Pinafore Jumper - Dyed again

A year ago I made this Pinafore Jumper and dyed it with Teal.

I think I have worn it once because despite it having a good lining I just felt it was too light colored.

So this week, I decided to dye it again.  This time I chose a navy color in Tintex which I could dye in hot water but not having to put it on the stove.  I don't have a metal pan large enough.

I am very happy with the result.

There are places it is stitch with polyester thread which is white so that makes in interesting.

I would have been good to have it during the heat wave but that is how it goes.

I boiled 2 cups of water and dissolved the packet of dye in that.

I then put the hottest water I could get from the tap and put it in a 5 gallon pail.   I wet the jumper in clear water and wrung it out so it was not dripping.

I placed the jumper in the pail and added a kettle full of boiling water.

I stirred with a stick for 30 minutes.  I did add my painting shirt in then for a while.  I rinsed the jumper until the water ran clear.  Repeated the process for the Tshirt. Once both garments were wrung out as much as I could I put them in the dryer.

Excellent!

Slow Stitching - No. 030 - Cloth Folding

This week's prompt for K3N Cloth Tale's slow stitching challenge is cloth folding.

I took a much different approach.  I found a rayon garment at the thrift store for a very good price.  It was soft and draped very nicely.  Now to the ReUse center for a piece of cotton.  I found a peachy piece of cotton.  Yes!

All washed up, I kept the hem on the piece of fabric and just cut it down to create a lovely draped piece. Think a curtain, a shirt, a skirt and much more.

I hemmed the piece of cotton first. I then placed my draped fabric and stitched it down.  I used a piece of black felt as a finish for the top raw edge of the drape. I stitched all the way around with black thread, now for decoration I added some daisy stitches in the deep burgundy and seed stitches in the aqua. 

It is a very different piece for me.  I am caught up and look forward to Monday's video.

Slow Stitching - No. 029 - Mandala

Getting caught up on my slow stitching challenge.

K3N Cloth Tales slow stitch challenge - week 29 - Mandala.

With many things packed away due to renovations I chose felt for this challenge. I added a white cotton foundation piece behind a 5" square of white felt.

I cut a turquoise circle then a yellow medium sized one and then a smaller green one. Felt allowed me not to worry about raw edges.

I started with the yellow lines on the green, then the white blanket stitch around its edge. The turquoise points on the yellow followed then the triple bird foot stitches in pink and purple thread on the yellow. The green back stitch outline along the outside edge of the turquoise circle. Followed with the long white stitches on the turquoise then the French Knots in the green wedges. Finally, the purple short and long stitches around the outside edge. 

Sylvia's Simple Shots

I headed to the St. Albert Botanic Park early in the week.

Here's one of the last peonys in bloom.  Beautiful blush pink! 

The roses were in fully bloom.

The sunflowers are headed to great heights.

Not much on the river now that the babies have matured.

The heat wave continued this week.

With the fan running pretty much 24/7, soaking my head and shirt several times a day, managing the fan in windows at night to bring the cooler air in, and just hunkering down for the most part.

It was lucky that we were not laying floor this week because it was a cooker.

The Blue Noon by Robert Ryan based on a true story.

This is a WWII story set in Europe between 1938 and 1945. Harry Cole is a  rogue. Over this time he has had a few personas, worked for several different military organizations, and collaborated with many different regimes.

He has been hurt, shot, beaten and still has managed to fit in, hide in plain sight and serve his own purposed within the opportunities which came his way.

He has known love, settled down for a little bit and tried to become a better person.  

I found that at times I like him and other times did not.  The story was compelling and I read a good part of the book in front of the fan in the heat wave we are experiencing.

I washed my Keens this week.  With the very hot weather they were needing a refreshing.  

They suggest they can be washed in the washing machine but I was not prepared to do that in my new machine so I used Simple Green on them with a old toothbrush and then put them out on the balcony to dry.

They look and smell better.

The walk around Beaumaris Lake this week was wonderful.

The morning was cool comparatively to the rest of the week.  There was heavy cloud which threatens to rain down but it did not.

The sun came out at 10 am and the heat began.

I headed home.

I headed over the Muttart Conversatory this  week as well to see the new display in the feature pavilion.  Where Pyramids Collide.

Being the middle of summer there were many programs going on.  Several sets of small children all in the same colored shirt so adults could keep track of them, running around the narrow paths was no much fun.

Of course, none of the pavilions were cool as in temperature.

I always enjoy the flowers, plants and fish.

The process continues.  I have headed to the flooring store for more information.

Received feedback waiting for more information.

Blueberries

I bought blueberries today thanks to my sister who called me yesterday and let me know where they were on sale.

