Slow Stitching - April 2025 - Week 5

My April piece of slow stitching following K3N Cloth Tales - Comfort Coverlet 2025.

I added a few finishing details to this piece.

Brown seed stitch in the tea bag to represent the tea.

I added grass with green floss in a variety of long stitches to ground my tea house.

This piece has turned out so well.

Slow Stitching - April 2025 - Week 4

This is my April piece for K3N Cloth Tales - Comfort Coverlet 2025.

I added the tea branch this week as tea grows as a bush.  

I added colored leaves to represent the different varieties of tea. White, Green, Rooibos(red), Black and Yellow which can also represent herbal teas.

The branch fit in very well in the space I had left above the tea house.

Stem stitch was used with brown floss for the wood part and the leaves are hand cut fabric applique with a whip stitch.

This piece is coming together great.

Sylvia's Simple Shots

I heard this Downy Woodpecker long before I saw him. He was pecking away at this telephone pole in the neighborhood.

It was a nice morning and I had a good walk around this area.

I am reluctant to head into the river valley after the hooligans I encountered last summer.

It is time to be somewhere else.

When We Were Sisters by Emilie Richards is the book I finished this week.

This is a story of foster sisters who lived in the same home for a while and forged a bond under difficult circumstances.

Cecilia and Robin vowed they would be the sisters they never had.

Robin has an accident which compels her to look at her life and decides to join Cecilia on a passion project about foster care.  She will be the photographer on the project. They will revisit good places and not so good places and relive experiences they have buried deep in order to move on.

Robin's husband is not impressed that he must shoulder the home duties while Robin is away. he comes to appreciate the work, the love and the investment to get to know his kids. He thought he just needed to make the money but it is not so.

Cecilia has money, fame and needs to work out who her friends are.  Excellent read.

With all the rain we have had recently the rust on the metal plates in the windows of this empty building is developing overtime.

I love the colors, the textures and over pattern the dripping water has created over time.

I had a friend over for tea this week.  

It`s been nice to have the place all put together again after the new floor and renovations.

We had a great chat and 3 hours just disappeared.

This House Sparrow was foraging for seeds in the parking lot of a nearby building.

You can see how small he is next to the tire.

He was quite hard to catch because he kept moving.  Don`t imagine there is a lot to eat on pavement.

I caught his eye. 

I was lucky to be lower than the parking lot so I was not on my hands and knees taking this shot.

It was a unique perspective.

Slow Stitching - April 2025 - Week 2

K3N Cloth Tales - Comfort Coverlet 2025 - Week 2

I added a teapot, tea cup and a lacy tablecloth to my stitching piece this week.

I chose a teal colored floss for these items.  Stitched with the stem stitch.  Teapot based on the one I use at home every day.

I added some brown stitches for my tea in the cup and some steam coming off the cup.

The lace I just stitched on the background just along the base of my tea items.

I am happy with the results.

Slow Stitching - April 2025 - Week 1

I chose tea for the subject of my April slow stitching square.

I chose a mottle blue piece of cotton fabric which I invisible basted to a thin cotton foundation layer.

I chose to create a tea bag and tag which adds a border around my square.

The tea bag has been running stitch around the edge of it with seed stitches towards the bottom to represent the tea.  

The green tag is at the other end onto which I added TEA lettered in turquoise.

The string was embroidery with stem stitch in a grey floss. 

Sylvia's Simple Shots

A bit of a snack with the Sewing Group. 

Chocolate Chip Banana Bread and chocolate with a cup of tea!

Meeting with the Reconstruction team to talk about the damage done during abatement and the way forward.

A visit to see my sister in the country.

I had a good visit and my other sister came for a couple of hours.

This is Saturday morning as we all left early.  Them to a grandson's hockey game and be back to the city.

Finished my first puzzle while staying at the hotel.

It is a metaphor for life.  

I was sure that there were some pieces missing because at time it did not make sense.

In the end after days and rearranging pieces put in one place but belonged elsewhere all the pieces fit.

Sylvia's Simple Shots

It's been busy!  

I had my aunt and her husband over for tea on Sunday.

It's been a long while since she was over so we had a good visit.  I was able to ask a couple of guy questions - about the DeWalt drill I inherited from my Dad. One of the batteries won't charge so he recommended calling DeWalt.  On the ToDo List

I sent peaches from the case home with them.

