Art Show - Juried Member Show

This is the piece I submitted to the Juried Member Show and since I had only 1 piece it was included in the show.

The subject is reeds in a body of water.  It was taken at Big Lake, AB in September 2022. 

I did clean up the surrounding water and converted it to black and white.

Title: Stillness
Size: 11.00 x 14.00 inches
Signed Photography Print
Mat: Archival off white / black narrow
Frame: Silver Brushed Metal
Print: 09x12 inches

We dropped off our pieces for the Juried Member Show of the Allied Arts Council on Saturday morning. We were back at 4:00pm to pick up our easels and any pieces which were not juried into the show.

My 2 aunts and myself have our pieces in this show.

Reception will be Saturday, March 11, 2023 at 1-3 pm

You can find the show on line here.

Looking forward to seeing the pieces in person all nicely set up on the walls of the gallery. Some are for sale.

Sewing Serger Set Up - Janome 234D

The serger I bought from my niece is a Janome 234D.  It came out in the early 1990's.  This one has had a good service.  I did find a free download of the manual. 

It had been threaded with Wooly Nylon and when it was serviced the technician put regular serger thread in the needles.  Once the service was complete they just cut the threads so I had to work out how to proceed. So, I purchased 2 cones of serger/overlock thread from Walmart as it seemed the smoothest of the ones I checked out. I chose grey because I am very happy with using grey on my recent shopping bags.  Seems to got with lots of colors.  Now I could move forward.

I was going to put the Serger on the shelving unit in the sewing corner but that did not work.

The shelf was not deep enough or tall enough. 

So I had to come up with a new plan.  

I moved some of the boxes and stacked them high again so I could gain some floor space.

With that done, I needed a sturdy piece of furniture to hold it.

I chose one of the end tables from the living room as a TV table with hold a tea mug and lamp but not a serger.

That took a while to sort out.

The foot pedal was next. I had placed it in a plastic bag as it was leaving black stuff behind where ever I put it down.

Upon inspection,  the old gripper material on the bottom of the pedal which just disintegrating upon contact. I rubbed it all off.

I have some gripper material from Ikea - STOPP which I had leftovers off after putting it under my rug in the kitchen.  I cut it to size and decided to use Glue Dots to attach it to the bottom on the pedal.  

We will see how it goes.

I chose to put an old linen tablecloth on my end table to keep it clean and hopefully unmarred until it can be returned to the living room.

The table is squeezed between the sewing desk on the right and the packed boxes on the left.  I had added an extension cord to the outlet now behind the boxes. Nice planning ahead.

Now I had a space and power.

I was advised by my sister who own sergers that tying the new thread to the old one makes getting the thread through the machine very easy.

You can see that I tied beautiful square knots to the ends that were left by the technician and the grey spools now sitting on the spool holders on the left hand side. 

I then put the knife away so that I could concentrate on the thread. I ran the machine until the knots appeared just ahead of the needle. I cut them off there.  

Now I had to thread both needles. The manual suggests a needle threader but you really can't get your hands back there to do that.  I got my magnifying glass out and did it the old fashioned way.

Here's my first seam with the light over locking loops of the light wooly nylon thread. The other wooly nylon is grey as well.

I think the 2 grey lines close together at the needle threads.

Everything looks good.

There is still room for me to set up my craft table which I use for cutting and layout.

The machine is up and running so I can get started on those projects.

1. ReUseable Make Up Remover pads.

2. Bags with drawstrings to laundry these remover pads.

3.Who Knows What!

Very exciting.

I probably need to sew a cover for it so that it stays dust free when not in use.  I did want it set up all the time otherwise I would not be inclined to use it as often. 

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.

Card Exchange - March - Five Petal Flowers

I used the Stampin Up Five Petal Flower punch for my March exchange cards.

I started with a Soft Suede card base A2 in portrait mode.  I cut a layer of this gorgeous screen printed handmade paper.  

I wrapped a length of Early Espresso Taffeta Ribbon on the left hand side and tape the end to the back of the decorative paper. 

The decorative paper was then adhered to the card front with double sided tape.

I created the flower accent with a pearl white flower stacked with a Cherry Cobbler one then the same flower in a smaller size punched in pearl white all held together with a red mini brad.  

The accent was then adhered to the card front with a piece of 3D foam tape.

This card is in the landscape orientation. The card base is Very Vanilla. 

I adhered a strip of the decorative paper along the left hand edge.

Then added a piece of non shed gold glitter card stock and taped that over the edge of the decorative paper and trimmed the top and bottom to the card edge. 

The accent is a square of Cherry Cobbler then a piece of decorative paper leaving a small border. 

Again the five petal flower accent was adhered on the square with 3D foam tape.

These will be off to my partners shortly.

