Old dog, new tricks

in which our plucky heroine learns more than one new thing...

well that was quite a surprise! The UPS man delivered a box to my porch, and inside was a tiara!! A surprise present from a friend, and wouldn't you know it is Tiara Tuesday! So, here is our plucky heroine complete with sparkles:

even better than the tiara were the words on the card...
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Despite feeling puny yesterday, I don't think I was ill, just tired. I really hate how whenever I cough a bit, or have a headache, my mind immediately wonders if I have COVID. After my morning running errands on my bike, which partially cleared my head, I ate lunch and then took a nap for about two hours, which sort of made up for my lack of sleep the night before. I woke up feeling more human. If I can only get back to giving self enough time to sleep, everything might function a bit more coherently, at least that is the plan.

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~ creativity challenge ~

So, yesterday I posted online about my first attempt to make Almandine (and Nandina eventually) a little SCA cloak. I wasn't happy with the rather oversized blanket stitch I used to finish the edge. One suggestion from my friend Kareina was to stitch a bit inside the edge, and then ravel the remainder as fringe. I wasn't sure that would work,  never having done the like, but this small sample seems like it is successfully holding together, and the scale of the stitches is much much smaller at 3mm vs 8mm, which looks a lot better to me.

 

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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	-
4	-	tiny bucket handle	-
5	-	acquired 2021 tax forms	-
6	x	-	-
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 - It is a good day when I learn something new. Today I learned that if you need to turn the laptop off and it is ignoring you, hold down the on/off button for a long little while. Fortunately that turn off and restart did the trick and dealt with the cursor freezing in place, and I am still connected to the online world, which is most of the connection I have to the world outside Acorn Cottage!

Time of Isolation - Day 724

Monday miscellany

in which our plucky heroine notices signs of spring...

 I've been out riding my bike, which I do every day when the weather allows. There were English daisies in the grass at one of the city parks I rode past. Here and there are early bulbs blooming, people have planted crocus, or hyacinths or daffodils. I have seen at least one forsythia all aglow, though the one here at Acorn Cottage is still barely tinged with yellow. The ornamental plums here have a vaguely pink tint that promises blossoms before too long, and the quinceling has the tiniest of green leaves thinking about unfolding. My one hellebore is covered with pink flowers, and the last of the snowdrops, hidden under the venerable sage still have a few blooms... I would love to have one or two more hellebores, as nothing eats them and their flowers are amazing. I would really like one black hellebore, and one of the white ones with the red freckles... will keep my eyes open in the future.

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time in the tinyworld:

Almandine here in my first attempt at a Viking Age style cloak. The challenge is getting fabric that has a good drape at a very small scale. This very thin herringbone wool is very finely woven indeed, so drapes nicely, but is sort of impossible to hem. Hence the blanket stitched edge, which even for me is a bit too large scale, but I wanted to try it out. Her brooch is one of the little ones I formerly made to sell at SCA events, and it also is rather too large. I'll have to try making something smaller for a brooch, which will definitely be possible*, and try again with a smaller and narrower edge stitching.

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Thinking about slowly and carefully getting back to doing a wee bit of garden work. I still need to keep filling the giant raised bed, but I also need to NOT set my tetchy lower back off. Maybe one wheelbarrow load would be possible? I also want to start some peas, and it is time to get my seed order together. Past time actually!

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well yay, I managed to get at least one hard thing done today... Rode my bike to the library, because I need the federal and state and city tax forms. We don't all get an extension this year, so taxes are due in April once again. This was the first time I had been in the library in almost two years (I've been reading their e-books and listening to audiobooks) The librarian was very helpful in tracking down all the myriad forms I need, printed them all out, and it only took about 15 minutes of being in a public space with other people, whew! I don't think I will be back there again until I feel safer, but at least they still had full precautions in place, so it was fairly low risk. I miss having places, and being able to freely enjoy them.

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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	-
4	-	tiny bucket handle	-
5	-	acquired 2021 tax forms	-
6	x	-	-
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 - The public library is still requiring everyone to be masked. And they had at least two enormous industrial HEPA filters going to help keep the air less dangerous. This made me feel less fraught about the necessary visit.

Time of Isolation - Day 723

*back in 2008 I made a number of very tiny 3" tall "witch-girls" using the tutorials from Salley Mavor, this one had a very wee pennannular brooch:

weekend wonderings

in which our plucky heroine keeps finding boxes to step outside of...

Taking a break from work, and going to try to make progress on the remaining drawings for my 2023 calendar. I know it is March, don't judge... Now I am wondering would it be too weird turning it into a partial year calendar instead of a full 12 months? (edited thought: who cares, no rules, I can art how I want to...)

I had intended back in December making up a decorative small calendar to gift to friends, but then it didn't get completed before January 1... and then I thought Lunar New Year, and it didn't get completed... This is like the year after beginning my cancer journey, where at some level I lacked faith in the future. Making a calendar is a way to counteract that. I still want to "finish" this one and give it to those who were hoping for it. And will begin artwork for a 2023 calendar as soon as this one is completed and printed and mailed instead of waiting to begin in December!

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The chore jacket project in continuing to progress. Meeting with my Sewing Nomads friends online on Saturday morning was a delight as always, and I find it encouraging to have a chance to talk about the actual details of the project. They are my only sewing friends. The main pieces of the jacket are together, and I found I needed to remove quite a bit of the width from the sides. I also entirely FORGOT that I needed to add an inch to each side of the center of the collar, and had to piece in a bit of denim (which won't show, as it is the undercollar at that point. I am quite happy with the shape and size of the shawl collar, now all that remains is to decide on how do deal with my desire to add some of the complex faded black corduroy as the outer collar. And to design and create the pockets, line the sleeves, etc...

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time in the tinyworld:

I've finally finished all the tiny books from the kit. My attempt with taking book "printables" to the copy shop was not as successful as I had hoped, as the resolution was quite fuzzy, alas. Not sure why, or if the results would be better if I had a home computer printer. It's time to begin a different tinyworld project instead of yet more books. Maybe a more sturdy bookcase, a water dipper and lid to go with the bucket, assembling the actual tiny houses, or perhaps some small upholstered furniture*.

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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	-
4	-	tiny bucket handle	-
5	-	-	-
6	x	-	-
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 - I have a house full of art supplies and I am not afraid to use them...

Time of Isolation - Day 722

*.... I was so charmed with this whimsical little chair that I could not resist the tutorial.