Monday miscellany

in which our plucky heroine has another rather minimal day...

It is still hot, too hot for outdoors save early just after dawn. Instead, there were naps taken, and some research and sketching for tomorrow's tinyprint Tuesday. I am looking forward to whenever this heat wave ends, I miss being able to walk further than from one end of the hallway to the other.

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~ week 3: reversible flared skirts ~

It is week 3 of the 2024 Summer Mini Doll Wardrobe-Along, and the pattern of the week is a very simple versatile flared skirt, sewn fully lined from two different fabrics so as to be reversible. Double your pleasure! This is being too so much fun. 1:12 scale clothing is purely for my own amusement, and is a small enough project, that uses such a little bit of scrap fabric or yarn, that I need merely rummage around in the house to find supplies, and the time can be used as reward for completing less enjoyable tasks. Sorting some of old filing cabinet files say, or opening a box of "misc very misc" and consigning the contents to the various appropriate wheelie bins.

In the meantime, my tinyfolks are well begun with my revised goal of each having a coordinated wardrobe. Yes, our plucky heroine may have lost her mind, but after seeing the difference it made for Opal to begin to have a set of clothing, I couldn't not do the same for the other three. Opal's colors are what I call seashell, mostly softly greyed pastels. Nandina's favorite color is teal, accented with red. Almandine, originally a forest creature, mostly wears greens and browns, while Kenya, old hippie and current gallery owner, likes purple in all it's variations (also red and blue) and wild prints.

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Well that was a shock! Since when was buying ordinary household matches (the kind that come in teeny tiny cardboard boxes that I like to use for dollhouse chests of drawers), which I bought some of last year, had now become a "controlled substance" as it were, sales restricted to folks over 21 and requiring the scanning of one's identity documentation, not just looking at it to determine date of birth. Is this general policy now, or just something limited to a particular store or chain of stores?!? It should be obvious that I am so far beyond 21 that I can't even remember seeing it in the rear view mirror!

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currently reading : Sheri S Tepper "The Family Tree"... She has a unique flavor to her writing that I really enjoy, as well as her creativity with culture and naming.

currently listening to : Neil Gaiman "Norse Mythology"... retelling the legends in his particular style, and read by the author. I am rather picky about audiobooks, and a good reader makes it a pleasure. I also do the opposite of what I've read many folks prefer. Instead of speeding up the recording, I slow it down just a bit. My aim being calm enjoyment. 

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July SMART goals (x=extra)

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	4 tiny knit vests	cleaned keyboard	recycle bin
2	tiny cargo pants	-	-
3	very smol Birks	-	-
4	silkworm print	-	-
5	-	-	-
6	x	x	x
7	x	x	x
8	x	x	x
9	x	x	x

today's gratitudes -
1. Ten people have already signed up for this years Advent Swap. I am hoping we can get a few more folks this year than last year. I would love if we could actually get 31 participants!!
2. First aid papertape, which lets me bandage up cuts and scrapes without tearing my skin off afterwards.
3. Chest freezer makes ice, safe-to-drink water comes from faucet, and SIL gave me a Yeti water bottle a few years ago. Also I have almost a full box of Emergen-C electrolyte drink packets.

Time of Isolation - Day 1458

Sunday snippets

in which our plucky heroine has a crafty sort of day...

Put some time in on everything from a bit of proactive linocut (prior to Tinyprint Tuesday), both hand and machine stitchery, some online tutorial observations, as well as a fair amount of housey chores, and a bit of social video time, as I usually do on Sunday.

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~ day 9 ~

It is always a hope no one that lives on Tansu Terrace gets ill, but if they need some kleenex, today's package was a Playmobil "box of tissues". Also, Nandina asked if she could have a new dress made from this pretty floral cotton; there is just enough left for me to also make a summer shirt for some future tinyfolk...

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This morning I attended two of the University of Atlantia virtual scribal classes taught by Mei Lan. I was particularly interested in the one on Fundamentals of Underpainting and Glazing, as I would like to add those skills to my illumination work. Her class outline/tutorials are available on her website for further reference.

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My friend Tullia asked me to work with her on creating the various layers needed for Star Wars cosplay clothing, and so far she has been happy with the results. I just finished making her a new green linen tunic, similar to the green wool one in this photo...

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I've started reworking the plaid flannel petticoat I made back in January. It turned out to really need a bit more flare in the skirt for comfortable bike riding. Alas there was no more of the flannel, so I cannibalized the middle of the skirt fabric to cut into triangular gores, and will fill that part in with some other cotton fabric - that part of the skirt is never seen when worn.

It is rather a pain, as I have cut the lower flounce into 16 pieces, in the parts where between the godets, and done some creative peiceing. In addition, I needed to remove the former hemline binding, now cut into fragments, and shall have to come up with something different to use to finish the lower edge. Too bad I don't have yards of some blue heavy cotton lace...

