Sylvia's Simple Shots

I am so enjoying the sunrises from this new place.  I want to take pictures nearly every morning.

There were some very sunless days last week when the snow came that I am appreciating the sun.

There's been a lot of stuff to deal with this week. Problem solving 101.

The black shelf in the craft room was stacked to the ceiling with envelope boxes filled with craft supplies which is not great for air circulation. The iris cases at 15 inches in the closet were difficult to remove with the door open.

Solution: Move the iris cases to the black shelf in the room which provides air circulation. 

Move the envelope boxes to the black shelf in the closet as they are 11 inches deep.  

It is easy to remove the envelope boxes from the closet shelf with the space available with the door open.  I took the time to label all the boxes as well so that things are easier to find. 

I also looked at the contents and emptied 2 of the envelope boxes in hopes that they would all fit in the closet.   As you can see there is still one on the shelf with the iris cases.  Purging is a difficult process and I am grateful I have accepted the limited space in this new place.

That works so much better.

There was room on top of the die cut station to expand so I added a plastic shelf.  Too bad I don't have another wooden shoe shelf. I will work on that. 

The shelf was barely tall enough to have the red baskets under it.  They hold thin dies so they are quite heavy. I needed to extend the height of the shelf a bit.  I immediately thought bottle caps but a trip to the parkade where we collect returnables found all the bins empty!  Plan B.  

I chose Gutterman sewing thread spools that come apart.  I was able to put the one piece from the bottom of the leg and put the small piece in the leg from the top.  I used the dowel to reconnect the pieces inside the leg.

It is good that I did not have to cut the spools so when another shelf comes I can just take this solution apart and return the spools to the sewing desk.

Problem solving every day of the week it seems.

I finished this book this week. Always Dakota by Debbie Macomber.

It takes place in Buffalo Valley, North Dakota. The place is growing, businesses are opening, and people are moving in.  It is becoming a good place to live. 

Stalled lives are moving forward. 

Rancher Margaret Clemens loses her father and marries the man of her dreams, Matt Eilers.  Town folks are not so sure.  Two unplanned pregnancies with Matt in the middle. What to do?

There was a lot of stress in this story which did not help with my super busy week. 

I see that this is the last in a trilogy.  I may look for the first 2 books.

My home phone was out from the 06 to the 10th. It took 75 minutes of my 100 monthly minutes to go through the hoops to diagnose the problem with my provider.  Once customer service did all they could they transferred me to technical support and indicated the wait was 45 minutes but not to hang up.  Luckily it was about 30 minutes when the person answered.  Then there was more checks to take place, more time on hold while that was done.  Then we will try some else and please hold. 

Finally, it was determined that a service call would be necessary.  It was booked for Monday, Nov 10th. I would be getting a text. I received at least 1 text a day for the following 4 days.  I am sure they see  it as customer service but it seemed excessive to me.  I wonder how many appts are cancelled.

Another Patrick Taylor books read this week.  An Irish Country Family by Patrick Taylor.  There are just a few I have not read.  It's like meeting up with family. 

We are back with Doctors Fingal O'Reilly and Barry Laverty in Ballybucklebo in County Down, Ireland. It's was focused on Barry and his years in medical school and internship at the hospital and then his time at medical practice on Main Street. 

He and Sue are frustrated when conceiving a child has proved more difficult than anticipated.  Tests and schedules take over the fun of procreating.   Donal, Julie and the kiddies finally return to their cottage which had a fire a while back.

A story about neighbours helping neighbours. Finlay steps in when a man proves aggressive with Alice a local shop keeper.

Many folks pitched in at the rebuild of the cottage. 

Support comes for Doctor Emer who is temporarily working in the practice. Fingal and Kitty are happily married and looking to slow down.

I found a new to me YouTube channel. Laura Kampf is a DIYer all the way.  She is handy with all the tools - wood and metal.  Her passion is to prevent items hitting the landfill and making something useful with them. She makes useful scultpures - suitcases, lamps, furniture and much more.

I worked on a project this week to solve an issue that has been bothering me.

When I moved in there was a 2x4 piece of wood in the slide of the patio door.   It serves the purpose of making sure that the door can not be opened from the outside.  Great.

