Christmas Presents Post #3

I also rehabbed a couple of wooden Jewelry Boxes for my nieces in South Carolina.

More Christmas Present Posts

This is the new WaistCoat/Vest I made for Bernie.  He has been such a huge help to me this past year that I needed to make something tangible to show my Thanks.

Here is the full front

I can't believe how well a trim I had in my stash worked with this color.

Oh, and I mastered flat felled seams.

...And Christmas presents continue

Or "How to rehab a $.99 Thrift Store Bear using some scrap yarn and a bit of Imagination"

Before

After

Cat Scratcher

Yes, I know, last you heard I was working on an Elizabethan Corset.  It is all finished except for the fitting.  Well, I had a minor adjustment to make, then I had a medical procedure, then my Mom had a health issue (she is better) and then well...life happens.  Now it is Christmas crunch time so it will have to wait until all the presents are finished.

In the process I got a new cat.  His name is Onyx and he is not quite four months old.  He was born at the end of July.

Isn't he cute

We were up at the PetCo pet care clinic today getting his shots and first checkup.  Afterward we went shopping for a treat.  I was looking at the Scratchers and, honestly, not one of them was worth the money they were charging for them.  They were either too flimsy or too big.  So...

I decided that with an old bit of 2x4, some hemp rope and a hot glue gun I would make my own. 

Here's the beginning

Three hours later and a couple of singed fingertips (I can never use the hot glue gun without singeing myself) I have this.  Not bad, but missing something.

Into my store of Rennie feathers I go.  Some wire and a few jingle bells later and it's finished.

Onyx isn't sure what to do with it yet, but I rubbed some fresh catnip on it and I figure he will get the picture.  It can also hang from a door knob if we want it to.

Once the Christmas presents are done, I promise to get back to the corset.

Adventures in Canning

One of my best friends has three lovely apple trees in her yard and she is having a bumper crop this year.  So everyone is getting apples.  I decided to try my hand at canning.  I haven't done this since helping my Mom, very many years ago.  So, I started with something simple:  Apple Sauce.  I have made this before, only not canned it.  I started with six pounds of apples, peeled, cored and sliced then into a lemon juice and water bath.  Here are the apples.  They are small and taste like a macintosh, maybe a bit tarter.

I don't remove all the peel.  I don't mind a bit in my apple sauce

Sitting in a lemon juice and water bath waiting for the rest to be done.

I sterilized eight eight ounce jars along with their lids and rings in the large canning pot I borrowed from my Mom. 

Sterilized and waiting for applely goodness

With a lid on the canning jar so as not to loose too much heat from the water and the burner off, I started cooking down the apples.  The first couple of minutes you have to watch them carefully, so they don't scorch on the bottom of the pot.  I had the burner on a medium high heat.  These apples started to break apart in about 15 minutes.

Out came the potato masher and I broke them up.  I left them a bit chunky because I like it that way.  They were sweet enough and as I use apple sauce for a few different things, like baking, I usually don't sweeten it.  I did spice it with about a tablespoon of cinnamon and a half teaspoon each of nutmeg and clove.  I was able to fill all eight jars, leaving a half inch of space at the top, plus an eight ounce jar and a small container that I popped in the fridge.

Now for the water bath.  I brought the water in the canning jar up to a nice boil and gently, using the jar grippers, put the jars into the water, making sure there was at least two inches of water above the top of the jars.  I let them boil for 15 minutes, then took them out and placed them on a rack to cool.  Within five minutes I heard eight "pops".  They all sealed.

I know it's not sewing, but it is part of the whole getting back to hand made thing.  My sewing will start up again soon.  I have had some issues with my and my families health, plus several commission jobs that has set back my corset project.  I also need to make a new cloak for this coming weekend.

So, I hope you liked my little canning story.  There is more to come.  I'm going to try to make apple pie filling, apple butter and if I can get more apples, apple jam.

Elizabethan Corset

So, the bones are in and the (very ugly) fitting strips are basted on.  I made the fitting strips out of scraps of heavy duty cloth and some grommets.  I positioned them about where the grommets will be.  Moment of truth comes as my Husband laces me in...and it is too big!  Oh dear.

This is completely unexpected as the measurements are exactly following the pattern, but this will never hold me in and up.  I have to take it in about 1/2" to 1" on each side.  Better to know this now than when I finish it.

Here is the very ugly fitting strip.

So now I have to take it in and refit it before finishing it.

Elizabethan Corset - Boning Channels

After 2.5 hours of sewing and a persnickety bobbin at the end I finally have 28 channels, plus one channel for the busk sewn in.  First I had to mark them with pins, then traced them with a marker.  Tomorrow I need to put the bones in then sew the bias tape around the edges.

Here they are marked and drawn.

Sewing the channels.