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June SMART goals (x=extra)

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	musk ox print	horses blouse edge	yard waste bin
2	green linen Jedi tunic	kitchen light fixture	recycle bin
3	Nandina floral dress	Luxo plug	-
4	-	-	-
5	-	-	-
6	x	x	x
7	x	x	x
8	x	x	x
9	x	x	x

today's gratitudes -
1. A very tasty faux Salad Nicoise... Not entirely accurate because I leave off the olives, and add some steamed green beans and potato, plus tuna instead of anchovies, but still made a really good meal.
2. I've been trying to eat a bit of sauerkraut each day, for the health benefit. While I can't yet say I love it, I have gone from shuddering at the spoonful to somewhere between acceptance and appreciation.
3. The SCA University of Atlantia is still offering an online day of classes in conjunction to their in person thrice yearly sessions.

Time of Isolation - Day 1431

a bit of basketry

in which our plucky heroine takes things in hand...

Nandina wanted an Easter basket, to hold the chocolate bunny we've had for a number of years now (yay Playmobil!) and that seemed like a good sort of project to do during various zoom meetings today.

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The base and spokes are made from narrow strips of cardstock, cut from outdated business cards, and the weavers are button and carpet thread. It took a few hours to gradually weave the basket, which is 1:12 scale and about ⅞" in length. After first interlacing the cardstock base, I switched to twining the basket sides with doubled carpet thread, and finally finished the upper edge with a very narrow inner and outer border of cardstock glued in place, and once the "spokes" were trimmed, the borders were overstitched with linen thread. Finally, a narrow band of cardstock was wrapped with more thread and glued in place for a handle

The basket works really well to hold a selection of holiday treats! It took me a while to figure out what else to accompany the pseudo-chocolate bunny, then I thought of adding colorful "chocolate" eggs... The candy at the drug store was already marked down today, and I found a small bag of multicolor foil-wrapped eggs. After some trial and error, I figured out how to get the foil off in useable pieces, and how big to crush some foil into egg shapes, before wrapping the egg shapes with another layer of smoothed colorful foil. The overall effect is quite effective and springlike, particularly when combined with the miniature forsythia I made last year...

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Time to begin planning the sleeves on my knitted cardigan. I will need to figure out both the size/shape needed to knit, as well as what gauge and row gauge I get with the yarn I will be using... Why do I need all this before diving into the sleeves... well I am hoping to get a similar effect to the original stripe sleeve bolero that is my inspiration I cropped the photo to just show one sleeve, then desaturated it to get just the lights and darks, so I can more easily substitute the colors I have for the colors in the original

I need to know how many rows I have to work for the length of the sleeve, so swatch knitting is in my immediate future. Not sure if I want to also do the sleeves in garter stitch, or knit in the round in stockinette. (note: if garter stitch, every 2 rows/1 ridge = ¼", so 8 rows to the inch) So many choices/decisions... I might roughly mock up sleeves from some knit fabric basted into the body of the cardigan, to get a sense of what shape will work, and if I need to modify the body before adding sleeves.

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March SMART goals (x=extra)

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	red enamel samples	bathroom undersink access	some driveway moss
2	turn buttons	contrast numbers on oven knob	recycle bin
3	6 tiny books	paint frame black	yard waste bin
4	2 velour sports bras	frame gift painting	recycle bin
5	Stromgard enamels	front yard dandelions uprooted	recycle bin
6	velour sports bra	x	yard waste bin
7	indoor hat	x	yard waste bin
8	stitchbird brooch	x	recycle bin
9	print knit top	x	x
10	tiny Easter basket	x	x

today's gratitudes -
1. I learned some basketry earlier in my life, when I was living in Seattle and took classes at The Basketry School. It has always felt more like being reminded of what I already knew, in a peculiar and primal way. I actually make my first basket at around age 5 or 6, when we went to the New Brunswick craft school at the Bay of Fundy when I was very young indeed.
2. being able to go back to sleep in the morning, when extra tired, is a great blessing.
3. tap water that is safe to drink, and that is available with the turn of a faucet. Never not grateful for that...

Time of Isolation - Day 1365

a February mossworld and other fragments...

in which our plucky heroine wishes one and all a happy Lunar New Year of the Wood Dragon...

Back in 2021 I made Nandina a Chinese food meal... given the way things work in the tinyworld, that meal is just as good now as it was then, and an appropriate feast for my tinyfolks today. For myself, I made some fresh things, some gyoza for lunch, and long noodles and shrimp and baby bok choy for dinner. It might be fun to make some more takeaway food dishes for a larger feast in the tinyworld, one of these days!