It is heavy, stamped with numbers, scuffed up and not pretty at all.

After considering just replacing it I decided that I should use what I have.  I chose to trim it down a bit but with only a hand saw the work was cut out for me.

It took 1.5 hours with 3 breaks to get it cut through.  Again, those clamps proved invaluable.  Once cut let us make it pretty.  I was going to paint it but did not really have too many choices.

In the end I chose Tung Oil was chosen. It fits in with the pine in the room and is good looking.

I had a trip out of town this week where I was away for 2 days to visit my sister, have lunch with her kids and grandkids as we celebrated a grandson's birthday.

I took the opportunity to sort through the rest of the boxes I had stored at her house since 2022.

This was my photo studio stuff mostly which of course needs to be scaled down significantly. I put aside everything that was really easy to decide and we took a large box to the second hand store on Saturday/

I do have boxes in the car that need to come in and the harder decisions will have to be made.  At least, it all here and I can move on.

A zuchinni chocolate cake using the recipe my other sister used for the cake at my house warming.

His cousin decorated the cake and there were candles which were lit and blown out all at once.

He is becoming a tall and a very good teenager.

Lunch was pizza on their new expandable table set up in their dining room.

Busy Busy Busy!

Needle Case for Floss Organizer

I made a needle case for one of my sisters.

We had supper on Thursday night as we both headed to meetings in the evening.

We had talked about organizers for embroidery floss a while back and she found one in her de-stashing. 

I exchanged 10 applique pins. I bought a box of 150 so I could easily let a few go.

I needed to transport them safely so why not make a quick needle case. I included a needle as well.

The alcohol ink is packed so it had to go as it was.

This organizer has fixed dividers which has it's advantages and it does hold the commercial floss bobbins as well as my DIY ones.

I dropped the needle case off this afternoon.

Nice not to have go shopping for what we need and we each get what we want.

 

Sylvia's Simple Shots

It took about 5 hours to find the box, make the dividers, roll all the less than a full skeins onto bobbins. A full evening of busy hands. You can see my pin cushion, scissors and sharpener fit in there as well. 

Now that I have decided that I will continue with stitch work it was apparent I needed to organize my stash of embroidery thread.

I used my Stampin Up Tab punch to create my little bobbins out of 110lb white card stock. Added 2 slits on the bottom as the store bought ones. I punched 75 of them - 3 full sheets.

These are my DIY Embroidery Thread Bobbins.

They measure 2 inches tall and 2 3/8 inches wide.

I placed all the full skeins in a ziplock bag. The spools of embroidery thread went into a smaller bag.  The skiens of "different" thread into another ziplock bag.

There is room in the large bag for the small embroidery hoop as well.

I am very happy with my progress.

There are very many ways to store embroidery thread and I did view a few videos. The small plastic box is from the dollar store.  It is organized by color because that is how I will use my thread.  I am not concerned with the number. Much of what I have is acquired second hand when sometimes the labels are missing.  That is okay with me.

The Bookseller - First Hugo Marston novel by Mark Pryor was a great book.

Hugo is former FBI agent is working as head of security at the US embassy in Paris.  His friend Max the bookseller is kidnapped at gunpoint. 

The police don't seem to interested in getting to the bottom of his disappearance.  Hugo enlists a beautiful and mysterious journalist, a semiretired CIA agent and reluctant police detective to help him negotiate politcal intrugue, police corruption, an escalation drug war, and the ghosts of Nazi collaboration that haunt some of Paris's most prominent citizens.

I love Paris as a setting.  The plot took a lot of twists and turns before the truth came to light.

I will have to keep an eye out for the other 8 in the series.

I found a sparkly at the ReUse center this week. There were a few crystal ornaments which I brought home as well. It was a good week for clear glass and plastic ornaments.

I woke up the next day after I hung it in the window and there were the rainbows on the wall and the floor as well.

I will have to find a better place and way to hang it but it is a winner.

I brought these home as well from the ReUse Center but they were stuck to scrapbooking tags with some sort of glue.  It took quite alot to get them separated.  

These are very small buttons and I think will work with future embroidery projects.

They are pastel colors but 12 is super.

I got some supplies to keep my organized in the coming years.

