wardrobe Wednesday

in which our plucky heroine...

Rabbit rabbit rabbit! and another month begins. March felt very busy with many projects in process, but less completed progress than usual was logged in to the SMART goals matrix, so with effort April shall need to make up the difference.

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~ Fritillaria meleagris ~

A small but constant delight each spring, to see these tiny checquered flowers return. There is only one clump, underneath the star magnolia. They always remind me of my parents 50th anniversary party, when rather than cut flowers to decorate the tables, we filled bowls with arrangements of pots of flowering bulbs which could be replanted, to continue bringing joy and memory forward into the future.

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Yesterday morning I rode back to the Safeway pharmacy to get my vaccine booster. (still no word on my missing test strips). The technician was so new that he asked if I was okay with him doing the jab, or if I would prefer the pharmacist. I chose to give him the benefit of his training, and since he was so very new there, the pharmacist also came in to supervise. Young man did so well that it was not at all painful, indeed was done practically before I felt it. I complimented him on doing better than some of the techs at the big hospital

That afternoon during my video chat with Karen, I was noticeably more tired than usual, (possibly as a result of my vaccine booster), so it was early bedtime and not all my daily chores were completed, much less my intended daily writing. Still catching up today, and still a bit tired.

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Rummaging through the fabric shelves, a shortish length of grey linen turned up, though not quite the same as the worn out grey pinafore, it is close enough that my thought is to simply replace the bodice entirely, and thereby gain at least a few more years of wear. The skirt is only worn right at the center front waistline, where the countertop rubs while I am washing dishes. A shaped waistband could take care of that as well, and give a bit of a different style. Worth the effort, and have added to the list. 

Looking at the closet for further refurbishment, a black linen pinafore that never gets worn any more is also a good candidate. It was originally made as part of my black travel/capsule wardrobe when we went to Paris, and is significantly longer than anything else in my wardrobe. If hemmed to the same length as all the others (ie safe for riding my bike), it then would become suitable for everyday wear instead of only for funerals. I don't want to have things in my closet that aren't being worn, just like I don't want to keep saving fabric for "something special" but rather continue my current practice of making things I will wear now.

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April SMART goals (x=extra)

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	-	-	-
2	-	-	-
3	-	-	-
4	-	-	-
5	-	-	-
6	-	-	-
7	x	x	-
8	x	x	x
9	x	x	x

today's gratitudes -
- Pharmacy tech gave me a painless jab, and I now have had my 6 month booster. Wish there was a way to have the vaccines be a better match to the actual circulating virus instead of being several generations behind; would be great good fortune should that someday be possible.
- the blue-green sock yarn I started knitting into a Sophie scarf has a subtle and pleasant variegation. Given the gauge, it will be a slow project, but it is almost mindless garter stitch, so ideal for pickup work, and when eventually finished, will be a great addition to my coordinated accessories in the teal/turquoise group.
- managed to trap the Very Annoying housefly between the window and the screen.
- my DIY goddess dressing turned out quite good, even though it needed the stick blender to deal with the lumpy tahini

Time of Isolation - Day 2092

detected inspected selected injected

in which our plucky heroine makes some small forward progress...

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~ spooky season plans ~

I want all of my tinyfolk to have something special to wear for Halloween, and when Ursel gave me some two-tone orange striped cotton fabric, it seemed perfect for a zigzag bias gored skirt. I adapted the flared skirt pattern to have eight gores, and marked a bias grain line in order to get the desired effect. If I make a PDF of the pattern piece, it could be shared to other fans of the Tiny Rag Doll Nation...

It was easy to sew the gore seams, and I simply backed it with my usual thin cotton lawn, following the normal directions. I didn't want to make it reversible, since there were so many internal seam allowances already making the skirt quite stiff. It then occurred to me that adding a bit of black lace edging to the hemline would make it even more appropriate for the season; it didn't take too much time to use my handy black Sharpie pen to "overdye" a bit of the same tatted lace I'd used on Opal's slip dress.

She is right pleased with her new skirt, which will coordinate with the future orange crocheted top prize when it arrives. So far I have one orange and black stripey handknit dress, one black linen pleated pinafore with an orange long sleeve top, and one orange felt pinafore decorated with an embroidered bat (that still needs a dress, probably black or grey). I have a few pointy witchy-style hats from last year. I do want to make a "tiger head" hat similar to the deer head hat I made back in September of 2020, possibly with a matching apron?

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After much effort finally managed to find a pharmacy I could get to fairly easily to get a current covid booster. Took a few hours over several days to track down somewhere that was local (ie on transit or by bicycle), accepting walk ins, and had Novavax, but now I'm up to date on my vaccinations for the time being.

