The Daily Done: June 1

My "to do" list is filled with chores, projects, and crafts that I need or want to do. I could keep busy for eons; yet for whatever reasons (or excuses), "to do" has not been changing to "done" very often lately. I go to bed each night feeling I haven't accomplished anything. :( In an effort to combat that, I'm going to try to get at least one thing done each day this month.

On June 1, I finished a project that I'd started on Saturday - turning plain black shoes...

into more interesting shoes. :D

I painted the sides of the soles with acrylic craft paint. Then I glued a sparkly black bat to the back of each heel and applied three coats of glossy Mod Podge.

 

 

Black shoes with purple trim and sparkly bats... Done!

Harvest Time

Spring has been odd this year. It has been cloudy and cool almost every day for the last month, with rain more often than not. I am loving it! :)  It has been a nice respite from the near-constant glare of the Burning Orb which generally torments me.

Of course, this is not a popular opinion among residents of Colorado, who are mostly solar-powered and really tired of the rain by now.  But I'm going to enjoy it while I can.

Except for the mowing.

With so much rain, the grass is growing like mad. And before I can get outside to mow, it rains again. The result is knee-high, sopping wet grass.

If my little dog Bean Sidhe were still around, she would be completely hidden.  Who am I kidding... velociraptors could be hiding in there.  :P

Even with a brand new blade and the mower on the highest setting, I can barely push through. Forget the mower; I need a combine.

Tutorial: DIY Fold-Up Fabric Tote

This tutorial will show you how to sew a lined tote which folds/rolls up into a neat little package. Though it may look daunting because of all the steps, it's actually not hard to sew. Every seam is just a basic straight stitch.

"Quilting" cottons work well for this project. I used two cottons - a black with dancing skeletons for the outside and a beige bones/skeleton print for the lining. I had about a yard of each fabric and made two bags. You will also need about 12" of 1/4" elastic and a shank button for each bag.

First step is to cut the fabric to the measurements shown in the photo below. I made a pattern out of graph paper; you could measure and mark if you prefer. Cut one of the main fabric and one of the lining fabric. Note the bottom is on the fold - don't cut there.

Next, cut the fabric for the handles. Cut two of the main fabric. Again, note the fold.

To make the handles, you first need to heat up the iron for some pressing. Start by folding the handle fabric in half lengthwise, wrong sides together. Press. Unfold.

Fold each edge in to meet the middle crease, wrong sides together. Press.

Fold the fabric in half lengthwise along the middle crease. Press.

Repeat for the other handle. Now it's time for some sewing!

Topstitch along the length of the handle. Stitches should be fairly close to the edge of the fabric. I used the presser foot as a guide, aligning the edge of the fabric with the edge of the foot. Repeat along the other long edge. Repeat for the other handle.

Your handles now have a line of topstitching along both long edges.

Pin the handles to the main fabric. With the right side of the fabric facing up, measure in about 3" from the side and pin one end of the handle here, lining up the raw edges. Repeat for the other end of the handle, again measuring 3" in from the other edge, ensuring your handle is not twisted. Repeat the process to pin the second handle to the other end of the fabric.

Cut a piece of 1/4" elastic about 12" long. Pin both ends to the center of the fabric, lining up the raw/cut edges, to form a loop. (You need the elastic only on one end.)

Sew on the handles. I used my serger to stitch and finish the edges (red lines in the photo below), then used my regular sewing machine to add short rows of stitches at each end of each handle (yellow dots in the photo).

Place the lining fabric on top of the main fabric, right sides together. (I first finished the edges of my lining with my serger, thought it's not shown here.) Stitch two rows along each edge (red lines in the photo). The second row should be about 1" in from the edge.

The next step is hard to explain. It's a bit of a spatial relations test.  :P  The goal is to fold the fabric so that the raw edges of the main fabric line up continuously with the raw edges of the lining fabric, right sides together. This allows you to stitch the side seam of the main fabric and the side seam of the lining fabric in one seam.

In the photo below, one raw edge is at the top of the photo and the other raw edge is at the bottom of the photo.  The bottom fold of the main fabric is to the left and the bottom fold of the lining fabric is to the right in the photo. The seams you just stitched to attach the handles are along the middle top-to-bottom line.

Stitch the fabric together along the raw edges. These will be the side seams of the bag. One seam (shown in a red line at the top of the photo) can be a continuous seam. In the other (shown in red lines at the bottom of the photo), leave an opening of about 4" in the lining fabric.

Stitch the bottom corners. Fold the fabric diagonally along the notches so the raw edges line up, right sides together. (In the photo below, the green dots show the inner corners of the notches and the red line shows the side seam you stitched in the last step.) Add a second line of stitching for strength. 

Reach through the opening you left in the side seam of the lining and pull all the fabric back through it, turning your bag outside out. Stitch the opening closed.

Tuck the lining down into the bag. Press along the top opening of the bag.

Topstitch along the top opening of the bag. This keeps the lining in place and further secures the handles.

Sew a shank button to the outside of the bag, on the same side as the elastic loop, about 1.5" down from the top.

Done!

To fold up the bag,  first fold it in thirds lengthwise (fold toward the side without the button).

Then fold the handles down.

Then fold/roll up from the bottom and secure the elastic loop around the button.

Here's the bag with groceries in it to give a sense of size. Inside the bag are five cans of vegetables, a box of crackers, a box of spaghetti, a bag of crisps, and loaf of bread.

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(I don't actually recommend bagging cans and bread together... unless you're that guy at Safeway, in which case you'll put the bread on the bottom and the cans on top.)

