Pottery Mask

Wow! Look what I received for Christmas! 

Best present ever. 

Sad today

My heart goes out to the families of the deceased of today’s tragedy in CT. Too many dead babies for my mind to grasp.  Not a gun control issue but lack of funding for Mental Health here in the US.

James Bond

James Bond is my newest foster cat from Second Chance Pets.  He is a sweet boy and loves attention and purrs a lot.  He also loves the sink in the guest-room bath.

 

Back here again

Blew up a blood vessel in left eye in Feb.  That problem is still not resolved; have a great specialist.

In October, I twisted my left knee in a stupid household accident.  Gee, are there any SMART household accidents?  About 99% recovered from knee problems.

Due to my vision problems, was not near the sewing room in a long time.  Was ready to get back in there when I hurt my knee. Soon....

Amazing I have not been depressed.  Friends, internet friends, and my cats have kept me happy.  My Nexus 7 Tablet PC with the Kindle app has keep me with a supply of books.

De-cluttering my house and new dishwasher

I have not done anything creative in over two weeks.  My house, closets, storage shed, and garage are full of clutter and it is time to clean them out when the weather is still nice. 

I know many of you are living in areas that are still "winter," but here in Houston, I have not used the heater very much and we never did have a "hard" freeze.  My AC  has been on most of the time, and if the temp goes up, then the AC comes on.

I purchased some new lightweight coats last fall:  two hoodies and nice "car length" coat.  I have worn two of them -- both once.  I was looking forward to wearing some of my sweaters, but I have ended up wearing a couple of them once each.  It has been barefoot, jeans, and a T-shirt around  the house.  It was cold enough to wear my Ugg boots once!

Ordered a new dishwasher -- on sale but more than I need as far as cycle options, but I was going for the quietest one. It has everything I wanted plus adjustable racks .  Disposal came home with me.  Dishwasher will be delivered and both will be installed on Feb 13.  Of course, the quiet dishwasher (plus installation) and the 3/4 HP disposal (plus installation) don't come free.  However, the dishwasher should have been replaced many years ago and even though the disposal still works fine, I don't want it to die when I have some friends over for dinner.  (Yes, that happened to me -- not the best time for something to die.)

Both disposal and dishwasher are the Kenmore brand, but the salesman indicated that the dishwasher is probably made by Kitchen Aid.  I  hope it is quiet enough, as I have been in houses with high-end kitchen appliances where the dishwasher was so quiet that you didn't know it was running. 

New dishwasher has nylon racks; what I have now is metal that is coated with rubber, which of course wears out over time.  The racks in the existing dishwasher are "rotting" and some the pegs have broken off. 

I do know how to wash dishes by hand. I was a grown woman close to 25 years old before lived in a house with a dishwasher.

Experimenting with Piñata Alcohol Inks and Pearl Ex

Many of you may have seen June Pfaff Daley's art on the cover of the latest CPS magazine:  CPS Jan/Feb 2012  I have used piñata inks a little, and have been using Pearl Ex for many years  I didn't have any scissors that I wanted to paint, so used a paint can opener.  I have many, as the hardware store always includes one with each can of  paint. 

Paint can opener

Jacquard products are available at many art supply stores, Dharma  Trading carries all of the inks. Look at the ink page for stores and on-line shops that carry them.
Piñata Alcohol Ink
Pearl Ex


I used the ink mixed with extender so I could paint it on with a small brush.  Then I mixed Pearl Ex with the extender and painted it on.  I plan to add more color soon! 

I worked in the garage and next time I need to add a better light source and remember to wear disposable gloves.  It takes a long time to get alcohol ink out from under your finger nails!  When I get tired of paint can openers, I know I have other metal items that I can use to learn the technique before I move on to old keys and other things that are laying around in the garage.

Karen's challenge helped me find my muse (missing for a year) and now my muse won't stop tossing creative things at me!  (That is a good thing.)

Wednesday -- progress

Working on the Quilt Challenge

A little was accomplished yesterday in piecing and today was full of pleasant interruptions.  Emails from friends and phone calls from friends and my sister.  Also, Princess Honey Pie did not want me to work.

Princess Honey Pie

For those of your that do not have the honor of sharing your house with Siamese girls, they know that they are special and expect to be treated like Princesses.

UPS delivery person showed up after 9:00 PM with a new book:  
http://www.amazon.com/Quilts-Attic-Uncovering-Hidden-Stories/dp/0760341214  Karen and I met when she was living in my area of Houston and have been friends since many, many years ago; she moved as her husband had a new job in another state.  I have scanned through the book but will wait to read it tomorrow.

Setacolor Paint

Found some Pebeo Setacolor transparent paint in my fabric paint supplies.  It was a dark red and I thinned it down with water until it looked "hot pink." 

Sunday Evening

Have given up on herbal teas.  I purchased some teas that have the base of black tea, so will try that for over-dyeing tests tomorrow.

The fabric closet ate some scraps I wanted to use in the challenge quilt, I looked and looked.  I know I didn't toss them out, as they were big enough to use.  I can find yardage of the fabrics, so can start over with new chunks and slices.

Some of the time spent looking for the leftovers was also chasing cats out of the area.  I have a new kitten and am also watching two kittens that belong to a friend.  The three kittens and two of my three older cats were having fun messing around in the room, and kittens were finding things that looked like cat toys!

Once I get the fabric scraps together, and use tea to tone down the white background  in the challenge fabric, this project should start moving along.  I will have to put up with the kittens and the older cats, as working in that tiny room with the door shut is not my idea of fun.

Back to Experimenting

Herbal teas do not work very well on this fabric.  If I was in the mood, I would boil the fabric in a weak muratic acid mixture, but I will try something else first.  (I do have precise instructions for boiling fabric in water with a little bit of muratic acid added.)

Will try a few more teas in my cupboard and see what happens.

1950's Fabric is at my House

Fabric arrived yesterday.  I like the fabric as it reminds me of Grandma Ruby Porterfield (paternal grandmother).  This morning, I put the fabric in the washing machine with some Synthropol and then dried it in the clothes dryer.  The hand of the fabric did not change.

I found various herbal teas in the pantry for overdying tests.  I used 1/2 cup boiling water and one tea bag (I am using canning jars).  I let the bags soak for around 10 minutes -- stirring often; I left the tea bags in the jars.  I added one 2-inch square of challenge fabric to each jar; stirred again.

I am going to go take a shower and come back later to see if the tea is doing anything to change the color of the fabric.

Karen's Challenge: 1950's fabric

First real post to my blog.  Karen is a dear friend and we have kept in touch for many years since she left my area of Houston.  She has a challenge on her blog using 1950's fabric and Rayna's book.  Karen's blog  Start with January 1st and go back up to follow the thread.

Step One:  Ordered Rayna's book before I knew about the challenge.  UPS delivered the book today.

Step Two:  Thinking about test dying little pieces of the fabric using herbal teas, as there is a color variety in those teas.

Step Three:  Wait for the fabric to arrive in the mail.  However, I can experiment with different teas before fabric arrives.