Oh No Sorry

Well, my 30 day challenge started off very well.  But then the holidays and my old nature happened.  So  I am going to restart it soon.  I'll let you know, if you care.  It's fine if you don't.

Confession time.  I love Austin Kleon.  Well, in a way, not like a sweetie nor like a son.  Like someone I might like to have as a good friend.  He listens to good music, reads interesting things, writes a good blog, tells anecdotes sort of.  He's interesting.  Yep, that's it.     His blog

Certainly I am not the writer he is, but  I like writing.  I love to make people laugh, but I don't know how to do that on paper, or computer.  People have told me I'm funny even my kids have said so.  Keep in mind my kids are adults so I think that when they say " You're funny, mom."   It's quite different from a teenager saying, " You're weird."  If I am funny and/or weird, I pray it's the good kind.

Poems:            The rain comes quietly but
                        Awakens a sleeping frog
                         Ribbit

It is rainwater

Dropping on a stone path

Splashing my boots    

I thought they were 'haikus', but they may not be such.  They are, however, about rain and are by me.

Another               Not about rain

Clouds reflected in the 

Window of a red house.
Early morn

Do One Thing Every Day

What do you like to do?   It's entirely possible that you like to do more than one thing.  Do you do the things you like to do or do you just think about them?  Say  " Boy, I sure would like to write a blog."  Or, maybe it's, "I sure would like to finish  those projects I have started."


It's possible you may find yourself reading a variety of blogs rather than writing one.  Perhaps starting a new project is more fun than finishing that one from last year.   But as the day ends, you realized you didn't really do a blog post or work on a UFO.   Maybe you are busy with a job, young kids, teens (or both) pets, volunteering and are tired at the end of the day.

Years ago when I was a nursing student, 1990's,  I worked very hard at that and also did my housework (sort of) and mothering.  There was so much reading, learning medications, diagnoses, signs and symptoms, that I just didn't do much else.  A couple of years later when I returned to nursing school to get my RN, I decided I couldn't do without reading something other than text books. My plan was to read 5 minutes a day at bedtime something non-medical.

I did that no matter how late it was, after all it was only 5 minutes.
It made all the difference in my year.  My mind relished in the joy of poetry, a mystery or biography.

So have decided to try to do things every day for 30 days. Go outside and move about (sitting outside not included) for 10 minutes and write for 10 minutes, poetry, letters, journal and/or blog post.  I keep 3 journals, computer, handwritten and recorded.
So any of the three qualify.

I'll write a post about my efforts in 31 days.  Ya'll come back and see what happens.  

I got this idea awhile ago from an article from somewhere in which I have written "from Cyndi's blog lipstick jungle".  Today have searched for this so I can give her credit, but I couldn't find it anywhere.  In the article she mentions, Austin Kleon, whose blog I did find.   He mentions the 30 day goal so here is a link to that.       

Thirty Day Challenge     

Besides this post from November 1, 2017, he has other interesting things to day.  He is a writer who also does art.

I will leave you today with a beautiful photo of a cloud.  I hope it's one I've not already posted.

My Pink Cloud

Monday Monday

Well, actually it's Sunday night. Ten-thirty PM. But most of you won't see this before tomorrow hence the title.

I like Monday.  Truthfully, I like every day.  I am blessed by the Lord and can't help but be thankful.  Are you going to talk about the challenge?  The Challenge.  Yes, I am.  Here we go.

Loom warping.                                                       DONE!

If I'm remembering right, the next step is to tie the ends into little bundles and then tie them onto the back beam.  That's the round wooden bar in the foreground. (3/11/14 that is the warp beam. I'm leaning on the back beam) I may/will need Pam for this.

Back and white Parisian bag.                                                DONE

Side one.

 Side one close up

                    Side two

  

Side two close up.                                           

It came out very cute and very roomy.

Next.

 

Another baby dress which I cut out a long time ago.  I hope all the parts are there.  The Provence bag I showed you before is missing it's pattern, but I will look for it.  When I find it I will finish that project.

Have you ever bought anything from a catalog or online and were so surprised when it arrived because it didn't look like what you thought it would be?  I just got a BIG surprise.

I thought I was ordering some batting for a project I have yet to start.  The pattern recommended "upholstery" batting.  I found it online and placed an order for enough for two of the items.