I mean, I am not a web programmer, I am an artist, but I could envision a simple website that would allow one to find out what vaccines were available where, without having to go through multiple pages of enter-data documents before finding out that there were no appointments, or that the desired flavor of jab wasn't available at that site, and then having to do it all over again for each location of that particular drugstore or grocery store chain in the metropolitan area. (there were sites like that earlier in the pandammit,  but now those are gone) After much time wasted that way, I decided today to try phone calls instead. There is a special hell for whoever invented phone tree bots. After 2½ hours, I achieved success!

... in a while, I'll get the flu vaccine for this winter; I like to get them separately in case of side effects, though I will say that I've had practically none from any if the various COVID vaccines, the only thing that wrecked me was my first and only attempt at the pneumonia vaccine. Not allowed to get that one again, sadly... wish I could, as I've had pneumonia five times (in the Before Times), which is part of why I make such an effort to avoid covid.

This song is from back in 2020, when the hope was for a sterilising vaccine, that would allow for a safe return to the Before Times social behavior. We're still not there, but the vaccinations we currently have do provide some amelioration of the worst effects of the virus. I'd not ever want to return to the mass deaths and fear of the first year of the pandammit, but I do miss the feeling of "we are all in this together", before disinformation and polarisation divided people

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my sweet good neighbors dropped off some more homegrown tomatoes on my front porch! Nom nom nom!

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September SMART goals (x=extra)

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	a dozen tetras	porch valance	plum logs
2	tiny doll shorts	mask elastics	oldest pinafore
3	Almandine clothing	-	recycle bin
4	skirt for Opal	-	yard waste bin
5	-	-	-
6	x	x	x
7	x	x	x
8	x	x	x
9	x	x	x

today's gratitudes -
1. managed to find and get a walk in Novavax jab today that was close enough to ride there on my bike
2. really pleased with the new spooky season striped gores and black lace skirt for Almandine
3. replacement correct size Yaktrax showed up today

Time of Isolation - Day 1527

Monday media and miscellany...

in which our plucky heroine has a mildly productive day...
doing various housey chores, and completing a few of the smaller projects that have been on my to-do list...

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Here is a short interview with the artist Shirley Hughes:
and here is a longer interview with her part 1, and part 2
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~ week 7: reversible camisole top ~

Week seven - a reversible camisole. The camisole needed decoration, rather than being the two plain solid colors that were all I had in the fabrics that suited Kenya's wardrobe. The blue "denim" color side, now embroidered with the same motif as the hemline of the bell bottoms, makes them look rather like a jumpsuit when worn together, or maybe one of those 60's sportswear/playsuits made of separates...

I suspect that making this garment would be easier at a somewhat larger than Tiny Rag Doll scale... I used the camisole from the basic TRD pattern booklet, modified to make it reversible, fastening in the back, and changing the criss-cross shoulder straps to plain. (I don't know why I find fixed crossing straps so difficult to use when dressing dolls, but I always switch them out to be fastened with snaps or hook-and-eye instead, or as in this case, to just be plain shoulder straps)

I used cotton twill tape for the straps, which I "dyed" with Sharpie marker; running a Q-tip dipped in denatured alcohol over the markered tape evened out the color really well, and once dried, it is reasonably washfast. I have used Sharpie markers from time to time to get effects on fabric for dolly clothing, such as the specialty motifs for Kenya's dashiki.

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Today I decided that one of my speedy projects would be to make some pressing tools useful for making dolly clothing. I cut a chopstick in half and covered most of it with a layer of wool felt, for pressing sleeves. Then I cut out two vaguely carrot shaped pieces of linen herringbone, stitched and turned them leaving a gap big enough to then very tightly fill the form with wool fleece. This creates a sort of extended sewing ham for pressing skirts and bodices. I expect that these will be in pretty much constant use when I am sewing tiny garments, as their larger cousins are when I am sewing for myself.

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well gosh, my left great toe looks mighty ugly today. The whole area where the chunk of 4x4 hit is an ugly purple bruise. Fortunately it is not very painful, and does not impede my ability to walk or to ride my bike. Wellington would be very annoyed to miss out on his multiple daily walkies!

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It isn't my imagination that it seems like so many more of the folks I know have caught COVID this summer...

Graphic from "Map shows states where COVID levels are "high" or "very high" as summer wave spreads" from CBS Healthwatch...

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August SMART goals (x=extra)

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	2 pillowcases	nut chopper handle	-
2	yak print	-	-
3	tiny bell-bottoms	-	-
4	tiny camisole	-	-
5	small pressing tools	-	-
6	x	x	x
7	x	x	x
8	x	x	x
9	x	x	x

today's gratitudes -
1. my late friend Larissa gifted me with a blueberry bush when I moved into Acorn Cottage twenty years ago. This year it has been really prolific (compared to prior years), and I've been enjoying picking berries in the morning, and thinking of her...
2. Interlibrary Loan - I was able to get a copy of "A Life Drawing" (the illustrator Shirley Hughes' autobiography)
3. YouTube, where I can listen to and see all sorts of wonderful interviews with people...

