Before & After...

I thought it would be fun to show you how easy it is to 'doctor' your photos and show you a little before & after so to speak.  For the pudding one I first went into Picasa 3 and brightened the picture. Then I went to PhotoScape and put the old and new pictures next to each other for comparisons sake. I took sort of the same route for the bamboo picture but added the Lomo effect to it instead. This doesn't work for all pictures but it is fun to do so have a go!

Last Sunday I decided to change up the furniture in the house without spending any money. I  (with help of the rest of the family) changed out the two large dining tables that we have. (yes, we have two dining and living rooms, how very American) Now the dark one is in the formal area where I do my sewing and the lighter one is in the kitchen area. So far I like it! (Olive was checking out the neighborhood...)

PS I added two Signs of Spring pictures in the left side bar, taken yesterday. They are the first sign of Chives and the first sign of Peonies!

Dress, Birds, Flowers...

Well, I finally finished the Shirt Dress! I'll have to wear it a few times to see how I like it but my first thoughts are good and it is comfy too.

This is what we saw Saturday afternoon on our backyard feeder: a Sharp-Shinned Hawk! I had to look that one up since we had never seen one before. It scared the heck out of all the little birdies and after a couple of minutes it swooped down and actually cought one, right before our eyes! Rather gruesome I must say but such is nature of course...

It took a while but eventually all the little birdies returned, including this cute little Junco...

It is still rather cloudy and gloomy outside so I bought a nice Gerbera Daisy plant for inside. You can never have enough color around you!

Gefeliciteerd!

Yeah, Olive has turned 10 years old/ young today!!!
These pictures were taken in 2003 I think. So chocolaty still then and now so grey... (but still as cute if not cuter!)

Fonts...

Hello there everyone, I just received a request to change my font because it was a bit difficult to read. I loved it myself but if you guys can't read it then what's the use of this blog? ;-)

Please let me know if this one is any better or if you would like me to find another one...

Buttonholes....

Last year April I bought a new sewing machine, a Janome DC2010. Its best feature: an Automatic Buttonhole Foot!

You stick in your desired button in the back of the gadget, press your foot down on the pedal and off the machine goes until the buttonhole is done: truly amazing! And so fast! Love it, love it, love it! The machine also has an automatic-button-on-sewer-thingamagig but I haven't figured that one out yet. I just spent half an hour sewing on all 8 buttons by hand...

All that is left now are those dang sleeves. Maybe tomorrow...

Time now for some left over curry with chard (= 'snijbiet' in Dutch, geen idee dat het zo heette. Het zijn gewoon groene bladeren) and a glass of wine. Not bad at all!

A Miracle Today...

Yes, truly a miracle it was: 'my'  rider at Little Bit, who I've been volunteering with for nearly 3 years, spoke her first words today!
She was rather upset at the beginning of the lesson so we started singing  the 'Happy Birthday' -song to her, just for fun. Once we stopped singing she said 'Happy!' and a few seconds later she said 'Happy Birthday' as clear as could be! Thankfully her mother was there as well and we all just fell over ourselves in utter amazement. (she has been non-verbal all this time) I have to admit I had a tear coming out of my eye, truly amazing! Because of privacy reasons I cannot go in more detail then this but you get the picture...

Now I'm spending the rest of the day by myself until late tonight when the rest of the family will be returning home again. C. has to play in the pep band this evening. Parts of the Jazz Band and the Concert Band play together to support our Varsity Basketball team. M. is there for the fun and pizza  and G. has to be there since it is Senior Night (senior students I mean with that, not that G. is a senior! ;-))  and he is the High School Head so it is part of his work...

So now I can finally tackle the 8 buttonholes that still need to be made on my shirt dress. I tried several times yesterday (growing angrier every time I sat down) but after a few stitches my machine would give some kind of error code that I just couldn't decifer. I even went online to try  and find it but no luck. I was VERY frustrated! It took G. of course only a couple of minutes to find out what was going wrong and now the machine works just peachy!

Anyway, I'll leave you with a collage of birdies that I spotted right outside the window where I'm sitting. The top one is an "Evening Grossbeak" and they are only here this time of year I believe. The bottom one is a "Towhee" also very cute to see I think.

