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Posts Tagged ‘sewing’

It’s Not A Competition (But There’s Always A Winner)

Posted in Everyday, tagged , , , on March 2, 2020| 4 Comments »

And then was the day, a cold, damp, February day where Charlotte and I discovered through texting that we were both embarking on primitive activities.

primitive: adjective:  (prim-i-tiv): early in the history of the world or of humankind.

I was sewing, she was baking.  Do people do those things these days?

I had a project planned to cover the footstool I use every single day of my life.  It belonged to my brother back around 2000 (?), and I inherited it after he died.  I wore the hell out of it.

As I began my project I got a text from Charlotte.  She told me she was going to bake some bread.

Back to the earth we were.  And the competition was on.

With a big bedspread that dates back at almost 50 years (vintage fabric from family is always my first choice) I spent days in my head and minutes on the internet trying to figure out how to make this “slipcover.”

I measured twice seventeen times and cut once.  The rule of carpenters and people who don’t sew more than once every five years.  Plus, I sew less than once every five years.

 

A wrinkly spread of my fabric.

A wrinkly spread of my fabric.

 

Sides and top measured and cut to precision.

 

My bobbin wouldn’t work, so I gave up.  I discovered I had it in backwards.

Charlotte measured her ingredients, watched the science of yeast work, and kept in touch with me.

Charlotte had the power of Paul Hollywood behind her.  I had 7th grade home ec teacher Mrs. Landsverk behind me.

Oh, let’s not make these things a competition.  It’s the experimenting, the effort, the wish to create something out of nothing that counts.  Right?

Here are the results…

My foot stool cover:

 

All right, my measurements weren’t precise because the foot stool was all wonky (aka suffering from uneven ware from my using it forever). Plus, at the time of this publication that icky center crease has disappeared with my feet constantly swiping over it in the meantime.  I didn’t even bother to iron it from the start.

Charlotte’s Italian Parmesan bread:

It doesn’t matter who wins or loses.  It wasn’t even a competition to begin with.  Charlotte and I both took on a fun project and we worked it to the end.  We’re all winners when we do that.

Except, Charlotte won by a landslide.  Congratulations, honey!

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There Is No Better Motivator Than A Flannel Nightgown

Posted in Everyday, tagged , , , on January 17, 2013| 6 Comments »

It all began with an uber productive weekend.  I couldn’t believe all the things I was accomplishing and thought some kind of weird energy pill was slipped into my morning Diet Dr. Pepper.  (No, I’m so immune to caffeine by now the pop didn’t give me the energy.)  Not only was I accomplishing things on Friday when I got home early from my day job, but Saturday and Sunday were also filled with satisfying task completion.  I felt so good about all I had accomplished I wanted to keep it up…for the rest of my life.

Then came Monday.  I went to the day job and when I got home I was exhausted.  Husby said it’s no wonder, seeing how hard I worked all weekend.  I brushed that excuse aside and continued to berate myself for not feeling like doing anything.

As I sat on the couch staring at the TV my mind began to wander.  I was thinking about going to bed, even though it was only 6:30 p.m.  It was a good thing, though, because I visualized myself in bed with my favorite winter nightgown.  What?  I hadn’t worn that nightgown in two winters!  Where is it?  I need its flannel lovliness! 

It was stored in the Rubbermaid hamper in my closet, along with all of the other sewing and mending projects I had put off for, yes, years.  Although I was tired I decided I could at least mend the torn seam on the sleeve of my nightgown.  So I did.

How refreshing it was to take to the needle and thread and hand-mend that seam!  Not only did I get it mended up, I came back to life and decided to do some more! 

I finished up a pillow covering I had started years ago, made from an old blanket from my grandparents’ house.  I sewed a couple of buttons onto a sweater I haven’t worn in years, and I stitched up a torn seam that was separating the neck from a sweater.  These things had been laying around for (do I have to say it again?) years.  And now they are repaired and ready for action!

I wore my favorite nightgown to bed that night, and none of my stitching came undone, so I think I did a pretty fair job.  As much as I didn’t want to do anything that night I was amazed at how just a little motivation and discipline kind of snowballed. 

P.S.  The rest of the week has been going well too!  Getting lots of things done and feeling very energized about it!

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