Time of Isolation - Day 1486

wishful Wednesday

in which our plucky heroine is impatient...

Tomorrow night two of my pals will be arriving in town, and are going to spend some time visiting with me. Not sure just what we will end up doing other than cooking a Thai-style dinner on Friday. Much will depend on what the weather is doing.

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~ sashiko goldfish ~

making progress on the sashiko stitchery kit... here folded in half and laid atop a different cardigan jacket, to give a sense of the concept. The front pieces will have these fish embroideries overlaid on either side of the center snap bands, and the rest of the cardigan will be made from an assortment of my indigo textiles in what I hope will be an artistic fashion...

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More small progress in the bathroom refurbishment... the wall hook I ordered earlier this month (*from Vermont!) arrived. I needed to get smaller than usual hardware and wall anchors to match the size of the holes in the casting, but it is now properly attached to the wall, successfully (and unobtrusively) holding the plunger. Which is a bathroom tool, if not a particularly attractive one, that needs to be easy to find when necessary. Now it is neatly tucked away between the commode water tank and the wall cupboard, and mostly hidden by the wastebasket. Moving it to this spot meant that I no longer need to create some kind of undersink "skirt" to hide it from view.

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I really want there to be accessible medical intervention that will make public life less fraught, since we seem as a culture to be unwilling to make the sorts of infrastructure (increased ventilation and filtration of air) and behaviour (wearing masks) changes that would make a difference.

From what I read, the current type of COVID vaccines protect (for a limited period, waning in efficacy after only a few months at best) against getting symptoms bad enough to need hospitalisation, but not necessarily against asymptomatic infection. And we do know that asymptomatic infections can also result in Long COVID.  Also I've not read anything at all recently about effort being put currently towards any vaccine that would be of greater or longer lasting efficacy. Any news I'm missing?

(edited to add:) M just sent me this link about current data regarding COVID, and also information about several possible inhaled vaccines, that have reached the point of non-human primate trials and show significant promise! I'll take any glimmers of hope that are visible, even on a distant horizon

I'm really struggling between the rock of isolation for the rest of my life (say the next 20 years) and the hard place of putting myself in danger of permanent lifelong medical harm if I return to any of the social activities that made my singleton life worthwhile. After four years of basically living in Spaceship Acorn Cottage, it is really getting to me.

There are plenty of social activities I've no real need great desire to return to (things that were fun but not central to my life, such as restaurant meals, live entertainment, or recreational shopping) but there are some few that cause me endemic pain to give up forever (in person teaching the arts I know, and in person visits with beloved friends and family) I've not thought of any way to bring these back into my life in a not recklessly dangerous way. I am going to brainstorm with other folks to attempt finding any other options I have not yet thought of, as a way to stave off despair.

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I've been really enjoying listening to Kate of The Last Homely House, treating her YouTube videos as podcasts. Her topics are mostly gentle and creative, and I find her voice really soothing. Last night, after listening to her talk about making scones, I was overcome with the desire to make some, or rather, to make one... Back in March of 2021, I found a recipe online to make a single scone which is the just right amount to make if one has no one nearby to share with. Since the only dried fruit in the house that is soft enough to put into baked goods is the small jar of "dried persimmon slices soaking in port" leftover from holiday baking, it seems a worthy experiment to try.

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February SMART goals (x=extra)

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	Jedi tabard	wall storage bathroom	recycle bin
2	5 jars marmalade	wall storage utility	recycle bin
3	tiny camel print	dark of night neckline	recycle bin
4	superb owl traybox	3 separating zippers	-
5	grey acorn brooch	bathroom access hatch	-
6	pinch pouch	wool pinafore	x
7	wooly bear brooch	Goran Laurel	x
8	teal acorn brooch	plunger hook	x
9	dark Pelican enamel	x	x

today's gratitudes -
1. well that was a good dinner, if a bit different... been trying to get better at both using what is in the fridge, and finding things in the chest freezer to make use of. Tonight's dinner was fresh asparagus (oh yum) from the fridge, and then some Italian sausage crumbles cooked in red sauce both from the freezer, atop some soft polenta-ish cornmeal mush, with freshly grated parmesan.
2. M sent me a hopeful link about someday maybe possible change re COVID, in response to our conversation last night.
3. I am loving doing the sashiko stitchery kit. Something about just following a pattern that is already stamped on the fabric reminds me of being a Very Young person, visiting my Nana and having been given a stamped cross stitch kit. I must have been maybe 4 or 5 years old, and was just learning the synaptic connections between hand and eye and intention, just learning to embroider. An enjoyable skill that has served me well all the many decades since.

Time of Isolation - Day 1335

Friday fragments

in which our plucky heroine rather flails a bit...