The car went in for servicing at 7:30 am so I had to spend half a day in the area.  I read my book in a bit of a coffee shop till businesses opened at 9:00 am.  I stopped at Starbuck and did some craft ideas journaling while I drank my $4 chocolate milk! 

I then headed to VV.  I sure can spent a few hours there. Forgot my coupons at home.

I bought myself a light backpack because I did not take my big one from college days because it weighs too much. It has a slot inside to keep the water bottle upright and a waist strap. Yes we will take that.

I had several stops on my list.

I stopped in at Dollarama that day as well.  I was looking for tape but came out with these metallic watercolors for $2.

They are great.  Very impressed.

Easily moistened, sit in full sized pans and provide good coverage.  I will have to find a container/box to keep them in.

I have been using them a lot.

The Call of the Wrens by Jenni L. Walsh was the book a read this week.  A wonderful book with strong female main characters.  We meet Marion Horton in WWI and Evelyn Fairchild in the WWII which served in the WRENs. WREN stands for Women's Royal Naval Service in the United Kingdom.  

Marion Horton is an orphan and at eighteen she ages out of the support system and has to find her way in the world.  The war is on so she joins the WRENs and finds family.  Her boyfriend Eddie Smith,  a fellow orphan lies about his age to join the war effort as well.  They do their basic training and motorcycle dispatch training and are posted close enough to see each other.

Evelyn Fairchild is a teenager and loves to drive fast. She is found at Brooklands regularly.  She has a clubfoot for which she has had many surgeries to correct. It has not kept her down and she has pursued her goals. Her mother is very protective of Evelyn. Evelyn thinks it is too much and she does not want to just get married.

There is a wonderful twist at the end of the book was made a great conclusion to the story.

With needing to embellish my linen coasters I decided that maybe some Sashiko work might be useful.

I looked up where I might find such things where I live.

I discovered a new to me quilt shop - Trapunto ( which means quilt in Italian). 

The ladies were very helpful and I came home with the cheaper needles and some thread as well.  I have heard of this type of stitching through Kathryn and my slow stitching challenge.

We shall see.

I have decided to trade in my great Contigo plastic water bottle for metal ones.  keeping water in plastic contributes to micro plastic in my body so I made the switch.  Of course, metal Contigo bottles on the second hand market are non existant.  Will other brands be water spill proof?

I did buy a few before I found a couple I was happy with. I have the blue one for the car and the white one fits in the new backpack.  MTF had a 50% sale on the whole store. Good to go!

It feels like back to school. 

I have bought myself a couple of jean type pants in the last couple of weeks.  This pair of stretchy jeans are a bit short waisted so they needed a belt.

I bought the belt a couple of days later after I had worn the jeans a couple of times.  I still have to shorten them.  The price was $10 but with the 50% sale I was happy with the final cost.

The belt was $2 at VV later in the week.

Keeping with the feel of back to school I bought a pair of new to me runners as well.  

They fit well,the color was good at teal and black and they were in good condition.  They needed a good cleaning.

The cost was more than I am used to but that is with everything these days.  At $16 but after I looked them up on line I was happy.  The regular price runs between $130 to $150.

I gave them a good wash and let them dry in the sun on the balcony for a couple of days.

Good as new!

I dropped off art at the Spruce Grove Gallery for the Open Art Competition

Then did some shopping at VV.  The Goodwill store has closed. Bummer! 

I connected with my aunt and dropped by for a visit and a game of scrabble.

It has been a very busy week!

Sylvia's Simple Shots

One of my aunts celebrated a birthday so a few of us got together for Chinese food which was delicious.  Then she invited us over to her house for blueberry cheesecake. 

It was a raffle prize at reunion and she froze it till her birthday. My sister had made it in a dish which went along with a casserole carrier.

It was delicious.

I started the week early in the morning by meeting road blocks in just about every way to get out of my neighborhood.   People were frustrated and going the wrong way down one ways. I managed to get myself out of the grid lock and headed into the river valley.  I missed the signage warning about the marathon route.

I am so glad I can start having folks over again, now that the floor project is done.

I prepared a bit of a snack for my visit with a friend of mine on Monday.

A few veggies and dip and some ginger cookies

Of course, some Chamomile tea and great conversation.

