she seems confident.

A Whirlwind of Adventures

We had a great time in Sacramento last weekend. We got to explore the local food and fare with our friends whom we were there to visit. We were also introduced to the local wine sub-culture of Port lovers. I'm not sure that I'm ready to get initiated into the lifetime club, but it was enjoyable. (I'm not that into sweet things. That's my excuse)

Things are still clipping along with my flatware sets. I'm enjoying the holiday season picking up. I don't know if I will be as busy as last year, but I'm sure a lot more prepared.
Speaking of which, I made a little appearance on a cool handmade-promoting blog: http://lilithevy.blogspot.com/

My father in law is visiting from the other side of the country so when I'm not at work, we are going on small adventures around the area. Unfortunately, it is raining. I say unfortunately not because I feel unlucky that he is visiting during our usual, reliable 9-month stretch of rainy season. I mean unfortunately because the poor guy has never been to Oregon when it has done anything but rain.

I promise that Mr. Sun does occasionally visits us.

We have no sales tax, isn't that enough for you?!

So our next adventure is to go down to Eugene for a night to see some of my side of the family. Maybe the Sun is hiding in a nook down there and we will get a glimpse of it.

We are far too young and clever...

So, Jackie was a skunk. Or she was a dog with a make-shift cap and leg-warmers on. So she was Paula Abdul. No, no, she was a skunk.

She looked pretty cute, even though she hated the hat. I took her to the local feed store where she was photo'd and immunized for a discount because she was so cute. mmhmm, looks ARE worth some green.

Matt and I didn't really do anything officially Halloweeny. I got some good work done that day, walked the 4 miles with the skunk from downtown back home, and then made pumpkins bars. Some friends called at 6pm and asked if we wanted to go out for dinner so I braided my hair and put on my best Wednesday Addams outfit and Matt pulled out his old standby costume, the butler, Lurch. It was a good time.

Sew! Sew Like The Wind!

The above quote was recently brought to my attention by Holli while watching the Three Amigos. It is now my favorite quote and I often find myself thinking it while I'm working in my sewing room. I made goals for myself that were a mite too lofty and have fallen far behind on my sewing work. I'm struck by a pang of fear when I realize that it's almost November. We are going to be gone just about every weekend in November, which will be fun, but good-bye lazy Saturdays, I will see you in the spring!

My high point this week was finding a slimy intruder in my sewing room while I had some people over that I was helping get through a sewing project. There is a crack in the weatherstripping on the exterior doors on my sewing room and I didn't think much of it until this week. I have a number of small drawers that have holes in the front where you stick your finger to pull the drawer open. I was hastily opening and closing each one, looking for a certain color of thread. I found the appropriate shade of whatever-it-was and as a reached in, this guy reached back out at me:
I don't know if it was the surprise of the cold and wet, or the fact that it flew straight towards my jugular while peeing on me that started me screaming, but I totally lost it. My visitors stared at me in disbelief of my vocal chord capabilities while I threw the frog out the door and walked to my room to change, still whimpering.

Wednesday's Top Five

1. Didn't have to work until noon

2. Bought a treadmill off Craigslist

3. Got a free flu shot at work

4. Had awesome chili at a friends house

5. Trained Jackie how to walk on the treadmill (Thank you, Dog Whisperer)

Gearing up for the Holidays

I have totally slacked off these last 2 months.

Last week I actually used my sewing room for sewing... after I cleared all the junk that I "cleaned" out of the car and just dumped on my cutting table. I was told last year, by my wise friend Ashley, not to slack off in your craft in the late summer/fall because you could use that time to stock up for Christmas time. I didn't really grasp what she meant, until I had a breakdown on Dec 15th, 2008 because I was so slammed. That resulted in an overwhelming attack of self pity and the purchase of a $200 pair of boots. That's more money than there is in Jackie's college fund.

This year I am going to heed my dear Ashley's advice. I have put my nose to the cgrind stone and have already cut enough fabric to make 80 sets! Don't be too impressed, that took me 4 days and an entire season of Bones.

Either way, I've slowly been sewing my way through my cut stack. I made 2 this morning and 3 the morning before that! Oh yeah... how do you eat a whale? One bite at a time.... or was it an elephant? Jackie thinks it was a giant cat. You just can't trust dogs these days...

Check this out. Mmmmhmmmm. I made that.

Hand-Spun, Hand-Dyed. Does it get any better?

I love this shop: FranksAndBeans

First off, this is made in Eugene, OR... the land of my birth... so I am already intrigued... but it also is dyed with the most beautiful colors. I love the organic feel to it with it's natural variations and it's bright colors.

In addition to the bright, fun colors, this darker one below has the a great combination of natural dark tones that gets me in the mood to knit a winter scarf and bundle up with some cider.