There's No Place Like Home...Wherever That Is

Shortly after we left Oregon, DDIL2 took photos of the Kaleidoscope quilt.

What a joy to see it photographed with the quilting showing up so well!

After leaving Bend, we stopped overnight in Winnemucca, at the KOA, where we could count on having hookups so we could clean our little home and an off-leash enclosure for the pups, so Dusty could run.

I finished the snood, lace collar and mitts for the steampunk costume (more on that later), so with no knitting to do, I CO the French Back-to-school Cardigan for Matty (Johan's birthday present), who has arrived in Oregon as of this writing. It's a quick project, and I've done it a few times before. Carter is my model.

It took a couple of days, because I was busy cleaning the fifth wheel, then the house bathrooms and kitchen, as I awaited the appointed time to take the trailer back to its storage spot.

DH wanted more of the Tofu Chocolate Pudding I took on the trip.

It's so easy. Just put in the blender: 1 pkg silken tofu, 3/4 C cocoa powder, 1/4 C honey and 1/3 C milk (dairy or nondairy, skim OK). Blend until smooth and pour either into individual cups or a refrigerator container and chill at least 15 minutes. It will keep several days.

I also made some French bread. It's funny how not cooking for a couple of weeks can make me want to cook. I had to try out the olive oil and fig vinegar we bought at the last place we did wine-tasting.

I had made a bean/vegetable stew to go with the French bread. Gotta love slow-cookers when it's hot.

OK, finally to the steampunk costume for Mandy. (It will go on to Daphne's dolls at Christmas. Hope she likes steampunk.)

Mandy was glad to get some use out of her hat.

Mandy (a.k.a. Amanda Katherine von Götz, PhD) is in her lab, preparing for a lecture at the Royal Society of Engineers. Goggles are a must when working in the lab, to protect your eyes from chemicals and accidental dangerous projectiles. Even that test tube could explode at any moment.

Mandy found out that SCUBA masks could be made with your vision prescription built in, so she had her lab goggles made that way. That saves eye strain.

At the meeting, she will explain her discovery of a chemical reaction that will create steam without harming the environment or resorting to petrochemicals, because that’s what steampunk is all about. She says. She also says girls can be anything they want to be when they grow up.

She likes the human-size cork board in her lab, because she can find her notes easily.

Mandy had to go on vacation with us so she would be available for fittings. She's a great traveler. I never once heard her ask if we were there yet.

Details for the petticoat, corset, Braemar jacket and goggles are in the project notes on Ravelry: http://www.ravelry.com/projects/PeggyStuart/three-steps-2. Everything else was improvised.

I think I need to go take a nap/

What's on my needles: Finished the the steampunk costume and a cardigan for Matty.

What's on my Featherweight: Put away for now.

What's on my loom: Still waiting, but dreaming about new digs. Like this maybe?

What's on my wheel: Stanzi also still waiting.

What's on my iPad/iPhone: Finished Jodi Taylor’s A Symphony of Echoes again, with DH as we traveled. Then started Funny in Farsi: A Memoir of Growing Up Iranian in America by Firoozeh Dumas. I'm listening to Fortune's Food: Tales of the Five Hundred Kingdoms by Mercedes Lackey. Sounds interesting so far. On the Kindle app, still reading Undeniable by Laura Stapleton.

What's in my wine glass: Kirkland Cabernet Souvignon 2015 vintage…ooooh! Now how did we get that? Utah Costco can’t sell “liquor.” (But is wine really “liquor?”)

What's my tip of the week: It’s easy to cook presoaked beans in the slow cooker, but at higher elevations it can take a lot longer than expected. Add some kombu seawead to the slow cooker (about 2-3 inches), and it will go faster. At any elevation.

Note: This blog post was produced on the iPad and the MacBook, using the iPhone for some photos and some photo processing. No other computer was used in any stage of composition or posting, and no Windows were opened, waited for, cleaned or broken. No animals were harmed during the production of this blog post.

In Vino Veritas

In vino veritas, indeed. 

Monday we left the kiddos and the pups at the appropriate daycare centers, so they wouldn't get bored while we went wine-tasting. The pups stayed at Noah's Arf in Beaverton.

This was Dusty's first time at doggie daycare. He seemed a little insecure, but Rocky made sure he knew how everything worked in this kind of setting. Louis (our grandpup) stayed there, too. He's a real sweetie. I didn't get a photo of him there, but here he is in his natural habitat.

The human children went to their preschool on the Nike campus, as they are wont to do most work days.