Yes, I bought 8 containers.

Most of these will be frozen for winter breakfasts.  Berries are better to avoid glucose spikes than my usual bananas.

The price was as good as last year so that was a bonus.

Each bag holds 3lbs of blueberries.

This is the same amount I froze last year.

Here`s hoping that we get to pick saskatoon berries as well.

July 23 2024 I bought 4 more containers and put 2 more bags of blueberries in the freezer.

Slow Stitching - 2 more Zokin

With everything mostly packed in preparation for the installation of the flooring I have no access to my fabric stash.

So I dug into my rag bin again and decided to stitch more Zochin - Japanese Cleaning Cloths.   

Generally, I have a hard time throwing away cloths, especially if they are cotton.

Here I just stitched together a pink face cloth which must have some polyester as the center is very thin and a green dishcloth.  They were the same size and the edges were serged so I just went along in both directions.  I used some green and some pink thread.

A cute cleaning cloth.

This is a corner of a cotton tea towel.  I paired it with a brown terry towel.

I used brown thread and stitch the 3 unfinished sides first and turned it good side out.  Then I stitched all the way around starting with the finished edges at the bottom.

I was careful to not  detract from the owl stitching as I went across the cloth.

Another for the cleaning cloth bin. 

Yes, those are my cement floors which I am now waiting for permission to cover. Yeah!

Sylvia's Simple Shots

Nice to have a cool Christmas story in the middle of a summer heat wave.

A Baxter Family Christmas by Karen Kingsbury.

I am not familiar with the family but there is a very good summary at the beginning of the book.  

John the patriarch of the family has invited the recipient of his precious Erin's heart, Kendra Bryant for Christmas Eve dinner.  Erin, her husband and 3 of their 4 children were killed in a car accident. Some of the siblings don't want to meet her and make different plans.  It will be a different Christmas than the one everybody has celebrated in the past.

Flanigans are friends of the Baxters but due to changes which have taken place in the last few years they have not recently joined the family for the traditional Christmas Eve dessert and Pictionary evening.

Maddie West a granddaugther has been helping with the Christmsas children's play organized by Bailey and Brandon. Connor Flannigan has been asked to judge the auditions for this years show by his sister Bailey.  There is instant chemistry between Maddie and Connor but there will be some trials between Thanksgiving and Christmas that they will need to navigate.

I packed up the bookcases this week in preparation for the removal of the carpet later this week.

The bedroom is getting pretty full of stuff from the living room and dining room.

The heat wave has started and it was HOT all week!

The Little Paris Bookshop by Nina George is a book I read this week.

Monsieur Perdu runs a book shop on a refurbished barge docked in Paris on the river Seine.  He lives in a house with several other residents.  Catherine Le P. as recently moved after separating from her husband.  She has very little and the owner of the house is asking for donations, in particular a table. Monsieur Perdu has an extra table which has not seen in 20 years as it was closed off in a room when his love left him.

Catherine finds a letter in the drawer of the table which Monsieur Perdu received when Manon his love left.  He has not opened it.  He was afraid and has lived his life hiding for a long time.

After some persuasion, he reads the letter and it was not as he expected.  He has wasted 20 years and now he must find her.  He releases the barge and heads south on the Seine.

Many adventures are had.  It was a very easy read and delightful to travel France.

I was very grateful when my sister and brother-in-law agreed to come help remove the carpet.

The temperatures were soaring and it was hot and sweaty work.

I had most of the dining room done when they arrived.  We worked from 10:30 am to 1:00 pm to get the carpet and tack strips put into rolls.

We washed up, changed clothes and headed to Boston Pizza for lunch in air conditioning.  We had great food, conversation and rested for a couple of hours.

There was a lot of rubber cement and areas of adhesive that needed to scraped down with blades to make sure the surface was smooth.

The underlay was just a mishmash of different colors and remnants all just patchworked together. All the seams had been glued.  Not exactly wonderful.  They took away the 11 rolls of carpet so that was one less job for me.  Thanks so much!

The installation of the new flooring has been put on hold.

Plans to start on Monday are postponed until approval has been granted.

YUCK!

I decided to paint the dining room.

In the top left hand corner of the collage you can see how the place was painted before I moved in.

The electrical plates were not removed and the paint did not even go to the edges.

It was a very hot and sweaty job.  The paint was drying fast so I had to take it a little bit at a time to get it covered well.

It was a full afternoon of up and down the step stool and my arms were tired by the end of the afternoon.

It looks fabulous!  Worth it.

I got my COVID shot this week.

