Sylvia's Simple Shots

The first snow arrived this week.

It was not much but it is time if there will be snow to protect the plants and provide moisture in the spring.

The guy with the bike has been through.  With the snow he has left evidence of his passing.  I have seen him a couple of times but he goes by more often than I thought.

The Firebrand by Susan Wiggs is the book I finished this week. This novel is set in Chicago in the 1870s. The central historical event is the great fire of October 1871. 

Lucy Hathaway was at a party and decided to flirt with a married man. On her way home that night she could see a warm glow in the distance and as she gets closer she can see fire.  Chaos reigns as you can imagine. Many people died, buildings burned and countless people were left homeless.  As she passes at hotel, a baby is tossed from an upper window and Lucy catches it as it falls. The building those inside are lost.  When she approaches her home she sees that she has lost her home as well. 

Her mother, Lucy and the baby start over.  She sets up a bookstore and the child grows. The parents of the baby are distraught, the father is badly burned and hospitalized for a good while.  When he recovers his marriage has ended and his baby girl is gone! He must pick up the pieces and carry on.  

He does well in banking and five years later Lucy meets the man from the party as the bank manager who will decide about her bank loan. A photo on his desk of a baby girl makes her realize that this is the father of "her daughter".  The romantic plot is predictable.  Susan is a good author and it was a good read.

I did a lot of work on sorting out what neutrals I could use to paint furniture in my place.  I generally, prefer natural wood tones with clear finish or tung oil.  I have a bench that my Mom made for me which was painted pink for the place I had in the 1980s. Now I would like to change that color. 

These are the colors I have selected that would coordinate with the floor, the counter in the kitchen and the Queen Ann Lace paint on the walls. Love that color.

I have chosen Intellectual for the stool and will paint that when I have time in then next few months.  I have chosen BEHR brand because I can get it locally.

It was a good week at the thrift shops this week.  There are several I visit on a trip to the city.

I picked up this Stampin Up stamp set called Papillon Potpourri.  Papillon is butterfly in French.

With my commitment to butterfly cards for IWin this will add another piece to my options to make cards for this charity.

I do not have the butterfly punch that coordinates but stamping them on tags or circles or label punchies will work.

There also a good variety of sizes as well in the set.

I got rid of all my large plates from my turquoise dishes before I moved.  I knew I would have less space but I did not understand how small the lunch plates were.

I found this set of white glass dishes at MCC this week. Two of each dinner plate, luncheon plate and soup bowl and all stack nicely.  They fit nicely in the bit of space I had in the cupboard.

I have misplaced my timer for the grow light in the office to keep my plants alive in winter. 

In a bag of electrical things I found 2 Westinghouse timers which are way easier to use than the old push clip version.

I replaced both the one in the bedroom that turns on my Starry Night Light an hour in the evening.  The grow light comes on for 3 hours in the morning before it gets light outside.

I can leave my curtains open now that snow has accumulated next to the fence. We have snowbanks there now the the bike man is no longer going by.

The plants I hope will survive and eventually thrive.

I replaced the outlet extender in the living room which is designed to go behind furniture so the plugs can have a lower profile. 

With the new extender, I get 3 plugs, I can still plug something in the lower plugin, and I can use the front facing one for the vacuum. 

Very happy with these upgrades all for $5.

I found this cutting mat with something stuck to it. I was not sure I would be able to remove it but I took a chance.  It was likely white glue and with a bit of soaking it all came right off. 

Now I have a cutting mat for the craft room and I know where it goes back to.

I have been on the look out for a couple more cobalt blue water glasses and the fit the bill.

When I got them home though and washed them I see that they have some dishwasher damage on them. 

I will continue to look.

Sewing Project - Fabric Scraps to Scrappy Fabric

 

Another scrappy fabric with small and medium scraps. This time in warm blue tones.  I laid out the whole piece this time before I started sewing ensuring that I was overlapping the edges sufficiently.

I used gray thread this time like quilters do to provide a neutral to all the color.  I think that worked.

I was thinking bottle bags but I think this will be fabric wallets instead.

Photo Calendar - 4x6 Fridge Calendar - 2023

I found I needed a small calendar in several places and decided to create what would have been my fridge calendar for 2023.

I found a calendar on line that would work.

I then selected one of my images and cropped to the size I needed to fit the top of the calendar.

I had them printed as a 4x6 pearl print.  Normally for fridge calendars I would have mounted them onto card stock but for this situation I just left it as a 4x6.

I chose a bokeh image a while back.  Very neutral tones which could have been mounted on almost any color card stock.

At least now I have a reference in my daily devotional book and my photo challenge binder.

I will have new software next year when I have to do this again.

 

Monochromatic Madonna

I have been working on more Christmas Card Stack kits. These cards are samples that I decided not to pursue as kits.

This card features Mary and Jesus in lovely soft tones.  The original photo I downloaded from Pixabay.  It did not have the right ratio for the space I wanted it to cover so I widened the image.  I am happy with the way it turned out.  I printed it onto white card stock then fussy cut it to the printed edge.  The image is 3 3/4"T x 3 5/8"W.

I cut the Tim Holtz Cameo Frame in a taupe grey card stock.  It was mounted to a black card.  I rubbed the edges of the central image with a black ink pad to get rid of the white edges and soften the edges of the image. The Madonna image was adhered to the center of the frame with 3D foam tape.

I added 2 tiny black brads in the center of the top and bottom curves. 

Mosaic Monday #9 - This Week

This is a few pics from my walk this morning.  The temperature was nice this am so a light coat was all I needed.

This is a path heading further into the river valley.  It's always interesting to imagine who walks this path.

The foliage is of much more neutral tones at this time of year.

The first on the top right I think might be Vanhoutte spirea.
The centre one is Common Snowberry (Symphoricarpos albus)
Bottom right is Dried Bull Thistle seed head.

This bench recently appeared at a condo on my regular walk.  It would be under full coverage of leaves in the summer and would offer respite from the heat.  As you can see the leaves have fallen and it's color fit right in with the dry leaves. 

This is whole wheat pancakes with a bit of high bush cranberry syrup and a touch of cream.  Yum!
A cup of chamomile tea rounds out the snack.  The white vase was a recent purchase at the thrift store.  In some of my shots for the tea calendar at my sister's we used hers but I wanted one.  It's been several months of looking regularly to find one not to big and simply white.  Happy with this one.

Sharing with Mosaic Monday #9 hosted by Maggie at Normandy Life.

R2G Card Kits - Bethlehem Star

I made another set of these Ready 2 Go Card kits. Similar to these last year.  I chose bright card stock this time.  I printed the Christmas script background on neutral card stock and selected ink color to match the card.  Trimmed it to leave a small border. I created the star accent by cutting the star in the same card stock as the card using the Cricut and the Joy of the Season cartridge.  I mounted a gold star circle sequin onto the front and held it in place with 2 tiny gold brads.  The star accent is held in place with 3D foam tape.
I have used bright card stock in the kit - black, red, green and blue.