Sylvia's Simple Shots

There's more snow this week. 

You can see the bike track in the snow again this week.

It is colder this week as well with temps in the -20C.

Winter has arrived.

That will be good for the coming craft sales because for some folks until it snows they just are not in the Christmas shopping mood.

This was done early in the week and then the weather turned. They steamed the kitchen stack on Monday.  

I had under the kitchen sink clear out in plenty of time. They did have to go and get parts as the PTrap was glued and could not be removed.

As you can see the truck was parked behind the big fence and they were climbing over with ladders.

The hoses came through the patio doors.  

I knew one of the guys that came because the same company did work in the building downtown.

The process went very well. 

DIY project - I took the Dremel and shortened the legs on the plastic shelf under the sink.

It did not fill under the PTrap after it was replaced.

It was about an 1/8 of an inch but it would not clear.  

Good to by handy with a tool.

With the timing I finished a couple of books this week.

The Favored Child by Phillipa Gregory.  It is book 2 in a trilogy and I have not read the first.

A couple of children are being raised together in the Dower House. They are Richard and Julia who are cousins but have lost parents and Julia's mother is raising both children alone.

There a mystical power at play, gender roles that confuse things, deep secrets which will change everything at the end of the story. How things change as children mature. Julie is connected to the land and Richard is not but that makes it difficult to be squire of the Lacey estate. 

Things get ugly and when the secret is revealed the world comes to make more sense.  Big book and a good read.

A Shelter of Hope by Tracie Petersen is the story of Simone Dumas who lives in the Wyoming Territory in 1883.  Her father is heavy handed shall we say and her mother has long been gone. Simone tends house far from town so is mostly alone.

After her father has acted very cruelly, Simone summons the courage to leave with very little.  She finds her way to a place she will not be recognized, changes her name and find employment.

In time the past comes calling.   The police are involved, her true identity revealed, a man steps up to protect her, people die, and her future is in peril.

I always like a strong female main character and Simone lives up to the part.

Great book!

The new computer arrived this week which was custom built as I could not find what I needed on store shelves.

Happy with the speed, the disk space, and the overall performance.

I just love the LED lights on the inside.  That is so cool.

The printer/scanner was set up EPSON 2980 Super Tank.   Windows 11 with its apps has been easier than I thought to use.

I managed to get software in a permanent license.  Wonderful.

It was the reception for the Fire and Ice Show at the Spruce Grove Art Gallery hosted by the Allied Arts Council.

My aunt and I attended the reception for the art show and the opening of the Christmas Store as well.

Check out the beautiful cookies made by Cindy I believe. Almost too pretty to eat. Gorgeous work.

I bought another small wood star from Val E at the Christmas Store.

Wonderful evening.

It's that time of year again.  Time to make Caramel Popcorn for family and friends.  I was up early because my friend was coming for lunch.

I made a lot less this year as it is not our big family get together this year.  I will deliver these as I see family of the next few weeks.

When my friend arrived we headed to Tims and bought lunch and brought it back to my house to eat and have a cup of tea.

It had been months since I saw her and my house was in a more organized state than when she visited in late August.

We decided to head out and hit a craft sale before heading to visit the Spruce Grove Art Gallery and Christmas Store at Heavy Metal Place in Spruce Grove.

After our outing we came back for another cup of tea and she headed out a little later to be home before dark.

My friend and I dropped by this sale in the PERC building in Stony Plain.

There is nothing I need, my Christmas list is very short, so I came to realize that I don't need to attend craft sales.  

I had been feeling like I was missing something special but my circumstances have changed a lot and I only need to attend if there is a reason to.

Interesting how time marches on and I am not the person I was. 

Learned a valuable lesson.

Sylvia's Simple Shots

The weather is warm and the magpies have been hanging around in the back alley.

I just love how the sun is highlighting the beautiful colors in their feathers.

Just enjoying the sun!

The Sea Gate by Jane Johnson was the book I finished this week.

Set in Cornwall, England and a WWII story comes to life.  Rebecca's mother has passed and as she cleans her flat she finds a letter. 

Olivia is her mother's elderly cousin who needs help to save her beloved home. As Olivia sits in hospital Rebecca starts to clean and unearths secrets.

There is tunnel in the basement which leads to the sea. Could it be that "goods" have been secreted in the basement?  In recent times there is an illegal cigarette operation. 

A historic corpse is found in the tunnel. Who is it?  When did he die?  Why did he die? How was the gate used during the war?  

Wonderful story and real page turner

The kitchen plumbing stacks were steamed this week.

The process is required to prevent sink back ups due to a build up of gunk in the drains.

It is frightening to see black water backing up in your sink and you wonder will it overflow and cause a mess and possible damage.

After the renovation I have just gone through I can tell you that was not in the least appealing.

It means having to be home and having a contractor in your kitchen for several hours.

A sparrow at Telford Lake. They were many and flitting around as they do.  They were singing and chatting among themselves.

I was checking out a condo building in the area for orientation and location.  It is so difficult sometimes to determine these things from a few photos on a MLS listing.

