Hunting Fishing Camping

Best of Trail Cam this past month - this Hollywooding young buck. 

Rather than toss out an old sleeping bag, I fashioned patches from material and hand quilted and sewed them on. I took a heavier weight cotton material, ironed down all the corners at a scant 1/4", and then used a hand quilting thread. Not only to stitch the patches on, but to run a quilting stitch through all the layers and front to back.  

The Mr. lives for hunting, fishing, and camping. There is no greater Nirvana than that in his world. While I am more of a

A round of book listings meant this 1974 publication (2 of them), went on the eBay board. 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/185192642330

You can't go wrong with this type of vintage publication. The book on game bird carving sold. 

December is nearly here! Please visit daily for the Countdown to Christmas 10 Year Celebration.

Return to Office and the Scissors Holster

I am sure that a scissors holster will come in handy for the zombie apocalypse. It was a 99 cent thrift shop find. 

State departments are slow but sure returning to office. It looks to be a two-day a week schedule in the beginning. That will be ideal for me because I will be able to interact in person with co-workers and I can utilize my vendors I like to use in downtown Sacramento. The Mail and Ship for my package dropoff is a scenic walk past the Capitol. My optometrist and optician are both on Capitol Mall. 

I frequent Freestyle, a clothing exchange, also in downtown Sacramento. I get credit for clothes that I pick up at yard sales or that my daughter has cast off. I have been able to buy a Coach bag, and other upscale pieces of clothing. 

One of my other favorite places, one of the few thrift shops left downtown, is the Goodwill boutique at 1621 L Street, Sacramento. Just a couple of blocks away from my former state department. 

When I am downtown, sometimes I use my hour lunch break to go on a long walk. There has been such an influx of homeless into the downtown area, I am unsure whether I will be able to walk alone. It would probably be a good idea to carry Mace. Maybe I could just carry my lethal sewing scissors? 

I will also have to change my parking habits. Prior to youknowwhat I parked downtown in a relatively affordable parking garage ($140 a month) that was an 8 block walk. Going back to Sacramento means I will have to find a much closer garage and pay more $$$. 

On another subject, working online - after participating in a few online interviews, I am getting the sense that even though people like working remotely, they are fed up with the hybrid interaction of only online meetings. There simply isn't the connection that you experience when you are interacting in person. There is a shared energy that doesn't come across the web. It would be folly for management to ignore this great divide. I think they are considering it, at the very least trying to arrange All Staff in person monthly meetings. 

Segueing to news on the homefront -

We have rain!!! I can't begin to tell you how welcome that is in our dry, dry Northern California. 

We also have our first cord of wood stacked and available for winter use. Last year, the Mr. fell ill and we had no one to help process the wood on the property. We ran out of wood halfway through winter. 

The trail camera is up and I should have wildlife images sure to follow!

Striking A Pose

I am trying to find that delicate balance between buying too much product and selling it. The majority of what I list for sale is from thrifting, now online auctions are fast overtaking that activity for finding product. I've got a bag full of Girl Scout I need to process.

At what point do you decide, this is never going to sell? After I have well surpassed the 500 listing mark, I think I will cancel those listings with low views and no movement. Many are books and they take up a lot of space. I actually live next to a well-known rare bookseller. I haven't seen their setup for storing books. 

Specialty books have been a boon for me. I just sold a vintage Complete Course in Magic and then found this Calvin & Hobbs Collection. 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/184375502264

The first stop of the day included all pictured below. I am tempted to model the graphic T shirt and jeans. I really need to list more clothing. The clothing exchanges have shut down again so nothing new is coming in or being accepted. 

I committed to listening to another round of 6 used cassettes. Bought a few more sewing patterns, and a 1960 60 songs with chords for guitar book (keeper). I have delusions of someday learning to play the guitar. Other keepers? This Ty mint green dragon (50 cents) and a Girl Scout tin (too cute!) and Folk Years CD. 

Fun find of the day: Cookbook from 1965, fun illustrations from that time period. 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/184375505990

I have also altered how I post images on listings. I color scan them onto a jump drive and then supplement with photos I have taken by camera. An example would be the front and back of a CD scanned, then the interior with the back of the CD displayed then photographed. 

Quilting update: I am in the binding phase of two projects. I am even bumping one because I want my Retro quilt done first. The other is Minimalist Plaid, one to be gifted. 

I have a Zoom interview on Monday and a Webex interview on Thursday. I am curious how they will go. Luckily, I have a hair appointment on schedule Saturday and our county is still open (unlike neighboring counties). 

Seems Americans can look forward to another stimulus check. Mine will go 100% to debt reduction. 

Best of trail cam in July, this doe and fawn series. Fawn looks like she is striking a pose. More likely she discovered the camera. 

You can see how much the fawn had grown in 2 weeks. 

After I bought those cassettes from thrift, I found 20 more in the house. Yippee!