Our wine-tasting outing started with lunch at Red Hills Market in Dundee with Peter and Alexa, and her parents.

Peter and Alexa take turns being on duty with the kids if they wake up at night. Soren, the older one, still gets up just as often during the night as his younger brother. It was good for the parents to be able to get away to have a break from work and child care.

We didn't get to too many wineries. (How many wineries are "too many?") We spent the time to savor each one. We visited Vista Hills and Durant in the Dundee area, where Alexa's parents plan to build a house.

We bought two bottles at each winery, which waived the cost of the tasting, as each couple had shared a flight at each place. The wines we tasted were mostly pinot noir and pinot grigio, I guess because of the climate and terrain in this part of Oregon. We also picked up some olive oil and vinegar at Durant for salads and to put on bread. On our way out of the the Durant winery, we found this lusty fellow.

Because of my many trips to the frog pond during various knitting projects, I'm well acquainted with the frog prince. (For this of you who don't knit, it's "rip-it, rip-it.") I have even had to visit the frog pond when quilting, not as easy to do, but easier to get caught up again afterwards.

Earlier in the day, we had stopped in at the Nike Company Store for our "employee-family discount" on some Nike gear. I bought two pairs of shoes for running (not likely), hiking, walking and other exercise. They are so comfortable I can hardly believe it. My orthotics fit inside perfectly,

While we stayed with the kids, we had our "guest house" parked across the street (with permission from the neighbors), so the kiddos didn't wake us up at night.

On Tuesday, we drove back through Sisters to Bend, where Charlie's brother, Jim, lives. He recently moved here from Park City. The plan was to join him in a year or two, assuming we liked Bend. We did. We enjoyed walking the dogs along the trails in his neighborhood. Here's Jim with Onslow. (You can see Charlie with Rocky behind Jim and Onslow. I had Dusty.) We did a hike on Saturday afternoon.

We connected with a realtor and looked at some houses. We also connected with the local yarn shop, Gossamer The Knitting Place in Bend.

Here are some photos of the inside:

Isn't this yummy?

They have some nice places to sit and knit.

I bought some sport-/DK-weight sock yarn and some fingering sock yarn (doesn't count toward stash), some locking st markers and some soap for my friend Joanie.

I have a feeling I will be spending some time at this place. There are also several quilt shops, plus somewhat close proximity to Sisters and The Stitchin' Post. It wasn't convenient to disconnect our tow vehicle from the trailer, so I wasn't able to do a lot of driving around.

We went out to eat a couple of times, and I cooked some. Houses cost about the same as in our neighborhood, so it should be an even move, cost-wise, unless something happens in either locality to change things. We will need to start "culling" our stuff. Obviously, the sewing machine, loom, spinning wheel and yarn and fabric stashes are a priority. Jim added a shed to his backyard, to serve as a workshop. I'm thinking of doing the same thing for a fiber studio. Then we could have a smaller house.

Work on the steampunk costume for Mandy has continued with the completion of the Braemar coat. Still a few items to add, but this was the last large piece.

I like how the lines of the jacket fit with the Victorian aspect of steampunk. I'm planning on a lace collar to go over the blouse, some mitts, maybe a snood (if I can figure out how to make it) and some goggles. Mandy thinks she's ready to lecture at the Royal Society of Engineers, because that's what girls can do in the alternate universe of Steampunk. (She's geared up--ha-ha--to explain her prototype of a clock-driven airplane.)

In the meantime, I think I've found the solution to next Lenten season's depriviation, when I give up my second glass of wine for Lent.

What's on my needles: Finished the Braemar coat. Now working on mitts, snood, collar.

What's on my Featherweight: Put away for now.

What's on my loom: Still waiting.

What's on my wheel: Stanzi also still waiting. Thinking about Tour de Fleece.

What's on my iPad/iPhone: Listening to Jodi Taylor’s A Symphony of Echoes again, with Charlie as we travel. On the Kindle app, still reading Undeniable by Laura Stapleton. Still not sure how I like it yet.

What's in my wine glass: Trader Joe's um...so many to choose from, now that we've been to TJ's in Oregon.

What's my tip of the week: I like to use freezer paper for patterns for when I'm sewing doll clothes. Often I can avoid pinning entirely, but usually one pin at a crucial area is all that's needed. I iron them down the way I would pin a pattern, then use my rotary cutter and ruler to cut all the straight edges. Finally, I add a pin if needed and cut the curves with scissors. The patterns can be used over and over.

