Old stuff...

Things I had meant to mention in past blogs or just never got around to posting... a look back at the last few months.

A couple of months ago THIS appeared down the street from me.

I had heard of them in other neighborhoods and was happy to see one appear in mine. It is still there and yet undamaged, a couple of months later! I already brought a few books I no longer wanted and left them there. Maybe I will go walk down and take another look to see what is there today.

And I think I had talked about this being one of my projects to help my sewing. I had measurements here and there but nothing very recent so I made an Excel chart for myself with all the sewing measurements I could think of.

Maybe down the line some pattern will have another measurement to add but I think this will help me figure out my pattern size and adjustments well for now.

Of course if I eat too many of these luscious French pastries from a new bakery here in Sacramento I will have to take new measurements!

Trying to find a pattern...

Years ago it was easy to find a camp shirt pattern, you know, the easy to make comfy short sleeve shirt that is great for summers. Now, for women's patterns anyway, so hard to find -- must be out of fashion! Like I care! So I will have to go to JoAnn's and scour the pattern books to find one so I can make an aloha shirt out of the purple fabric for the CCC Ukulele group when we do a gig.

Ok that sounds way too professional -- we just play around at residential homes and a few other shows, like last week's ACC Big Day of Giving performance. There are some seriously good musicians and singers in the group then there are a few of us (me for sure) who just like to hang out in the back and strum. I am a total uke newbie -- just started it last year, but it is so much fun! You can see me hiding in the back by the window! LOL

Saying goodbye to old shirts...

I have a lot of shirts in my closet. And I wear many of them but there have been a small group off to the side that I have not fit into or worn for many years and today I decided to purge my closet of them.

As you can see they are mostly Hawaiian shirts and have been over the years some of my favorites. But most of them don't fit any more (how did that happen I wonder as I eat another piece of pie), and one of them was always way too big and just looks silly on.

So I decided to pull them out of the closet this afternoon. I tried each one on again (just to be sure I hadn't suddenly shrunk and they would fit again) and then put them into a bag to deliver over to the Sacramento Food Bank and Family Services organization where I drop off all my old/used clothing. I feel it is better to take things to a local place where I know the items will go out to those in need.

Goodbye old shirts...
Hello room in my closet now for the shirts I will be making this year!

Added to pages (above)...

For reference, added the following info to the tab LOCAL FABRIC STORES:

Stores near me that have apparel fabrics:

Mihn Phat   M-Sa 9-6, Su 10-6   (916) 391-2288

6428 Stockton Blvd. at 47th Ave.

Sacramento, CA 95823

Hi-Fashion Fabrics  M-Sa 9:30-6, closed Su.   (916) 451-5648

4106 Franklin Blvd  (couple blocks south of Sutterville)

Sacramento, CA 95820

World Class Textiles  Su-F 10 - 7, Sat 10 - 5   (916) 455-4040

4701 Franklin Blvd.

Sacramento, CA 95820

Stores near me that are primarily quilt shops:

• Country Sewing Center (Elk Grove)
• Fabric Garden (Sacramento)
• Quilter's Corner (Sacramento)
• Runs With Scissors (Citrus Heights)
• Thistle Dew (Fair Oaks)

Other fabric/craft stores near me:

• JoAnn's 

An Alton Brown sort of day...

Ok let's face it, we are both Alton Brown's Good Eats junkies! We love the shows, sad that it is no longer being made but thank goodness for reruns! So yesterday it was a little rainy and just the right weather to bring out one of my Christmas presents ...

I gave Andy the book and salt cellar (just like AB uses of course) and he gave me the burr coffee grinder and the popovers tray.

So can you guess which one I used?

Yep! Made popovers! First time in ages!! And maybe the first time with a "proper" popover baking tray!  Used the AB recipe and they turned out great!

I haven't used the burr grinder yet because I was not out of coffee last week, but now I almost am. We got some good beans (Brazilian) from Chocolate Fish the other day, where I might add, Andy had the best mocha he said he has ever had! So I will test out the grinder in a day or two.

Cold...

As in, "Brrrrr it's cold outside!"  (for us anyway. Wasn't it just a month or so ago I was moaning about how hot it still was?)

