Slow Stitching - May 2025 - Week 3

K3N Cloth Tales Comfort Coverlet 2025 Slow Stitching project - March - Week 3.

I continue to add elements to my books square. 

I have added standing books to the top shelf of the bookcase with a variety of colors. Again, the stitch is the outline stitch with 2 strands of thread.

Then, a set of books laying on the second shelf featuring nice colored covers.

I added a red vase with flowers on the bottom shelf. 

Inktober 2024 - 01 - Vase on Table

This is my first piece for Inktober 2024.

01 Vase on Table

I am creating art that works for me.  I will post as many as I make.

I did an initial sketch. 

I am using Canson Fluid Mixed Media paper cut to 5x7 inches.

Once the final drawing was done in pencil, I traced it with a black marker.  

After erasing any remaining pencil marks I watercolored the image.

Sylvia's Simple Shots

On my visit to Beaumaris Lake this week,  I found several pairs of Blue Winged Teals.  Maybe they are checking out the lake for nesting places.

These are ducks and the blue patch can only be seen when they open their wings.

I have not seen these at this lake in the past so things are different this year.  Not sure why.  I have not seen pelicans yet but a lot of Canada Geese.

A friend gave me a small art glass vase designed by Robert Held - a Canadian glass maker.

Love the gorgeous purple glass with the iridescent colors along the bottom third of the vase.

I placed some baby's breath in it for now.  Maybe, later in the year I will be able to have live flowers.

It joins my other pieces made by the same maker.

A Desperate Fortune by Susanna Kearsley which is quickly becoming one of my favorite authors.

Historical fiction set in Paris.  In the modern day, Sara an amateur code breaker has arrived to look at a diary from around 1732.  Sara comes to live with the owner of the book.  Her live-in housekeeper has a young son who seems to have abilities in this area as well. The son's father, Luc lives nearby as his parents are divorced.  Soon, there is an attraction between Sara the loner and Luc the business man.

The dairy was written by Mary Dundas who wrote it in code to be sure the contents could not be discovered by spies.  She is a second generation Jacobite exiled to France. Mary becomes embroiled in a plan to help a mysterious Jacobite man stay out of the grasp of English authorities and the diary tracks her journey over the country, her relationships with her compatriots and her budding romance with the severe MacPherson.

Loved this book!

A friend and I went out for lunch this week. I suggested Vietnamese food and she agreed.  My favorite Vietnames restaurant survived most of the pandemic then closed as other business were opening.  Disappointing.  I had to find another. I had eaten in this restaurant years ago and it was as good as I remember.  

The pelicans were at Heritage Hills Wetlands this week but due to a situation on the trail my attention was diverted for a time.  While lending a helping hand to a senior on the trail time passed so by the time I had a camera in my hand again, they were at the far end of the pond.

I decided it was too hot and I had been out too long in the heat to pursue them any further.  I was told they had been around for a couple weeks already so I will find them again on another day.

It was exciting to see them even at a distance.

A few other things I found at the wetlands.  A Mourning Cloak butterfly, a Ruddy Duck with it's blue bill and of course Poplar Fuzz.

A good week!

Sylvia's Simple Shots

I made Raspberry Bavarian to remind me of my wonderful Mom.  This was my favorite of the desserts she made with the raspberries in her garden patch. Used frozen berries.

I did grate a bit of dark chocolate on top and added a Simple Pleasures Cranberry and Citrus cookie.

You can find the recipe in this post - Raspberry Bavarian.  

I miss her a lot!

On Monday, I walked to Fabric Land while my car was at the dealership for services.  It was great to have decent weather I could walk 20 minutes.

I needed sewing machine needles because I broke a couple working on my ReUsable bags.  While I was there I came across these Bobbin Mates which help to keep the spool of thread with the matching bobbin. The price was good for 12.  I would use these for my regular thread that I use often - white, black, grey, navy and brown maybe. 

They work great.