At one point I thought maybe she should head out before rush hour traffic but it was already an hour later than that.

I guess were having a good time.

N is for Noose by Sue Graton.  I finished this book in the last couple of days.

Another great time spent with Kinsey Millhone as she dug down to investigate the final couple months of a fellow's life.  His wife was concerned about his troubles and hired Kinsey to investigate.

It's early spring and the weather is not the best but she heads north to meet with Selma Newquist whose husband passed away a couple of months ago.  

She started asking questions about Tom and his life and the locals in Nota Lake were having none of it because he was a good guy.  Well there may be other reasons.

There was a big reveal in the last chapter as to who killed those 2 guys.

It's Concord Grape time!  

We always had these as a treat when we were kids. I buy a basket of them every year.

My sister and brother-in-law dropped by on Tuesday to see the place put back together, pick up a couple things headed to their house then we went for supper at the Bul-go-gi House a Korean restaurant which as been in business since 1973.

It was delicious as always and good company.

Headed to the St. Albert Botanic Park to photograph the dahlias.  It is that time of year again where the bed of these flowers are in full bloom.

I did walk the whole garden but here are 4 of the great dahlias in their full glory.

I found out on Sunday that there would be no BC peaches this year as there was a killing frost when the flowers in bloom.

I guess that means Ontario peaches if we can get any.

I stopped at Superstore and they had cases of 25 lbs for $35.00 which is $1.50 a pound. Yes, please.

I took one home.  They are pretty much ready to eat and process so that will be on the agenda right away.

I will share with family, friends and neighbors.

I had a neighbour over for a visit and a tour of the new floor and laundry closet.

We had a great catch up.

My sister dropped by Saturday afternoon for tea and a visit.

It's been a while since she's been here so it was nice to host for a change.  She has been generous with her invites.

I sent her home with several peaches.

It's been a busy week.  It was so nice to have people over.

Sylvia's Simple Shots

I decided to have flowers on my balcony this year.

I bought some frilly blue pansies and some larger regular yellow ones.

I have added some dill, basil and parsley as well.

I dropped by my sister's house with a box a paper we had rescued at Trash to Treasure.

Her and her daughter were working on a barn for the back of the float she was placing in the local summer parade.

It is going to be very cool!

I had a nice visit with a friend who recently lost her husband.

They had sold the house and rented an apartment they hoped he could return to following a lengthly stay in hospital. He was advised that would not happen and he was going into long term care. He quickly declined and passed away.

She invited me to her new home and we had tea and a wonderful catch up visit.

We headed out to Joey's for supper that evening.

My aunt and I visited the exhibits at the Harcourt House gallery this week.

Caitlin Thompson is a fiber artist that recycles natural fibers from thrifted shawls, scarfs, etc into works of art.

She dyes the fabric, does fabric collage and embroidery in her art pieces.

Lovely show.

We had Vietnamese food for lunch in a nearby restaurant - Saigon Taste.

I had a quick trip to Calgary this weekend.  I picked up my sister on the way. 

We dropped plants to both of her children. Had a nice visit with her son's family and checked out the garden and caught up on things.

We brought lunch to my niece who has been working hard to support her family and the extended family and needed a few hugs.

We went for walk to the local mall for a few groceries for supper and then headed north.  

It was just the girls and we had a great visit.

Sylvia's Simple Shots

I finally took a trip to the University of Alberta Botanic Garden this year.

I chose a day when rain was not predicted to fall which turned out to be Saturday.  There was an art walk taking place and several weddings but that is the way it goes.

These gardens are always wonderful.  The temperature was around 21c which made it shirt sleeve weather.  I brought myself a snack for halfway through.  I met neighbours on  my way out so I was later than I had planned.  I arrived around 10:20 am and left shortly after 2pm. 

There is the Kurimoto Japanese Garden, the AGA Khan Garden, Indigenous Garden,  and much more.

There are domes set up which I expect have been there since they reopened during COVID.  The Gift Shop is gone and the butterflies in the Tropical Showhouse are also gone.  I had a wonderful day with tons of photos some of which will likely end up in my annual photo calendar.

The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho was a great read.  A short book filled with adventures.