Sewing Project - ReUsable Bag - Bright Big Ones

I bought a piece of polyester fabric on Friday that I thought would make 3 bags. I just loved the bright colors and was quite sure I have bias tape that would work.

Sure enough, I had yellow, orange and green. Brown would have worked too. 

It was a nice change to sew with nice colors rather than the beige, grey, tan ones I have made in recent days.

I decided to maximize the use of the fabric so the bags finished are a bit bigger than the ones I have made so far.

Measurements: Overall height = 24", width = 24 inches and the bag itself is 17 inches tall. 

This fabric was like the other patterned polyester fabric so it frayed easily.  It feels really nice and irons beautifully.

The first one got yellow bias tape with an orange button and a white elastic.

The next one got orange bias tape with a light green button.

And the third got green bias tape with a yellow button and white elastic.

These will perkup the full basket of folded bags I have made this month.

Great to get 3 bags done today!

There they are all folded ready to join the rest in the basket.  It is overflowing with about 15 bags.

I have enough bias tape to make about 12 more then I can get rid of the rick rack that also lives in that box and it will be another empty box to add to the result of de-cluttering.

I have decided to keep the patterned polyester one with turquoise bias tape for myself.

Card - Welcome Back

I made this card for a lady who has been away from work for a long time.  She has been battling for her life and has survived.

I am so glad to see her back at work.

I started with a Really Rust A2 card base and added 2 pieces of paste paper that I made a long time ago. The one on the left worked with the rusty color really well and the one on the right provide nice contrast.

I added a piece of Soft Suede ribbon wrapped around this layer and taped the ends to the back.   I adhered the whole piece to the card front with double sided tape. 

The greeting was adhered with 3D foam tape over the ribbon and overlap in the decorative pieces of paste paper.

A quarter sheet insert and beige envelope finished it off. 

Sylvia's Simple Shots

I've been waiting for this happiness since I returned the Sunrise Stained Glass Art piece of mine to the window in the dining room.

One day this week the sun was shining brightly despite the temperatures this week.

This is the image on the wall in the living room being created by the stained glass piece in the dining room window.  This is exactly what I was hoping to achieve with this piece of art.  Blissfully happy with this.

The dried flower arrangement are the left overs from the bouquet for Mom's passing in January.  The leaves have dried very nicely, the baby's breath is good, the freesias are slowly falling off but that is okay.

I am back to my regular areobics routine along with the exercises from the physiotherapist.  I expect had I got back into my regular routine this fall I would not had the problems I experienced with my knee but such is life.

What I have learned is that you can not store up fitness.  It is something you have to do regularly or you just lose it.  

I am grateful the lesson was not more painful than it was.  From January 6th to February 25 I am back to about 95% on both the knee and the back.  I spend 1 hour a day between areobics and strength building exercises.

It is good to being feeling myself again.

Yes, it was a cold one again this week.  It has to end sometime.

I have stayed in most of the week. I did have a few commitments I had to do but in little sprints it was okay.

This little and mighty machine came to live at my house this week.  I picked it up from its service on Thursday.

I will be doing an in depth post on this machine later.

I had a conversation with my niece a while back who is a bargain hunter and thrift store shopper.  She had purchased this one and as she had 2 others this one was up for grabs.

With my recent sewing projects one of these will come in very handy for my unPaperTowel project.

I want to make some reusable make up remover pads as well.

I have to get new thread into it before I can use it so that is the next thing.

Bring Her Home by David Bell is a book I finished early in the week. 

This was quite a thriller of a story with a few tense moments and a couple of turns which one is not expecting.

The 2 teenage girls Summer and Haley are missing.  The search finds one girl severely beaten and just barely alive and one dead.  They had been looking for 2 girls and 2 appeared so it was assumed they were the ones being sought.  

Later, we discover another girl was involved and parents grieving received a shock and now there is still one girl missing.

Bill Price, a recent widower, is looking for his daughter Summer.  Tiny clues start adding up to behaviors he could not have anticipated his daughter would have engaged in.  Summer is grieving the loss of her mother.   It was a very good book.

I made a trip to the ReUse Center on Friday and found some goodies.

Some quilted fabric for my sister who has been making casserole carriers. 

This tiny blown glass snowman is just the cutest. No chips at all.

From the plastic I collected I want to make toggles for the bags to wash make up remover pads in.  They need to be plastic because they will go in the laundry.  They are small pieces so it was recommended that they be washed in a laundry bag.  

The cardboard rolls are for the UnPaperTowel project. 

The piece of embroidery is a huge piece of linen.  Yes I checked with a burn test.  I would like to make use of the stitched segment in some what but not sure yet what.  Can it be incorporated into a blanket?  Maybe. There is 2 meters so the other half from the stitch segment would make nice dish towels.  We shall see. 

