Descendants- the documentary

 Much information was derived and discovered from the Descendant documentary.   A must see for anyone interested in genealogy and African American history.

 

Descendant, an Oscar short-listed film is about the descendants of the survivors of the Clotilda, the last known ship to carry enslaved Africans to the Americas. The film centers on Africatown, a community in Mobile, where Clotilda survivors and their families bought land and built a life. Descendant explores the historical legacy of slavery here in Alabama, and how the impact of environmental harm continues to disproportionately fall on people of color.

Sierra Club

sponsored this FREE screening to Birmingham, including appetizers and refreshments along with live jazz music by Daniel Jose Carr.

Following the film, there was a panel discussion and Q&A with folks featured in the film along with direct descendants of the survivors of the Clotilda.

Though I didn't remain for the panel discussion, I learned much from the documentary. Though the movie shows numerous discoveries that were made following the location of the sunken Clotilda and descendants rejoicing, there is much more that will need to be investigated and legalities that need to be put into place.

That's it 🚢🚢🚢

 

Sewing Table Refresh

 The plans were big. The enthusiasm, Great! How hard could it be?

The plan was to place wheels underneath the legs so that I could roll my portable sewing machine to any room or in front of any sunny window to sew.  Sunny daylight is my favorite way to sew. 

It was my plan to drill holes in the bottom of the legs and screw in 4 wheels  and then to paint the table. But, when I checked, the legs had metal furniture glides underneath. I tried removing them using various tools but to no avail. I looked at  cup shaped casters with brakes that I might be able to set the legs in and screw on some way. They cost more than what I wanted to spend on a $13 table.

Finally, I found second hand U-shaped wheels with brakes on Amazon. Brakes are necessary to steady the table while I'm sewing. Otherwise, it'll scoot all over the place.

U-shaped casters

Here I am prepping things so that I can get started. 

51 second video

I did a post not to long ago  about the scandal that involved the Morse sewing machine company. I also talked about the facelift on my ~ 1950-60s sewing machine.  

The sewing machine facelift.

For some time I've wanted to try chalk paint. Since there was some blue in the pattern I went with  Waverly Night Sky. 

Washed down the table and then began painting. No additional
prep was needed before painting. 

Unfortunately, the leg bottoms were too large to fit the casters. So, I sanded them down, planning to complete each one with an appropriate sized screw to go on each side of the holes in the casters.

Placing the first leg on the table.  (18 second video)

This is when things started going downhill. I spent a lot of trial and error time trying to make the wheels fit on the table legs. When I finally sat the sewing machine on the table, two of the wheels collapsed. 

    

The results (28 seconds)

I was done. I'd been working on this project periodically from November 2022 until March 2023. The huge gaps of time were because of my frustration and trying to think of another tactic. Finally, I threw in the towel. I loaded the table into my vehicle and took it to the dump.  

Answers to your possible questions.

A. Why didn't I get someone to do this for me?  

    1.  I wanted to see if I could do it myself.

   2. I've been "burned" in the past when I got someone to repair something for me off site. 

 B. Why didn't you use the right tools such as hammer, nail, saw.

      1. I didn't want to add tools I knew I would probably never use again, and obviously I'm not good with carpentry.

C. How much did you spend? (some prices approximated)

     Sewing table                               $13.00

     Waverly Paint                               15.36

      Wheels/ casters                              9.93

       Screws                                            .59

       Extra wood                                   4.00

       TOTAL                                      $42.88 

It's all a learning experience.

That's it ***

Dried flowers and Greenery-SHORT

It was a  beautiful basket of flowers sent in condolence.  The colors were so bright and cheerful even at a gloomy time.

I've dried hydrangea blooms before . I decided to try my hand at these.

Greenery and blooms were dried for about 8 weeks.

The Results

The fragile flowers were unable to withstand

drying. Nor did I want to try pressing them inside a book. The roses did well.

                                                                            Greenery and what was a red rose. The greenery took on a silvery, sage hue. 

I may place a few glass beads in the bottom of each vase.

That's it***