{this moment}

Rainbows

The kiddos are in bed (finally) and I've settled in to get some of these quilt tops done while I'm without my sweetheart and have a big dining room table to quilt on. I'd sort of forgotten about this top but now I'm getting excited to see it finished.

For the gardeners

Josh and I have this dream for when we're done with our California adventure to head up to Idaho, buy a couple of acres and grow our kids and our food on our own little mini farm.  We've still got a couple of years of loan repayment to do here in California so until then I'm just studying up for when we can make it a reality.

While here at my parents' house I was looking on the local library's website to find when they might be holding some kids storytimes and noticed that they were having this talk by the author of this book and it started in 15 minutes.  I fed the baby fast and headed over to the library just in time.  She was a great speaker and got me so excited to get home and see what I could plan for the fall in our little growable patch in our backyard.

If you're interested in gardening this is a GREAT book.  Good for the beginner and more seasoned gardener alike, she breaks down lots of different vegies and herbs you can grow and talks about tips to grown and store the food and ALL the edible parts, not just the parts we tend to eat.  She also includes recipes for each of the vegis and herbs she talks about.  She also blogs at www.digginfood.com about her workings in her own Portland garden.

temporary digs

My husband is taking his boards next month and after struggling all summer to get started on studying he came home from work one day and asked if my feelings would be hurt if he sent us up to my parents for a little bit so he could study undistracted.  Turns out he'd rather come home and play with us than sit down and study the American Pediatric Dental Associations guidelines for treating children.

Go figure.

Being the supportive wife that I am I called my parents who were more than happy to welcome us and my dad even offered to fly down so he could drive up with me so I'd have my van while we were in Washington.

I also figured since I'd be in such close proximity to my favorite quilt shop and rentable long arm for a month I'd bring my need to be finished projects with me and clear out my WIPs.  

So one of the first things I did when arriving was take over my parents' dining room and turn it into a little sewing studio.

I can't say that I've gotten a ton of sewing time in which is surprising since my mom is home all day most days with me and technically could keep an ear and eye on my kids while I sew a little.  But I feel a little guilty showing up and passing my kids off and also this house is way less child proofed than my own (a la pool in the backyard!!!  AHHHH!!!) so I feel like its a little more intense to keep my kids out of trouble here.

I have found some time after the kids are in bed and have made some progress on these two guys.  Four of my best girls are having/have had babies this summer and fall and so I'm in baby quilt making mode. 

The inspiration for these two quilts can be found here and here.  They had been pinned to my pinterest board forever and they seemed like the perfect inspiration I was looking for.

Its hard to be so far from my sweetheart but its been great to spend such relaxed regular day to day time with my parents and to make these memories with them.  And to see my kids explore all the old places I used to play in as a kid has been really cool too.  We take bike rides and evening walks and have been digging in mormor's garden daily.  Its fun.  Now that we're settling into a nice routine here I look forward to spending a little more time in my makeshift studio and finishing up those WIPs.

Wedding Quilt {Michael and Laura}

 My cousin Michael married the lovely Laura (finally!) last month and I wanted to make them something special for their wedding.  I had been hemming and hawing over what pattern I wanted to use but nothing ever seemed to click. Then I had a baby and all plans sort of flew out the window.  As we were about to head to Washington for our marathon family reunion roadtrip (where I'd have access to a long arm machine) I went through some of the quilt tops I already had and found this one.  And I thought, this is perfect.  I'd named the pattern, "tumbling hourglass" with the idea of an hourglass that never runs out because it keeps turning over and over and figured that was perfect for a wedding quilt.  

And who doesn't love a red and white quilt to add a little pop to a living room of a couple just starting out?

My big boy, Carver, was one of the ring bearers in the wedding and was too cute.  It was sort of a little circus getting the kids to walk down the isle and at one point he actually started chasing a butterfly.  It was cute.

I never seem to get around to labeling my quilts (which I know I should do!) but this one I really wanted to make sure got a nice label.  So once life calmed down from all the summer shenanigans I pulled out my embroidery machine and finally got the software installed in my new laptop to be able to use it again and viola!

I think it turned out great and I really hope they like it.

Happy wedding to Mike and Laura!  May this quilt keep you warm and snuggly through a lifetime of happy memories!

Cooking it up {Smoked Salmon Salad Sandwich}

When I was in Finland last year my cousin served me this delicious salmon spreadable stuff that I have not been able to get out of my mind.  We put it on crackers, we put it on baked potato, we pretty much put it on anything.  It was soooooo good.  I asked her how she made it and she sort of shrugged and said she just mixed the salmon with this cream cheeseish/yogurt stuff that came from the store.  She wasn't sure what the American equivalent would be.

So the other day as I was parusing through pinterest (you know how it goes) I saw this recipe for a salmon sandwich and had to investigate further.  I'm always looking for ways to sneak salmon into my diet in ways that doesn't require me to make a whole family sized meal (the hubs isn't too into fish, {sad face})  

After some experimentation with the original recipe I pinned, we have this (which is actually kind of different entirely) and it tastes just like the fish spread I had in Finland.

and it was about the easiest thing ever to make.  Are you ready?

Smoked salmon (good smoked salmon, not that stuff they sell on the tuna fish isle in the store, GOOD really well smoked salmon) and onion and chive cream cheese.

How about that?  I made it in a sandwich today and it was delicious.  I'll be making more.

Here's the recipe for anyone else out there in Blogland that has a hankering for something salmonish and delicious for lunch.

Smoked Salmon Salad Sandwich

2.5 oz smoked salmon (GOOD SMOKED SALMON!)

2 Tbsp onion and chive cream cheese

2 slices dark rye bread

cucumber sliced thin

tomato sliced thin

lettuce

2 tbs smooshed up avacado

red wine vinegar

black pepper

Warm up your cream cheese in the microwave for 20 seconds or so to make it nice and soft, add salmon and stir together.  Spread mix on bread (toasted if you like) and layer on cucumber and tomato slices and lettuce.  Spread avacado on the other slice of bread and sprinkle a little red wine vinegar and black pepper to taste.

Add to it a side of blueberries and you are ready to pretend you are enjoying a nice summer lunch at your sommarstuga in Nedervetil.

Enjoy!

Brothers

Just loved these pics of Carver and Micah I snagged during some couch cuddle time the other day. I love how much Carver loves his baby brother.

More baby pants!

I get giddy each time i see my baby boy wearing his mama made pants so I had to make some more. I've seen a bunch of darling new Heather Ross and Kokka prints posted around blogland lately and out local Harts had a bunch. I cut out the pieces for three news pairs of 3-6 month pants. I finished one pair this afternoon while the babe mapped and the big boys occupied themselves with a nice long game of hide and seek. More to come!