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.

Oil Diffusers - Travel Case - Set 2

 This is the next set of One of a Kind Oil Diffusers in a travel case.

Just Bee - I made a bee by appliqueing 3 yellow pieces onto a black base piece of felt. I added a circle for the head which I stitched to the body. I used a piece of thin gauzy polyester fabric and cut out the wings. I satin stitched all the way around the outer edge of the wings then put some texture stitching in the wings. I stitched the wings to the body. I then stitched the bee to a piece of turquoise felt which measured about 4x4 inches.  

The back is a piece of cotton fabric which looks marbled.  I added my loop for the hanger and the yellow drop.  The 2 layers were stitched together with blanket stitch all the way around.

Follow your Heart - I cut 3 hearts in different sizes getting smaller as I went. I stitched these together with running stitch then added the 3 flowers at the top of the white one. I then stitched the whole heart to the front of a white background piece of felt measuring approximately 4x4 inches. I stitch the follow stitching in pink around the heart.

The back piece of this diffuser is cotton in a bright fuchsia color with a hanging loop and a pink drop. I chose white thread for the blanket stitch all the way around.  It comes with a travel case.

Note: The background fabric should have been a light color so it would not have darkened the white felt on the front.

Tea Time - This oil diffuser features a yellow teappot ( my favorite) which I drew then cut out of yellow felt. I place a strip of white lace along the edge of the front layer to serve as a tablecloth. I stitched the teapot onto the navy layer over the lace adding accents to it as I went.

The back of this diffuser is white felt with a navy loop and drop.  It comes with the hanger in a travel case.

Just One More Chapter - I created a small book to put on the front of this diffuser.  I chose a patterned piece of cotton and a white cotton for the inside.  I hand stitched these together, trimmed the corners and turned the piece inside out.  The book is stitched to the green backer along the spine of the book so that it opens. I put a little quote on the inside. 

The backer is yellow felt with a loop and drop.  I blanket stitched all the way around with green thread.  It comes with a hanger and a travel case.

Sylvia's Simple Shots

I found a few things at the Thrift Store this week.

There Christmas section upstairs was open so I had to have a look.  I found a PartyLite bird tealight holder. I own a silver one and a ruby one so this will make three. Perfect.

The little LED Christmas tree will come in handy and all it needed was a new battery.  The string of snowflakes works.  All of this for less than $2. 

I have been looking for a swivel peeler for about 6 weeks. When I visited one of my sisters she just used the peeler to create carrot curls instead of grating it.  I thought it was a genius idea.  

My old stiff peeler did not so such a great job.  The ceramic peeler was just what I wanted and for under $1.

My sister and I decided we needed to swap things that were going in both directions. We decided to each take a bit of a drive in meet in the middle.

We had lunch at Wendy's then hit the 2 Thrift Stores in town.  I found this tea strainer brand new in the box for less than $1.  I have been looking for one since I misplaced mine. It retails for over $10 so that was a bargain.

The shape could not be better, a little teapot shape.  I have not seen one of these before.That will pair great with Lemon loose tea I found recently and really enjoy.

I also found pillowcase for cotton for the bags I am going to sew.

My trusty 2" circle punch bit the dust while I was preparing tags recently.

When Michaels had a 40% coupon in mid October I bought a new one. I do have thinlits I could cut circles with but the punch is so handy.

It really comes in handy for a lot of things.

I have decided to buy my bread at Cobs. Yes, the price is high but it is very good quality bread.  I can pay the same price at my regular grocery store and not get the same quality.

I find with this bread, I can cut the size of slice I want.  I can eat 1 slice and not feel triggered to eat 3 more slices which I found happens with the grocery store bread.

The loaves are bigger than my regular store and it is very wholesome and very good.

It is more expensive but I eat less so it works out.

This is the Country Grain Loaf.

A small little book with a great story. The Music Box by T. Davis Bunn.

Angie Picard as moved from the city to the mountain country and her home town. She is a teacher and enjoys her vocation. She has had a lot of challenges in her 31 years. She returned as a young widow.

Melissa Nealey is a newcomer and is quiet and shy and in the eight grade. She and her father Carson have moved from the city. She loves music and has a music box left to her by her mother when she passed 3 years ago.

In a crisis, Angie steps in to help Carson and Melissa through a health crisis.  She cares and loves on them and much healing takes place. 

Melissa and Angie share their love of music and life brings healing to Angie as well. 

The traveling was good to attend the reception Saturday afternoon.  I met a couple of my aunts there and shared with the other artists in attendance.

The 12x12 pieces were hung by color.  There are many wonderful works in the show.  It was a good time to connect with others in the group.

I did visit Michaels again this week with another 40% coupon for basic card making supplies. 

