slow Sunday

in which our plucky heroine wanted to go out and walk today, or to ride my bike, but still too hot... finally gave in and went out for a short ride at dusk, was still in the high 80's. I sort of crave the movement, or maybe the illusion of movement.

:::

Yesterday as well as going to the river beach, on the way home my pals and I stopped for a snacky dinner at the restaurant across from St Johns Safeway: the Baowry. I had always been curious about the place, which transitioned from a driveway food cart into an entire converted house.

The interior was half bar and half tables, with rather too loud music, so we ate out on their front porch counter seats, since the patio seating was all full. It would have been nice if there had been some fairy lights or LED rope lights on the porch seating area, it was pretty dark, and had to resort to my keychain flashlight to see the food at all (our plucky heroine needed to remove unexpected very hot peppers)

Freydis and I each ordered one bao, while Lawrence had a bahn mi. The bao was not at all what I expected, being sort of "deconstructed", with a soft flat bun on the bottom and the filling components decoratively stacked on top, more like an openface taco. It was tasty though, and combined with a shared salad of marninated carrots jicama and other veggies was just the right light dinner.

:::

Today part of the day Kateline and I began dealing with incredibly cluttered small bedroom, used as a guest room/sewing room. It is a challenge to remember that incremental progress is still progress; four bags went to Goodwill and two to paper recycling, though the difference is barely visible. I ought go and photograph the "before" stage, because it will take a lot of effort to get it close to the picture in my mind.

What we did do, besides bag up obvious discards, was to remove the various sewing notions and fabric scraps and things from the wire drawers in the upper half of the closet cupboard, and put the bedding and pillows in there instead. Also found the bin of felt and felted wool, and the embroidery floss, both of which are needed for the sample kits for the class I am teaching later this month. So yeah, progress...

I am cogitating on how best to store sewing notions, and to store small pieces of fabric, and also how and where to store assorted hardware. It is a challenge, as our plucky heroine does not want to buy a lot of ugly plastic containers, yet has a minimal budget. But then, if it was easy, I'd have done it already!

:::

September SMART goal challenge

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	tunic muslin for B	carport cleared	yardwaste bin
2	gown muslin for M	shelves in SCA closet	5 yardwaste bags
3	2nd Pegasus embroidery	herb planter improved	funky red dresser
4	*	housefront plantings mulched and weeded	old baby stroller from garden shed
5	*	*	clay flowerpots
6	*	*	4 Goodwill bags
7	*	----------	2 paper recycling
8	*	----------	----------
9	*	----------	----------
10	*	----------	----------
11	*	----------	----------

:::

Patience is a virtue, (at least when she isn't shooting at you...) I am grateful for both the patience that Kateline has with my problematical declutter and organising project, the patience I had in doing over forty hours of embroidery, and the patience I must continue to develop in turning the house into the home in my imagination...

may this gratitude counteract despair

declutteration

in which our plucky heroine is both exhausted and chuffed by progress...

Today there was time for another four hour session with K,(like the time we spent a few weeks ago) and not only is the entire back wall of the studio now organised, but I have some idea for how to continue progress in making this space functional. There are spaces left vacant, so that as the supplies and equipment that need to live here either are found or acquired, there will be room for them to get folded in to the plan.

...and... this is my workbench! I haven't seen it this clean since I moved here!!

The current plan is to set whatever tools/supplies I find myself needing to use in the next two weeks on the shelf directly behind the workbench, so that we can get a better idea of what is used in this particular space and therefor how best to store it... much better than stockpiling random tools and supplies in prime access areas. As I have a fair amount of work that needs to happen in that time, it should be really enlightening...

My hope is that with another few several half-days (as we can find time to schedule them) the entire workroom will be at this level of functionality. There are some areas that need infrastructure that isn't yet in place, some rather a lot of small shallow drawers would be very helpful, and yes, more task lighting (actually all round the house could use more lighting). I looked at the cute little kitchen cart from Ikea, but sadly it is just about two inches too tall to fit in the space where it would be ideal to have such a thing.