The miniature food (noodles with pork and green beans) was made from assorted bits of jewelers wax and snippets of thread, the chopsticks from cut down toothpicks and origami paper. I folded up a paper take-out container and drew pagodas on the sides (freehand), with a bit of beading wire for the handle. The soy sauce dispenser is part of an empty eye drops bottle with wax for the top and base, and the tumbler is from the lid of the same. The small iron teapot was a holiday gift.

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Our plucky heroine never tires of the mossworlds, ever since I first noticed them years ago... their variety and beauty are an everyday reward for paying attention. This one was particularly colorful.

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When I stopped in at The Sewlarium yesterday, I couldn't resist a small splurge and picked up a piece of this Cotton+Steel canvas printed with barn owls in indigo and off-white... The images are very lovely and the fabric, while thinner than what I would describe as "canvas", will be just right for making a Zip Up Tray Pouch. That pattern has been sitting in my make-it-someday basket on the shelf in the sewing resource space for years now, and I think it may be time. Last night I shortened one of the salvaged separating zippers to the right length, and I have enough other supplies on hand for making one of these clever storage items...

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Today Ariadne shared with me this clever tutorial for making a wooly bear caterpillar brooch... which then led me to these videos of making beaded/sequined/embroidered moth brooches. So much inspiration! There may be some entomological handicraft later on this year...

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During various online meetings today, I spent more time knitting oak leaves and acorns, intended to become a small spray of botanical foliage suitable to pin on a hat... Still need to sew them all together and attach a pin back. I am quite happy with how the assorted dark/light neutral yarns for the acorns and acorn caps combined with a bit of Noro Kiri for the leaves turned out, and I'll be adding it to my grey canvas hat... The extended project of making assorted hat decorations continues

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February SMART goals (x=extra)

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	Jedi tabard	wall storage bathroom	recycle bin
2	5 jars marmalade	wall storage utility	-
3	tiny camel print	dark of night neckline	-
4	-	3 separating zippers	-
5	-	-	-
6	x	x	x
7	x	x	x
8	x	x	x
9	x	x	x

today's gratitudes -
1. remembering that scraps of wool yarn make really good stuffing for small objects, eversomuch nicer than that white plastic fluff...
2. when I wanted to leave after I stopped at the grocery store to get some rice noodles, (because lunar new year), and there was a scary person large man being loud and angry in the bike zone so I went back inside instead of unlocking my bike to go home. when I mentioned why to one of the staff (another large man, but kind and quiet) theywalked out with me so I could safely get my bike. 
3. there was just enough wonder-under in my basket of fusible things to finish setting up all the bits for my zip up tray project

Time of Isolation - Day 1318

a pint's a pound the world around

in which our plucky heroine heats up the preserving kettle again...

Yesterdays simmered quince pieces became just under two pounds of red gold fragrant quince juice. Since the ratio of sugar to juice for this particular confection is ¾ to 1, it required 23¼ oz of sugar to turn 31 oz of juice into jelly.

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~ counterchanged ~

Just couldn't resist making a second hat with the orange and black counterchanged... Now I guess I need to make something festive for Kenya to wear, as neither Nandina or Almandine want to give up their Halloween holiday wear!

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adding phone pockets to older pinafores - Part of an old corduroy skirt, originally black but faded to dark grey, still had both large patch pockets attached. Those will be an ideal and quick way to create a way to hold my phone; my newer pinafores have a center front chest pocket to keep it handy when I am out riding my bike, but some of my clothing pre-dates carrying a phone when out of the house. So, some time with the seam ripper, and they should be easy to attach to the old black corduroy and black vertical rib pinafores. It is all about getting the longest possible life from my handmade wardrobe, it pleases me to be able to pull from my scrap stash to repair and refurbish, and the faded fancy corduroy will not only be useful, but about as good a color match as possible for the also faded garments...

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This time of year was, for a long time, when the new rules for Stitchers Guild annual Sewing With A Plan (SWAP) would be announced. Well, though Stitchers Guild is defunct, I've been thinking about how to modify the rules I created back for Your Perfect Vision - the 2020 SWAP challenge. That was going to be my first year as a moderator, and I put a lot of thought into the plan for that year; as we all know how 2020 unfolded, that SWAP never really happened... I certainly do not need 11 new garments, but there are still a few gaps in my curated wardrobe, so maybe I need to create a "missing pieces" SWAP. Food for thought...

