Shoshiplatypus

What’s On Your Workdesk this Wednesday?

Not a great deal on mine… but I have been busy away from my desk. I’ve been feeling pretty rough with a cold which started over the weekend, and since I didn’t feel much like doing anything else, I spent the time on the recliner cuddling up with the kitties and working on my slippers.

Slippers

I am pleased to say that I have made excellent progress this week! The main part of the second slipper is now almost complete. Once this is done, I can start work on the ankle bits. I’m not sure what to call these – they are pointy bits on the turned-down ankle cuffs if that makes sense – like pixie boots.

Last time I posted some photos, I’d done some trailing stems on the first slipper. However, I wasn’t very pleased with these because they didn’t really show up enough. I made the mistake of doing them in back stitch. A couple of nights ago I decided to go over them again, this time using stem stitch, and I think they are a lot better now. This has taken up the time I would have spent working on the stems on the second slipper, but it doesn’t matter – I’m well on the way to completing them now.

Here they are, as of yesterday evening.

The first slipper is in the foreground, and the second one is behind.

Here is a detailed shot showing the redone trailing stems.

Slightly lumpy stem stitch because it’s going over the back stitch, but I think it’s OK. Having done it, I think I might embroider a few small leaves in the same green.

Here is a picture of the stuff I am using to do the embroidery. I’ve been using the lid of the plastic storage box for my felt as a tray – it’s just the right size and keeps everything together.

When I started the project, I cut out quite a lot of felt circles, using a couple of circle punches, in order to make the appliqué flowers. To make them cut cleanly, I sandwiched the felt between two pieces of ordinary copy paper and it worked a treat. Some of them were a bit fluffy round the edges but a quick trim with my small scissors (just visible n the picture) soon sorted that out.

I have decided to add a couple of layered circles to each of the ankle points, so I sorted some out into order. I didn’t have quite enough from the first batch, so I brought the punches down again and did some more. There are a few spares now.

I am using stranded cotton for this project – as I do for most of my projects! Over the years I have inherited a great deal of stranded cotton of various brands from different people. When my grandmother died, many years ago now, we found an enormous stash of embroidery materials and I was able to keep all of that. When we lived in Plymouth, an old lady at church died and her sister gave me all of her stuff. I like stranded cotton because you can split it and use whatever thickness you want of the six strands. For this project I am using three strands. In the foreground you can see the bits of 3-strand thread waiting to be used.

Some of the skeins have been cut so they could be attached to punched cards – I did think at one time that I might store all my threads in this way but there were so many and the folder wasn’t big enough, so I rather abandoned that idea. I just tie the bundle of cut threads with a slip knot to keep them together, and this can be easily undone and a thread removed before retying them again. The threads are now stored in a Really Useful Box, sorted into colours in plastic bags. It’s not the neatest system but it works for me!

I had one set of curved needles, just 3 of different sizes, and I was so terrified of losing the one I was using that I bought a pack of them off Ebay. I have to work with a curved needle for this project because the slippers are not flexible enough, being made of quite thick felt, to enable me to use a straight needle, and all the work has to be done from the top surface. Once you get the hang of how to hold the curved needle in order to control it properly, it’s really no problem. I learnt this technique many years ago when I belonged to the Westcountry Embroiderers when we lived in Plymouth. We had regular workshop meetings where we used to take along whatever we were working on, and in between, we would have day schools with a visiting teacher. I learnt a huge amount during that time and still have the notes from the various teachers. Most years we would have an exhibition too, and I loved making things for that. One day I shall have to do a post about my old projects…

I had a wacky idea the other day that since these slippers were going to be totally OTT as far as decoration was concerned, why didn’t I put bells on them too?! Lol! I knew I had some in my stash. Over the years I’ve saved the bells off various cat collars that got worn out, but those were a bit big for this project, and I found the set of little Indian brass bells that I’d bought years ago, and thought I would use those.

I have loads of rings on my fingers, so why not bells on my toes (ankles) too?

If they turn out to be too annoying to wear, I can always take them off again!

Bleaching Teabags

During the week, the Clorox bleach pen I ordered arrived. This is really for applying bleach to tile grout. It is quite gelatinous, and being an American brand, I thought it might be better quality and stronger than our rather weedy UK bleach. I approached the problem with great enthusiasm, quite sure that this time it would work, but the results were equally disappointing! Duh…

I have finally admitted defeat on this. I hate, hate, hate giving up on things, but enough is enough!

I did some research a few days ago to see if there was any way I could turn acrylic paint into fabric paint, and stamp with that. The first results showed the addition of fabric medium to acrylic paint, but I didn’t really want to buy any more products, so I dug a little deeper. It turns out that you can make a 50:50 mix of acrylic paint with soft gel medium to thin the paint without diminishing its adhesive qualities. I have some acrylic polymer in a bottle that I have used in the past to make a pouring skin, and it is very good for thinning acrylics, so I think I will try this. After painting with it, you have to iron the piece to set it (between parchment paper so you don’t ruin your iron), and then the fabric can be machine washed. People report having painted T-shirts years previously and they are still going strong.

So I think what I shall do is make up a mix of white acrylic, thinned with the polymer medium, and try stamping with that. If I dilute the paint sufficiently, it shouldn’t look too bright white, and if it is still too white, I can always use some of my neutral fluid acrylics. I definitely think it’s worth a try. This method is supposed to be very good because often if you buy dedicated fabric paints, the colours are a bit limited, but this way you can get the exact colour you want. Anyway, I’d rather use the stuff I’ve got rather than buying extra.

I’ll keep you posted with my progress. I haven’t had time to do anything with it so far.

