Wow, it's been a while (edited for spelling corrections)

Hello, everyone.  Things got so busy for a while that I forgot to post. I will try to catch up now. 

After the San Antonio visit, we had a little road trip to see relatives. After that, I had a trip to see other relatives. While there, I happened to see some wildlife in the town. 

These deer were right next to a fairly busy road. 

On returning home, there was sewing. 

I finished the sewing club project to make a hanger pocket.

Converted an old sweatshirt into a cat bed, for when we get a kitty visitor.

Made a strap pad for use with the embroidery machine tote.

Made some puff breads with verdolaga filling. They were okay, but I don't think I'll do that recipe again.

Finally decided on a design for the striped canvas. 

Here, the finished canvas bag and three of the "Hemingway" slant-zipper bags. The one on the right was made from the off-cut of the one on the left.

And then applied the same re-use idea to the off-cut of the patchwork one above. These little zipper pouches are a lot of fun to make!

A break from the history (edited to add link)

Hello, everyone. This is a little update on sewing projects.

This baby quilt went together very smoothly. I used some of the squares in a layer cake and 10 inch squares of panda fabric, plus jelly roll strips and scrap 2.5 inch squares at the corners. (These little squares are sometimes called mini charms; some of them are small four patch squares.) 

One of the bags from the Ripstop By The Roll sample DIY kit. This was HyperD300 fabric, so it didn't turn into a stuff sack. It's too stiff for the drawstring closure. It did work well with a zipper. 

The other two bags from the kit, both in ripstop fabrics and using the provided drawstring and cord locks. The black one is a  really thin and slick ripstop, so it would do great with managing socks and lingerie on a trip. The green one is also ripstop, but it has a brushed feel rather like Taslan.

I tried to embroider on a scrap of the HyperD300, but the fabric drew up a lot. I did something wrong, but I don't know what yet.

That's all of the projects that have been photographed. Some others haven't posed for the camera yet. 

A new zipper wallet (edited to add link)

Hello, everyone.  After walking the Camino Francés with a me-made bill fold that didn't have a closure and didn't have any kind of an idiot loop attachment, I decided that the bill fold situation could do with improvement.  After scrolling past many Youtube videos, running down long pages of search results, and thinking about it, I went back to one of those videos: Ripstop By The Roll's simple zipper pouch kit. It was almost exactly what I wanted. 

The kit came, along with another kit that inspired me in their shop, and it had a piece of ripstop that wouldn't ravel, because they use something like a hot knife to cut it, a zipper, a piece of grosgrain for grab loops, and their video. I had also ordered some pocket mesh and the sample stuff sack kit--this came with some hardware tucked into a piece of light ripstop. I made an interior pocket with the mesh, edged with some scrap ribbon in the stash, and a label tag from that scrap of light ripstop, and otherwise followed the directions as given. 

It should work out okay. 

Progress report 2 on maintenance

Hello, everyone. The last post showed shirt #1 ready for Fray Check and soaking. Shirt #2 has been basted and stitched now. 

This is the view from the front.

Both shirts have been dabbed with Fray Check and are now dry. Today it's time to soak off the Sulky Fabri-solvy from the underside of the stitching. After this dries, there will be testing try-on. 

User tip, you really do need to stabilize the dickens out of the damaged area with both a backing fabric and basting stitches. The basting stitches also allow you to check the thread color for compatibility with the fabric. 

On both of these tee shirts I ended using a different thread than I expected. The light playing on the merino wool wanted the shades I ended up with. (Stash has now increased by several spools of fine polyester thread.)

Another item that was extremely helpful, in addition to the embroidery hoop and the size 28 tapestry needle and ball point straight pins, was the Ryobi battery powered magnifying light. It gave me a good look at the winds of the yarns. I'm so grateful to DS for giving it to me!

Progress on maintenance

Hello, everyone. The holes in the previous post are almost done. All they need is to have the Fabri-solvy to be soaked off and a bit of Fray check to discourage the bits of yarn from making runners.

