Gimme time, stained glass and yet another idea

 I finished the current woven panel and Fred and Ursula are guarding it and the others against dastardly marauders

Yesterday was a great afternoon for sitting on the deck watching birds and clouds and reading. I heard Gary at the front door call me. Made my way to the door, in time to see him drive off.  

Today I reminded him to give me a minute to get there. He explained he thought I might be upstairs sleeping (!) and he didn't want to disturb me. As if.   But he'll allow for my increasing slowness. He's too polite to look in and see if I'm on my way. Very proper!

Today I returned the shoes I was thinking of painting to improve the hideous color, nothing like the online color. I had decided life's too short to be endlessly coping. And I hoped the UPS lady wouldn't get all bureaucratic about the lack of the original box they came in, now broken down and recycled.

As with a lot of in-person encounters, a lot depends on the person behind the counter. Today it was a very happy lady who scanned the code I'd screenshot, whipped out the receipt, easy. Thank you. 

The refund will more than pay for the completely satisfactory ironing blanket thing. Amazon, which I only use when all else fails, has tightened its returns rules, now specifying to return in the original mfr packaging, but this lady wasn't worried.

Meanwhile another skirt idea occurred  to me about some pedal pushers in a nice color, but now too big. I shrank, they didn't.

So I cut the inseams off, trimmed back and now I'm insetting batik in a cheerful contrast, 

Front 

Back

You can see why I'm taking the trouble -- great cargo pockets, drawstring waist, much better as a skirt than hanging in the closet.

But this is only stage one. After I've stitched the inserts, which have a technical name, never mind,  inside there's a  rectangle of batik, front and back.

After I finish the insides, I will have two triangles to trim off, parallel to the sloping sides of the inserts.. Which will then be appliqued to the outside of the  skirt to complete the design and disguise its pantly origins. It will also use up every square inch of this piece of batik, all I have in this color.

The geometry of this idea took a bit of thinking and pinning and snorting in annoyance and reversing and repinning.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi loves to say don't agonize, organize.  This stitcher says don't repine, repin!

And for a change of pace from my endless stitching and bitching, here's a lovely stained glass work to enjoy

Look her up, she's a terrific designer. 

And happy day everyone! Off to stitch now, good vibes to your experimenting today. And everything else, really.

Afternoon tea, skirt finale and muffin things

The recent comment about afternoon tea and tiny sandwiches reminds me of a series of teas I gave a few years ago. Everything homemade, tiny egg salad and chicken sandwiches, little fancy cakes, homemade jam for homemade bread, pot of tea, choice of milk or lemon, the works. Great fun to prepare, and friends loved the event.

One person at a time, because I can't cater to more, not enough dishes. Also I've experienced having two guests who've chatted to each other while treating me as a waitress, no, not the caterer! Very few people, likewise cats, can handle a group of three comfortably. Two's nice for conversation, and my friends are usually up for that.

Anyway, some people were uncertain what to expect, so I explained it's an actual afternoon meal, usually women like it best, so they came prepared to enjoy, and we had a lovely afternoon. 

Others not so much, such as the lady who said of course I'm familiar with it, I've been to Harrods! I had no idea what that meant, found later it's a shop in London where tourists get an afternoon tea, lovely posh food. Si i concluded she knew what to expect.

This lady said she couldn't come to me because of the cats, even in another room. I understood it was a phobia, and she offered to reverse the idea and invite me to afternoon tea at her house close by. She would do it all. I asked was she sure, it was quite a bit of prep, and she insisted she was.

So I showed up as invited. No food nor prep in evidence. Finally she produced a small glass of iced tea each. Total. We did have a lovely chat though.  As they say in my native Yorkshire, nowt so funny as folks!

The pandemic put a hold on my tea party adventures, and unfortunately, several prospective guests have died in the meantime, how annoying of them. But it was lovely while it lasted.