This month has been rather hard going, with worry internal, external, and global, and I've not been anywhere near as "productive" as I prefer to be, compared even to September. I've been starting projects and not finishing them, even the one or two actual work projects are all in pieces still. Maybe November will turn the tide. At least I have plenty of ideas for things to do. It is time, for example, to start creating drawings for a 2022 calendar, and other sorts of scribal art.

I'm also really finding great pleasure is mulling over dollhouse options, for later this winter when I start building the wooden cottage. I am currently thinking of a sort of Tudor/Craftsman combination, with deep eaves, and decorative rafter tails, roof beams, a stone fireplace and a decorative printed frieze all along the upper edge of the main room walls.

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beauty in the time of isolation:

The small strawberry plant did well in the hanging planter. Squirrel depredations were thwarted, there were a few sweet berries, as well as many new runners and baby plants. Now winter is on the way; leaving the plant hanging on the porch seems less than ideal in wind and stormy weather, and freezing ice. Somewhere in the yard, in a planter, and with some suitable encagement to keep the bushy-tail tree-rats at bay, and replanted next spring, with fresh soil and plenty of compost.

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It will be good to see friends this weekend, to (fingers crossed, hopefully) get the new stove functional, to have some just for visiting and chatting in person time, albeit outside in the rainy front porch. Maybe we can sit indoors? If I open the windows wide? We are all vaccinated, but run in different circles. I wish I felt confident as to what is the most appropriate way to act anymore. I feel like any contact with other people is a huge risk, and am permanently apprehensive about what formerly and still is a true necessity of life. Zoom meeting is not at all the same, but levels of community transmission are still very high, all over Oregon.

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This evening, after watching a video about how to know when they are ripe, (they more easily come away from the branch), I went and picked most of the quinces from the tree. Some are beginning to be fragrant, some others had obviously been bitten into by varmints of some kind, and need cut up and processed before they get moldy. I tried the technique suggested here, with one of them, and indeed it made the fruit easier to peel, though only a bit easier to cut up. Baked a second time in the lil convection oven, a mixture of chunks of quince and chunks of apple made a great dessert. I added a dab of butter and brown sugar at the end. It'd be even better as a crisp, with some oats and pecans as well.

Here's a bit of fruit harvest statistics: rather a bit more than 10# of quinces from the young quinceling (planted in 2018), at least 50#+ from the persimmon tree in the parking strip, and an unknown amount of the plums from the plum thicket. Plus enough windfall apples to make 22 half pint jars of applesauce. Not bad at all

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~ creativity challenge ~

This miniature cat head candy bucket was an experiment in hollow form spun cotton. Difficult, but doable. The next experiment is a jack-o-lantern, which will need painted, and a sort of tabletop making use of a flickery LED tea light...

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Still hanging with no return call from my primary care doc about the various test results. Apparently the bones of my wrist are all as they should be. I could have told them that without the x-rays, since that is not where the problem is! Sometimes the flow charts are useful, and sometimes they just add layers of time and expense between what is wrong, and seeing someone with information about what to do about whatever is wrong. The lump on the back of my hand continues to enlarge.

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October SMART goals (x=extra)

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	tie-dye top	sample leaf and stem	yard waste bin
2	knitted elephant	pruned Japanese maple	recycle bin
3	-	assemble OMAR	recycle bin
4	-	repaired door closer	yard waste bin
5	-	picked quinces	-
6	x	x	x
7	x	x	x
8	x	x	x
9	x	x	x
10	x	x	x
11	x	x	x
12	x	x	x
13	x	x	x
14	x	x	x
15	x	x	x

today's gratitude - another pleasant surprise today, when a small package of Goya "alphabet noodles" showed up on my doorstep, a gift from my sister. Now I can make the Trick Or Treat banner for my tiny friends!

p.s. Sister Gigi told me that she was able to find some canning jar lids in the grocery store where she was shopping, so more will be coming my way! And my friend Tamra found some as well... dare we hope that the strange almost two year shortage could be ending?

Saturday snippets - day 8 (year 2)

in which our plucky heroine wishes all and sundry a happy equinox...

as we are all here in the balance point between seasons, I'm minded to notice signs of spring, both in the small world that has been my enclosure for the last year, and in the outer world. I needn't call your attention to the many terrors and troubles that beset us, media both social and antisocial does that without my assistance. Rather, I attempt to share the small crumbs of hope that are also always there. Without science, I'd not be here in the bright world at all, for cancer would have gathered me in, as it did my childhood friend the same year I was diagnosed.

almost 24 hours since jab #1... vaccination site in upper arm is a bit sore, but not enough to have impaired sleep or affected movement. I think that my purposefully moving my arm a lot yesterday in various range of motions, and drinking almost twice my usual amount of water made a difference. Just enough very mild discomfort in my arm that I can tell that my immune system is getting the message...