Here's what came.

The box is 18'' deep and it was stuffed so full it was bulging and had to be taped extra firmly.  See Sophie? She's so cute.

  Does this look like batting to you?  I am going to make it work anyway.

I have also finished my sister's socks and they are read for mailing.

      A fish cloud for you.  I did not take this photo. It's cool though.                          

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  

And I thought I was done

When the show closed on December 30th, a sold-out performance, I knew there was one more day.  On January 4th, we had to strike the set.  That means putting the theatre back to it's former self.  Everyone involved with the production was supposed to participate.  I joined in, but being unfamiliar with tools such as hammers, drills, etc. I helped with organizing the costumes for storage and return to costumes rental places.

Aack! Is she still talking about that show?  Where's the challenge?

I heard that.  I know, I promised and it will happen. Believe me.  So, at the strike I volunteered to take home some of the costumes for wash and repair. Thankfully there were only a few minor repairs, but oh, the washing.

These are the clean factory aprons. Twenty-one draped ;on my loom.

This is my car loaded with some of the bags of costumes I brought home. I'd already done the aprons.

 Clean costumes on the loom. Shirts, aprons and bloomers.

On the loveseat.
Lots of burgundy and gold gloves from the wedding scene.

Is there a loom there? And what's that on the chair?  Cindy's huge nightdress. It is so big she couldn't find her way out.


And ta-dah! My whole living room full of clean stuff.  Except the dog.  See the video tour.

 

And the loom has completely disappeared.

Next time, the red blouse returns for it's final performance.

I'm Not Back

Not yet anyway.  Still very busy with the show.  Only 20 days until our first performance.  As I said previously, I will resume my challenge in January, please stay tuned.

 Just for today I'm posting some photos so you have something to see, since you stopped over.

This is a photo of Fort Jefferson in the Dry Tortugas.  I didn't take this photo, but I have been there and I have some great pictures. Unfortunately they are on my other computer which is still dead. So I got this one from the web.  The Dry Tortugas are a few islands in the Gulf of Mexico and Fort Jefferson was a prisoner of war camp during the Civil War. They are called dry because there is no fresh water.  You can get there on a catamaran, as my daughter and I did, or you can fly over.

This photo is from the Lost Gardens of Helligan.  They are in England. I've never been.  There are several of these earth people about the large garden site.  If you look at their website  you can see more plus the lovely gardens themselves.


Now if you look around my yard you can sometimes see this stunning sight.

       It's my handsome cat, Zorro, collecting Fall leaves.  Isn't he clever?


               So long until next time.  Whenever that happens to be.

IS SHE BACK OR JUST . . .

Passing through? I can hardly believe it's been ten days since my last post.  Yikes!  For those of you who may be checking on my progress in my challenge, thank you.  Come back in January, please.  I think finishing the unfinished items in my home will be my first and perhaps only New Year's resolution.

For everyone: there are only two weeks until the costumes for the show have to been done.  Last Saturday, the costume queen and I went to Mad Hatter Costumes in Auburn, California.  (There isn't a web site or I would have linked it.)   We were there about 3 hours.  No, I mean that.  Here are a couple of photos.

                                                  The wig and checkout counter.

y

This was one of the smaller rooms, but they were all stuffed full like this.

           The back of my car full of  costumes including shoes and hats.

                    More of the same.  Hoho.

The costume queen trying on a potential outfit for Mme. Thenardier when she goes to the wedding.

For those of you who wonder why the centering of captions under my photos is so off-center,  I can say this. When I type them out they are centered, when it publishes this is what you get..  That's my bit of rant for now.

After the costume shop, we went to the Salvation Army Thrift Shop. I saw this wonderful chair.  I did not buy it.  Isn't it grand?

 

And it is comfortable too.  I have a friend with a Victorian house and a love of dragonflies.  She may drive up there and get it.  Go, Jill.

Though I have been sewing and sewing and sewing,  I have failed to take any more photos of what I've made before taking them to the theatre.  Why don't you come see the show in December? It'll be worth it just to see the costumes.  It's only $15 unless you want to come to the gala premiere on November 23. Then it's $75, but you get a wonderful array of appetizers and wine before the show.  Then at intermission there will be fabulous desserts and coffee.  But best of all,  you will be greeted by Victor Hugo himself.

