moss landing

A piece a Week… NYE treats, a warm bulky knit hat and a Custom Draft Snake filled with Pinto Beans!

| poppypeach
In continuation of ‘A piece a week’ from last year I am taking the challenge to projects that I am working on to expand my knowledge of making. So with my craft room fully organized this year I plan to make clothes from the fabric in my stash and see what I can create and of course, learn!
I made some delicious treats for NYE for our neighborly celebration. For dessert this is a riff on Chocolate Crackles made with a mysterious ingredient I cannot find here called Copha. So I looked through Super Natural Cooking and made these from the Peanut Butter Krispy Treats recipe. This is using Almond Butter and Cacao Rice Puffs and they are amazing!!

Cacao Rice Crackles

3/4 cup almond butter
1/2 cup maple syrup (the cacao puffs are super sweet)
1 teaspoon fine-grain sea salt
2 1/2 teaspoons agar flakes
3 cups Cacao Rice Puffs
Combine almond butter, maple syrup, sale and agar flakes in a large saucepan over LOW heat and stir constantly until smooth, hot, melted and bubbling just a little BIT. Add the cacao rice puffs and stir until well coated. Transfer to individual baking cups using a tablespoon or more to fill. Refrigerate until completely cool, then enjoy! 
Makes around 30
Super tasty cacao crackles!
As the dinner was a eat what you like from the table type meal I made a broccoli cous cous with a harissa dressing which went down a treat. This was inspired by this recipe.
Broccolli Cous cous with the Harissa dressing on top – mix it through and it is perfect with smoked salmon and salad
The spread of tasty morsels on the table including a babaganoush dip, cheeses, olives for snacks
How can I forget the cocktails – this mint inspired vodka cocktail is from a recipe I found on Food and Wine making the base sugar syrup with the herbs and adding extra vodka and lemon pieces when serving – refreshing and you can drink a fair amount and be very happy! 
Vodka lemon mint cocktail
The kids were enjoying the time by the fire and eating popcorn with nutritional yeast and watching Elf – I have to thank my friends for recommending it as the best holiday film ever! The kids all loved it very much 😀
Super warm
Popcorn with nutritional yeast – oh so good!!
The night was complete success with our neighbors leaving around 9:30 very happy and ready to get their kiddos into bed though our pair were so keen to stay up until midnight so lucky for us we had some holiday films to get through with Santa Paws and cat videos on YouTube!
Happy New Year to all!!
We had a busy New Years day with catching up with friends for brunch, lunch and dinner and in between a bike ride to Shoreline. A wonderful start to 2015!
As it was the last weekend before school was back into the swing of things we decided to go for a drive to Elkhorn Slough to check out some wildlife – sea otters, birds and whatever else we might find. We went prepared after our chilling hike last week and the weather turned out to be absolutely stunning with sunshine and warmth. Such a perfect day for a walk in a very peaceful part of the world. We spotted a sea otter cleaning himself through this super scope and borrowed binoculars from the visitor center who were full of information. 

Checking out the sea otter!

Hang on and don’t fall in the mud

Selfie with a background sign

Sea otter skeleton at the visitor center

After our walk of about 4 miles we were pretty hungry and decided we wanted to check out Phil’s Fish Market. Man we waited and waited in line for maybe one hour and we were just about to faint when there was the cashier! Thank goodness we ordered and sat down outside with the aggressive seagulls and our food was with us in about 15 minutes. We ordered sardines with a lemon and caper sauce, a salmon burger, chowder in a bread bowl and the kids had fish and chips and squid and chips. What a feast – there was no dinner for us when we got home! I would say this place is well worth the wait and judging by the line even when we left it does not matter what time you get there, this place is very popular. According to the guy we were chatting to in the line Phil’s has been in Moss Landing for over 20 years and has always been excellent. Oh and keep a lookout for the black cat near the boat.

The freshest fish in Moss Landing

Entertainment with the fisherman

 I knit a bulky hat for our walk as last time we were hiking it was super cold – this time I did not necessarily need this as it was warm and sunny but I could not take it off because of hat hair! This hat is super comfy and warm and made from a hand spun merino my friend gave me from Australia – I love it! Super easy to knit up and fast as well.

