Half Triangle Squares

I was desperate to start a more mindless quilt this week. I found a collection of fabric donations that I actually forgot about and several 3.5 inch squares. I turned these into half triangle squares thinking I would make broken dishes blocks. I still may, but I am a little shy of quite enough squares to make any ideas I am finding online work.

Monday is the Pacific Fabric President's Day sale too and hopefully I will go to that to get backing for another project that is waiting. Compared to last year this has been a sewing heavy year, and it is only February.

The rain came in heavy this afternoon making it a good time for sewing and indoor projects.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Good morning all and Happy Valentine's Day!

I am really hoping the rain stops and then I can get Nim out for awhile later in the day. It is the last day for his Valentine's Bow-Wow! Bandanna. :)



"Love does not consist in gazing at each other, but in looking outward in the same direction." - Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's "Le Petit Prince"

Chocolate Bar Pie

The moment I unwrapped and sampled the Rescue Chocolate Peanut Butter Pit Bull bar I knew I had to quickly start making my planned dessert or eat the entire bar and head out to the store. Stated that way - I really couldn't lose could I?

It is pretty amazing that this small company is able to do so much good and with a nice quality (and vegan) chocolate. I keep finding all these really neat small businesses or causes and I am so inspired by them. It reminds me to be open to all creative options to succeed in life.

This is the first bar I have tried by this company and I really enjoyed it. It wasn't overly sweet at all and peanut butter/chocolate is one of my top flavor combinations.

The recipe I am following is from Chocolate-Covered Katie's blog and it is the Chocolate Bar Pie recipe. I love her blog (talk about another inspiration). I love that she her job is blogging about her creations and that she tries to devote each day to making new recipes. Can you imagine?!

I did 3, 15 second microwave sessions to get that level of melt. It might not seem melted, but trust me, the second it was poured into the mixture it was clearly melted enough.

I used Mori-nu silken-firm tofu. I put in all three chocolate bars (minus my "samples"). These are slightly smaller weight bars than the ones Katie uses in her recipe. I don't think it is an exact science anyway.

My non-dairy milk choice was almond milk (my new current favorite - why did I wait so long to try it?!). I didn't add any sugar. I would definitely recommend anyone making it sampling before adding sugar. I could see someone finding mine not sweet enough, but it was perfect for me.

I used a pie dish but my big plans is to heat berries from my Costco frozen berry mix and eat them with this pie so I really don't care if it sets up like pie or stays more like a mousse. Not only that, it taste amazing already and I am the one eating it regardless of its form.

The Chocolate Shoebox

Nim and I started our day with a trip to the Arboretum. I left rain in North Bend, but fortunately Seattle was holding out. Just overcast.
My training friends were pretty quiet when they saw Nim's bandanna. Then finally a friend of mine commented that she just didn't see me as the dog bandanna sort...nevermind a Valentine's Day one. :)

I may be sick of all the radio ads for flowers and jewelry, but I am not sick of the Bow-Wow! Bandanna.
After training, Nim and I headed to The Chocolate Shoebox which was having a vegan Valentine's bake sale to benefit Precious Life Animal Sanctuary and Action for Animals. I had never been in the store before. Absolutely not my style or budget as far as shoes go, but super nice people and a really enjoyable little shop.

I bought Nim Hank's Peanut Butter and Yam Biscuits and bought myself a Raspberry Ginger Valentine Scone. The scone was very good and satisfied my current ginger fascination.

In the above photo you will a frosted heart-shaped dog treat. That is one of three I bought at Earth Pet on Friday. I decided that he will get one today, one tomorrow and one on Valentine's. :)

I also bought the very important Rescue Chocolate: Peanut Butter Pit Bull bars. Reading about these chocolate bars actually is what really made the decision to visit The Chocolate Shoebox (even more than the bake sale - shocking I know). I have a special dessert planned for tomorrow and high hopes that this chocolate will do. Stay tuned...
Nim and I enjoyed our Valentine's day treats on the spot. :) I had all these aspirations of sitting outside and maybe taking him for a walk but honestly I was pretty cold and worn out from the morning in the Arboretum and more than happy just to sit.
Nice drool. I think Nim was content to sit as well. :)

Earth Pet Bow-Wow! Bandanna

One of my errands today was to find Nim a special Valentine's Day dog treat. So I stopped at Earth Pet to accomplish my Valentine's Day errand and hoped the rain would hold long enough for a quick walk.

Not only did I find him special heart cookies for Valentine's Day but they gave him a special Bandanna! These are made by one of the employee's mom who loves animals and loves to sew. She does different theme bandannas for the holidays. What a fun contribution!

The rain did hold and we were able to get a quick walk in. The above photo is taken at the Salmon Hatchery. Nim got to broadcast his love all over Issaquah. :)

Suddenly Friday

Somehow this week is suddenly over. The entire thing feels like a blur.

My homework this week was heavy on the online videos. I actually learn well from them but several hours of different lectures can be very hard to pay attention to.

Usually I get through a lot of the lectures with a knitting project. The project has to be basic so I am not counting or following a detailed pattern. I have to be able to drop it at any point to take notes. My sweater was that basic project - until I had to scrap it.

With the sweater scrapped, and my existing sock project requiring me to follow a detailed pattern I was inspired to start another project. I had received another Flat Feet skein awhile back and so I grabbed that and went back to a pattern that I have had previous success with and I know is mostly mindless.

I am doing the "His-Her Crew and Knee Socks" pattern again from Interweave Knits, Spring 2002. I will do the crew pattern again which knitted up nicely before and I even wear the finished product.

The amazing thing is that I referenced my previous blog post on this project and not only could I not follow the video I previously used how to do an invisible cast-on, but I couldn't follow any other video I tried. This was on Monday and I eventually gave up because I was wasting homework time.

I tried again on Tuesday and this time I used written instructions found on Knitty.com (no video). Thankfully this got me through it and I was able to start the sock.

A Day of Odd Projects

This morning we got out in the "sun." It wasn't raining, it was bright, it was also freezing.

Still, Nim had a great time and got to enjoy his toy.

Once I got home, I realized I was so tired that I needed to scrap my day of homework (that will be tomorrow) and work on whatever projects I could get done that would keep me awake. It was that or take way too long of a nap.

Projects included finishing the body of the sweater.

I then tried it on and hated how it laid. Faced with the knowledge I would never wear it...

...I then occupied my time pulling the entire project.

Fortunately I have a sock project from at least 2 years ago that I haven't touched. Hopefully I will remember how to do it.

This quilt was a charity kit from the Snoqualmie Valley Quilters. I don't even know if they are active anymore. I completed the top today and maybe work on completing it this week. We will see - it is a heavy homework week.

Meanwhile Nim did the sleeping for both of us...