Fabric Land was having a huge sale on mask elastic.  This is perfect for the elastic on my ReUsable Bags so considering it was 70% off I bought 10 yards of each color - black and white.  

I had worked out that I could use the elastics off disposable masks which easily break and I had a few in my stash that I had not thrown away.

That elastic was for sale at the fabric store as well but I thought is narrow stuff would be more versatile and stronger in the long run.

It was a week of doctor visits, blood work, xrays, ECGs, IV lines and a ride in an ambulance with a visit to Emergency. Answering a lot of questions and trying to remember what happened when.  It's been a bit of a time since Jan 6th and I hope the worse is over.  I still have specialist appointments to come.

The results were negative and I was lucky to have my aunt give me a ride home.

Thanks so much!

I bought a few music CDs for the hospital where Mom spent her last hours.  They gave us a big room and a CD player with a couple of CDs.  They were Mom's favorites. Fortunately, my neice was able to find stuff on line.

This is more of the type of music which we chose for Mom.

I will drop them off next time I am there.

This is a small flower vase which was Mom's.  All summer she had a small vase of garden flowers on the table.  Cosmos was one of her favorites and they are a great cut flower.

She grew Pansies, Nasturtiums, African Daisies, Impatiens, Lavetera and more I am sure.  She used carrot tops for a bit of green foliage in her bouquets. 

This is a Vintage 1960's Avon urn jar for bath product - my web research tells me.  I see that it once had a stopper.  I am not sure when Mom got it but she liked it and used it every year.

Will I ever have a cut flower garden?  Sure would like that very much.

We shall see.

I finished this book this week.  Jinnie by Josephine Cox.   I think this is my third book by this author.

It is set in England in 1963 with some events having taken place 10 years earlier.  A great story of tragic events and the love of a woman for an abandoned baby.  Sister who are polar opposites and grandmothers who step into the gap for their families.

I mostly enjoyed this book.  The grandmothers one was Sarah and the other Sally so I often confused them.  The story was all concluded in the final few pages of the book which seemed incongruous with the timeline and pace of the first 90% of the story.

Always enjoy England as a setting.  The story took some pretty steep curves at the end but all things turned out well after all.

I started back with areobics this week now that the knee is improving.

This is the easiest work out I have.  When I worked a groups of us girls would close up the board room and do this 1 mile 30 minute routine then have our lunch.

I started again with the 1 mile this week. Taking it easy but at least getting back to my life before my inactivity took a toll on my body.

Small Gifts - Oil Diffusers - One of a Kind - Set 2

I have started another set of bespoke oil diffusers.

Ice Cream Cone - This is a ceramic Easy Tiger Matte Ceramic Ice Cream Cone mini planter.

I paired it with a warm and fuzzy yarn in peaches, creams and aqua color.  I created one ball for the ice cream you can see then a small one to anchor this one in the cone.  I stitched them together.

I used a silicone bead with a piece of yarn which I wired to keep it up in position as an accent on top of the cone. The tones all work together in this piece of art.

The oil can be dropped on the cherry on top or the ice cream.  

The ceramic cone will contain the oil. 

Red & White Bouquet - A clear glass bud vase holds a red and white bouquet of pom pom flowers.

I have used another wooden spiral to hide the wire armature of the bouquet.

The bouquet is weighed with a wood bead on the inside of the spiral.

The red pom pom flowers can be used to hold the essential oil with little concern of discoloration.

Again, the glass vase will protect your surface from any drops of oil.  

Just 2-5 drops of oil will be enough to give you scent for 20 minutes to 40 minutes.

Key to my Heart - A crystal glass candy dish holds a set of 3 felt hearts.  This were hand cut to match the shape of the glass dish.

I chose red, pink and white in graduated sizes. I added a small gold tone metal key held in place with 3 tiny stitches of cotton thread.

The stitches also hold the 3 felt hearts together.  A Zot on the glass holds the hearts in the proper place in the dish.

