SNAP THAT

Happy Sunday friends, I showed you the material I was working with last week for purposes of making dresses for my mom and two nightgowns (one for mom, one for me).  Now I'll show you the end products. The first dress is a palm leaf print in shades of fuchsia and purple.  Originally I made it with a round neckline. But after trying it on I thought it would be uncomfortable for mom as I cut the dress a little too small. The width also seemed slightly too small.  So I ended up adding side inserts to make the dress fuller and decided to turn the neckline into a v-neck for greater comfort.  (I've mentioned before that I don't work with patterns. That always makes working on the necklines and sleeves a bit fiddly and I end up making a  lot of adjustments to make it all work.) The second dress is a dark navy colour with slight striations of white or gray. The dress looks a bit "blah" but the material is very comfortable.  Mom doesn't like "blah" s

Happy Monday everyone! I hope you all had a wonderful weekend. I had plans to do a lot of sewing but I ended up not doing so much. Instead I was rather busy getting caught up with laundry, sweeping and washing floors, doing dishes, grocery shopping and vegetable preparation. Whenever I can, I like to wash all my vegetables and dry them before storing so they are ready to use during the week.  This helps ensure that I actually use the vegetables as sometimes I get lazy and don't feel like doing the prep when I'm actually making dinner. There are always so many vegetables that I have to soak (I use vinegar in water), rinse, dry and store so I do it in stages. Sunday night I did the green peppers, broccoli, tomatoes, romaine lettuce, cilantro and kale. The other vegetables I don't mind doing as needed; like celery, carrots, etc. Last night's dinner was stir fried vegetables with thin strips of beef and noodles. It was very good. I made a lot of it so there were left ov

These sky photos are from late last week when our weather was glorious, sunny and clear. As of last night we are back to our usual rain.  But I can't complain about the weather this winter as it seems like we've had more sunny and clear days than usual. In my last post I mentioned I planned to go fabric shopping and make my mother some new dresses.  She wanted purple and turquoise fabrics. I purchased fuchsia/purple and navy fabric and have a dress that I will alter slightly which is turquoise/black/white. The light knit jersey is the right composition (polyester and spandex blend) so it can stand up to the washing in the care home. The hand is quite soft and lovely but I fear it might be a little too flimsy. It will have to do as I can't take the fabric back.  It would probably help to make another slip or two for her to wear underneath.  She does still have the 3 slips I made a year ago but I think she wears 1 more than the others. After a year they are getti

The first few days of the year were quite hectic what with the earthquake and activities and missions in Kenya. But since then I've been taking things slowly. This year I feel the need to take care of my energy levels and rest more so I've been looking at ways I can do that yet still keep in touch with people and continue blogging. I've been spending a lot of time on organizing myself for better health and wellness. That includes all aspects of health:  physical, emotional, spiritual & mental.  I won't go into the details of each area like I've done in years passed.  That would be time consuming and I'm not into doing that this year.  I'm also not into choosing a guiding word for the year. But I do have everything clear in my mind as to what I want to work on and how that will guide my daily and monthly activities. The last week or two have been quite enjoyable. I've just been taking my time to do this and that and moving at a comfortable pace as

These first two photos were taken in East Vancouver. The first photo is taken on West Hastings Street. I noticed the medicine wheel on the side of the building and the decorative "feathers" hanging down. I think this is a health center of some kind. The second photo was taken at a skytrain (light rapid transit) station. I was trying to capture the crescent moon in both but didn't have a zoom lens with me. In fact I just used my phone camera for these shots as I was on the way to meet a friend and didn't have time to get out the larger camera. This last photo was taken the day before yesterday in Timboroa, Baringo County of Kenya.  This county is located in the Rift Valley Province. If you can pinpoint Eldoret on the map below you travel in a southeasterly direction to get to Timboroa (just past the Burnt Forest which is not on the map). Find Kericho Town on the map and travel in a northeasterly direction. From Nakuru, you would drive in a northwesterly

The start to the New Year 2016 has been a bit nice and a bit not so nice. First I start with the nice bit. I closed the year by attending my first ever performance of The Nutcracker.  Though I expected it to be good it was even nicer than I expected with all the beautiful costumes, sets and classical music. I think my favourite part was all the scenes with the Snow Czarina in them. She was beautiful and danced all on pointe.  She made look so elegant and graceful but I was thinking "Ouch!" Of course I couldn't take photos during the performance but here are a few shots taken just before show time and during intermission. There was a good crowd considering it was New Year's Eve Day. There were still a lot of good seats in one section of the Orchestra. Only a few members in the orchestra pit. I hadn't noticed these beautiful chandeliers when I went to the BC Ballet in late Fall. The final bows were taken. Now on to a not so ni

My brother and I made the journey to spend Christmas with our mother. We left early in the morning but not too, too early.  The sun was rising. But over the water there was a bit of fog. Near the City of Chilliwack you could see the sun rays peeking through the clouds. I always love the approach into Merritt as seen in photo below. As we got north of Merritt, the sky was a glorious colour and the sun was brightly shining. It was a perfect winter day. The weather was still nice as we arrived in Kamloops. Here is the view from my hotel's breakfast room the next morning. I enjoyed watching these ducks on the river while I read the paper and ate breakfast. I also enjoyed the big bear and the beautiful Christmas tree. On Boxing Day (December 26th) it started snowing in the mid afternoon.  It snowed all night long. The hotel which was very quiet the day before filled up during the snow storm as travellers sought the