By a thread

3 Mar

My long time friend and fellow blogger Pimla’s Ponderings has started a series on her work spinning from natural fibers and plying.  More to follow.  Check out her work!

Vintage Thread

Vintage Thread

My story:  I realized I had three spools of this green thread and from the label I must have had it for a long time.  Why? Why? Why?  I purchased supplies in 1980 for a Junior Achievement project to make the fabric draft stoppers that go by door frames.  Apparently, green was not a popular color.  I proceeded to use the thread for my current project Days for Girls International.  The thread worked well!

In this age of short self lives and quick obsolescence, it is amazing that 34-year-old thread can work well with a 2010 sewing machine.  Certainly no other products from electronics, photography, most automotive, most building materials, most appliances, writing instruments…well now a good old-fashioned pencil will work.  These gel pens do not work.

Remember gel pens?

Remember gel pens?

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Big Dogs Fly

22 Feb

I have traveled by plane three times in 9 months.  Twice now I have seen dogs (not service) in the terminal waiting to board planes.  Photos are my witness!

Flight: Indy to Baltimore

Flight: Indy to Baltimore

This dog is large enough to put a saddle on.

Flight: Phoenix to Denver

Flight: Phoenix to Denver

 

Here we go again

Here we go again

I asked the second young woman about her canine c0mpanion.  They are moving from Alaska to Denver.  Phoenix was a layover.

BTW I like the carpet pattern.  The plane silhouette with concentric circles is interesting.  Nice choice.

 

 

 

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“Framed”

20 Feb
Real Pins Framed

Real Pins Framed

Back access

Back access

Much appreciation to JoEllen, professional small business owner of Custom Picture Framing of Brownsburg, Indiana.  I have finished projects!

Custom double mat framing is found in most rooms around my house.  More likely than not it features a watercolor painting by Mary Ann Boysen.  Recently, I found myself short of the tools, supplies and skills to complete four mini-projects.

One:  I purchased a ready-made frame and canvas to showcase my personal “Pininterest” collection.  The pins spark a lifetime of stories from school, work, vacations and hobbies.  My little problem was securing the canvas in the frame (mismatched depths), finishing the back so I can add “pins” and mount the hanging hardware.

Two:  A beautiful frame made by my grandfather probably 40 years ago has a 6 X 8″ opening.  After all these years, I decided on a photo for it but needed a custom cut mat.

Custom Wormy Chestnut molding circa 1985

Custom Wormy Chestnut molding circa 1985

Three and Four are part of a collection of five professional photographs given to me by a coworker (who passed away this year).  The signed and numbered black and white photos have note for the location of the waterfalls.  The problem…two of the five frames were worse for being moved a round.  One had broken glass.  Now, they are restored to their glory and better than new.

Thank you to small business owners everywhere, who offer custom creative solutions.

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Found at Baggage Claim

13 Feb

Indianapolis International Airport has a sense of humor!

Have a seat 1

Waiting on your luggage?  Have a seat 1

Waiting on your luggage? Have a seat 2.
Waiting on your luggage? Have a seat 2.

 

Waiting on your luggage? Have a seat 3.

Waiting on your luggage? Have a seat 3.

 

The hard side Samsonite back of the “chair” looks like our Goodwill donation of several years ago.  Great idea for re-purposing antique luggage.  Notice that none of the components have rollers or telescoping handles.

I believe this is a lovely welcome area to Baggage Claim and the mystery of what happens to unclaimed bags is solved.

 

 

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Glad tidings

5 Feb

The Breck’s sale catalog for bulbs direct from Holland and perennials has arrived!  It is well received after Polar Vortex Part 1 & 2.  Fun fact:  we have 23 days to receive 6.9 more inches of snow to tie the seasonal record set in the winter of 1981-2.  That is likely!

In the meantime, let’s order bulbs and plants.  The lower seasonal temperatures may have killed off plant material.

My shopping list:

Frosty Morn Sedum and Goatsbeard for the Moon Garden

Red border lilies and Crocosmia for the center island bed

Rainbow Yarrow for the southeast corner bed

Deluxe gladioli Mixture Super Sak

White Swan coneflower (note my signature icon)

It is deep

It is deep

It is deep. 2

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Days for Girls International

20 Jan

I read about  this organization in this month’s issue of Oprah magazine.  As a four-year supporter of Helping Hands Touching Hearts (see earlier blog posts); Days for Girls International has a strong appeal to me.  They take part of the service work and support to a new level with an expanded mission.  With five years experience, they have incorporated “lessons learned” in their “crowd-sourced” global system.

www.daysforgirls.org

The official website of Days for Girls International. Dignity, health, opportunity. Every Girl. Everywhere. Period. Washable sanitary solutions for women.

