I made this

I’m a maker. So I make things

Apple TV remote and Zvox soundbar

Not exactly craft related, but it took me a bit to sort this out so I thought I’d leave this here for those who may need it.

This morning our Zvox sound bar and the AppleTV remote quit talking to each other.

Swearing, turning it on and off and just randomly stabbing at the settings in the Apple TV menu made it worse.

This link led me to the super simple fix of resetting the Apple tv remote. Which you do by holding down the home button (on our remote it looks like a tv) and the down volume button for about 5 seconds. Nothing signals it is doing anything (no flashing lights or sounds) but when I pressed the up volume button it was magically talking to the Zvox box again.

Careful Pattern Positioning

Careful Pattern Positioning is key when creating a stenciled T-shirt | suzerspace

I’ve detailed my process for stencil painting on fabric a couple of times, but recently I decided to branch out a bit and instead of just doing one graphic, try out a pattern.

This isn’t any more complicated than repeating the basic process several times all over the shirt, but just as I was sitting down to work on this one, I had a sudden memory of a post by Sum of Their Stories about hand embroidering a sweater (she calls them “jumpers”) and working up a placement that avoided any “unfortunately placed daisies.”

Since I was also working with daisies, I very much wanted to avoid “unfortunate placement” so I first put my T-shirt on, and then using a mirror and some painters blue tape, marked off the two spots where daisies would be funny, but not work safe.

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Super Easy Graduation Garland

Quick and Easy Graduation Banner | superspace.com

It’s starting to be graduation time, and I’m ever so grateful that I have access to several thousand dollars of software and hundreds of thousands of dollars in printing equipment.

But I really don’t need it.

Here’s the simplest and cheapest way I know of to create a super easy graduation garland. This post looks like it is a lot of steps, but once you see the pattern, it’s super easy, and it’s not just limited to a graduation theme. You can make pretty much any garland this way.

You will need:

  • A computer with internet access. I bet this can be done on a tablet, but I haven’t tried, and I don’t have the patience or the eyesight to try this on a phone but if you are brave, go for it.
  • A printer
  • Some string (dental floss works in a pinch)
  • A stapler (tape would also work)
  • A Canva account.
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Visible Mending – Suzer Style

Visible Minding Couch Style | superspace.com

I have a fairly exacting day job, where if something is off by more than 1/16 of inch, there is going to be trouble. No one dies (I’m not a heart surgeon), but there is wasted material, work to be redone and general unhappiness.

This shows up in my crafting in a reversal of priorities – I prefer to work on projects that, to paraphrase Bob Ross contain “no mistakes, just happy accidents.”

So no surprise the visible mending trend makes my heart happy.  Some of it is quite formal, such as the Sashiko and Boro techniques. But some of it is more of an ordered chaos, and that’s what I really enjoy.

Conveniently, I have a need for this style of repair.  And as usual, it isn’t what you’d normally think of.

Oh, sure, I’ve dabbled with decorative stitches and iron on patches and combinations of both to repair clothes, especially Mr. SuzerSpace’s jeans. He seems to get a hole in the same spot of the upper thigh of every pair he owns (I think it’s from his laptop) and since he works from home, he at least pretends to enjoy the monsters, space aliens and “whoops it was supposed to be a robot but it looks more like the StayPuff Marshmallow Man, sorry” creations I’ve made.

But my new hobby appears to be patching the couch cushions.

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Meatless Sausage (not as weird as it sounds)

recommendations from a picky eater

Welcome to Recommendations From a Picky Eater, which may (or may not) be a recurring subject where I offer my suggestions based on a lifetime of being a picky eater.

During the height of the pandemic, we switched first to grocery pickup, and then to grocery delivery. At the time, I thought it would be temporary, in that I believed I enjoyed grocery shopping.

Turns out I can completely live without the experience. It takes a little planning so that we don’t run out of things, but overall, we are eating better, saving money (fewer impulse buys) and definitely saving time.

There are only two items that I strangely cannot seem to get – my preferred brand of cottage cheese is only available in the Kansas City area at the one store that doesn’t deliver or do pickup, and my very favorite brand of meatless sausage seems to have disappeared off the earth.

I’m a vegetarian; Mr. SuzerSpace is not. We had found Tofurky Italian Meatless Sausage to be an acceptable compromise for both of us. Sometimes it is still listed in the app for the grocery delivery, but it always gets substituted, and I’m not a big fan of the alternate brand, in that I don’t think it tastes as good, is more difficult to cook and is way more expensive.

I decided to try and make my own meatless sausage, and as always, the Internet did not disappoint when searching for recipes.

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