July | 2015 | 365 Days Handmade

July 21, 2015
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Day 201/365: Borders and Fronts

Over an early dinner of couscous and shrimp salad with sugar snap peas, basil, and cherry tomatoes, I was telling Sean that I still needed to write tonight’s blog post. I wasn’t sure what to write about.

“You have a lot of borders and fronts sewed,” he said, motioning to the fabric strips draped over the back of one of the dining room chairs.

It took me a few seconds to realize what he meant by “borders and fronts.” I’d spent the weekend cutting and sewing binding strips, as well as piecing together the nine-patch blocks that I’d shared in yesterday’s blog entry.

“Oh,” I told him, “you mean binding and quilt tops.”

He tapped his finger on the top of the quilted placemat underneath his salad bowl. “Like I said, borders and fronts.”

* * *

Anyway, I decided not to take photos of the borders and fronts for today’s blog, mostly because I wanted to share a bright outdoor photo rather than an indoor poorly lit one. So I went outside this evening and took pictures of my birthday angel trumpet plant and the pumpkin seedlings that are no longer seedlings but turning into full-on plants with vines. They really loved this weekend’s rain and were very happy to soak it up.

See, don’t the plants and gnomes make for very cheery photos?

July 20, 2015
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Day 200/365: Nine-Patch Quilt Blocks

It rained last night and all morning. Given California’s current drought, this was a big deal. I stayed inside most of the day and sewed nine-patch quilt blocks. It was very satisfying to go through the stacks of 4.5″ squares that I’d cut several months ago, play with combinations of colors and patterns, and piece together these colorful arrangements. I’m thinking about making more placemats, maybe a couple of table runners, or even a small quilt. In the meantime, aren’t they pretty?

July 19, 2015
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Day 199/365: Fusion Breakfast with Handmade Placemats

Sean is the breakfast maker in our household. He always cooks my eggs exactly the way I like them, over medium. This morning’s eggs were so pretty that I had to take a picture of them. As I was framing the shot, it occurred to me that a lot of objects in the photo tell you a lot of things about us. There are the quilted placemats that I made, along with a luchador cocktail napkin that I sewed. In the background to the left are an aqua chair that I upcycled (I should post a blog entry with Before and After photos of that project), along with a white side table that I also painted. And Sean’s t-shirt tells you who he’s supporting in Major League Soccer.

Our meal is also reflective of our backgrounds: you take a Filipino girl from Hawaii and a Southern boy from Florida, have them living in coastal California for a dozen years, and you’ve got a breakfast of rice, eggs, vegan sausage, and unsweetened iced tea. Total Hawaiian-Californian-Southern fusion. And it was good.

July 18, 2015
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Day 198/365: TGIF

For the last four weeks, we’ve had to make the 350-mile-round-trip-in-24-hours to Ventura and back to Morro Bay because of my Monday morning allergy testing appointments. This weekend will be the first time in a month that we don’t have to do any long-distance driving. I am so glad. I plan to sit around the house all weekend and knit and read and clean the bathrooms and do laundry– anything but get in the car.

July 17, 2015
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Day 197/365: The Day a Surprise Visitor Came to My Group

Every Thursday afternoon, I facilitate a treatment group for inmates who are serving life sentences. There are currently eight members in the group, and we always sit in a circle. Today, the inmate seated directly across from me was talking when I noticed some movement along the top of his shoulder. The movement came from a small lump that had been prominently sitting under his shirt, above his shoulder, for some time since he’d entered the room and group had started. He kept talking, but I’d stopped paying attention because I was focused on what was starting to poke out of his shirt collar, along his neck. It was a little pointy face, covered in white and brown fur.

“Uh, Mr. P–,” I said, openly staring and pointing a finger at his shoulder. “What is that?”

“Oh, that,” he said. He reached into his shirt collar and gently pushed back down what was clearly a small animal. “That’s just my mouse.”

July 16, 2015
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Day 196/365: Handmade and Homemade Chocolate Chip Cookies

Once in a while, I’ll bake chocolate chip cookies from scratch and bring them to work. It makes for good relationships with my co-workers who carry the badges and batons. Plus, it increases my chances that they’ll come running to my aid if I ever need to hit my Personal Alarm Device in an emergency.

So I made these tonight.

Anyway, I thought you would enjoy a change from the boring old sock-in-progress photos.

I would share with you if I could.

July 15, 2015
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Day 195/365: New Sock in Cabin Fever Yarn

I started a new sock. Aren’t the colors of the needles and the yarn pretty? The needles are from KnitPicks, and the yarn is hand-dyed 100% merino wool from Claudia Hand Painted Yarns. The colorway is called Cabin Fever and makes me think of autumn leaves.

July 14, 2015
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Day 194/365: The Red Hots Socks, Completed

I completed my fourth and last round of allergy testing this morning, and then Sean and I drove back up to Morro Bay. I finished knitting the second Red Hots sock on the drive back. Traffic wasn’t so bad today, but OMG, I am so sick of being in the car.

Excuse me while I go to sleep for the next ten hours.

July 13, 2015
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Day 193/365: Red Hots Sock #2, Almost Finished

I have my fourth and last appointment for allergy testing tomorrow in Oxnard, so Sean and I decided to make the drive down to Ventura this morning. We left Morro Bay at around 11:30 AM. We didn’t reach Ventura until after 4 PM, when normally it takes about two and a half hours to make the 150-mile trip. It was a good thing I had my knitting with me in the car. We hit a lot of traffic on the 101 between Gaviota to Refugio Beach. By the time we got to Santa Barbara, we’d been in the car for about three hours already, and we were both sick of it. Luckily, our favorite independent bookstore was a few exits away, so we took a break from the road and got some food to eat and a couple of new books to read.

Now we’re back at the Ventura homestead, and Sean has fallen asleep on the couch. We’d talked about going out to eat dinner later, but it looks like getting back in the car and driving anywhere is definitely not going to be an option.

July 12, 2015
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Day 192/365: Kawaii Dessert Print Napkins

A few months ago, I bought this Japanese printed cotton at my favorite local independent fabric shop in Ventura. I thought it would be perfect for luncheon napkins.