The website is very well done.  Initially, I spent an hour reading, exploring links and watching You Tube video instruction.  My first step was to go through the remnant stash (from over 50 girls dresses).  From the small remnants, I yielded (69) 4″X5″ pocket pieces.  From the medium remnants, I yielded (10) sets of liner pieces.  From the trip to JoAnn’s, I purchased 10 yards of fleece in 4 different color/patterns.

The instructions from the website smartly includes downloadable patterns and video instruction of the finished kit.  Eight washable pads go with two washable liners, one panty and one wash cloth.  The quality expectation is for the kit to last an individual girl for three years.  It is also expected to be colorful, beautiful and neatly packed in a gallon size Ziplock bag inside a pretty drawstring bag.  Lovely!

It's a start

It’s a start!

 

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Domestic Archeology

5 Jan
Footstool circa 1960s

Footstool circa 1960s

This footstool has been under a chair in my guest room for years.  Several stains made it not presentable.  

My grandmother made it sometime in the 1960s.  I remembered it was made from juice cans.  My deconstruction discovered she also recycled athletic tube socks!

Tube socks revealed

Tube socks revealed

The structure of this footstool is two sizes of commercial juice cans with a large one in the middle surrounded by six smaller ones.  The ends of the cans need to be mostly in tack (of course empty of juice) for a solid top and bottom.  Covering the cans with tube socks keep them from clanging and provides an upholstered quality.

Foam topper

Foam topper

Decontructed

Deconstructed

One thing leads to another…I had 3 samples of discontinued Crypton fabric.  The upholstery features are 100% polyester, barrier and stain protection, abrasion resistant (50,000+ double rubs), heavy-duty and retails for $59.99/yard.

My first upholstery project in 2009 was 50% successful with seat covers OK, back and arms not so good.  

My second attempt is better than expected, since I needed to piece red and blue fabric strips to get enough length of the sage green to cover the perimeter.  I’ll give myself an 80% on this due to fit.  The fabric thickness made the radii fit more flat(straight) than curved.  It is clean and functional!

Top

Top

Bottom

Bottom

 

 

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A Scarf A Day

31 Dec
Original silk screen

Original silk screen with denim

collectioneighteen
collectioneighteen

Vera Bradley

Vera Bradley

#AScarfADay was a twitter marketing campaign by Liberty London during the 2013 holiday season.  From the 1st-20th of December, the public was encouraged to post photos of scarves each day as an entry to win one of the retailer’s very fine scarves.  I took that as a challenge.  Alas, my enthusiasm waned with the twelfth posting.  I did not win.  These three photos are my favorite posts.

Perhaps a trip to London…shopping in store for a scarf would be even more fun.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Favorite things at Christmas

25 Dec
Tadded ornaments-1

Tatted ornaments-1

Tadded ornaments-2

Tatted ornaments-2

Tadded angel

Tatted angel

Tatting is a special needlework craft which was a passion of my great aunt Mary.  Her legacy includes a collection of snowflakes, bells, globes and angels to fill a tree.  Mom uses them every year.

Red and green apples

Red and green apples

Salsa

Salsa

Red Roses

Red Roses

I prefer the traditional red and green color scheme for Christmas, especially when the source is non-traditional like red roses, apples and salsa in a green glass bowl.

Merry Christmas!

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Small space: Office annex

20 Dec

This desk is still my go to spot for surfing and email.

Almost new desk

One of my favorite things, is being able to have my Macbook Pro and iPad charging on the keyboard tray while only my old laptop takes desktop space.

The new requirement at home was a space for career/professional matters.  The solution is…

Office Annex

Office Annex

The carts(cabinets) circa early 1990s stow binders out of site and have open shelves for books, boxes and tray.  The lamp was spared from donation thanks to a small clamp.  Black and white photos were a gift from a co-worker.  The pair of narrow black shelves were unused from a set of four and the perfect proportions for this wall space.  My next task is to make this a higher density storage solution by scanning additional reference material.

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