Sylvia's Simple Shots

Wildlife in the river valley has been scarce this year.  I don't know if the wildfires north would affect the number of animals here.

There have been fewer sighting of chipmunks and song birds.  It's is possible that my going out later than I usually do has affected what I see.

It's been a tough summer and I have to admit getting up bright and perky before 7 am has not happened much this year.

It's been more like 9am which means the animals have just moved on with their day and are no longer where I expected them.

We had some heavy rain this week.

This is the lamp post in the back alley and you can see the rain dripping off the fixture and driving sideways.

A set of house shoes which I hope will keep my feet warm and not create too much static.

I bought these back in April when the weather was cooler.  I have not worn them much as the temperatures warmed outside.  I expect as the temps are cooler I will be inclined to wear them.

I managed to remove the few splatters of white paint.  The price was great!

I found this small teapot at the thrift store this week.

It is 3 inches tall and a bit wider than that.  It is made by Fitz and Floyd.

Fitz and Floyd Special Teas Collection Mini Deck of Cards Spade TeaPot.

I love teapots of all sorts and I really like this one. The price was under $5 and it has no chips or cracks.

I will add it to my displays shelf.

L is for Lawless by Sue Graton.  It is always a pleasure to reacquaint myself with Kinsey Millhone.

She decides to do her landlord Henry Pitts a favor.  Johnny Lee who lives in the garage apartment next to white stucco house with very tall grass in the front yard. His grandson Bucky and his wife Babe live in the house.  Johnny has passed away and Bucky would like to give his grandfather the military funeral he is entitled to but there seems to be a problem with Veteran Affairs records. Could Kinsey make a few inquiries.

Things are not as they seem, there is a break in at Johnny's apartment.  Chester, Johnny's son has a conspiracy theory. Who know?

Meantime, William who is Henry's brother is set to marry Rosie who runs the local bar and eatery where they often hang out. 

Kinsey's involvement takes her on a wild trip, encountering a very dangerous character.  Does she make it back for the wedding.  Another great story!

This is art by a tradesman.  I found these markings on a cement wall at a parkade in the area.  I will presume that he/she was cleaning off their brush after applying tar on the surface of the structure.  I thought the shapes were very intriguing.  I have converted my shots to black and white and added a bit of contrast but they are pretty cool!

Sylvia's Simple Shots

This is a shot from a long walk I took with my aunt on Sunday.

It was new to me and it was really nice as the number of people around was very few.  That may have been because it was late Sunday afternoon on the Thanksgiving long weekend and folks were eating turkey.

The weather was beautiful. As you can see the colors were gorgeous.  There was enough leaves on the trees to create the nice arch over the trail head.

The sun is dappling through the trees and creating a magical atmosphere on the trail.

Another terrific book by Sue Grafton - U is for Undertow.

Michael Sutton aged 27 appears at Kinsey Millhone's office asking if she could look into a kidnapping he might have witnessed back when he was six years old.  He saw 2 men burying something wrapped up as he was visiting a friends home.  Horton Ravine has a large system of trails which connect several neighbourhoods in the area. 

It turns out there were 2 kidnappings the summer of 1967 within a few days of each other. It was the summer of love. There were wayward children into free love, baffled parents, drugs and illegal activities all involved in the warm months of that year.

Kinsey does her best and there is a revisiting of the site in question but only the remains of a dog were found.  Interesting but not the little girl in question.

I really liked this story.  Not too many characters to keep track of. A good story and an interesting conclusion.

I was very grateful to be invited to my aunt's for supper on Sunday.  It was pork loin and veggies with blueberries and yogurt for dessert.  Bengal spice tea afterwards.

I had been to see Mom this week on Wednesday and we had a really good day.  I spent the night at my sister's and had a great visit with her has well.  My other sister was away seeing her daughter for the long weekend. My family time had been good. 

My aunt and I talked photography and art and good time was had by all. 

Supper was delicious.

Here's another shot from Sunday's walk.  The Sturgeon river in this area just meanders with a lot of curves in and out.

The river was very low and there were only a few ducks in the vacinity.  I had seen Snow Geese on a lake on my drive back on Thursday but with nowhere to stop and take pictures.  Very disappointing.

Here, I caught the dried wild grasses along the shore while getting the sparkle on the water in the river a distance away in the background.

Really happy with the bokeh background.

I read this small book this week as well.  Old Songs in a New Cafe by Robert James Waller.   An interesting collection of stories.

I have read a couple more of his books.  Of course, Bridges of Madison County is one of my favorites and I own the book and the movie.

I may decide to keep this book as well.

I will keep an eye out for this author in my travels of thrift stores.  I was lucky on Friday to find I could find a shopping basket with books for just $10.   I believe I came away with 12-15 books so my reading bookshelf is full for a while.