The page protectors are for half sheets which I use in binders to manage my sewing projects.  My niece was kind enough to order them for me.  I met the delivery guy at the door and he had 7 packages for this building alone.  I wondered how the Amazon boxes arrived at people's doors and now I know.

The small sheets are for my memo binder that lives in my every day bag which I take with me everywhere. I found these at Staples.

I visited a small home based business this week which works at ensuring that unused fabric and sewing notions are given an opportunity to see life with a new owner.

I found this fat quarter of purple fabric, 3 spools of cotton thread, a bit of lace for future embroidery projects and I could not resist the Bernina tape measure.

Nice to support a local entrepeneur and get some goodies at the same time.

Bernina 830 Sewing Machine & 1st Project

The new to me 1972 Bernina 830 Sewing Machine arrived yesterday thanks to my sister and brother-in-law.   I purchased it in late February through my sister then I started making the space to house it!  Then COVID hit and life changed.  I have continued to clear, de-clutter, and get rid of stuff and last week there was space for it. 

I have placed it in front of the window so that the light will be the best most of the time.   There is enough room on the right for me to access the window to open, clean or get out if I needed to.

You can see the ironing station on the right hand side.   The cutting and pinning station of the craft table is behind the desk and on the left hand side.  That makes a very good working triangle where everything is at hand but there is enough room to work.

The desk has a lifting mechanism which allows it to be stored in the desk, then the machine level to the desk top and then higher still to access the free arm feature of the machine.  It works really well and I will get some lubricant to help it work a little better.

I created Thread Bobbin storage in a Ferraro Chocolate box. I love the clear lid so I can see the contents.  I created the channel organizer with 80lb text paper.  I cut a piece 16 T x 8.25 W inches then scored it every inch.  Then it was a matter of creating the channels to hold the bobbins. I taped the edge on the right to the bottom of the box. As you can see I have expansion room.

I decided to store the sewing machine needles in the space left. 











I used the same boxes for Thread Storage.  They are deep enough to accommodate most spools. I organized the thread by first separating the polyester from the cotton. 

The ones displayed are the polyester which I have the most of.  The spools were organized by color into separate boxes. Reds and pinks, neutrals (black, white and beige), 2 boxes of blues then a box of yellow and greens.

My niece made this Needle storage tag book for my birthday.  It is tag shapes with ribbon sewn to them then protected with a clear one on top. 

The label at the top allows me to remember what I have stored there.  Sometimes you have to switch out needles but you don't want to return it to the new ones.  This system allows me to store it here until I need it again.

These small wooden boxes were made by my brother-in-law when we needed boxes for selling cards at craft sales.  I have not used them for a couple of years because I bought a large card display.  They fix perfectly in this drawer and makes use of all the space.

Small cutting tools, my rotary cutter and blades, measuring tapes, pins straight and safety.

This is the extra hook on the pole where my African Violet lives.

The light on the right hangs over the craft table.


I refurbished it's lace cover today.  I cut the lace in half so that I will have the same fabric for the other light.
I hemmed the top edge then added a white grosgrain ribbon along top of the wide hem on the bottom.  It is a single layer which allows more light to get through.

I will be getting another hanging light for the extra hook which will give me lighting on the left hand side of the sewing desk which likely will be needed when sewing at night. 

It is very exciting to have a dedicated sewing space where everything will be close at hand.  Keep an eye out for quilts in the near future.

Sylvia's Simple Shots

I took a drive out of the city on Saturday morning.  I needed to take pictures of something different!  I needed to get away from people and be able to relax a bit.

I found several country roads with interesting things along their ditches.

There is water everywhere as it has rained a lot this summer. These are bulrushes were in overland flooding water in a farmers field.  The area I expect has a few but now there were lots of them.

The wind picked up a little and distorted the reflections in the water.

It was a great morning.

It's almost time to pick raspberries.



I will have to find a new place to pick them this year. 

I better get onto my research.

I have moved the cabinet in the bedroom which holds my die cutting dies.  It is now tucked away in an alcove in the corner by the window.  I took off the shelf that Dad had built onto it so I can access the contents more easily. I have put up some plastic drop sheets to keep the dust out.  I put the hinge back and have used some rare earth magnets to keep it in place.