The Lucky One by Nicholas Sparks follows the tried and true formula for another successful story. His male are really good guys.

Logon Thibault find a photograph while he is on tour in Iraq.  The photo is a beautiful girl with a ferris wheel, 3 large pines and 3 marines in the background.  He experiences getting out of some pretty tight situations alive during his time with the marines. His best friend Victor believes the photo is a good luck charm that is keeping him alive.  After their tour is over and they are back in the USA they get together after a few years of trying to piece their lives back together after seeing combat. Victor suggests that Logan try to find the girl and thank her for keeping him safe. 

Logan finds the girl after a very long walk but does not disclose the reason he has arrived in Hampton.  He gets a job, they fall in love and then disaster strikes and the things he hid come to light.  It does not go well with the girls and he gets ready to head out of town once again.  Through a difficult situation he redeems himself in her eyes.  And as always they live happily ever after. 

How To: ReUsable Bag - Folding Instructions

 
There are many ways to fold these reusable shopping bags but I thought I would share what I have found to be the easiest in my opinion.

You can click on the tag ReUsable Bag on this post to see all the bags I have made. 

Sewing Project - ReUsable Bags - 2 more shorter ones

These are a very similar size to the California King ones I made earlier. Overall height 20" T x 19.5W - bag  is 13" D.

I brought home some taupe microfiber fabric home from my sister's on Saturday that had been in my Mom's stash.  There was enough to make to 2 bags I thought.

It was very nice weight and I just had to assess the size of the piece and figure out what I needed.

There are some left overs which I have no idea what I will do with it.  The cut outs from all these bags are starting to pile up.

These bags do fold up to a reasonable size.  They would not fit in my purse but they would work for a lot of places.

I hope to find a few nice patterned microfiber fabric.  Doing these plain ones is getting boring.   I likely have enough bias tape to about 5-7 more.

I have started tacking the elastic to the front of the bag with a bit of stitching before I add the bias tape.  It helps to keep in place.

Means that I don't have to manage 2 things at once.

The button hides the overlap of the bias tape which works well.  Hand sewing the button can  be challenging because there are 2 layers of bias tape and the elastic in that spot.

It is working out alright.

This bag is another short and wide one.  

I used dark brown bias tape, black elastic and a brown button on this bag.

The bias tape makes this go really fast. I don't need to pin or anything.  Just open the tape, slip the edge of the bag inside and top stitch the edge. Works really fast but just quite costly.

This is the package of double fold bias tape in dark brown which I used on the bag above.\

Check out the price! It is $1.00 when the current price is now $3.30.  I wonder how old that package is?  70's?   Who knows!

I am starting to have a little basket full of these bags.

Right now the plan is to donate them.

I will bring them to show the girls at quilting on Monday.

Sewing Project - Patterned Polyester - Large Bag

When I was out shopping with my sister on the weekend I found this lone pillowcase and these nice colors - Turquoise, lime green and grey and a beautiful pinwheel pattern. It was an impulsive decision to purchase it.  Big spender at .50 cents.

This pillow case is made of polyester and is not microfiber.  It is quite thin.  It did not have a wide band at the top like most pillowcases do so that gave me more fabric to work with. 

It was constructed differently as well in that it was folded on one side so there were seams on one side and the bottom.  I like to have a fold at the bottom which I think is stronger.

I reinforced the seams with another of my own. I decided to add a boxed bottom since I had lots of fabric to work with. This also allowed for more reinforcement to the bottom of the bag.

I chose some turquoise bias tape, a turquoise button and black elastic for this bag.

Still working with the medium grey thread which was great.  I have gone through one bobbin and I have a cone of thread so I am good to go for a while yet.

I did have to cut off some of the length at the top otherwise the bag would have been to tall and skinny.

Finished it measures 24" tall x 19.5" wide.  The bag part is 16.5 inches deep. 

I was toying with making a bag to store it since I had cut off some fabric but stuck to the tried and true method.

Despite being bigger I think it makes an overall smaller package when rolled up. 

So a bigger bag in a smaller package and it's pretty may be winner.

The package of bias tape for this bag was prices a $1.50 so an older one for sure.

The fabric as very much inclined to fray so that was a bit of a challenge. Also, it was much more susceptible to a hot iron so I have to be very careful to keep the temperature down.

Getting the cut edges encased quickly was quite important.  

Update: I am keeping this one for my own ReUsable Bag.  I love the pattern, the colors and I brought 14 books home in it the other day so it is strong as well. 

Sylvia's Simple Shots

 As women we need to pay attention how our body is feeling.  Symptoms are often ignored or not considered as heart symptoms.  Back pain is common in women having a heart attack.  I wore red to our first meeting in 3 years of the quilting group.