I'm wondering what new adventures I'm up for. At a bit of a crossroads. Meanwhile you'll be happy to know the yellow skirt now has pockets so its positively final reveal is here.

and currently on the Freecycle site is this offering, for animal use, maybe fosters or rescue

I needed to use up some milk that soured, reminding me I will have to replace my 35 year old fridge soon. So this is the result

Cranberry walnut muffins, suitable for all occasions. I used to use olive oil in this recipe and recently tried avocado oil, with very light results. So that's now my choice. Makes me look like a good baker.

Happy day, everyone! It's a good policy to ask questions if you're not sure,  especially if it's a meal or is it..

Storms and pups and pockets

 Last evening Gary had to be out without Billy the Pup, normally his constant companion, and asked me if I'd go over when it got dark make sure Billy was in and close the patio door, left open a  bit for her to come and go. When it starts getting dark, crickets come in. 

I'm sure he knows I'd do what I did, go over earlier, play with her and later close the door and leave her safely indoors. We'd had storms and I wanted to see she was okay.

Playing with her involves being climbed on, scrabbled at, yanked about and licked, all at the speed of light. I held her firmly to massage her ears, and try to get her to slow down enough to be petted.

I think she really needs a companion puppy, but I don't think I'll mention it to Gary. I don't think he's up for another handful. She seems to be trying to get humans to be honorary pups. 

Today it was finally cool enough to drive to the next town to the  library and return the  Nigel Slater, which I really enjoyed and got good ideas from.  

I tend to lose my driving nerve a bit when I haven't driven for a couple of days, so I had to force the issue to do it this morning, very wobbly. Home again and I was, as  always, glad I'd done it.  I am a good driver, just a reluctant one. It's better for the car and me to get out regularly though.

Anyway here's today's weaving progress, almost at the end of this panel, two more to go.

And a baby cucumber, from my neighbor, grated and mixed with malt vinegar as a salad.

I don't like cucumbers much but fresh picked and in best vinegar, okay.

I hope my thanks were courteous but not effusive enough to encourage her to offer ten more 

Then here's today's Pocket Progress

Cut out, assembled, now pinned in place ready to make this skirt a lot more useful.

And though I'm usually winnowing, here's a buy that just arrived. 

I have finally, after decades of using folded blankets, invested in a real, 100% New Zealand wool ironing blanket. I pressed the new pockets, and what an improvement on improvising. 

The old blankets can be dog rescue blankets, if I can get a YouTube taker.

 Happy day everyone, sometimes you need the real thing, not a substitute. This idea can work in a number of contexts, left to your imagination..

And I expect you know the puzzle answer was

SP!

At the beginning of each word.

Skirt takeover, apricot stuff, and nature winning again

 I didn't make it to the knitting group yesterday. The day started cloudy and cooler so I got all ready. Then things changed

Too hot to drive and park, for me. Heavy sigh, and I had attached the pockets all ready for the reveal of the batik skirt, oh well.

Two patch pockets, hard to see because the print's so busy, but very useful immediately. 

So pleased with this and the return of skirt wearing that I looked around and found this sari silk-lined skirt I got as a remnant ages ago. 

The outer layer is all bling, but the lining is not only a nice color, but with some alteration at the waist, will be a handy skirt.

And the remnants of the remnant will go into something else, maybe artist book covers, maybe that latest batch of paper will be a small artist's  book. In both senses, since this artist is shrinking, now down to 5'2" from my original towering 5'5".

Since summer is here, I made it official with sun tea

And chopped the peppermint picked by handsome Son, to make a carafe of peppermint black tea

Speaking of summer serving, that ill-fated apricot jam that turned sort of solid has proved to be a lovely crumbly addition to yogurt, honey and walnuts for breakfast 

And while I was fumbling about with the upcoming skirt fabric, I looked up to see this natural artwork, afternoon sun through the plants casting a great shadow design

And about skirts, I remembered the charcoal grey fleecy fabric I planned for sweatpants, but now wonder if it's going to be a long skirt instead.

