Momentum

It feels so good to have the futon out of the sewing room, thanks to the wonderful friend who took it off my hands.  It seems lighter and more spacious in there now.  After some cleaning and a bit of rearranging this weekend, the futon area has gone from this:

to this:

Things are still in a state of flux, though, as there will be some shelves going up for folded fabric on this wall.  I bought two of these units and they're awaiting assembly.  By the way, thank you for your links and suggestions on sewing space organization.  They were very helpful and inspiring.  I feel like I am moving in the right direction.

I also took six yards of fleece out of the room over the weekend by sewing it all into pajama pants, some for my daughter and some for myself.  Doesn't make for a very exciting photograph, but I am pretty excited to have new jammy pants that the seat hasn't worn through.  I pretty much live in these things when I'm at home (and, truth be told, I've been known to occasionally wear them to work in the evening too, when it's just me and the cleaning lady). 

The pattern is an oldie but a goodie.  Only one pattern piece for the pants!  Can't get any easier than that.  So why did it take me so long to get them sewn?  (Don't answer that.)

Many months ago, I won a gift certificate to Fat Quarter Shop from Tabatha at Bending Pins.  I finally used it last week to buy some Vintage Modern by Bonnie & Camille for Moda.  It's so pretty!

I ordered more goodies from Fabric.com (which hasn't arrived yet), as well as Hancock's, some of which came today.  This is from the Spintastic fabric collection by Laura Berringer for Marcus Brothers.

Some of the new fabric will end up in a very cool project I'll be working on soon with Sandi at Piecemeal Quilts, which I'm very excited about!  More details on that later as it unfolds.

Meanwhile, I have more Christmas stuff to get done, so I'd better get cracking! 

Greta Von Riding Crop

It was snowing this morning as I went to vote.  The holidays will be here in a blink!

PS - For Downton Abbey fans, while we wait for the new season to begin in January, have any of you been watching Upstairs Downstairs on PBS's Masterpiece?  I got hooked in the middle of this second season, and this past week watched the first season on DVD from the library and got caught up.  It's very good!  Claire Foy plays Lady Persie, an entirely different kind of woman than her sweet Little Dorrit character.

PPS - Happy 25th Birthday, dear daughter!  Love you lots!

Declutter Report No. 1

The "Out-the-Door October" decluttering has been going okay.  I am working my way up (or down, as the case may be) to my basement sewing room.  That room intimidates me, frankly, because it's the most cluttered space in the entire house.  Everything that doesn't have another home ends up there.

So far, I have sold 11 items on eBay.  Woo-hoo!

I took photos of some mid-century tables to put on Craigslist, but I haven't gotten around to listing them yet.  One is in need of refinishing, but it is apparently a brand of mid-century Scandinavian furniture that's pretty hot right now, which I did not know until I perused eBay to research the name to get an idea of what to ask.  Doesn't look like much here.

But ho-lee-you-know-what.  Do an eBay search on this name furniture sometime and you will say it too.

Who knew when I basically trash-picked the thing 14 years ago?  I just thought it had good bones.  But after almost a decade and a half, since I've never gotten around to refinishing it (and now I wouldn't dare do it myself), it's probably someone else's chance to have a crack at it.

I went through my kitchen cupboards and refrigerator (tossed a bunch) and pantry.  I have a bag set aside for the Boy Scouts food drive this Saturday.

I unearthed stuff I totally forgot I had, like brand new Pampered Chef grilling utensils.  Might have been good to know a few months ago!

I went through my bedroom today.  I'm trying to motivate myself in baby steps, like seeing if I can get rid of 10 things per room.  It usually leads to more, but 10 seems like a manageable goal without feeling overwhelming.

This is the Goodwill and/or give-away-to-friends/family pile.  Also a few things to take to the local historical museum, if they'll have them.

The museum has a room named after the guy who owned these books, one of which dates back to when the state was still a territory.

Now for some really scary stuff...are you ready?  It's the basement sewing room.

Augh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Terrifying, isn't it?  My great-great grannies peeking over the detritus in the center there would be mortified.

Keeping in real, yo.

I did venture in the other day but promptly sidetracked myself into pulling fabrics for a Christmas table runner.

And so, the saga continues.

Oh, and here's a pretty scary thing that came out of the garden at my uncle's.

That is a ginormous beet!  With a normal-sized apple for comparison.

But, like the decluttering process, it is less intimidating if you cut it into smaller pieces (and roast with a little olive oil, salt & pepper...p.s., it was delicious!).

Have a great weekend, all!

Out the Door

I am in a decluttering mode.  I feel like there is too much stuff around and it's bugging me on both a physical (navigationally speaking) and psychological level.  So I am declaring this month "Out-the-Door October."