I have did visit several stores on Friday looking for unique vessels for my oil diffusers.  You can check out Set 1 and Set 2 with these links.

Here's a set of gems I found at the third thrift store last week.

These are Sloane Tea Company double walled hand blown tea cups. They match perfectly with my Primula blown glass fluted clear teapot which you can see in the background.

The price was just over $2.50 for 4 cups in their original box so they will be safe when I move.

I am so blessed.

Looking forward to serving tea in these to friends and family in the days to come. Have a great week.

Sharing with Mersad - Through my Lens #358

Sylvia's Simple Shots

With trips out of town to support Mom around Dad's hospitalization there has not been much time for photography.  We are making progress on having them housed in appropriate places.  They will be living close to each but in separate buildings.  Mom will have to cross the parking lot but she will be able to see him every day. 

I loved the sun on the clouds one morning this week. This was taken from the balcony and not on a walk outside.

I should be getting outside more considering that the weather is still pretty nice for the first week of December.

I finished this book last week.  The Widow's Walk by Robert Barclay.  

Not a traditional love story. A haunting and romantic novel of passion, destiny, loss and an eternal love that will bring two people together across time.

The central character is the house which is the Seaside which has been Constance Elizabeth Canfield's home for 150 years.  How can that be?  Magically, she has been living between worlds for a long time.  She lived there with her sea captain husband Adam.  The house has had many owners since her transition to this in between place.  She has never left the property and wanders the grounds, the house and the out buildings.  She can see them but they can not see her.

Garrett Richmond knows the house and has lived nearby all his life. He is compelled to buy it when again it was in foreclosure. It is on the waters edge and he has always wanted to live with an ocean view.

The wonderful thing is that he is an architect and will completely restore the house to it's original splendor.  During his few first days at the house as renovations begin, they meet.  Garrett can see, hear and touch her! This begins their relationship of another world.  

I will not spoil the ending.   It was a wonderful book and would highly recommend it.

I found this Cobalt blue and white art glass paperweight at the thrift store yesterday.  I just love blue and white so it had to come home with me for $3.00.

It is in perfect condition.  I have done some research and it would seem that these are all unique.

Several websites suggested they are vintage but with no markings or labels it is pretty hard to determine its origins and age.

I just love it.  I will have to find a place where I can see it every day.

I will show the top down view in another week.

Soon it will be time to hang the tree but first I have to hang the shelf. I hope to have my niece help me with that project and the drill I brought which was Dad's will come in handy.  It replaces the hand me down one he gave when I left home 40 some years ago. I had just been looking on line to replace it and God is good and this one appearing just in time.

I figured I was not going to splurge for the cordless version but that is what I got with an extra battery to boot!

I am so grateful. 

I brought this ornament home from my visit with Mom last week.  She is taking very little Christmas stuff with her to the lodge so there was a small box of ornaments up for grabs.

These are as old as I am.  They have hung on her tree every year for a very long time.  There were 5 of these in the box which is amazing considering how many times they have been hung.

It is a vintage glass tree ornament in the shape of the teapot.  I will hang this on my wall tree this year and for many years to come.   It has a plastic box to live in so that no harm comes to it during the off season.

I will have to sort out my ornaments this year and pare down to what will fit on the wall tree.

Recent Photos

I finished this book over the holidays.   I was disappointed in some of the themes in the 25 short stories.   This is the first book she published so interesting that is one of the last I read.  Her books got much better.

Millions of people travel on London's tube every day, yet we usually only give our fellow passengers a cursory glance. Maeve Binchy infuses the nameless people with stories to provide a cross-section of London life.

One of the last books I can read from this author as I have checked most of them off the list.

There are couple I still have not read.

Sister Caravaggio (2014) - stand alone novel
A Few of the Girls - short stories

Suggestions for other authors I may enjoy.

This is the gift I received from my sister and her husband.  This is a large spool holder for my sewing.  I have invested in some neutral colored spools - white, grey and black in recent months as buying specific colors is expensive.

Most of the girls at quilting all have one of these.  My sister had let me know what I needed and how to DIY one for myself.  Our plans to share wire fell through so I just did not get it done.

I see my brother-in-law's work in the beautiful wood base.  The loop replaces the loop on the machine.  The tall stick is for the large spool and the little one may be for a bobbin based on my research on line.

I am ready to get back to sewing but I have been taking a few days of down time as I have had a lot of company in and days out since December 13th.  I need some recharge time.

With a no caffeine tea regime I had put Bengal Spice and Licorice Spice on my list.  We had some at Mom's on Christmas Day and she requested a box on Boxing Day.  More of us on avoiding caffeine when possible.