It was not like the old days, I walked into my pharmacy with my updated prescriptions and asked whether I could schedule a shot and was told we can do right away.

Filled out the paper work, got the shot and waited my 15 minutes and it was done!

Slow Stitching - No. 028 - Zokin - Japanese Cleaning Cloth

Week 28 in K3N 's Slow Stitching Challenge on her Youtube channel, K3NClothTales. 

This week we learn about Zokin - Japanese Cleaning Cloths.  A method of making worn cloth useful again by stitching 2 or more layers together.

I easily found several options in my rag bin.  For this piece I combined a piece of plaid flannel that was part of Dad's pajamas and a piece of navy terrycloth.

The stitching is all over the place but with my hectic renovation schedule I was not as relaxed as I should have been.

I am loving this idea and forsee a few more of these in my future.  I have a hard time throwing away cloths - dish cloths, face cloths, tea towels etc. Now I can layer them and make them useful.

Sylvia's Simple Shots

I found this bee on a cornflower in a neighbour's front yard.

It is an Orange Belted Bumble Bee.  This is a first for me.

I am grateful for those who have wonderful flowers in their front yards. I am happy to show from the sidewalk on my morning walks.

I found a bag full of empty gold David's Tea tins at ReUse Center this week.  I was not supposed to be bringing anything home with the renovations but I just had to.

I have a David's Tea Advent Calendar which had it's tin's missing so I filled it with solid lid ones.

I needed to clear lid ones to finish.

I am not sure what I am going to do with it yet.  Christmas is a ways away.

The Girl from the Train by Irma Joubert.  What a great story.  Another WWII story which starts out in Poland near the end of the war. Jakob Kowalski is part of the Polish resistance and his group plan to bomb a bridge to destroy a German Troop transport.  Gretl Schmidt is a 6 year old German Jew on a train headed to Auschwitz. 

The bomb destroys the train headed to the death camp and Gretl is the only survivor. Jakob finds her and feels responsible and she comes to live with his Catholic family.  She must hid her German Jew history to live in Poland.  Over the next 3 years they share the secret and develop a close bond.  When the time comes for Grelt to move on she is sent to South Africa as a part of a program to relocate German Jew orphans. It is unlikely they will ever meet again but she will be safe.

Through unseen circumstances Jakob is offered a job with an international company who has position in South Africa.  While there, he makes inquiries to see if he can contact her, hoping she has had a good life.  Wonderful read.

The clearing of the dining room and living room of furniture has begun.  

The black shelving unit filled with those drawers was unpacked then moved to the bedroom and the drawers wer all put back in their place.

Of course, the process will be reversed when the new floor has been put in.

Slow Stitching - No. 027 - Stitching a Leaf

Week 27 of the slow stitching challenge on K3N Cloth Tales.

Prompt: Stitching on a real leaf (pressing and waxing leaves)

It was designed to help us be mixed media artist and have the experience of stitching on material which is not fabric.  

I did not create a hole in mine though I could have but after putting the time I decided against it.

Kelly green felt one layer.  I chose matching thread for the veins, darker for the central rib and blanket stitch in the same kelly green around the edge.  The French Knots the same color.

I stitched my patterned cotton fabric strips onto a navy square with navy thread. The leaf was stitched with leaf green thread so they would be more visible.

K3N had posted on Instagram last week that she would be using a pressed real leaf in her piece this week. She recommended we press one if we did not have one at hand.

I knew that a real leaf was not going to work for my end project so I decided to create myself a felt one. It was designed with no idea what the final challenge would be.

I regret not having a hole in it but I did not want to cut the thread for my knots.

It is supposed to be an Aspen Leaf.

Sylvia's Simple Shots

I met a friend at the St. Albert Botanic Park for a walk through nature and the blooming flowers. 

I love the peachy blushy rose and the shot came out nice.

After the walk, we headed to Timmy's for a tea and a visit.

It was a great afternoon after my dental cleaning in the morning.

The Detective's Secret by Lesley Thomson

The second book in a series.  I have not read the first one but I don't think it impacted the story much.  We get some history of some of the characters in the late 1980 when they were teenagers.  Then we move on to 2013 in the present day.

Jack Harmon drives trains for the metro, does detective work and sometimes pitches in at Stella's cleaning business.  Stella Darnell is a detective's daughter and her father has passed away.  Stella has a few employees in her business and all is going very well.

Palmyra Tower is almost a character in this story as well.  Formerly known as Chiswick Tower it is a water tower used for trains in the old days. It has history in relation the main characters. 

The past comes back to the fore when a man dies at an underground station on the metro.  The connections are not clear as names have changed over the years but grudges are still being held.  This was a great read.