The front and back work on shirt 1. I got a really good color match on this one. The front work is close to where the backpack strap goes. There will probably be test fit later. 🤞

Commencing on shirt 2.

The damage is more structural with this one, the one hole is at the shoulder and cuts 2 seam lines. The ball point pins came out because getting the shoulder to lie flat in the embroidery hoop was going poorly. And keeping the strain on the knit fabric as even and gentle as possible matters. This cut crosses over where the backpack strap will lie, making it even more important. 

There are 3 different threads in use for basting: the remnants of the earlier work at the neck, a darker shade, and the darkest, which looks like the best match: "Tree Bark" polyester thread. I basted the shoulder seam line straight before beginning to stabilizer the rest. Then I basted down the point of the cut to nest into itself.

The cut line is not only long, it also curves. At the end I will remove all of the basting that is not covered by the repair stitches.

Hiking also means gear maintenance

Hello, everyone.  To day I will talk over with y'all the latest gear maintenance project, a part of preparation for walking the Camino again.

This shirt encountered an accident. I contacted the maker, VOORMI, and sought advice. They were super supportive and recommended me to use a whip stitch, fine needle, and very fine thread. About in the 80 to 100 weight thread, actually, in polyester. 

I had some 80 weight Aurifil cotton in the house but I don't think mixing cotton and the wool will be a super good plan. I do know that the spiffy fine cotton thread, with the right (wrong) encouragement, will break. So I ordered new thread spools from Red Rock Threads and Ripstop By The Roll. 

I'm about to set up my embroidery hoop for floating the shirt on top of a light water soluble stabilizer. Probably the heavier one of my 2 Sulky wash away ones. (The lighter one, Solky Solvy, probably can't handle being the support layer on the bottom.)

I'm thinking the DMC size 28 tapestry needle will be the way to go. 2nd choice, the Bohin size 26, a tiny bit thicker, and with that amazing Bohin polished surface. Third, a new packet of needles I found at Walmart, branded Singer a mix of sizes 24 and 26, also tapestry tips. The tapestry tip needle is the hand sewing version of the "stretch" needles sold for machine sewing. It will work it's way between the strands instead of piercing them. And gently does it is the theme for this extra fine Merino wool shirt.

I will use tacking stitches to hold the knit steady while I work on the tiny, tiny whip stitches. That is why I called this floating,  it's the equivalent to floating projects on the embroidery machine.

A little bit of maintenance

Hello, everyone. 

My DH found a tear in his favorite Kuhl walking shorts. It looked to me like something had snagged the fabric while working or in the wash. 

The fabric has stretch going up and down only. I found a piece of cut off hem in a similar weight and stretch pattern and made a little patch.

The wide rows of stitches run in the way the fabric does not stretch, both on the patch and on the ground fabric.

I had thought of patching from the underside, but didn't want the lump of the patch edges to be next to the skin. After sewing the straight lines, I added a small zigzag all the way around for security. 

Another little something

Hello, everyone.  

I have been experimenting with crumb piecing lately. There have been quite a lot of odd bits and ends, that weren't so small as to make me think of pincushions or bowl fillers. Besides, I have a bowlful of them already.

This is a pouch made from the "blue tones" pieced fabric. It incorporates the spring colored scraps left from the most recent Charm Pack Apron, plus a lot of other bits.

There is a zip closure and a strap across the end that the closed zipper pull will rest at. The boxed corners make the zipper end be horizontal when held by the little strap.

I am thinking that this can either hold snacks while we are walking the Camino, or be stuffed with a tee shirt for use as a pillow on the plane. 

It should be gently washable, as the pieced fabric is backed with a sheet of Shape flex light interfacing. I will drip dry it after washing, just like the hiking socks and merino garments. 

New shoes for the Camino!

 Hello, everyone. We went to our local Fleet Feet store for their anniversary party and found our new trail runners for hiking the Camino.