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October SMART goals (x=extra)

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	8 jars applesauce	AC taken in for winter	my favorite hat :(
2	leather work gloves	hat toile xp3	yard waste bin
3	10 tiny books	prune arborvitae	some grapes
4	Corsi Rosenthal box	assemble Luggable	recycle bin
5	4 jars blackberry quince	snaps on duvet cover	yard waste bin
6	Ethiopian spice blend	picked quinces	recycle bin
7	spaceship pillowcases	phone pockets	yard waste bin
8	2 mini witch hats	x	recycle bin
9	x	x	x
10	x	x	x
11	x	x	x
12	x	x	x
13	x	x	x
14	x	x	x
15	x	x	x

today's gratitudes -
1. useful scrap fabric saved works well for utility mending
2. another sunny dry day which meant I could use the clothesline... those days get rarer as the year wends on. It looks like tomorrow will also be dry, so washing the bedding would be a great plan. Nothing smells better than line dried sheets...
3. there are more participants in the Advent Swap than I had feared, we may have enough (15, maybe 16?) that it will only be necessary to double the gifts each person gets. I had been hoping for at least 30 or 31 to join in, but I guess that since this is the first time for the swap, even this many is good... if it is a success and folks have fun, maybe there will be more participants next year. It is already a success for me, as two different folks that are not actively doing the swap have messaged me about how much they enjoy "watching along" (and of course the cost of out of country postage would preclude my more distant friends from playing)

Time of Isolation - Day 1217

nice hat, and other Sunday snippets

in which our plucky heroine is sleepy, but determined...

Given how scrambled my sleep wake times are lately, it is surprising that I still manage to function and make slow if steady progress on various projects...

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~ very nice hat... ~

Joining in with my friends in Tiny Rag Doll World, I decided that knitting a witch hat for little Nandina would be a fun addition to this upcoming holiday season. The Decorative Witch Hat was so quick and easy, particularly since I already was familiar with knitting in the round. I had never done Latvian Braid stitch before, but the instructions made is really clear, and the results looked great. The only modification I made was to decrease at the end to just three stitches, and continue on just a few more rounds with a three stitch I-cord, for an extra pointy tip...

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I must say that it never occurred to me that the arrival and unboxing the various sets of Advent treats would be such an ongoing delight. Even though they are all wrapped, and I am merely the transitional host, it is bringing me so much joy each time I hear the postie clump up the ramp to the mailbox and I find another package from one of the Swap participants. Each person found a different creative way to wrap their little gifts, and my hope is that all will be equally delighted when the return box, filled with an assortment of presents, arrives in their mailbox later in November!

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~ wtf ~

a surprise and not a treat! I had been using this "Valley" brand rubber mallet to help "persuade" the knife through the raw quinces today, when much to my surprise, the head and handle parted ways quite suddenly... I can't remember where the mallet came from, but now it is useless. It appears to be so poorly made as to be more of a prop than an actual tool; the handle barely goes halfway through the rubber head, and the less than robust tine was only glued in place. Surprised it lasted as long as it has, and it will require of me some research to find a better version as a substitute. I am old enough to miss the days when Sears "Craftsman" tools were both decent quality and lifetime warranted

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There's been a bit more experimental cookery involving minor substitutions, all of which have worked well. My "Leftover Lasagna" included layering in the remainder of the Ethiopian greens and veggies from earlier this week, as well as adding in the sauteed mushrooms, and chopping the remains of the roasted pork shoulder to add some extra protein to the sauce. And I noticed part of a log of goat cheese that had been in the fridge for everso long, and decided that adding it to the spinach rice bake could enrich the flavor and be sure it would be used while still good. Now there are two very different casserole dishes that can be portioned and frozen for future meals on days when cooking is a low priority and other tasks need done.

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October SMART goals (x=extra)

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	8 jars applesauce	AC taken in for winter	my favorite hat :(
2	leather work gloves	hat toile xp3	yard waste bin
3	10 tiny books	prune arborvitae	some grapes
4	Corsi Rosenthal box	assemble Luggable	recycle bin
5	4 jars blackberry quince	snaps on duvet cover	yard waste bin
6	Ethiopian spice blend	picked quinces	recycle bin
7	spaceship pillowcases	x	yard waste bin
8	mini witch hat	x	recycle bin
9	x	x	x
10	x	x	x
11	x	x	x
12	x	x	x
13	x	x	x
14	x	x	x
15	x	x	x

today's gratitudes -
1. unboxing the Advent Swap treats for redistribution brings me small hits of dopamine joy almost every day.
2. cooking meals ahead, for future convenience, I am getting better at creating things I will enjoy.
3. All day the house was wonderfully scented with the perfume of quince cooking, as I took advantage of the extra low simmer burner on the stove - low and slow brings out the red color. I chopped up the unbruised parts of the few quinces that were damaged, and will turn the juice into jelly tomorrow. There are still POUNDS more of unblemished quince for more delights

Time of Isolation - Day 1216

wishful Wednesday

in which our plucky heroine desires better habits...