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~ creativity challenge ~

My friend Matthew Michael created this charter design, an interesting visual concept that gives the effect of a fragmentary artwork, uncovered by archaeologists. I've chosen to play with the idea by painting it as if it were a fragment of a mosaic/stone floor (which is even slower than my usual snails pace scribal efforts, but I am loving how it is turning out... another few hours and it will be finished.

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I signed up to participate in Athenaeum, at the end of June. It is an SCA Arts & Sciences display event, so rather than a competition, instead of judging there is an opportunity for feedback, which is all I ever want anyway. Am going to think about which items to include, and what things I want to try and work on prior to then. My primary categories are enameling, scribal, embroidery, and block printing, with an assortment of additional kibbles and bits.

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beauty in the time of isolation:
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ornamental quince flowers really early in the year, much earlier than fruiting quince... the buds were a few weeks ago, and now in the alleys here and there the vivid red flowers are a delight! I would really like to add one of these shrubs to the yard here at Acorn Cottage

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A friend is hosting an online Zoom high tea party tomorrow. The sort of tea with little sandwiches, and scones with jam and cream, and tiny cakes. I have a teapot with a handknit cozy, and a fancy teacup. I have some shortbread stashed away, and bread to make a few wee sandwiches. So now I want to try this recipe for making one scone. Because I don't need a whole batch of scones for just me. But just one scone would be fun, and possibly repeatable...

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March SMART goals (x=extra)

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	Kestrel kuspuk	darned Totoro gloves	recycle bin
2	6 jars orange marmalade	power bar kitchen	random books
3	5 jars applesauce	power bar workshop	recycle bin
4	horseradish	long power bar computer	extra apples
5	charter #1	rain capelet binding	-
6	Black Ice cardigan	new mask elastics	-
7	charter #2	new mask nosewires	-
8	6 jars sumo marmalade	x	-
9	-	x	x
10	x	x	x
11	x	x	x
12	x	x	x
13	x	x	x
14	x	x	x
15	x	x	x

today's gratitude - an entire internet full of recipes

a year's duration - day 365

in which our plucky heroine casts her memory back...

a year ago today was three days after my periodontal bone graft surgery, and I spent the day all around the city doing a massive grocery shop in four different stores (Costco, Trader Joes, Fubonn, and YaHala), then hopped on my bike to the local New Seasons, Fred Meyers, Walgreens, (and even to the liquor store for a bottle of Everclear, since hand sanitizer was unavailable). Then the doors of Acorn Cottage shut for the duration. It's been a long strange trip, and it isn't over...

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beauty in the time of isolation

It is springtime, there are a few white violets starting to bloom here, there is a clump of blue violets just down the street, and while out on a sanity stroll, these pale violet violets caught my eye...

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One long needed household alteration turned out to be quite simple, although rather time consuming... This wall-mounted power strip is a very needed change in the kitchen. The 1950's kitchen is really lacking electric outlets* and those aren't in convenient spots. Now I shall no longer need to move the whole side table to access the outlet before using the slow cooker, or the food dehydrator; can't believe it took over ten years for me to think of this!

After clearing the windowsill to allow the shelf extension to be removed, I cut/carved a channel aligned with the center of the window, then replaced the shelf (trapping the cord in place). A template of the locations of the attachment screws on the back of the power strip was next, and after drilling pilot holes and screwing the four of them into the window upright (leaving just the right amount stuck out) to allow the power bar to slide into place, a long time annoyance is now dealt with.

I then went on to readjust the wobbly power strip in the workroom, and to attach the extra long surge protector next to the computer zone, with the idea of moving the laptop back into the computer zone, now that it will be possible to properly plug in all the various parts, each with their associated transformer box. *there are three, unless you count the one for the fridge and the special one for the stove.

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my Black Ice cardigan is basically completed, and has proved to be as cozy as I'd hoped for, though I am still trying to decide if adding embroidery is a good call, and also if I want to extend the cuffs using ribbing. The loop closures and the large matte black buttons work really well. I marked the button locations with chalk, and then with large safety pins, so I could locate the loops on the other side while doing the second of three rows of I-cord:

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March SMART goals (x=extra)

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	Kestrel kuspuk	darned Totoro gloves	recycle bin
2	6 jars orange marmalade	power bar kitchen	random books
3	5 jars applesauce	power bar workshop	recycle bin
4	horseradish	long power bar computer	-
5	charter #1	-	-
6	Black Ice cardigan	-	-
7	-	-	-
8	-	x	-
9	-	x	x
10	x	x	x
11	x	x	x
12	x	x	x
13	x	x	x
14	x	x	x
15	x	x	x

today's gratitude - yesterday I was able to get an appointment to get a Covid vaccine! In a week I will be going to the drive-thru site out at the airport, and my pal Aelflaed was willing to reschedule some of her Friday work meetings in order to be able to drive me there. Truly I am blessed with my friends and family

baby bear's covid mask

in which our plucky heroine perseveres...

