the goose loves tuesday's ten (seattle style!) (#14)

What is full of rain, inhabited by seahawks and mariners, and 180 miles away?

Seattle!

Billy and I drove up to Seattle on Friday night for the weekend - he had a pipe band competition, I had a conference there on Monday/Tuesday, and we figured we could visit Monika while we were there.

1. While Billy was at his pipe band competition on Saturday, Monika and I had a girls day! We had indian food for lunch (SO GOOD!) and when she ordered a vodka seven, they brought her a glass with vodka and a glass with 7-Up, separately. She mixed them in her mouth instead.

2. We then went to the Pacific Northwest Ballet Company showing of Coppelia, which is about two lovers and a doll maker. Sounds weird, yeah. But it was good. And our cousin's cousin was one of the dancers!

3. No girls outing is complete without getting pedicures. Thank you, Monika, for treating me!

4. That evening, Monika went babysitting and Billy was still in Bellingham for the competition, so I took the dog for a looooong walk. After spending the first hour sniffing/peeing/trampling nature, he found a stick. And at that point, it was full-speed ahead. Despite passing two dogs and a bunch of people, he sped right along, gripping the stick with all his might. I was practically running to keep up with his pace.

Here's the end goal: a nice long stick-chew session.

5. Once he got over the stick, he decided to attack the fence, which borders the sidewalk of a busy street. Anytime he heard cars or people go by (i.e. always), he'd run up and down the fence, barking/howling, and then would start jumping up, even though he was at least 4 feet too short to actually get anywhere. It took me probably 34 pictures, but I finally got a mid-air leap.

6. Then Billy came home in all his Scottish finery. Loving that skirt kilt!

7. After some delicious crepe action in the morning (thanks, Monika - your crepe pan rocks!), we drove out to Redmond, WA (about 30 min east) for some picnic action.

8. Our next destination (less than a mile from the park) was the Mac and Jack's Brewery, which is famous for theirfrican Amber. It's just a brewery and small shop - no food - but the free tour was pretty sweet. And free.

The tour comes with a free pint glass and four taster tickets, so we walked out with two pint glasses to add to our collections and about a pint of beer (in separate tastes). The amber is delicious, the IPA, not so much. And it was all so worth the price of free.

9. Then Billy took off for Portland with the dog, and left me with the devil my sister, who would take me to my conference that night. But first, we made a very important dinner-delivery stop to Monika's friends Jess and Tyler, who just had the most adorable little baby (besides Brennan!) last Tuesday. Here's little Easton James:

Happy 1-Week Birthday, Easton! You are too cute.

(See that UP onesie? Yeah, I totally made that. Earned me baby-holding rights for at least 25 minutes, which was awesome.)

10. Then it was off to a two-day National Investor Relations Institute (NIRI) conference for me. Complete with really unnecessary cool swag. Just wait til I show you my poncho-holder.

11. (What?! Eleven?! Yes - this makes up for me only giving you 19 last week...)

The sun-setting on Seattle, as seen from my hotel room on Monday night.

Thanks, Seattle - you were a good trip.

the goose loves tuesday's ten (#3)

Welcome to the third edition of Tuesday's Ten. Check out last week's episode too. 

1. Today's post is actually a bit late, mostly because I was up late last night finishing up these two beauties for my coworker's granddaughter. My coworker is flying out tomorrow to visit the almost-1-year-old, so I had to finish them up!

The giraffe shapes came from a shopping bag that my coworker had - we made a copy of the bag and then I cut out the shapes, traced them onto the fabric, then cut them out and sewed them down! A little time consuming, but I love them.

2. Last weekend we spent three days in Hood River, Oregon (full update coming soon). It was supposed to be an outdoorsy vacation, but it was more like a beer vacation. We went to three breweries and had over a dozen beers between the four of us. This was probably very close to Billy's dream vacay.

3. Although we're several years away from having little McWood babies running around, these Baby Beagle Shoes (by Stride Rite) really tempt me to get going sooner... or maybe I should just buy them now and save them for future little Willy...

4. Speaking of Beagles, I recently made Bentley a sparkly red bowtie. Believe me - it has a good purpose, and you'll find out soon - but for now, he looks like a Vegas Showdog with it on.

5. Dinner on Sunday looked like this. Philly Cheesesteaks. And it was tasty.

6. Along with the two giraffe onesies, I sewed three others for my coworker - two are below (and I still need to finish the last). The white one has lacy-ness around the collar, and the pink one has 3D flowers. Kids' clothes are high tech these days.

7. I spent Monday night screaming at the TV while watching the final episode of The Bachelor. Don't get me wrong - I have never believed in that "true-love-on-TV" stuff. However, I do believe in relieving stress by watching ridiculous girls "fall in love" with a guy who's got an awful haircut (scroll down to the article for a great hair shot, and head to Twitter to follow the haircut (yes, it has its own twitter account) ). Monday's episode was even more fun because we played "Bengo" - Bingo, with a word play on Bachelor Ben's name. Awesome? Yes, except that I didn't win. All I needed in the end was for somebody to say "once in a lifetime" but it never happened.