These are Speedgoat 5 by Hoka. For a wonder, they aren't nearly the same exact color as my first two pairs were...don't know why, but that turquoise blue shad was the only thing available when we were shopping those years. This time it's more of a powder blue. The green second color is pretty dominant when you see them in person. The shape of the top of the tongue is different, it has a kind of dip just where your foot bends forward with the steps, and it's thinner.

As y'all can tell, we're looking forward to our next Camino walk: the Via de la Plata. (This was supposed to happen in 2020, but like a lot of things that spring, the trip fell.) This starts in Seville and goes either to Astorga to join the Frances or to the trail head of the Sanabres which goes through Ourense and joins with the Invierno (Winter) route of the Frances. We're planning to take the Sanabres option.

(On the blog maintenance front, the phone is still acting up on posts. I tried emailing Blogger and got an auto-reply from Google that "this email is no longer monitored" or some such. This though they're still peddling the Blogger app for downloads and giving that as the contact email. What is wrong with these people? And why did they break my app?)

 

Second new project for the sewing room

Hello, everyone. Today's post is a companion to the last: another dust cover.

This is a set of views, because I am unreasonably proud of having adapted Cindicrafter's machine cover system to my somewhatsimpler needs. The ends were spiral quilted with the walking foot. The back was wavy quilted, using one of those neat multicolor threads. And, yes, I am using Cindicrafter's idea of the manual-pocket. I like it better on the front, so I can see where the book is. (That doesn't work with the serger, with its bumpy front profile, but it works very well with the sewing machine.) The fabrics are the same, golden porthole mesh pocket and quilting cotton, with the same Australian themed prints for the front and handle.

A new project for my sewing room

Hello, everyone. Today I am sharing a photo of the first part of a new sewing project: dust covers for my machines. The sewing studio is not a large room, like some of the ones we can see in Youtube that are garage conversions. This room is a smallish bedroom in an ordinary house. The machines all live together on a table, and to keep down the feeling of being crowded I decided to make these new ones the same color as an older one that is already there: purple. This is the cover for my server.

11I took an idea from a lady on Youtube, if I remember, I will give a link to her video when I can work with my desktop again. She not only has matching dust covers for her multiple machines, she has included a pocket for the operating manual on the cover. That way it is always easy to find. I put the serger book pocket on the back of the cover, because the front has various shapes in the profile. I think the other covers will have the book pocket in the front so I can see it. Fabric: quilting cotton in an Australian themed dot print for the fronts. Plain purple cotton for the ends and back. Plain cream quilting cotton for the lining and every scrap of batting in the stash for structure. Golden porthole mesh for the pockets. Some of this is from stash, but the dotted print is from my favorite local quilt shop, A Block Away. The pieces of the covers are being quilted before assembly. Quilting a three dimensional object would just be too difficult!

Recap of pilgrimage 2021: Leon

 Hello, everyone.

During our one partial day in León we did rather a lot of errands: we walked to the Oficina de Turismo and got a map of the downtown area. Then we walked across the bridge to the K2 Planeta store and picked up our (ordered in advance) poles. Then we went to the Benedictine alberbue near the French Way entrance to the city and picked up our San Salvador credenciales. And then we strolled around a bit and found the museum about the ancient Roman era of León's history.

The Centro de Interpretation, I think it was called, incorporates some of the ancient walls into the building. (Not the only building that does that.) This is a view of a part of the walls with some other remains. It's looking down from the walking space on top of the walls.

The museum also had an interpretation of what the Roman soldiers' quarters might have been like...give or take some curtains, pillows and mattresses, and electric lighting. It's not that dissimilar from a modern pilgrims' albergue in many ways.

As this was the first "puente" weekend in a long, long time, the folks were going in for some festivities. They had made a flower painting on the plaza next to the Cathedral.

They also had an outdoor festival of sorts, fenced in and with door-dragons making sure that everyone who entered the outdoor area of booths was properly adorned with a mascarilla.

When we sat down to eat, we had a tabla of charcuterie: various cured meats and some cheese, along with bread and red wine. 

