spackle is my friend

in which our plucky heroine makes an assortment of small steps forward...

The last three days saw various home improvements begun or completed. Assorted wall damage has been spackled. A long ago memory surfaced, and indeed, instead of sanding and sending dust everywhere, a damp nylon scrubber, or even a sponge can be used carefully instead to smooth rough edges.

Forged iron brackets are no longer in the hardware box, but on the wall in the bathroom and utility room and now hold a candle lantern and the "octopus" drying rack.

Between working on housey tasks, there was a bit of indoor gardening and handcraft. The green onion ends that have been sprouting in a jar of water next to the kitchen sink are now planted in a self watering pot with some actual potting soil. During some of the weekends zoom meetings I cut out and glued together two of the tiny fairyland books from the box that Arlys gave me; I will be passing those on to Julia, along with a few other miniature treats - she just sweetly sent me a string of miniature LED lights she found, they have 6 modes and an AA battery pack. After chatting with Kestrel on Saturday, I started on the requested three hats for her tinyfolk. I will be using the same witch hat pattern I used for Nandina and Almandine, but found a Latvian Braid tutorial I like better

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~ day 8 ~

some days are more inspired than others...
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This weekend I started to repair the back wall in the utility closet. There was formerly a wire closet shelf, which the heat pump installers removed, but the hooks for it were still there. I thought "oh, I will unscrew the fasteners, and even if there are still wall anchors, those might be useful" But... the hooks weren't attached to wall anchors, they were put in place with some dreadful expanding bolts that simply spun round and round without loosening. So I tried to lever them out.

Now there were two 1½" holes in the wall. Fortunately I had already figured out that if I glue some linen gauze over not too large holes the gypsum board, it is possible to then use regular patching compound, as it gives a kind of key for the compound to attach to. I did this to repair the hole left over from moving the thermostat, and it worked well. These holes in the closet wall are higher than anything needs attached, so just getting them closed in is all that is needed.

Once the patching is completed, at some point (when the weather is warmer!) I will probably re-paint the inside of the utility closet and sort through what had been stored there; I'm thinking that one of the Ikea shoe storage units hung on the open wall will be a tidier way to store the canning rings, and the vacuum bags and accessories, and whatever other cleaning and household tools make sense to store there.

One thing I already did was to re-install the octopus "drying rack" with a new forged bracket. Now things like socks and delicates can again hang dry while out of the way and out of sight.

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While it isn't yet time to actually sort and declutter the first aid, toiletries, and dental care items, I've made a start on improving the bathroom. As the smallest room in Acorn Cottage, with a limited set of what belongs there, it is the best place to begin.

A very small fix was to finally paint the wooden frame of the water tiger collage. All the other framed art has black frames, and now this one matches. I had to do a bit of spackling to smooth out some of the dings the frame picked up over the years decades, but that was easy. When I thought to also add another forged hanging bracket for the candle lantern, it meant moving the "frogsong" shadowbox over to the art wall, as it would be behind the lantern. In the spirit of washing the car to make it rain, I am setting up the candle lantern to ensure we don't lose power during the forecast snow, ice, and Very Cold temperature; the bathroom here has no window, and hence no natural light at all. I've been meaning to add a wall bracket for the lantern for absolutely ages!

And finally, the RÅSKOG storage cart and TRONES hinged wall storage have been ordered from Ikea, and will be delivered in about a tenday. This will allow time for sorting, the contents of the wooden cabinet, the breadbox, the medicine cabinet, and the linen closet shelf

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All the pieces for the new teal knit top have been cut out ready to sew, save for the criss-cross wrap turtleneck piece, since I still need to work out the pattern piece for that. It was a treat, though, to look in my drawer of thread cones, and find that there were four cones of dark turquoise, just right for all the teal sewing I have in mind - pinafore, shirt, knit top, and petticoat.

I do want to finish all of the Star Wars Jedi cosplay sewing commission first, before making garments for me. Saturday Tullia came over to try on the toile for the Jedi tunic, and a good thing that was; the person who took her measurements wasn't exactly accurate, and we needed to change the length by a whole hand width. The undertunic "dickey" and the obi/sash are both done save a few snap fasteners need sewn in place. The tunic and the tabard pieces are next up, now that I have confidence that the pattern I worked out will fit her.

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January SMART goals (x=extra)

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	Jedi obi sash	reinstall octopus	-
2	Jedi underlayer	hang candle lantern	-
3	2 tiny books	paint tiger frame	-
4	-	patch closet holes	-
5	-	-	-
6	x	x	x
7	x	x	x
8	x	x	x
9	x	x	x

today's gratitudes -
1. ordered hinged storage bins and utility cart from Ikea, and ordered undershelf desk light from Home Despot, as part of my improve the living spaces project. I've been wanting this upgrade for ages.
2. Past Me cleverly ordered a set of serger thread cones in "dark turquoise" so I am all set for sewing teal clothing for me. Yay for color!
3. Julia sent me a 6 mode battery powered strand of miniature LED lights - just the thing for Tansu Terrace!

Time of Isolation - Day 1285