iron-ing

in which our plucky heroine does something hard and something fun...

I mostly hate making phone calls. Not as much if I am phoning a friend, though even then I always feel hesitant, not wanting to "be a bother". But having to call businesses with an inquiry or a request has never stopped being a "grit my teeth and do it"
There were two calls on my current task list today, and I made both of them before noon. Yay me!

I also started the task of decluttering my actual paper file cabinet, to move towards the goal of using the upper drawer as a "home" for important paperwork that tends to get misplaced. I do really well putting things away into their proper homes, IF they have homes. Since I made a "house key home" quite a few years ago, I no longer misplace the house keys, etc. The file cabinet upper drawer is full of random nifty hardcopy, but I pretty much never go there to use it, and it can be culled hard. (The bottom drawer is where I store my blank paper of various sorts, tracing paper, graph paper, art paper of different weights etc... that drawer is functioning well)

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~ paint it black ~
.
after ebonising, and beforehand

So, remember yesterday when I mentioned using iron infused vinegar to ebonise tannin rich wood... well... instead of just waiting for the steel wool to react, I also took some rusty rebar and stuck the ends in the jar (outdoors of course) and let it sit overnight. In the meantime, I slathered the oak escutcheon with strong tea and let it dry in the sun, because why not?

After then applying the almost clear vinegar liquid, the color change was quite rapid though not instant. A second coat darkened the wood surface even more; the only light areas are inside the deeper pores of the surface (the original oak scrap had some sort of wood finish, and while I sanded the surface to remove it, the pores are rather deep) Had I been able to start with totally unfinished wood, it would all have become black! So, I call the experiment quite successful.

faster than a speeding paintbrush

in which our plucky heroine sets a new land speed record...

Finished with the Pelican scroll project! Had I worked on this straight through, it would have taken me several days, as it is, it is done in just a week! I am much happier with it, or at least with parts of it, than I was on Tuesday when I submitted it for feedback.

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~ euphorbia euphoria ~

This one is on the next block, adjacent to the sidewalk... my own euphorbia seems to have greatly died back over the winter, but there are still plenty of them in the neighborhood.

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In the "order self some treats" department, on Wednesday I ordered a .5mm carving gouge from Japan.When it arrives it will be a most useful addition to my linocut tools, for my tinyprints, and hence the hand printed art books I've been making in miniature format. While I can do most of my carving with the 1mm Flexcut gouge, sometimes there are fine lines or details that I just can't manage...

And on a much lesser but also just for fun level, I ordered from Etsy a kit to make 14 miniature Beatrix Potter books, all with printed pages as well as printed covers. The sort of easy but absorbing small projects that are a quick dopamine hit. I plan on giving at least half of them to Kestrel, for her dollies and their library.

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I enjoy a vast array of different* creative activities, all of which involve supplies, tools, and equipment. Aside from the enameling and metalwork that are my vocation, what else is in active rotation varies. What a help it would be if I returned to storing most of the various needful "stuff" in labeled containers, instead of randomly distributed around Acorn Cottage, as the effect of the last four years has been. This may seem obvious to some, but one look around my workroom and it will be apparent this is not what happens here! That had been my intention when I moved here twenty years ago, and when I built the workroom shelves, and the repeated times I reorganised things into boxes.

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April SMART goals (x=extra)

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	tiny angora print	computer zone lamp	persimmon prunings
2	5th God bag	blog template	forsythia prunings
3	scroll calligraphy	grey turtleneck collar	yard waste bin
4	Pelican scroll	indigo bunny art	recycle bin
5	-	taxes done	-
6	x	redone bag ties	x
7	x	x	x
8	x	x	x
9	x	x	x

today's gratitudes -

1. yesterday, in the pile of free things sitting under Karla's little free library, there was a nice square metal picture frame almost exactly the size I need. Now I can reframe the print that has been sitting in a plastic frame that lost it's glass, and put it back up on the wall with its friends...

2. Glerups - going on their fifth year and still in good shape. I have vivid memories of that shopping trip I took to a shop over on Hawthorne, back in March 2020, when I thought "oh, this virus thing may have me indoors more than in the past, having some comfortable house slippers might be a treat."

(with some extra gratitude to Sidrea for her pre-pandammit information about how to not get blindsided by what was about to arrive, and to various online bloggers for mentioning Glerups. It might seem odd including bedroom slippers as a prep for pandammit, but anything that has made staying isolated a bit more bearable is invaluable.)

3. the little individual pill holders from Muji, that I'd intended as less ugly med storage but which were too small for that task, are perfect for holding individual colors of gouache paint, with their snap to seal lids keeping the paint from drying out quite as quickly...