I had an opportunity to try out a Sony RX10 camera for a couple of weeks.  I thought with this great zoom it should be wonderful!

It turned out not the be the easy peasy camera I thought it would be.  

It often did it's own thing when focusing, my photo editing software could not read it's RAW files so I had to delete 300 files an start over. I was met with the "function is not available" quite a few times and could not figure out what was preventing my changing the setting I wanted.

I am glad I did not invest in this camera as it was complicated for me to use.

One of the challenges this week was utility knives and blades.  The blue knife on the right lives in my sewing center and I use it disassembled second hand fabric.  It was on it's last point on the blade. No problem I have some in the cupboard which I use in the orange knife and it lives in the craft corner. No way the blades don't fit!

I headed to a big box store to buy a replacement and while there I invested in blades as well.  I tried the Olfa blades in the blue one and they fit so I will put the Olfa in the tools cupboard and I will have blades for a long time.  

Later, I was a ReStore and I could have saved myself some $ if I bought a utility knife there.  Ah well!

The prepping process is starting to move the furniture from the dining room and eventually the living room so that new vinyl floor can be installed.

I have made a selection so I will be ordering the flooring in the next few days and getting it delivered.

It will be a challenge to find hidey holes in the rest of the place for all that has to be moved.

On top of that most of it has to be emptied, moved then refilled.  Went the floor is done then the reverse process will take place.

I have put the IVAR cupboard ontop of the TROFAST in the front hall. I am filling the storage room where the STEN was taken away last week to be sold.  Thanks sister!

The sewing machine as been put away.

Sewing Project - Linen Napkins

I've decided to use cloth napkins instead of paper. I had bought flannel a few days ago for this.  

When I pulled the stuff out to make them I went What?  I am hoarding linen so why am I not using that. 

I pulled out the linen I dyed last year June 22,2023 with my sister.  It was meant to be a table runner but there is plenty.  I just ripped off a strip and started.  The gold is fabric I made a gift for my niece last year.

I made 6 napkins - three navy and three gold.

I made them small.  I started with a 13.75 inch square turned over a .5 inch hem.  I created mitered corners.  I followed this video.

I finally got the idea and the last few went really well.  

Here's the pile of paper napkins I am sending off to the ReUse Center.

I just had to rip the bandaid off because I thought - maybe I should save a few for photographing tablescapes and just said NO!

I have just way too much stuff and it has to go.

I do have a bit of a stash of cloth napkins which I am sure will accommodate any shots I will be taking in the future.

Cards - Christmas - Red and Green Holly

I took time to make a few more Christmas cards before the craft room gets packed up to replace the flooring.

This paper is from the Season of Cheer collection.

I chose a Cherry Cobbler A2 card base and wrapped a length of Always Artichoke wide grosgrain ribbon across the paper widthwise.  Taped the ends to the back.

Adhered the DSP to the card front in the portrait orientation then mounted an oval greeting punchie over the ribbon with 3D foam tape.

A seasonal quarter sheet insert and white envelope.

My photo taking space was already put away so I had to improvise hence the lacy curtain.  Plants are usually on this space but they were temporarily displaced.

This is a DSP Split card with the same Cherry Cobbler card base.  I cut the DSP layer at 3.5 inches and flipped the bottom piece and taped them back together. I placed a red band of card stock over the join and taped it to the card front.

I added a scallop circle and color printed greeting over the ribbon with 3D foam tape.

A season sentiment on a quarter sheet insert and a white envelope.

The green color in this collection is Mossy Meadow but since I don't have card stock in that color I substituted Always Artichoke which worked well.

I wrapped the dark green grosgrain ribbon across the designer paper and taped the ends to the back.  It was then adhered to the card front with double sided tape.

I created a poinsettia accent using the 5 Petal Punch with Real Red card stock, a non shed gold glitter punchie, a red sequin all held with a gold tiny brad.

It was adhered to the card front with 3D foam tape.  Seasonal quarter sheet insert and an envelope.  Pressing over night and they are done!

Cards - Christmas - Night of Navy Snowflake

This designer paper is from the Season of Cheer collection by Stampin Up.

I cut the DSP to leave a small border. I strung these silver circles on navy crochet thread and tape the ends to the back. Then it was adhered to the card front with DS tape.

The ornaments were cut with the Gleaming Ornaments punch from silver paper and adhered behind the circles.

It makes them looks like light bulbs.

A seasonal insert and white envelope.

I was not fussy about the reverse print on this sheet of DSP so I chose the snowflake side for all these cards.

This A2 card base is Baja Breeze but it could have been Soft Sky as well.  I cut it to leave s small border all the way around.

