box fan day...

in which our plucky heroine increases her wind capacity...

I now have two additional big window fans courtesy of the Community Energy Project (and an assortment of other energy saving items, like outlet insulators and weatherstripping). They delivered my "cooling kit" this morning; I took an online workshop last week, and was in the eligible cohort for the free kit. (workshop is sponsored by the local utility company) Now I will be able to use some fans to pull in cooler air and the others to push warm air out of the house on the other side. Given that the forecast is for 102 this weekend, they wanted to get these into peoples homes ASAP!

Since I was able to deploy the new fans immediately, this seemed like the perfect chance to give the older box fans a good cleaning: removing the grilles and scrubbing them, and vaccuming out the as much of the fan guts as can be reached. Ugh! the amount of dust and frelch that accumulates in the fans is rather disgusting, considering that it is coming out of the air outside, and that I do this at least once a year... needs must, and now at least there will be slightly less circulating dust inside Acorn Cottage!

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~ 100 day creativity challenge - day 39 ~

Last week I followed the directions on Ann Wood's blog for making a "straw" sunhat: since I didn't have any cheesecloth, I used a single layer of thin somewhat loosely woven linen. I mixed some golden yellow paint with Elmer's glue, and it worked really well to create a sturdy hat.

It is getting a little bit more difficult to find flowers for the "Summer Bloom" challenge as we wend further into August, and things around here tend to become a bit crispy from the heat, but these roses were just beautiful! Yesterday I decided to make Nandina the reversible apron from the basic "tiny rag doll" pattern...

Compared to turning one of the tiny reversible blouses inside out, the apron was a LOT easier!. I figured that with one side of the apron solid color, and the other with a fun print, it will be a versatile accessory. My plan is to end up with Nandina having a coordinated wardrobe, in her favorite colors (golden, red/russet, green, tan, and black) I even made a little "Sewing With A Plan" chart in my journal, so as to remind me of what she still needs (items in italic have not yet been created)

1. tee shirt - gold cotton knit
2. tee shirt - red cotton knit
3. tee shirt - striped black/red cotton knit
4. dashiki - hand-painted linen
5. mini skirt - green/red shot cotton
6. loose pants - red/gold/black silk ikat 
7. overalls - teal/russet shot cotton
8. dress - red/teal + embroidery
9. jacket - teal/russet shot cotton + embroidery
10. cardigan - handknit tan wool 
11. apron - gold/red shot cotton + tan/green/black crow print
12. coat - ??

She also has her black "doc marten" boots, an acorn cap beret, a brown/red felt hood, and her straw sunhat... I think that when I finish her assorted garments that she will be set for most occasions that are likely to come up.

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It continues difficult to maintain any sort of equanimity. Isolation is wearying. and fretting over things I cannot affect is as well. Maybe with more sleep life will not seem quite so dire, but I doubt it. The situation in this country is in fact, dire. My usual strategies are wearing thin. I miss my friends and family something fierce.

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beauty in the time of isolation - day 140:

Not my usual sort of beautiful image, but this household chose to use their entire yard fence, more than I could fit in my screen, as a memorial*... names and names and names of those whose lives have been cut short, murdered untimely soon. And hearts. And in the center BLM, as a reminder...

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August SMART goals (x=extra)

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	scribal sketchbook	light bulbs replaced	-
2	scroll for Countess E	box fan cleaned	-
3	tiny knitting bag	box fan cleaned	-
4	tiny tote bag	x	-
5	Nandina handknit	x	-
6	Nandina sunhat	x	-
7	tiny knitting book	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 have new paint! Good paint, gouache in tubes instead of the child's paintbox of opaque watercolor I have been using since forever. I am really looking forward to trying them out this weekend! Thank you dearlove M for the incredibly generous gift!!

* this is one of at least three vernacular memorials I know of within walking distance of Acorn Cottage... there is one house that has lined their yard frontage with tiny tombstones, each with a name and the years of their lives. And my favorite local pet and garden store has painted their entire frontage of store wainscot with names and names and names of black people murdered untimely and senselessly.