Time of Isolation - Day 1384

* sewing, knitting, tablet weaving, book arts, block printing, leathercraft, miniatures, metalwork, vitreous enameling, scribal arts, doll and toy making,...

oh so bizzy

in which our plucky heroine enjoys a rare treat...

The guest space here at Acorn Cottage held guests overnight on Friday. We did things together, we cooked and ate a meal together... my internal batteries of well being are no longer entirely running on empty.

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~ well underway ~

The black Lettlopi yarn that arrived recently is doing just what I'd hoped for, providing a distinct edge for the body of the cardigan. Knitted on I-cord is a good way to border a garment, being both stable and flexible. The vintage wooden toggles, that I tucked away for safekeeping in the box full of assorted Lopi and Lettlopi yarn (and promptly forgot I'd done so) will finally get to escape the button basket and fulfill their destiny!

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Friday morning we girded our loins for a trip to Costco, which is always a challenge. I only ever shop there two or three times a year, for the few necessary staple items only available there, and it seems each time it is even more crowded, to the point of seeming like bumper cars inside the store. I was bashed into by other shoppers who backed up without looking. Thankfully the parking lot, while crowded, is less fraught! 

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Later in the day on Friday, my friends and I prepared and ate a Thai-inspired dinner: variations on Pad See Ew (noodles with broccoli and chicken in a sweet savory sauce), and on what they call Swimming Angel Baby Rama (spinach with a tahini coconut sauce). We made changes to adapt to our assorted food sensitivities, and while there were no prizes for authenticity, it was all Very Tasty indeed. I turned part of a jar of mango apricot juice into small gelatin desserts, inspired by the mango jello I used to enjoy 30 years ago at Sun Ya in Seattle.

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The engraved champlevé pieces to be enameled arrives via courier. OMG, the renowned Mr Dawson has outdone himself, creating heraldic images at such a small scale. And apparently intends me to add cloisonné details to something no bigger than my fingernail. I suspect know that will require thinner wire than what I normally use, if it is even possible! Time for more experimentation...

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March SMART goals (x=extra)

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	-	-	-
2	-	-	-
3	-	-	-
4	-	-	-
5	-	-	-
6	x	x	x
7	x	x	x
8	x	x	x
9	x	x	x

today's gratitudes -
1. a successful trip to Costco, thanks to friends. It gets more exhausting and overwhelming each time, but there are a few staple items that need bought two or three times a year: usually TP, pecans, and Tillamook bricks. This visit I added in eye meds, and some grass fed ground beef.
2. VISITORS!! I had almost a whole day with my friends (before they had to head out to to play music for the dance at the event tonight) We even fit in a bit of just walking around the neighborhood together, in the sunbreaks between the rain or the wintry mix.
3. Today I found both the things I misplaced. The toggles for my new cardigan project were in the box of Lopi yarn. My current bujo was tucked in with the cookbooks instead of with the other past journals.
4. The leftovers from the Thai-inspired dinner we cooked yesterday made a delicious lunch, and then a delicious dinner for me today. Made me smile to remember cooking and eating together with two friends. A now Very Uncommon and Rare pleasure that I never take for granted these days
5. I managed to clear off the dining table, which had become one of those Horizontal Surfaces of Magnetic Junk Attraction for far too long. Now it is once again a place where meals can be eaten, or writing or drawing take place while looking out the front window to see the weather and the botanical activity, and possibly the antics of Bob the wayward squirrel
6. Borrowing the Fiskars paper trimmer is another treat. It is so much easier to cut the strips for making miniature text blocks! This (older) style trimmer uses a regular large rotary blade, and clamps the paper in place while you trim, so comparatively safe and very effective. I am going to prep as much as I can before they pick it up on their way home tomorrow.

Time of Isolation - Day 1338

Monday meanderings

in which our plucky heroine believes in springtime...

The last two days I have heard birdspeech, the various noises that have been missing. There have been numerous robins in the front yard. They may be common, but they are still a cheery reminder that even in this deeply urban place we are still in the middle of the natural world. Indeed, because "wherever you go, there you are" we cannot escape the natural world, as we ourselves carry it with us. Still, hearing and then seeing the robins was a great pleasure.

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~ Scythian scribal ~

The calligraphy is finished and I am starting to fill in the background, which is based on a Pazyryk felted wool textile. Both the background and the golden beast will be underpainted first, with additional layers of color creating texture and metallic effect as needed. This is very unlike any scroll I have done before.

