I am amused.

I just went through my reading list and noticed that one of my acquaintances hasn't updated her blog

since Feb.  Hmm, I thought, she updates about like I do.  So I checked, and see that I haven't posted for nearly a year!

In that year, I have putzed around in the sewing Rooms.  A good friend has been offering to help me get the things organized for ages now, and I finally took her up on it.  I think we've put in about 5 6-8 hour sessions: We donated 6 bags of fabrics, notions and Other Junk to the bi-annual Women's Auxilliary Salvation Army Fabric Fair, 4 boxes of beads, threads and assorted crafty bits to the local Creative Reuse shop, a box of books to a resale shop, and at least 10 bags of crap that was too yucky to donate.   We spent 6 hours on Friday up there and cleared 2 boxes of patterns to donation or recycling, and separated about 8 boxes of various sizes into like containers.  Seriously.  Why do I have 14 pincushions? I won't need to buy embroidery needles for the rest of my life, even if I live to be 100.  Today, my husband assembled the Cricut station I bought in January of 2024 and it is waiting for me to put All The Things on it, and possibly  use it?  Maybe?  I also decided to donate my spinning wheel to Contemporary Crafts, where they have displays of and lessons in all sorts of arts and crafts.  My floor loom lives there already, so her little sister will be joining her. 

    Besides encouragement and "being my legs" from Gail, I also got a bit of encouragement from a random post of facebook that boiled down to, rather than just ask if something sparks joy, ask if it is something you really need or have an inclination to do.  Will you make it? When?  Can you finish it?  If any of those answers is no or errrrr, maybe?  it's probably time to pass it along. 

  I bought a wheelchair!  My stamina has been declining these past few months. How much was driven home to me when my daughter and her honey came to visit and we all went to the zoo. There were no scooters available when we entered, so I decided to just give walking a try.  I made it to the first exhibit: probably 450 steps.  We had noticed people heading back toward the entrance as we progressed, so the Hubby went back to the entrance to see if he could score one for me.  He did, and the difference was absolutely amazing! Rather than concentrating on how many more steps to the next bench or exhibit, I was able to just wheel along and enjoy what we saw.    The following week we went to a local mobility aid store and picked out a wheelchair- I decided a chair would probably be easier to transport and to navigate in buildings than a scooter.  We found one that is supposed to handle all terrains, is battery powered, folds up nicely to about the size of a decent suitcase, and is not screaming lime green.  The following Friday we went to the Aviary and. I tested it out on cobblestones (ow, but doable), gravel, grass, crackly sidewalk and basic asphalt, as well as tiled indoor floors.  It's great! 

   However, I am still trying to get at least 2000 steps per day in, to increase to 3000 as soon as 2000 isn't difficult. I'm currently hitting between 1700-2200.

I'm sure there is more.l 

With luck, another update this MONTH rather than next year!

K

Nearly August

 

I keep forgetting about this thing....

I need to update my profile.  I no longer have cats, as Loki passed on due to complications of old age about two years ago, now.  He was just shy of 22 years old. His sister crossed the rainbow bridge about 18 months earlier. She developed feline squamous cell carcinoma in her mouth and jaw.  I still miss them both every day.  

Still have a husband, for which I am grateful.  We celebrated 20 years in December, and pretty much continue to like each other. I find that is helpful in a marriage.  😊

My mobility sucks: I use a cane now when out and about, and occasionally I need to drag out my walker. Boy, do those make me feel OLD!  I still go to the gym at least twice a week, though, and have managed to lose about 25 pounds since Christmas,  Many pounds to go to get to a weight that will make my doctor happy, but I'm thrilled. I walked in to a Target, grabbed a pair of 24 jeans off the rack and They Fit! In fact, they are a tad loose. 

The sewing room is still a Pit, although I don't despair of it any more.  I hired a friend to help me get things sorted up there and that has helped a lot.  We usually only spend an hour and a half doing things, but even that has made a big difference. I can work up there on my own without having to walk back and forth so much, but if i need to go from one room to the other I no longer have to navigate through boxes and bins and unidentified lying objects.  I might even be able to whip out my sewing machine next week. That would be a good thing as I have "a few" projects to work on.  I have decided to purge a bunch of said projects: I am really never going to work on, much less complete, a large number of them. (Last time I cataloged, I had at least 50. The breed when you aren't looking.)