I've been experimenting with a different mask pattern, partly because I had a few mask requests, and partially because I keep hoping for something with a good fit around the outside edges and also something that doesn't collapse into my nose and mouth while wearing. One of my online sewing friends has had good luck with this pattern.

The first one I tried in size L was too small. The second one I tried size XL was better, but I feel that getting a good seal is important, and without a nose wire, there were gaps on either side of my beaky nose... So, I added a channel for the wire to the top edge of version 3 and it seems like a win. I will be wearing it outdoors tomorrow when I go out for a walk, as a IRL test. Even if it is cold and rainy, I am going out anyway.

I think that getting a (homemade) mask to fit well is comparably complex to getting a good fit in a bra. Each person's face is not only itself a different width and depth, but also has both different contours in different directions, and different proportions and sizes... some have higher cheekbones, some have larger or smaller chins, noses vary widely in size/shape/depth, etc... Experimentation is the only way to find options that work for a particular face. I already know that while my head is not excessively large in circumference, my face is wider than average; I had similar difficulty in finding a good selection of eyeglasses frames.

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beauty in the time of isolation - day 272:

white camellia
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~ 100 day creativity challenge - day 75 ~

I took the cuff of my worn out Miyazaki sock and turned it into two biscornu, to be used as miniature floor cushions. The one I sent next door got me a delighted text message saying that Samie and Gwen love Kiki's Delivery Service!

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December SMART goals (x=extra)

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	tiny patchwork	Nandina's nose	recycle bin
2	2 Kiki biscornu	worm bin rebedded	yard waste bin
3	2 sample masks	-	yard waste bin
4	-	-	recycle bin
5	-	-	-
6	x	x	x
7	x	x	x
8	x	x	x
9	x	x	x
10	x	x	x
11	x	x	x
12	x	x	x
13	x	x	x
14	x	x	x
15	x	x	x

today's gratitude - I suggested a read-aloud to my Madrona Tribe pals, and we have six people that are will be taking turns each day reading a chapter (and I am not the only one who loves Susan Cooper's writing). We are reading The Dark Is Rising, as was a tradition in a household I lived in years ago, to read aloud in the Solstice season. Yesterday Mickey volunteered to read, and I was so delighted and charmed with how wonderfully he reads aloud, and can change his voice to suit the different characters. It was a treat.

Sunday snippets

in which our plucky heroine ponders a conundrum...

Dare I to eat this? Is this garlic? It smell like garlic when I cut it open... has an outer skin like a single clove of garlic... the two fallow self-watering planters have a lot of these growing in them, and I am about to plant other things in there and wondering if these could become a surprise harvest? note: I grew garlic in these planters in 2019...

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There were quite a bit of ongoing fireworks/boomtown for most of the past week after the 4th, gradually tapering off, so finally we can resume our regularly scheduled lives here in the New Normal Pandemic Panopticon.

My initial plan for a week ago Sunday was to spend the day doing studio work with kiln and torch... ummm not so much, as brain was not up to usual speed due to lack of sleep and bad toxic air/smoke... Instead, I gradually got caught up on housey chores, and also did some preserving of fruits that were getting a bit post, still good, but now they are jars of applesauce and marmalade and can sit in the pantry for later.

Next up on the preserving list is turning the frozen plums remaining from last year's harvest into canned plum chunks, to make room in the freezer for the local lamb that should be arriving on Tuesday. Even though I cannot safely go to the farmers market, this is one way I can continue to support local farms.

In addition, I made some work aprons for my Mud Bay pals, as well as a sushi cat mask for little Kestrel. The aprons for the adults were each decorated with suitable graphics:

an octopus for Ariadne


a pomegranate for Maeva


and a sawframe and hammer for William
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I am feeling less like my insistence on staying isolated is freakishly excessive: Six feet is not far enough to be safe...

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~ 100 day creativity challenge - day 28 ~

Nandina is still living atop the bookcase, and will be for a while. I am slowly gathering and laminating pieces of cardboard shipping boxes to eventually build her a home of her own. I am going to use the techniques in this video, but make a somewhat different style of house. I realised that the little tin sewing machine (intended as a holiday tree ornament) is exactly the right size for her!

I was rather confused as to why I suddenly got a lot of new people looking at my Instagram, and then I found out that Ann Wood, who created the Tiny Rag Doll pattern, had included a photo of Nandina in her most recent blog post, that featured some of the tiny creations made by folks....