I decided I needed a shorter string of lights now that I sent the 4 foot tree, the large ornaments, and other decorations to the second hand store.  I have decided to use my small ceramic tree with a shelving unit which will hold the few glass ornaments I have kept.  I added some narrow garland to the rungs of the shelf and hung the ornaments from there.  The old string was much too long and heavy.  I found these Retro lights by Noma.  They are irridescent, sparkly and a wonderful shape.  Love them.

The warm plastic lights are on the dark green ceramic tree and the white but still somewhat warm tear drops are the new ones.  I kept my iridescent bead garland.

The plan has not completely come together this year but next year will be better.

I kept all the small glass ornaments, the coordinating bead garlands, and the colored  ornaments which meant something to me.  Love the crystal tear drops from chandeliers. I could not resist the mercury glass tea pot on for 50% this year.

I placed the burgundy gift boxes at the base of the tree.

I bought this book at the library sale for .25 cents.  It was excellent.  It is set in France but more in the country which I enjoyed more.  The main character is English on a vacation and discovers a mystery about Isabelle and a stash of diamonds.  I will check other titles by this author.  The Splendour Falls by Susanna Kearsley.

Sharing with Angie at Letting Go of the Bay Leaf who hosts Mosaic Monday #60.

Photo Coasters - Singles

I have some photo coasters done for this year.  They are 4x4 and have one of my photos on the front which has been protected with modge podge and spray sealer.  They have fleece on the bottom to protect your furniture.

2019 Photo Calendars

My 4x6 Photo Calendars are ready for sale!  The calendar contains thirteen 4x6 photos which come with a clip to display it on a wall, bulletin, or file cabinet.  It can also be placed in a frame for an custom presentation.  The central image gives you a thumbnail of all the images in the calendar.

The Pretty Petals calendar features wonderful flower photos from my photo collection taken in 2018. Roses, lilies and a few different blooms grace the pages of this calendar. 

The Nature calendar features birds, animals and insects from my 2018 photo colletion.  The cutest squirrel, exquisite butterflies and a beautiful sunset are some of the images in this calendar.

As always there is a tea calendar. This year it is the Tea Pot Calendar featuring some of my tea pots and a few new ones acquired or borrowed to add some variety. 

An the fun calendar this year is Monkey Moments where the monkey is up to different antics and situations.  He is trying his hand at travel, gardening, painting and much more.

Easter & Tea Today

I see that I have not set up tea in a long while. It is the pits to be sick and just have no energy for the extras.  I am feeling better just in time for Easter with extended family.

We have a tradition that plan a get together for Mom and her 6 girls on the Saturday of the Easter weekend.  Everyone brings their projects, we share, eat potluck lunch and supper, visit, and generally have a great time.  A few things had to change since Mom & Dad are in a new place but we had such a great time.  We had grand daughters and  great grand daughters drop by for a visit. A grandson and his family came for supper.  We were 30 for supper.  The men join us for the meals and I picked Dad up and made sure he was on time for eating.  Mom was thrilled.

One sister brought her Christmas Tree hanging, Mom had a baby quilt, another sister was working on a quilt for a grad gift, a grand daughter brought her abstract art which she will be in a craft sale in a few weeks.  One granddaughter was working on shadow boxes with hearts for care workers.  One of the new babies made an appearance which meant Dad got to see him which was great.

This teapot napkin holder was a find by my sister and she gifted it to me.  It's great because it can become my summer holder which is not breakable.  It can go out on the balcony with no concerns.  Love it.

We took a walk to the local thrift store in the afternoon.  I continue to add to my cobalt glass collection and this tea light holder was perfect at .50 cents.

It is a Tulip Tea Light Holder by Partylite. It needed a really good washing but as you can see it is shiny and sparkly now.

Mom found something she was looking for, my sister and her daughter chose tops with the kind of fabric she needed to make flowers.  I forgot to take a photo.

I found a couple of fleece items for more pot protectors.

This trivet fits right in.  It was a gift from a friend who made a trip to Hawaii in February.  I love the turtles!!!  My favorites in the sea.

The blue color of the letters worked really well with the blue in the napkin I used for a table cover.

The sunflower blue and yellow napkins were from the same sister as the napkin holder.  Works perfectly into my kitchen color scheme.

I was able to quick set up tea today with these wonderful gifts.

The tea is Earl Grey wit a bit of honey and cream in a yellow mug.  Yummy.

We had quite a few leftovers from our potluck on the weekend.

One of my contributions was drinks.  I brought my 12 cup coffee maker, my stainless steel tea pot ( no worries about that one breaking), honey, white sugar, brown sugar, a variety of tea, cream and milk.

There was juice for the kids.