Fabric Patches - Various Processes

One of the processes I can use is designing my art and outlining it with black. Check out my testing of black marking material.

Using Inktense Color or Acrylic Paint to color the design.

Heat set the color once dry.

For this patch and used a thin top layer onto a white 100% cotton foundation layer.  Ripped to 3.75" square.

I used a ball point pen for the outline and painted it with Inktense color applied with a mixture of aloe vera gel and water.

I can always create my outlining with stitching.  It can be any color I want.

On this patch I used red thread and the back stitch to outline the heart and it's internal lines.

Once it was stitched I used Inktense color with aloe vera gel to paint the various piece of the patchwork pattern.

I added a tiny red button on the top left hand patch.

The background needed something so I just added some black Inktense lines.

I can use the traditional process of drawing the design with a temporary washable pencil which will disappear when the fabric is washed.

The design is stitched with colored embroidery floss - 2 strands.

This patch features fabric collage with slow stitching. 

I created a mountain scene with 3 peaks with a foreground of deep earthy colors.

I added a sun in the top left hand corner with a piece of yellow fabric.

I stitched some trees in the foreground with the fly stitch.  Running stitches on the earthy fabric, white peak on the middle mountain, birds in the blue sky.

All of the pretty squares are then machine stitched to a piece of heavy fabric - typically denim in various colors and weights.

I designed a card stock backer onto which I can stitch the fabric patch.

This allows me to place them on a display for sale at the Christmas Store at the art gallery at the end of the year.

I generally use upcycled textiles in these fabric patches.

I do not use glue in any of the steps of the construction of these patches.

These patches are fully washable.

Some may have embellishments which could include beads, buttons, charms and who knows what else I may be inspired to use.

Card - Thinking of You - Watercolor

A card for a friend who received a tough diagnosis recently.

It is important to know that people care and are thinking of you.

I just painted a quick watercolor of water, earth and trees.

The flowers in the water don't jive with the pine tree in the dirt but I wanted a bit of color and pretty.

This was painted with my Winston Newton travel palette.

Trimmed to fit on a 5x7 ish sized card in the portrait orientation on a True Thyme base.

A white quarter sheet insert and an ivory envelope.  A bit of a write and a stamp an it will be on it's way.

Sylvia's Simple Shots

My first trip to Patricia Lake in the Griesbach neighbourhood.

There were a number of waterfowl about.  The weather was crisp but lovely.

Here is a beautiful Red Wing Blackbird hanging in last years' bulrushes.  I expect the couple is working on nest building and he is being protective.

I took a browse through the St. Albert Painter's Guild's Spring Show.

So many pieces of beautiful art.

A lot of mediums represented.

I met my aunt who had pieces in the show for lunch at the seniors center before our walk through the art.

An Orphan's Wish by Molly Green was the book I finished this week. 

A beautiful wartime story set in England in 1943.  Lana has lost her fiance to the fight with Germany over the seas.  She accepts a temporary position to teach children from the local village as well as the orphanage nearby.

One of the children there is not an orphan but the son of a German operative cooperating with the British forces. Priscilla has lost her parents and is adrift emotionally dealing with her grief.

The German man comes to visit his son and Lana catches his attention.  She is quite aware of him as well but he is the enemy who took her love so she is reticent to get involved.

Wonderful story and great read.

I headed over very early on Monday morning to have my say in this country's election.  The polling station was held in a church and they served goodies on our way out.  That was nice.

With that done, I headed out for my regular walk around the neighbourhood camera in hand.

The car was headed for his test later today.

My first Uber experience since the car had stay overnight.

A friend and I headed out for a supper out.

I have not eaten at this restaurant much but it been twice in a few months.

The food again was delicious and leftovers made another meal.

The car passed his compression test and had its software updated to warn if the engine is showing signs of the breakdown of the sealing rings.

Another ride with Uber to go and pick up the car.

R is for Ricochet by Sue Grafton completed this week.

Kinsey is hired by a father to is keep an eye out on a felon daughter released from prison.

Bad habits are hard to break and when temptation of thousands of dollars appears Reba could not resist.

Then the owner of the money is motivated to get his money back.  Force is not out of the question and someone loses his life because of his association with Reba.

Another great book.  

I will soon have read all the books in this series.

Sylvia's Simple Shots

 My plants are doing well in temporary accommodations.  They still have an east window like they did at home. 

The African Violets bloomed so it was happy.

There was a good dining room light which kept them company.

It was bitterly cold this Sunday so I stayed in and watched TV.

I had access to Youtube so I was able to watch my regular Sunday posters.

The scope of work for the kitchen did not include anything other than the front of the cupboards.  

Of course, the bottom edges were brown to match the previous color.  Once the restoration project was finished I used the leftover paint to do the those edges to match the fronts.

Really helped the look of the kitchen.