I'm going to spend a concentrated effort on dealing with stuff—donate it, sell it, organize it, shred it, toss it—and, of course, do some cleaning in the process.  The situation has reached critical mass and action must be taken.

So far, I've sold one typewriter on Craigslist and a bunch of shirts on eBay.  I listed more items this weekend.  Like this ladies' leather jacket.

Also, over the weekend, I cleaned the workshop, where my treadmill is located.  Since the days are getting cooler and it gets dark earlier, I'm walking more indoors again.  But ee-gads, the musty, dustiness in that room!  The workshop is not so much a man cave as it is a general storage area in the basement.  I Shop-Vac'd my heart out on Saturday and then took a small trunk load of stuff to Goodwill.  It felt good.

In the sewing department, I have started working on some things which may potentially be Christmas gifts.  Bummer that I can't share pictures of them at present, but you know how that goes.  I also need to get the sewing space organized better...somehow, some way.

And now for some whine: 

First it was burning mouth.  I've sort of gotten used to that, and it's mostly now a minor nuisance.  A couple weeks ago, though, my eyes started feeling really dry, burning, irritated, and red all the time.  I went to the doctor and got some drops for a possible infection, which didn't help because that apparently wasn't the cause.  Then I saw my optometrist last week because it was still bugging me (and I needed a general eye exam), and he said I've got chronic dry eyes.  He gave me some different, thicker, lubricating eye drops to use at least 6 times a day, probably for freakin' ever.

And of course, what irritates my eyes the most?  Computer work.  Hello?!  IT'S WHAT I DO—for a living and for fun! 

As Roseanne Roseannadana says, "It's always something."

I know that in the scheme of things, this is some petty B.S.  I have many blessings to count (and believe me, I do).  But man, it still ticks me off.  I want my 40s back, and all my hormones and all that went with them, and while I'm at it with the unreasonable requests, may I please have back the ability to digest wheat and dairy products?  Oh, and my retirement account balance pre-2008. Thanks.

I guess if there is a "good" takeaway, it is that this reminds me about balance (remember that computer ejector seat I joked about?).  Meanwhile, it helps to laugh, right?  Some classic Roseanne Roseannadana (below) works for me.

Have a good week, all.  But wait—I almost forgot the point—posting may be light for the rest of this month due to the aforementioned cleaning/decluttering and giving the peepers a break.  I might pop in here or there, maybe show you what I'm getting rid of, progress pics, or if I have something more profound to share.  

How about you?  Does fall give you the urge to clear out?  Anything in particular ticking you off lately? 

Monday Miscellany

I couldn't get it together yesterday for a Sunday Sundry post, so here I am with some miscellany, a day late and a dollar short, as the saying goes.  

There has been minimal sewing going on, because other things have taken priority.  Final Christmas shopping and other retail therapy, for one.  Work, for another.  I did buy a sewing aid, of sorts, while I was shopping—a new pair of bifocals.  My other pair seemed to be a little weak.  So I indulged what there is of my girly-girl-ness with some ruby red, swirly star embellished jobs.

The only sewing that has occurred lately has been of the mending or altering variety.  I know, boring but necessary.  I fixed a pair of pants for Pa, and then I let the hems down on three new pairs of "ultra tall" jeans/slacks.  Yep, I had to let it all out, even on those.  Gangly would be an understatement.

 Greta Von Riding Crop still wants to know

if you've been naughty or nice.

Also?  She knows from gangly.

Also too?  She would like 

something red for Christmas.

Hey, who likes fruitcake?  You know what, I do!  Or at least, I used to back when I could eat my mom's homemade fruitcake, which was the bomb, and I'm not talking about what it felt like in my stomach after I ate it.  No, not the sickly-sweet brick with neon green candied cherries not found in nature.  I'm talking about just a good, dense, fruit and nut inspired cake. The kind you eat a small slice of at a time with a steaming cup of coffee.

As you may know, I have been trying to stay on track with my diet (no gluten, no dairy, no refined sugar), but my craving gave way to caving this past week and I broke down and baked.  I can't call it a fruitcake, really, but I can call it good.  It is a minimally sweetened, dense, flavorful cake that seemed to hit all the right buttons.

