Paddling About

I've been loving Cranberry Pond.  Got out kayaking a couple of times last week.  I've finally got the hang of assembling my kayak:  setup time is under 10 minutes, and it comes out of the water and folded into the trunk of my car in no more than 5 minutes.  Leaves more time for paddling!

Both days were mostly sunny and breezy.  Still, there's spots on the pond where everything is so calm.  Look at how lovely everything reflects in the water.  So much blue and green.  Ahhh....

I Like Thursday: Hot Stuff, Cool Stuff

Lots going on lately; lots to like.

When I go for long walks, I go around the loop at the end of my street.  However, I had not explored the extension on one end.  I didn't know what I'd been missing!  A neighbor told me that not only do they sell eggs, they have baked goodies on offer, too.  I made the trek up there (it's mostly uphill) and checked it out.  Bread and cookies, pastry pockets and muffins; fresh herbs and pretty cards.  And hand cleaner to use if you touch anything.  It was a terrific setup!  I will have to make the hike up there again (in the morning when there's more of a selection!).

Upcycled Cozies

I packed up all the guinea pig stuff after Mabel passed away.  When I fostered Bugsy and Pumpkin Spice back in March, I unearthed a bunch of fleece was never getting used again.  Most were fashioned to fit cages I no longer had, others were remnants from other projects.  A waste to toss out, yet all had been pigified (even after having washed them several times).

This pile of fleece sat under my desk for a few months.  I finally got tired of looking it.

I Like Thursday: Bobbing Along

The weather has been nice this week - spent a lot of time outside.

We met friends at the Goodnough Dike on the Quabbin Reservoir Friday morning.  A short walk and a chat.  Oh, how nice to see them after... four months?  Can it be that long?  That's nuts.

There was plenty of people there, given it was a week day morning.  But the dike road was wide, there was plenty of space to keep social distance.  We wore masks regardless, because we weren't the best at social distancing from our friends; we kept gravitating towards each other as we walked. 

Finished Tank Top

I finished the tank top! 

The kanzashi flowers were far more difficult to attach than the folded flowers.  When I sewed them on by hand, the knit fabric underneath pulled unevenly.  Machine stitching wasn't much better:  the edges were so thick they nearly didn't fit under the presser foot.  I needed to stitch as close to the center as possible so the stitching would be hidden by the center button.  But if I stitched too close to the center, I often failed to catch all the edges.  A few flowers needed to be stitched around three times to properly attach them to the tank top. 

It was a challenge to attach the kanzashi's button centers, too.  I picked shank buttons for most of them - I really liked how that looked.  Turns out the shank was hard to access once the first couple of stitches were in place.  They look awesome.  We'll see how long they'll survive through the washing machine.  The folded flowers all have flat buttons - so much easier!  And I have no worries about them pulling a hole through the knit fabric or coming loose.

I Like Thursday: Pinks and Browns

Lots of outdoor shots to share this week. 

I discovered a lady slipper in our yard.  Pretty, isn't it!

And after all the purples of last week, the pinks are coming out.  There are several pink irises, and these rosehip buds are so striking against the green.

The mini-buns are out in force.  Squee!

Full of Flowers

The "spot removal" project is coming along.  I cut a pile of leaves.  Initially I was going to simply turn the edges and sew them in place.  No matter how carefully I ironed the edges were choppy and angular.  I decided to sew a pair together and turn them right side out and was much happier with the results: uniform and smooth. 

So the leaves are a bit heavier with the extra fabric.  I toyed with tacking them down so the edges would pop up.  In the end, I straight-stitched them all in place.  This top is for dancing.  If too much sticks out, it's likely to get snagged.

Next up are the flowers.  There's two different styles.  One is folded geometric shapes (I found this tutorial).  The second are called kanzashi flowers - from folded, gathered fabric.  I made a load of both - they've been a lot of fun.  It also made me realize, my stash desperately needs a set of primary colors.  Somewhere along the way I used them all and never replenished.

I Like Thursday: Lots of Green and Purple

So, wow, this has been a rough week for our nation.  Just when you think things can't get worse?  I don't have anything I can offer in that direction that hasn't been better said by at least a dozen different people. Instead, here's a small slice of every day-ishness.

The garden continues to bloom.  Many plants I recognize; a bunch I'm unfamiliar with.  They're all beautiful.  At some point I need to pull the weeds I can identify, but there's a lot of plants here I'm not sure what they are.  I may invite my sister to come over to point out the good from the bad.

So many irises!  Lots more purple, with a few white and pink (magenta?) ones thrown in.

Spot Removal - of a Sort

I don't own a lot of white clothes.  Me and clean are passing acquaintances at best.  It's not that I'm sloppy or messy, but when I get involved in whatever I'm doing (cooking, crafting, eating, cleaning) the state of my clothing is way down on my list of priorities.  I really should get in the habit of wearing an apron. 

I bought this tank top because it fit (more difficult to find than you'd think).  Besides, it was for contra dancing, so it should stay clean, right?  And it did for a while - up until I either spattered pasta sauce or bled on it.  A little spec of orange is impossible not to see in a sea of white.  I tried everything to remove the spot; it would not budge.

Well, bad words.  I liked this top.  It went with all my skirts.  So now what?