Well, after buying 3 different sweaters on Temu and not a single one of them fitting Vincent, despite me having measured and double checked the measurements… I finally decided to make him a sweater myself from a couple of polar fleece throws I had at home.
I generally buy these thin throws to make cat bed covers, filling them with old pillow stuffing, or making covers for dog beds which are removable and washable. I’ve done this for years since I’ve always had multiple dogs with dirty feet, using any sort of fabric I can find – old sheets, old doona covers, throws, scarves etc.
I had two throws this time. One I’d bought to make a cushion for Vincent’s crate and one I bought to put over my white bed linen in summer to protect it from dirty feet coming in from outside and jumping straight onto the bed (not just Vincent, but almost all grooming customers since they have to go through my bedroom to the grooming area. Nope. My setup is not ideal.)
I made two sweaters (you know, one to wear and one to wash…) I used the blue throw for the outside and lined the inside with the pale striped one to give it a bit of extra warmth and contrast.
Vincent modelling the longer one… a bit too long…
This is one of the two I made. One is smaller than the other, both were made the way I usually make stuff – without a proper pattern, just sketching a shape out on paper, what I think the shape should be, measuring using my fingers, hand sewing cause I couldn’t be bothered moving furniture to get to my sewing machine.
The difference in back length.
I love blanket stitch!
The baby doll version of his sweater.
I used velcro on one side for the tummy flap so its adjustable, and used bottons on one to decorate the sweater.
The added bib in front makes this sweater much longer so it hangs out over his tail.
The other simply has stitches, but I though the neck needed more room so I extended it with a contrasting bib in front.
Despite my woeful sewing skill, they worked out pretty well. Not perfectly… one is a bit longer than necessary. The other one is a bit shorter than necessary.
I belong to the school of ‘close enough is good enough’.
I did actually manage to tick a couple of odd jobs off my 563m long to do list over the last few days.
Firstly, I finally hemmed the living room curtain I pinned up sometime in summer. I did it so long ago the pins had all disappeared as I pulled the curtains back and forth over that time, so I basically had to do it again.
Plus, with winter upon us, I needed thicker curtains. I went to Jumbo and bought the thickest curtain they had (which is not that thick at all, but a velvety texture) in the neutral shade I wanted. I figured I could double up the curtains, the thick one behind against the window, the thin summer curtain in front. Double protection from the cold.
Should work, right?
This is the curtain rod I made myself during COVID lockdown when I couldn’t buy anything. I made the backets from some old bits of wood I’d scrounged from somewhere and sacrificed a wooden broom handle for the rod. I put some vintage knobs I’d bought in Holland on the end as decoration. I’m very happy with my DIY curtain rod.
Well, I laid the curtains out on my bed and began to fold, pin and trim off excess. My way. ie use my eye and do the best I can and expect that it will work out okay.
Then I got out mom’s old Singer and got to work.
Mom’s old sewing machine is almost as old as I am, she used it to make us clothes when I was a tiny tot. It’s the machine I learned to sew on, but I hadn’t used it in decades. In fact, I think I was the last one to use it back in the late 70s and it had sat in a closet in our house in Athens since then.
I’d taken it to be serviced when I first got here, thinking I’d keep it in Athens and have my own on Paros for sewing projects. Thankfully I had brought it to Paros on a trip at some stage, cause my old Singer (almost the same age, bought at a trash and treasure market many years ago in Canberra) blew up this summer. The motor is cactus. Apparently, I can buy a new/second hand/ motor on ebay, but so far the ones I found are in England or the USA and the postage will kill me.
So, I’m trying to figure out how to use mom’s again now.
Its way fancier than mine ever was. Dad was a great believer in buying the best you could afford so mom got the top of the range. Mine was fully manual. Basic. Mom’s is smart (for its age!) and can do things like automatic button holes… If *I* knew how to do them, of course.
Anyhow, I hemmed both curtains and washed the summer one which had been dragging along the floor for months (not that I needed to really, I’d cut off the dirty bits!). I then hung them both up together and let the washed curtain dry in place.