If this works, not only will I be able to complete Phase 3 of my Eco Project, but I can see this opening up all sorts of possibilities in other directions, too. I’ve got all those gorgeous Indian wood blocks, and I bought a few more at the recent craft show too. I love the idea of incorporating printing on teabags with embroidery and further embellishment…

Food

Meal Prep Tuesday

Stuff I prepared yesterday after my grocery delivery. Full details on yesterday’s blog post.

Recipe of the Week

It’s a revamp of the Creamy White Sauce I posted as a recipe of the week on 11th Sept. – this is such a versatile sauce. When I make up a batch, I am now freezing it in cup-sized portions so I can take it out and use it as I want. This is a useful size for two, and it can accompany roasted veggies or whatever you want.

In this case, I made up my own version of:

Creamy Garlic Mushrooms

Serves 2

I’m afraid I forgot to photograph it, but if you’ve ever had garlic mushrooms in a restaurant you’ll know what it looks like.

1/2 onion, or about 4 spring onions, chopped finely
Small button mushrooms – 2 x 200g packs
4-5 cloves garlic (or to taste), crushed
1 cup Creamy White Sauce
Salt and pepper

Instructions:

1.  Wipe the mushrooms to clean them, and slice into 2 or 3, depending on size.
2.  Finely chop the onion.
3.  Heat sauté pan over medium-high heat.
4.  Dry-sauté the mushrooms and onion, with no added oil, stirring frequently until the mushrooms start to give up their moisture and begin to shrink in size.
5.  Add the crushed garlic, stirring, but do not overcook or it will go bitter.
6.  Stir in the Creamy White Sauce and bring to the boil, stirring. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
7.  Serve with a slice of wholemeal bread.

This makes a very nice light meal. If you want to make it as a starter, use half the quantity per person.

Out for lunch today

Today we had company, so we went out for lunch together. A few days ago we discussed where we might go, and my hubby was all for going to a local place we’ve been to before, but lately they have been extremely slow serving, and we want a bit of time at home with them too. Also, looking online at their menu, they have an appallingly limited choice for vegetarians and vegans – last time I went there, I had their one vegetarian dish. They need to get up to date a bit – more and more people are going plant-based these days and if they don’t, they are going to lose customers.

I do not want to turn into one of those annoying people who make a tremendous fuss in the restaurant, asking if this or that contains any animal products etc. etc. and to find a place with a good comprehensive menu which includes lots of meat and fish dishes as well as vegetarian and vegan, all clearly labelled, is great. You can just say, “I’d like this, or that” and nobody needs to know. Lots of people will choose a vegetarian dish even if they aren’t actually vegetarian – just because it looks tasty and good. Places that offer a good choice like this, make it much easier for their customers and everybody is happy.

It’s a bit like the disability accessibility situation. It is only inaccessible places that make disability a problem – if everywhere is accessible, it’s a level playing field for everyone and the issue of “disability” disappears. Not that being vegan or vegetarian is a disability – but the level playing field opens up the choice for everyone.

I did a bit of my own research and found three places which offered a good choice all round. We decided on the Drum Inn at Cockington (Internet photo below), which is quite near where we live. This is part of a chain, which initially rather put me off, because we like local pub/restaurant food, but my hubby told me later that he’d heard very good reports of the food there. The building is quite large, and I thought it looked really intriguing. I found out on one website that it was designed by Edwin Lutyens – I love his style – one of our local National Trust properties is one of his – Castle Drogo.

We had the quiet dining room at the end to ourselves. This was very pleasant, once they had turned the music down, at my request – one of our party is very elderly and would have found conversation difficult. We were well looked after and I’m glad to say that our choice of venue went down very well! These are the pictures I took.

This was my starter – falafels in a nice spicy sauce.

I forgot to photograph my main, which was a delicious curry – very attractive with its serving of turmeric rice. However, I did remember to take one of my dessert which was apple and rhubarb crumble with custard.

A delicious meal. We’ll definitely be going there again. Cockington is a lovely village with lots of thatched cottages, and there’s a craft centre there with lots of workshops and shops, which is always fun to visit.

PIP Update

My repeat assessment for PIP is next Tuesday morning. After the rollicking I gave them on the phone after they had so royally messed up and lost all the details from my original assessment, the least they can do is ensure that I see the same assessor. They said, “Oh, we can’t guarantee that…” to which I replied, “I really must insist on this.” They said they would do what they could. All being well, I should see her. I am sure she will remember me because they said it was the longest assessment they’d ever done, because the material accompanying my application form was so comprehensive. I am feeling a lot less stressed about it this time around (for the moment, at least!) because I know now what to expect. I can do no more, but just go along with it and hope that they won’t mess me around too much. My faith in the whole caboodle has hit rock bottom so nothing they do will surprise me now.

At least for now, I am still receiving my monthly DLA payments. These will continue unless my PIP application is turned down, at which point they will stop immediately. If this is the case, and I appeal and win, the payments will resume, and be backdated. I have been setting aside my newly acquired Old Age Pension for this eventuality so we won’t be out of pocket. Last week I had my wheelchair serviced and that is quite expensive because it also includes a travel fee for the engineer. He comes down once a year. I do need to think ahead and make sure I have sufficient funds for things like this, which is what the disability benefit is supposed to cover.

Kitties

Thank you everyone for your good wishes for Ruby – after a few days of giving her her meals in two halves, we started feeding her normally again, and she hasn’t been sick since. We don’t know what it was but it might just have been a tummy bug she’d picked up, although she showed no other signs of not being well. Anyway, she is fine again now!

Here they are, cuddled up together. They are doing it more and more now the weather has cooled off. As usual, Ruby is on top. Lily is like a soft little feather bed! In this photo, I have to admit that Ruby does look a bit fat! I think the vet was right!

Last night my hubby was trying to read a book. Lily had other ideas.