The oil should likely be applied to the red heart to avoid any discoloration to the white heart.

Again, the glass dish keeps your surface free from damage from any oil drops.

Sunflower - A handmade felt sunflower in a clear shallow glass vase.  If I had to guess it's original purpose may have been has a terrarium.

Well, it still holds a flower but now it has bright colors of orange, golden yellow and sunshine yellow with a brown center.

I made the flower following this tutorial. Check out the following link for the details. DIY Felt Flowers - No Sew Fabric Flower Tutorial   It fits in the vase perfectly.  

The dark center will be ideal for the drops of essential oil as discoloration will not show.

Glass will protect your surface from stay oil drops.  Love it!

A Glass of Sherry - I wanted this small vintage glass to look like it was filled with sherry.

I chose a loose burgundy yarn with a hint of gold among the threads to fill the bowl of the glass.   I wrapped it around a felt wool ball to give me a stable core and for it to assemble easier.

I chose a gold metal filigree at the top to cap the loosely wound yarn.  I topped it with a glass & gold bead which is held in place with a tiny gold ebead.  It was strung together with gold metallic thread which holds the accent, the loose yarn and the wool ball core as one piece.

Zots hold the nest of yarn to the glass which will protect the surface from oil drops.

Sylvia's Simple Shots

It is coming to the end of summer. Fall colors are starting to appear and I am not ready.

This little chipmunk is getting ready for winter. 

His cheeks were so full of seeds from this large rose hip. They create food storage areas called larders to give them food for the cold weather.

They eat seeds, fruit, nuts (acorns being one of their favorites). Worms can be in their diets but that must be only a summer food.  Hard to store food that walks away.

 

I was over visiting my aunt recently and she offered me some cosmos flowers.  I said yes please.

These make such nice cut flowers for the table. My Mom grew them every year. I did have a couple of vases which were not packed.  I love this cube vase.

I so want a flower cutting garden when I get a new place. Cosmos flowers are very easy to grow, come in a lot of different colors, last a long time in the house with fresh water, and make my heart full.

 

 

 

I am discovering that I really like books set in Ireland.  This book Four Letters of Love by Niall Williams was a pleasure to read.  The 2 main characters are Nicholas Coughlan and Isabel Gore. They are destined to meet but have many life experiences before that happens.

Nicholas has a tough life because his father quit his regular job because he felt that God wanted him to be a painter. The father spent a lot of time away from home painting then when he was home he was in his home studio. Painting did not generate a lot of money. Things from from bad to worse until he has lost both parents.

Isabel grew up in a good family but she felt responsible for an accident her brother had so that colored her world view. They live on a small island in the Galway bay.

When she finishes school she travels to Galway to attend higher education and grow up a bit away from Mom and Dad. She ends up with a job in a wool/tweed store and dating the son of the owner. 

Nicholas is on the hunt for one of his father's paintings which was given to Isabel's father for a poem he had written. He arrives in Galway and meets Isabel (who was home for a visit) and her parents. 

The ending was very good and worth the heartaches that these two young people went through to find each other.

I was out shopping with my sister this week when she came into town with my brother in law on errands. 

She was looking for art supplies. Earlier, I had a conversation with one of my aunts and she recommended Payne's Gray for outlining watercolor if the black marker was too harsh.

I also needed a very small brush to make thin lines and I found this set of brushes at the thrift store for a great price. 

We both found what we needed between Staples and Michaels. First time I used the coupon on my phone. Worked great.

I am working on watercolor Christmas cards again but inspiration is hard to find.

I picked up this small book a while ago.  A simple blessing by Michael W. Smith.

He describes when he started offering a blessing to the audience at his end of his concerts.

He wrote a blessing to cover certain things he wanted to share and pour out to the world at large.

It was well received and many of his fans communicated with him about what changed in their lives as a result.  Of course, it is very hard to give a blessing without it having some of it fall on yourself.