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~ 100 day stitch book project - day 46~

Day 46/100 page 10 - when I noticed I was starting to overthink where to begin, I instead just reached into the bag of small scrap pieces and pulled out this bit of a deconstructed Liberty/Target shirt cuff to add to the rectangle of vintage japanese fabric. I cut the little strip of shirt cuff in half to stitch down offset, as that seemed more interesting to me today. Tomorrow I will finish stitching it in place, and then, who knows what will happen next?

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I seem to have misplaced more than one of my Very Favorite TNT patterns. While I can always re-bluetape a finished garment to come up with a copy, I will take this as further impetus to continue picking up items in the sewing space in hopes the wayward patterns will turn up. There are plenty of things in there that can Go Away, like the pants pattern for the man I dated years ago, which is now in the recycle bin. If he needs new pants, his now-wife can make them for him.

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March SMART goals (x=extra)

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	-	chore jacket snaps	recycle bin
2	-	rain capelet neckline	yard waste bin
3	-	-	ceiling fan blades
4	-	-	more ceiling fan blades
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 gratitudes -
1. robins in the yard
2. I saw someone's yard all set about with crocus
3. I have everything needed to attach the Stanley power strip to the bedroom wall. Yay! (it has been sitting for over a year just waiting for me to decide if it belongs in the living room or the bedroom, ah the joys of a 70 year old house with limited outlets. And no worries, I don't plug things in that pull more power than the outlet is rated for, but sometimes one needs two bedside lamps, and an alarming clock, and maybe a phone charger?)

Time of Isolation - Day 1092

pease porridge hot

in which our plucky heroine has supper for breakfast...

Yesterday afternoon I had started a soup in the wee crock pot, with a piece of smoked ham hock, some dried green split peas, a small onion and two yellow carrots cut to pieces. I must have misjudged the timing as it wasn't ready by dinnertime, so I added a handful of barley and topped up the water, knowing that barley is most expansive. The soup, simmering overnight, turned into what I can only describe as pease porridge, and made a wonderful breakfast. The leftovers are enough for two more meals, particularly if combined with additional vegetables; I've some cooked spinach and steamed broccoli in the fridge, either of which seem like good candidates

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~ 100 day stitch book project - day 40 ~

One thing I find fascinating is that even without specific planning, the designs I have come up with all mostly look like "my style"... in part that reflects the limited colorways I have chosen for this challenge, but in part reflects how my own design eye tends to put things together visually. I am eager, though not impatient, to see what the final series and chosen arrangement of the 20 pages will look like.

Day 40/100 (page 8) - added the kanji for koi to one of the oval "rocks", and decided on also adding some textural embroidery to the fish itself...

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Today I was successful at clearing all the random fabric from three of the work stations in my handcraft studio... my actual workbench, the large cutting table, and the dreadful pile of canvas scraps etc that had developed next to and in front of my kiln. The inspiration from my friend Turquoise, and the online company of my friend Elanor were of great assistance in this effort. As well, I have taken the suggestions of Dawn (a blog follower) who suggested that I check out the Youtube videos of Dana K. White for decluttering tips, and I am very slowly working my way through them... 

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February SMART goals (x=extra)

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	2 tiny bird books	soy sauce cruet base	recycle bin
2	semicircular bathmat	reconfigure neckline	yard waste bin
3	rice paper packets	rose kerchief mended	recycle bin
4	3 100 day pages	SR leather re-dyed	recycle bin
5	tiny forsythia	duvet cover	old cassettes
6	6 jars blood orange marmalade	A/C kerchief hem	x
7	1 more100 day page	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 gratitudes -
1. tiny crock pot is my friend, doo dah, doo dah!
2. clear work spaces to put to use this week 
3. a tipoff from a friend about a source for the wicker basket grocery handcarts, which have long been a desire for both someday future SCA events and for things like shopping at farmers markets...

Time of Isolation - Day 1087

"proficere lente" ... habitable habitat

in which our plucky heroine makes small but definite progress...

This winter one major task will be to declutter and tidy the house, clearing away various items and supplies that I no longer need, and returning my habitat to habitable. My goal is to have all the flat surfaces be useable for purpose other than storage. With that in mind, the need to photograph the interior of Acorn Cottage (for reasons) is also giving me a chance to remember how pleasing and comfortable the rooms are when they are not as overwhemingly full of useful but moopy detritus. I've not actually dealt with the issue, which will certainly take more than three or four days, but can store those somatic sensations of greater ease to help motivate the actual sorting activity.

