New Outfit

This.

I'm so incredibly depleted this week that I feel dull. Grey ... no, taupe. Trying to take it easy today.

I'm so bad at taking it easy. Trying to learn how.

Signs of Spring: Yellow Crocus

I found these in a street median. I had to scamper there quickly so as to not get hit by oncoming traffic.

Then I pondered: If multiple cactus are called cacti, what are multiple crocus called? Croci?

Turns out, YES! It's the Latin form, anyway.

Though it's more common to say crocuses.

Sound Therapy

Listening to good podcasts

and trying to inject some humor into my life.

Bach's Magnificat in D Minor

Dale and I were exhausted one day last week, so we spent the entire day side by side putting this 1000 piece puzzle together. 

The illustration is by Charles Wysocki, who is one of our favorite jigsaw worthy artists.

This puzzle was slightly unusual in that it's taller than it is wide. So we had to put it together looking at it from the side. I like that it comes with a nice poster-size image. That way one of us used the poster while the other referenced the box top.

This puzzle doesn't have as many vignettes as most of the Wysocki puzzles we've put together, 

but I counted 5 flying birds, 

2 chickens, 2 dogs,

and 22 cats!

I especially like this one hiding in the shadows of a yellow rose bush.

Signs of Spring: Crocus

I've been spending a lot of extra time over at our daughter Jodie's house this week. Each day, I see more changes in her yard.

This patch of crocus bloomed overnight.

The daffodils are in bud. They'll "trumpet" their arrival soon.

It's so great living in Oregon where Spring arrives early.

Meow

My pen pal sent me a letter.  

Zip Fix

Ruh-roh

The zipper tab broke off my favorite fleece vest. The loop that holds the tab broke, not the tab itself. 

After a bit of research, I decided to replace the tab with this product. The zipper can be repaired with no sewing involved. It was a little more expensive than a regular zipper pull, but it's a neat design that can snap onto the existing zipper -- in less than 30 seconds! Just make sure you get the correct size.

The directions look simple enough.

But cutting the existing tab off with the snips was not easy. I didn't have the strength to do it. Dale didn't even have the strength to do it. So I chipped away at the little metal part bit by bit using both snips and a hacksaw. 

That took an hour or so, but I got 'er done!

Snapping the new zipper pull onto the zipper teeth took less than 30 seconds. It went so smoothly and quickly that I didn't get a chance for a photo of the process.

This video explains how easy it is:

When I tried my vest on to see how well the zip works, my finger got pricked on something. What that heck is that? Is it a mistake? Did I get something defective?

It took me a bit to figure it out. It's a feature, not a bug. That pokey-outy thing can be snapped into that little indention. So I can pull the zipper tab up, say half way, then snap the pokey thing into the indentation thing and the zipper will hold in place ... sort of park itself where I want it to stay. Huh. I could have done without that feature. I don't need to poke myself inadvertently every time I put my vest on.

But look! Nice, eh?

That's another of the advanced sewing techniques I wanted to learn this year. Whoo-hoo!

Colorful Candy Compartments

After taxing my brain as I learned my new sewing skill yesterday, I needed a way to stop and unwind. So I started a puzzle last night and finished it this afternoon. I use puzzles as a pallet cleanser.

Colorful Candy Compartments was just the right difficulty for my frame of mind. It was like 24 mini puzzles since the colors were compactly divided.

Unfortunately, this puzzle wasn't cut cleanly. Some pieces were stuck together without the backboard cut all the way through. That led to quite a bit of surgery needing to be done so the pieces could fit back together.

I liked it, though. These 350 piece puzzles are a great size for a weary brain and the colors are vibrant and enjoyable to work with.

Rolled Hem

Here's another of the advanced sewing techniques I want to learn this year: the rolled hem on the end of this scarf.