I was told by a seamstress neighbour in Athens that it was the best way to do it – wash and hang. Easy. No ironing involved. And that suits me just fine!
Here is the window before and after:
I forgot to mention I made a ‘pelmet’ of sorts from the offcut of the thicker curtain… I’ve been told that if you really want to keep the cold out you need pelmets. Well, I don’t want pelmets, but figured something over the top of the rod would suffice. We’ll see if my theory is correct soon enough.
It’s downright ugly, but if it does the job and cost me nothing but a bit of experimentation, so I’m reasonably happy with it. I’ll be happier if it works, balancing out ugliness with function.
I still have the blackout bedroom curtains to hem. I’d forgotten about them while I had my sewing vibe going. Groan. I knew there was something else I had to do…
The other thing I ticked off my to do list – I finished the bathroom window.
I think I mentioned it before. There were a few gaps between the tiles and the bottom bit of window frame and ants were getting in. I asked my cousin (who was painting my shutters at the time) to have a look at it and when he pulled it off, we found there was an empty gap behind the trim. Just a bit of rubble and a hollow.
Wonderful.
So he put in a strip of wood to seal it off and painted it for protection. It was then up to me to finish the job.
This week I finally found a small piece of MDF thin enough to fit in the gap between the tiles and trim. It was too big a gap to fill with sealant alone. I cut a couple of pieces and used small nails to hold them in place, put the trim over it all and sealed it all with waterproof/paintable acrylic sealer.
Next step would be to sand the entire window and paint it. But for now, at least its a finished looking window again. That’s something.
Yesterday I realised time is running out fast. I had thought ‘Oh, three weeks till I leave for Christmas is plenty of time to get a ton done…” and now I’m leaving in a week and my house still looks like a bomb exploded.
I have a huge canvas I’ve barely begun working on, on the easel in the middle of the living room. I have to work around that. I have the suitcase I’m taking to Holland on the floor and am tossing items into it whenever I come across something I need to take with me there or to Athens. I have the sewing machine on the kitchen table along with all kinds of smaller things I have to either do something with or put away. I have the clothes airer in the living room cause it’s been too wet to dry anything outside. My grooming table, dryer and case are also in the living room cause I’ve been grooming away from home, or at home – which entails taking most things out of the bathroom to fit in the table and dryer. There are boxes with items to sort, put away or get rid of. Some things that need to do to my storage room in the basement. Mom’s ceiling fan which needs to go in my bedroom ceiling. And a whole lot of my own work/art which I have been photographing to put online to sell.
I need more space.
Then again, I’m sure I’d fill that up as well. But it would be nice to have separate places for all the things I do. You know, like dedicated areas…
Hey! One of my neighbours is renovating so I’m going to pick up a ton of old timber bits and pieces! More to add to my collection of stuff. However, this is stuff I can use to make a workbench and a dog drying bench for my eventual grooming room!!!
All good.
NOTE: Just putting it out there… does anyone know how well insulated a refrigerated container might be? I figured it would have to be very well insulated as they are meant to keep things cold even in the hottest temperatures. Will I need extra insulation on it in order to live and work in it in summer? Does anyone have any ideas? I’ve tried looking it up but have had no real luck.
Perhaps not entirely my first attempt to dye something using natural dyes, but I’m thinking dyeing poodle ears with beetroot juice doesn’t really count…
I’ve also done heaps with tea and coffee, but again, I’ve always considered those more of a stain than a dye.
This time I got it into my head to try to make my own re-usable shopping bags out of the millions of vintage plain linen sheets I’ve been collecting from mom and my aunts. Great fabric, but not great as sheets any more cause most of them were made for shorter beds than we have now.
Anyway, I had the sheets so I cut one up and made 2 shopping bags in the most simple way I could (ie no side gusset). The whole point was to make something I could carry with me easily.
I also wanted the bags to be pretty so I needed colour – using natural dyes and stamps. Hence the Junk4Joy stamps I made. Fiddly for a first attempt at linocut in years.
I wanted to brand the bags obviously. I even added a wonky recycled logo to the name.
