Big Sister Designs Blog

Summer's Simple Joys: blue skies

They say that summer in the pacific northwest starts after the 4th of July. And that's pretty much true. Our forecast for the next few days is mid 80's and sunny. Finally.

Laying in the grass, looking at the blue sky, and listening to a lawnmower. That is summer to me.

I love the color of the trees against the sky.

Blue sky leads to this

The sky was not blue on the 4th. Notice the flag blowing? It was windy. And cold.

Linked up with The Inadvertent Farmer.

Questions/Comments from a back seat driver

1. Are we going the speed limit?

2. Are you driving slow?

3. Are you driving fast?

4. How come those cars are going past us?

5. How come those other cars are going slow?

6. Are we on the freeway?

7. Whoa daddy!

8. I thought that car was going to bump into us!

9. Mommy, watch where you're going okay?

She's 3. Going on 16.

Vintage sheet heaven!

I've been collecting sheets from thrift stores for a couple of months now and suddenly it seems they are everywhere. You can buy pieces of them on Etsy.

Like this fat quarter set from Zwizzle. Soule Mama made some lounge pants from them for her youngest. And Made by Rae just used one to make a sundress and hat for her little one.

I've found that whenever I visit a Goodwill I haven't been to before I find the most pillowcases and sheets. Yesterday we went to one suggested by my friend, Abby, and WOW! I picked out 10 that I liked to look over for stains and ended up buying 5 of them. There were more and I kind of wish I had bought them too but 5 sheets and 7 pillowcases felt like a lot. :)

This one is a fitted sheet which I usually don't buy but it was too cute to leave there.

Two of the sheets I bought aren't vintage but still cute and still upcycling.

These are still unwashed and not ironed so ignore the wrinkles.

Buying sheets from thrift stores to use for fabric is much cheaper than buying new fabric and better for the earth. Have you ever tried using an old sheet for something else? Do you like the vintage look or prefer new trendy fabrics?

The first raspberry

Today I am joining The Inadvertent Farmer in celebrating Summer's Simple Things.

Aly's favorite is berries straight from the garden. Strawberries are picked half green, raspberries a nice light pink, and blueberries...well she eats those as soon as she can pick them. We didn't get any strawberries this year so we've been waiting for the raspberries to ripen and finally got to pick 6 yesterday.

The first raspberry. A simple joy of summer.

I finished a half marathon and deck progress

Before I start I should say that the fastest way to make Kensley need something from me is to start a blog post. Usually I don't even get it open, just start thinking "hey the kids are playing pretty well, maybe I should write a new post" and that's the end of that. She is in her highchair eating breakfast right now so I better type fast. :)

We had a great weekend! On Saturday I woke up before dawn (4:45 is the middle of the night in my world) to run the Seattle Rock n Roll half marathon. My love of running started in high school before I could even run a whole mile. I used to dream of running mile after mile effortlessly and how cool that seemed. Running isn't effortless now but I do enjoy it and I can finally run more than one mile.

The weather was perfect for the run, 50's and 60's and overcast. (The overcast was especially good because I didn't use any sunscreen). I did great for the first 8 miles and then slowed down walking a good portion of the rest. I finished in 3 hours, 6 minutes, and 10 seconds. My goal was to finish in under 3 hours but I am still totally happy with my finish. The course started in Tukwila, ran past Seward Park and along the water to I-90 where we ran (I walked) through the tunnel into Seattle. From there it continued along a bit before ending outside of Qwest stadium. The whole thing was a bit overwhelming, more exciting than I anticipated when I signed up in February, and I am beyond proud of myself. :)

You can join me next year! June 25th! Registration begins in January, I think, and sells out by March.

It would have been great to get a picture of myself race day (other than the professional ones I can order) but it didn't work out. I was too tired to care at the finish and nobody else suggested it. I do have a cool finisher's medal and race number though. Maybe I should take a picture of them. :)

Steve's weekend consisted of watching the girls Saturday and then building our new deck and my sewing room on Sunday. The building has gotten to the point where I can see progress being made. So exciting! Here are some pictures so far. (uh-oh! Kensley is finished eating-type faster!)

The lower deck is going to be enclosed like a sunroom making my new sewing room with the upper deck on top of that. The size, 9 feet by 22 feet, is an odd shape for a room but beats my current arrangement of the pool table and does give me a lot of square feet. I'm hoping this will be done by labor day so we can host a barbecue on the new deck.