The practice changes Michael's live as well.

Just a nice positive and encouraging book.

Sylvia's Simple Shots

It was a nice trip to the wetlands at 6:30 am to ensure contact with the least number of people and the most number with wildlife.

I found many birds.  The wetlands are in desperate need of water/rain.  There many areas with no water and therefore no habitat for water fowl.  

This Northern Shoveler male was showing off his colors.  There were several pairs doing some sort of mating behavior.  It is a large duck and unfortunately at this angle you can not appreciate his bill.

Love this shot with an unusual presentation.

 

 

This is another upgrade to the photo studio.  I generally scan my greeting cards for this blog but I had a discussion with my sister about needing a scanner with the new computer. 

That would mean photographing all the cards and it would be nice to have a consistent set up.  

I decided that I would make a large piece of background paper.  This one is 24 inches wide which is the full width.  It measures 36 long so it more than covers the back and floor of the studio.

Love the mottled color scheme which will just fade to out of focus.

Perfect.  Easy set up is a must.

I also wanted a prop.  I tried several objects from around the house and a white vase about 8 inches tall worked really well but it was glossy and the lights showed up in the surface.  I thought I maybe could purchase something but with the way things are with COVID I am not going out except for essentials.  

Could I alter the surface of the vase?  After a bit of research I found this post.  It uses acrylic paint and baking soda. I cut down the proportions for a bit of paint. 

Using an old craft paint brush in case it ruined it and took some craft acrylic paint in Warm White and mixed it up.  It went on quite thick which I was okay with.  You can see the glossy and matte contrast in the second picture. 

I let the first coat dry completely then applied a coat of just the acrylic paint.

I am so impressed with this DIY technique. 

 

 

Here you can see how I have the background and vase in this card photo.  It creates a context for the card but nothing detracts from the card.

Loving it!

 

This is a screen capture of a live stream set up by a wildlife photographer in Denmark named Morten Hilmer. Wildlife in the Forest.

It runs 24/7 and is set up on a stream on his property.  It is powered by solar energy.

As you can see there are pheasants, many other birds, foxes, badgers, deer, and many other creatures who come to the stream.

It is a nice pleasant way to spend a few minutes with soothing sound and seeing nature.  It turns to black and white infrared during the night but you can see the animals clearly.  If you are looking for a you tube channel to give you some relaxing time, please check it out.

The challenge at Flickr Macro Mondays this week was nuts. Metal ones or the edible kind.  This shot is of roasted almonds.  You can check out my Flickr photostream (SMDPics) to see the shot I submitted. 

I am sharing with Angie who hosts Mosaic Monday #129 and

Mersad who hosts Through My Lens #287.

Have a great week!

Recent Photos

On one of my recent walks I saw this huge Bumble Bee.    It almost as big as the clover blossom it is feeding on.

It is good to see bees and butterflies around but not as many as in other years.

I found this beautiful art glass vase at the thrift shop recently.  It was signed so I thought I would at least be able to research it.  I paid my few dollars and brought it home.

After some research I found that it is by an glass blowing artist named Robert Held.   He is located in Parksville BC and has returned to glass blowing in his retirement.

The name of the collection is Blue Poppy and it is the small Classic Vase.   I have placed grasses in it for this photo but it would look great with white daisies.

It was a great find.  I have another piece of his work which is a heart paper weight.

I have been looking for a salt cellar for use near the stove as noted in this post. Especially when salting water for pasta a good amount is needed and trying to get what I need from a shaker was challenging.

This one appeared a little while ago.  It is very cute in the shape of an acorn.

The spoon holds 1/2 tsp of salt that makes measuring easy!

As you can see in the last photo there it is sitting next to the stove ready to serve.

I am finding the clover plentiful and very pretty this year.

I captured this one this morning. I love the color and it was dewy and sparkly as the sun touched it. When reviewing my photos I discovered that there was a grasshopper sitting in the shade.