I added an oval color printed greeting to the bottom left hand side to keep the warm blue corner visible.  It was mounted with 3 D tape.

A seasonal quarter sheet insert and white envelope completes it.

This is a similar colored layer as the previous one but on Night of Navy card base this time.


I added a Martha Stewart snowflake punchie made from 110lb card stock


I added a large blue sequin in the center. A tiny brad holds these to the DSP then that layer was adhered with DS tape to the blue card.


A seasonal quarter sheet insert and white envelope and these are done.


Glad to have a few more in the box.

Cards - Christmas - Snowflake

I need to make more Christmas cards.

I browse my designer paper and chose this 1 sheet from the Season of Cheer DSP set by Stampin Up. I believe this is mistletoe.

The color in this set is Mossy Meadow but I had Always Artichoke instead, also Soft Sky as card bases in the A2 size. 

 I added a length of Mellow Moss seam binding topped with Cool Caribbean narrow rick rack with all ends taped the the back of the designer paper. It was then adhered to the card front.

For the snowflake I punched a MS Snowflake and a Stampin Up one and layered them. I added a large white sequin in the center all held in place with a tiny blue brad.  This was adhered to the card front with a medium Zot.

I added 3 white sequins adhered with Bling Zots. A seasonal insert with a white envelope completes it.

The next card is a DSP Split where I cut the one piece at 3.5 inches and flipped the small piece over and tape them back together.  I taped it to the front of a Soft Sky card base.

I then punched a border with the Stampin Up Dotted Scallop Ribbon border punch in the same Soft Sky card stock.  It was adhered over the join in the DSP.

I found a large oval greeting with a color to match and adhered it over the border punch with 3D tape.

For this card I adhered the designer paper cut to 4.00 x 5.25 inches to the front of an Always Artichoke card base.

I added a strip of light blue across the card and trimmed the ends.

I added a snowflake accent make with the Martha Stewart large snowflake punch in 2 colors - white and blue.  All held with a tiny silver star brad with a silver sequin.

I added a greeting with a Word Window greeting in a similar blue color and mounted to a Modern Label punch in a similar green color.

This card is the opposite coloring to number 2.

Always Artichoke card base with a DSP Split piece of designer paper from the Season of Cheer set.

I used a border punchie in green this time to match with the card base.

I again chose a large oval greeting held in place with 3D foam tape.

A seasonal sentiment on a white insert and a white envelope.

A mirror copy of number 3 card with the alternate combination of colors.

This is Soft Sky card base with the same snowflake accent.

The greeting again is the same with the colors swapped.

A seasonal insert and white envelope.

Press overnight to ensure the tape sticks well

Great to have a few more cards in the box.

Cards - All Occasion - Block Print Paper

I found this Indian Block Print Handmade Paper at the ReUse Center recently and loved it.  I knew that it would work with Stampin Up cardstock colors wonderfully.  The piece was about 9x12 inches so just a few cards.

I chose Baja Breeze and Ruby Red for the card bases in the A2 quarter sheet size.

I cut the decorative paper to leave just a small border.  

I chose a strip of matching card stock to go across the card and then a white scallop circle, with a grey coordinating smooth circle, a bird accent made with the Stampin Up Bird Builder Punch. I added a bit of black which helps to ground the design. A bit stitching around the circle with a fine black marker.

Quarter sheet insert and a white envelope and it is ready to go.

The next layout I used a daisy flower punch which I did one in each color. Then a smaller one in black.  A large white sequin and a coordinating mini brad to hold things together.

I added a strip of white card stock across the landscape card and glued it to the decorative paper leaving the ends hang over. 

I used a push pin to create a hole in each of the layers and mounted the flower accent through to the decorative paper.  Then adhered the whole layer to the card front.

I added black stitching to the white strip with a fine tip marker.

Added a quarter sheet insert and a white envelope.

This card has a Ruby Red card base with a layer of decorative paper adhered with double sided tape.

I created the bird accent with the above mentioned punch in the 3 colors.

With a marker I added the eye and lines to the beak and the stitching around the grey circle.

The accent was then adhered to the card front with double sided tape. 

A white quarter sheet insert and white envelope to finish things off.

Another flower accent card with the alternate color combo from the first one.

The daisy punch accent was assembled the same way with a coordinating warm red mini brad.

A fine black marker for the stitching and the flower adhered to the decorative paper.

This entire layer was then adhered to the landscape card front.

White insert and envelope.  These are now pressing under books overnight to allowing the glue to take a good hold.

I am almost ready to liquidate my designer paper as I very rarely use it and I could use the space for something else.