Cleaning the Kitchen - Day 1

A year ago my mother passed away and my dad decided that it's really time to sell the house.  Now that I'm home, I have been tasked with the wonderful job of cleaning out everything.  I have been doing small things here and there, jumping between the inside and the outside of the house.  My biggest job has just been trying to catch up on dishes.

Today I had a friend come over and help me as we tackled the "spice cupboard".   We realized halfway through we should have taken before pictures, so instead we have "mid-way through" pictures and after pictures.  The cupboard doors were damaged years ago and things were just never cleaned so they could be replaced properly.

The spice cupboard after clearing off the first shelf.

I decided it was just easier to dump all the spices that were in Tupperware containers and run the containers through the dishwasher.

All the spices that were pulled from the first shelf.

It took M and I about two hours to scrub down the shelves and wipe down everything that didn't get tossed.  Hopefully this will encourage dad to get the doors replaced.  If anything things will be a little easier to wipe down since it won't have so much build up.  At any rate, here is how everything looks now.  "White" space is good.

 The cupboard above the stove minus some storage containers that are currently in the dishwasher.  Though I may find another place for them.  

The spice cupboard with a clear shelf denoted for cooking and a shelf for baking supplies.  Plus room for miscellaneous extra stuffs.

I'm debating if I want to go back to the Tupperware spice containers.  I prefer the spice bottles and then refilling them from the bulk section at Winco.  I don't know, I'll see if any of my siblings want them first before I start making a yard sale box.

Sólás Caomh

Several months ago, a friend posted a pin on Pintrest asking if any of her friends could make this blanket for her.  Naturally I volunteered.  It was quite the challenge, but still fun to do.

Here is the finished blanket.

And here is a close up of the weave pattern.

I definitely plan on using this pattern again.  Though I may use a smaller weight yarn and not a color that is only available on a limited supply online.

SitRep: Plants

Wow...haven't posted since April.  Yeah, the end of the school year just got really busy with end of term projects and graduation.  Found out I had to redo my PACT which was more stressful than it needed to be. (Yes, I did pass it the second time around.)  Then moved back to Dad's, went to a regional Young Single Adult conference then spent a week in Maine for the Hobbs family reunion (more on that later).  Plus remembering to transfer pictures from my iPod (better camera) to my computer...I know, I know, excuses, excuses.  But, hey, I'm back and here's the situation with my plants...

Raspberry plant:  dead...methinks it got over-watered, or too much sun or some combination of the two.  I'll try again next season with a fresh plant.

Herbs: I give up!  Two years in a row and complete failure!  I was just sent an article about herbs, I'll read that and see if it will give some insight to what I'm doing wrong.

Garden plants:  So the garden spot at my dad's needs a little more work than I originally thought and there is no way I could get it done before I needed to transplant my starters.  In fact the entire yard needs a lot of work, so that is my project for the summer.  Get the weeds out and re-line all the beds, maybe even plant a few bushes.  Basically get it back under control and then I can focus on planting a garden.

Flowers:  I think there was something wrong with the bulbs because they did not look right once they started to really sprout.  Unfortunately the pot was knocked over and broke so I will have to start all over with those.  No biggie.

However, my Peruvian Lilly has bloomed it was absolutely gorgeous!!

 Still waiting on the Orientals to bloom though.  So there was some success.  Hopefully next year I'll get even more!

Plant Update

So, I meant to post this Monday about how my raspberry plant is doing.  Considering the sudden cold snap and now to high winds, it's holding up pretty well.  I trimmed it Monday morning so more nutrients can now go to the living leaves and hopefully make the branches stronger.

Here's what it looks like, after its trim.

While trimming, I noticed one of the stronger branches is half broken.  I need to do some research to see if I can re-attach it or just start a second plant with it.

This morning when I woke up, I noticed several other plants are starting to sprout...

My Oriental Lillies

My tulips

My herbs

It's so exciting to see things start to grow.  Hopefully I can actually keep my herbs around long enough to use them.  Last year didn't turn out so well.  I also got my starter tray set up with roma tomatoes, green beans, green onions, spinach, and cantaloupe.  Two other containers now hold red and yellow onion bulbs.  I timed everything to be ready to transplant once I move back over to Western Washington.  My dad has some garden space, it'll need a little work and TLC to be ready.  I think it'll be a great project for my brother and sister to help out with.

