Thursday, July 21, 2011

July 21: Curtains for Curtains (I hope)

It's hot already--due to be a humid, nasty one, so my plans of finishing the curtains, going for a walk for exercise and then adding a cross-and-back swim topped off by some school work seem to be right on track.

The Curtain Project has been going well: I love the material and the only place I got stymied was on mitering the corners: I finally went with a plain square corner. Bah humbug--they're GUEST ROOM CURTAINS. Sheesh. Otherwise, my standards have been high and I think things look good. I used some quilting techniques to keep things (I hope) square and straight, and I'm looking forward to a good final iron and the Big Reveal! The tabs are all done (thanks to Nate who was able to turn them inside out at great speed)and I just need to sew them onto the top hem. That might be a struggle, as there will be a lot of layers of fabric involved, but I trust my loyal Pfaff!

(Victorious?) Pics to come!

Monday, July 18, 2011

July 18: MONDAY!

Well. My addiction to leisurely mornings does complicate the rest of my life, since after a slow and indulgent morning, even one that starts at seven am, the day flies by! On my list for the day:
picking up/cleaning house
mailing C's nightie--got to post a pic of that too--And here it is:


food shopping with a menu in hand
picking up N's repaired bike, which requires mounting the bike rack on my car
a run, I think. . . maybe a swim, but probably a run
some work on either the curtains OR the dress, take 1
a Lib. Trustees meeting at 7.

WHEW! That should do it. We had a lovely weekend, featuring hot, sunny, breezy weather and lots of swimming in the river and in Green Lake, an inaugural paddle in the new-from-Mom double kayak which lasted longer than we'd expected and resulted in my first sunburn in a long time!, a great Nate b'day dinner/cake/celebration, a wonderful church picnic at Gil and Ruth's with tons of swimming, a long lovely nap, and some productive knitting AND sewing. So! Onwards!

Oh: while I'm posting: here's why sewing is so suddenly on my list again. This is a shot of my "outdoor sewing room":


It's a lovely place to be, even tho it does require complete breakdown each evening. Still. . . it's inspiring, and I hope will result in the curtains for the study at least, and maybe a dress as well!

ETA: So, at 4 pm when it's hot and steamy and I'm about to knock off ANY useful work except making dinner and attending that Library meeting, I will say: 1. I read some of a new Donna Leon, part of the Wonder Box of Books from Julie; 2. I found TWO new veggie recipes and shopped for them so we have enough food for THREE DINNERS in the house at this moment (this is big for me so far this summer); 3. I arranged to have three of Lyle's pictures framed for about $200, which I think is pretty reasonable; 4. I went for a 12 min walk and a 25 min run!; 5. I cut out all the remaining "contrast" bits of the dress pattern, and am about to go do some measurements for the curtains so I'll be ready to go tomorrow with cutting that fabric! So: despite a leisurely start to the day, I've done pretty well!

Saturday, July 16, 2011

July 16: Happy N's B'day!

Well, Nate is now 15! His wonderful Grand Camp friends have been making much of him and steak tips are marinating in the fridge. On Thurs/Fri night/morning they all went to see the last HP movie, getting home around 2, and Andy also flew back from his LV conference on the same night, so last night they both went to bed by 9. Today is a quiet, still, sunny, going-to-be-hot morning, and I thought I'd post, partly to help me grasp the summer, which seems to be slipping blithely away!

I have certainly been ENJOYING the summer--since it arrived around July 1, really--before then it was truly a fleece and bonfire summer, grey and chilly. That is done! But I'm also a doer and I've got a list of things I wanna DO, so here they are:

--I have finished Andy's Christmas socks (he got the yarn and a promissory note; there was no time limit) and a bonus pair of booties that I started at the Retreat when the orange yarn was too stringy for adult socks. Pic to follow.


--I have made three batches of strawberry jam, tho we were foiled in our attempts to pick our own berries.


--I have cleaned Silas's room within an inch of its life in preparation for its reincarnation as MY room again.

--I have finished Caroline's b'day nightie. I discovered that I can set up sewing on the back deck, thereby enjoying the lovely weather AND sewing, so that turned me on to all kinds of sewing dreams. . . see PENDING below!

--I have finished all 782 pages of Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, by Suzanna Clarke, and also read a very inspiring AP Lit. teacher's guide.

PENDING I have

--two dress patterns I hope to play with and make a few dresses from;

--7 yards of lovely decorator fabric from Marden's for curtains in the study as a preference to repainting the room;

--done one sleeve cap on Nimbus (which fits PERFECTLY in the body, yay yay)--too loose and bunchy; dug around for advice and then done a second--a little too few stitches so there are a few gaps and some pulling, and therefore I have plans to take out cap #1 and redo it with about 48 stitches so it is JUST RIGHT and then ditto that for cap #2 (whereupon I have a hunch I will have run out of yarn and need to track down more!). . .

--AND my b'day cashmere, which needs to be made into a hat for ME and I'd also like to make some Norwegian mittens! So!

Upcoming are Dad's 80th b'day celebration in Casco with the family, several curriculum work days (money, money, money!), Aunt Joan's 80th in PA with Ann and Mom, and then Julie's week up here too. So there will not be too many uninterrupted work stretches, but that's okay. I am enjoying being Crafty McCrafterson, so here I go. Gotta love summer!