The space for the new to me sewing machine is ready!

It will sit right under the window where there will be a lot of light.  There are electric outlets on the left and right so I can always add a light for night time.  It will align with the window frame on the left.  That will leave me enough room (18inches) to access the window.

The African Violet has been moved to the corner but it  may not stay there!  It was right in front of the window before.  I will have to see how that works with the sewing machine desk there.

There is still room for the photo frame containers on the left which may be used for extra shelving to manage quilts.

I have a lot to go through with frames and get rid of a stack of them.

This is my new photo studio!  I had a shelf at the end of my bed which just accumulated stuff so I decided to have it be my work space for photography which I like out all the time anyway.   I used the pine shelf I removed from the cabinet in this space which gives me at least 1/3rd more space for photography. 

I am working on having my photography lights, tripod and other gear near at hand but with a place to live so that it will easily be put away.

I love the extra space for set up.  I think it will be great!

I went to the St. Albert Botanic Garden on Saturday morning.  Of course, there are a ton of flowers to photograph!  6:00 am and my car was the only one in the parking lot. Yeah!  There is a walking path nearby but there is a lot of space.  It had rained the night before so I had soaked feet in no time.

I picked 4 of the yellow bloom varieties for my mosaic today.  I have the Chinese Globe Flower in my area as well, makes me think of Buttercups.  Check out the bee in full flight ready ready to land on the Cotswold Queen, beautiful yellow flower clusters with purple centers. The Martagon Lilies were gorgeous in several varieties.  This is the Nepera, lovely golden yellow petals with dots.  The other is a Tiger Lily.

The roses were in bloom, peonies were still in bloom, Jacob's Ladder, daisies, and a lot more to show off another time.

The Flickr Macro Monday challenge this week was Spiral. This is one of the shots from the hundreds I took this week. 

Check out my Flickr Photostream SMDPics to see the shot I submitted.

I am sharing with Angie who hosts Mosaic Monday #88   and Mersad who hosts Through My Lens #248 

Have a good week and be safe!

Recent Photos

I found a few open blooms on the ornamental chokecherry tree at the park this week.

It seems I have been waiting for them for a while.

Love these wonderful white flowers.  I hope to get some of the deep pink and burgundy ones as they open.










These are the birds I captured in recent days.  The top left is a female Red Winged Blackbird.  I did not know they have red on their wings as well until I saw this one spreading her wings.  Top Right: Male Red Wing Blackbird Of course, the males as always ready to strike a pose.  He was singing his heart out.
Bottom left is a Yellow Warbler.  These are so hard to spot.  I could hear it but it took me about 10 minutes to spot it in the tree now that leaves are appearing.  I swear it is the size of my thumb so it takes quiet and stillness to spot the movement way up there.  The bottom right is a Chipping Sparrow.  The birds were all in song this week. 

Working on organizing, de-cluttering and de-stashing.  I basically swapped these pieces of furniture.  The tray shelving used to hold the Cricut Machine in the craft space.  Now it holds my dry hydrangea in an olive oil bottle.  My Mom made this for me years ago.  It has not hung in this place and now it has a home.  Very useful to have a quick look before I head out the door.
I moved the tall shelving unit from the front hall to the craft space.  It now holds the Cricut as well as boxes of 12x12 paper.  Much of this will have to go because card making is no longer a product and skill I can sell in my market.

This is the project I worked on most of the last week.  I have a bit of a stash of fabric acquired when I was going to make aprons for Christmas last year.

As a first quilt in years it was a learning experience.  I worked on the Quilt as you Go method.  That was okay but the strips to bind was a bit of a challenge to get straight and cover the edges.

I am happy with the color combination.  This is Stampin Up fat quarters for the prints.  I was able to get a backer fabric in Crumb Cake.  The trio of small blocks was Cherry Cobbler, Crumb Cake and Soft Suede.

The project evolved from a jelly roll concept of strips to blocks.

I still have hand stitching to finish.  I used flannelette sheeting for a batting between layers.  It is quite stiff and heavy not sure it will do for giving to a charity that offers blankets to trauma victims.

