Happy Zombie

Right after Thanksgiving… and right before I pull out the Christmas dec from the attic, the wheels start to turn in my head about what little pretties I’m going to make as little giftlettes for the holidays. I love containers. I love putting stuff in stuff. And I also needed to craft up something to dress up my shelf above my sewing room window. Light bulb went on - pennants were born. So being that my mind thinks in crafty ways (code for laziness), I decided to give a free pattern as a giftlette instead. Crafting it forward.

I thought about garland…  I thought about a little pocket for my design wall to hold tools, treasures and candy.

I thought I’d swag it, but decided to hang it straight.  At least something now could be straight n tidy in my sewing room.  I strung my pockets on ric rac, but I also thought about the garland Jenny was making here.

Because I’ve never outgrown playing ding-dong-ditch, I thought about little nosegays - a Pennie Pocket with a handle.  Perfect for cookies, notes and mischief.  Or better yet, a little ding-dong-ditch, a nosegay… and my pattern inside for my crafty friends.  Hmmm.

The wheels continue to turn in my head.  Little Christmas nosegays for the tree… or 25 Christmas advent nosegays… or 8 blue & white nosegays for Hanukkah.  Modified.  Embellished.  Embroidered.  Pimped.  So many ideas, I can’t even process them from my head to my keyboard - so I started a Pennie Pockets flickr group here.  Wanna join me in the pool?  The water’s warm - but not that kind of warm.  I promise.

See my ModaBakeShop version here.

Recently we got to help our friends harvest their cranberry bog on Washington’s Long Beach Peninsula. When I say we got to help, I mean that my hubby husband worked and I took photos.

First the bogs are flooded.  This is known as a “wet harvest”.  The berries have already been paddled to loosen them off their vines.   Not even sure if they’re on vines.  Cranberries that have gone through a wet harvest will end up being processed into drinks and cranberry-stuff-in-cans.

The cranberries are corralled like an oil spill.  My husband’s 19 years in the Coast Guard has certainly come in handy.

The cranberries are pulled and pushed, and making sure none escape.

The cranberries are raked and guided to the big green stairway.

Cranberry rain.

My husband (left) and “the Cranman” (right) get the cranberries settled into their crates.

The cranberries are now almost ready for the trip to Ocean Spray.

Next stop.  Ocean Spray.

I wasn’t allowed to take photos inside the warehouse.  In a nutshell… the cranberries were weighed, poured into a giggly thing, traversed on this belt and into a wiggly thing, then poured into crates and loaded onto a semi-truck.  Destination unknown.  I was allowed to take photos in the “lab”.  My husband and I got a thorough tour of how the cranberries are sampled and tested.  Lots of big words chock-full of consonants that escape me now.  Color is checked, acid levels, this and that levels.  Touched.  Rolled.  Squeezed.  Blended.

So if you open a can of Ocean Spray cranberry jelly, and you hear that slurp-woosh-goosh sound as you free the jellied log-o-cranberry from it’s tin prison… that’s just the sound of me wishing everyone a very Happy Thanksgiving.

Last Saturday, my friends Paula, Robin and I treated ourselves to a day in The Town With The Name I Can Never Spell (Clatskanie, Oregon). We started off our adventure with a Vintage Winter Gathering at Stewart’s Point Church (Old Finnish Church) in Quincy, Oregon - hosted by Karen of Just Plain & Simple Me. I “met” Karen online through what is the thing that binds me to everything… food. Karen made much of (if not all) the delicious treats at Barn House’s Gothic Harvest.  It didn’t take long for me to follow the cardamom bread crumb trail to her blog. Oh her cardamom bread is out of this world!

Darling setting and sooooo many goodies inside. Simply dreamy. Karen’s blog has gobs of photos of all the goodies. Karen was so sweet (as was her daughter) - and we all could have chatted for hours in the church kitchen. I had a serious lapse in judgment, and only purchased one loaf of cardamom bread. One loaf??? WHAT was I thinking!

After we loaded up my car - and there was surprisingly a lot of room - maybe because “our Karen” wasn’t able to come… we headed back into town and hit an antique store, Flowers n Fluff, and a darling little store called Picket Fences (which sadly was going out of business). Loaded up my car again (and we STILL had room for more), and then hit Hump’s for lunch.

Paula and Robin showcase the weird book selection in Humps Restaurant’s “gift shop” book rack. Ladies room sign… Mary Kate apparently is not allowed.

Clatskanie is a little town on Hwy. 30 between here and there (for us, it’s between Astoria and Portland).  I’ve only ever stopped there for coffee and my red table (at Flowers n Fluff) and to make a contribution to the city (speeding ticket).  We were all up for a little exploring, and Robin knew of some jems we’d sure to go gaga over (like The Castle).

