Macro Monday

Something out of science fiction? A luscious dessert?!

Silent Sunday

Late afternoon sunshine ~

🌖 + 🔆 = Monday’s Total Solar Eclipse

Eclipse fever has thoroughly gripped my area because Monday, 8 April, we’ll witness a rare total solar eclipse. That means the moon will block the sun for about 3.5 minutes, as the moon slowly crosses over (the sun), both in their normal orbits. Here’s NASA’s special page on it.

What’s that got to do with fabric or yarns?

I discovered and acquired a wee bit of eclipse-inspired fabric last week at Sew Creative , and have washed the 100% cotton piece. Even though the eclipse-inspired fabrics were in the quilting section, this feels lighter and is behaving very close to cotton lawn after washing. No patterns decided on yet, but I have it on good authority that the black makes a wonderful shirt. (Thanks, you-know-who-you-are!)

Right now Monday’s forecast is for partly cloudy skies, and a high about 58 F/15C. Probably just a tad too chilly to be wearing much cotton, unless it’s corduroy. So I’m not considering these as must-makes beforehand.

Meanwhile – stay wise and if you’re in the path – DO NOT look at the sun without proper eclipse glasses, except during those 3.5 minutes of total coverage – if you’re in the narrow band of totality!

Also, please be aware the internet will be excessively busy on Monday, which may cause internet outages anywhere in the world.

Below is NASA’s map with a timeline for the North American continent, and showing the narrow path for the total eclipse.

You can also click the map to go directly to NASA’s 2024 Eclipse Site.

Nana Cathy’s Monthly Photo Challenge

Chiming in with Cathy’s Monthly Photo Challenge this month – fences and post boxes – here are my contributions.

Here’s a black & white photo of a wooden fence during a snow shower. If you can see the white blobs that look like they’re painted on the darker wooden fence – that’s the snow!

This is the well-known Erie Canal in winter, and the metal fencing on both sides. Can you see how far down the water level is? Someone told me this is done every Autumn, but they didn’t know why. Maybe to reduce ice damage? Our past 2 winters have been so mild, there hasn’t been much danger of that.

I believe the lift bridges along the canal are closed during the winter, so maybe it’s to discourage boats from trying to sail. If anyone knows, do tell!

Now here’s a two-fer: A metal fence surrounding a “house” of metal post boxes, plus slots for out-going mail. The reason why it has a roof & looks like a little house is because there are 350⁺ mail boxes on the 4 sides, with the interior 2 sides completely under that roof.

Think of 2 rectangles, one above the other. Remember we’re talking a flat-lay drawing to indicate separation as in an aisle – one along side the other – not physically one on top of the other! There’s an interior aisle’s width between them and one roof covers both. There’s enough overhand on the outsides to give some protection from rain. Hope that helps with visualizing.

I do admire the glorious crochet and knit objects that jolly up so many postal boxes in the UK and elsewhere, and perhaps they exist over here, too. But mainly, we seem to have needed to protect postal boxes from those wanting to damage them and their contents.

Thank you, Cathy, for giving me a reason to troll through my shoebox!

Macro Monday

This week’s Macro – quite different from last time . . . . .

Last week’s elicited interesting comments, so I thought I’d pull the lens back a bit and show what it actually is. First, a review. . .

And now a couple of shots from farther out ~

Whilst visiting my local yarn shop just lately, somehow another skein of this decided to come home with me. Then I remembered I had crocheted a hat late last winter, but hadn’t a matchey-matchey scarf . . . . (click pic below for last year’s post). I do love this yarn!

Macro Monday

Sliding in a wee bit before midnight with a macro.

A bit of hot water ~

When I moved in last August there was hot water to spare and heating was off. I could shower any time and never have to twist the shower’s tap more than from 6 o’clock counter-clock wise up to 2.

Autumn came and it began to get nippy. I started sorting out buttons for donation & for Sis1, who uses buttons in her freestyle needlework designs. (She’s shy but if you’re interested, I’ll see if she’d let me post some piccies. Let me know!)

One Tuesday the heat was turned on. Mind you, I still had the heat turned off in my place and windows open or air con on.

Washing up after lunch one day I noticed a decided difference in water temperature: It was lukewarm. I made a mental note to check mid-afternoon.

Barely warm – I reported to Maintenance & was told the boiler would get fixed tomorrow. Meanwhile, they said, ‘run the kitchen tap whilst turning on the bath tap and eventually there’ll be hot water in the kitchen’.

Whaaaat??? It didn’t work or make sense, especially with water shortages & high prices, even if this building doesn’t charge us for water or heat.

The next day the boiler got fixed and I started washing up. Lukewarm water. Reported again. There was another problem, but it’d get fixed Thursday. I also learned . . .

Hot water temps are regulated by state law. (I’d been told this in other states, too.) The previous plumbers had been willing to raise temps above the legal limit; the current plumber wouldn’t. So we were advised again to turn taps on in kitchen and bath. Still didn’t work for me.

Meanwhile I was taking showers as late as I could, turning the shower’s tap 3/4 around. Then came the Official Office Memo I wrote about.

The boiler got another looking at/tending to, and it was announced Maintenance had raised the water temp, after signing a non-responsiblity waiver for doing so. (Quite rightly!)

So, is the hot water back to “normal”? 


Half-way. I’m still showering and turning the tap ¾ counter clock-wise. Washing up is sometimes warmer, but still not as it was when the heat was off. Will there be another chapter? We’ll have to wait and see.

Meanwhile during that last Arctic front I finally got to shut the windows, wear my fleece LB Pullovers, and was beginning to think about sewing a wint’ry vest.

How-EH-ver . . . now it’s back to the 30’s/40’s/50s. I’m sitting quietly writing this up whilst both living room windows are open. And the hot water is warm.