After we ate, being dog-tired by this time, we went back to our room and collapsed into bed.

My Dirty Girls

 Hello, everyone.

Today I want to show off my wonderful sand gaiters: an outer layer that keeps rocks and sand from getting into your shoes.

This is one of my pair of Dirty Girls. There is a little hook, visible here, and a little bit of hook-and-loop, not visible, at the back of the shoe. The lady's shop has a number of different patterns in the fabric, I chose the Camino one as y'all can see. 

While on the Camino Primitive, we met a lady from Germany who also has Dirty Girls, in a black and red sort of splash or flame pattern.

They work. Aside from a couple of bits of weed that worked their way up the side once, I had no foreign objects get into my shoes. And there was a lot of dirt, sand, and gravel to cross! 

This is also a closer view of the Speedgoat 4 shoes that were written about in my last post.

Sixteenth update on pilgrimage 2021: honor to trustworthy companions

 Hello, everyone. 

Today I wish to honor our faithful companions--indeed our very guardians agaist catastrophe: our hiking poles.

These faithful aids were there for every scary moment. They kept us from falling numerous times. And now, since we have passed them on to aid other pilgrims on the Camino, I want to honor their service. 

They were the balancing aid on rocks both ascending and descending. They gave us needed information about muddy patches. Once they spotted a missing board on a bridge. Imagine if the pole had not gone before in the overgrown weeds and discovered the missing board! 

Thus I honor their service.

They were bought from K2 Planeta sports shop in Leon, before we started walking on the Ruta San Salvador. They proved their worth over and over, going up and down on the Salvador, then up and down on the Primitivo. 

Today we delivered them to the volunteers at Pilgrim House in Santiago, to be passed along to other pilgrims who need poles.

New stuff

 Hello, everyone.

As things go, one of the plastic legs on my keyboard broke. (I loved that keyboard!)

As y'all can see, the little plastic pin that holds the leg out gave out, and tape was required just to use the keyboard. (I used some of my sewing tape as it was not too wide for the job.)

Sigh. I loved the feel of the old keyboard, and I was used to the amber backlight that told me the keys were powered up even if nothing was going on elsewise. 

After reading about keyboards in the internet and hunting about for a mechanical keyboard to replace the broken one, I settled on a Logitech one at Best Buy. I had it delivered because it's a headache to deal with curbside pickup for small things. 

The new keyboard doesn't have the row of game oriented keys that were on the left edge of the old one--which I never used--and so it's an inch or two shorter across the front. As a bonus it also has a plug where the mouse can be attached and then a unified cable bundle carries the signals down to where the cable splits and each half goes into its own USB plug. I figure that it will keep down the amount of potential back-of-desk tangling that goes on.

The picture may not make it completely obvious, but the new keyboard has a white backlight thing going on. It came set so bright that I had to turn it down a couple of levels! Who wants a keyboard light so bright that they can practically read a paperback book by it?

A program note: sewing projects and embroidery projects are going on around here and I intend to describe them over the next few posts.

A little sewing

Hello, everyone.

Last week, before the storm hit, there was a little bit of sewing accomplished.

DH had said he wants to have another mask. (This brings him to three.) I thought I'd make one for myself, too, and the piece cut from the cranes fabric turned out to be large enough for two. These are all a larger size than the pattern called for, the flowers at 9.5" wide and the others at 9.75", I think. I underlined all of them with some gray voile that has been lying around the sewing space for years. 

If travel to Spain ever opens up--the news media seem determined to panic-monger their way into no one ever being allowed to travel ever again!--I will get to decide which one or two masks gets to go with me. 

The plan is, use common sense and courtesy. This works out to carrying a mask and if the people in an area are wearing them, pull it out of the pocket and put it on. (That's the courtesy part.) There is also the abiding thought that perhaps this is not the year to really try to stay in the group bunk houses (albergues) and where there is a pensión or similar, stay there instead. (That is the common-sense part.) I remember that the county west of ours, even before masks became a "thing" in our area, was very much into wearing them to contain germs during the current outbreak of "stuff." It is my thought that if a village or town is wearing the masks, even if there isn't a law requiring it, courtesy recommends the rule of St. Augustine: "when in Rome, I do as the Romans do."

