As expected, things got a little crazy in November, and now all of a sudden it’s December!
My last post was about week 5 of Project Real Life. We’re in week 9 now. I got stuck on week 6, Finding Balance in Routines, partly because I’m not very good with routines, and partly because we were preparing to go on vacation for Thanksgiving week and I had a LOT to do! I’m still feeling really busy, but I’ve gotten a few things done that have been weighing on me, so I’m feeling better about life. I was feeling stressed and pressured last week.
So I’m not even sure where to start in catching up here… I guess I’ll start with what I did today and see where that leads me…
This morning I got out my Sketchbook Project inventory and decided I would finish it up in the next couple of days. We had a sketchbooker’s meet-up the week before Thanksgiving and I made some progress. In fact, I got all the photos stuck in to go with the inventory lists and some of the cover design prepared. All I have to do now is finish up the covers and write a blurb at the beginning and end to explain the project. I will share pictures as soon as I am done.
I also did a quick sewing project this morning, creating a cover for the pug’s quilt. Yes, my pug has her own quilt. We use it when we’re sitting on the sofa with her, covering our laps and giving her something to snuggle under. She also gets wrapped up in it at bedtime (she sleeps buried under a blanket on a dog bed in the kitchen). The quilt she had was made from flannel shirts and pj pants, already soft and worn before they got cut up. I pieced them together randomly in big shapes and added a cotton batting layer. It was held together quite loosely with ties. It had been washed enough times that not only have the ties and seams given way in place, but the fabric itself is shredding. Have you heard that women in the old days used worn out clothes to make quilts? Only if they were very very poor and had no other choice, because using old fabric to make a fancy quilt is a bit of a waste of time – the fabric won’t last!
Anyway, this morning I took a yard of sock monkey printed flannel and a yard of flannel that is printed to look like sock monkey socks (knit print) and sewed around 3 edges. I popped the old quilt inside and laid it out as flat as I could make it and sewed up the last edge. Then I sewed a rectangle a few inches inside the edge to hold the inner quilt in place and called it done. It’s perfectly imperfect. We’re snuggling under it right now!
I’ve got the sewing machine sitting out, trying to decide if I’m going to do some other projects I have in the basket… a Gangnam Style tshirt that needs to become a bag… a Wonder Woman tshirt that’s tight and might work better as a bag too… a dress that I still haven’t refashioned (but I got a duplicate for $3 the other day, so I can make a new bodice out of the second skirt, if I can figure out how)… a tablecloth that I’m going to cut up into napkins that will all need hemming… and a few things that need minor mending.
Things I have gotten done lately – 3 new blurb books, designed and ordered (plus I remembered to order one that I had made in April)… a baby shower mostly planned and card designed… some photos semi-zombified (a commissioned project I’m afraid I might not be doing a good job on)… some mending mended… a gift for a friend sewed in the process of teaching another friend who to sew… Christmas gifts bought/ordered for several people (including an 11 year old girl from a giving tree who loves crafting – what a fun excuse to buy craft stuff, including supplies for glass tile pendants)… Christmas cards designed, ordered and received, waiting to be addressed and mailed this week… Christmas tree set up and decorated and Christmas lights mostly done…
The rest of today (written now, on tomorrow) ended up being about Downton Abbey Season 2 and Christmas garland and the checking over of my first round of blurb books.
I will be back with more updates soon.
adventures in the here now 