Flickr Macro Monday Challenge this week was Copper.  I made a trip to the Antique Mall this week and found this half cup measure.  I love that you can see a finger print in the bottom right hand corner.

You can check out my Flickr photo stream for the photo I submitted this week.

Sharing with

Angie - host of Mosaic Monday #28

Mersad - host of Through My Lens 192

Blog Giveaway - 2018 Goals

I have not made New Year`s Resolutions for many years.  Last year, I set some Self Development Plans.  I am happy with my progress.
Learn - I bought a new camera which allows me to take different photos than I am used to.  Continue to my Flickr challenges and learning new techniques.
Read - I read 20 books in 2017. This included novels, true stories, picture books, and books to learn a skill or find a project.
Teach - I taught my monthly card club and a couple of bible studies.
Relax - Most of my relaxing time was reading time.  Not too many coloring pages were completed.  I did watch TV but with over air antenna reception is sometimes a challenge.  I totally enjoyed `This is Us` show.
Move - I did do exercises at home and walked at least an hour each morning for spring, summer and fall.  I am only up 2 pounds over the holidays but that is due to this deep freeze weather we have been experiencing.  I have been hibernating.

Check the end of the post for the giveaway details.

I managed an update to the kitchen which was not had not been firmed up in my mind last January.

Here are my goals for 2018!

CREATE - I will continue to create cards for card club and decorative paper for my cards at the gallery.

I want to create a website to showcase my photography.

I am working on the development of a workshop for my show at the gallery in October.

I am preparing a Fruit of the Spirit bible study which will start in February.

I very soon will be making decisions about the subject matter of my 2019 photo calendars and setting up photography time to get those done by the middle of the year. 

READ - I have decided to keep a Book Journal this year.  I will record the title and author at a minimum.  Characters where appropriate and a general rating on whether I would recommend the book.

I will capture insights I have gained, things I have learned, and concepts I can share from my reading of each book

This book has a sturdy translucent cover with a coil binding which needed to be tightened. Fortunately, I had the machine to do the job.  Once, that was sorted out I cut some black letters with the Stampin Up Little Letters thinlit set and glued them onto the first page.

I have already recorded my first book for 2018!

MOVE - I will continue to move each day.

I can run the stairs, use the treadmill downstairs, walk outdoors, and use my exercise video.

I have been using the stairs more because as the elevators are being overhauled so we will be down to one for the next 6 months.  I don`t NEED to take the elevator unless I am hauling groceries so there is more stair climbing in 2018.

CONNECT - I have been totally enjoying our monthly `Welcome to my Kitchen` fellowship group.
My blog lets me connect with fellow bloggers and my Flickr challenges with other photographers.
Card Club and card challenges let me connect with fellow card makers.
I am wanting to add another monthly social activity to my calendar and am looking to join a `Scrabble`game time once a month.  There are a couple of options available in my area.
I would like to host a few more friends over for tea this year as well.

DE-CLUTTER & ORGANIZE -  If you have followed my blog you may remember I worked on my craft space in 2013.  Craft supply storage in 2015.  The storage room in 2016.

In 2018 I am going to work on my wardrobe.  It`s been 3 years since I have had to go to a regular day job so I need to clear out some clothes I have not worn in that long.  Mom pointed out when I was home for Christmas that my favorite denim shirt was ready for the rag pile. The photo above shows the worn out one and it`s replacement.  I need a new pair of indoor runners.  There is some `Big`clothes that I have been saving in case that now just need to go. 

My renewed interest in sewing has attracted some supplies to my home which need a home.  So, I will have get rid of some stuff to make room for this.  Some hard decision will have to be made and paper may be sacrificed for fabric.

HIT THE ROAD - I want to make a few longer road trips this year.  Some will end with visiting family.  Some will be photography destinations.  Some will be just to get out of the city and see some country.

It`s been a year since I retired and I want to get out more.


I have four 2018 photo calendar as give aways for those who leave me a comment on this post.  Please share your 2018 goals, plans, objectives and upcoming events.  I will pick 4 winners on February 7th.  Have a super day!

Share Your Cup #279 hosted by Jann at Daily Cup with Mrs. Olson

Anything Goes Pink Saturday hosted by Beverly at How Sweet the Sound