"To realize one's destiny in a person's only obligation - the Alchemist"

I think with Mom and Dad now gone I am having to redefine the parts of my life that they occupied.  Feeling a little adrift and looking for ways to find a new path.

While on a visit to my sister's house recently we walked down the block to a garage sale.

I purchased this cutie and my sister gave me the stick he sits on.  I used a Zot to hold him in place.

He resides on the table for now.

In the Shadow of Croft Towers by Abigail Wilson was a great historical novel.  Sybil Delafield is hired to be a companion to an elderly lady.  The coach she is travelling in is robbed before she arrives. She is asked to deliver communications in the form of letters to folks in the town but to be sure no one else knows.  

When fellow passengers of the robbed coach are later murdered, Sybil’s hunt for the truth takes on a new urgency. The only person she can rely on is Mr. Sinclair, Mrs. Chalcroft’s godson, but under all his charms he too leads a double life. Sybil must decide if he is the one honest voice she can trust, or if he is simply using her for his own advances.

Croft Towers holds more than its share of secrets . . . and Sybil is determined to uncover them all.

Enjoyed this one immensely.

I had been on the hunt for a flower vase for the table.  

The one I had been using for years was a floral shop clear with swirls on the sides.

I have looked a lot of them and I was quite sure I wanted a clear cut glass one with a bit of personality.  Crystal would be nice.

Then, I found this art glass one.  Look at the ribbon of honey colored glass around it's middle.  It was perfect. Tall enough for bouquet of flowers, heavy enough to stay up right, the bubbles in the glass disguise the stems to some degree and the band of yellow glass was the icing on the cake.

I have decided to buy myself flowers so that I can have flowers on the table like Mom did.  I don't have a garden and not enough sun on the balcony to grow them.  Beautiful.

Susannah's Garden by Debbie Macomber.   Debbie has become an author I can rely on for a good read.

This one started pretty slow with Susannah having marriage problems and what was she going to do.  She is at a cross roads and where will life lead her.

The year Susannah Nelson turned eighteen changed everything: her boyfriend, Jake, left her unexpectedly, and her brother died in a car accident months later.

At fifty, Susannah finds herself regretting the paths not taken. Long married, a mother and a teacher, she should be happy. But she feels there’s something missing in her life, although she doesn’t know exactly what. Not only that, she’s balancing the demands of a temperamental twenty-year-old daughter and an aging mother who now needs her help.

When Susannah goes home to Colville, Washington, to look after her mother, she decides to try to find out what happened to Jake all those years ago. In returning to her parents’ house, her girlhood friends and the garden she’s always loved, Susannah also returns to the past—and the choices she made back then.

I recently purchased this Rooibos Lemon Cream tea.  This is my first time tasting it.

It is delicious and the fact that it is rooibos makes it caffeine free is a bonus.

Check out the color of this tea!  

It just picks up my mood to see this gorgeous deep yellow color in a pitcher.

Sylvia's Simple Shots

More wonderful time spend at Heritage Hills Wetlands this week.  There were many Common Terns this year which was great to see.  The Mourning Cloak butterfly was my first capture of this year.  The Ruddy Duck was showing off his blue bill as usual.  They are very photogenic.

I had to replace the flush lever and toilet handle this week.  I thought no big deal, checked out supplies on line and headed to Canadian Tire. 

When I got it home I could not install this for the life of me.  I called my brother in law and he suggested maybe I had stripped the plastic threads.  

When it was not on the toilet I was eventually able to get the nut on the handle so what was the problem?  The situation was that when I transferred the lever to the toilet the arm was turned around and my mind had not made that adjustment.  Once I figured it out it went on as easily as it should have and in 10 minutes I could flush the toilet with the lever again.

I spent a couple of days with my sister and brother in law.  I was treated again to a hot dog supper on the open fire for my birthday.  They taste so good.  I normally have ice cream cake but the price is just getting out of hand so I bought Hagen Daas ice cream bars instead.  Very yummy and much more in my budget.

My sister and I attended the Rhubarb Tea fundraiser on Saturday.  This was a belated celebration for our birthday.

There was a bake sale, a merchandise sale and the tea.  I selected this burnt orange tea cup and we had rhubarb crisp rather than pie.

It was a very successful event.

This was a Reader's Digest book that sat on my bookshelf. Short stories which was just what I needed.

