April Jottings

Well time indeed continues on, even when we think things are dragging along. 
We've recently returned from a week over at Chelan. Adding to the wine collection of course.  

This is our 2nd annual vacation with this crew.  Our best friends on the right and our long time friends met through Dance.   Here we are at Tsillan Cellars.  (pronounced Chelan)

Feb 2013

The tasting room here is beautiful but the wine not so much.  The first time we went there in February I thought it was because we had tasted so much over the week, but this time we went much earlier on, and i have to say the wine there is not to my taste.

Here we were at Icicle Ridge Winery log cabin.  My favorite winery. I love pretty much anything they produce, except one wine which is spicy and meant to be consumed with Thai food.  The log cabin in Peshastin is beautiful, took 5 years to build and originally was the family home of the wine producers. 

One cannot go to area without admiring the beautiful views.  It snowed through the pass on our way over, but the majority of the time it was beautiful and sunny.  

A little girl time at Benson winery.  I believe those are some of their grape vines above.

And of course the reason the men go is to golf.  I'm the only woman golfer in our group and I have to say, I'm torn between the game and being with the women. 

How can you not want to golf under blue skies and puffy clouds, when you live in Seattle?  I only made it out once with the guys.  It was a pretty good first game of the season for me.  My game is so-so and I get very nervous when the men watch.  go figure. But If I can stay out of sight, remember to keep my head down, and take a couple long yoga breaths, I can indeed get a good drive.  I just hate when you swing a little high and it tops the darn ball, and makes a mess of your starting play.  

Our week was full of vineyards , beautiful views, cool but sunny weather, many games of cards, lots of wine and many walks.  Kind of a perfect vacation a few hours from home. 

Treva E.

the Little Knitted skirt Churchmouse simple straight skirt

I've been waiting to do this post because I wanted to have pictures of the finished product.
During the summer I was able to go out with my family to a lovely shop called Churchmouse yarn and tea.
Its on Bainbridge Island and if you have the chance I would surely go over for and afternoon or morning to shop and lunch in the little town.

alpaca merino wool blend in a sage green

I picked up a pattern while on a trip in Oregon last spring.  But being relatively new to knitting, wanted some advice and I have trouble with some wool's making my hands dry out and hurt. As a longtime crocheter I've chosen to use many blends with natural cottons, or alpaca and merino wool blends. Bamboo is also a favorite for yarns and fabric for me.
Here are couple pics where I started, doing the waistband in one piece, dividing it between two sets of circular knitting needles. Then the panels are worked on straight needles. It was my goal to have this finished for Christmas for my daughter.  I did have the knitting  finished, but I wanted to make sure that the waistband elastic was the proper size. So I waited for my daughter to be available to have the fitting done on it. 

starting at the waistband, and the front panel

 Finished it has a little ribbing edge along the bottom and slight shaping at the hips. 

this if 55

I love when you look in a certain magazine and it shows photos of various women, stating this 40, or this is 50.  Well as slow as January is- usually recovering from the holiday indulgence of spending, and gifting and cooking and eating, start thinking about birthdays.  Both my grandmother and mother-in-law who have both passed from this world, had birthdays during this month. They were 3 days apart and a few years. One of my best friends for the last 30 years or so, also has her birthday during this month which happened to be on my mother in laws birthday.  I could never think of one with out the other although as women they are as different as night and day. With the passing of my friends birthday, I immediately think about my husbands birthday- Mr G and his sister who is born the day before him.

this is 55!

I still send real cards when I can,(time being the issue most often). I love a real card.  Unlike and e-card it stays around, you can look at it over and over again, and even if you only catch it in a glance, You KNOW someone thought about you.  I like the memories that real cards evoke.  My lovely aunt, bought me the same card 3 years in a row. I laughed because she liked the card so much she bought it 3 times.  I'm a card maker. I make my own cards when I have time. If not, or can't think of a good saying I'm out to buy one. I also like to occasionally purchase those cards with the annoying music in them sometimes.  Not always but occasionally they right song hits the mark!

 Here is Mr G enjoying some of his home brew made during Christmas break.

 Mr G opted to stay home and make beer the day of his birthday.  Now I know people who go to places that you can make beer, or wine and it takes them a little over an hour.  At our house its a several hour operation, that starts a few days ahead and takes all of one day, plus half of the next day to clean up. Mr G spent his day brewing and measuring, etc.  We ran out for quick dinner and then had friends over for desert and a few rounds of Boggle.
Happy Birthday Mr. G.  We Love You!