We had some flooding in my building on Thursday last week.  The source was discovered on Friday, July 19th and this big blue air mover was my companion over the weekend.   The tape indicates the wet areas and the demolition starts this week.

No doubt it will be weeks before my hall and bedroom closet is back to normal.

All Occasion Photo Cards - Craft Sale

I am working on photo cards for my craft sale tomorrow at the Millwoods United Church.  This is my first time being juried for photo cards so I decided to work on 5x7 inch cards which were very popular last year at a sale I attended.

This is Mrs. Bear all decked out in her finest.  I took the photo during my visit to the antique mall a while back.  It required a good amount of editing to create a pleasing image.  Turned out pretty good. 

This would make a great all occasion card for any female recipient. 











Love this beautiful Dahlia - Alpen Diamond - taken at the St. Albert Botanical Garden this summer.  I love how the petals are separate which makes it a bit unusual as far as dahlias go. They usually have many petals tightly organized around a barely visible center.

Again, perfect for an all occasion card. 








These are the cosmos flowers I planted and harvested in a friend`s garden this summer.  I did not get very many but these are lovely. 

I paired them with my yellow glass vase.  Love how the yellow in the center of the flowers is repeated in the vase.  I was able to hide the water mark behind the yellow in the neck of the vase.

Super all occasion card.

I initialed all the photos to confirm my art work.

Tea, Book and Almonds

I sat down with Raspberry Thriller tea and my library book about small sewing projects. 


I added my Friends Willow Tree figurine with a pink butterfly crocheted by my aunt Irene. 

A small pink vase holds some pink silk flowers in various shades.

A small bowl of chocolate covered almonds is my treat with my tea.
 



The tea cup is Queen Anne bone china with a wonderful scalloped shape in a great pink color. Love how the shape is highlighted when viewed from the top.

The pink bowl on the left was a find at the rummage sale on the weekend.   I filled it with round glass balls.  The a blown glass larger ball, a blue bird ball and a large clear glass marble.




Sharing with Bernideen's Tea Time
and Ruth at Tuesday Cuppa Tea

Share Your Cup - This Week

I had a visit with my sister in the last couple of days.  We planned our annual saskatoon picking to coincide with a paper crafters garage sale being held in a Red Deer.

I certainly do no need anymore paper so I was looking for some tea related tools. 
My niece had send a wish list as well.  We managed a few things on her list.
I brought home a nice balloon die (maker unknown), Stampin Up Stars Framelit dies, a punch to make 2 holes for the center of a button, some sheets of dark green card stock and some free chipboard. All for less than $15.  Excellent.  I have the stamp set which coordinates with the Star dies.

We headed to Gull Lake in hopes of getting some sunset shots.  A storm had passed earlier in the evening and these clouds remained which hid the sunset.  It was very cold and as you can see the water was very choppy. No bird photos either. 

We did stop at the village store and got some great Maple Walnut ice cream cones. Yum!

We had to enjoy them in the car as it was not nice enough to sit outside.






My sister has a wonderful garden so she brings fresh flowers for her vase regularly.  They add lot to a table.  She had calendulas and dahlias in her vase this day.

We had tea from a new to her tea pot.  What a lovely tea pot.  It is stainless steel double walled Dorothee by Bredemeijer which is a manufacturer in the Netherlands.

I can see photographing it presents certain challenges but it is really lovely.  She purchased it a thrift store but upon research on line this is a pricey teapot.

Of course, I had Masala Chai.

We picked saskatoons at the U Pick just north of Blackfalds.  The clusters were all ripe and picking went fairly fast.  We picked 3 ice cream pails in a couple of hours.  Excellent. On the left is a pail of the berries. I freeze them on a flat pan like a cookie sheet or pizza tin so that they don't stick together. They are then placed in a freezer bag, later I can remove just the amount I need.

Sharing with Jann at Daily with Mrs. Olson who hosts Share Your Cup #257.