Making a basket of scrap fabric

In general I have far to much scrap fabric or rather the box I use to store it in is full and I've decided not to get a bigger one. Mostly as a nod to minimalism but mostly since crafting supplies have a way of multiplying if I'm not careful. 

Since I also kind of want something to keep project tools in while I'm working on a project but that can  easily be stored away when I'm not. Something to keep needles and thread in. I have been seeing these little folding baskets in some stores so I'll try making one.

Materials

Fabric: Two square pieces, mine are cotton 22×22 cm 

Four snapp fasteners.

For the handle either two rectangular pieces of fabric 5×24 cm or one could use a piece of ribbon instead. Or ignore it completely, the handle's not integral.

Also normal sewing supplies like thread, scissors, needle or sewing machine.

Instructions

First iron the fabric, measure out and then mark up the pieces before cutting them out. As I said I'm doing 22x22 because that's is the largest I can do with the amount of blue fabric but it can be made bigger or smaller. The important thing is that the handle pieces are slightly longer than the basket pieces.

To make the handle pin the handle pieces together inside out. Sew along the edges to turn it into a tube and turn it right side out.

Iron it again and then sewing again along the edges, this last one is mostly just to make it look nice. But it's a small thing. 

I then took the two square pieces again pinning them together inside out. Remember to place the handle in the middle going from one edge to the other. Let it be a little loose since it needs to be folded around the edge. I did not remember this and pinned it to the outside first unfortunately I had already sewed it together before I realized.

So I unpicked it re pinned it and sewed it along the edge same as the handle. Though since it needs to be turned I din't sew all the way. I then turned it right-side out before ironing it again, making sure to fold in the open unsewed part. Then sewed along the edges. Again mostly for neatness but it also because it closes the opening. Sewing under the handle was a bit tricky but it was worth it for the visual. I should say since I'm doing two different color fabrics I had to match the over- and under thread to them. 

I then pulled up the corners and pinned them in a way that looked nice. I used that to measure out  where I wanted to put the snap fasteners. In my case that was 3,5 cm from the edge and 1 cm down. Placing one at each side of the corner. Then all that was left was sewing on the fasteners. 

Result

This is a nice little project that I finished in a few hours. As a basket it works well when sitting on a table but the bottom is a bit to soft for carrying it around. It works but it's not that great. If I make another one I might put a piece of cardboard in it. But then I wouldn't be able to fold or roll it up when I'm not using it. I also didn't know how big the bottom would be. With 22 cm pieces it's bottom is only 12 cm so while it works well I can't fit my big scissors in it. So I'd probably make it a bit bigger. 

Bloody aquisitions by Drew Hayes

Disclamer this book is the third in the series. If you haven't read the previous check out my review of the first one here.

Plot

A new clan of vampires (the house of Turva) are moving to Winslow. Meeting the local big wigs and investigating any vampires who lives there. Having heard rumors about Fred and his exploits they are naturally curious. Except the rumors are though not wrong certainly taken out if context. Fred, who so far has had very limited and mostly violent interactions with other vampires, are not happy about this development. He is even considering leaving Winslow to avoid them. 

Even so unlife goes and between helping friends move, and work he is quite busy. Apparently there was a severe lack of accountants and now Fred and his assistant are swamped with more work than they can handle. 

Then The House of Turva asks for a meeting.

My thoughts

Again this is a collection of shorter stories these ones however are more connected than the earlier books which is why I'm describing the overarching plot rather than the first story like I've done for the others. The second story is basically just the gang traveling to a small town and Fred considering moving there. It works well in the book as a whole but not as a stand alone story.

Like the others this expand on the bodybuilding mostly it give some more insight to how vampires work. Fred who haven't really met one before (unless one count Quinn trying to kill him) and hadn't realized how out of the norm he was. Now we see just how ruthless vampire clans can be and we get a bit more insight into why vampires in particularly are feared and mistrusted. It does do this in a rather nuanced way. It could easily have gone the route of all vampires are evil except for Fred. Instead it introduced Lilian who is part of Turva and sent there to spy on him but ends up befriended instead.

There is also a bit more considerations to the long term. Most of the main characters are sort of immortal though still young Fred has only been a vampire for maybe two years but it's nice that they are starting to acknowledge it. 

But mostly everything I liked about the last ones still apply for this one. 