I've been going room to room, picking up all the "things that don't belong" in each room, and moving it out temporarily. Taking the photos, and then returning the things in more tidy piles suitable for sorting. Then of course, I have had to figure out how the Google Photos app creates an album. And how to add text to a photo in the same app, since it will not allow me to move a photo from one app to another. And then, how to move photos within the album, since the program defaults to "order by date and time", which is not always ideal. I suspect that most of this would be easier to do on a larger screen than my phone, but that is where the photos live. Fortunately hopefully I will be done with this project by the end of the weekend...

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So pretty the leaves, so subtle the autumnal light...
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I finally managed to clear away the broken porch planter... the smaller pieces of wood are in the trash, since even untreated lumber bits are not okay for the green bin, the larger pieces will have to wait until there is a someday dump run. The used potting soil had been swept up into batches in the burden cloth  and is now in the large raised bed in the backyard. It is tempting to empty all the assorted random pots scattered around the yard into the raised bed, and then add in a layer of good compost and nutritive amendments, and sow it with a cover crop for the winter

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Took some time yesterday to cut out and sew one of the several pairs of long janes on my list for this month's sewing. These are light grey, with the light blue dotted border I appliqued back in late October. They are so very fast to sew, it takes longer to cut them out than to assemble them. A few more embroidered and/or printed borders will be a fun addition, as I have a number of pieces of jersey suitable for more pairs, and enough waistband elastic for at least three more... I also want to make a new top to repair my favorite winter slip, since the bodice has worn to a ravelling.

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well yowch, and also WTF?! Feeling perfectly ordinary with no unusual bodily trauma I was lying in bed drifting off to sleep last night... straightened my left leg and the knee gave an intense crunching sensation of pain?!? I was actually afraid to move again after that, and managed to fall asleep without changing position again. My knee doesn't seem unstable, or obviously damaged, other than being vaguely achey. I walked almost 7K steps today with no real trouble. I sure hope there are no repeats!

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November SMART goals (x=extra)

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	skull brooch	vacuum heat intake	broken porch planter
2	salsa verde	new pinback on flower	recycle bin
3	pale grey long janes	26# quinces picked	-
4	-	-	-
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 gratitudes -
1. Costco run with Wanda right when they opened today, and she was entirely willing to wear her mask when I asked. Now I am stocked up with things ready for the winter.
2. I am managing to accomplish the photography and moving the clutter around in a way that is only moderately stressful.
3. I have figured out how to create an album in Google Photos, and how to move the images around inside the album to put them in better order. Old dog can learn yet more new tricks.

Time of Isolation - Day 982

Saturday snippets

in which our plucky heroine progresses on several fronts...

I made this Lemony Carrot and Cauliflower soup. It is delicious. I did make a few alterations and substitutions: instead of white miso and salt, I simply seasoned the soup with tamari, I used frozen homemade stock instead of water, and garnished it with Greek yogurt, cilantro and Aleppo pepper.  Also, after toasting the coriander seeds, and grinding them in a mortar, I then sieved them so as to not have any remaining seed husks in the soup. What isn't tonight's dinner or tomorrow's breakfast will go in the freezer for future dinners, and I am quite glad I copied out the recipe into the back of the current journal, this will be cooked again!

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time in the tinyworld:

Thinking about St Patrick' s Day next week, so I prepped fabric for two little green pinafore aprons, using Sharpie markers to change the white parts of the green/white printed fabric to a yellow-green.

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I forgot to mention that while out in a car yesterday with my friend Poni, I asked if we could stop at Costco. I only shop there a few times a year, usually if I need to replenish my stock of bathroom paper rolls. Whilst there, I always try to gather some of the heavier large cardboard sheets that are used to separate the various kinds of paper goods they sell. These only end up in their recycle bin, but I find ideal for making good copies of patterns I will want to make repeatedly (my TNT patterns). I had run out of this cardboard recently, and providentially there was a store clerk who had already piled up a large number of the pieces, so a quite large roll of pattern cardboard squares came home with me. Just in time to transfer my chore coat pattern and hang it up with my other TNT patterns, until it is time to actually start sewing the raincoat. Huzzah for my Sewing Nomad friends, cheering on my efforts to finally get these projects out of my head and into my closet!

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~ creativity challenge ~

more progress on  I have finished bending the Laurel wires, and am ready to make a start on the wires for the sunflower pendant (fortunately those wires are much less troublesome to shape) and tomorrow or Monday I will fire up the kiln and get busy!

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This morning when I poked at the phone for some "get up and do chores" music, it turned up Richard Thompson doing 1000 Years of Popular Music... What a treat to start the day with!