Happy Birthday to Me

It's my birthday! The birthday image below is from June 1968, celebrating my 10th birthday. I am on the far left wearing the cat-eye glasses.  

 

Earlier in the month, I found this partially finished hydrangea needlepoint ($2 bagged) and discovered it was the companion in a series of another needlepoint I have in progress (the magnolias). I will finish both and frame separately but with matching mats. 

A favorite cake from childhood is the Red Velvet Cake. Mom would make it for me each year. I have posted below Mom's version and the Waldorf Astoria version.
 

Reseller's update: CDs, cassettes and sewing patterns continue to sell. I did my first round of promotional discounts on all of my needlework items and one has sold so far.

I have ripped nearly 700 album recordings to my laptop (yes, I have backed it up). The older compilations sell, the best of, best hits collections. While I work remotely I listen to my music on shuffle.

Here is a trend I am betting on - gospel CDs. For those who love gospel music but can no longer attend church, at least for the time being. 

What is NOT moving for online listings? Barbie doll clothes grouped in lots by color, used boy's clothing, and costume patterns. A quick guess on the latter, if there are no Halloween celebrations, why make a costume?

Segueing to college news - I am officially an official Art History major. I got both of the classes that I wanted for the fall semester. That I am 61, so what! Do you know what the rate of passing is for each college class? My experience is that 50% complete the class. In mathematics classes, the rate is even worse. I would estimate a 40% rate of passing there. I encourage everyone at any age to take college classes. Who knows, maybe I will make it to Sacramento State. 

Ending the post with a goofy deer image, chock full of plums, she seems quite happy. 

Yeti Or Not, Here I Come

Steampunk Yeti in the Wild

Updating the post to showcase Steampunk Yeti. Abdominable is a  thrift shop rescue. I keep a box of steampunk/fantasy stuff I have found secondhand. I included the tarot cards pulled if anyone wanted to predict the Yeti's future. 

Switching gears to saving money and reducing debt, I have two new fixes in that direction. 

The first was buying a "new" purse. A few years ago, I bought a Coach handbag at full retail price. It was a few hundred dollars. I am not a purseaholic. I only buy one purse and use it for many years. I love the way Coach constructs their bags so I lurked on an online auction site until I found one. My winning bid: $33.

My second fix - I had been buying face moisterizer at the cosmetics counter. You spend $40 and get a small lotion bottle. I discovered suntan lotion for faces, a fraction of the cost of the lotions and potions. 

Sequeing to January trail cam best of images.


Reselling update: Vintage needlework kits and quilt kits are selling. What I am listing this week, a vintage 1989 BHG red plaid hardcover cookbook, a set of coffee mug quilt blocks and perhaps more of my needlework projects. 

I found a thrifting group on FB that has posted a challenge - Return of the Thing from the Thrift Store Creative Challenge No. 9, Yeti or Not, Here I Come! 

Not my creation - made by Vinylnation

I am grounded in my quilting/sewing arena, and have WAY more crapht stuff than the good lawd allows. This challenge sounds like so much fun! The rules, Tami summarized, are as follows:

Create a finished product featuring the Abominable Snowman (well, that is the one I have chosen) or Yeti. The sky is the limit on presentation and medium. You are encouraged to LOVE what you create. The project time frame is 2-8-20 to 2-21-20. Main items should be thrifted. Avoid spending any money. Creepy is cool. Must have a before/after photo, process photos even better.  

You will need to join that Facebook group to view the Yeti creations. 

Cutting for the Colorwash Hexi

When I began my research on which pattern to use for my colorwash, there was brief mention and an image in introductory section of Colorwash Quilts of using floral hexagons. The author Deirdre Amsden credits a 1960 publication by Averil Colby entitled Patchwork. I've ordered it from my favorite reselling platform, Ebay. 

Now I have moved from those itsy bitsy pieces usually used in colorwash, to entertaining the thought of using rectangles (but hadn't worked out how to size them) to cutting hexagons. Perfect! That, I can wrap my creative head around. 

Cutting these hexis chewed up stash fast! I can get about 4 hexis per fat quarter. I am about halfway through the mountain. There are more creams and yellows to process. 

My plan for this one is to make another piano key border. As I am cutting the fabric, I am saving the pieces long enough to be strips for the keys. 

Linking up with Beth at lovelaughquilt for Monday Making.

Reselling update: I have 22 things listed right now, mainly fabric related. Dipping my toe into games, vintage cookbooks, and other random items. 

Ending the post with this visitor on New Year's Day.

Boxes on your doorstep

Took the weekend off from sewing after the push of the baby quilt, but still had a productive long weekend. I ripped approx. 50 CDs to my laptop, posted 10 active listings on Ebay, mainly Christmas sweaters, and culled my clothes which resulted in two bags full I hope to earn credit at the clothing exchange. I was thrifting back all of my larger pieces of clothing but thought why not see if they are resell worthy? I have learned to take my clothes to the exchange first. On this round I earned a $20 credit to buy something cute. 