Music Stand Bag

I play in the local community band and our season is slowly starting.  Summer is our busiest time.  As more and more performances are cropping up on our calender, it just makes sense to keep certain items in the car, my music stand for example.  My first summer I just borrowed a stand from a fellow clarinet player, but I always felt bad about it, that I wasn't as prepared as I should be.  Last summer I found a fold up one at a yard sale for super cheap...then I would forget to bring it.  This season, I told myself I would not forget my stand, and in order to help with that, I made a bag to keep all the pieces together and make it easier to carry around.  The design came from the bag my camera tripod came in.

What you need is:
*some scrap fabric (about a 1/2 yard or so)
*cording (the length of the bag + the width of the bag + a little extra so it can hang off your shoulder)
*cord stopper
*item to go in said bag (my music stand, for example)
*rotary cutter, ruler, and mat
*gauge
*basic sewing supplies

First you want to cut a length of fabric that is about 6-8 inches longer than the stand.  I cut mine on the fold, so I only have one seam to worry about.

Next sew up the bottom.  Be sure to re-enforce it!  I used a standard 5/8" seam allowance here.

Now comes the detail work.  Make a 1/4" narrow hem on both sides at the top.  Have the hem go down about 6".  This will make your opening nice and neat.

Then press over 1/4" at the top and then fold over another inch to make the casing for your cording.

Next, feed your cording through and add the stopper.

Then keep the cording inside the bag and pin it where you want it to attach at the bottom.  Mine is about 2" from the bottom seam.  I have my cording stick out a little bit from the edge, so I can see it better when I sew the seam up.  Re-enforce where the cording is to make sure it stays put.

Finally, trim the corners and flip it right side out.  And, ta-da!  You have your very own music stand (or whatever) bag!  You can press the seams if you want, but it's not necessary.

This stays in my car and it keeps all the pieces together so they don't go sliding around everywhere in the backseat.  And with the shoulder strap, I can carry it easier to and from performances.  It's also big enough that I can stick my phone and a water bottle in there too!

An Experiment

Yesterday I went out to see what Easter candy was left (and consequence ridiculously cheap) as well as pick up potting soil and starter trays for my garden this year.  Didn't find much as far as candy goes, which is probably a good thing.  However, roaming around the garden center at Wal-Mart I found some rather sad looking berry bushes.  I've always wanted fresh raspberries, and due to their sad shape they were only a couple bucks.  It looked like they sat in the direct sun for too long and probably over watered.  I needed to get plant food anyways, so I took home a raspberry bush.  Mixed in a little fresh soil and gave it some plant food before heading off to work.  I wish I took a picture, poor thing only had one green leaf.  I found this when I got home 4 hours later...

Once a week for the next month, I will water it with the water-based plant food I have and then go down to every other week (Box recommends every 7 - 14 days during busy plant growth) and we'll see what happens.  I'm not expecting any fruit this year, but if I can at least nurse it back to health and then hopefully I can have lots of raspberries in the future!  Every week, I'll post a new picture and track its progress.

Finished Quilts

I actually finished these almost a month ago, but then all my school projects became due and life just took over.

Anywho...t-shirt quilt #2 is finished.  This is for my best friend and got it finished by his birthday!!  Yay for making goals!  Again, here is where I learned how to make my t-shirt (or memory) quilts.  I have two more planned.  One is for another totally awesome friend and the second is all my WSU shirts.  That one will be interested because I plan on using my spare set of WSU bed sheets for sashing, binding and backing material.

Also finished is the first of two blankets for my nephew.  My sister found the material kit for this one while we were going through my late mother's sewing room.  Since I know how to quilt, she handed it to me and asked me to make it for her.  It's minky fabric, which sped up the purchase of a walking foot (best investment so far!) and while the new foot has made quilting much more enjoyable, if I ever work with minky again, it will be too soon!  It sheds like no one's business when cut, it was EVERYWHERE when I took it out of the bag.  The nice thing is that it's fluffy enough that I didn't need to be too conservative with my whip stitching on the binding, just needed to make sure it was secure. It's super soft and super warm, I have a feeling mom will be using it more than baby...

Now switching gears to crochet and knitting.  At least I can work on those projects during class.  :D