So Far, April is Mostly Showers
3:50 p.m. - 2010-04-09


My life is a little fraught at the moment with worry about an elderly relative and the extra care involved. In spite of all the alarms and drama, I still find time to sew a little, and I have been trying to get the girls' room in better shape. That room sort of devolved into a mess, with fabric and yarn and clothes, etc., but when the window replacement was finished, WSP painted it the most beautiful aqua color called 'Hawaiian Skies'. The color is deserving of a better decor, so we finally went to the dad's house and got back the long long desk that Melissa used while she was living there and attending the college. We also go two new IKEA Anaboda chests to hold my sewing patterns and my handknit sweaters, and I finally got up the energy to put them together. Usually, I buy the IKEA stuff and Abby puts it together for me, but I can read instructions as well as anyone, and with a ratchet screwdriver I am good to go. After the new chests were together, I was able to load them up with the patterns and sort the patterns out by kind of garment. It is nice being able to go to a drawer and find all the blouse patterns in one place, for example. The other chest went into the closet to hold my sweaters. I used to keep the sweaters in one of the other IKEA chests that used to be in that room, but those chests went away to live in each of the girls' new apartments.

I needed to clean out the closet because it was full of stuff that belonged to Melissa. She had two HUGE bins full of her Star Wars figurines in original packaging, and lots of artwork and even the long missing RenFaire costume. This weekend we will try to deliver all this stuff to her new place. After that stuff was moved out and attractively piled up in the livingroom, I could organize the closet with my own hobby stuff, like the beads and claywork supplies, and the IKEA sweater chest. I went to Target for something and found out that they had sheets very nearly (really nearly) the same aqua as the walls, so I bought a Queen and a Twin for drapes. I made a curtain to cover the closet opening and one for the door. You see, the bed we have in there is just about 1/4 inch too long and the door won't close, so we have always had a curtain across the doorway for privacy. I know, but everyone has to make adjustments to the weirdnesses of their houses. I hope to someday get the desk painted white so the room can be mostly white and aqua. The best thing about this whole project is that my cutting table, which has leaves that fold down, is now in front of the closet and can easily be wheeled out and used. I love that table, it is the perfect height for me and makes cutting out garments so much easier.

It is still The Year Of Abby, so I am sewing some skirts for her, but Melissa has a wedding in Texas coming up this summer, so I have to make her a dress to wear. We picked out some patterns, and I have to start making the muslins for fitting. I still haven't tried out the new embroidery machine (ancient, but new to me), but I am looking forward to it.