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beauty in the time of isolation - day 113:

even in seclusion, we can still find ways to blossom...
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July SMART goals (x=extra)

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	deerskin pouch	sage pruned	yard waste bin
2	bone needle case	some plum pruning	recycle bin
3	3 jars applesauce	cut unruly rose canes	-
4	2 jars orange marmalade	x	-
5	three aprons for Mud Bay	x	-
6	Kestrel mask	x	-
7	x	x	x
8	x	x	x
9	x	x	x
10	x	x	x
11	x	x	x
12	x	x	x
13	x	x	x
14	x	x	x
15	x	x	x

today's gratitude - an entire box of homegrown produce from Mud Bay pals, including this lovely bouquet of fresh herbs -

the long weekend of Not-Egils

in which our plucky heroine wishes she was camping...

In over twenty years this is the first Egils weekend that I am not there. None of us are there, and it feels very odd indeed.  Normally right now I would be bundled up in my Norse wool clothing, hanging out around the fire, listening to stories, maybe drinking a bit of athollbrose if Yseult had some to share...  Living in a different reality now, and trying to figure out how... on Saturday, I organised (with help from Michele) a virtual Crafternoon for most of the latter half of the day. Getting to "see" a few of my faraway friends was a treat, got to hear Beth play the harp, and seeing various projects in process helped ameliorate a bit of the isolation

That afternoon I completed more than a third of carving a printing block. The medieval dancing rats and crows motif I drew out earlier for Michele is very Bujold "World of the Five Gods", and I am thinking it will make great trim for a modern pinafore or petticoat.

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beauty in the time of isolation - day 73:

a particularly charming Little Free Library kiosk...
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Did a bit more mask sewing, made two with ear elastics for my dear SIL, and started cutting out a large set for Sharon Rose, for when she will reopen her practice. I also started cutting out the black/turquoise linen blend pinafore, to go with the floral blouse just completed.

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~ 100 day creativity challenge - day 17 ~

to amuse and distract myself, some not quite finished 1/12 scale whimsy. The bed is a free pattern from Ann Wood, the nightstand is a ground score from years ago which I have been told is part of a pizza box, and the quilt is made with 99 patches cut from scraps from my mask making.

Tiny bed has yet to be painted, and it will also get a little tufted mattress. The nightstand will be painted black (faux wrought iron), and will get an eggshell mosaic top. The quilt still needs edge borders and backing fabric.

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May SMART goals (x=extra)

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	collage	bird netting peas	long grass backyard
2	strawberry rhubarb	harvest pea greens	yard waste bin
3	lemon curd	harvest sunflower greens	recycling bin
4	coin purse	planted tomato starts	apple tree prunings
5	Heather mask	started arugula/cilantro	-
6	Kestrel apron	planted bok choy starts	-
7	floral blouse	harvest more pea greens	-
8	clothespin bed	x	x
9	2 Barb masks	x	x
10	x	x	x
11	x	x	x
12	x	x	x
13	x	x	x
14	x	x	x
15	x	x	x

today's gratitudes - Yesterday, the end of what turned out to be a quite long splinter began to emerge from my index finger, and with the use of my extra tiny pointed metalworking tweezers, I was able to remove it. Much repeated soaking in hot water ensued, as did slathering it with Neosporin and fresh bandaids. My phalange is a lot less painful and swollen, and with luck it will continue to improve. If in actuality the inappropriate wood bits are no longer embedded sideways,  I can cancel the appointment to get ultrasound and surgery. I really do NOT want to go to the multistory medical treatment center if I do not have to!

Also, Marian just posted this:

Every year at Egils, in our encampment at night in the firelight, Raven reads her wonderful Seussian poem "Norse of Course", so in that spirit, and from their backyard instead...

word of the day: aestivate

in which our plucky heroine thinks about goals, while walking around in circles...

The current pandemic situation is changing all of us in unexpected ways. I am not overly worried about my mental health, and am taking action every day to support the connections I do have with other people, albeit in non-physical ways ie phone calls, zoom calls, social media, and blogging... but what I miss the most is the ease in daily life, the small random positive interactions, and the planned high points of the year wheel, with events and visits with friends and family. My tactile self is in aestivation, in the same way as a desert frog will bury itself to wait out the drought until the rains come again)

I have no four legged friends living here, I have no other human living here. I am doing my best to stay sane. I know that it will be months probably years before it will be safe enough for me to be in contact with other humans any closer than six to ten feet away. I have no idea what sort of person I will be by then. My goal is to stay sane.

My midrange goal is to both stay sane and to stay alive, and to be in better physical health in 2024 than I am now.

My shortrange goal is to accomplish at least one thing every day beyond simple survival. Logging in my SMART goals, and writing here, help me remember that I am often successful...

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Two wheelbarrow loads (so far) of apple tree pruning, one of bracken prunings, despite the drizzle and rain. The baby bok choy were planted, a strenuous effort that involved moving two concrete blocks and almost a full wheelbarrow of garden soil. And, most excitingly, the Oregon Spring tomato start I planted on May 10th already has a baby tomato forming!

