When you have nothing to wear moment

I haven't been to a funeral in a long long time. Many families are doing private services at the burial. When I was growing up I think I went to more funerals than I did going to church. That's just the way it was back in the day. 

I don't wear a lot of black so I didn't have anything appropriate to wear. I also realized I didn't even have a pair of black pants. I'm a denim shirt and shorts type of person. I wasn't too surprised I didn't find anything at HD as there's not a lot in plus sizes. I went to Savers (they have a bigger inventory) and with time running out (only had two hours) had to find something I didn't have to alter too much. I only found one pair of pants that were the correct length but way too big. Not being able to try anything on I had to go bigger. Took in the waist a few inches as I knew my jacket would cover the make shift dart in the back. I did have this light jacket and a silk top stash away in my closet. The reason for the rush was I got the wrong date in my head and thought I had a few more days. 

Carol Kennedy Artwork

I was checking out the halloween bin at the store as I was chatting with another volunteer who was working on the jewelry. She needs help in looking for hallmarks on the gold and silver jewelry. 

As I pulled out the big halloween bin that is next to jewelry, right on top was this primitive artwork. I flipped it over to see if it was handmade. To my surprise it was made by a dear friend Carol Kennedy! She made amazing primitive artwork and was also an antique dealer. I have a few of her Santa dolls so I will add this to my collection. Carol passed away a few years ago and sadly her inventory was tossed away. Long sad story about that but I won't go into it. Will focus on the positive and how lucky I was to find this. 

 

Tomatoe Sauce with Butter and Onion - Food 52

Recipe by Marcella Hazan on the cover

 I went to get the ingredients to make a famous tomato sauce that is very simple. Can of tomatoes from Italy and one onion. That is all I got. I heard about it from several sources so it made it on to my list of must try. 

I was asked if I found everything I wanted. I said yes and that I don't impulse buy anymore. The checker was a little surprised by that. With the high cost of food and all the recalls happening with prepared foods, I'm much more selective. I did check out the gluten free cupcakes but I was just window shopping. :) I do pick up one thing when I'm at Costco that's not on my shopping list. In my area they carry a lot of Asian foods I haven't every tried. I only go there maybe once a month for gas so it's never over the top. 

Recipe:

Can of Italy tomatoes (that's important) 

Butter (a lot of it)

Half an onion (not chopped up)

That's it. Then whatever pasta you want and grated cheese. 

 

Waffle Potatoes?

Late last night (I'm a night owl) I saw a Youtube on making waffle potatoes. I did have a small bag of potatoes that are headed to the compost heap so if there was one that hadn't sprouted I would give it a try. I'm not a potato person but my grandsons are.  So I thought if this works, it would be a fun breakfast idea for them. Well it sort of work but it makes a hot mess of the waffle maker. I think pan fried is faster and make a crispier hash brown. This is a past for me. 

 

Cyanotype and watercolor experiment

I thought why not try and do some sun printing (cyanotype) over a watercolor. Yes, the first red flag would be that watercolor paint reactivates when it gets wet. Found that out on my first try. I thought if I was fast enough on the rinse cycle it wouldn't be a problem. That theory sort of worked. I'm also not sure if the watercolor paint that got on to the brush and then into the sun solution did anything to change the chemical reaction. I didn't notice anything but I'm a newbie to all this. 

What does work are watercolors that stain the paper - reds and oranges. They don't easily wash away. You also have to towel dry the paper quickly after the final rinse. Water can't drip or puddle on the paper at all or you'll have a hot mess. 

I also experimented splattering on some paint over the prints and that worked out very well. 

Now I just have to decide what to do with it all. :)

 

Another Surprise!

When I saw this I didn't think is was that old. I did a quick google search just to get the name of the pattern. Found out it was made from 1940's thru 1960's. Being that old I wondered if it would glow. To my surprise it does! It's called Chintz by Fostoria. It doesn't have a high resale value but it was a nice surprise! 

Can't be in two place type of day

Saturday was auction day at the local auction house in Sunnyvale. Since I'm dog sitting I wasn't able to make it as I can't leave Russell home alone for to long. I also didn't want to leave an absentee bid as they start too high. 

I really want to see if I could get this vintage (glows green) crystal ink well stand. Super cool piece but a limited resale market. All the junk lots have  high opening bids so I would have to be there to see just how high. There was also this small folding table that would have been cool to get if I could have attended. I think I'll stop by on Sunday and see if these lots sold and if they haven't, I'll make an offer. 

 

"Fabulous Felt" Project First Round

Pattern From Fabulous Felt by Corinne Lapierre

I worked on the Halloween banner while dog sitting. The lighting isn't good for these old eyes but I plugged along anyways. 

I first tried just doing a single layer of felt but it wasn't turning out too well. I finally did what the author said to do and doubled everything. Yes, it worked out much better. 

My blanket stitch is still wonky and it shows but I got pretty good at making french knots. 

Now I have to decide if I want to make a whole big banner of these. Thinking maybe I'll use my sewing machine but I sort of like the rustic handmade look. :)
 

"Fabulous Felt" by Corinne Lapierre

I'm dog babysitting this week so I rounded up several crafting books from the library. It's just for a few days so I don't want to haul a lot of my crafting supplies over. 

This book "Fabulous Felt" by Corinne Lapierre is very fun and has a lot of ideas I want to try.  I've started coping out some of the patterns and added everything to my list of projects. I think doing a garland of witch's clothes for Halloween will be fun. The chicken egg cosies is just too funny not to try and make. It's way too late for Easter but I'll still give it a try anyways.

Big Store Project Done!

Doing any project at the thrift store involves a lot of spinning wheels. This display cabinet was donated for us to use and not sell. The store of course would not have taken such a big piece otherwise. Some very old metal shelves that had seen better days (you can see the lines) had to be unbolted and tossed out. That required a work order with Pacific Clinic. The next task was telling the volunteer that her section was being moved. She doesn't like change and yells a lot about everything. Moving everything off the old shelves and finding a new home for everything while customers were in the store was also a challenge. I was motivated to help get the project done as having this big piece in the backroom was getting in my way during intake. I think it turned out nice and shows off many items I didn't know the store had!

Where's the snow? 2026

One of our plans was to have Henk learn to ski but the snow didn't hang around long enough for that to happen. We did go running around and Henk had a snowball fight with Uncle Chad. I was in charge of make the amino. 

You can see the lack of snow and it was very icy.  It was still nice to finally to use his green snowsuit. 

We also went to all 4 thrift stores in town to find a coat rack.  It's surprising for such a small town how many there are. Of course prices are high and not much of a selections but there's really no other shopping around. Specialty stores of course but those are for the tourists. During snow season online and mail service is at a stand still. 
 

Finally Got The Art Hung

I got these vintage photos in custom made frames at auction several months ago. My son has a huge bare wall at his place. I finally made the drive up to deliver and hang them. The wall still needs a few more things to balance it all out.

The other thing I needed done was being able to download photos to my blog. I had no idea why it wasn't working but everything went haywire after I update my computer and iphone.

I was a little nervous driving up but the heat wave melt most of the snow. The ski slopes are closing down a month early.