I started with a gluten-free zucchini bread recipe and added a few other things.  Here is how it came together:

Mix together dry ingredients in a medium bowl:
1 c. teff flour
1/4 c. sorghum flour
1/4 c. brown rice flour
1/4 c. tapioca flour
1/4 c. sweet rice flour
2 t. xanthan gum
1 t. cinnamon
2 pieces of crystallized ginger, chopped fine
2 t. baking powder
1 t. egg replacer

In mixing bowl, mix together:
2 eggs
1/2 c. sugar
1/3 c. melted coconut oil
1/3 c. freshly squeezed orange juice 
Grated lemon zest (of about 1/2 lemon)
1 c. grated yellow summer squash
1/2 c. pumpkin puree

Add in the dry ingredients and mix until combined.  If necessary, add 1/4 c. water (or more orange juice ~ or even rum, maybe?) until mixture is the consistency of thick cake batter.  Stir in about 1/2 c. dark chocolate chips and 1/2 to 3/4 c. chopped walnuts.  Spoon batter into a greased and floured (with rice flour) Bundt pan.

Bake at 350 degrees for about 1 hour.  Cool for 10 minutes, then invert and remove from pan to continue cooling.  Slice when fully cool.   

And here is where I wish I had taken a photo of the result.  I suppose I could break out the hunk I froze for sharing later, but between you and me, I feel safer with it stashed away in the freezer while I try to recover my willpower.  It looked a lot like this though.  This is the basic zucchini bread that I've made in the past.  Just imagine it studded with chocolate chips and not quite so green with zucchini.

I've been listening to a German musical artist named Clueso lately, whom I discovered by happenstance while perusing YouTube.  I don't pretend to know what he's saying, except for the simplest words, but I like the music a lot, which transcends translation.  The gist of this song is that he doesn't want any more space, not a single centimeter, between he and his love, "ein Fleck ohne Kontur," or a spot without shape, to put it rather poetically.

Sunday Sundry - Vol. 16

There Went Another Hour of My Life
Last evening, I started to wade through a huge Rubbermaid storage tote full of sewing paraphernalia that had belonged to my mother.  It's like a cross between a treasure chest and a time capsule.  Among other things, there was enough serger thread to chainstitch to the moon and back, and enough hot glue to totally stick it to the man.

And then I started to putter...because I thought I had an idea.

I was mistaken.

But I may have invented a new game:  Thread-Jenga!

Go, Greta!
When I sit down to do a Sunday Sundry post, I often comb through the photos I've taken during the week and build around them.  For a holiday week and what would seem like more photo opportunities than usual, I have surprisingly little to show for it.  I had my camera in my purse on Thursday but never took a single picture.  And I've already talked about my sewing projects this week in Friday's post.

So last night, I was perusing the photos on my computer and came upon Greta Von Riding Crop, all decked out for the season.

"I em mekking a list and checking it tvice, 

end if you are naughty, I vil not be nice!" 

Greta is also available for hire to crack the whip on your last-minute holiday projects.  Just don't ask to borrow her boots.

Slack Friday
I'm not one of those people who get up at 2 a.m. in order to be at a store in the dark, cold, middle of the night for Black Friday deals.  No, for me to get up in the wee hours, it has to be for something more enticing than a holiday marketing strategy.  Like maybe if the cashiers were going to be Johnny Depp and George Clooney.  And we had the store all to ourselves.  And Alan Rickman was reading me Shakespeare or the phone book over the intercom, and Mike Rowe was in the hardware section ready to do any dirty job I had in mind, and Tony Bourdain was wisecracking his way through dinner with me, while Matthew McFadyen and Jake Gyllenhaal were making up the bed in the mattress department.

Yeah, I'd be up for that.

Believe it or not, however, my husband likes to shop and suggested we venture out in the afternoon on Friday to see what we could see.  So I found a coupon online for 30% off at a specific store where we could potentially tick a few things off the Christmas list, and off we went.  About an hour and a half later (there was a commute involved), I presented to the cash register with a fistful of overpriced items in one hand and the coupon in the other, only to discover the coupon had expired at 1:00 p.m. and it was now 3.  Whereupon I had a dilemma...put the merchandise back and drive another 80 miles round trip tomorrow when a different coupon would be in effect...or suck it up, pay, and give the overworked cashier a break already?  Well, the latter, of course.

Nursing a fresh wound to my checkbook, we headed to Savers.  I spied some Pyrex, two Butterfly Gold Cinderella bowls, but they were woefully overpriced for a thrift store.  Sheesh.  So I sauntered over to the sewing section and found some uncut costume patterns for a song.  

Not sure if I'll be making or reselling these.  I suppose it depends on whether or not daughter M. would like a new Ren Faire outfit.

I do love this Simplicity 8640 Retro pattern and wouldn't mind making it for myself, if I had a costume party to attend...

...or, you know, an elegant event on board the Titanic.

Here's hoping the rest of your day goes down smoothly.  I'm off to get the sale price on an ugly-but-functional pair of winter boots that would make Greta's cheeks red!