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Twice now I have been able to catch a mostly dry and breezy partial day and get laundry out in the side yard to dry on the line. Thankfully, there is more rain in the forecast, since we are nowhere near where we need to be for water this time of year. But I do love how sweet the laundry smells after line drying.

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Yesterday I gathered some books I didn't need any more and toted them off to some of the local Little Free Library kiosks. I sometimes find interesting books there, take them home to read them, and then return them again...

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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	books to LFL
4	little ladle	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 - a crockpot is wonderful, it cooks dinner while I am doing something else...

Time of Isolation - Day 727

Monday miscellany

in which our plucky heroine gets a better nights sleep...

Well that was interesting. I've been increasingly unhappy with my Old Mattress, and how lumpy/saggy it has become; it seems to affect my back being painful both at night and when I wake up. (I actually have a New and Different Mattress, but need to reconfigure my bed frame in order to use it) Last night I decided to sleep in the guest/sewing room instead, on the futon. Which I know is flat. I dragged the memory foam topper onto the futon, for a bit of extra comfort since I am not twenty years old any more.

Result, while it was harder for me to get to sleep (different room, different orientation, different bed feel) I woke up without a painful back. I intend to continue this experiment, and also to do what I can to move forward on altering my bed frame to suit my new mattress which is still in the box it arrived in back in 2019?

Hmmm... waking up in the sewing room made me think it might be a good idea to do another round of decluttering in there, and also to rearrange where the things are stored. Prime access spots ought to be for things I use often. "Backstock" supplies that are rarely used, should be less accessible. Sewing patterns, I am looking at you, you could be in a storage box, and not taking up half a shelf front and center.

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beauty in the time of isolation:

I don't know for certain what these mushrooms are, other than colorful... I suspect that they are "turkey tail" mushrooms, and will examine them a bit more carefully the next time I walk in that direction in hope of gathering more data.

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Finished the Pelican enamel last night, so this afternoon will be devoted to creating the setting for it, so it can be mailed out tomorrow morning.

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~ creativity challenge  - jewelry, from afar ~

A bit of catching up, since I spent most all of yesterday in the workroom, enameling, when I wasn't on a zoom call. Sunday's prompt was "jewelry" so Almandine decided to explore some of my beads and baubles... She is hoping that I can figure out how to create a bead necklace for her! And today's prompt was "from afar". Almandine and Sequoia are having a playdate with the Japanese Akita guardian dogs that watch the front door of Acorn Cottage

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I was getting ready for an online SCA panel discussion Sunday afternoon (so had changed from my modern clothing into my SCA garb) when the doorbell rang! I looked out the front window, and saw my friend Emily at the end of the walkway; she had just dropped off a little bag of treats for me and my tiny friends, but looked a little puzzled at my attire. I was amused at her comment that she was wondering if I had a special way of celebrating Sundays?! and I then explained the reason for my unusual clothing and headgear...

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January SMART goals (x=extra)

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	blue Almandine trousers	pruned feral roses	yard waste bin
2	tiny dominoes	mended turtleneck	recycle bin
3	tiny domino box	cleared dining table	-
4	Almandine ragg pullover	third jacket toile.	-
5	leather thimble	ironing board cover	-
6	Almandine underdress	x	x
7	Pelican enamel	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 a spare room, which serves multiple functions ie guest/sewing room.

Tuesday tidbits

in which our plucky heroine brushes against the darkness...

It is that short time of year when (if we are lucky, and fire season hasn't yet reached us) there are some delectable scents floating on the air. The jasmine hedges are blooming, and the linden trees are flowering. My early morning bike rides are a delight, as the fragrance pools in spots that are as pleasant to ride through as the tree shade that dapples the streets...

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beauty in the time of isolation:

looking up into a linden tree, the leaves are silvery on the underside and green above, and the flowers smell wonderful!

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This last weekend Karen and Beth came down to visit, and my chosen project for the weekend was sorting and culling my fabric. Both sets of wall shelves in the small bedroom were overflowing, as were the assorted tote bins stacked on the floor. Now mind, I hadn't bought all this fabric... many pieces were giveaways, or leftover from projects sewn for others, but there was just Too Much.

SABLE* is a thing I am becoming uncomfortable with, friends are dealing with the houses full of creative supplies left behind by parents deaths, and I'd rather have an even more curated collection of textile resources on hand, and let my excess be distributed to folks who might use it sooner. Having company and help with the sorting and reorganising was invaluable; we did most of it in one day. Now there is space on the shelves, and the tote bins are empty, which will allow me room to progress into sorting out the (smaller cubic amount) sewing notions and trimmings, and the other textile tools and supplies, room on the shelves to put the long ago acquired Ikea MOPPE drawers meant to hold suchlike. Eventually that room will be as appealing and useful as it exists in my mindseye, a space for guests and also for fabric and textile creativity...