Before closing I have a little tip for those of you who might be trying to do a bit more exercise.

Happy days.

Clothesline

Hiya.  Not much happening  with the challenge.  Here are some items I've sewn for the theatre.  At the end find a short video I made of one of my favorite sights.

 

These are two peasant

 blouses made from a 

king-size sheet.

  

 And one

a bit fancier made from a scrap of

rayon-like fabric.

                  


            This is the back of one of the factory worker's aprons.

 

Do you love to see sheets or towels or anything hanging on a clothesline?

If yes, please enjoy my video.

 

I like it every time. I love my Hawaiian hula dancer sheets too.

See you soon.

 

It Had to Happen

Suddenly from somewhere deep in my head the vision of another unfinished project surfaced. So numerically speaking, I'm back where I started with 66 projects to go.  But who the heck is speaking numerically?  Because I have one completed project and 66 to go, not zero completed projects.

A lime green fleece vest is in my future.  The pieces have been pinned in place.  I did that sometime before June, but it went no further.


                                                                    
I have been working on my red blouse. Speaking about a red blouse, I'm very fond of Antonio Carlos Jobim.  Do you know the name?  Were you cognizant in the 60's?  I loved Brazilian jazz/ samba.  I still do.
What's she talking about now? You ask.  Still Antonio. The second cut on his 'Wave' album is 'The Red Blouse.'     I have his albums Wave and Tide.  I had no clue how to attach the MP3 to my blog so I went to Youtube.  Alas, no Antonio playing The Red Blouse, so this is the one I picked.  Normally it's an instrumental,   I like this one anyway. I hope you enjoy it too.      The Red Blouse by Nos Quatro
Do check out Carlos on Youtube, he's there. Or you could listen to samples. here.


My aqua hoodie is coming along nicely.  No photo yet.  It excites me to do something new to me and have it work out.  So putting the sleeve stitches on to scrap yarn, casting on new stitches and  then going on with just the body of the sweater just made my day.  I am trying hard to finish this by August 1st, but as I started the blog on July 9th, I have until August 9th to finish.  We will see.


Quiet little drum roll here.  Presenting . . . . .In person . . . . . that 35 pound bundle of fun . . . . . . 
                                   Sophie Louisa Marie 

Oh, believe me she is a bundle of fun.    She's just darn cute when she's asleep.

        
This her more vibrant self. You might want to mute this, I'm loud.

More stuff as soon as I can manage. Hope your day is sparkling.

One down. Sixty-five to go.

Well, howdy.  And hooray for me!  I finally finished one of my projects.  It's the Valentine scrub top.  How I wanted some great photos, but  I live alone so there was no one but me to take me modeling it.  That didn't work out very well.  I'd hoped to show it with red pants and with black.  Red looked best.  You'll have to take my word on that.

  

So here it is all done.

This is the pattern I used.  I used to have a large bust and regular scrub patterns don't have darts.  So I ended up looking like a chubby RN with shoulder pads like a football player under my top.  This pattern has three different necklines.  I often chose the square as it was so different from regular scrubs.  There were no pocket with the pattern so I cut large patch pockets and added them.  A nurse has to have her tools handy.

A bit of history on my next sewing project.  In 2005, I bought a beautiful pair of shoes. Josef Seibel. Red

                                                                                                                

They are pretty.  Don't you like that black stitching?  I didn't wear them though.  Are you crazy? You ask.  Well,  I didn't have anything to wear them with.  Sooooooo,  I took my shoes to the fabric store.  It's true.  The shop salesperson thought I was strange.  Or different.  She smiled indulgently at me.  So I found this fabric. 

 See the red is almost the same shade and it has some tiny black flowers there.

This the pattern.  I really tried to get a better shot, but when I used the flash it  completely whited-out the envelope.  Perhaps you can  click on it and it will be easier to see.

So for some reason I've had endless troubles with posting today.  Photos not working out as I'd hoped,  trouble placing photos on the page and aligning the text where I wanted it.  I don't know why as I'd not had these problems  before.

Ah, well.  It okay now because I'm done for today.  With posting, but not with my projects.  I need to do some knitting and work on the theatre sewing too.

Come back a see me a few days.  There might be more.  Rowing at 0500 tomorrow and no rehearsal for me until Saturday.  Ciao.