With Mr Ash who enjoys Selfies!
Our farewell to Moss Landing

 A friend of mine at school ordered a custom snake at the holiday boutique and wanted it as a draft stopper so I filled it with a pound of pinto beans in between the stuffing! Here it is ready to go to it’s new home!

‘Drafts be gone!’

Oh and how can I forget our last day of the holidays and a ride to Shoreline again – 8 miles with the kiddos going at their pace still worked my legs! We stopped for a ice cream and sweets and headed back home in the cool evening air. We found this friendly ground squirrel wanting a snack!

Hanging at Ground Squirrel HeadQuarters at Shoreline

A piece a Week – All day Summer Camp = Super productive sewing space! Oh and we saw Whales!!!!!!

| poppypeach
Last week was a fantasy week and it was so worth having the kids in a full day camp, it really makes you realise how valuable time alone to create is! I had a list of many projects that I had to start or even complete. Now it does feel so good to have a sense of organisation of how I am going to attempt to stock my booth for the FabMo Textile Art Boutique in October. Time for experimentation when designing is a rare thing in the “mum’s world” of bite size time blocks so I have to just make what I know and make it well. So last week allowed me some time to play and experiment a bit more with the fabrics in my stash and ideas in my journal.

I came out with 6 tote bags in process and a quilted feather applique – it looks more like an arrow so I added it to a tote it it came out well. I also had a play around with the digital programs that I used as a designer back in the day so I made up some art prints and tees on Society 6 and Redbubble. The fun thing is that I downloaded a copy of Adobe Illustrator for a 30 day trial and it is so much fun to play with it rather than use it as a work tool. But for efficiency of time, the work shortcuts came in handy to create the pieces I wanted to make. I was introduced to Society 6 by a friend who had scored this really cool pillow on etsy so I thought there is time for some photography so I wanted make it happen with some of my pictures! I like having a presence in both the digital art world as well as the textile arts.

A bag I with my yarn cat design
Pieces to check out on Society 6

Still after I had completed the photography / graphic art project, it was time to move to the more tactile arts and my textile pieces. The quilting experiment was a quilted feather from a quilt design – I did see it on a skirt which looked very cool arranged vertically on the hem. Still with experimenting it is important to play to see how it will turn out. And as it did it was a huge feather. Still a couple of ideas came through that are in production this week! The pieces I did complete last week were a couple of bags quilting different colours together of the same fabric and the other was a floral fabric I found that needed to show off the flowers. Here are the finished pieces – I still have another 4 to complete, hopefully this week??

Beautiful big tulip with a gorgeous green background

The reverse of the bag with a different background

Super shiny disco design using strips of the same fabric
After the week was out we celebrated down the park with a lovely bottle of Malbec from Argentina – there has been some really good wine coming out of Argentina that we have scored and I even think I had some at our wedding. Ahh a good glass of wine on a cool summer evening with your friends on a picnic while the kids are playing, that was heavenly…

On Saturday we went whale watching to Moss Landing with Blue Ocean Whale Watch. How can I imagine that the first time we go whale watching we see whales feeding, playing and breaching just a short distance away from the harbor. We were in a 60 foot boat cruising along and there were the whales – so graceful and elegant. That tail of theirs gently curling through the surface of the water beneath. They are wonderful to watch and it is truly an experience that will live forever in my memory. After the whales had fed and were not showing off as much, we went over into the deep water and saw so many dolphins swimming and playing around with sea lions. It was so special to see dolphins in their natural environment happily playing with the boat and enjoying the interaction with the people – they are such happy creatures. We saw such an abundance of sea creatures from the sea otter and sea lion in the harbor to the whales and then the dolphins. The ocean really is a mysterious place that we have to respect and I think experiencing how fragile the ocean can be with over fishing and pollution. This tour made me realise that we really need to respect the beings that live in it and do whatever we can to preserve this very special place. I made this video of the footage I took that day – I did not take my camera as the operator takes amazing pics and sells them on her site, easy just go for a boat ride and watch the whales!

One of Kate’s amazing pictures on her website – how amazing is this picture!!