Who Chopped Down the Cherry Tree?

We did. A year after we moved into this house, we planted a cherry tree in the backyard. Within a few years, it was bearing fruit and the garden was lush. When Menachem started working at camp, our garden went downhill. Either the cherries had some fungus or the squirrels got them first. We got to pick very little fruit. Then a few years ago, the tree itself got sick and started dying. Menachem cut back the sick branches but the tree kept rotting. We decided to cut it down. Yesterday Menachem took reciprocating saw to the tree and other than a 3' high stump, the tree is gone. We're still undecided what to do with the stump. I want to put either birdhouses or planters on it. Menachem wants to cut it shorter and use it as a base for a bench. It will probably just stand there as a sorry looking stump.
Our next task is to take apart the brick planter we made several years ago. The bricks have disintegrated. The question is what to do with the bricks and residue. I think we'll smash them and use them as a crushed brick surfacing for the walkway between our house and our neighbours'.
Also, our grass is awful and we have to decide whether to rototill the lawn and start over or just reseed the bad spots.
So we'll be doing prep work and major cleanup until the Victoria Day weekend when we may plant some annuals.

Shaving Cream Marbling on Fabric

I have heard about this for ages and wanted to try it out. And since I am showing the technique at my next FibreArts Toronto meeting which I am hosting, I figured I should try it out in advance. Devora came over on Friday night (I think it was Friday because with all of the chagim [holidays], I've kind of lost track of time.
Menachem had purchased the shaving cream, I had leftover Procion "H" dyes from the silk painting class I took about 5 years ago, and cotton fabric. So I improvised the rest -- I made the rakes from hairpins clipped onto stiff plastic and tried dripping the dyes, first by shaking from a stick and then by sucking the dye into a straw (taking care not to let the dye reach my mouth).
The results were interesting and proof that I need to get eye droppers because if the colour "blobs" aren't big enough, the resulting marbling is very faint and subdued. Also, the bobby pins didn't make a precise "cut" through the shaving cream so the results weren't crisp enough. I will ask Menachem to make me some rakes. I look forward to the real meeting. It should be fun. And the book about marbling I bought only because it was on sale and really cheap is fantastic. I might even read it in advance of the meeting... No posts of the samples we made because I don't want to discourage anyone.

Chasal Seder Pesach (aka The Seder's Are Over)

I guess it's time to report on the Pesach Seder(s). The first Seder we hosted family: Savta Charna and Auntie Ethel, Devora and Noam, Yunkie, Mindy, Alana, Jeremy and Michelle, Alissa and Mel (Matty wasn't feeling well and couldn't make it), Charles aka Chaim, Josh and Jennifer, and Janice. So we were 17 at the table. We have a dining room table which, with leaves inserted, comfortably seats 13. Add our kitchen table to it and we can seat another 7. The dining room, though,is a little narrow so once you're seated, you're seated. The sore point in chairs -- our dining room table only has 3 chairs left (we inherited the set from my parents who bought it second hand). And of the six chairs which were part of our dining room table set purchased in 1980, only two remain and those chairs have seen better days too. So we use folding chairs, some from my parents and the rest purchased on sale at Canadian Tire. They're quite comfortable but the vinyl on some is giving out. I'm thinking of making slip covers to cover the vinyl bits (backs and seats). Right now my thought is to use a different quilt pattern for each chair. But I digress.
The Seder was nice and more importantly, the preparations leading up to it were relaxed. No anxiety. The meal was delicious -- We started with Menachem's gefilte fish and a roasted vegetable clear soup with knaidlach. Then we had three entrees: Charna's veal roast, Mindy's meatballs and Menachem's chicken. Devora made her salad, and Menachem made roasted vegetables, roasted potatoes and yams, and eggplant salad. We finished off with my mother's compote, a gorgeous fruit platter by Menachem and a medley of baked goods from Alissa. It was a lovely evening but ran later than the 8 p.m. bedtime I am used to so yesterday I was exhausted.
Last night, we were invited to Mintzy and Rafi's Seder. More of the same, only louder... Mintzy and Rafi have a Seder which is part traditional Jewish, part kibbutz seder and part, well, Mintzy and Rafi. It helps when you have a musical family (not that ours isn't musical but theirs is participatory musical). Some of their traditions are different from ours but I am always blown away that Jews everywhere are sitting down at the same time for the same purpose. It was festive, of course, and when Stephen and Dee announced that "they" were pregnant, even more so. Another late night for us.
And since I worked yesterday and will work again today (Josh is going to Vancouver tomorrow, there's a closing today and we're trying to tie up loose ends before he goes), no recovery time until the weekend.
I am hoping to finally get around to shaving cream marbling this weekend and will let you know how it goes.

