Marsbarn Designs...

First Rule of Road Trip

First Rule of Road Trip:There is no vomit.

Second Rule of Road Trip: If there is vomit, get it in the bucket.

I am very happy to report that everyone in our jolly family abided by either the first rule or the second rule of Road Trip.  I know that Big E has already started filling people in on our yick status, so I won't linger here long.  I just want to say, that I have often, OFTEN, thanked the stars that we were blessed with children with good aim.  Now, moving on to the part of the post where I show you a photo of a restroom.

This is the sink in the women's bathroom at the Olympia Club.

I can tell you that about half of those faucets work 

(we checked them all).

The Olympia Club is one of the coolest Mc Menamins I've been to.

It's a reformed notorious "Gentlemen's Club", 

where women were only allowed upstairs in an.. um...

"professional" capacity.  

After a lovely lunch we continued on our merry way.  

The plan was to spend the first day of Road Trip 2009 

driving, with the reward of a swim in the hotel pool, 

followed by dinner at a friend's house at the end of the day. 

Mr Warhamster, also known mysteriously as "Jim", 

and his family shared their lovely view and a 

delicious dinner with us. 

I seriously over ate.

The homemade whole wheat pastry wrapped around chard 

(for the savory bit) and peaches (for the sweet part) 

just about did me in (oh it was buttery and lovely).

I felt a serious need to be rolled to the car afterward.

Little e was introduced to a totally new concept at the 

Warhamster household...  a Daddy who cooks.

"Really Momma? He even made the dessert?"  

Dinner, fabulous company, and enlightenment.

What more could you ask?

Did I mention the sunset?  

fantasy meets real life, and real life is better because there's jam.

I used to have this fantasy.

It was one of those dream sequences,

like the one drama geeks have about being 

"Discovered" while riding the bus to drama camp, 

but mine was about house cleaning.

Yes people, that's the way I roll.

I used to dream that upon coming back 

from vacation I would find my house magically cleaned, 

re-organized, de-cluttered, and sparkly new.  

Everything would be magically just the way I'd always 

wanted it, but never actually spent the time doing.

Sigh.

Why the past tense?

Well... I've got a new fantasy.

This one's about Jam.

Yes people, Jam.

It's about coming home to find your raspberries picked,

made into jam, and put away on the shelf.

Poof, like magic! Summer stored away for the cold months.

And know what?

Thanks to my sister, the Estimable O, and my Mom,

it totally happened.

So much better than finding everything in the kitchen's 

been moved, and not being able to find the fruit knives!

churning the ol' brain box

Last night was one of my rare bouts of insomnia.  

The best sleep I could manage was that doze where your body is asleep but your mind churns cream all the night through, and you wake up feeling like you've got butter between the ears.

The last week was a swirling whirl of adventures, and I've got to set awhile before I'll be able to write it all up.  To tide you over, while I recover my brain enough to come up with less vile metaphors, I leave you with this mediocre photo of Victoria.  

Wait!  Who's that you say?  

Why yes, it is... 

Violin playing Darth Vader.  

The Empire's on hard times, dontcha know.

Big E: Little E and the Nature of Car Trips

Little E: "Dadda, I had a great trip!"

Big E: "Oh?"

Little E: "Yeah! I only had yick twice!"

Note: In the Marsbarn, Yick is technical term

defining the ability to become sick and vomit in the car.

Big E: Little E and the Nature of Telephones.

H out of the country, so I thought I would abduct her blog and post:

Papa J called yesterday.

Little e and I chatted with him for a few minutes.

When she was off the phone, I asked her,

"Did you enjoyed talking with Papa?"

Little E said, "Yes,

but on the phone, it's not the same."

She paused and said, 

"He's a long distance away

 and I can't see his face."

break time

  

I'm taking a blogging break to spend some time with the family during Big E's time off.  I'll see y'all in about a week.

finding a way around the squidgy and wonky

So I've been battering about the idea of how to make a quilt top with different weights of recycled knits and woven fabrics.  I figure I will need to stabilize each square, so the finished top doesn't go all wonky and squidgy. The fabrics are coming from a collection of soon to be deconstructed baby clothes.  See how they will be different weights and fabrics?  So I've started a trial mini-quilt made from grease spattered old t-shirts of mine. (Why can't I learn to always, ALWAYs use an apron?)  I'm using the same light weight stabilizer I use for my foundation pieced quilts, and to my surprise, my trial quilt is actually coming together the way I visualized it.  

The foundation doesn't make the top stiff, or scratchy, as I'd feared. The mini-top is soft and cozy, and thick and lovely.  And (score!) the wonky stretch that would come from all those different knits is totally negated.  

Anybody out there done a project like this?  

How did you do it?

Oh just a bit of introspection with my coffee

So, here is a thing that interests me.

I'm really liking how my 'Recent Photos" collage 

(to the right) is beginning to brighten up a bit. 

It's been a bit too dark, with not nearly enough color.

I never choose my post photos with that set in mind,

so it catches me off guard sometimes to see the patterns

that have been creeping up on me.  It's a bit like hearing a recording of your voice in conversation, and realizing how often you've been saying one phrase.

a foreign perspective

Ahhhhhhhhhh.....

Sometimes, you just have to get out and take a break

and see what there is to be seen.

My mom and I ventured out the Japanese Gardens. 

The gardens have been hosting a cross cultural display 

of textiles to honor Portland's sister city Sapporo, Japan. 

They have juxtaposed the textiles of Northwestern Native Americans and the Ainu, an indigenous people of Japan.  

 

The Ainu robes were wonderful! 

The shapes and techniques were totally unique.

I love the curves and beauty of the appliques on this robe.

It was such a unique display!

 

And of course we had to stroll through the gardens.

The iris are just coming into bloom.

 

And the angst of the last couple of days just flowed away.....

Am I caught up yet?

I've been whittling away at my List in the past two days.

I am temporarily caught up on my sewing.

The dice bags are stacked, tagged, and ready to go.  

Big E's club is having its annual gaming shindig, 

and I needed to get the pre-orders labeled and packaged up

before we head out on our family time.

Strawberry jam has been made, 

as has homemade pizza dough,

muffins with raspberries from our yard,

and chocolate chip cookies for the week's tea treats.

I whipped up four tiny drawstring pouches,

in bright pretty fabrics, set on necklace length cords.

These are for Sweetheart G to store her bite plate in while she eats.  

Itineraries, lists, maps, and instructions have been compiled.

The filter on the air conditioner has been cleaned.

Laundry continues to move through the system.

My shirt drawers have been culled and reorganized.

Phew.

Is this it? 

Am I caught up?

Wow... um I thought "caught up" would be a lot, ah.. 

cleaner.

Oh right... cleaning, that would be me.

This must mean I need to make a new List 

which starts with "Wash floors" and ends with "I give up."

Oh and Big E likened my voice to that of a worn out, used up, old...

um.... 

well there's just no polite word for that is there?

It must be time for a vacation!

Edited to add:

So Big E pointed out, that perhaps the tone of our conversation about my malfunctioning voice might not have been accurate out of context.  So, I am here to say definitively that the man was not making fun of me.   I started the conversation, and he just joined in.