The plumbers were in on Thursday to reconnect all the water related items.  Kitchen sink, dishwasher, bathroom sink, toilet, and the laundry center.

This was the message left by the plumbers.

Would I still be able to move home when I planned?  

This experience has taught me to roll with the punches and keep moving.  

I talked to the carpenter for his opinion, then my brother in law and then headed out to buy a new faucet. I then called our building plumbing company and I was able to get the faucet installed on Friday.  Yes. 

Bright and early the plumber was there to install the faucet.

At the same time the company hired by my insurance was there to put in place the fridge, stove, the freezer and the pine cabinets on either side.  Busy time!

I thought I would get the bathroom set up first and then at 11:30 am or so I opened the vanity in the bathroom to this!  A leak!

I called the was given a site visit in the next few hours.

What to do now?

I chose to be productive and painted the bottom of the cabinet under the sink.

It is just particle board and over the years it had lost it's finish.

I used semi gloss in the same color as the walls in the place.  

It really brighten up the space to match the rest of the kitchen.

The plumber returned about 1:30pm and gave the drain just a bit of a turn.   Then tested the drain with 3 full sinks of water and all was dry!

So at 2 pm it was confirmed that I could move home.  I brought most of my stuff back home but stayed one more night because check out time was 11 am and at that time I still did not know if everything was going to be okay to move back.

I was checked out by 8 am and headed home with my overnight bag and my back pack.

I started cleaning.

I headed out for brunch with my friend which I have not seen since the fall.

We had a great visit, great food, and a relaxing time.

Sylvia's Simple Shots

A night shot of lights on a very cold night.

The streets are icy and traffic is sparse.

There is nice moonlight.

I had problems with the toilet at my temporary accommodation.

The arm on the float broke so the tank was not filling up.  I had to fill the tank by hand.

A quick call and a plumber arrived to fix it.  Great service.

The Postmistress by Sarah Blake is the book I finished this week.

Iris James is the postmistress in coastal Franklin, Massachusetts. She know more about the local than anyone.

She holds many secrets as part of her job. One day she does the unthinkable: she slips a letter into her pocket, reads it and does not deliver it.

Frankie Bard broadcasts from overseas with Edward R. Morrow.  Her broadcasts begs listeners to pay heed to the Nazi bombings of London. 

Each woman delivers news in their corners of the world, at one point, yet find themselves unable to do so. 

Another great WWII story with strong women doing their part. Great read.

It turns out based on decisions made that can not be reversed that I have to paint the bathroom because it is not within the scope of work.

It was great to have the adjuster reach out and explain the situation.

It is very cold and I head over to get it done.

The vanityhad already been put into the space so I had to work around that.

I remember painting that room before I move in all those years ago.

It took about 4 hours.

Fortunately, I had the tools and the paint to get it done.

Watercolor Painting - Green Leaves

I created this green leaves piece last night prompted by a photo challenge of green.

I used my rag tag watercolor pencils and the pencil sharpener to get some pencil shavings onto my watercolor palette.

With 2 greens, 2 yellows and a grey I managed to get a variety of colors for this collage.

Once it was dry I added the lines between the squares with a marker.

I then used a fine marker to draw leaves in the spaces. All kinds and shapes with a bit of help from the internet.

It's nature wonderful.

This morning looking at it I'm not sure that I will do for a photo challenge.

I will scour the place to find something green to shoot. I do have plants if worse comes to worse.

Card - Inktense Painting

I made a card with my Inktense "Sunrise" painting.

I stitched the black outliner lines with a single embroidery floss. This is tightly woven cotton and was not fun to stitch. 

I chose a SU Garden Green A2 card base.

I ripped the painting to the edges of the color.  I tacked it down with stitches in the corner to a piece of white card stock that was trimmed to leave a wide border.

I glue the white layer to the front of the card base in the landscape orientation.

Added a white insert on the inside with a envelope.

It is ready to give!

Inktense Fabric Painting - Sunrise

I decided to invest in Derwent Inktense ink colors for coloring fabric. My sister and nieces have had them for a while.

The come in different formats - pan, pencil and blocks.

I chose the pans since I do  some watercolor and they were the least investment should it not work out.  I also went to Delta Art and bought the Inktense 2400 Outliner which is a black drawing pencil not is non soluble so it will not run when you paint over it

My sister and niece have experienced the color seeping into other areas of their embroidery when painting with water.  Several videos I watched suggested using aloe vera gel instead of water to activate the ink. 

I drew my composition on a piece of cotton with the Outliner then painted. I had some pure aloe vera gel in my fridge so I decided to give it a try.  It works very well. 

I just a small brush for my edges and concentrated ink.  I used my regular watercolor ceramic palette and blended colors as I wanted with the gel. You do have to rinse your brush in water when changing colors.  The seeping you see on the roof of the house was a result of my not drying my brush after using water to rinse so it was too fluid and so it ran.  

I set the painting with my hot steam iron.  I ran it in water after the setting and the color did not run at all. 