My daughter just moved into a new home and we'll be going to visit her soon.  Haven't seen her for a while due to her work schedule and my not wanting to sit in the car for x hours. We'll probably also drop in for a visit with my ex (yeah, we're still friends) and maybe check out some of my old haunts from when the kids were small.  Or not- we don't really have plans other than to connect with the girl-child. We haven't been anywhere for a couple of years; just haven't felt an inclination to travel.     

Brace yourself.....

 There has been progress made in the sewing rooms!

A bookcase and file cabinet have been moved back under the north windows. They are both still empty because we noticed the joints need gluing and clamping and we haven't got around to it yet. Possibly tomorrow...  

The sewing table has been cleared oof extraneous junk. Said junk has been either put where it belongs or as close as we can get it.  a Friend was scheduled to come help me clear the ironing surface on Monday, but the Mr has developed something suspiciously akin to norovirus, so we are canceling all visitors until at least Friday.  I will what I can on my own. When I have worn myself out with that I have several premie baby gowns to stitch.  I also have a new file cabinet which is slated to hold my Smocking Arts Newsletters and all of my SAGA stitches programs. These are currently (mostly) in three different areas, which makes it irritatingly slow to find what I need. I think there will be room in the lower drawer for all of my half-done convention projects, too.

Time for sleep, so I can get up in the morning and do things!

2024 in Review

 

  This will be quick!

I only started a couple of projects, although I purchased three kits from Mary Corbet. I've lost one already, but it will turn up,

We had new windows installed in the entire house This required getting all furniture moved away from the windows so the crew had room to unpack and install the new ones. My sewing rooms still have All The Things scootched to the sides of the room. I am slowly getting them put back together, decluttering, organizing, and rearranging things as I go. It's a slow process, but I can already see improvement. 

In August, the Mr and I traveled to Illinois for my high school reunion. 50th. I don't know how I can be out of high school for 50 years when I'm only 40. Right?   We also hunted down my brother, with whom I had lost contact.  He's in the early stages of Altzheimers and tends to lose a phone a week. Since he keeps all his contacts in his phones, he forgets how to get hold of me.  Time for a letter, methinks.

Sept, October and November were months.  In December, we celebrated 20 years of marriage. 

Roll on, 2025

K

still here...

 you may h ave noticed that I don't blog much these days.  The posts would get very repetitive.

Having days that are very samey if fine with me, but makes for uninteresting reading.

Actual. new things:

   They have finally finished doing all the random street work around our neighborhood.  Six blocks south and 5 blocks west is another story...those will be ongoing for a while.  So, even though we don't get woken at 6am by tractors revving up for the day, we stilll can't get there from here easily.

We had replacement windows installed in every one of our 33 windows.  After 14 years of literally being able to feel the wind come through our patio door joints, we decided it was time to do something permanent about it.  After all, plastic sheetinng taped down with Frog Tape isn't very fashionable even if it mostly works.  Our cooling bill has already gone down, which, in this heat, is saying something!

My smocking guild chapter is having a three day retreat this week.  I'm heading to the hotel tomorrow so I don't have to get up and drag my husband out at the crack of rush hour on Monday.  I'll be working on that same reticule that has been mentioned before.  With some intensive work, I should be able to have it done by Wednesday afternoon, or at least close to done.  We'll also be doing some group work on our charity gowns for the SAGA wee-care program.  

Lest I forget to mention it: the Great Window Replacement Project of 2024 required all furniture and things to be moved away from the window.  This means I was forced to spend several days shoving boxes and bags around in The Rooms.  There is clear floor!  Not much is actually organized, of course, but I can see my way clear to doing that.  First step will be putting the curtains back up as they're currently in the middle of the north room floor. I did manage to throw away a lot of "why?" items, get my scissor collection mostly in one place and fold a lot of fabric neatly into bins.  Patterns will likely be sold- I seriously do not need 120 child-sized patterns, many of which are so similar that I can likely alter just one basic pattern to produce any of them. 

Look!  Carpet!

   Clearing things away from the windows has also given me complete access two 1.75 of the guest room walls.  I may finally paint in there before we hang the curtains back up. 