 Christmas has come and gone, but I had to laugh when we put up our tree this year.  Our old house had much taller ceilings, so we had this giant tree that took up a huge amount of space in our foyer. While there we could enjoy it from the living room/dining room, and see it from our windows as well.  It never required we change furniture etc there to put it up. Unfortunately its not such a great fit in our new home.

  Our ceilings are not quite 9ft in living room area, so the tip of the tree has a bit of a bend to it.  No Angel or star could sit up there either.  We moved the furniture a bit squishing together and re-arranging. We are still trying to find things, and stuff things into places.  It looked pretty clean and arranged nicely here we had chairs out all over as we host the Christmas dinner, and situating enough seats is a challenge before and during dinner. But I love having the family over. Next year I do believe we need to purchase a smaller tree for a more comfortable fit. (ps decorating 9 ft trees take forever and I find I put fewer ornaments on every year because of that.)

We have duet shades in here that have slight gold shimmer to them.  I really like them but I would like some curtains too, and haven't made any choices yet as to what way to go. So far we haven't really had a problem with sun, with all the trees out back, so its more personal preference. I like my windows dressed, I guess.

once a ballerina, always a ballerina

  

Wow its february!

Oh time flies. One minute I was preparing for Christmas and the next, I'm thinking about Valentines day.
so rather than do a long  catch up post covering a lot of this time. I will do several small post.

For Christmas, my husband  took to my amazon wish list and bought most of what was on it, including a Silhouette Cameo.  It arrived after Christmas by a few weeks and that was just fine.  It's one of those things I've been wanting for a very long time, but couldn't justify the expense for myself, no matter how much I wanted one. I've been experimenting, finding that some card stocks require deeper cutting levels than others.  Then saw a darling dish towel done with fabric letters and saying Love and a bit of bias tape trim.  I liked the idea so much, I had to do something comparable. I went to one of my favorite craft stores, Ben Franklin's and  found  2 prints that I really like- one the pink and red polka dot seen here above, and a the second a red background that has white flowers with pink centers.  My first foray was making the Love letters out of the flower fabric and ironing them on.  Unfortunately, my iron also spit on the fabric leaving a dirty stain argh! so I set that one aside and started the second one. Seen above here, I cut hearts using the silhouette of various sizes and styles after backing the fabric with heat and bond,  ironed on and then sewed around each heart, adding the rick rack trim on about 3 inches from the end of the towel. This one I took into my Enhance fitness class I teach and did a drawing. I really enjoy my students and like to give back to them.   I have one more towel to make, and thinking of how to fix my first attempt, and plenty of fabric to make a few more. Not sure what I will be doing next with this wondrous tool, but I'm hoping to pick up some self stick Vinyl and create a wall  post that you would see on entering our house.  Decisions, decisions....

My wish for you for Christmas and New years

I stumbled on a story about a women crying at the airport as her daughter was leaving.  The woman and daughter made a statement to each other "I wish you enough."  When asked what they meant, she described this wish below.  It's beautiful and says everything I would like to say to you who follow my blog.

I WISH YOU
"I wish you enough sun to keep your attitude bright.

I wish you enough rain to appreciate the sun more.

I wish you enough happiness to keep your spirit alive.

I wish you enough pain so that the smallest joys in life appear much bigger.

I wish you enough gain to satisfy your wanting.

I wish you enough loss to appreciate all that you possess.

I wish you enough hellos to get you through the final good-bye."

I want to make a plaque with this saying and hang it at my door, so all who leave will be able to see it.

Time for Thankfulness

Oh my friends,
I must share this was one of the best Thanksgiving feasts I've had in years.  Our friends came over along with my husbands father.  We had shared the cost of a pre-cooked meal and added in our favorites  to it.
I was so busy re-warming food, and putting it out, I forgot to take any pictures of the people or the table setting.
First formal meal in our new home. A lovely relaxed Thanksgiving dinner with no dysfunctional family happenings.  No one arrive wasted or drunk, no arguments, no fighting. Our only disruption was the little dog we were house sitting. She stayed in her kennel while we were eating, and behaved quite well.
We had some Bordeaux wine my husband brought back from his recent travels to France, as well as some Sparkling wine we picked up at Trevari this summer.  Another bottle of wine and some espresso and pie ended our relaxed meal.  It  was so nice to take our time eating, and enjoying the meal, without the stress of a big crowd.  I love my family and our get togethers are interesting for sure, but also stressful for whoever is hosting.  This was simple and lovely and easy to clean up. With leftovers for all who wanted them.
Delightful!
ThankYou to my friends who will always be my family! (even if our kids don't get married and make us inlaws) ; )