Since I'm snowed in....

I have made four wallets in the last couple of days. I already sent one off with a friend, so I have three left for you to look at. They will (hopefully) be back on my etsy account...once I open one again. I am also looking into having them on consignment in some local shops. If you find you must have one of these, drop me a note and we'll figure it out. Let me know what you think of them :)

wallets, $35 each

quilted, magnetic clasp

double interfaced, magnetic clasp

Finally

Winter has returned to the Inland Northwest. Five inches and counting. The girls are having a great time pecking around in it. Dr. H and I braved the wind, the cold and the snow to walk over to the local pub for some sustenance. All in all, a pretty fun day.

snow coming down

girls exploring

Update

No quilt pictures yet. Or pictures of all the wallets I am in the process of making, or of the food we have been cooking, or of the trails we have been skiing. Instead we have beer and birds :)

taps

HUB 7 grain stout

carnage from beer tasting event

neighbor's flock

our flock

lake flock

camouflage

Snowshoeing

The weather these past two weeks has been oddly warm. Mid-high fourties in the day, high 30's at night. This is a touch of spring in the middle of winter, and I'm not sure I like it. Dr. H and I recently recieved cross country skis as a Christmas present (thank you!), and we have been trying to get up to the trails as often as possible. THis last weekend, we threw our gear in the back of the car and headed up to Mt. Spokane to find the temps at the top of the mountain warmer than they were at our house! The snow was icy slush, and after a quick turn around one of the easy trails we retreated to the car to begin plan B: Snowshoeing. As long as there is enough snow on the ground, snowshoeing will be our back up plan. And with a balmy 43 degree sunny day, what a glorious plan B it was :)

Snowshoe Trail

At the top of the hike we found some snow shelters made by a local boyscout troupe. Neither of us had ever been inside an igloo before, so we played a bit in them before we settled down to our hot chocolate and cookies.

Here's to an active New Year!

I'm Back.

I have nothing to say for myself for my long absence. My last few months have been busy with family, work, food, CRAFTS (read 3 quilts between Thanksgiving and December 20th) and just plain laziness. Sometimes, being lazy feels awesome.

But now I'm back. And high on my new years resolutions is to be more diligent in putting something (anything) up on here regularly. So what do you say we just let this little lapse pass, and pick right back up where we left off?

gee. thanks.

Wiling Away the Seasons

Autumn Leaves

Girls enjoying the novelty of leaf carpeting

Chickies enjoying some fresh-thawed water

And Along Came Snow

Friday Phone Unload

View from Bike Commute

Mirror Lake in Mt Hood

Pumpkin Carving with Monty

Mulled Wine

Yes Please

Summer ending

Pumpkin: Growing

Corn

Giant Sunflower

A couple of quick shots from the last month or so. After batches and batches of roasted tomato soup, oven dried tomatoes,  and summer squash soup the garden is finally starting to slow down. We don't have frost in the forecast for the next few days so we still have time to squeeze the most out of our little fertile plot. I have been busy trying to save all of our bounty for use later in the white winter. I have untold amounts of fruit and tomatoes frozen in our freezer, and just finished putting up a half dozen pints of tomato sauce, a half dozen half-pints of Tomato Confit, and another half dozen half-pints of plum and star anise jam. Up next: 35 lbs of apples will be transformed into apple butter. It is feeling rather fall like now...

Canning

 

Potatoes

This Saturday Dr. H and I dug up all of the potatoes in our little potato patch. All 50 pounds of them!

One of three 10 gallon buckets full

This is a smaller potato

I can't believe they grew so well! All but about 5 pounds are currently curing in my basement. The rest are being eaten while their skins are still tender. Yum!

Bounty

This season of abundance has me totally inspired. I spend my mornings strolling though my garden, one hand holding a cup of coffee and the other flecked with soil. This morning, I brought along my camera.

Garden Blooming

 

Chickens and Eggs

Fruits of My Labor

Saving