I found this slightly sheer heart-printed scarf at the Dollar Tree. It's sold as an infinity scarf, but I wanted to turn it into a simple long narrow scarf. I chose this particular scarf as my project because it's a super lightweight fabric and it only cost $.125. If my first attempt didn't go well, I can simply cut the scarf a little shorter and try again. It's not high stakes. 

So first, I cut off the seam that fastened the two ends together.

Using the "silk" setting on my iron, I pressed out the wrinkles.

Then I squared off the cut edge with my rotary cutter and a ruler to make a clean edge.

I sewed a basting stitch 1/8 of an inch along the cut edges.

Then I pressed the edge over 1/8 of an inch. 

I pressed the edge over another 1/8 of an inch, holding the hem in place with pins. I gave this a good shot of steam with my iron to hold things in place. The ends of the hem didn't want to stay put, though the steam helped quite a bit. But keeping the ends tucked in with fabric that frays so much was quite a challenge so I pinned to the very edge of the hem.

Since I had some trouble with the folded hem staying in place on the first end of the scarf, I used some spray sizing (sort of like starch, but formulated for lightweight fabrics) on the second end before trying the first 1/8 inch fold. I gave it another shot of sizing and steam before the second fold. I think it helped a little. I really had to take my time with this step.

It was finally time to snap on my new rolled hem sewing machine foot. At first, I couldn't get the needle to work correctly. It kept bumping into the sewing machine foot. I was afraid I bought the wrong size of rolled hem foot for my machine. Oh, no! But after fiddling with it for about 15 minutes, I figured out that if I lifted the front of the foot a smidge as I started the hem, it worked because as I sewed, the fabric coming into the foot would lift the front in just the same way.

I started with the needle going through all layers of the hem at the edge of the scarf. Needle down position. I took a couple stitches as close to the edge of the fabric as possible. Then I manipulated the fabric into the "corkscrew" part of the rolled hem foot. That is tricky! I used a stylus and a pin to lift the fabric gently into place in the corkscrew. Then I sewed s-l-o-w-l-y. Once placed correctly, the foot helped keep that tiny hem rolled in just the right position to make a teeny hem.

One trick I figured out to help the fabric stay in that corkscrew was to hold the fabric feeding into the foot at a slight angle. That way the fabric didn't inadvertently slip out of the foot.

The fabric did stretch a little as I sewed (probably due to that extra angled feeding), so the end of the hem overlapped the side a tad. I just cut if off.

At the starting end, before the fabric was fed into the foot, there were a few missing stitches. This little scarf could have survived just fine without them, but since I'm in the learning phase, I decided to thread a needle with one of the leading threads and hand sew two or three stitches to finish the hem off nicely.

Results! The inside/back of the rolled hem:

The outside/front of the hem:

I must say ...I'm am very very very pleased with the result! In past years I tried to learn to do this, always with pathetic results. I just couldn't get the fabric to stay in the corkscrew. But using a lightweight fabric, staystitching, using sizing and steam, and pressing well made all the difference. I feel like I've finally learned this technique and will be able to replicate it.

Halleluiah!

I used this video to help me learn the technique. It doesn't say anything about staystitching or using sizing. Those were my ideas wrought from experience.

Colorful Candy

I needed a break from the bad national news, so I scurried off to my Studio to put a puzzle together. It was only 350 pieces, so I thought I could complete it quickly. So pretty. All those rainbow colors.

But it turned out to be more challenging than anticipated - in a good way. I was never frustrated with it; the puzzle took concentration. This one worked best when I did a simple sort by color, and the main sort by shape. 

I put it together in two sessions and managed to complete it by the end of the day. It's our third puzzle of the year.

I plan to take another break from some of the news today and instead spend time with Jodie and Abby. I always feel better after time with that little imp.

Throwback Thursday: Glow

Before Christmas last year, we went to see some indoor Christmas lights. There was live music and "eats" along with  rooms and rooms decorated to look like countries with landmarks from around the world. Enjoy your tour ...

My guy is glowing!

Me, in a heart of course.