Tanach Book Cover

At the local Associated Hebrew School, there is a ceremony in third grade, coinciding with Shavuot, when the kids receive their bibles. It is a tradition for the parents/family to decorate a fabric book cover. At Jeremy's pre-bar mitzvah Shabbat dinner, his aunt Susan (my sil's sil) mentioned that she had to do the cover, had missed the school's how-to suggeston session and didn't know where to start. I offered to help asking only that she give me some idea of what her son, Mitchell, wanted. Mitchell wanted two images: Noah's ark and Mose's tablets on Mount Sinai.
Susan and her daughter, Julia, came over a few weekends ago and we started with Noah's ark based on an image from the internet. The ark had no animals which is a good thing -- I'm not THAT good at representational... It was an image of an ark on water but with a rainbow in the background. I explained to them about fusibles. They chose the fabric combinations from my stash and then we cut and fused and did a little stitching to hold the design together. It was not yet attached to the cover.
This past weekend, Susan returned with Mitchell to work on the second image. This one was almost totally Mitchell's design of Mount Sinai. He chose the fabrics, we ironed fusible onto them, he drew the elements onto the back of fusible, and Susan cut them out. We made the tablets by printing the Hebrew letters onto freezer-backed fabric run through the laser printer and heat set them by ironing. Once Mitchell had arranged the composition on the book cover background, I fused it down and added some stitching to hold it. Same goes for Noah's ark, to which we added a dove with the branch in its beak.
I had a thoroughly enjoyable time sharing my stitching know how. While I may have experienced some discomfort from letting go the reins, any imperfections perceived by me were overridden by the happy look on Susan and Mitchell's faces. (Susan also brought me a lovely gift which I will used at the Seder).

At the FAT meeting, Christine's challenge piece for "spring" was an image of coils, done in a holographic style. I am quite taken with the idea and may try to duplicate it. My great grandmother's Shabbat candelsticks come to mind.

Spring

Tomorrow is our FibreArts Toronto meeting. The challenge is "Spring". In the end, after comtemplating spring rolls, spring fever, watch springs, and a whole list of other springy items and concepts, I decided to go with green. So I used a background of green silk from a dress of Carmit's detritus, spelled out the word "spring" in green fabrics, added green flowers from a fake Hawaiian lei, beaded in green, stitched in green, et voila "Green They Say" (from the lyrics).
I had it hanging in my office exhibit last week (including the 17th where people thought the flowers were shamrocks).

Anyways, back to spring. Today I got a little spring cleaning in. After all, Pesach is coming. I have two fridges in my kitchen, from the days when the kids lived at home and one fridge and certainly it's freezer weren't enough. So when we redid the kitchen, we bought another fridge and I insisted that they both be in the kitchen, side by side. It worked out well when the kids lived at home. Since they're gone, the only time we really need both fridges is the holidays when we get the entire family together. So today, I cleaned the "empty" fridge, transferred the food to it and cleaned the other fridge so now we're ready for our holiday shopping which we'll do at the end of the week and our holiday cooking which we'll tackle next Sunday & Monday. Of course, once you clean one thing, you see how the other things need it as well... So I will do the oven overnight and soak the stove elements overnight and finish them tomorrow. When the urge to clean comes, I mustn't repress it becomes it comes so infrequently.

Anyhow, off to watch TV and veg.

Undecided

I can't figure out what to do with this one. It seems unfinished to me but I'm not sure how to go forward. My sister says she likes it as is. What do you think?

Tzedakah Box

This is the Tzedakah Box I made for the Pomegranate Guild's upcoming exhibit.
It is made using flexi-firm to give it body, the base fabric is duppioni silk, overlaid with organza. The roof appears thatched -- it is made using a ribbon with a cross-hatch and sequins (that's the way it came). It is embellished with stone from a deconstructed belt and the door handles are from deconstructed jewellry. The money goes in through the peak of the roof and the bottom comes out for easy emptying.