A little project, embroidered and sewn

Hello, everyone.

Recently I noticed that the poly lense wiping cloth that came with some pair of glasses or another, and lives in my purse, had lost its clear plastic case. It was just sitting there, possibly collecting grit to scratch the lenses with. That won't do.

There is an assortment of poly satin fabric in the stash. I picked out a color and decided to embroider a small motif onto the small bag. (Wanted to have a larger one on the front and a smaller one on the flap.)

There is a small flower in the included files of my Janome MC500e and I decided to do it in red, white and blue on navy blue satin. I used iron on woven stabilizer as the sole stabilizer, and topper on the surface. (Pellon Shape-Flex, which is iron-on, stable, and light weight.) Possibly there should have also been some cutaway as well? there is a bit of rippling.

The front of the pouch. 

Inside view with the cleaning cloth.

View of the flap from outside. The flap design was shrunk a bit in the planning stage with the software.

The hem was done with a decorative stitch on my (made by Janome) Kenmore computerized sewing machine. 

The project came out reasonably well and would make a nice stocking stuffer. 

This sewing machine is one of the older computerized type, where there is pre-stored info that you select from, but no availability to add more via computer cable. 

It works well, but it has no adjustment for the presser foot pressure. "It's automatic!" as the trendy marketing people say. (More like, it's preset to one level and you had better like it.) Other than that quibble, I like it. This machine was why my newer sewing machine was also made by Janome: HD3000 not in some cool color but in the basic white. 

 

Finished a project

Hello, everyone.

The old Aggie Bag that has been going with me on so many trips is getting a bit old. More to the point, I recently used it on a trip where my only luggage was a backpack, carried on. The Aggie Bag was a big to carry on as the pack, and so I proceeded gingerly down the aircraft aisle with a big round thing held in front, the bag, and a big round thing in back, the pack. It was doable but not really desirable, if y'all know what I mean.

I have been learning about my beautiful gift from Santa (I understand that there is now a newer, bigger version on offer instead) and found a project on Sew4Home to practice the embroidery on. It involved buying new thread...oh boy, more stuff that has to find a home!...and embroidering a design, then using the embroidered fabric in a tote bag. The tote is a good size to hold my tablet, DH's tablet, and some few odds and ends...assuming one also has a waist bag, it will work I think.

Yesterday it was finished.

This is the zipper added to the top, to keep the contents from spilling out all over my feet during a plane flight, and discourage strangers from exploring the bag. It is a purse zipper, from stash. I looked around and used one of the various tutorials to create the zipper facings and attach it. The bulk of the bag made things a bit difficult.

The print used for the sides and the zipper facings is from stash--it's left over from a set of half-circle gathered swags at the Former Abode. Or maybe it was a sample piece left from the decision making at that time? The white used is a fake-linen piece (poly) and I used Stay-Flex for the interfacing. The rest of the interfacing was iron on fleece. Maybe I should have gotten some of the Decor Bond that was recommended. Speaking of bulk under the needle of the sewing machine! But I didn't want to add yet another pile of half-used stuff to the sewing studio.

The embroidered side. It is an open pocket. I lined it with a white on white cotton print, so the lining wouldn't show through the white panel. As y'all can see, I didn't go with the suggested leather handles. (Really? Stiff leather handles for something that has to tuck in by my feet in those tiny airplane seats? Don't think so!) I made straps out of some solid cotton that matches one of the colors in the printed fabric, padded with some iron on fleece, and stitched into the seam between the top edge of the bag and the rest of it.

I also added a zippered pocket on the back side. With only a little bending and folding, boarding passes could fit here. Passport would go with no trouble at all. And of course! the credencial. When ever we get to return to the Camino path, that is! The zipper here is an invisible zipper from stash.