Lake News by Barbard Delinsky - Lily Blakes heads for Lake Henry in New Hampshire where she grew up after some trouble in the city. She meets a journalist which helps her tells her side of the story.

A Walk to Remember by Nicholas Sparks - very interesting.  It was a lovely love story with a sad end. 

Thunderhead by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child - Nora Kelly gets a letter written by her late father sixteen years ago.  Very thrilling story.

The Devil's Teardrop - Jeffery Deaver - This story was very engaging as police try to find this killer before he strikes again.  Very intriguing plot!

Sylvia's Simple Shots

With my machine in a desk and not really portable I choose to take other tasks for my time with the ladies at quilting. 

I  took cutting to quilting on Monday since I just need my cutting mat, my rotary cutter, measuring tape, my long quilting ruler and some scissors.   I cut 16 UnPaperTowels - 6 sets of 2 in the grey flannel and 2 sets of 2 in the red flannel.

You can see that I have trimmed the corners on the top 2 sets making them ready for the serger.

I have quite a bit of flannel to cut and serge.  I think I will just put all of them in a pile then assemble sets of 10 somewhere along the line so I can put together nice looking colors.

When I picked up the serger I realized that I would need 2 cones of serger thread for the needle threads as they had been cut off.

I checked Michaels - they carry Coats and Clark but only in black and white on the 3000m spools.  Price is pretty good with a coupon.

I checked Fabricland which carries the Tailor brand and the price was pretty good.  I checked on the fuzziness of the thread and it was not as smooth as a sample I had from home so I moved on. They carry high end brand at a very high price.

I headed to Walmart where the price was about the same as Fabricland with the same manufacturer as Michaels and there was some grey.  Upon checking, the thread was smooth and very comparable to the the one I had with  me.

At quilting, Linda had brought fabric from one of our prolific quilter's stash.  This lady has experience health issues and has given up her hobby.

We were told all the pieces had to go.  There was a nice collection of fat quarters in beautiful colors and 100% cotton.

I took a stack of these fat quarters for my sister who is making different kind of sewing projects for the Grandma Africa chapter in Red Deer.

She has made casserole carriers, pot holders, aprons, and bunch more.  

She is working on getting rid of her stash but this will help a bit in offering different colors for her projects.

You know what they say - be careful what you wish for.  I had been wondering how to find flannel for my UnPaperTowels at a reasonable price since they will be donated or given as gifts.

Well, there were some pieces in the stash that Linda brought on Monday.

Here's the pieces I found.  There are a few darker pieces for the Make Up Remover pads projects.

I washed all the fabric and ironed them all so that they lie nice and flat and I can see what I have.

I will cut UnPaperTowels first then use the leftovers for the pads as they need pieces about 4 inches square.

Thanks so much for the donation of fabric.

I had a friend over for tea on Thursday.  I had not seen her since early December.  Of course, my life has been turned upside down since then.

We had a great visit. 

I used my Signature Turquoise and Yellow tea set which was a nice springy color.

I was invited to my aunt's new place for lunch on Saturday.  They sold their house and bought a condo much closer to me.  I am very happy to have her and her husband closer.

I decided to make Saskatoon and Rhubarb crisp in small pie size.  I used honey for a bit of sweetener in the fruit and brown sugar in the crumble topping.

I made 4 - 2 for my aunt, another for my other aunt who was invited to lunch as we were dropping off our art in the Juried Member show that morning.  One for me.

I ate mine for supper on Saturday.

Another book this week - J is for Judgement by Sue Grafton.

The story is about Wendell Jaffe who was recently declared dead after being missing for the last 5 years.  His widow Dana has collected the insurance money and has spent a lot of it clearing debts incurred while raising her 2 sons alone.

Kinsey Millhone has been hired to investigate a reported sighting of Wendell in Mexico.  Off she goes to spend a few days south of the border.  Based on her sighting it does seem that Wendell is alive. 

He has a new partner Renata and they just packed up in the middle of night.  Where are they headed. Kinsey heads back to California and starts tracking leads. One of his sons has been arrested so the speculation Wendell is headed north.

Life is always exciting with Kinsey.  We find a bit more about her personal life this week.  Some of her extended family reach out and she as always thought she had no family because the aunt who raised her never mentioned others.  There was a reason and it was hard to accept by Kinsey.