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July SMART goals (x=extra)

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	-	fabric stash sorted/culled	yard waste bin
2	-	-	recycle bin
3	-	-	big bag of fabric
4	-	-	big bag of fabric
5	-	-	big bag of fabric
6	x	x	big bag of fabric
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 - when my pre-surgery COVID test location was unexpectedly changed at the last minute, prior to my surgery tomorrow, my kind friend Tamra offered to get up hella early in the morning and give me a ride to the alternate testing site, saving me spending about three hours riding busses today. Hunter, the testing technican, did a much less painful job of swabbing my nasal passages than the previous tech, I didn't have to cry, and it mostly stopped hurting by the time I got home.


* Stash Accumulation Beyond Life Expectancy

Friday fragments - day 49 (year 2)

in which our plucky heroine couldn't sleep last night, again...

but mostly becasue the book I chose for my bedtime reading was too good! On of my friends posted a comment about the book "Lab Girl" (by Hope Jahren), and I can't remember how long it has been since I couldn't stop reading a book. Intending to just read the first chapter as I wound down towards sleeping, instead stayed up way too late, until there were no more pages to read, (and am about to dive right back in and re-read it) She has such a way with words and phrases, and her writing gave me an entirely new way of thinking both about plant life, and about the life of scientists...

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A bit more than an hour of effort (with online company) and the soldering workbench top is entirely cleared, wiped down, and reorganised with only the things that are supposed to live there. In the process, I found a tiny disc anvil tucked inside a cupboard) that I've been looking for for several years! I've about a large handful of random bits to find homes for. Rather than despair about how long it will take to actually declutter and reorganise Acorn Cottage, I'm reminding self to be pleased at every additional bit of square footage that becomes a place of clarity and function.

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beauty in the time of isolation:

pink dogwood on a sunny spring day
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I've been filling in some of the random chunks of time with painting away on the group of Adiantum charters that Michael dropped off here. The charter artwork was quite challenging to paint, for several reasons, partially because the actual xerox quality was not great, and partially because the line art did not actually lend itself to being painted. We are doing our best to help our neighbors. I wish that more folks knew that there are actually parameters that help make charter art paintable. Photos tomorrow...

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~ creativity challenge ~

Me-Made-Miniature-May: instead of the full size challenge, make garments, accessories and artifacts for Nandina's world. There's a Mix and Match May wardrobe challenge going on over at Tiny Rag Doll Nation, which inspired me to return to the world of the small... I'm going to start by knitting a tiny placket tee, using this pattern. Tested my ability to knit so small by making a sample tee to share with Gwen, the doll that lives next door to us, and the knit top for Nandina will begin tomorrow. It  might be good to acquire some Lykke size 0 double pointed needles, the smallest I have are some Clover Takumi size 1...

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April SMART goals (x=extra)

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	wire planter cage	cover smaller sleeve board	yard waste bin
2	prototype mesh wash bag	cover larger sleeve board	recycle bin
3	5 jars blood orange marmalade	baby plants repotted	bag of fabric
4	3 jars Awesome sauce	skirret cage adapted	bag of fabric
5	4 jars strawberry rhubarb sauce	temporary biffy	bag of fabric
6	two large blue planters	remove thumbhole cuffs	bag of fabric
7	two bone Viking threadwinders	planted herbs	bag of old fur
8	original Luttrell-inspired scroll	pruned forsythia	yard waste bin
9	two Adiantum charters	pruned persimmon	recycle bin
10	red Laurel enamel	x	yard waste bin
11	tiny placket tee for Gwen	x	x
12	x	x	x
13	x	x	x
14	x	x	x
15	x	x	x

today's gratitude - words with friends long out of touch. The pandemic has played hob with contact, and not everyone is on social media. There are people I never had their phone numbers because I saw them almost every day in my past time daily routines. I can't do much to fix the broken world, but I can persist in doing what I can to keep connections alive.

little bit further than you gone before - day 34 (year 2)

in which our plucky heroine makes another bit of progress...