Best of trail cam in October. This coyote has made more than one appearance on camera, and this hawk also. 

Greenhouse update: Brussell sprouts we have grown are on the menu and I am harvesting tomato pears. 

Baking away - old fashioned peanut butter cookies. 

Those linens I bought here, a couple of commenters thought they might be able to be resold, but I am still on the fence. I may be able to do something craphty for entry into the state fair. 

I impulsively bought two lots of partially completed quilt projects from an online auction site, prompted by the waived shipping charge. The first one arrived. I thought there might be something worthwhile because it weighed 4-1/2 pounds.


The contents did not disappoint! There were 12 of these burgundy blocks - well worth the $30 price of the box. It was apparent these were the unfinished projects from mystery quilter in Tacoma, Washington. A nod to her skill level, many notches higher than mine. I am thinking of finishing this quilt with a light grey border and sashing. 


Bonus item - a small piece that fit my settee like it was made for it.


There were also 6 yellow fans, 4 pink fans, 9 partial pink fans, assorted orphan blocks, partial projects and patchwork piecings. 


A gamble that paid off, I see a new quilt for me in my future!

Greenhouse update

We have kept the plants in the greenhouse watered but have pretty much ignored them throughout the summer. Only the strong survive our California heat. 

The tomato pear going great guns is in the far planter with tomatoes, bell peppers and brussell sprouts in the other planter.

A cucumber is vining up the plastic trellis. There are stir fry greens and garlic chives in that planter also. 

My greenhouse experimenting continues. I just planted these seeds: golden beets, radishes, carrots and French gold pole beans. The seeds are a few years old but still seem to be germinating. 

For Christmas, I am going to ask for a solar heater for the greenhouse. 

No stunning trail cam pictures, but here is one of a doe.

One delightful side effect of my recent weight loss, having dropped a few pounds, I get to buy all new pants and skirts. Well, new to me, all through thrift. Here is one outfit I have found secondhand in the past couple of weeks. 

I will be posting for a couple of prompts for the month of October from #mrsbrimblesboodaily on Instagram. 

Five Quilter Revelations

While I am not part of a quilt guild (I would love to be), I consider myself to be an active, participating member of the online quilter community. I have discovered it is a deceptively complex craft. 

Revelation 1: 
I do not like doing intricate piecework, also known as paper piecing. I prefer applique. The subtle difference is with piecework, you are sewing multiple pieces of various bits of fabric together to create the end result. With applique, you utilize an image or letters printed on fabric, perhaps stabilize, and then applique on top of fabric. 

Revelation 2:
The busier the pattern, the less I like it. I have posted before that I like the Gypsy Wife by Jen Kingwell pattern. But when I saw the black and white version of it, well, it is circus gone wrong for me. 

Revelation 3:
The busier the quilting, the less I like to do it. While some dense quilting is amazing, I find free motion quilting to be utterly exhausting. 

Revelation 4: 
I am happy as a pig in mud when I can combine orphan blocks and fabric remnants into something warm and wonderful. I will readily admit I combine secondhand and retail fabric. The majority of my stash is thrifted. 

I have learned don't quilt with thrifted thread. I will still do piecework and hand-stitching with secondhand stuff but not quilting. 

Revelation 5:
Fabric and the collecting of it can be addicting. I haven't figured out why yet. Perhaps it is the possibilities of blindingly beautiful creations? I do know I have no compunction in giving away ugly fabric. I am not going to try and "work it in." There are just too many pretties that can be combined into something wonderful.  

Switching gears to the subject of hand-stitching, as mentioned before I do love my cashmere sweaters. A recent thrifted purchase was this orange hooded vertical design brand cashmere with front pocket panel. I knew there were condition issues with it having 6 or so moth holes. 

A hole too big to mend

 

Moth hole covered with cute applique

Trail cam photo of Hollywooding doe, we have quite a few images of her. She seems to enjoy being photographed.


Do you have any quilting/sewing revelations? 

New Artwork for the New Year

I was hoping my go-to thrift shop for artwork would come through and I wasn't disappointed. After I had made one pass through the shop, I decided to take one last look at the framed art and saw this piece in the corner. Just $18.50, it is a signed oil on canvas. I cannot make out the artist's name. The paper backing has been torn off so I am unsure who framed the high quality piece. I am totally and deeply in love with it. 

Fabric was also wheeled onto the floor so I swooped onto the bag that contained prints. Amongst the remnants were these contenders for a Pantone 2018 quilted entry. 
We purchased trail cams last month and here are the best images.

Deer nose and eye closeup

Since I love patterns, sharing one from 1970.


2018 holds more quilting and sewing projects, trail cam photos, a couple of blog challenges and continued mischief. Cheers to the New Year!