Note: This blog post was produced on the iPad and the MacBook, using the iPhone for some photos and some photo processing. No other computer was used in any stage of composition or posting, and no Windows were opened, waited for, cleaned or broken. No animals were harmed during the production of this blog post.

Trip to the Coast, Almost

We've spent some time hanging out in various campsites.

And riding for hours in the tow vehicle for our trailer.

Or in the trailer.

Storing up energy for some fetching play in various fields, like this dog exercise field at Champoeg State Park in Oregon.

On our last evening in Champoeg we had dinner with DH's brother.

Then we went on to Beaverton for DS2's preschool graduation on the Nike campus, followed by snacks.

We managed to fit in a trip to the Oregon Zoo in Portland. They have a great large bird show with  various birds from all over the world flying over the audience, right over our heads. At the end of the show, we had the opportunity to give donations to the vulture, who deposited them in the donation box.

Mandy rocks the steampunk costume, with the petticoat and corset finished. I should have more to show next week. The sleeves are done on the Braemar, and already CO for the body.

Off for wine-tasting today, the pups are at doggy daycare, and the boys to school. Stay tuned.

What's on my needles: Three Steps petticoat and corset finished. Now working on the Braemar coat.

What's on my Featherweight: Put away for now.

What's on my loom: Still waiting.

What's on my wheel: Stanzi also still waiting.

What's on my iPad/iPhone: Finished Hacker Mom by Austen Rachlis. Listened to Rachel Abbott’s Only the Innocent again, this time with DH as we traveled. We both enjoyed it, even thought I sort of remembered how it went. On the Kindle app, finished Dying to Read. Now reading Undeniable by Laura Stapleton. Not sure how I like it yet.

What's in my wine glass: Lots of everything. Wine tasting today.

What's my tip of the week: A tired pup is an obedient pup. Keep ’em tired if you can.

Note: This blog post was produced on the iPad and the MacBook, using the iPhone for some photos and some photo processing. No other computer was used in any stage of composition or posting, and no Windows were opened, waited for, cleaned or broken. No animals were harmed during the production of this blog post.

Quilts for Project Linus

Remember Linus from Peanuts? The little boy with his blankie to his ear and his thumb in his mouth? This character by Charles M. Schultz, the embodiment of well-known positive impact on young children of a comfort blanket or toy, became the mascot for Project Linus.

The organization states that it has two missions:

First, provide love, a sense of security, warmth and comfort to children who are seriously ill, traumatized, or otherwise in need through the gifts of new, handmade blankets and afghans, lovingly created by volunteer “blanketeers.”
Second, provide a rewarding and fun service opportunity for interested individuals and groups in local communities, for the benefit of children.

Rona Kleiman, one of my online Ravelry friends, who started the Project Linus program in Canada, recently visited Havergal College, an exclusive private girls school, to see what the 9th grade girls were making for Project Linus. 

These are the hand sewn, paper-pieced quilt tops they were making.

"They have an art teacher who has a PHD in art education," Rona says. The art teacher, Dr. Miriam Davidson, who is  head of the upper school art department as well as a teacher, started the quilt program five years ago and contacted Rona at Project Linus, because the girls were looking for a new place to donate. A relative of one of the girls had donated to Project Linus in the past, so the girl suggested the organization as a possible destination for the finished quilts.

When Rona arrived at the school, the girls were working on stone carvings. Rona says that they took her breath away. She was very impressed with the girls, too. "They were kind and funny and very smart. What a breath of fresh air," she says. Rona explained to the girls what Project Linus is all about. When she was finished, they were very excited about their donations. 

Rona started Project Linus Canada 20 years ago and was the international coordinator of the organization across Canada, until two years ago when she stepped down from that position and now runs the Toronto chapter. "I got really burned out from all the desk work," Rona says. When she started the program she didn’t expect it to expand to such a degree.  "Even the Toronto chapter is a big and busy chapter and requires a lot of work and running around, but I love the charity. It’s a part of me by now," she adds. There are now 40 chapters in Canada--something to be proud of.

I find the girls' quilts inspiring. Don't you? Even with hand-sewing and paper-piecing, these shapes are difficult to piece with this kind of precision.

For more information on Project Linus, especially how to get involved, contact--

Project Linus Canada: http://projectlinuscanada.org

Project Linus USA: https://www.projectlinus.org

Project Linus accepts knitted and crocheted blankets in addition to quilts. Check with them for requirements before making a blanket.

While I'm on vacation, I thought my readers might be interested in a valuable resource for children in need and a worthy place for quilters, knitters and crocheters to donate their efforts.