And oh yes, I finished a small cross-stitch piece for the grey bedroom the other day. It is a song-text by the Swede Thomas Ledin whom I still like to listen to once in a while...
"Blue, blue winds and waters. Blue, blue skies and sees. Blue, blue feelings in the night." (rather literal translation)
Have a great weekend!!!

Yesterday...

Yesterday was once again a beautiful day so I couldn't resist making more pictures on my way to school. After almost four years in this area I still get excited when we can actually see the volcano Mt. Rainier. The ones above and below were taken towards our village, but at different locations. Every time I have to find a safe place where I can stop the car, jump out and quickly take some pictures.

The next onces were taken right before I exit the valley. You should be able to recognize the bridge here. This where I've taken a lot of the flood pictures. I guess I could put a before and after picture set together for you. Maybe later today. I love the green of the grass here...

Next was the Basketball game for M. at school. I could only stay for the first half since C. had an orthodontist appointment in town. Look at these cool Nike shoes! And they crushed the other team by the way... <M. sits all the way to the right>

And look what was waiting for me when I came home: my order from "Sew, Mama, Sew"!

I ordered some Robert Kaufman and Michael Miller fabrics for the grey quilt <or maybe a wall hanging, we don't really need a quilt> that I would like to make for our grey bedroom. It is very difficult to find nice grey fabrics that don't have any other colors in it. I Love polkadots (if you didn't know that already) but I'm still looking for a couple of other graphic prints that can go with these. At least I've started my stash!

Shirt Dress...

Yes, I'm sewing again! I'm attempting to sew the Shirt Dress by Heather Ross from her book 'Weekend Sewing'. I managed to assemble the collar today with bias tape and all: I was very proud! I had to let it sit in my head for a couple of days trying to figure out how to put it all together but it worked!

But now the sleeves are next and I just shiver at the thought. Time for a break I think. Also buttonholes (8 of them!) are coming up, but that should be easy since I now have one of those easy buttonhole makers on my sewing machine. I'll practice first I think on a scrap piece of material, just to be on the safe side...

Yesterday I purchased another pair of skinny jeans. (at Target for $18!) These are the longer ones so that I can fold them over at the bottom. I rather like them. (a lot!) Very tight though, I can hardly bend down or over.  Sometimes we have to suffer in order to be fashionable, or at least a bit I suppose....

Well, the sun is shining AGAIN today so I'd better get some vitamin D out there.  Later on today I will get to see M. play in her Basketball game and after that I have to take C. to the orthodontist for a quick check-up. On the way home it will be time again to pick up our second box of organic fruits and veggies...
See ya!

Is it a Bird or is it a Plane?

Wow, what a day! It started of so dark and gloomy (in my head) and now it is just glorious! We are having the most fabulous weather ever (even though it is chilly and I had to wear my long-johns to the barn) and I have been making photos left and right. I encountered two bald eagles at two different locations and was able to capture them on film. Aren't they amazing?

Then at the barn I took some fun pics of Zorro, one of our Fjords, who was enjoying the sunshine as well...

And then on my way home I encoutered this beautiful scenery! Can you see Mt. Raineer peeking through in the 2nd picture?

Whilst doing some grocery shopping I was so much in  a Spring mood that I bought myself some lovely Hoegaarden beer (not cheap here in The States so I don't buy that very often) and my favorite Spicy Thai potato chips: yummie!

Life is certainly much better again!



Morning Pics...

Just to show that I'm trying (very hard!) to have more uplifted spirits, here are some pics that I took this morning. The hycinth smells sooo nice, but is super top-heavy so I have to think of something for that before it topples over.

I also took some pictures of the outdoors. We suddenly have temps right below freezing in the morning and that fact gave me some nice detailed pictures. And look at that super blue sky!

And finally I've added some pics of our Olive who is becoming pretty grey now. She will celebrate her 10th birthday in a few days!

Keep Calm...

Sorry guys, not much going on here. The last few days really weren't that bad, I just feel so looooooow.....
 Good thing I'm off to play with the horsies again today, that always cheers me up. Hopefully more upbeat news/ pictures whatever soon ok?!

I did add a couple of fun little Valentine's projects here, can't remember from which sites I got them. I don't really 'do' Valentine's Day, but thought these were sweet and doable...

I would say 'Keep Calm and Drink On' but is only quarter to eight in the morning. 'Drink Tea and Eat Cake" is maybe better fitting this time of day... :-)