With the double and triple seams, the bags are quite strong. Folded up, they're easy to carry around.  They're also machine washable. I use mine for groceries, much to the amusement of the cashiers. :)

Inertia

Inertia: 1. Resistance or disinclination to motion, action, or change.  2. The tendency of a body at rest to remain at rest...

This body has spent too much of the last few months sitting around.  It started as a way to avoid having to constantly step over my dog, who was losing her eyesight.  Then I began to worry about her health, which, combined with all the idleness, started to make me feel depressed.  At the same time, my job was growing more and more stressful.  And my dog's kidney issues continued to worsen, and she had to get up more frequently each night.  Eventually, I was lucky if I could sleep for two hours continuously, and I became very sleep deprived.  I didn't have the energy or brain power to do much of anything except make it through the workday and collapse at home.

As you may have guessed from my use of past tense, my dog is gone.  She died on April 20.

I noticed on a Thursday evening that she had gone completely blind (suddenly, as with most of her health changes).  She was walking into walls, she couldn't find her way around, she couldn't find her food unless I put her nose in the bowl.  I wasn't sure if it was temporary blindness caused by a seizure, or if she'd lost the last of her sight.  Over the weekend, it became clear that it was the latter.  It was time for me to make that most difficult of choices - to let her go.

I had to be at work Monday, so I arranged to take Tuesday off and made an appointment with the vet.  I came home to check on her at lunchtime; she was doing okay.  I refilled her water bowl, which she had knocked over, gave her a glob of peanut butter and said my usual goodbye.  I had to get back to work.

When I came home later that afternoon, I found her lying dead in her bed.

Though of course I sat on the floor and sobbed over her little body, I also felt I'd been given a reprieve.  It was as though she had done one final kindness for me, sparing me the trauma of taking her in for euthanasia.

I'm dealing with the loss much better than I thought I would, probably because of the circumstances.  I am sad and I miss her... but if I'd had to take her to the vet, it would have ripped my heart out.  As these things go, we were both fortunate.

I caught up on sleep, and finally feeling clear-headed, I talked to my boss to try to address some of the issues that are making my job stressful.  I think there will be some positive changes.

And now, there are many other changes I want to make in my life... if I can just overcome the inertia and get moving.

We Now Interrupt This Hiatus...

for a venting of frustration.

The plan was to be on hiatus until I had something good to post about, but I really need to vent today.

Why is my license plate mangled and sitting on the ground?  Because someone knocked it off my car.

Someone who ran a stop sign and WHAM! into his car I crashed. I've long believed that too many people think STOP means Slightly Tap On Pedal.  This idiot didn't even do that.

It could have been a lot worse. No one was hurt. My car wasn't heavily damaged. The collision was clearly his fault, and his insurance should pay to repair my car.

What I'm really angry about is that he ruined my perfect driving record. In 24 years of driving, I had never been in a collision.  TWENTY-FOUR YEARS.  That is a "never" I can never get back.

Halloween 2014: Chef

Life is rather somber and stressful these days, and I wasn't able to muster my usual enthusiasm for Halloween.  I did at least manage to dress up for work.  I reused a costume from a few years ago: myself as a chef.  This is what I'd look like if I ever tried to actually cook anything, complete with holes burned in my clothes and soot on my face.

Why am I holding a little golden trophy?
There was recently a chili cook-off at my office.  The day before the cook-off deadline, the organizers encouraged entries for vegetarian chili because there was only one entry.  Now, normally the idea of me entering a cooking contest would be utterly ridiculous.  I can barely boil water.  But I can make one thing worth eating, and it happens to be vegetarian chili... so I decided to participate.  I was absolutely gobsmacked when I won the trophy for Best Vegetarian Chili.

So here you have essentially the worst cook on the planet holding her cooking contest trophy.  Too weird.

Bathroom Remodel: New Shower Faucet

My old three-handle compression faucet has been replaced with a one-handle ceramic disc faucet. No more fighting with obnoxious handles! Yay! :)

I started with hard-to-turn handles that I hated:

The plumber replaced the valve after cutting a large hole in the wall similar to this:

Then he installed the new handle. I thought I'd end up with the round faucet escutcheon layered over a remodel plate similar to this:

But the plumber was able to make adjustments to allow room for the oval escutcheon/cover plate which could be used on its own.

I think it looks less silly than the layered escutcheons. What really matters, though, is that I can turn the handle with the slightest effort. :D

Having the faucet replaced was a nerve-wracking enterprise. I was afraid tiles would crack or fall off when the plumber cut into the wall, especially after he pointed out that some of the tiles were loose. It would be impossible to find exact replacements for 40-year-old tiles. Also, I had no idea what he might find when he opened the wall, though I was certain he would find at least one oddity. I just hoped it would not be too serious an impediment.

When he got to work, there were loud, scary rotary tool cutting sounds accompanied by the occasional sound of something falling. Then there was the even louder reciprocating saw which seemed to make the whole house vibrate. Then there was the sound of the torch igniting. When the plumber finally emerged from the bathroom about an hour later, I was almost afraid to go in and look. :P

Whew! Everything looked great! No cracked tiles and very neat work on the installation. :D

So what oddities did he find? There was a weirdly placed stud that he had to cut away (thus the reciprocating saw.) But even stranger -- the main water line and the water heater are in the basement, but the shower plumbing does not come up from the floor. It comes down from above. :/

Overall, converting an old three-handle faucet is not an inexpensive project. I paid $178 for the faucet kit, $58 for the cover plate, and $500 for the plumber to do the work. But I believe it will be worth the money. I use the shower every day, and I was very, VERY tired of fighting with the difficult old handles.