Poppy made with a fork
Category Archives: Work
A recent Friday
A couple of weeks ago, I had a nice day. It was a quiet day at work that was topped off with taking a few of our residents out to the water fountain.
It was a nice day weather wise.
Then after work, I went to a fabric sale which was a fund raiser for the Canadian Costume Museum. I didn’t need more fabric so I was good and only bought one chunk.
I wasn’t totally good though….
I bought…
All of these things will go together to make a seamstress chatelaine.
I bought a helper for my sewing table.
I also bought a real antique. Any guesses what it is?
I’ll show you. You pull on the loop to pull out the insides.
Select the one you want and fold the other one back. Slide the chosen hook back into the handle and ta-da! A crochet hook.
These hooks are microscopic! Basically the thread would be sewing thread thickness. I don’t know if my old eyes will be able to manage this!
Good day, wasn’t it!
More Masks
I send activity care packages, weekly, to my seniors in my club. (COVID has shut down the club I work in). This week, I decided to get them ready for the second wave. (Our first wave has been easy breezy…I think our luck will run out soon).
I hauled my machine to work and emptied out my stash a bit and got sewing.
Once they were all sewed up I got them ready for mailing.
I think they turned pretty well. There was some fun fabric that I hope will encourage them to use them when they are out on the town.
Stay safe folks.
Sun catchers
I mail little gifts and puzzles and reading materials to the seniors I work with as they isolate at home. These were fun but a bit stinky (toxic?)
I preheated my oven to 350°. Then I lined muffin tins with parchment paper. I assembled plastic faceted beads in each cup and heated for 18 minutes. I settled on 18 minutes because at 20 minutes they were melted to the point I need to drill holes. At 18 minutes there are the odd holes for strings.
I took them out of the oven and let cool for 10 minutes. They popped out of the pan easily. Then I pealed the parchment paper off.
I gathered the info for this project over several easy to find sites and YouTube videos. Some did the same procedure with pony beads, some used cake pans, some used higher heat.
I’d recommend 350°, lots of ventilation and checking the project in the oven every 5-10 minutes as different ovens, project sizes, bead brands and desired effect will effect the results.
Gifts for my socially isolating seniors
Went a bit crazy with these.
Completed project:why?
Meet Humphrey the Humungus Hummingbird.
I found a pattern meant for seed beads and decided to use massive beads…the massive size made it easier to work with while I figured out the pattern.
I will hang it in the windows at work. Now that I see how it goes together, I will make it in the correct size. I also want to see if I can adapt it to different types of birds. The beads used for Humphrey would make an awesome Macaw for example.
CHA: Craft hoarders annonimous
Hello. My name is Wanda and I am a craft hoarder. After 2 months of abstinence, I succumbed to the wiles of my favorite dealer (Michaels) and fell of the wagon. I went into that den of temptation with out my sponsor and best friend.
I was able to abstain because of COVID 19. But after 2 months of Netflix and playing every game we own, I was set free in an open store! oh the ephoria!
As an aside… I made these for my seniors. I can’t take credit for the idea. That was Pinterest.
Life hack: ear saver
I’ve seen a few ideas for saving your ears from the masks we are wearing in health care and else where.
There are surgical caps with buttons next to the ears (the mask elastic is hooked over the buttons).
There was a mass of headbands at work and I thought it was folks trying to hide weaves and hair dye that had grown out. Nope they have buttons on them just like the surgical caps.
There are these plastic strips with hooks on them. They are worn at the back of the head and the bands are hooked on them. I can’t use those. My hair would get caught and I’d need to cut them out!
Some women are making two little buns near their ears with their hair and hooking the elastic bands over those. I feel too old for that look.
Here is my hack….I wear my hair in a pony tail at work and now I add two small barettes behind my ears. When not wearing mask they are not very noticeable. They stay in my hair so I’m not hunting for them like I think people might be with the plastic strips.
The bands hook nicely over them.
The easiest way to remove the mask, is to pull the elastic off of the mask. It will then slide off without getting hooked.
Hope this helps someone else!
Donation at work
I work in a nursing home that at one time was a Veteran’s hospital. There are many memorial style donations and last week I noticed a new one.
It is a quite large replica of a Swedish war ship.
The detail is impressive!
Until next time, keep virus-free.
It makes me laugh
Just a couple of random stories that show my warped sense of humor.
As you know, I work with seniors who have dementia. This week we played a game I call “Gone Hunting”. I drew a bear on a white board and had my peeps shoot him with a Nerf gun.
Right over the bear we have a clock hanging.
Every time they hit it, I said they were killing time. And since they have dementia, it was hilariously funny EVERY TIME!
My other funny story is I’ve been to the dentist today. I’m not a fan. I’ve had some bad ones that really should have been working in a dungeon under a medieval castle. That is saying a lot for me. As a migraine sufferer, I have a very high tolerance for pain…but not in the mouth.
This has lead to years of avoiding the bastards profession all together. Anyway, I sucked it up because I know that avoiding them is yet another bad health decision on my part. This new dentist doesn’t want me avoiding her for years so for my cleaning she took pity on me and froze me up. I now can’t smile properly…
And my kissy face has lost its sexual appeal…
So if this were the Victorian era I’d probably NEVER see a dentist unless I absolutely had too. If I can be a baby with dentistry with the liberal use of freezing, imagine what I’d be like if dentistry consisted of a blacksmith/farrier with a pair of pliers and a strong set of biceps.