I keep wanting myself to go out for a walk first thing in the morning, but not actually doing it.* Not only is the activity of outdoor sunlight soon after waking proven to help with sleep regulation, but I am certain there will be other yet unknown to me benefits to starting my day with a walk. This morning once I got up and dressed and saw that it was a lovely sunny day outside, I thought, today!

I have had such success so far with the stitchbook project, why not treat morning walkies the same way? Plus starting in the early springtime is surely the best choice to create a habit, as the climate is often moderate. (In the summer, first thing in the morning will avoid dreadful heat, and by next winter, the habit should be set) So, with timer in one pocket of my chore jacket, and Nandina and Almandine in the other I set out...

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~ 100 day walking photos - day 1 ~

1/100 - The growing shoots of the lovage plant tower far overhead as Nandina and Almandine enjoy a spot of sunlight in the front yard garden.

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I am worried. Just found out that my elderly mother has tested positive for Covid. We are waiting to hear back from her physician if the drug interactions between Paxlovid and her current medications mean that use of the antiviral is possible and safer than not prescribing. What a dreadful situation. This will be her second bout with the virus, she had an asymptomatic case back in January 2021.

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~ 100 day stitch book project - day 69 ~

Day 69/100 (page 14) - I love the look of the narrow clear lines created by outline stitch. And here also, the sweet pawprints return...  I am sewing with a single strand of DMC floss, doubled. I like stitching with a John James "Chenille" needle, as it has a nice large eye which makes for easy threading, and I often knot the end of the thread, as there is nothing worse than losing a needle into carpeting.

I've also decided that if I can figure out a way to include my motto "Proficere lente sed proficere" somehow on a page, that would be great, since "incremental progress is still progress" surely describes part of the essence of the 100 day stitchbook project. Wanting to plan ahead seems rather contrary to how I have been approaching the stitchery, but since it is my book, I can change the rules when I want to.

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March SMART goals (x=extra)

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	page 9	chore jacket snaps	recycle bin
2	5 strawberry needlekeeps	rain capelet neckline	yard waste bin
3	page 10	Stanley power strip	ceiling fan blades
4	page 11	pruned elderberry	more ceiling fan blades
5	7 lotus star booklets	rebedded worms	yard waste bin
6	5 tiny triptychs	tapemeasure fob	recycle bin
7	mushroom tinyprints	x	crocs of slip-n-fall
8	pages 12 and 13	x	x
9	x	x	x
10	x	x	x
11	x	x	x
12	x	x	x
13	x	x	x
14	x	x	x
15	x	x	x

today's gratitudes -  
1. work that is challenging enough to keep me from brooding
2. the scent of daphne
3. familial consensus

Time of Isolation - Day 1015

in and out of the box, now with added austerity

in which our plucky heroine is tired but only partially successful...

My weekend goal was to make a good start on the 2023 calendar project. Need to choose and process 12 images, and set up masters for the calendar pages. I was able to complete all that by Sunday evening, so that hopefully they can be printed out at the copy store tomorrow.

Nope nope nopeadope... The cost of printing, of paper, and of the general copystore overhead have done just what has been happening everywhere else, rising 25 to 50% or more since the last time I checked. And, they no longer carry a pleasant variety of paper to choose from, just a few of what must be the most popular neon colors. Anything subtle must be first purchased in prepacked bundles, and even that with less variety than I remember from the Before Times. And just like with the prepacked hardware from the shops, one ends up with either fewer or more pieces than needed. Sigh and alas.

I just had a few of the color copies made (which also ended up costing 25% more than listed on their website) and decided to print the regular pages on my home printer instead. I am mulling over if there is some clever way to do this project affordably, maybe either returning to just line art instead of colorful photos, or changing the size to be smaller, to fit more pages on a single sheet, or both. Not much I can do about external costs increasing, though I surely wouldn't want to have fewer friends I wish to delight.

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out and about:

Nandina, ready to head to the copy store... What with the ongoing pandammit and all, it has been quite a while since I felt like putting together a calendar. I decided, though, that I'd find it rather an encouraging artifact, to feature assorted photos of the various denizens of the Tinyworld.

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I woke up realizing that I don't need to toile the entire raincoat. I just need to toile the body, since the sleeves are already perfect. I want to be sure of the extended length, and how the coat will "hang". And I want to make some changes in the shawl collar. This is separate from figuring out the front closure, which will require some sketching out of how the structure might fit together, and then some sample stitching. I do feel like I've got a clearer idea of how to move forward. Oh, and I need to figure out if I want the wind flap to fasten with snaps, or with toggles. I sort of like the toggle idea.