Yes, this is a winner.

Art Show - AAC - Open Art Competition

I squeezed in preparing 3 pieces for the Open Art Show while my transition strips on the floor were drying.

This piece is a close up of a Salsify Seed Head taken against the light. It looks like a giant dandelion.

To me this looks like paintbrushes on my desk.

Title: Brushes

Size: 11.00 x 14.00 inches

Medium: Photography

Mat: 11x14 Black Double 

Print: 8x10 inches

Frame: 11x14 Metal Black Satin

I was working on the idea of glazing where one applies layers of watercolor as you go down the painting and the color get darker at the bottom. Many layers of color then outlined in black marker.

Title: Moonrise

Size: 12.50 x 11.75 inches

Medium: Watercolor

Mat: 11x14 Warm White Double with Blue back layer

Art: 5.5 x 6 inches

Frame: 12 x 11.75 Metal Blue Satin

Captured the morning dew on a spider web on on my walk.  Beautiful and delicate structure.

Title: Morning Lace

Size: 12.00 x 14.25 inches

Medium: Photography

Mat: 11x14 White Single 

Print: 8.5x11 inches

Frame: 12x14 Metal Silver Satin

These are my entries into the show.

Reception: Friday, Sept 06/24 at

7 pm

Some wonderful art to behold.

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!

Sylvia's Simple Shots

My sister and I were treated to lunch by her children along with celebrating Father's day for each of the 3 families.  My sister's birthday treat is sponge cake with strawberries and whipped cream and mine was ice cream bars.  I used to get ice cream cake but that is just too much sugar these days.

I prepared lunch for my sister and brother-in-law was they were in town for shopping and helping me get the laundry room ready with a dryer vent connector.

I roasted chicken along with veggie salad and T&T Organic Mixed Thai Rice.

There was fresh strawberries and Greek yogurt for dessert.

Then the work began. The connector was installed and the room was ready to paint.

I was up early and put a coat of primer on the wood around the dryer vent connector.

A couple hours later I painted the second half of the laundry room now that the dryer and wood shelving unit had been removed.

The green tape is to make where the shelving unit ends so that laundry center is placed to ensure that the unit can go back into the closet.

I am grateful that there is still paint from when I bought 2 years ago so that went well.

I did paint the other half while the washer was out of the closet.

While shopping for improvements to the laundry closet I found a pair of black jeans to for a great price.

The picture on the left is the mending I did on the left knee to my regular pair of jeans. With my slow stitch experience I was more comfortable just getting it done.

There have been several repairs to these jeans so it was time for a better pair.

And all this preparation and waiting has finally resulted in the arrival of the new laundry center.  Yeah!

The other set was over 20 years old and it had not been happy about being moved in early May for building leak repair work.

It was moved out on May 6th and was finally returned to the laundry closet on a very temporary basis May 31st.

I am a believer in signs so I heeded the one I got and ordered a replacement.  It was 20 day wait for it to arrive and be delivered.

I spent a lot of time measuring, going to appliance stores, researching details on line. Plugs, drain hoses, drain stacks, and more.  Thank goodness for the amount information available on line these days as there was not a physical example in store for me to see, measure to help in the decision making process.

The laundry closet is back together but that will be a separate post.

Home Upgrades - Bathroom Vanity

Plumber was in last week to fix a slow draining bathroom sink.  That is a brand spanking new shiny P-Trap which was installed as the ring on the old one just broke off when it was handled to be put back together.

The vanity needed to be cleaned and once I got in there I decided that it could do with a paint job. I don't like the brown wall on the left hand side. Yes, that is my poor drywall repair when a previous plumber came in made a hole and never returned to repair it. The bottom of the cabinet is just particle board and has had wetness issues which I inherited.

I decided to paint the inside of the cabinet.

I dug out a partial small can of Bulls Eye 123 Primer.  There was just enough to do this small job.  

I have used this great product with very good success.  This is leftover from painting the vanity doors.

With that brown wall and the fact that the drywall repair had not been painted and the bottom being damaged I thought it could use a good coat of sealer.

It was much brigther in there after the primer was on.

The brown wall is streaky but that will be covered when the paint goes on.

I let it dry 4  hours before I put the coat of paint on it.

This the paint I have been using for all the work done in my place.

It is a warm white and very good paint.  Covers well and costs a pretty penny but worth it.

This looks so much better.  It is all sealed, it is white and is all nice a clean.  I let this dry for 4 hours.

Love it!

I put the isolation valve covers back on and marked the hot and cold.

I was ready to put everything back in the cabinet and have my place back again.

There have been so many times where I regular life has been disrupted.  

The majority of the laundry room is still in the living room.

With flooring to be done this summer there will be plenty more.

Well that was a full days work but it looks wonderful.

I am very grateful to have some of my energy back so I can tackle some of these projects even if it is not on my time line.