Wardrobe planning? ! ? ! ? ! ? ! ? !  I feel like starting with anything in stash and making whatever. Sooner or later it’ll be wearable. 🤨

Oh. Remind me to tell you about my adventures with Canadian quarters in the basement laundry machines . . .

2024 Sewing Plans

As you can see, I finally got a door swag cobbled together, with inspiration from Sis2’s gift of, amongst other things, those small red bells hanging towards the bottom.

Hope everyone had, or is continuing to have, a most relaxing and enjoyable time celebrating whatever traditions you hold dear.

Happy New Year to all!

Some happy mail brought that french terry I wrote about here. The design is called “Chalkboard” and the background is that peculiar grayed/black chalkboard shade.

The colors are more pastel than I’d thought, but the overall effect still makes me smile. I’m trying to decide what to make with it.  AND – as the fine print says – after shipping I received roughly a 30% refund in the shipping cost. Great!

As the holidays started I finally got to listen to Lisa Woolfork talking with Tiffany Turner over on the Stitch Please! podcast. They were discussing sewing plans, and espoused a mantra so perfect that I shall try to remember it throughout the year and beyond.

Plans are a set of guidelines … possibilities … NOT contracts!

Tiffany Turner on Stitch Please!

Factoring in plain ol’ procrastination, and the mildness of the weather, there’s another reason I’ve had so much hesitancy with making plans:

I’ve discovered I’m living in a “warm building.” Meaning that unless the wind is coming from the West and my windows are wide open, my place is mid-to-upper 70’s even when it’s freezing outside and my heat is turned off.

That’s too warm for me to wear winter clothes. I’ve had to get out summery things. That’s another kink in my wardrobe planning.

🥵

Update: Late today a memo from management reports the boiler’s hot water temp will be raised on Thursday, and we should be careful not to scald ourselves.

While I’m delighted we may not be doing dishes in lukewarm water come Thursday, there’s another consideration: The heating is hot water powered. 

24th December

In keeping with the season, below is a short piece (3.3 minutes) for listening.  Hope you enjoy.  Will see you on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, Happy Holiday, no matter which one(s) you do or don’t celebrate❣️

PS/ For those of you familiar with Britain’s traditional A Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols from King’s College, Cambridge, here’s a link to the 2023 program via BBC World Service.

Please note it’s available ONLY through Thursday of this coming week (28 December).

Silly Saturday & talkin’ about tea!

My favorite tea for many years, starting when I was visiting, then living in Silicon Valley (California), is a rooibos-based herbal tea named Good Earth Original Sweet & Spicy. And it is!

The Good Earth was one of the very early Palo Alto restaurants featuring a healthy menu, and they served this tea by the pot. Eventually, they began to sell it in bulk and in boxes of individual bags.

At some point somebody had the idea to put something besides their logo on the little tags on every tea bag, and the rest is history. Sometimes I’ll save a memorable tag, and that should explain the above collection’s variables.

Happily, today the tea has a definite niche following, and can be found on many grocery shelves. It seems to sell out often, which is why I can verify that Walmart also stocks it. 😉

Although it’s my favorite tea I don’t enjoy it constantly. Rather, I’ll wait until late afternoon, when hopefully I can take time to sit and savor it.

Do you drink tea? What kind? Do you have any tea-related habits or traditions? Do share!

☕️ 🫖 🍵

Pattern deliveries

Several months ago I ordered a pattern from Grainline in Chicago because I wanted an up-to-date, very basic top/dress pattern for some fabric I’d bought at a local crafts resale shop. I was so impressed with Grainline’s efficiency in shipping and the care they’d used that I took a photo.

You can imagine my surprise last week when I received two patterns ordered from the Big5 pattern conglomerate. They arrived a good 8 days after my ordering, and the over-sized envelope had a rip across one edge and down the back large enough for the patterns to fall out. I doubt I’ll be eager to order from them again.

So, did the patterns fall out? No, and they’re below.

On another front, SewOver50 (on Instagram) isn’t the only group interested in ageism. Here’s an article quoting the World Health Organization:

“… ageism [is] the most widespread form of discrimination in the world ,,, it is even more implicit and hence unchallenged than sexism or racism.”

My apologies in advance if you can’t access this as it’s a good ‘un. But that’s the state of online news these days.

However, as a work-around, the article is listed in French and English on the Gerontological Society of America (GSA) website here. (Scroll to the bottom of the page.) The title is “Letter from Tampa: Aging gets a makeover at this gerontology summit.”

Cheers, Lovelies!

Womens’ Voices

Some of you know that in a former life I was a performing classical soprano, coach and teacher. (Think Carnegie Recital Hall in a homemade gown. 😉) What’s that got to do with sewing? Nothing and everything.

If you stop thinking about how much dosh I saved making gowns, and instead reflect on SewOver50’s efforts (over on IG) to get mature women noticed in the sewing business world – that’s your answer.

Most women have a physical voice and presence, but the physical voice isn’t being listened to by many in the sewing business world, and our presence isn’t making much of a dent either.

(Note: There are companies, large and small, who are listening and their actions are most appreciated. However, their percentage is still far smaller than the percentage of mature sewists worldwide.)

I recently read a book that was so thought-provoking I decided to review it briefly over on my other blog, because the author, Patsy Rodenburg, writes about womens’ voices in the business world, from the 70s onward, and discusses how to get ourselves seen and heard.

I came away much more awareness of the overhead baggage we’re still trying to break through. In the video above she discusses how to shift some of it.

The interview is slightly over 30 minutes, but I hope you’ll grab a cuppa, sit down and listen. Afterwards, I hope you’ll share your thoughts below.

🙏🏼 Thank you❣️ 🙏🏼