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Well that was dang odd... found a pair of sunglasses in one of my former glasses cases, in the back of a cupboard. I don't recognise them at all as something I might have worn, they are small ovals, with heavy black upper rims. But they have the correct type of nose pads, which means that they should be mine. Feels a bit like when stray timelines collide, to me

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a bit of music and animated psychedelia for amusement on a Monday...
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December SMART goals (x=extra)

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	skull collar #2	over sink light	recycle bin
2	2 baprons for Liam	crock pot lid	recycle bin
3	8 jars strawberry rhubarb	replace furnace filter	recycle bin
4	quince paste	-	-
5	8 jars persimmon ketchup	-	-
6	4 more Liam baprons	x	x
7	calendar masters	x	x
8	x	x	x
9	x	x	x
10	x	x	x
11	x	x	x
12	x	x	x
13	x	x	x
14	x	x	x
15	x	x	x

today's gratitudes -
1. When I poured out the legbone broth from the pan into the crockpot, it was exactly the right amount! I love it when that sort of thing happens, like having just the right change, or when the meat clerk plunks just the exact amount on the scale on the first try.
2. My new computer printer works
3. today was warm enough and dry enough to ride my bike

Time of Isolation - Day 1012

tiny book Tuesday and other tidbits

in which our plucky heroine wishes she was less reactive...

I've hired the young neighbor boy to weed whack the front and back yard, the back yard in particular is really in bad shape. While this will allow my arm to continue healing, stirring up the dust and in particular the pollen has my head all itchy/sneezly. If this was not annoying enough, I seem to have encountered some terrible bad bug(s), and now have more than 12 awfully itchy bites around my lower torso and left leg. The bites look like mosquito or spider bites, with 1"+ welts, which means I am in for at least 2 weeks or more of intense itching wherever my body intersects with any clothing. Too bad naked free fall is not an option!

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time in the tinyworld:
.

Day 19 “itsy bitsy”…Nandina is holding the smallest doll I ever made, at 35mm tall, (by comparison Nandina is about 14cm tall) I found the tiny doll with other miniatures I’d made decades ago, that my mother saved in the curio cabinet… the tiniest doll was made from polymer clay and glue saturated fabric, with silk fiber hair and painted features. I made her feet rather large in proportion, so that she can actually stand on her own.

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I saw these interesting miniature pieces of  "art pottery" on Instagram, which turned out to be made from dried poppy pods, and remembered seeing some similar botanical bits on my back alley rambles recently. Pods have been acquired and I think will soon become decorative pieces for Caer Cardboard

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~ creativity challenge ~

I just found out about "Tiny Book Tuesday"... and had been wanting to make some "composition books" for my tiny friends. The new printer made it possible to create tiny labels, and the covers are from the linings of security envelopes. Actual size 20mm x 16mm

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July SMART goals (x=extra)

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	wee fruit basket	recombinant reindeer	yard waste bin
2	mini fire pit	shelf for router	excisional flesh
3	Emilia brown dress	Emilia's legs	entryway spiderwebs
4	Emilia batik dress	replace blouse buttons	recycle bin
5	Kestrel work apron	front yard mowed	-
6	eyeglass case	x	x
7	x	x	x
8	x	x	x
9	x	x	x
10	x	x	x
11	x	x	x
12	x	x	x
13	x	x	x
14	x	x	x
15	x	x	x

today's gratitude - that was truly weird. Something in my first attempt at a blog post yesterday removed a chunk of the blog sidebar. Not from the template, but from how it was appearing on the screen. Never did anything like that before.

After a modest panic, I decided to delete that post, et voila the missing sidebar reappeared, from which I deduced that the problem was my post, and not some inherent new weirdness in the platform. This also proves my cleverness in having a mirror blog as backup, so I could harvest a copy of my post.

I then rebuilt the post, one item at a time from my mirror blog, checking after each addition to see where the SNAFU was hiding. While I am not good enough at reading HTML to have parsed what the error was, I was slow and careful enough, to, when the offending section was discovered, to rebuild just that section bit by bit and the problem did not return. I am feeling right chuffed at the moment

Time of Isolation - Day 851

Thursday thoughts

in which our plucky heroine breathes a sigh of relief...

The weather is slightly cooler than earlier this week, which is greatly welcome. I took the opportunity to sweep away the cobwebs and spider nests around the front door, as my friend K is going to come by for a porch visit, and I would prefer to have that happen without any arachnid adventures. I always feel a little bad when I remove them, as it is obviously a habitat they like, but there are plenty of other places around the Acorn Cottage environs where they can live undisturbed.

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time in the tinyworld:

Day 14 "on an island"... All the tinyfolk have been out gathering fruit, and are back at the picnic spot with their harvest. It has been so warm that everyone stripped down to just their aprons. Almandine is adjusting the umbrella for maximum shade, while they discuss what sort of preserves they could make for the wintertime pantry, when island life will be just a memory.

