not one of the seven dwarves...

in which our plucky heroine wakes up late...

So yesterday I went to the doctor about my intense unilateral stupid back/flank pain. As far as I know, my spinal x rays showed no structural abnormality, ditto the blood and urine tests. I don't have a kidney infection, or disc problems, (or some horrible tumor). I now have a prescription for muscle relaxers and they are going to try and get a referral to physical therapy approved. I tried one of the pills in the late afternoon, figuring if it made me Dopey or Sleepy that a nap wouldn't be a bad thing, since I have been finding sleep difficult due to pain when in a horizontal position. Before long I was nodding out over the keyboard, so dragged self into bed instead.

Woke up briefly at around 7 PM and took care of biological needs including microwaving some dinner, since I was obviously not to be trusted with either knife or flame. Soon afterwards I was back in bed asleep and finally woke up (more or less) at around 7:30 AM.  So... bludgeoned into sleep for about fifteen hours. Hard to tell if my back is at all improved, but I will certainly and carefully continue the regimen. And try and contact my acupuncture practitioner in the hope that she has room in her schedule. 

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time in the tinyworld:

The rustic plate rack tutorial that Ann Wood recently posted was my jumping off point. Since my craft sticks were narrower, I adapted the plans, adding a wider bottom shelf with plate groove, drilled and added vertical hangers, and added a bottom panel (from a wider craft stick) for mug hooks. The hardware pieces are the hook half of sewing hooks-and-eyes, needle nose pliers bent the ends out a bit. Finally I added a painted dot rose, inspired by some vintage dollhouse furniture:

tiny painted dot rose, 3/16" diameter... I used some of my tiniest paintbrushes. Slightly blended a dab of red and pink paint together for the flower, overlaid dots of darker green with dots of lighter green, and finally a yellow dot for the rose heart. These are easy to do as long as you use a really light touch and just use the brush tip, this assumes you have a paintbrush that comes to a good point. My next miniature project will be tiny mugs to hang from the hooks...

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While it is still the top of the summertime weather bell curve, eventually coolth will return. While rummaging in the scrap fabric storage, I found a knit top I'd made several years ago, bundled together with scraps of the same fabric, jersey lycra with multicolored feathers in teal and turquoise and rust on a creamy beige background. And since my current sewing plans are for a teal/turquoise focus, this will fit right in. Back in 2021 I drafted a pattern piece to adapt my TNT knit top pattern to a turtleneck collar, and there was a large enough scrap to cut out the addition. Currently hand stitching the finished collar in place, using the very simplest stretchy Alabama Chanin stitching. I use this a LOT for my knit tops, as it adds a bit of subtle visual decoration (either texture or color contrast) and holds up really well in the wearing and the washing.

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~ creativity challenge ~

in the interest of using up fabric and/or completing various projects, the small pieces of Spoonflower fabric that were intended as cloth masks back in 2020 are being recombined to make snoods for Ariadne to wear when she returns to teaching school this autumn. Very recombinant snoods, to be sure, but colorful is good when you teach little kiddos.

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Before it was too hot and sunny out, I managed to do a bit of pruning on the trees on the south side of the house. The quince has quite a few young fuzzy quinces on it; I think it bloomed before the April snow happened. The small plum tree only has two plums. I pruned off quite a few of the branches from both trees that grow up into the sky, as I only want trees where I can reach the fruit. The plum needs more pruning... I have not figured out what to do about the AC blowing hot air on it that crisps the leaves. I may try to gradually prune it further away from the house into a sort of semi-espalier?

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August SMART goals (x=extra)

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	Kestrel apron	ironing cart	yard waste bin
2	tiny armchair	shims for molding	recycle bin
3	tiny plate rack	tub trim added	ancient printer
4	-	pruned quince + plum	-
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 have most of what I need, even when I don't have what I want

Time of Isolation - Day 904