Corn and tomatillos

I couldn't resist photographing the lovely yellow and green of grilled corn and tomatillo sauce in my kitchen tonight.

We're having friends over tomorrow for a Mexican feast, and I'm trying out a new Mexican corn salad recipe that uses grilled corn, lime juice, mayo, cotija cheese and cilantro. I also made my own tomatillo sauce for the first time and couldn't believe how easy it was! I'll use it for chicken enchiladas verde.

The colors go with this shot from my work table of hand-woven silk from Cambodia that I'm going to use in the May color block. I bought the silk piece at least 15 years ago and was waiting for just the right project before cutting into it.

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A few hundred French knots later

I decided that the vines on my wool house would look better with flowers, so I just did a few hundred French knots with Laura Wasilowski's fabulous hand-dyed pearl cotton #5 thread. I love the way the colors in one skein range from warm yellow through peach and a pretty pink.

Here's a pile of her threads, which she sells at www.artfabrik.com. Every few years I order another handful of skeins -- it's like choosing candy at the candy store.

I've been dragging out this block-of-the-month wool applique project for a year and a half, and I've only finished seven blocks. No rush! Here are some more details.

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Leavenworth wrap-up

Icicle Gorge Trail was the Feet & Forks' destination on Day 3 of our Leavenworth trip. Two rangers recommended it when I asked them for a four- to five-mile trail with not much elevation. They said it was a beautiful hike through the woods along Icicle Creek.

It WAS beautiful, but it was also swarming with mosquitoes. That's Nancy above doing the mosquito slap dance. After about a mile, Kandi said she couldn't go any farther because she was being bitten so much, so we turned back. 

Here are some more photos

from the Icicle Gorge Trail.

Then it was off to play 18 holes of putt putt golf. I've never golfed in my life, but my score was right in with the rest of them! It was blazing hot and we were drenched.

This goat lives on the course, munching on the lush hillside greenery.

Next up was a walk through town, with lunch at a pizza place and then back to the condo until an evening walk on the Wenatchee River Trail. We caught some soft sunset colors before returning to the condo for a rousing game of Catch Phrase and then bed.

On the next, and last, morning we had giant raspberry scones with raspberry butter on the patio. Oh my, were they good! We bought them the day before at the Gingerbread Factory and I wish I had another one right now.

Then it was another stroll on the Wenatchee trail before packing the car and heading for home at 10:30 a.m. Wish we could have stayed longer. Traffic was much better on the way back and we made it in three hours.

Here's our fork shot to commemorate the trip.

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Leavenworth, Day 2

Our first morning at the condo in Leavenworth was sunny and warm, so we had breakfast on the patio enjoying the view.

Then it was off to the mountains to hike the Snow Lakes Trail in Wenatchee National Forest. It was beautiful, and we got a workout with the steady elevation. It was also in the mid-80s, so when we came to a big boulder in the trail that would've required tricky navigation and Kandi called a halt I didn't mind.

With a couple of miles of hiking behind us, we headed for lunch at the Wild Huckleberry, where I forgot to get pictures. But my club sandwich, sweet potato fries and multiple iced teas hit the spot.

Then we wandered through the Bavarian-style town of Leavenworth, where we took this picture of us in the mirror at the roasted nut shop. Free samples of all kinds of nuts kept us occupied for awhile, and I came away with a combination of orange and vanilla almonds and cashews.

Evening was lunch leftovers again, roasted nuts, and a few rounds of Scattergories. I was so tired (mainly from the heat) that I didn't play very well. More tomorrow!

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Feet & Forks in Leavenworth, Day 1

Joyce, Kandi, myself, and Nancy ready to take off!

The Feet & Forks took off Monday for a fun four days of hiking and eating in the mountain town of Leavenworth on the sunny side of the Cascades. I just got back and am too tired to edit the trip down to one post, so I'm being lazy and showing photos, chronologically, from Day 1.

Traffic leaving Tacoma on I-5 was horrible, but once we got through that it opened up and we made good time. It's about three hours total. We stopped at the Cle Elum Bakery, above, and fortified ourselves. My jelly donut was delish.

We got to Leavenworth too early to check into the condo, so we had lunch in the courtyard at South, above, a Latin-inspired restaurant. I had sweet potato enchiladas that were excellent.

Then we checked into our condo, with this killer view from the back patio. I could've spent the entire trip just looking out at the view with my feet propped up and an iced tea by my side. The temperature was in the mid-80s, so I drank a lot of iced tea.

But since we are the FEET & Forks, we put on our walking shoes and hiked along the city's peaceful Wenatchee River Loop Trail. Bird calls filled the air and flowing water sparkled. The photos above and below are all from that walk.

White cottonwood tree fluff floated in the air, looking like snow. On the ground it resembled snow drifts. 

Back at the condo, I had lunch leftovers for dinner and we watched the movie "Roman J. Israel, Esq.," a dramatic thriller about an idealistic lawyer in Los Angeles. It was good and I slept well afterward. More tomorrow.

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More embellishing

I finally settled in at the sewing table in the new house to further embellish the wool applique blocks that I started a year ago. Buttons, beads and embroidery -- you can never have too much!

I'm adding French knots to the vine on the house with this hand-dyed pearl cotton thread. A great source for that is www.artfabrik.com, which is basically Laura Wasilowski.

I also hung up my thread racks, which hold my "fancy" threads. Well, not all of them. I won the two on the left about 25 years ago, my daughter gave me the sun rack, and my son made the calendar from photos that he took hiking in the North Cascades. So it's also my memory wall.

I like to machine quilt with gold thread, so I pick up YLI spools whenever I see the gold. I haven't had as much luck with silver, which breaks more often for me. I've tried all different brands, with YLI working best in my machine (a Bernina 1260).

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April block and Julia's visit

I finally did my April color block, halfway through May. The move to a new house sidetracked me for a few weeks. Basically, April was rainy. I think we set a record for rainfall. The little squiggles of pink are azaleas and rhodies that started blooming.

Here are this year's blocks so far, with dark January in the upper left, dreary February upper right, sunny March lower left, and rainy April lower right.

To see what other fiber artists have been up to this week, I'm linking to Nina Marie's Off the Wall Friday: vacation-inspiration-off-wall-friday.html

In other news, Julia visited for Mother's Day and brought my grand bunnies! Lots of snuggle time.

Yesterday was sunny and in the 80s, so we walked in the harbor. This is one of the historic net sheds that dot the waterline.

Snowy Mount Rainier, 40 miles away, rises above Gig Harbor. When someone says, "The mountain is out," it means it's sunny and you can see Rainier. Much of the year it's hidden by clouds.

Afterward, we made a stop at Goodwill and then Julia had tofu pho and I had a Thai iced tea at Fresh Rolls. Cheap and fresh eats.

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