If you have read it what did you think? Leave a comment. If you haven't read it you can check it out here:

Amazon

Bokus

Adlibris

Save money #2 Most things can be frozen

Living in a one person household my main reason for food-waste is things going bad before I can finish them. I don't mean past the expiration date I mean them growing mold. This doesn't just apply to things forgotten in the back of the fridge but also to things I eat regularly. This could to some extent be solved with preservatives but enough people avoid that for food producers to follow along. They proudly declare being preservative free which for me means that my pesto starts growing mold when the jar still half full even when stored in the fridge.
This is annoying since buying larger packages are often cheaper but not if you can't use them. Not to mention that some things are just hard to buy a small amount of. Last time I made soup I bought a thing of broccoli and celery but only used about half of it. 
To solve this I have turned to freezing as much of my food as I can. After using as much of a produce as I need I cut up the rest put then in containers and freeze them. With a freshly defrosted freezer there are lots of room for them. This also allows me to later take out only a little bit depending on what I'm making I can put in the whole container or just a few pieces. This also makes future cooking faster since I don't need to cut it up then. 
So far I have found that there are very few foodstuffs that can't be frozen. Here are a few and my experience of using them.

Carbs

Bread and cake: (I bake my own and usually make two loaves at a time one goes in the fridge for eating and one in the freezer for later). 
pasta and rice: works well but shouldn't be kept too long.
Potatoes: this is one of the things that doesn't freeze well. 

Herbs, vegetables or fruits

All these has worked fine. They do unfortunately loose some of their structure and crunch so while they are excellent in stews, stir-fry, pie or anything that's heated I would't use them for a salad.

Meat or dairy

Meat: works fine though we are talking storing it for months rather than years. 
Milk: takes a long time to thaw but that's all just remember to take it out a day or two before you need it and let it thaw in the fridge.
Cheese: works well. When it becomes difficult to cut for sandwiches I usually freeze it and save it to be grated the next time I need it.
Yogurt and similar: doesn't work it loose all structure becoming grainy.

These are some things I could think of on the top of my head but for anything specific you can always just google it.

A florentine diary from 1450 to 1516 By Luca Landucci

About 

This is what it sounds like a diary written in late 15th to the early 16th century written by a regular citizen. Landucci was an apothecary in Florence. This isn't a day to day account and was clearly collected at a later point there are notes that reference details that wouldn't be known until later. 

My impression was that he was middle to upper middle class. Its a bit hard to tell since there isn't that much personal. For example there are no notes about his children being born though some of them are mentioned later but not until they are adults. Most of the notes are news the fluctuation price of grain or goods, the politics of the city, or other countries. Crimes that happened and wars between various Italian countries and with France. Along with several plots involving the Medicis.

Also way more people getting hanged from windows. Like this seems to be something that happened at least every few years. 

My thoughts

How this has been preserved is interesting when so many other books has been lost to time.  I can see this being very useful for historians. Not so much for mentioning events. But about taxes and the price of various food stuffs. The reason the events might be less useful is how little information there is about anything that happened. The book is quite short considering how much time it covers. Some years are described in as little as half a page though some some others have 30 pages. There are so many times when I wanted more information about things mentioned. A revolt against the Medicis but Landucci says that he doesn't know why. I might have to find some history book about the renaissance Italy and read that.

Landucci was a contemporary of Machiavelli and I read this looking for any mentioned of him. Alas there were none but there was plenty about the Borgias. Interesting he expressed no opinion about the pope having children. even though he had much opinions about other sins committed by the people he talked about. 

He was very religious and quite naive in a way that I found tiring. Of course the French aren't going to conquer Pisa for you there is no benefit for them to do so. Then the 11 January 1495 he writes about a preacher who refutes accusations against himself, claiming letters showing his support for the Medici was a forgery. Landucci ends this with saying he has always stood by the community's unity. Has he because this is the same person that has categorically forbidden women from being present at his sermons.

All in all it is an interesting read if you are interested in history but don't necessarily need a narrative.

If you have read it what did you think? Leave a comment. If you haven't read it you can check it out here:

Amazon

Bokus

Adlibris

Improving a cat bed

My cat Tösen likes to sleep in her carrier and with winter here I moved it next to the radiator to keep her warm. This, however, also moves it into my eye-line form the couch and since it's quite ugly I decided to make a cover for it. 

I spent quite a long time looking up if there were any thing I could buy and use but nothing quite had the measurements I needed so DIY it is. I considered quite a few materials and methods but in the end I decided to make the base out of cardboard- Mostly because I had some left over from when I bought a bookshelf and it's easier than some of the other ideas I had. Also if it doesn't work then at least I haven't spent too much money for it.

My idea was to cover three sides of the carrier, leaving the front open and covering the long-, short- and a bit of the next long side. Measuring it I then added a bit just in case and because i plan to fold it and that will loose me a bit of length. All in all this comes to 100 cm long and 40 cm high. Luckily one of the pieces I had were large enough. So measuring carefully I drew it out on the cardboard then cut it out. This is a horrible material to cut. It's hard and folds and doesn't want to be cut neatly. Using an x-acto knife I could do parts but it can only really cut through one or two of the layers. 