I did a lot of reading about natural vegetable dyes online and decided to go with purple cabbage to start with as I liked the colour. Plus I’d just made some rice paper rolls and had purple cabbage on hand.
Following the instructions, I boiled the cabbage, then strained it into a bowl. I added salt as a mordant (cause I have no idea where or how to get pot ash) and got to dyeing.
I wanted an ombre look so I wet the bags and hand dipped them a few times, then let them hang in the solution overnight.
The resulting colour is very soft. Maybe I needed more cabbage and less water, who knows. Still, its quite pretty for my first attempt.
After they dried, I ironed them then got out the fabric printing ink I’d bought with the linocut supplies and stamped on the logo. Last I added a button and some elastic so the bags can be rolled up and put in a handbag.
Pretty cute I’d say.
To be honest I’m not sure I’ll bother trying to make bags to sell… I had a long conversation with myself lately and the upshot of it was that I do too much. I spread myself too thin with all the creative projects I do. I’m better off to stick to what I’m best at and that is painting. I’m an artist AND a creative person with unlimited interests, but I am better off concentrating on the work that I’m best at in order to earn some money from it.
My pet portraits on commission and my marble and rock paintings sell. It makes sense to concentrate on that.
Making bags or critters from recycled fabric or baskets from found ropes etc are all lovely and fun. So are my art from trash dog and bust sculptures. But most of those things take a lot of time and space and so far haven’t sold. The aim is to sell stuff.
I have tried selling online a lot over the years, but postage has always been an issue. I’m not saying I won’t try ebay or my esty shop again, or even Facebook, just that it seems selling something for under 10-20e with postage of over 15e seems ridiculous.
Anyway, there’s always so much to do and so little time.
Remember the beautiful lace curtain I made during the first lockdown?
This is what it looks like now…
Yep. In tatters.
All that work… took me days to make it. A cat destroyed it in a couple of hours.
Did I mention kitten-gate? When a cat got locked in my house accidentally?
Well, it could have been way worse. It could have been locked in for days and I could have come home to a dead cat. Ugh. I think I should consider myself lucky the only casualty was the curtain. I have more doilies and lace. I can make another.
Lainee is quite relaxed about it. In fact she and her teddy bear are both taking it all in stride.
Just quickly sharing a little textile necklace I made a couple of weeks ago for a friend. This was made in her favourite colours – pink and black – and the word faith which is what she wanted. She would have preferred a gold loop and cross but I had to use what I had – so I added this cute mother of pearl cross and a silver jump ring.
I used a piece of pale pink linen I had for the ‘body’ and added a scrap of vintage lace to the front and a bit black lace flower detail for a little punch.
The close up pics aren’t the best but I no longer have it to take better photos.
This is what I’ve been working on most lately. In case you were wondering. Little puffy pouches to hang around your neck on cords of waxed cotton or leather.
I make them using all kinds of fabric scraps (I have a whole suitcase full of small scraps I’ve been collecting for years) which are too small to make much else out of. Plus some recycled beads, gem stones, trinkets, buttons and old lace. Oh, and the occasional chandelier crystals.
Basically whatever I have on hand. And I have quite a lot on hand…
The cords are mostly new, of course. As is the odd bit needed to complete each piece.
They make great little gifts and I have someone interested in buying a lot of them for his shop next year!
I also plan* to set up an Instagram shop but have run into all kinds of trouble – I once tried to set up a Facebook shop and, despite trying to follow all FB and google instructions, I cannot for the life of me figure out how to do it. Cause the links/buttons/whatever are never where they say they are for one thing! I’ve tried just about everything and I’m about to scream!
(*Plan: something we make to convince ourselves we have some control over things.)
Meanwhile I’ve been preparing my tiny home for going away for a month or so. I’m not leaving straight away as I have a couple of appointments which have delayed departure, but I will be going soon enough. I figured it was time to basically tidy up and pack away things I don’t need on display gathering dust.
You wouldn’t think a tiny place like mine would take so long to organise. But it does. I’m still at it.
Mind you, for me tidying and organising is an adventure in meandering distractions.
