the emotional life of sølje

I have written about some of my sponsored Women For Women sisters in the past. Today I received a large envelope that had a letter and this beautiful beaded doily enclosed. After spending the weekend at Warm Beach on our church’s woman’s retreat, I was emotionally overflowing. To receive this precious gift from a woman that is absolutely struggling in an unsafe, war-torn area has filled my heart to overflowing even further.

As a someone who beads, I know the time it took to create this doily (especially considering my lack of patience with seed beads!), and considering this woman has eight children (as well as caring for her sick inlaws)–you can imagine how she manages her life, as difficult as it is already! I feel blessed that she took the time to even consider creating this for me!

Having been remiss at letter writing over this past year, I promise to be more active with that. Typically Women For Women discourages sending gifts like this because postage does get costly as you can imagine. I feel very blessed right now.

Clicking through to the flickr page, you can choose to view the item fully when clicking on “all sizes”. So much work!

Tags: Art, Women For Women writings // 6 Comments »

Unless someone is for certain otherwise, I am going with a Townsend’s Warbler for identification. They are pretty!

I think the birds were around all day yesterday. We must be have good enough seed to be on the permanent snacking route or something I used Kevin’s camera to try and get some better photos, and a couple did turn out ok. I tend to be shaky, so mix that in with a flitting bird and we have issues.

Kevin took the picture below. This was in the early evening and he stuck around while everyone was outside on the deck! I guess either the guy is getting too fatten up to move or he knows we are harmless. After the eating that went on earlier, I tend to think it is the first thought.

Tags: A Family Affair, Washington State // 1 Comment »

Today was a quiet, pleasant, foggy morning. But there was a flurry of activity through the trees and the bird feeders. Though, it would appear that Daniel’s peanut butter pine cone with birdseed was a little more popular with one bird. I am not positive, but I think this might be a Goldfinch. I will have to scour bird sites and see if I can find a match. If I had Kevin’s camera, detail would have been much better, but this bugger kept flitting from one spot to another. I would have probably missed him in the process of finding him!

It’s narrowed down to a warbler. Townsend Warbler?

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First, Julie… I am so laughing right now! I JUST read your comment about suggesting a red border etc! Guess what I did?

I am thinking about adding some length to it, considering some scrappy squares or something (like a pillow tuck), and continuing the border I created today. I am liking how it is coming. The red added some excitement to it.

I am so ready for this week to be over. I am hitting my limit on parenting/ADHD issues, and learning about being badmouthed on a forum I had no clue existed (beads!) has really kept me on edge. I take things to heart and it has been hard to let it go. I would prefer people ask for clarification on my words rather than simply making presumptions. Usually when I am in the middle of a scrap, I’m at least 50% to blame–along with knowing it is going on.

My batteries need to be recharged in a bad way.

One nice spotlight was Darrin had his first haircut yesterday! Those wispy baby hairs are something else. Kev and I went back and forth about going to his barber or not, but yesterday we just decided we’d give it a try at home. Kev does Daniel’s hair, which is pretty easy, but Darrin’s being so straight–mistakes would be quickly seen! I think Kevin did a great job

Tags: A Family Affair, Quilting // 5 Comments »

sorry for not doing a better picture. I didn’t want to move my table because it has things underneath and it was too much of a hassle for this quilt in progress.
Blocks together (grrr on the corner starting to fold down). Now what. It needs something else.
size approx: 56″x56″

I don’t have enough of the black/white batik to use in a border, I was thinking gaudy… red/white candy cane striping around the quilt Ok, kidding… just making sure you’re paying attention! LOL! Maybe a row of something Christmasy or something, a scene? I’ll let it simmer a little longer.

Tags: Quilting // 2 Comments »

Here are a little less than half of the blocks. I tried out another fabric (posted at flickr if you’d like to see the difference) that looked like I had enough yardage to use as the background triangles, but I think this black/white snowflake batik had the look I was going for. I am thinking about a prairie braid border, but haven’t decided yet. It would definitely add to the strippy-ness of the quilt. We’ll see. I am liking how it is coming along.

Yeah…. it’s Friday! Tomorrow Kevin and I are going to the performing arts center at Bothell High School to see the final showing of “I Remember Mama”, a play! I am very excited. This is a Christmas gift from Kev, and when I opened the envelope telling me we were going, I started crying! It reminds me of my family, not too mention we’d watch the movie every year around Thanksgiving. I hope they have Uncle Chris is in it, a good black Norvegian! This will be a first date alone in a long time!

Tags: Quilting // 2 Comments »

ok, so it wasn’t muddy water. Had Kevin chosen to be baptized during the summer, perhaps so since our church goes to the lake for baptisms. Instead, it was in a hot tub My sister and her family came for the event, and Kevin’s testimony was beautiful.

So, I was wondering offhandedly if there is a bachelor party the night before a wedding, what is there pre-baptism? anyway… Kevin’s testimony had the inclusion of our son (who had been asking a lot of questions regarding God, Jesus, and everything in between) who basically led us back into the church, and Pastor John Czech had a nice statement (”out of the mouths of babes”) thanking Daniel (who, in front of a few hundred people, replied, “you’re welcome”) for leading us there. It was a journey for us, and the time was right to seek spiritual guidance.

Friends of ours had been attending this church for a few years, and had on occasion suggest visiting. They had checked out other churches in our area (I think eight?), and found this one on a whim after being discouraged on not finding a right fit. I’m glad they laid out the ground work, we are hooked

We had lunch afterward with friends and family and had a great time.

