Friday fragments

in which our plucky heroine moves forward despite small setbacks...

The earth continues to turn towards spring in the northern hemisphere. Last week at Acorn Cottage was all about the pink blossoms of the ornamental plum, with accents of the forsythia. This week, the wind has caused drifts of pink "snow" across the yard and driveway, and the small star magnolia is now the focal point of the front yard. My euphorbia has lifted its lime green heads, but is not yet standing up and flowering. I am much behind in my yard and garden chores, as my body is not cooperating, but I can still appreciate what is. In the last week, the birds have quite gone mad, and there were several tapping on the south window awnings, though they flew away before I could see well enough to figure out who they were.

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time in the tinyworld:

(photo from TheMiniatureGarden, on Etsy)

... so excited, the two miniature plant kits I ordered from the UK arrived in my mailbox today!

It will be a great challenge to make them up, as I hadn't really realised just how very tiny the little parts are, (they come as a mini ziploc full of wee little punched out leaves and petals and wires, plus illustrated instructions) but they should look quite splendid if/when I am successful at putting the kits together.

There is a Euphorbia, very similar to the one growing in my front yard, intended for the future patio/garden space and a sweet Phalaenopsis (Moth Orchid) that will be a spectacular tiny houseplant. Even better is my anticipation of the number of hours in the future spent in focused plant assembly, and the necessary fun of creating or finding suitable little pots to plant them in

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This afternoon is the beginning of the 48 Hour An Tir Scribal Backlog Challenge. We are assigned recipients at random from many backlog scrolls still needed, my assignment is to create a Countess scroll. The Challenge theme is "fairytales" and the twist is to include the heraldic color "gold". I have decided on using the tale "Lily and the Lion" which is somewhat similar to "Beauty and the Beast", but with details that I can extract for useful imagery. I will be taking the Mount Angel Abbey manuscript MS0029 Horae Beatae Mariae Virginis (Roman usage. Latin ms., France, ca. 1525)  as my exemplar inspiration. The sidebar painting and backgrounds in gold, as well as the upper illuminated artwork divided into two sections with golden pillars, seems like it will be a good structure to use for this scroll.

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~ creativity challenge ~

I have been steadily working at least a bit each day on my chore coat/barn jacket project. After adding a corduroy lining to the inside of the cuff part of the sleeves, I then tackled adding a lining to the actual sleeves, from the armscye to meet the corduroy. I found a remnant of some lovely heavy grey rayon lining fabric on the shelves, and cut out sleeve portions, and began to lay them in by hand. The armscye fit in perfectly but when I stitched the cuff ends, I had forgotten that I needed to not only add ease for length, but also at the cuff area. Rather than try and redo the whole lining, since I didn't have enough of the fabric leftover, I simply opened the lining underarm seam and pieced in a triangle of fabric.

This project is certainly a learning experience! I keep finding out things that I wish I could go back and do-over, but I also think that once the garment is done and in my wardrobe, it will likely not be obvious to anyone but me, and will soon become irrelevant. Were I to make this again, I would definitely change the plain sleeve ends to separate cuffs, which would make them more similar to the Carhartt style that was my (now distant) original inspiration. I would also definitely add a swing back to the jacket rather than just adding additional space, as I think it would look better, though completely unsuitable for a raincoat, hence the current choice.

Once I finish hand stitching in the sleeve lining, all that is left is creating the pockets, and adding the snap fasteners as the front closure. For the pockets, I am thinking that patch pockets, with a curved diagonal upper edge are what I want. I made similar pockets for my jacquard denim pinafore, and I like them. For snaps, I want ones that are fairly large, and not finding any in my notions here, I decided online searching was my best option. I found a new-to-me source on Etsy, a NYC shop with a vast selection of notions, Pacific Trimming. How did I not know about this resource? Anyway, I found Big Snaps in a variety of colors, ordered some in "gunmetal" and some in "brushed silver", and once they arrive, I should be able to call this project complete, and move on to the long delayed raincoat...

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So, my back is being obstreperous again, which is worrisome. I have been trying to get things done anyway, because the world doesn't stop just because I feel less than stellar. Next week holds two dental appointments, both consultations to get information about what to do next. CrankyTooth is still cranky. Plucky heroine is still determined.

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March SMART goals (x=extra)

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	tiny tulips	more compost liners	yard waste bin
2	tiny crocus	mended gloves	recycle bin
3	yet moar tiny books	more apple pruning	books to LFL
4	little ladle	tiny bucket handle	recycle bin
5	tiny aprons	acquired 2021 tax forms	-
6	x	clock movement replaced	-
7	x	x	-
8	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 - we have food in the grocery stores, and I have food in my house... seems simple, but I never stop appreciating it...

Time of Isolation - Day 740