“I better start by packing away the objects on that shelf.”
“Oh look! I forgot about that xxx! I’ll find a box to put it in with others like it.”
Two hours later I get back to packing away objects on the shelf. Or not.
In that vein, I’ve bought and hung new (cheap) eyelet blockout curtains on the bedroom balcony door. Something I needed in summer… but at least it will keep the room warmer in winter as well.
I put fertilizer in my pot plants. Good thing. It rained for a couple of days straight. Constantly. Not like here at all. Normally we get a downpour which floods the place but only lasts a few minutes. This was good watering rain. I hope we get more, we sure need it on a dry island where the population explodes in summer.
I bought some cheap plastic tubs (like the kind you use to cart washing around) and put some of Lainee’s old cushions (I make new ones each winter using old pillow stuffing) in them and placed them in the only under cover area around my place so the the stray cats have somewhere dry to sleep.
I must remember to toss out the old cushions from the cat houses I have on my porch and put in new ones (ie, Lainee’s old ones – I have heaps of them).
I took out my measley Christmas decorations and put them out. Considering whether to put out the fairy lights. I normally hang them all over the bookcase. I wont be here for Christmas but I may as well enjoy the Christmas spirit while I’m here. I never do a Christmas tree, but I love fairy lights. I’ve already lit the outdoor ones.
I’ve made a key rack for mom’s new house. And finished another project I started a couple of months ago. I’ll share those soon.
I’m also thinking of rearranging a few things in the place. I mean, I have a gorgeous shelf which was given to me by a good friend and there really isn’t room to put it up. I want to make room for it!
So, as you can see… I keep busy.
I saw a Tshirt on Facebook which I really want. It says: “In my defense, I was left unsupervised”.
I must have it!
Just like the old one I have which says “I make things cause if I don’t I get sad”.
Anyway enough blabbing on for now. I have things to do, places to go, dogs to groom, electricians to oversee and meetings to attend.
As promised, here’s Patch. He’s the first ever dog sculpture I made – this time using the same system for the armature but hand sewing the body for the finish.
He turned out great and I love him. He’s about twice the size of my usual dog sculptures and he took way longer to make due to the hand sewing. I want to make more like him but they are very time consuming, and I also love the glued fabric look… hm… Then again I love the hand sewn patched look as well… Oh the dilema!
Whatever. I’m really surprised I couldn’t find him on my blog yesterday. I was sure I’d shared him. Obviously not. Either that or I called him/the post something totally unrelated so he didn’t come up in my search.
This is a small easy update to a very wintery looking footstool I bought this winter. This is what it looks like:
Nothing fancy, just warm and furry, goes well with the faux cowhide rugs I throw over the couch in winter.
But in summer I wanted something lighter, more in keeping with the summer look of lighter throws. So I dug out the old flour bags I’d collected in Tasmania. I was going to get a friend to make a quilt out of them but never got around to unstitching them to give her. Now I have a few very old and some not so old ones I’m not sure what to do with sitting in a suitcase under my bed.
I selected a not so old one (its in kilos) to make this cover.
I don’t have progress photos cause I always sew by the seat of my pants (ie sometimes things work, sometimes they don’t though I always make them work somehow)… but basically these are the steps:
I cut the bag open to separate front from back.
I laid the front fabric upside down and placed the stool on top (also upside down) and traced the shape.
I cut the circle allowing plenty of seam allowance.
I cut the back into a strip deep enough to cover the sides and go under a bit – the length wasnt enough so I used a piece from the front (with writing on it) to make it long enough.
I sewed the two pieces together to form a long ‘side’ piece.
I hemmed the side piece with a channel to fit elastic in it.
I slid the side piece onto the stool inside out and placed the top piece on inside out and pinned it all together.
I sewed it all together, trimmed edges and zig zagged them to stop fraying.
I threaded elastic through the channel and voila:
Fitted it onto the footstool!
I didn’t bother ironing it (cause I’m basically lazy and ironing would have meant cleaning the stove top of the sundry bits and pieces its collected, putting out my ‘ironing’ towel and getting the iron out from under the sink*), so its the edges aren’t all sitting in the right spot, but you get the picture.
