The day after

My treat on the day after Christmas is to wash all my lovely china by hand.  Reminds me of growing up, washing dishes for our family of 8.  As long as it's only once a year.

Merry Christmas!

And yet another visitor!

Tricksy the Cat

Word has gone out all over the neighborhood about Jack the Cat, who never goes outdoors.  Today, Tricksy came by to see if the stories are true.

Jack has a new friend!

Manny the Cat

For one brief wonderful moment, Jack thought he had won!  The enemy was turning tail!  That was an hour ago.  Manny still shows no sign of leaving.

Hey, guys, remember the horrors of...

Library School

Here's a picture of the three of us wondering what hell we were thinking.  That's me on the left, holding my nose.  For two whole years.

Visiting Day

Patty Comes to Visit Jack

This is Jack's favorite thing!  He fluffs up his tail, and tries to pat her through the window.  No, he's not scared at all.  Much...

I don't know why, I just felt like it

Choteau the cow in the garden

The view from the other side of the mountain

Pam's Mount Rainier picures

While David and I were at Paradise, Pam and Hal were over on the other side of the mountain.

From Lake Tipsoo

From the Naches Peak trail

From the Crystal Mountain gondola

The garden

David's garden

The one cherry has been eaten (by me), along with lots of raspberries, and two apples that fell of the tree a couple of weeks ago.  The red apples are nearly ready to eat, and the two pears are coming along nicely.

My garden

These are volunteer nasturtiums from years past.  They are everywere.

More Mount Rainier

David's Mount Rainier pictures

These were taken July 17, looking out over the Tatoosh Range, as a storm rolls in.

These were taken August 3 on the Nisqually Vista trail

 

This shows the famous "crop circle" on top of Mount Rainier.

Visit to Mount Rainier

There was a long line at the entrance (Paradise side), but with our National Park senior pass, we got to go right in.  Parking, on the other hand, was ghastly.  One hundred years ago last weekend there were only 800 visitors to Mt. Rainier, and 147 cars.  This year it was more like a million.  Well, a lot, anyway.

We took the Nisqually Vista Trail, a short loop out to look at Nisqually Glacier.  It has certainly changed in the forty years since the first time I saw it.  

The meadows are in full bloom, and it's wonderful to see how they've grown back over the years.  Here are some of what's in bloom, with what I hope are correct identifications.

Magenta paintbrush

Sitka valerian

Broadleaf arnica

Heather

I never get tired of taking pictures of the mountain.

 

And we finished off with a really good lunch at Longmire.

I wore out the W

I'm just putting this picture here, because I need to link it elsewhere.

A Birthday Serger and a Little Bit of Sewing

After years of dithering, I finally bought a serger!  It's the Baby Lock Imagine with the fancy-pants jet-air threading.  The FP JAT poofs the thread into the loopers and I squint and thread the needles my own self.  I love that it's so easy to thread and that I can thread it in any order. If a thread breaks I don't have to re-do the whole thing.

I practiced using the new machine by making a few baby blankets - terry cloth on one side, cotton on the other, all serged up with a 4 thread overlock.  It was a good way to get used to the speed of the machine, get a feel for how everything lined up to the cutting blade and learn how to serge a rounded corner.

Hattie, of course, napped in the scraps.

Next I practiced a narrow rolled hem.  I want to use this for hemming some silk crepe de chine chemisey-thingies that I want to make soon.  I really love this rolled hem:

Then I took a deep breath and serged the seam allowances and hems of a Louise Cutting shirt that had been waiting around for a month or so for me to finish it.
It's Cutting Line Design's Point of View shirt, view B.  I did away with the pleat in the back and just gathered it into the yoke.  It's a lovely loose shirt to wear on its own or over a camisole or tshirt.  The fabric is a  cotton from Marcy Tilton.  It has a bit of a brocade effect and is a little greener in real life.

 The houndstoothy fabric is a light-weight scuba knit I got at Britex in San Francisco earlier this year.  It will eventually be made into a pencil skirt and tank top

 Loverly buttons from Nancy's Sewing Basket

 Gathers substituted for the back pleat.

A mitered corner that I would not be ashamed for Louise Cutting herself to see!

While I'm enjoying learning a new machine, and looking forward to using it more,  Hattie is enjoying plotting mayhem and practicing her evil laugh