My salad table is a sort of a tall island on the front porch, and is ideal for setting up little vignettes to photograph. I will admit that I was rather struggling with how to interpret todays prompt, without even a beach nearby to take photos at, when I shifted to "what do people sometimes do on an island"... one of the things I like about these sorts of online challenges is the way they make me stretch my creativity and imagination

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well, there I was all worried that my sewing machine had developed an obviously *wrong* sound when I stitched in reverse, and thinking oh no, time for a trip to the Very Expensive Technician... and careful observation of when the sound was occurring, and then the almost falling off of the reverse button... which when I screwed it back into place et voila the ticking sound stopped happening! Whew... "tragedy" narrowly averted!

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~ creativity challenge ~

My intention was to make a multipocket work apron for Kestrel, age 4¾. After two different fabric choices from my resource shelves turned out to be not-cotton (ugh, that nasty smell when pressing synthetic blend) as confirmed by burn test, I decided that the green teal corduroy would be sacrificed the best choice. There was barely enough to make a pinafore for me, but plenty for an apron for a little girl who loves pockets! I couldn't resist adding a fun maneki-neko patch on the chest pocket. There are five more pockets closer to the bottom of the apron.

If this ends up fitting her well enough, I will make her one from sturdy twill for use in rougher jobs, like helping her family with the house they are rebuilding. She is growing up a child with a Very Large Skillset! I approve, but then given who her parents are I am not at all surprised. I miss them all, adults and child both, very much indeed, and send my sewing as a proxy of my love, in the way that aunties and nanas have done for years...

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July SMART goals (x=extra)

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	wee fruit basket	recombinant reindeer	yard waste bin
2	mini fire pit	shelf for router	excisional flesh
3	Emilia brown dress	Emilia's legs	entryway spiderwebs
4	Emilia batik dress	-	-
5	Kestrel work apron	-	-
6	x	x	x
7	x	x	x
8	x	x	x
9	x	x	x
10	x	x	x
11	x	x	x
12	x	x	x
13	x	x	x
14	x	x	x
15	x	x	x

today's gratitude - Eeeee! Auntie Karen stopped by her local luthier before she came here to visit, and she brought me two discarded cello bridges!! Now I can make a Musical Doll Bed

Time of Isolation - Day 847

Plaid and patterns and polkadots oh my!

in which our plucky heroine mostly escapes the heat...

It didn't quite reach 100 today, I think the high was 98. I hid indoors from about 9AM onwards, and left the laundry hanging out on the line to sunbleach.

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time in the tinyworld:

Day 11 "pattern and plaid" ...Plaids and dots and florals oh my! The more the merrier!!  From Nandina in a patterned apron, and plaid dress, Kenya in a striped top and plaid apron, the patchwork coverlet made from scraps of all the masks I made back in 2020, the plaid flannel bed blanket, (and not really visible in the photo, but the little bed pillows are made from dotted or striped fabrics)... and various furniture decorative treatments like the eggshell mosaic tabletop, and the canal boat roses painted on the small bed... (that scamp Emilia in her stripey silk dress couldn't resist climbing on the bed to make sure she was in the photo as well) My tinyfolk are quite unafraid of combining patterns.

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Remembering when I was a child, and would go visit my friend Vanessa, who lived a block away on the next street north of us. Their house was always dark, with the curtains drawn everywhere but in the kitchen. I think, now, looking back, that the darkness was to try and help keep the house cool, in those days when even in LA not everyone had air conditioning. Their house was dark, but never gloomy, more like an artist cave and vivid with music. Her mother Louise was the first to take me to hear folk music live, and we would zoom away in her rattley old Volvo with the holes in the floor, to mysterious halls mostly full of grown-ups. I think I met Hoyt Axton once at their house, but to me he was just another mysterious adult. These days, when I keep my own house curtains drawn, I remember Louise, and her offhand generosity that enlarged my world.

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July SMART goals (x=extra)

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	wee fruit basket	recombinant reindeer	yard waste bin
2	mini fire pit	shelf for router	excisional flesh
3	Emilia dress	Emilia's legs	-
4	-	-	-
5	-	-	-
6	x	x	x
7	x	x	x
8	x	x	x
9	x	x	x
10	x	x	x
11	x	x	x
12	x	x	x
13	x	x	x
14	x	x	x
15	x	x	x

today's gratitude - I was tired and it was hot and my arm hurt, so I took some pain meds and slept the afternoon away.. I am grateful that I have the option to do that.

Time of Isolation - Day 844

A very tiny tent

in which our plucky heroine finishes in the nick of time...

The Miniature Pennsic Shelter Challenge, sponsored by the SCA Miniatureists FB group was a truly fun project, working on creating a Norse/Viking style tent for my tinyfolks gave me much sorely needed mental/emotional respite.