A thing about cardboard is that it folds easily (too easily) but only in one direction, so to make it not do that except where I want it to I took more pieces and glued them on crosswise. Leaving gaps for where I wan't to fold it. I then used some books to weigh down the edges while the whole thing dries and I had a lunch break. 

Now comes the difficult part deciding on what I want it too look like. Painting it blue would be the easiest way. I have some paint left over and it would match other things in the room. Maybe too much, there is a lot of things in that general blue shade and I hesitate to add more. Another problem is the edges, which despite my best attempt are still a bit ragged. They would need to be covered with paper first and if I'm doing that I might as well do it properly and cover it with fabric. 

For now I'm doing a little test. I covered the longest side with a pillowcase. This lets me see how I like it and lets me easily try a few different colors. 

I tried black (slightly faded), pale blue and red these colors mostly because these are pillow cases I'm willing to sacrifice for this. 

Clearly black looks the best. But questions remain. Do I care to make the inside nice, I feel like I should but I don't want to. Do I want just black or should I add a pattern. Do I want decorative corners. Do I leave it just black clothe. I like the thought of using leather or metal to decorate and reinforce the corners. Luckily on the way back from the library I walked past a thrift store and found a large piece of faux leather. I plan to use it for the corners, the question is will the black leather look good with the black/dark gray fabric.

I decided that it will and so I'm going to try dark fabric and black edges. So I seam-ripped the pillow case and draped it over the cardboard, securing it with binder clips. I leaved it there for a few weeks making sure I actually like it. In the mean time I turned to other projects and to making a paper model of the edges.  

Once I decided this is something I can live with long time I used a staple gun to attach it. I laid the fabric out on the floor and laid the cardboard on top. Folding the edges over and pulling it tight as I went along. The staples aren't the most solid, if I try I can pull them out with out to much trouble. But hopefully it's enough since they wont take any pressure. For the corners, I cut them out using the templates then glued them on folding them over the corners. I then securing them with clips while it dries. 

Now for the big question will I bother to do the inside properly. Unfortunately I will have to. As you can see in the pictures the back part of the inside will be visible. I realized while testing that the fabric wasn't quite wide enough so despite most of the inside being hidden a sliver of cardboard would be visible. I just know it'll annoy me if I leave it like this. So I measured the visible cardboard on the inside and cut out a piece of the pleather that matched plus some extra for over lap and glued it on. I did this in sections letting the glue dry under weights before doing the next part. I also made sure the sides were held at the angle I wanted them to be later so the pleather helps reaffirm the 90 degree corners. 

Results

And this is how it ended up. It looks good so long as one doesn't look to closely at the inside, where some of the staples are visible. I did realize that I made the back part just a little bit to short so the short side gets pushed out of the right angle I wanted it to be. I could have added a centimeter to every side. but it works. Though some of the carrier is still there it's just mostly covered. 

This picture is a lie though. I had also moved a cat tower to stand by the radiator and Tösen immediately abandoned her carrier for the tower. I then moved the carrier into the bedroom where my other cat Mischka decided it was his so at least it's being used. But it's kind of hidden behind a shelf so its not really visible. Does this kind of make the whole thing unnecessary. Yes but that's life.  

God Emperor of Didcot by Toby Frost

 This is the sequel to Space Captain Smith. It's not really necessary to read it to understand this book but there are several recurring characters from that book.

Plot

Since Smith and his crew succeeded in their mission in the last book someone considers them competent enough to be given a new mission. Meeting the spymaster W (yes it's a James Bond reference) they are told about the vital importance of tea to the war effort. When combined with milk it's apparently the source of moral fiber. 

Now it's threatened by a religious zealot, the grand Hyrax. He is gaining a following on Didcot 4 (also known as Urn) the empires main tea producer. With backing from the Republic of New Eden, the religious fanatics that tried to kill Smith in the last book, this could be a real problem. Clearly they are going, it doesn't hurt that Didcot 4 is the planet Rhianna is on, receiving training to use her Vorl heritage. Getting there they meet up with Ws agent on Urn to start their investigation.

I But Rhianna isn't the only person on Urn. Gilead is not as dead as they thought and neither is 462. They are once again plotting planing to invade urn and breaking the morals fiber of the British.

My thoughts

Clear dune references, with tea instead of spice, the order of saint Camilla the tactile instead of the Bene Geserit. And dragons instead of sandworns. And crusades instead of a jihad. That's mostly where it ends Hyrax is the Paul analog but the Teasmen are on the side of the empire. Which is good I have read Dune and a re-skinned copy would be boring.