I am looking forward to continuing to find beloved missing things by decluttering/sorting, and really excited about how much this will help my plans to teach more workshops!

:::

June SMART goal challenge

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	thread-winders	SR silver chain	backyard yardwaste
2	red rose heart pendant	backyard meadow mowed	bag to paper recycling
3	red rose earrings	half craftwall organised	bag to paper recycling
4	2nd sports bra	sleeve bands on green gown	bag to paper recycling
5	duvet cover	SPQR pendant setting	metal scrap to recycling
6	embroidered red horses	craftwall organised	bag to Goodwill
7	*	workbench cleared	bag to Goodwill
8	*	*	paper recycling
9	*	*	bag to Goodwill
10	----------	*	bag to Goodwill
11	----------	*	bag to paper recycling
12	----------	*	*
13	----------	*	*
14	----------	----------	*
15	----------	----------	*
16	----------	----------	*
17	----------	----------	*
18	----------	----------	*

:::

Sunday shifting

This weekend, thanks to the company of my friends Beth and Karen, one of the Big Scary Chores on my great big list of "things to get done" has been dealt with: we sorted and organised ALL THE FABRIC. It turns out that our plucky heroine has a fairly modest collection, compared to some of my analog and virtual cohorts, and since I make all my own clothing, it doesn't feel at all excessive, particularly now that it is all neatly folded and mostly visible. The only fabric stored in bins is the jersey, the larger remnants, and the linen scraps, everything else is on the shelves in the sewing/guest room. Having all the fabrics visible will help a lot with designing future projects, as well as with wardrobe planning, and with luck and intention, serve as another seed crystal to refurbish and unfuck my habitat!

By gathering all the fabric in one place, this has also freed up the shelves in the workroom, which will gradually take on their true role, intended from the beginning, of becoming the wall of art and craft supplies. My intention is to bit by bit over the winter, to re-sort, cull, and organise the warren of stuff intended for artisanry here at Acorn Cottage. This will vastly improve the teaching possibilities, and allow for much personal creativity to blossom, when the ingredients, supplies, and various tools will be readily to hand. Tool Girl will be doing a happy dance...

← The tall Ivar shelf unit is part of the fabric storage area, including some partially completed projects, and the bottom shelf with "ugly" fabric for making sample garments. There is room still on the shelf for millinery supplies, and other specialty notions and fabrics.

This is a little more than half of my stash, these are mostly the large pieces of woven fabric suitable for making into clothing. All the wool is on the top shelf, and there is room above it; I plan on going out into the yard and cutting fresh bunches of fragrant myrtle leaves and stuffing them here and there among the wool to deter moths. The large pieces of knit fabric are in one large plastic tote, about equivalent in quantity to one of the shelves on the bottom right.

20/10

in which our plucky heroine moves forward in reversing environmental degradation...

That is to say, Acorn Cottage has fallen into a rather slatternly state of being, since for months and months, our plucky heroine was too convalescent to actually do housework, as per doctors orders, but not too convalescent to simply stay in bed and do nothing at all, so there is a mortal lot of MOOP, as well as the gradual detritus that life will deposit in uncleaned houses. Since I am now starting to feel more energetic, this is not a state of being that will continue.

As previously mentioned, UfYH has been very inspiring, and using the 20 minutes on, 10 minutes off model has been a great success:

northwest corner of the kitchen, before...

northwest corner of the kitchen, after.

work-table, before...

work-table, after.

Chest food freezer successfully defrosted for the first time in seven years, thanks to B & K and their multiple coolers. Wow, the freezer weighs almost nothing when it is EMPTY, so I was able to slide it across the kitchen floor and wash the floor underneath! Simple pleasures for simple people...

under the freezer floor, before...

under the freezer floor, after.