Back at it.

I think it is about time I got back to blogging. 
With all the problems I've had with my eyesight, it just wasn't comfortable, but things are improving tremendously, and I think it is time.

 I have been dying fiber again and having a grand time.  I attended a fiber show recently where I bought a fiber blending board, and I'm having a lot of fun blending colors.  I will be coming up with some new yarn designs as a result.

Which is a good segue into the Burien Farmer's Market.  This is a sweet little market, about a 10 minute drive from my place.  I will be vending there and am so happy to be part of a Market again.  Terry will help me to set up and break down.  That was always the part that exhausted me.  He has been working so hard to help me get ready.  He's made new weights for the tend, washed and waterproofed the tent top, and helped me to make a new sign.  

The market is on Thursdays, from 11am to 6pm.  Opening day is May 1st and it is forecast to be 79 degrees.  That should bring the people out.

 Last week we made a quick trip to Lopez Island and took our friend April with us.  Is this the sweetest little church?  I wanted to take pictures of all the churches, but I forgot my camera or it was raining too hard.  That didn't keep us from digging clams and doing some island exploration.

 The Tulip Festival is in full swing in Mt 

Vernon, and here are some fields we passed on our way to the ferry in Anacortes.  These are fields where they are harvesting the flowers.

Last but not least, here are some of the clams we got.  We  wash the shells really good, then steam them, saving the nectar.  I then squeeze the contents of the stomach out of the bug ones, cut them up, and then we freeze them in a quart container.  Enough clams and nectar to make enough clam chowder for at least 4 people.  Next trip to Lopez, we will be going after Dungeness Crabs.

My Hamsta Gangsta Car

 This is my friend, the Rappin' Hamster at Kia Motors in North Seattle.  I love their commercials with the dancing hamsters, and have wanted a Kia Soul for a couple of years.  The sale of the farm finally went through, and my cars odometer was about to turn over the 200,000 mile mark, so I started doing my research and shopping for a new car.

 Wouldn't you just know the Soul won out!  I went in, planning on getting a nice racy red model, but the black one looked so sharp.  I feel really good about this purchase.  It makes me feel more settled.

 Here is a picture of my deck on the third floor, taken from my parking space below.  As you can see, living in an apartment in the city is not deterring me from having a garden.

And, I finally got started on the quilt for my niece, Rachael.  It's a wedding gift for the wedding that took place last May in Hawaii.  I was counting on getting snowed in for a week this winter, in Nooksack, in order for me to get it done.  That is usually when I am the most productive.  But, it has been an unusually mild winter, especially here in Ballard.  So, I had to bite the bullet and get started.  It's been difficult, because it took me three days to recover from working at the Pike Place Market on the day before and the day of Valentine's Day.  10 hour days on my feet on the cement with no breaks.  It was sooooooooooo much fun, but exhausting.  I'm still dreaming of gathering bouquets and wrapping them.  I walked into the grocery store and saw a display of them and almost ran away!!!  Oh, dear, am I not going to like tulips anymore?  Not a chance that will happen.

Oh, my Aching feet!

 I have been working the past couple days at the Pike Place Market it downtown Seattle, selling bouquets of tulips.  I have worked two half days, and today I work a full 8 hours.  I hope I can still walk when I leave there tonight.  It's tough on the old feet, but so much fun.

 There is a constant swarm of folks buying the tulips, and on Valentines day, we will have 9 people working the stall and 5 tents full of flowers.  WOW.

The owner of this endeavor, Alm Hill Gardens, has run this stall for 40 years at the Market.  They are the same people who own Growing Washington, the organic growers who leased my land at the farm.

Ironic that I move to Seattle and go to work for friends from Nooksack!

The tulips will be sold until April, and then the produce comes on and I will work for them at various neighborhood markets.

 We've been lucky, with two days of beautiful sunshine.

 Last week, I taught my niece, Erin, how to quilt.  First, we went shopping.  That was such fun.  She had to get herself a sewing machine, too.  Then we went to lunch.

I was so proud of Erin.  She completed a nine patch made with charms, quilted it and made it into a pillow in just two hours.