Like the first book there are still plenty of references but they are more considered for the plot. More woven in to serve it. The James Bond references at the beginning when they get their mission and are gathering information about the Hyrax. Of course it's still a bit of a everything and the kitchen sink but the plot is more straight forward. With less detours and the ones makes sense for the over arching plot. But I did enjoy the trip to see Suruks family even though they are a bit of a continuity error. Mostly Suruk is a predator (like the movie) and live for fighting and collecting skulls, the ones we meet in the first book were the same. Now we find out that Suruks family and supposedly all the other M'laks on Didcot 6 are living in middle-class suburbia. Of course the M'laks there aren't all there is but still it's a big change for just a few years. 

There are still blink and you miss them references like when they land on a planet for repairs and run into a mix of Lovecraft and Enid Blyton. I did like the Lovecraft one since it focused on the exact things that annoy me about his writing.  

The tea puns are a bit much though like Sam O'varr the tea priestess of the Teasmen. 

The smith Rhiannan ....romance? is something. Smith constantly thinks of having sex with her but also runs away when she tried to kiss him. I don't particularly think they would be good together but not to any point that it bothers me. Apart from sex I'm not sure what either sees in the other. 

If you have read it what did you think? Leave a comment. If you haven't read it you can check it out here Didcot.

Tips to save money #1 defrost your freezer

 I plan to make this a series with various tips the aim of them is to not only save you money but also help you live a little more environmentally friendly.

Defrost your freezer

As a bonus this also give you more room to store your food. All that permafrost can take up a lot of space. Most importantly cleaning out and putting everything back in will let you take stock on what you have. This means that you will have an easier time using it and you won't end up buying things you already have.

This is something that should be done regularly and I found once a year to be sufficient. Doing this will make your freezer work more efficiently, using less electricity and so extending the freezers lifetime. This might seem like a small saving but every little helps and its not like it's a large job.

Taking my own advise

The best time to do this is in the winter when the food can be stored outside on a balcony without thawing. Unfortunately I don't have a balcony anymore so it will need to be stored in the attic. My attic has bad insulation and with outside temperature dropping to just one degree it lies at 3,7. Cold enough that my food wont thaw. Especially since I put it in a thermal-bag.

A good advise is to, in the days, week or month leading up to this to prioritize using the things in your freezer. Limiting the amount of things to move and store. I have been doing this for the last month and it takes a surprisingly long time. I have a tendency to cook too much stew and not enough pasta or rice to go with it so as a result I have weeks worth of chili and Stroganoff and lentil stew to go through before I can even begin on the raw ingredients. There's was also some cake but that disappeared quickly.

I had some trouble getting things to line up, mostly the weather has been relatively warm for a while and when it dropped last week I took my chance even if it means that there is more food then there could be. my thermal bag is not that big hopefully it will all fit. (spoiler alert it did not).

First step in this is turning off the freezer which is harder than I feel it should be and I ended up  checking the instruction manual to make sure I had done it correctly. It was confusing since turning of the freezer also turns of the light in the fridge.

This picture is mostly for me, so I know what to do next time.

Donning some thick gloves because cold makes my hands hurt. I emptied the freezer. Despite everything some things didn't fit and I had to get my smaller thermal-bag as well as put some things in the fridge. Those are things that I wouldn't mind if they thawed. A half empty ice-cube tray I just put in the sink. I had to move things around a bit in the bags, food in Tupperware are difficult to fit efficiently even more so since some of them were half empty.

I then carried it all up to the attic and left the freezer door open, put some plastic on the floor to protect it, fixing the runoff spout and placed a bowl to catch the meltwater. I then pulled out the trays/boxes and put them upside down in the bathtub. There is some ice in them but mostly it's to improve airflow. 

13,30 I was done with the preparations and left it to melt. It was only 10 minutes later that I could hear it start dripping. There are things you can do to make this go faster. Placing a bowl of hot water in it or turning on a space-heater. I just poked at it randomly, breaking the loose bits of ice and removing them.  

Remember to keep an eye on it just to make sure it isn't dripping water everywhere. I had to empty my bowl of water three times. I also noticed that there had formed a puddle on the plastic and that it had overflowed onto the floor so that got replaced by a towel.

19,30 and I finally got rid of the last Ice. Most was gone after an hour or two apart from a thick layer of solid ice at the top. I probably could have let it thaw by itself but I fear that would have taken several more hours. So I ended up pulling out chunks by hand. 

Now all that's left is to dry of the water. Start the freezer and once it has cooled down some bring my food back in.