well begun

in which our plucky heroine starts various projects...

Today's first task, after my morning routines, was finishing the very last of the sewing on fasteners for the Jedi outfit. My next sewing commission will be making the sunhat for Maeva, and my next sewing-for-me will be either starting a new hat, or working on the toggles for the raincoat, depending on when the leather pieces from Elanor show up.

So there has been some looking at fabrics on the resource shelves. Some fleece liners for the UFO house boots project will be a fairly quick and useful winter addition. I started those boots way back when I lived in Olympia, put them aside, added non-slip soles, put them aside again, and only thought, these would work better if they had another layer of insulation. They were originally designed to be worn over two layers of ragg wool socks. Compression socks are nowhere near as "fluffy. Using some of the floral fleece that Acantha sent me would be a great option.

Once it stopped raining, I rode over to the post office after my video chat with Turquoise; I somehow forgot to include the tiny books I made for Kestrel in the box I just mailed out to the Mud Bay folks Monday. Oh well, can't run the clock backwards and do it properly... I suspect that Kestrel will enjoy getting a little package addressed specifically to her.

After other housey chores once I got home, then it was time for my regular video chat with Elanor. I love that some of the days in the week I can count on online social time.

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~ cosplay commission ~

I've been working on these pieces for a while, for my friend Tullia who does Star Wars cosplay. I look forward to seeing photos of her wearing this, with all the additional accoutrements, maybe even later this month...

I'm also really glad to have finally finished this sewing commission, which comprises a four piece set of clothing. (I have a few SCA regalia metalwork and enamel pieces that are next up in my workroom, and I suspect that they will be faster to complete than this was). Many folks do not realise how much time it takes to make garments, when a particular result is desired and there are no readymade patterns to use (which is the case if the wearer is a non-standard size, or wants a non -standard object). This is my niche.

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I found a source for a sample book of real marbled paper, the pieces are supposedly about 3" x 2", each of which would be large enough for at least one miniature book cover...

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I follow the artist Carson Ellis on Instagram (because I adore her artwork and illustrations) so I found out that a new song by the Decemberists was just released today. I am not really familiar with the band, but now I want to look them up online and see if I enjoy their music as much as I liked this.

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I've started design work for a new tinybook : "fiber livestock" with blockprinted images of sheep, goat, rabbit, alpaca, camel, and musk ox (and maybe the wool dog of the indigneous PNW peoples). I had so much fun making "F is for fun", and am looking forward to carving all the very small (⅞" sq) linoleum blocks for this new one; it took me a while to come up with a suitable idea...

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February SMART goals (x=extra)

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	Jedi tabard	wall storage bathroom	recycle bin
2	5 jars marmalade	wall storage utility	-
3	-	-	-
4	-	-	-
5	-	-	-
6	x	x	x
7	x	x	x
8	x	x	x
9	x	x	x

today's gratitudes -
1. a dinner casserole using baked eggplant slices instead of lasagna noodles, right now it smells so delicious baking in the oven!
2. I will never run out of ideas for things to do. My designer brain is always running options for housey projects, crafty projects, and art to make...  
3. it occurred to me that I can improve the far-too-loose neckline on my Dark of Night pullover by adding a few rows of applied I-cord around the edge. Looking at my Ravelry project notes, the pattern as written created a very loose neckline to begin with, I added a border of ribbing to close it in a bit, but now it seems that wasn't enough. If it is cold enough that I want to wear a woolly pullover, I want my neckline and chest to be covered

Time of Isolation - Day 1314

Sunday snippets

in which our plucky heroine has a quiet, slightly productive day...

There has been cookery, and cleanery, and assorted choresery, interspersed with my several video meetings, and two family phonecalls, one from my SIL and one from my Aged Auntie...

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~ drawing every day - week 5 ~

Just finished week 5 of drawing every day...   I've returned to feeling pleased to be starting my day with the "drawing first of all" session. It began to feel helpful again, in the way of encouraging my mind to stop running all the subroutines and just focus on one thing: the hand/eye/mind connection. It is a meditation, but different than sitting and doing nothing...

