Sylvia's Simple Shots

I did manage to pick a few handfuls of raspberries this week.  There are several bushes in the neighbourhood which are on my morning walk route.

I sure miss picking raspberries in Mom's garden. 

The Big Dreams Beach Hotel by Michelle Gorman writing as Lilly Bartlett.This was a nice light read.  

Rosie fled New York City after a failed relationship and the resulting loss of her job in the hospitality industry. Betrayed and devastated she headed back to her seaside home town in England.  

She now manages a quaint Victorian hotel owned by the Colonel where there are several permanent senior residents, a eccentric chef and a dog named Barry and just enough rentals to keep it afloat. 

Next, the Colonel has sold the hotel to a couple of brothers from America and a young man named Rory arrives as the transition manager. The changes are significant, renovations to the building, new decor, new menu for chef to learn, and the end to tenant contracts for some of the residents.  Where will they go?

It  has been scorching hot again this week.  

I had to place a sheet over the curtains in the dining room to keep the heat of the morning sun.  It is not cooling down overnight so it's been about 82F to 89F in the place. Soaking my head and shirt to keep cool.

These pine crates elevate my TV so I can place the DVD player and the stereo below it on the console table.

They are rough pine and are not finished.

I decided to give them a good sanding then a couple of coats of Tung Oil since they are not being used right now with everything in the living room packed.

I just did the outside since the inside will not be visible.  They are very rough and an electric sander would have been helpful but I go with what I have.

They do look better so I am happy.  It will be at least another couple of weeks before I can start putting the house back together.

It has been a full 2 weeks of waiting, emailing, researching, emailing some more to get approval to move forward with the installation of the flooring.

There's a trip to Calgary this week I hope to pick up the underlay.

On Mystic Lake by Kristin Hannah was a book I recently finished.  This is my second or third book by this author.

Annie Colwater lives in California with her lawyer husband and daughter.  She has been a housewife for 20 years and a mother for 17.  She is a great manager of the house and her husband depends on her to make him look good.  

He wants a divorce.  What is she to do? Her daughter is off to London before college and her husband has moved out of their house.

She heads north to the small town where she grew up and spends some time with her Dad, Hank. She meets several people she went to school with and one in particular Nick Delacroix is in need of support.  His wife has died and their 6 year old daughter has been expelled from school. She is not handling the death of her mother well.  Annie offers to babysit the girl while Nick is at work.

A love story develops and she finds her purpose. 

I won these picnic place mats at the reunion raffle last weekend.

Great way to not lose your cutlery and have a clean place to eat when you are using public picnic facilities.

Great for the RV or trailer.  Washable, reusable and a great addition to any camping trip.

My sister made these and they will be added to my camping gear.

Sewing Project - Picnic Placemats - QAYG - Red,Yellow and Blue

This is the last one for a while as I have to get ready for contractors on Monday.

The deep floral fabric in this placemat was the inspiration.  It came in the box of free fabric I received back in February.

I chose the main colors in it and added coordinating strips in the quilt as you go method. I used flannel as my foundation layer.

The zipper is upcycled and it had been cut along the way so I was able to make it longer.

I chose black for the zipper insert/pocket as well as the backing.

These ties are about 11 inches long.   These will be donated to Grandma Africa sale in June.

Sewing Project - Picnic Placemats - QAYG Warm Blues

These placemats are becoming fun to make, now that I have a system.  Here's the collection of warm blues scraps I had.

I did have more patching to do in this placemat.  Some of the scraps were not 12" long so I had to ad bits.  The zipper insert/pocket was great with a turquoise 9" zipper. The back is a light grey cotton poly so I did put grey in by bobbin so that my back seams would blend. The ties are 12" each.

Sewing Project - Picnic Placemats - QAYG Warm Greens

After a trip out this afternoon, I made another picnic placemat.

This one featuring warm green fabrics.

I was able to get warm green cotton poly fabric at the thrift store so do the back and pocket of this placemat.

This one feels very nice because the backer fabric is heavier. 

It has a full layer of flannel as well.

Wavy stitching again to keep the layers together.

A dark green tie at 12 inches for both.

Sewing Project - Picnic Placemats - QAYG Blues

Another set of scraps put to good use.

This time I chose all blue fabric. 

I created the navy blue zipper insert/pocket on the right hand side first. 

I chose a piece of grey flannel and chose to make the size of the placemat this time. 12.5 x 17.5 inches.

I sewed on the strips of fabric starting from the right hand side close to where the pocket ended. I continued till I got to the left hand side. 

I created a tie from the polka dot fabric.  The back is a pin striped cotton poly fabric which I cut the size of the front.  I pinned the ties opposite the pocket and sewed all the way around leaving a space open to turn it right sides out.   I trimmed the fabric in the corners, turned it and pressed it nicely.  I put a line of top stitching very close the edge which closed the space I left open earlier.

I chose my wavy decorative stitch to quilt the 2 layers together 3 time across the placemat.

Another done!

Sewing Project - Picnic Placemats - QAYG Warm Colors

I sorted through my scraps this morning and gathered like colors to see if I had enough to make the front of the picnic placemat. 

I am trying to keep the pocket on the right hand side distinct from the rest of the placemat. I created the zipper pocket like an insert with the brown fabric.

I then cut a 13x13 inch square of flannel to which I sewed the various strips of fabric. 

I chose a beige cotton poly leftover for the back. 

I created ties from the same fabric.

I laid these layers facing right sides together and pinned the ties on the opposite side to the pocket.  I ran a seam all the way around leaving a space to turn it right side out. I top stitched the wavy line to define the pocket then added 2 more similar seams to quilt the 2 layers together.

I am happy with it.

Sewing Project - Picnic Placemats - Yellow Purple

I started working out my process for making picnic placements with a zipper pocket to hold a napkin and the cutlery. 

I cut the fabric 12 x 18 inches for both the yellow front fabric and the grey back fabric.

I created the pocket like my zipper inserts with the addition of tabs at each end of the zipper so there is no holes for things to fall out.  I inserted the pocket between the 2 layers with rights sides together.  I made some white ties which I placed at the opposite end of the pocket in between the layers.  I then ran a 1/4 inch seam all the way around leaving a space to turn the piece inside out.  

Once turned inside out, I ran a line of decorative wavy stitch to close off the left hand side of the pocket and then added 2 more lines of wavy stitching to hold the layers together.  I added purple tabs to the ends of  the ties to finish off the ends. 

The pocket can hold your cutlery and a napkin.

Notes: 

My ties could be thinner and longer. 

I like that this method does not introduce a third color to the mat.

It is quite thin but would do the job to give you a clean place to eat your lunch at the park.

My tab on the left of the zipper could be narrower.