About that new thread: it's Auriful 80 weight cotton. It comes on a wooden spool. Of the three spools I got, one has a snag on the edge. It catches the thread while sewing. And, being very, very thin thread, I had to lower the top tension on the machine a lot to get the project to sew out reasonable well. There are 2 failed attempts now in stash, and DH says they're cute too and look like quilt blocks to him. We'll see what turns up. The stitching pulled in when it was done. And because of the snag and the tension issue, there were a lot of thread breaks. I'm not at all sure this thread is for me.

On the plus side, Fat Quarter Shop had really fast service. (Thread link above is to their site.) And lots of colors of thread, too!

After a short hiatus, a look at how the other (northern) half lives

Hello, everyone.

I went out of town for a few days and discovered how it feels to be in actual cold. (And this was in good weather for up there!)

I am told that in warm weather many waterfowl come to this pond. There is a strolling path around the water, and people were using it.

While riding on the roads there, I did see a couple of sand-hill cranes. They were standing right next to the pavement! Their long necks and their bright red flashes above the eye were impressive.

A late-winter warm spell came while I was there and melted the top layer of ice on the pond.

There is still ice there, but it looks like water now. One goose was gingerly stepping out onto the ice to see if it was swimmable yet.

In the spring these folks will have the famous spring bulbs of the temperate zone to enjoy, like drifts of daffodils and spreading zones of tulips in many colors. In south Texas neither one grows. Also no crocuses!

Photos were taken with my Samsung 5 cell phone. It's not bad for a phone camera. I do still prefer either my Canon point and shoot (new, 10 ounces) or my slightly heavier Canon camera (older, 12 ounces) that was taken on all of our Camino de Santiago walks so far. The new point and shoot camera's first outing was the Israel pilgrimage. It has 40X optical zoom. Sadly, it also has a completely different battery size than DH's Canon point and shoot. But I forgive it, as even with the extra charger to carry it's likely that the weight overall is the same and it doesn't stick out from my waist in its carry pouch like the other does. Larger carry pouches, and larger batteries and chargers, also weigh more than smaller ones.

Sewing: using a mundane shirt pattern for a hiking shirt

Hello, everyone.

I strolled through the posts of the Camino Portugues from 2015 and discovered that, while I have a picture of this blouse in action, it didn't make the blog.

This blouse was from a Burda magazine pattern. It has short sleeves, a keyhole front neck, and is otherwise a straightforward blouse.

The solid was a lightweight poplin, sadly with  DWR coating, easy to cut but did like to fray a bit. The mesh, seen in this photo being fitted with some stabilizing fabric before being attached to the bottom part of the back, was a stretch mesh. Like the poplin it was from Fabric.com.

I added a back yoke to the blouse by cutting the back bodice piece in two, then added seam allowance to the bottom part where the cut was, and to the top part, and then tracing a longer piece with a hem allowance. The top part, which was underneath, was cut from the mesh for breathability. The longer piece, which was over the mesh, was of the main blouse fabric. It was sewn at the shoulders and sleeve and of course at the neck. The hemmed top piece was tacked in the middle of the back so it wouldn't fly all over. (I did mention that the fabric was lightweight!)

Overall, the works well. The fabric is semi-sheer so works better with a light colored bra underneath. It doesn't breathe other than the mesh panel in back, because of the DWR coating mentioned above. Also the little keyhole in front wasn't easy for me to get just right on the button loop size. (Button loop was made from a piece of the blouse fabric, just a simple bias tube.)  But I found a button that worked with the loop I had.

Other times I have tried this trick haven't worked as well. It's important to consider what kinds of stabilizer you're using in seams. This goes double if you're adding in extra pockets! It's also, I think, better to use a blouse pattern than a tank pattern--well, if you have one of the Saf-T-Pockets tank patterns you're good to go. Those pockets are worked out already. Just use a lightweight fabric, preferable breathable.

It's fun to make gear for the Camino. It uses up stash if you already had some mesh or ripstop around the place, and it lets you think about the next Camino you're going to walk.