Today started off most excellently, with a package in the mailbox that was an unexpected treat. I then managed to go out for a walk before breakfast, if only about a mile. Might go for another walk after dinner, it is crazy warm and sunny here! (why did I not get sunglasses last year when I ordered new spex?) Thursday afternoons K and I connect via video and focus on declutter or other challenges, so much easier with someone else "there"; today I cleared the mess from my workbench, either putting things away, or finding better ways to store things. It now looks inviting rather than dreadful. I have an idea of making a sawblade holder for the benchtop, that will allow for labeled sections for each different fineness of tooth. Every small improvement makes a big difference.

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~ creativity challenge ~

Tuesday night was a Caid College of Scribes class on drolleries in the Luttrell Psalter, and we practiced both copying examples, and creating our own combinations... it was fun! Today I spent an hour or so in the middle of the day watching a presentation on Manuscript Crafts put on by "The Háskóli Íslands Student Conference on the Medieval North: A student-organized conference intended as an interdisciplinary forum for students of Old Norse and medieval Scandinavia." Learned some new things about pigment availability, and some additional details about bookbinding. Hoping to learn more in the future about Carolingian style calligraphy.

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at the very end of 2020 I did some pattern hacking to my TNT knit top pattern. Adding a turtleneck option was very successful, as most of the time when wearing a long sleeve knit top, extra warmth is the idea. Adding "thumbhole cuffs" turned out to be a less desirable hack, as it turns out that for me my handknit mitts are preferable to the longer integral thumbhole cuffs, which I find are somewhat awkward to wiggle out of for hand washing, and which look quite odd when folded back. Since I dearly love my mushroom print tops, I decided to remove the offending portion, which left the cuffs narrow but acceptable. Cut off the thumbhole edge, leaving the cuffs as long as possible (1¼"), basted the raw edges inside on the outer and inner layers, basted them together, and then hand stitched in an overcast as close to the edge as possible, Alabama Chanin style. It was relaxing handwork during an evening Zoom meeting, and the knit top is much more pleasant to wear now.

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beauty in the time of isolation:

there are a few outliers in the assorted springtime flowers in the front border. The only tulip, and a red that clashes with everything else in the yard, but I cannot bring myself to remove it. Some Queen of the Night tulips, in almost black, would look quite splendid with the hyacinths and violets... perhaps the red tulip could get relocated to the front corner planting, and given a few colorful friends to add delight to the sidewalk passers-by

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April SMART goals (x=extra)

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	wire planter cage	cover smaller sleeve board	yard waste bin
2	prototype mesh wash bag	cover larger sleeve board	recycle bin
3	5 jars blood orange marmalade	baby plants repotted	bag of fabric
4	3 jars Awesome sauce	skirret cage adapted	bag of fabric
5	4 jars strawberry rhubarb sauce	temporary biffy	bag of fabric
6	two large blue planters	remove thumbhole cuffs	bag of fabric
7	x	x	bag of old fur
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 - a care package arrived today from my Mud Bay pals: an assortment of Japanese stationery stickers, a lovely little notebook with three different kinds of paper inside, and a card from Kestrel, decorated with Totoro stickers. There is little that I love more than I love kid art.

Sunday snippets and fragments - day 23 (year 2)

in which our plucky heroine does not give up...

...sleeping brain has been sending me on all kinds of strange adventures, including a trip to a formerly unknown part of the dreamlands, filled with narrow pedestrian streets, analog strip malls, and odd shops stacked atop one another, rather like a cross between an Old World city and Japan. In one of those small shops, I found a stash of deadstock canning jar lids and was really delighted. When I got to the register to pay for them, I woke up.

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~ creativity challenge ~

almost finished with a new planter cage... should be squirrel-proof. My hands are sore from hours of cutting wire mesh, bending it to shape, and cutting and twisting wires to connect the pieces. I'm hoping to be able to plant edible greens here, soon. Inside the planter, the current "crop" of deadnettles (which I just found out are actually edible?!) will be replaced with a layer of compost, and some planter soil. and then I may plant some peas, or radishes...

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started the process of adding a cover to the sleeve board that has been floating around my sewing space for a number of years now. Layers of melton cloth wool padding, and then a linen cover held on with a drawstring. Did the smaller side first, and have some idea of how to improve it for the larger side... 

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Auntie K and I have been spending some time just hanging out on video as "body doubles" for one another. We did this one time before, with good results, as I was able to clear the surface of an entire workbench, while she worked on her own project. This time I was able to clear away all the fabric that had piled up atop the guest futon, (ever since early in the pandemic when I was in a frenzy of mask making). Four grocery sacks full of fabric scrap are ready to leave the house now, and while it isn't anywhere near as much declutter as desired, it is a start.