The magpies were enjoying the pool of water which accumulated at the corner of the loading dock.

After a long winter, it time for a bit of cleaning. They were dipping, swooning, and shaking off the drops and doing it again and again.

The sun was warm and it was lovely to watch them frolic for about 20 minutes.

 

Sylvia's Simple Shots

Its been a week for improvements in the sewing room department.

I have started buying distilled water for my steam iron which lessens the amount of times I have to clean it.  The cost is minimal about $2 and it is better all the way around.

I also found a water cup for the iron at the thrift store this week.  I have wanted one for a while and since I bought my iron second hand it did not come with one.

I have been reusing a disposable water bottle but it does not have the point to direct the water.

This cup works very well and it again was a bargain at the thrift store.

Another improvement in the sewing room was this clamp I found at the ReUse Center.

This the spool holder that my brother in law made me for Christmas a few years ago. It works well but the corner of my sewing desk is a bit short on space.  Whenever I pull the board to raise the machine it would topple over.  

This clamp is minimal but very effective.  It has been quite a while since I have worried about not toppling the spool holder.

I found this small bag of buttons at the thrift store when I met my sister in Wetaskiwin a while back.

They are vintage for sure with metal inserts in the holes for reinforcement.  There are about 50 of them so I am sure there is a project where they will fit in perfectly.

I had a visit with my youngest sister for Family Day.

She had a couple of friends over and we talked crafts, sewing, and all manner of other stuff.

We managed to make this puzzle while we chatted.

It was nice to be with family.

Chair Protector & Steam Iron Maintenance

I took a break from quilts today to get some mending and small projects for the home.

I have started using my rocking chair more but I wanted to protect the cushion cover.  I sewed this cotton protector to prevent my hair oils from staining the cushion.  I added 2 ties which attach it to the wood back of the chair.

It is done and installed.

I had to do some maintenance on my Sunbeam Steam Iron - Model 4229 today.

I have to confess I have not been cleaning it regularly.  Today, I had to do it 4 times before I felt I had cleaned out a good amount of the gunk from the reservoir.

Recently, I had noticed bits of gunk in the water as it has a clear reservoir which should have been a clue.

I don't find the sole plate as clean as I want it but I will continue to do it regularly and I am sure it will get better.

Lesson:
Clean your steam iron regularly rather than deal with the hassles later.

Love You a Latte - 1st card

I recently participated in the blog hop hosted by Coffee Loving Cardmakers. They ask for tea, coffee or cocoa related cards.  Tea is my beverage of choice but I don't have so many related stamps or paper.

I was looking for options for die cuts for these challenges.  Love You a Latte Cricut cartridge has been on my list for at least a year but you can no longer buy it from Cricut.  I was looking for a second hand seller.  I found one and the cartridge arrived today!  Yeah.

Here's my first card with it.

I cut a coffee take out cup at 5 inches (includes the steam) from Bohemia - Blue Bird "All Boy" Stripe/Light Blue. I cut the lid from the reverse light blue side.  For the band I just adhered a piece of designer paper and trimmed it to the die cut edges. I adhered the cafe word in the center.

I created a background with the Stampin Up Soft Swirls stamp with Chocolate Chip ink on pink paper.  This was adhered to a Mocha Divine textured card.  I adhered the cup and steam.  Then, I added a greeting with stamped with Chocolate Chip ink on the same designer paper and then cut with banner ends. The stamp set is Sweet Essentials. It was adhered with 3D foam tape.

Joining challenge - Anything Goes at Fantabulous Cricut.

Coffee Stains

Another card for the Coffee Loving Cardmakers' Summer Blog Hop.


I started with the cup and steam cut with the Cricut and the Joy of the Season cartridge at 1.75 inches.

I chose a blue card stock for the background layer.  I used Tim Holtz Distress Stains to add color to it with the Mini Coffee Splotch stencil by Rebekah Meier for The Crafters Workshop. I used Vintage Photo, Tea Dye and a bit of Tattered Rose distress stains on the blue applied with a sponge through the stencils and applied directly to the paper. I selected a warm toned peach colored card to which I applied Tea Dye and Tattered Rose to tone down the color.

I added a length of taupe seam binding to give the cup a place to sit.  I ran double sided tape across the blue layer then added pleats to the ribbon as I pressed down onto the adhesive.

I did touched the edges of the cup and steam with a bit of Vintage Photo Distress Stain applied with the sponge.

Cricut Tea Time

I made this card for a challenge at Cricut Bitten By the Bug2.  I chose a mauve card. I printed the sentiment in the top right hand corner and traced an oval with the white gel marker to hilight it. I cut the tea cup from designer paper with the Joy of the Season cartridge at 3".  I punched a bit of white lace with a Martha Stewart border punch.  I traced a Sizzix sizzlet flourish with a white gel marker to add some steam coming from my tea cup. I created a few markings near the bottom of the card with the white gel marker to ground my cup on the card. I adhered the tea cup to the card front.

Submitted to the following challenge:
Bitten by the Bug2 - Tea Time