Time for beddy-byes.  The Hubby is on new medication that makes him a bit dizzy and I might have to drive him to a massage appointment at 9am.  I am not good with any am earlier than 11. 

-K

January 1/3

 

  That would be 1/3 of the way through,  not third day of.  

  I signed up for Karen Brown's JustGetItDoneQuilts declutter challenge again this year.  I'm currently 9 days behind, so things proceeding as normal, there!  A commitment I had for tomorrow has been cancelled due to covid, so I'm going to use that time to catch up on at least the first 4 days (day one and day two I had done in December of '23, so shouldn't have to spend much time on those).  

Days 4, 5 and 6 may well take me several hours each. Patterns, archives and books.  i went through books last year and managed to pull three to offload.  They are still sitting in a box upstairs, I've decided on three books I can definitely add to them, and might be able to let go of a few more that are for things I'm likely not going to get around to.  Bobbin Lace, for one. I have a kit from Lacis and three books that I acquired in 2012, and have not touched since except to dust them,  Another is tambour work. I bought a hoop, hooks and at least one book in '13 or '14, and they have been languishing on the shelf above the bobbin lace stuff. Time to set them free!  I know the basics of both, but know I'm not very likely to put in as much practice time as needed to become skilled.

Patterns:  I have three large boxes of various brands.  Many are old Children's Corner garments that are now out of print.  A good deal of them will be offered in facebook destash groups.  All the littles I sew for now range from a kid's 6 to a woman's 14.  I also have many many other patterns that are scattered around in various shelves, bags or boxes. Most are for me. I think they might be easier to work with if they're in the same general area. 

  I'm exhausted just thinking about this process, and that's only from the first week!  Scissors and cutters, and pins and clips are two other groups that will take multiple sessions just to locate and centralize without even starting to declutter them.  

  I am blessed to have So Much Stuff---but it would be nice if I was also complementarily blessed with a tidy-and-organized gene.  

That's as far as I got with my cutting table last year. Three times that much was cleared off and put away where it belongs. (I'll never find it again)  

  I've started to get some sewjo back again, so will really work to make the rooms usable again.  There are materials for two quilts by Crabapple Hill Designs  whispering to me from pretty boxes as well as a metric shedload of dresses and daygowns.  I've sworn myself to a fabric fast until I've cleared out at least one bin of fabric by turning into wearable items. 

Enough for today.  The hubby has online gaming tonight, so I'm going to go do all the noisy kitchen chores before they get started.

May your sewing rooms be ever uncluttered!

-K

slow progress

 

There still isn't a lot of stitching going on around here, but I have been thinking about it more. I'm going to count that as a win!  Quite a few thing have been herded from various rooms in the house and corralled in a box to take to Kitten Scoop (my favorite rescue) over the weekend. Getting the last of the Cat Things given away is going to be bittersweet. I won't need them again, and the cats and kittens at the Scoop will certainly enjoy them, but I'll miss the occasional surprise reminders of my furbies. 

I was scrolling through my photos yesterday and discovered that it has been five years since I started Christmas dresses for two of my great-nieces.  (I now have 5 great-nieces and one great nephew on that branch of the family.)   I should check to see if there is enough fabric to make their current sizes....  I think the only thing I've finished in those five years is a bonnet with snail-shirred lace trim, and I have a hardanger bookmark 3/4 done. (somewhere. if I find it, I'll finish it up)

  I'm passing my collection of Tudor and Renaissance patterns and books along to the mother of the poor dressless girls.  They do a few Renfaire visits each summer and all enjoy dressing up for them, so I know they'll get another round of use.  I've discovered I don't mind relinquishing things to a new home nearly as much as i do just donating it to a thrift or re-use shop.  

One thing that has gone very well this year is my fabric "diet".  So far, only 1/2 yard of fusible interfacing has made it's way to the Rooms of Doom. (We will not mention the notions or silk ribbon, m'kay?).  

I hope holiday preparations are going smoothly for everyone, no matter how or what you celebrate. Our decorating plans, such as they were, got postponed when Dearly Beloved dropped a king-size mattress on his foot. The toes are all sprained, so no ladders for him for another week. The offending mattress is currently lurking half in the guest bedroom, half in the hallway, plotting its next attack and being a general nuisance by its continued presence.  I suspect it's unhappy about being dumped. 

-K