I finished this book recently Kinsey and Me by Sue Grafton.  It is a collection of short stories with her famous female investigator - Kinsey Millhone.  

As the author puts it - it is a challenge to set up the characters, the crime and solve it in a short story.

A Little Missionary Work was my favorite of these short stories.

There is some autobiography information on Sue Grafton's early growing up years which was difficult with alcoholic parents and all the comes with that.

It was a nice change of pace with Kinsey and enjoyed the stories.

If you are a fan of Kinsey it is definitely worth a read.

I headed out to the north end drugstore because my local one did not have any inventory of these bands. With the increase in the amount of leg and arm exercises I have been doing I needed some bands in different tension strength.  I am using the blue one for some leg exercises.

I was lucky to have decaf tea on sale - 2 boxes for $10.00 which a savings of $6 so I picked a couple of those as well.  I have not been able to get this tea at my regular grocery store since before Christmas. 

I finally did a Google search and my drugstore carries it.  I am there regularly so I will just keep an eye for the sale again.

I underwent a vertigo assessment by my physiotherapist this week.   I had about 10 days of bad dizziness around mid January. It started right after my big pain in my knee. I felt it was musculoskeletal and it was related to extreme tension between my shoulders.  There was a spot on the right hand side that I just could not release the pressure in that spot.  I passed the vertigo assessment.

I had a deep muscle massage which addressed the knot in the middle of my back.  That is exactly what I needed.  The pain is gone and I feel so much better.

I was also given cupping massage which felt great.

Back exercises were added to the leg ones to address the tight back muscles.

The Cat Cow yoga pose works well then I was given a deep stretch for that area which feels better now that the knot in the muscle has relaxed.

The shoulder rotation is very good.  I used pillows for my head and my knee.  

The back squeeze feels good as well.  I wrap my elastic exercise band around the door handle, wrap the two ends over and above the latch and shut the door.  Now I can pull really hard on the band and it will not let go.

I bought myself another African Violet at the garden center last week.  I am hoping to keep this one alive.  The last one was just too close to the window during the deep freeze and it succumbed to the cold.

I used to grow these in my twenties when I did not even have to try.  They sat in a large north window and bloomed and flourished.

I have set this one on the shelf near the window and hopefully just a little less light and much less cold will be the magic formula.  

I will keep an eye on it and always water it from the bottom and keep  my fingers and toes crossed.

Nice to have a bit of life in the house until spring returns.

Sewing Project - Shorter Bags

I got a California King Pillowcase in my $1 bin sale at the thrift store the other day.  These are much longer than the standard pillowcase hence more fabric.

The length of the fabric when the band is removed and then folded in half was 40 inches rather than my regular 44 inches for my standard bag.  But I get 2 bags for the price of one.

I used a bias binding left over from a quilt I made a long time ago.  There was only enough for the neck of the bag. I had been thinking of rolled hems for these bags and had done some practicing with my rolled hem foot for the sewing machine. 

I decided to try it on this bag because I really did not have any other bias tape that would match.  It went pretty well.  I have the top and side seam that I have to put through the roller so that was challenging.  Just keeping the fabric pulled to the left all the time to have enough fabric to roll is also needs constant attention.  But going slow and being careful it works quite well.  I will get better at it as I go along. 

I chose a burgundyish button and a black elastic which I cut to 6" because this bag was going to be a smaller roll than my previous ones.

The button is a good color match.  Great to keep with the grey thread.

Total height of the bag is 20" the height of the bag itself is 13" and the width is 19.5 inches.

The side edges had to be straightened and trimmed so that did take a bit off the width. There a fold in the bottom for strength.  The seams are all enclosed so there are no raw edges on the inside of the bag.

I decided to redo the hems on the handles of this bag because too many places along the hem it had not rolled over properly.  

I am not sure if it is practice but I will try some more hems on scraps and see how it goes.

I was to visit my sister on Saturday and she gave me some bias tape that would so the 2 handles.

So now the bag will be acceptable for donation.

This is the second short bag made with the California King pillowcase.

I chose Hunter green bias tape this time.  I have some very old packages with prices like 95 cents but this one is quite new at $2.45.  Currently, they are $3.30 each which does one bag with a bit leftover.  That is quite a bit for each bag. I would like to find something more neutral and less costly.

It is easy to mark the center of the bag to align the elastic and the button.

Fold the bag in half and just press the center with the iron.  It can easily be ironed out when you are finished.

The button came from my sisters as well.  Again, going with neutral would help with things a bit.  She gave a couple of clear buttons that come off duvet covers. They will work with any color bag.

The narrow elastic is 6" long and I did remember to sew it in when I put the bias tape this time instead of doing it afterwards.  Good Job!