And that gave me another idea about the woven and knitted skirt in progress. Maybe the knitted wedges could be fleece instead of knitted. I'll think about that. There's enough for both skirts.

I can see this skirt is probably going to end up as an organza hand embroidered tiered gown suitable for the opera at this rate of redeciding..

Happy day everyone, when you get an idea use it. There's more where that came from!

You'll notice I've been adding in a human rights flag now and then, with my Ukraine support. That's because both represent brave people under pressure. Least I can do is let them know I'm aware and an ally.

Paper, Misfits and a phone

 Yesterday was a good day for drying paper

So here's my yield. There's such a pleasure to lifting the pieces off the felts. It's a friendly material. 

I embedded some Japanese maple foliage from my tree, saved since last year in the freezer, and these paper pieces can be mounted on cardstock. The narrow one can be a bookmark, after I've leatherized it by painting white glue and letting it dry.

As you see, dye seeps out of the leaves on addition to the shapes they form.  Red maple is a good natural dye which I've used on fabric.  

One new idea I got from Magpie's link was to add cornstarch to the pulp, to strengthen the paper. Good idea, because newspaper is the cheapest formulation and very crumbly in use.  

This paper won't have the endless longevity of paper made from abaca or other plant fibers, because it's originally wood pulp, high acid content. But for my purposes, just a fun project. 

Misfits box arrived, and as usual I opened it outside, too heavy to lift.

You see the freezer blocks in the foil bag. I tossed them over to Gary's front path for him to collect and put in his outdoor freezer.

Then unloaded onto the counter where pasta for lunch was underway.

I used up the liquid from that recent tomato thing I made, drained from the can of whole tomatoes, plus butter, onions and tomato paste. Simple, good. 

And I have a new supply of yellow potatoes, apples and cilantro. I do love the scent of cilantro. There was a time when I really didn't, likewise privet and marigold. 

They smelled terrible to my younger nose. And now they're delicious. There's privet growing outside the library, and I no longer dash past it to escape the smell.

Have you experienced changes like that? 

Anyway shortly after I'd sorted and washed and put away the Misfits, Gary came dashing over, all excited. I can't TELL you how happy I am you tossed the freezer blocks over, practically dancing with excitement.

He explained he'd noticed them and gone out to put them away, opened his outdoor storage closet to put them in the freezer he keeps there. 

And finally found his phone, on the freezer. He'd been searching literally all morning, and had run out of places to look.

So he dashed off to catch up with his life now that he was reunited with his lifeline. Very happy guy.

Happy day everyone, try to remember where you put your phone. I wear mine in one of a collection of tiny crossbody purses, because I can't be trusted to remember anything.

Paper, yogurt, buds and self improvement

 Here's the paper recycling, where it's up to

Pulp to felts to drying, with inclusions of Japanese maple leaves. The leaves also make red dye. 

The last picture shows the output, tiny batch this time, still drying. Watch this space again for the great removal from the felts (those are the pieces of interfacing they're resting on). That was a nice little interlude.

While I was out I noticed flowers and buds. Gary's butterfly bush soaring above the trees, my little offshoot from it now budding, ready to host butterflies and moths, and my zinnias starting to bud, the morning glory climbing everywhere now

Bit too hot for me but they're all very happy.

Meanwhile I finally got a batch of yogurt done. 

It's simple but I tend to put it off, like bread making. I did a bit of figuring and find that from an approx 3 cup container, I end with 18 cups of yogurt. That's the original, minus a couple of tablespoons for starter, then three more batches of five cups, at which point it loses its strength. Not a bad return.

And I was about to embark on an interesting book about envy and how to manage it. The I decided once again, that self improvement is the enemy of self acceptance, and it's time I did that instead. 

So I'm good enough as I am, crabby old lady.  Also self improvement is a source of income, rather than a selfless offering by writers. So fine, good luck to them, they'll never lack an audience, but I think I'll be sewing and paper making and other things instead.

Happy day everyone, you're fine, I'm fine, we're all fine, everything's fine!