Love this song (not too mention I have a crush on Trace Adkins)…

Tags: A Family Affair // 1 Comment »

I love Troll Beads. If you haven’t discovered them yet, either don’t… or be ready to get sucked in (btw, bring your $$). I just went out to get the mail, found a package from Denmark, thinking that I hadn’t ordered anything from there lately, and was surprised to find some Troll Beads and their marketing project. They sent out “give away beads” to be placed in a envelope along with a yellow smiley face saying to go to their website and tell them how you found your bead. You also get a chance at winning a bracelet with a double lock by doing so. You can also look for other beads to purchase if you wish too (that’s where I’d get sucked in). http://www.foundabead.com

Locally I’ve seen the glass artists hide glass balls, but to find beads is a first that I’ve seen. How fun!

A close-up of the very cute glass/silver lined beads. I see three smiley faces and one bead with teddy bear faces.

Picture below are most of my Trollbeads. I am thinking about making a different bracelet with fewer beads but haven’t decided yet. It is pretty heavy to wear with all the silver.

I have room for three more beads.
Clockwise from the clasp:
1. Mocha
2. Faith, Hope, Charity
3. Scroll w/etching
4. mice on cheese
5. Tupilak masks
6. The Trinity
7. Scroll w/more etching
8. Treasures
9. Roses
10. Scroll w/even more etching
11. Mermaid
12 Thumbelina

Tags: Art // 5 Comments »

I was in need of a sewing project and looking through Bonnie Hunter’s site, I came across the String-X Quilt. I had the strips for it from an exchange I did with another WASIQ quilter years ago–Christmas fabrics, about 80 different ones. Now I am trying out different backgrounds. I am not sure if I want to do two different hst’s or all the same background fabric. I am thinking about a combination of the cream snowflakes and one of the other two grey/blue fabrics. Or maybe I’ll do something entirely different.

Most of the strips in the last pic. So far I have 40 different fabrics sewn together. The longest strips were cut in half as when we cut strips from fat quarters, we included two to make up for the lost width, so I had a great equalizer idea to cut the long strips–plus I can get different fabric combination to help with the scrappiness of the quilt. Anyway, I am not really thinking clearly tonight, so if anyone has questions, I’ll try to answer For each 20/22″ strip set (using 10 strips in each set), I can get four 4.5″ x 10.5″ strip sets.

Tags: Quilting // Add Comment »

I have purchased the Swarovski annual ornament every year since Kevin and I married. Maybe I should have staged the ornaments better for the photo, but I was finishing up putting away the stars and snowflakes and decided to snap a shot anyway.

Starting with 1996-2006 along the long row, 2007/08 at the top.

Swarovski creates stars on odd years, snowflakes on even years.

Tags: A Family Affair // Add Comment »

Straight No Chaser from 1996. They are awesome! Not much fiberwise going on here, unfortunately. I’m sorry to those that read for the quilting/knitting Hopefully that will pick up again soon. Its hard to get into projects right now.

Tags: Uncategorized // 1 Comment »

Pan of delicious slow roasted romas…
Its hard to believe that when I started these this at noon, the tomatoes filled the pan with no wiggle room. Voila, 8.5hrs later.

I sliced the tomatoes in half, longway. Drizzled with olive oil, sprinkled diced garlic, rosemary, sea salt, and freshly ground pepper. Roasted at 200 for 8+ hours. I have found other recipes that call for other herbs (thyme, oregano, or other Italian herbs). I love Rosemary.

Now to decide if I follow one recipe and let cool and remove skins, or leave them on. I am not really sure how to use these, so I will have to do a little more research
One recipe: kitchenparade.com/2007/08/slow-roasted-tomatoes.php
Another: www.theperfectpantry.com/2006/09/roasted_tomatoe.html

Tags: Cooking // Add Comment »

I swear if I ever have to hear/see the Bob The Builder chant again, it will be too soon.

Onwards and upwards… no matter what, as Kevin keeps reminding me… there is only one larger than any of us–might I add, the only one who will be able to keep all promises.

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Bonnie’s eyes are smiling!

A snail in the mouth… kind of an odd shot

Tags: A Family Affair // Add Comment »

Happy Fall, everyone! I took some pictures of our Japanese Maple yesterday. This one little leaf was back lit nicely by the sun. I love how it turned out. I wish the photos I took looking up into the tree looked as rich.

I was planning to make a loaf of bread using some Italian sourdough starter, but after the first rise I decided to go a different direction. I haven’t been able to find any directions on making "sourdough" monkey bread, so it was basically a shot in the dark using some other recipes I had found online.

The bread is delicious! Absolutely no "sour" flavor detected (though this Italian starter is pretty mild), and the bread is soft.

The basic recipe is
3.5c flour
1c starter
1c water
2tsp salt

mix, knead, let double. create little balls (abt walnut size), dipped in butter, and tossed with cinnamon sugar. I buttered a pan and added a cin/sugar coating before placing the balls within.

I let the dough rise a second time (abt 2hrs), prepared a brown sugar/butter topping (melted 1/2c butter w/1c brown sugar in a saucepan, let boil for about a minute while constantly stirring, drizzled over the top of dough) and then baked at 350-375 for 35 mins.

I am positive that there are hardly any calories in this bread whatsoever

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