*My iron is only out when I’m dedicated to sewing. Naturally.
Underneath you can see the elastic holding it in place.
One small project finished!
Meanwhile I’ve been busy doing stuff, painting on marble, grooming dogs, going swimming, napping in the middle of the day when the heat gets too much for me, making baskets, watching a lot of Netflix…
I finished Orphan Black (loved it), started iZombie (loving it)…
Hey, at least most of the time I work while watching Netflix, don’t get on my case!
I know I’ve shared a couple of my Walking Dead doll remakes, but I found I had this post in my drafts folder and it includes one previously unshared doll: Sasha.
This is Sasha in the show:
And this is my Sasha, complete with a high powered rifle with moving parts.
Remaking Sasha included a total repaint of her face and a new hair style. I made her singlet top and she wears Bratz jeans. I bought her gun on ebay as I’ve bought various other accessories at times when I can’t make them myself. I already have a crossbow to make Daryl… I just have to get there.
Let’s revisit the other girls… Firstly my all time favourite: Michonne. This is how she began, a very messy Bratz girl I bought in an op shop. That’s one thing I miss here (among other things…) No op shops. I’ve never seen dolls I can remake for sale anywhere for instance. I’m glad I brought a ton with me! When I eventually get around to re-making some again.
This is Michonne on the show…
And this is how my interpretation, complete with a katana and a chain to hold her pet walkind dead.
In Michonne’s case I had to do a total overhaul. I had to remove her hair and make dredlocks by wet felting a combination of wools. I made her top, including a leather vest plus a studded belt. Her jeans are original Bratz jeans as they’re just too hard to make.
Last but not least, Carol. This is Carol on the show:
This is what the doll looked like before I started. A typical overdone Bratz doll with wild hair.
And this is the finished Carol, complete with a gun, a military warrier knife and bag.
In Carol’s case I did a repaint of the face, gave her a haircut and coloured her hair grey. I made all her clothes and made a pair of Bratz sandals into boots by painting and adding laces.
I miss remaking dolls. Its one of the things I planned to work on in winter but never got around to it for two winters in a row. This winter I was working on sculptures and last winter who remembers… All I know is that time never seems to be enough.
And I get bouts of laziness and inspiration blocks.
I should really be working on things like this constantly but instead I spend hours doing all sorts of things instead of creating. I really work best when I have a ton of projects going at once cause then I can pick what I want to work on at any given time. Space becomes an issue in a 2 room flat.
Last night I was up till 12.30 working on one of my new (old) cabinets. I didn’t even realise what time it was till I saw it was pitch black outside.
Yesterday when I put Lainee’s little blue jumper on I realised it had 3 holes in it. I have no idea where they came from but they were definitely there… And getting bigger. So something had to be done about it.
So this afternoon while watching Bold Type on Netflix (light hearted, fun, easy to watch while I work) I began mending with embroidery thread I had on hand. Lucky I had just enough in each colour to create a border around the holes to keep the jumper from totally unravelling.
Oh and for those who noticed, I did create 4 rings when I said there were 3 holes. That’s because I decided to make another hole so I can put Lainee’s harness on underneath the jacket and still clip on her lead through the hole.
Ok, so I’m not the neatest… I see mending by others on Pinterest and drool and want to emulate but mine always ends up looking like it was done by an sightless mole without opposing thumbs.
Still, Lainee isn’t complaining. She’s an easy girl to please.
Poor little darling is in the wars right now. You may remember she has a huge mammary tumour which I wanted removed a while ago but she’s got a heart murmur we’ve been treating meanwhile to make it safer to put her under… Well, she began licking the tumour while I was away in hospital and yesterday she made it bleed. Hence she’s swaddled in bandages and vet wrap around her middle now. I have her booked in for surgery to remove the tumour next Thursday… sigh.
At least she’s been a happy little girl, she loves the wind and goes bezerk when I take her out in it, and she’s playful every morning. So although its bothering her she’s been well in herself. That’s something.
junk4joy 