We drove around (with me adhering to all posted speed limits) snapping photos, laughing, oohing and ahhing at all the charming homes, laughing… and lots and lots more of laughing, silliness and merriment. I had gobs of photos I took, but since I was stalking driving and clicking at the same time… well that = blurry photos.   Some of the houses really struck me, like the ordinary little 50’s ramblers with stunning front entries.  From ordinary to extraordinary with just a little molding and roofing.  Robin spotted the covered wagon, and if ANYONE should be getting a ticket in Clatskanie… it’s the people who are using it as their recycling bin. We all fell in love with the vintage gate and fence… and the yellow farmhouse. I was even surprised to see a few stucco houses. Stucco… in Oregon? It reminded me of California, and I had a twinge of homesickness (which I cured with a another nibble of cardamom bread).

We had come to where Robin’s car was parked, but we just were having too much fun and didn’t want to call it a day.  We realized there was another part of town we hadn’t explored… so off we went.  We were greeted by a sign that had us baffled… “DEAD END - NO TURN AROUND”.  So, do we drive in backwards?  Do we go in, but don’t ever come out?  Are Jon Voight, Burt Reynolds and Ned Beatty waiting for us at the end of the road?

We found some cool old trucks that had become one with nature.  Paula was even brave enough to get behind the wheel of one of them.  Amazing how the forest works.  Or maybe it was gnomes who pimped their trucks.  More delights to behold… even in the wilds of an Oregon forest… red and aqua is to be found.   And I found out how milk jugs are grown - when we stumbled upon a secret milk jug farm.

If you’re ever driving through Clatskanie… do stop, and do explore!

Here at Casa de Zombie - we’ve not been immune from our economic crisis (anyone wanna buy a house?), and it’s been challenging times for everyone.  The silver lining, I believe… is that more and more people are going to “go handmade” for the holidays.  Last year I went 100% handmade.  We had an idyllic Christmas - no stress, no fuss, no hard$hip$… just love, laughs and fun. And lots and lots of snacky food.  It was kinda like living a Little House on the Prairie Christmas - sans Nellie Olson - and we had Uncle Tivo versus Pa providing us with holiday stories.  Anyhoo…

I’m keeping an eye on the crafty happenings in blogland for crafty project ideas, and an eye on etsy for handmade gifts.  Starting tomorrow (11.17.08), Martha Stewart is having a “Gifts by You” sewing project contest with prizes from SVP Worldwide (Singer/Husqvarna Viking/Pfaff).  Hoping I’ll find some great ideas there too.  So the wheels are turning in my head, and I think I’m going to submit something - after I saw THIS as one of the prizes.  A sneak peek of what I might submit:

Oh yeah, I could make room in our bedroom for THAT.  Seriously… who needs a bed, anyway.  Or better yet… after we finally sell our other house, I could support our Pacific Northwest timber industry [dreaming out loud] by adding on to our home [/dreaming].  It would be for the greater good, naturally.

Edited in:  Check out Rachel’s One Pretty Thing blog.  Holy craft!  Rachel’s blog is the ultimate one-stop shopping of all things DIY Handmade.

My little Roly Poly Circus redwork quilt ends up peeking out in a lot of photos of mine, and I’m asked about it a lot.  Only took me two + years to finally respond about it. RPC is one of my prized quilts.   Not just because it was pure joy for me to make… but because Ruby Short McKim, the designer… is a rock star to me.   Ruby broke the glass ceiling for women - even before ceilings had glass. Ruby’s granddaughter has a wonderful bio about Ruby here.   It’s worth a read.  Seriously.

Sometime around 1923, the Kansas City Star published Ruby’s RPC blocks (I’m guessing the year is correct… since I embroidered it on my quilt, and if I’m wrong… woops, too late now).   I think it was published weekly, but I’m not really sure.  I set my blocks in the order that they were published, even though it didn’t coincide with Ruby’s lil’ poem.

Since going back in time to retrieve the patterns from the paper was not an option, I found the next best thing:
Ruby Short McKim’s Roly Poly Circus Quilt (Spiral-bound) by Jill Sutton Filo
ISBN-10: 0967019702
ISBN-13: 978-096701970

I wish newspapers today would start printing quilt blocks and patterns again. Ahh… good times, especially in rough economic times. Blatant shout-out to the NY Times, LA Times, SF Chronie, The Oregonian… I’m available! Hahahaha. I would love to see feedsacks come back too. I would buy what ever came in a fabric sack. Anything to keep me indoors. Quilting. Crafting. Not being outdoors. I’m an indoor girl, and this is why:

Fabric is MUCH easier to stack than firewood.  And as hard as it is to believe… I stacked all of that wood.  The fruit of some of our downed trees from our big storm last December.  I’d pat myself on the back, but my arms are still too sore.

Speaking of indoors… MMHZ is having a grand old time at Thimble Creek!  Joe and Roxie sent me this photo of what MMHZ has been up to.  Getting spoiled, of course.  :)

UPDATE: Craftietammie left a comment with great info about the KC Star’s “Pickledish“.  I kinda feel like Dr. Frankenstein shouting, “it’s alive, it’s alive”… an old timey tradition being kept alive. Love. It.   Now all that I need is for my Froot Loops to come in a nice fabric bag.  Kellogg’s… are you listening?