8. Today (March 13) is exactly 3 months until my 25th Birthday (I'd suggest you start shopping now - email me for my wishlist if you get stuck), which means I have only three months to complete my 25 for 25 list. And there are a decent number of gaps over there still...

Also, I want to go on a camping trip to celebrate the big two-five, and I want it to look exactly like this:

9. On Thursday, before escaping to the Columbia Gorge (Hood River), we stopped by Powells Bookstore, where I spent $20 on three new books. (I'm working on #14!). I've started The 19th Wife so far, which parallels the escape of Brigham Young's 19th Wife in the late 1800s and the murder of a polygamist by his 19th wife in the early 2000s. Bring on the drama and the fascinating polygamists.

10. On Sunday morning, Billy and I are running the 8K (5 mile) race in the Portland Shamrock Run. The furthest I've run since high school when I was skinny my cross country days is 4 miles. And that was tricky. So this will be fun - right? Wish me luck.

Also, for all you avid fans need to know the INSTANT I've posted another blog full of rambles, check out the new RSS feed I've added on the right. You can also put in your email address to be notified of new posts. Don't miss a single goof!

And one last P.S.: This is one of the few beagle-photo-free posts in a long time. Hooray for you dog-haters, my deepest apologies for you Bentley-lovers.

the goose loves baby things

It's true. I love all things baby. Baby kitchen utensils, baby puppies, and baby babies. And I love sewing baby things. Partly because they go pretty quickly, and partly because they're usually very cute.

Our friends David and Brianne are having their very first baby (a boy!) in a few weeks, and so I made them a couple gifts. Here they are, as I was wrapping them up (forgive the bad lighting).

I made two bibs (identical, but reversible; this photo shows the two different sides) and four pee-pee-tee-pees. Those little tee-pee cones are supposed to be plopped onto the little boy's "cannon" when changing his diaper to prevent it from spewing all over the place, as it tends to do when exposed to air. Or so I'm told.

I also made my first little baby hat! I used the same jungle-patterned cotton knit for all of the presents, to keep things coordinated, and it worked pretty well. It's a stretchy fabric, very similar to the fabric used for baby clothing/onesies, so it was perfect for a hat. A little tricky to sew with, though, because of the stretch.

This part was most fun - it's a "taggie" toy - I've seen the toys and blankets all over the internets (blogland and pinterest) - supposedly babies love to play with the floppy ribbons, especially with the different colors and textures. Luckily, the ribbon I already had on hand coordinated well and was varied in size and shape.

I used the same knit for the top and a plain white minky for the back. I also wrapped up a little brown and white striped onesie, and I added a piece of the same jungle knit to the front so that it would match the hat. I also made a basic 45" square blanket with the knit on top and a brown flannel on bottom. Somehow, I forgot to photograph those. Maybe David and Brianne will allow me to take some photos of those when new baby P is actually using them! :) Congrats on the soon-to-be-new-little-one! Can't wait to meet him!!

the goose loved the craft fair

The week after Thanksgiving, I participated in the University of Portland craft fair, which supports the Nicaragua Immersion Program. This was one of the main reasons I abandoned this blog (and many other things in life) for awhile! But it turned out really well.

Here's my bin of goodies, all boxed up!

And my display table. I made applique onesies, skirts, clutches, blankets, and a few other miscellaneous items.

I threw in a few Christmas designs, for those seasonally-conscious babies. :)

I think that making the skirts were one of my favorite parts, and I have a few more I want to make. It all started with this skirt, of course.

I also made a few "UP" onesies, so the children/grandchildren/friends of the faculty, staff, & students could proudly display their Purple Pride.

For those without babies in their lives, I made a series of clutches - a little larger than pocketbook size. Perfect for keys, wallet, and phone, or art supplies, or even a few diapers and wipes on the go. Big hit.

I typed up a little sign and price list, using my blog header image and my favorite Joel Dewberry fabrics from the Aviary 2 line.

I started with the onesies sorted by size in bins...

...But moved to the open format of spreading them on the table (Thanks, Carolyn!) so that people could browse through the options easier. A little more eye catching too.

Since most solid onesies are white, I dyed two batches - one a green and one a bluish-purple. I think I'm hooked on dyeing now. The dye is natural, skin friendly, and is sealed in with vinegar, so no color smearing or leaks!

To of my favorite below, that actually went to the same person! A polka dot tie and a "bib" of flower petals. The petals were time consuming to sew, but I love the look.

Overall, it was a lot of time and work, but the result was highly successful. Although I haven't fully reconciled my "books," I know that I turned a profit, and still even have a few pieces to sell. Look for me on Etsy soon... :) I'm also doing a few extra pieces this week for custom orders, and those will be super cute. I'll try to get those up here when I'm done!