I live near the top entry and was so very grateful for our new electric blanket this morning! On the good side... it is now cold enough to plant my tulip bulbs so I have been starting to work on the spot in the front yard for that. This is the area I started working on yesterday:

I got all the plants cleared out of the 4x4 planter and pulled up some of the other dead stuff. I will go back out later this afternoon when it has warmed up just a tad to tend to the soil and maybe get the bulbs planted. I got my usual favs (reds) as well as a bunch of purples and oranges to plant together in a clump. I love both of those colorways (ohhh can you tell I use fabrics? haha) so I am just planting them all, even if it sounds weird. More photos as I get working out there...

Sandhill Cranes and Egrets...

Had a nice day out at Cosumnes River Preserve yesterday looking for egrets and sandhill cranes... cold and grey day though, need to go another time later in the evening and on a nicer day. Sandhill cranes stay around until late February or early March before they fly north again so I will have a chance to see them again on a nicer evening...

During the day they forage for food. I learned that to see their beautiful feathery mating dances I need to come back at dawn or dusk. I am going for dusk. These above look like they are already in their mating pair. 

A large group of them in a field. They were not so happy about humans getting close. I only had my phone camera this time and although it takes pretty good photos, obviously I need a camera with a telephoto lens for these guys!

This egret on the other hand let me walk up pretty close to it before it flew away.

Another egret a little too far for a clear shot.

Then off it goes! They are so beautiful when they take flight!

D.R.I.P. Painting Weekend fun...

This last weekend I took a class from a local artist, Margaret Sarantis. We did her version of intuitive painting in a fun class called D.R.I.P. (Dreamy Realistic Imaginary Painting) and it was a great creative experience!

Margaret demonstrated her various techniques while also working on a painting of her own.

We started along the lines of Tracy Verdugo's class in making a grid on our canvas and filling it with personal symbols.

But then we branched out into Margaret's unique version of it and added color and more symbols and more color until our canvases had morphed into wonderful creations.

A few close ups of the interesting textures we came up with, scratching into paint, stencils, etc.

Here is our class art show at the end -- such great colors!

It was a wonderful weekend of laughter and painting and Starbuck's lemon cake and meeting new friends. My art friend Lisa Culjis also went (her painting is the dreamy flower one on the right hand side).  I love classes like this and plan to find more now that I have time!

New Farmer's Market

Short visit to the new Land Park Farmer's Market this morning... a new one put on by the people who do the Midtown one on Saturdays. 

Nice mix of arts/crafts, music, body care products,  as well as veggies, cheeses, health foods. The air also smelled great with an Indian food truck. 

Cold outside though so I didn't stay long this time but I am glad to know it is there so I can visit more.

AND, on a nicer day, if I wanted to not be lazy, it is only a mile from my house... so it is walkable (although there is a very steep uphill over the railroad tracks both ways).

Out and about on a a muggy Thursday...

I am driving to Oregon this weekend and needed to clear some things out of my car. One thing was a large old comforter I had been carrying around until I could get it to the City Pound. They  are the people we took our dear Maggie to for cremation and we found out they needed donations of old blankets and comforters so we decided to give them an old blue one we no longer use (too many holes from cat claws!). They are down on Front Street under a mess of freeways in a weird little area I only recently discovered.

So as I was leaving I turned to look at their little garden and saw these delightful critters:

Even though several of them were rather dried out it was a cute attempt at making the garden suit the building. Of course to make it more realistic there should have been a topiary of a dog catcher running after one of them with a big net, doncha think?

Home and the farmer's market...

Got home from my month-long Nova Scotia journey late Monday (well really for me it was 4 am on Tuesday) so spent most of Tuesday jetlagged. Amazingly the rest of the week FLEW by and here it is Sunday already!

And Sundays are always good for the Farmer's Market:

Today we found a stall with carnivorous plants! Beautiful ones too -- Pitcher Plants, Venus Flytraps, and more! Pricey but pretty!

And there was the usual wonderful flowers, fruit and veggies... we didn't need much today but it is always fun walking though the market and taking in all the scents (basil was strong in the air today). And there were amazing sunflowers!

Yesterday I bought myself an early birthday present of a very nice dehydrator and am looking forward to making my own beef jerkey as well as a lot of dried fruits and vegetables. It is supposed to arrive on Thursday so I imagine next weekend might be a busy one for drying things!