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time in the tinyworld:

a slightly aerial view of the new SCA camping tent for my tinyfolks, showing the carved framework, finials, and the doors, toggles, and striped sides...

.

I wasn't sure about adding the stripes to the canvas, but now I really like how festive it looks. I taped off the stripes with masking tape, and took the additional precaution of sealing the tape to the cloth with a very thin wipe of white glue, to prevent any of the red paint from creeping under the tape. It worked perfectly!

Nandina, in her Viking Age outfit, is standing outside the toggled closed tent doors.

but look, it is really easy to open up those tiny toggles and peek inside the tent...

This view inside shows how the ropes made from hemp cord are used to stabilise the wooden tent framwork, and how the taut line hitches are used just like in a full size tent to hold the whole structure together and squared off. I've started putting together camping gear for them: mattresses and blankets to start with. The little wooden six board Viking storage box that Ursel gave me has pride of place, and the tiny wooden bucket and dipper seem right at home here

The handmade toggle fastener sets for the tent give me great pleasure, they make a huge difference in the appearance. I hadn't realised how much adding a small practical detail like that would change how "real" the tent would appear... Now I think that I need to add actual toggle fasteners to my full size tent!)

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June SMART goals (x=extra)

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	Kestrel's friends clothes	replace clothesline	yard waste bin
2	tiny green flannel dress	repair Nandina overalls	recycle bin
3	individual cheesecake	sew buttons on blouse	yard waste bin
4	shirt for Kestrel	old mattress off bed	recycle bin
5	Kenya tiedye top	bed slats shorter	yard waste bin
6	baked custard	Nandina overall pockets	yard waste bin
7	tiny giraffe	move towel holder	recycle bin
8	three tiny mattresses	bedrails attached	x
9	tiny Norse Viking tent	slat mat completed	x
10	x	pinafore front pocket	x
11	x	back porch lightbulb	x
12	x	x	x
13	x	x	x
14	x	x	x
15	x	x	x

today's gratitude - the extra small clip-clamps are wonderful, they have such narrow tips that I can use them to aligh the silk ribbon to fray check the raw ends together, and they make manipulating the toggle pieces eversomuch easier. I would heartily recommend them to anyone interested in making miniatures, and will probably pick up a second set for myself

Time of Isolation - Day 833

Sunday snippets

in which our plucky heroine is appalled but not surprised...

The state of the larger world continues to devolve. Though I live in a state where a a woman's right to decide what happens with her body is protected in the state constitution, many do not, and this issue is only the most well noticed of several very recent changes wrought by OWLs* and their cohort. I am equally concerned about precedent, about the loss of Miranda rights, and about the public funding of private religion based schools. Not to mention the next up challenge to the Environmental Protection Agency.

The state of the smaller world is somewhat fraught as well. My mother continues to slide down the dementia slope; she will be moving next week into the memory care unit at her care home. My biopsy site seems to be healing well. I am waiting  (about four hours so far) to hear back from the nurse hotline about the new troublesome insect bite? on my right arm next to my elbow, as over the last three days it has become larger, more inflamed, hard and blistery. If I don't hear back, I am going to call my doctor first thing tomorrow morning. The last thing I want is another bout of cellulitis or worse.

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time in the tinyworld:

Current progress on the Mini Pennsic Shelter Challenge: starting on the tent "canvas"... I'm pretty happy with the shape I was able to pattern, it fits the frame well. Next step will be figuring out how to attach it to the frame, and possibly adding some decorative stripes. I created the tent cover "canvas" as a fully lined single piece, by backing the unbleached muslin with linen gauze, stitching around the edges, and turning the whole complex shape right side out to make a piece with all the edges finished. Rather similar to making a collar, and the same technique I use for most of the tinyfolk clothing. It means hemming the edges isn't necessary

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June SMART goals (x=extra)

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	Kestrel's friends clothes	replace clothesline	yard waste bin
2	tiny green flannel dress	repair Nandina overalls	recycle bin
3	individual cheesecake	sew buttons on blouse	yard waste bin
4	shirt for Kestrel	old mattress off bed	recycle bin
5	Kenya tiedye top	bed slats shorter	yard waste bin
6	baked custard	Nandina overall pockets	yard waste bin
7	tiny giraffe	move towel holder	recycle bin
8	three tiny mattresses	bedrails attached	x
9	x	slat mat completed	x
10	x	pinafore front pocket	x
11	x	x	x
12	x	x	x
13	x	x	x
14	x	x	x
15	x	x	x

today's gratitude - Today my friends Bob and Sam came by, and Bob installed the AC back in the bedroom window. This will make a big difference, as it is supposed to be close to 100F today and almost as hot tomorrow, before the heat wave breaks

Time of Isolation - Day 829

OWL = Old White Liar<