My intention is to get the living room and guest space into a functional configuration in the next week and a half, which will entail putting in significant time Every Day between then and now. After all, if guests are incoming, there needs to be space.
I'm separating the removal of clutter from the re-sorting of clutter from the rehoming of clutter. Aside from items that turn up that have known immediate homes, everything else can get boxed up, papers can get put in paper sacks, and all that can be stacked up out of the way. That will clear the space the quickest. Then I can take one box or bag at a time and deal with it. I'm going to try out Leslie's suggested 15-15-15-15 method: Choose three areas, work in each for a fifteen minute go, and the fourth 15 minutes are for putting feet up and taking a break. Wash rinse repeat as needed Over fifty years ago, when I worked in a leather shop in Harvard Square, learning leathercrafting and repair, my lunch breaks were spent wandering around and about what was then a much less corporate Cambridge landscape of tiny restaurants, boutiques, and galleries. My memory, whilst rather vague on the details, tells me these hand turned implements came from some (long gone) craft gallery on Arrow Street. Over the decades they've become a bit battered, their once dark purple has faded to brown, but then I too am a bit more faded than that vivid young woman and been a bit thumped upon by life, but we will both last as long as may be...
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Oops! while putting the bin of brown sugar away on the pantry shelves before sitting down to dinner, somehow a bottle of orangeflower water slipped down behind, and smashed on the concrete floor. While it could have been worse (at least the spill is pleasantly fragrant, and the broken glass was contained behind some boxes) it feels very wasteful and sad, and will be a challenge to clean up. This is more incentive to reorganise the pantry. I should know better than that. Fragile glass bottles should not be stored on the top shelves.
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Flannel shirt report: the 7 gores of the peplum, that makes the lower half of the shirt, are now stitched and pressed and set aside. The mirrored outer collar pieces have been interfaced and stitched to make a single piece, ready to be lined with some more of the special Liberty Tana lawn fabric. The upper front bodice will have the benefit of my doing the "correct" thing as far as matching the plaid. I'm wishing now I had done the same mirrored matching with the sleeves, but a. I didn't think of it until they were cut out, and b. there really wasn't enough fabric to have done so. Live and learn. I have never before worked with a large and uneven plaid, just tiny houndstooth plaid too small to need any matching.
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January SMART goals (x=extra)
| # | THINGS MADE | THINGS FIXED | THINGS GONE |
| 1 | final alphabeast drawing | painted mini tree | recycle bin |
| 2 | - | - | - |
| 3 | - | - | - |
| 4 | - | - | - |
| 5 | - | - | - |
| 6 | x | x | x |
| 7 | x | x | x |
| 8 | x | x | x |
| 9 | x | x | x |
today's gratitudes -
- mutual encouragement between myself and my UK pal Leslie
- the lightweight woven interfacing I bought from Sewlarium is just right for the flannel shirt, adding substance without stiffness.
- Clever Me figured out a solution to the dreadful echo problem when zooming with K. If her laptop sound is muted and she uses her mobile phone for the audio channel, whatever is causing the feedback replay is circumvented.
Time of Isolation - Day 2018