Though mostly as body doubles we don't do a lot of back and forth chat, K had a good question for me: "how do you envision this room? and does what you are picking up add to that vision?" I want the floors to be clear with only enough fabric and supplies on the shelves, not SABLE*. I only want mostly lengths of fabric that can be turned into garments, as I am not really into patchwork for clothing or as a handcraft. It will take time, but it is POSSIBLE

*Stash Accumulation Beyond Life Expectancy

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April SMART goals (x=extra)

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	wire planter cage	cover smaller sleeve board	yard waste bin
2	-	-	recycle bin
3	x	x	bag of fabric
4	x	x	bag of fabric
5	x	x	bag of fabric
6	x	x	bag of fabric
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 - an unexpected book delivery yesterday. My sister sent me "The Art of Dying Well" by Katy Butler, and "Advice For Future Corpses" by Sallie Tisdale... both books I have borrowed often enough from the library that adding them to my reference library makes sense. Food for thought, as I navigate being a good daughter to my ageing parents, and as I consider and make choices about my own ongoing life as an elder

Tuesday tidbits- day 4 (year 2)

in which our plucky heroine makes some incremental progress...

while I still struggle with "isolation brain", there has been at least one notable improvement in the surroundings. This afternoon my friend Elanor and I spent two hours connected on video, each working on particular projects, but with "company" while doing so. It worked surprisingly well, and now the standing work table in the workroom has been completely cleared off. Been meaning to get to that for weeks, nay, months... 95% of what was there has been relocated, either properly put away, or tidied onto a shelf. I have a surprising amount of block printing stuff: ink and blocks and carving tools and blank blocks. Need to figure out a better way to store all of those supplies.

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~ 100 day creativity challenge - day 91 ~

2nd charter painting of the year... I particularly love this design, of stylised Scythian horses, and had saved painting the saddle blanket until last, so as to look at the original artifact for inspiration. However, instead of just copying the entire historical design, I was inspired to paint the badge of the Order of the Mountain Sun* on the saddle blanket instead...

* "Given in recognition of exceptional performance in the Arts and/or Sciences in the Barony."

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Late last night finished putting up six jars of mixed citrus marmalade, mostly from the mutual aid, with one large, very dark, blood orange mixed in, as well as the frozen cubes of leftover pink grapefruit. Now that I know to cook marmalade just until it reaches 219°F, the results are a slightly thinner set, but nice soft peel, which is my preferred result.

Next up in the preserving kettle will be applesauce, as about two dozen apples need dealt with soon. Been thinking about my preserving year "calendar"... first is citrus (late winter/early spring), then strawberry rhubarb (late spring), then a long gap until tomatoes, and plums, and tomatillos (late summer/autumn) and then quince and apple (early winter/winter). Other things are preserved as they show up, things like garlic scapes for pickling, or the various herbs and mushrooms that sometimes arrive unexpectedly and need a good spin through the dehydrator, as do the parking-strip   persimmons (late autumn)

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beauty in the time of isolation

Euphorbia characias subsp. wulfenii

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Updating some of my face masks, as a few of the ones I sewed earlier last year have had the very thin fabric I used for the liner actually fall to shreds in the laundry. In addition, switching to a round the head tie instead of ear loops has made them much less painful to wear. There was a length of some kind of synthetic/lycra knit fabric on the shelf here which when cut into 3/8" strips is perfect for ties, just as stretchy but much softer than regular elastic... Also cut and shaped a bunch of nose wires; I find that adding a narrow casing at the top for the wires allows them to be removed before laundering and washed in the sink separately. Now if only mask wearing did not aggravate my rosacea.

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Medical news of friends and family: My friend Sharon's condition is not improving, despite it being long enough since from her cranial surgery for the swelling to have subsided, she still is unable to communicate effectively either speaking or writing. My friend Mickey has been having symptoms (peripheral numbness combined with intense back pain) consistent with the possible failure of his spinal fusion of a few years ago, and we are all greatly worried. My mom is making incremental improvement in walking further in the apartment, and seems more alert than previously, though still with memory impairment. My dad had minor side effects from his second vaccine, basically sudden need of napping.

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March SMART goals (x=extra)

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	Kestrel kuspuk	darned Totoro gloves	recycle bin
2	6 jars orange marmalade	power bar kitchen	random books
3	5 jars applesauce	power bar workshop	recycle bin
4	horseradish	long power bar computer	-
5	charter #1	rain capelet binding	-
6	Black Ice cardigan	new mask elastics	-
7	charter #2	new mask nosewires	-
8	6 jars sumo marmalade	x	-
9	-	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 was a warm sunny day, and the second time that it has been possible this year to put laundry out on the line to dry!