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... did a bit more brainstorming about one of my bathroom design challenges re covering the undersink. Maybe attaching magnets in various ways, or possibly creating a basketry or wooden screen, and Ursel found some spendy manufactured curved railings of a suitable shape, though rather larger than I want. Much food for thought. Apparently my brain simply is constantly running design scenarios of one flavor or another.

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yesterday there was a small bit of pruning, cutting back some of the quinceling, and taking a look at the apple tree which still needs attention (though I may just mark the parts I want to prune on the apple and save those actual cuts for summertime pruning). There also seems to be a whole little dappled cluster of snowdrops underneath the Wanda plum outside the bedroom window; I have no memory of planting them there!

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February SMART goals (x=extra)

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	Jedi tunic	wall storage bathroom	recycle bin
2	5 jars blood orange marmalade	wall storage utility	-
3	-	-	-
4	-	-	-
5	-	-	-
6	x	x	x
7	x	x	x
8	x	x	x
9	x	x	x

today's gratitudes -
1. the small pottery pots that the rose yogurt comes in also make great containers for storing leftovers short term in the fridge. and I just noticed that the smaller size of canning jar dry storage lids, while not a perfect fit, do well enough...
2. making marmalade is the easiest of the preserves I make, needing only the organic citrus, sugar and the juice of two lemons, and the results are so good!
3. I've just found a new-to-me YouTube channel to follow: "The Last Homely House" I've been using it more as a podcast rather than as video content. It matters to me how the person speaking sounds, and I have only ever found a very few podcasts where the "melody" of the speaker is enjoyable to me. This one is. I am not a quilter, which it appears that a fair amount of her content describes, but she also talks about her country cottage, and sewing, cookery, and other housey topics.

Time of Isolation - Day 1312

minor home improvements

in which our plucky heroine gets a few things accomplished...

Spent time today on some housey projects long planned, and a few other useful tasks

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~ on the walls ~

Everything always takes longer than I expect... but today I attached the wall storage cabinets (the ones that took the FedEx scenic route via a long overlay in Troutdale) to their respective locations in Acorn Cottage:

in the utility closet - to hold things such as vacuum bags and attachments, canning jar rings, and other random equipment

in the bathroom - storage to hold back stock supplies such as Qtips, and less frequently used first aid supplies.

Also see new storage cart with cleaning supplies and extra paper. It neatly rolls right over the bathroom scale, which now has a place to live where it isn't a toe biter, and by rolling the cart out of the way in the morning, I can easily weigh myself.

(Might have to add a miniature RASKOG cart to the future bathroom diorama that is still in the planning stages)

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Finally acquired a spring tension rod of the correct size, so I can make some clear bubblepak "curtains" for the bigger window in the workroom. Apparently Fred Meyers no longer carries suchlike. It then occurred to me that the hardware store might, and after about another mile on my bike, I was happy to find the needful item to complete this project.

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Last night the organic blood oranges were boiled to soften them, and tonight they will be turned into a few jars of my favorite marmalade. Other than that, I don't plan on any more jams or preserves until late fall when the quince comes ripe. There is more than enough on the pantry shelves already.

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I've started on another copy of the miniature Gashleycrumb Tinies, this one for the tinyworld library shelves here... I do love making up miniature books!

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February SMART goals (x=extra)

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	Jedi tunic	wall storage bathroom	-
2	-	wall storage utility	-
3	-	-	-
4	-	-	-
5	-	-	-
6	x	x	x
7	x	x	x
8	x	x	x
9	x	x	x

today's gratitudes -
1. I asked at NS about the missing golden flaxseed meal, and it turned out it wasn't out of stock, or no longer carried, but just had been left off the orders because in refrigerator case, but not dairy... should be in store by Sunday. Yay! As my dad used to say "if you don't ask, you don't get"
2. I found a whole set (apple, lemon, strawberry, blueberry, grape, and pear) of the USPS fruit stamps on Ebay, at a very minimal cost. Books about fruit for the Countdown to the Summer Solstice Swap in my future...
3. Second time so far this year I have managed to hang laundry out on a dry, sunny (if cold) day. Line dried is always better than in the tumble dryer.

Time of Isolation - Day 1311