work in progrees. or not.

Since I can't really think straight right now, being as tired as I am, here's what I'm up to this week...

:: making this bag that inspired me to pick up my crochet hook (which up until now I've only used for biding off my knitted pieces and making random flower accent for knitted items) ::

:: trying to unbury my neglected craft room. I wish I could hire someone just for the sole purpose of folding all the fabric that I unfold and dig through while looking for a perfect project piece ::

believe me, the actual mess is much much worse. I just don't want you to break down in tears feeling bad for all that wrinkled fabric, while petting your nicely folded color coordinated stashes.


sewing desk is buried too. with stuff unrelated to sewing. how unfair.

Family Vacation :: part two ::

This was day 3 of our vacation (first two days were spent on the road), which consisted of a trip to the Farmer's Market (previous post) and taking the Clinton-Mukilteo ferry back across Puget Sound, after which we stopped to spend some time at the beach.

Elijah, being his usual self, was having the ride of his life on the ferry, after which he declared that when he grows up he wants to be a ferry driver and transport Grandma's car on it. Ironically, I didn't get any photos of Elijah having the ride of his life and dreaming about being a ferry driver because Lisa took him on the upper deck while I stayed with Mark and the girls. Oh well, I guess we'll just have to do it again some day...

:: and then we all enjoyed cool breezy beach ::

:: and even managed to get a semi-decent family photo at the end, the only one of all 5 of us ::

We had a long full day, and unfortunately for us, Elijah decided to take a nap on the way back which translated into him not wanting to go to bed at the normal hour. He stayed up with grown ups in the living room for a bit, trying to find a comfortable spot and at some point he finally got quiet. We peeked out of the kitchen and saw this:

doesn't he look cozy sleeping on top of the power strip, covered with yoga mat? :)

Family vacation :: part one ::

I've been working on the photos from our trip whenever I get a break and I'm still only half-way done. Which can mean two things - I'm either too slow/don't have enough time or I took too many photos. In my case, it's both.

Stepping over our usual piles of unfolded, refolded and misplaced laundry everywhere, the thought of us having just returned from our family vacation seems almost surreal. Maybe it was just a very realistic 3D movie I watched? Thank goodness for the photos, one look at a snapshot and my brain gets overloaded with all the imprints it got from that particular moment, the sounds, the emotions, the smell, everything.

So here I am, feeling overwhelmed with the achievement of traveling and HAVING FUN with 3 little ones and at the same time yearning for a change, the kind of change that moving to one of those two states would bring. Yes, my worst fear was confirmed, I LOVED Oregon and to my surprise, I enjoyed Washington just as much, if not a teeeeeny bit more.

somewhere in Idaho

:: final stretch before arriving to Edmonds, WA ::

:: first order of business in Edmonds - Farmer's Market in the morning ::

eating fresh crepes while sitting by the curb, a vacation must right there

probably a good place to stop, since I'm getting attacked by naked goblins. Ferry ride and our first trip to the beach coming up next...

we made it...

home alive. we had fun, maybe too much fun, because I feel like our vacation wasn't long enough. right now we're just trying to get back to normal life, and I am doing my best (and succeeding) to ignore my endless list of chores and edit photos instead. some time this week I'll have to face my responsibilities again...

The "Quilt" post

Before I sign off for a week and a half (no blogging while on vacation for me), I have to dedicate a quick post to my quilt. Almost a year in making, after lots of avoiding and feeling intimidated, this baby is complete, down to the very last stitch... And, amazingly, I want to make MORE. Yes, I always feel burned out after completing a time consuming project and feel like I don't want to work on another similar project for a long time. But somehow, it's different with quilt making. Once I got on the roll, there was no stopping me, the more I worked, the more fun it was, until it got to the point that I could hardly keep myself from squealing with joy while hand stitching the binding. Oh, and what a wonderful therapy it was...

Now this baby is resting on the couch, and it's making the whole room more cheerful and happy, despite of all the mess that's not going anywhere :)

yes, very orange. and so very me.






seeing its' first 'action' after the fireworks

July 4th :: part two ::

Our packing for the trip is not going anywhere right now, so instead of running around in circles, without actually getting anything done, I'm taking a break and trying to finish my second post about our 4th of July weekend...

Did I mention we made some pretty awesome strawberry jam while visiting Mark's parents? I'll shamefully admit that the thought of making jam myself was quite overwhelming, up until we discovered the genius of freezer jam. Thirty minutes, no boiling, three (!!!) ingredients and 12 jars of jam. ADDICTING. I'm itching to make more, but must resist, or it would be a bit too obvious how much I try to avoid the packing.

note the Maya's 'layered' fringe. she did it herself. more than once. too many pairs of scissors in the house.

And of course, we went to watch fireworks that night. The new quilt walked with us as well.

July 4th ::part one::

Yesterday we went to pick up Maya and Elijah after their week of stay at Grandparents' house. We wanted to finish a few things before settling back into our usual chaos.

:: so we tried to fold some laundry ::

:: and then I tried to finish the binding on my quilt (after staying up till 4 a.m. the night before, working on this time consuming, yet extremely fun project) ::

our tray usually stays folded down, but as it turns out, it's perfect for storing my notions. and that iPod and phone are sitting in what I now call my yarn ball holder :)



my new scarf. after almost spending $20 on a summer scarf several times (which I couldn't bring myself to do after all), I came across some pretty amazing gauze fabric during an emergency run to *cough* walmart. my $2 and 2 minute scarf (second half of yardage is waiting to be overdyed)



Mark, with his blue and skinny arm. well, bluer and skinnier than it normally is

We spent some good relaxing time at Mark's parents. Our kids seemed to have grown at least 5 inches in just one week. We tried to enjoy our honeymoon/reunion day as much as we could, knowing that all the sweetness and pleasantness would wear out quickly (they are back to 'normal' today). Maya had another dozen of love notes waiting for me and she even picked out a candy bar for her mama during one of the trips to the grocery store with Grandma. Our time flew by quickly, either due to the fact that I kept working on hand sewing quilt binding all afternoon (which is a surprisingly relaxing activity) or because I had a headache. I don't regret having that headache as much as I regret not having enough time to roam around those farm hills like Mark and I wanted to. I guess we will have to wait till our next visit...

the land of freedom for wild flowers, they are weeds no more