Sylvia's Simple Shots

The weather is warm and the magpies have been hanging around in the back alley.

I just love how the sun is highlighting the beautiful colors in their feathers.

Just enjoying the sun!

The Sea Gate by Jane Johnson was the book I finished this week.

Set in Cornwall, England and a WWII story comes to life.  Rebecca's mother has passed and as she cleans her flat she finds a letter. 

Olivia is her mother's elderly cousin who needs help to save her beloved home. As Olivia sits in hospital Rebecca starts to clean and unearths secrets.

There is tunnel in the basement which leads to the sea. Could it be that "goods" have been secreted in the basement?  In recent times there is an illegal cigarette operation. 

A historic corpse is found in the tunnel. Who is it?  When did he die?  Why did he die? How was the gate used during the war?  

Wonderful story and real page turner

The kitchen plumbing stacks were steamed this week.

The process is required to prevent sink back ups due to a build up of gunk in the drains.

It is frightening to see black water backing up in your sink and you wonder will it overflow and cause a mess and possible damage.

After the renovation I have just gone through I can tell you that was not in the least appealing.

It means having to be home and having a contractor in your kitchen for several hours.

A sparrow at Telford Lake. They were many and flitting around as they do.  They were singing and chatting among themselves.

I was checking out a condo building in the area for orientation and location.  It is so difficult sometimes to determine these things from a few photos on a MLS listing.

The magpies were enjoying the pool of water which accumulated at the corner of the loading dock.

After a long winter, it time for a bit of cleaning. They were dipping, swooning, and shaking off the drops and doing it again and again.

The sun was warm and it was lovely to watch them frolic for about 20 minutes.

 

Sylvia's Simple Shots

Its been a week for improvements in the sewing room department.

I have started buying distilled water for my steam iron which lessens the amount of times I have to clean it.  The cost is minimal about $2 and it is better all the way around.

I also found a water cup for the iron at the thrift store this week.  I have wanted one for a while and since I bought my iron second hand it did not come with one.

I have been reusing a disposable water bottle but it does not have the point to direct the water.

This cup works very well and it again was a bargain at the thrift store.

Another improvement in the sewing room was this clamp I found at the ReUse Center.

This the spool holder that my brother in law made me for Christmas a few years ago. It works well but the corner of my sewing desk is a bit short on space.  Whenever I pull the board to raise the machine it would topple over.  

This clamp is minimal but very effective.  It has been quite a while since I have worried about not toppling the spool holder.

I found this small bag of buttons at the thrift store when I met my sister in Wetaskiwin a while back.

They are vintage for sure with metal inserts in the holes for reinforcement.  There are about 50 of them so I am sure there is a project where they will fit in perfectly.

I had a visit with my youngest sister for Family Day.

She had a couple of friends over and we talked crafts, sewing, and all manner of other stuff.

We managed to make this puzzle while we chatted.

It was nice to be with family.

Chair Protector & Steam Iron Maintenance

I took a break from quilts today to get some mending and small projects for the home.

I have started using my rocking chair more but I wanted to protect the cushion cover.  I sewed this cotton protector to prevent my hair oils from staining the cushion.  I added 2 ties which attach it to the wood back of the chair.

It is done and installed.

I had to do some maintenance on my Sunbeam Steam Iron - Model 4229 today.

I have to confess I have not been cleaning it regularly.  Today, I had to do it 4 times before I felt I had cleaned out a good amount of the gunk from the reservoir.

Recently, I had noticed bits of gunk in the water as it has a clear reservoir which should have been a clue.

I don't find the sole plate as clean as I want it but I will continue to do it regularly and I am sure it will get better.

Lesson:
Clean your steam iron regularly rather than deal with the hassles later.

Love You a Latte - 1st card

I recently participated in the blog hop hosted by Coffee Loving Cardmakers. They ask for tea, coffee or cocoa related cards.  Tea is my beverage of choice but I don't have so many related stamps or paper.

I was looking for options for die cuts for these challenges.  Love You a Latte Cricut cartridge has been on my list for at least a year but you can no longer buy it from Cricut.  I was looking for a second hand seller.  I found one and the cartridge arrived today!  Yeah.

Here's my first card with it.

I cut a coffee take out cup at 5 inches (includes the steam) from Bohemia - Blue Bird "All Boy" Stripe/Light Blue. I cut the lid from the reverse light blue side.  For the band I just adhered a piece of designer paper and trimmed it to the die cut edges. I adhered the cafe word in the center.

I created a background with the Stampin Up Soft Swirls stamp with Chocolate Chip ink on pink paper.  This was adhered to a Mocha Divine textured card.  I adhered the cup and steam.  Then, I added a greeting with stamped with Chocolate Chip ink on the same designer paper and then cut with banner ends. The stamp set is Sweet Essentials. It was adhered with 3D foam tape.

Joining challenge - Anything Goes at Fantabulous Cricut.

Coffee Stains

Another card for the Coffee Loving Cardmakers' Summer Blog Hop.


I started with the cup and steam cut with the Cricut and the Joy of the Season cartridge at 1.75 inches.

I chose a blue card stock for the background layer.  I used Tim Holtz Distress Stains to add color to it with the Mini Coffee Splotch stencil by Rebekah Meier for The Crafters Workshop. I used Vintage Photo, Tea Dye and a bit of Tattered Rose distress stains on the blue applied with a sponge through the stencils and applied directly to the paper. I selected a warm toned peach colored card to which I applied Tea Dye and Tattered Rose to tone down the color.

I added a length of taupe seam binding to give the cup a place to sit.  I ran double sided tape across the blue layer then added pleats to the ribbon as I pressed down onto the adhesive.

I did touched the edges of the cup and steam with a bit of Vintage Photo Distress Stain applied with the sponge.

Cricut Tea Time

I made this card for a challenge at Cricut Bitten By the Bug2.  I chose a mauve card. I printed the sentiment in the top right hand corner and traced an oval with the white gel marker to hilight it. I cut the tea cup from designer paper with the Joy of the Season cartridge at 3".  I punched a bit of white lace with a Martha Stewart border punch.  I traced a Sizzix sizzlet flourish with a white gel marker to add some steam coming from my tea cup. I created a few markings near the bottom of the card with the white gel marker to ground my cup on the card. I adhered the tea cup to the card front.

Submitted to the following challenge:
Bitten by the Bug2 - Tea Time