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one new-to-me mask pattern has a somewhat better fit than the "origami style" one I have been making recently... a second mask pattern, was somewhat less good - having a seam down the center front is something I find really tactilely annoying

well double crap! the masks I made last week, with the new aluminum wire - the wire snapped to pieces inside the mask when I washed it in the washing machine. I think that instead, I will boil the masks on the stovetop, and hang them to dry rather than use the washing machine for them... benefit, hotter water, drawback, extra procedure... And I have sent messages to everyone I made masks for, warning about the wire, and offering to make new wires from a different material (copper rather than aluminum?)

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My new floral blouse now has buttons and buttonholes, so yay, only three more items to sew for SWAP 2020! I just might make the end of June deadline, and also successfully add to my everyday wardrobe garments that has been long planned as Useful Additions while still adding some pleasantly seasonal details.

I was worried that the micro rick rack would end up being a bit too twee, but I think I like it. It works more as subtle punctuation than overly childish effect. Next project, dark turquoise teal pinafore...

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A wonderful brunch yesterday morning of "Friendship Tostadas": the blue corn masa came from my Mud Bay pals, the tomatoes in the Awesome Sauce came from my next door neighbors, the lettuce came from Aelfflaed, and the beans/yoghurt/cheese were shopped for by my friend Heather. (I did also slather the beans with homemade salsa verde)

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beauty in the time of isolation - reset day 14:

unknown but pretty flowering tree...
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May SMART goals (x=extra)

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	collage	bird netting peas	long grass backyard
2	strawberry rhubarb	harvest pea greens	yard waste bin
3	lemon curd	harvest sunflower greens	recycling bin
4	coin purse	planted tomato starts	apple tree prunings
5	Heather mask	started arugula/cilantro	-
6	Kestrel apron	planted bok choy starts	-
7	floral blouse	x	-
8	x	x	x
9	x	x	x
10	x	x	x
11	x	x	x
12	x	x	x
13	x	x	x
14	x	x	x
15	x	x	x

today's gratitude - the spirit of improvisation, which allowed me to create tomato habitat from assorted household objects

sleepy Sunday

in which our plucky heroine attempts forward momentum...

without much success, really. Slept in until almost 10 AM, I guess I was tired. All the work managed today was a bit more on the kitchen: dishes washed, floor vacuumed and then the whole floor scrubbed clean. For some reason that was really exhausting. Had a bit of a chat with my neighbor Tracey (at suitable distance) about gardening, fruit tree pruning, and where to acquire additional garden supplies) There is a small pile of yard dirt in the alley behind the house two doors down, which we have permission to use, so one of my activities tomorrow will be partially filling the planter pots that Bill sent down here, so that more of the starts can have homes

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The other do-this-first will be calling my primary care doctor, as I realised today that my right index finger has not actually healed from the infection. I hadn't paid as much attention to it while distracted by recovering from my bad fall earlier this month. While finger is much improved, in that I can bend it, and type, the swelling has not subsumed entirely, there is still a red patch with a dark center, and today when I accidentally banged the finger in that area, the pain was quite intense with a definite sense of wrongness. I suspect that there is still a splinter in there, and soaking the finger has no effect at all.

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By all that is holy, this has got to be a bad idea for community health. Some guy is being a good little capitalist/moneygrubber, without wearing a mask even.. there is an Ice Cream Truck parked on the street, and all the families the young people on my block are clustered around it buying ice creams! I know that I've not seen all their families being social together, so they are not quarantine pals, and no one keeping a safe distance or wearing masks. Even if this is legal (and it is, I checked), it is not safe...all it takes is one cough...or one lil kid not having clean hands, and touching the truck or the ice cream guy, and him maybe not washing hands between customers, and I didn't see him swapping gloves between each customer, or... or... and that truck goes all over this sector at least, since I heard it for quite a long time before it showed up on our block

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I started making some additional masks, using different patterns in an attempt to find something that is less painful to wear with my still Very Painful sore nose and face. I am currently trying out this pattern, in several different sizes. I like how the bi-directional chin dart snugs the lower edge of the mask up neatly and sort of anatomically.

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beauty in the time of isolation - reset day 11:








assorted color combinations of columbines...
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May SMART goals (x=extra)

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	collage	bird netting peas	long grass backyard
2	strawberry rhubarb	harvest pea greens	yard waste bin
3	lemon curd	harvest sunflower greens	recycling bin
4	coin purse	planted tomato starts	-
5	Heather mask	started arugula/cilantro	-
6	Kestrel apron	x	-
7	x	x	-
8	x	x	x
9	x	x	x
10	x	x	x
11	x	x	x
12	x	x	x
13	x	x	x
14	x	x	x
15	x	x	x

today's gratitude - my face continues to heal, slowly... I was able to wear my glasses, which I re-bent back into shape, for almost an hour today. Hopefully over time I will be able to return gradually to wearing them all day long.  Also, I noticed today that the peas I planted in the yard now have flowers! that means that eventually there will be peapods!!