Saturday, April 03, 2010

pulling it together (sort of)

I've been exceedingly frustrated with my total inability to finish ANYTHING lately. Like, to the point of anger and sadness. For the past 10 years or so, I've been extremely dedicated to creative endeavors, and despite a few quilt wips upstairs in bins, I've been pretty good about getting stuff done. But lately? Oh my gosh, lately I've just been letting stuff pile up on the dining room table and fighting to keep my sanity day-to-day.

When I am not able to dedicate time to being creative, when I lose that meditation, I can really, really tell the difference. And it's miserable.

Luckily, tomorrow is Easter, so I was forced to clear off the dining room table. I sewed the button back on AJ's yellow cotton cardigan (which was originally Daughter's...cotton ease yarn holds up well) and I patched my very favorite jeans:

The knee was ripped from seam to seam. I ironed mending tape to the inside of the rip to hold it together, then took a piece of regular cotton calico and sewed it right sides together, turned (like making a pillow), pressed, and topstitched the whole rectangle around the giant tear. Hopefully it will hold awhile, as these jeans are so awesomely comfortable.

Problem is, they are quite literally disintegrating all over. The denim is totally shredded at the hip. I used the same method here, just trying to make them last a bit longer. You can't buy comfort like this. I had to try something.

I finally hemmed the sleeves and stitched the buttonholes and buttons for this silly dress. Sometimes I like to buy those bags of coordinating buttons at Joann's (Favorite Findings, maybe?), which is where these brown plastic buttons came from. They are super inexpensive, and this way if one is lost or broken, it can be replaced quickly and easily. Just have to tie off the thread ends (I sew buttons on by machine), and this one is done.

And finally, these sweet "dublin" green Picky Pants (Little Turtle Knits pattern) for my sister's baby boy due this summer. I've finished approximately ZERO knitting outside of Etsy orders over the last month or two, so this feels really good! The only problem is, I used almost every inch of the yarn for the knitting, and that little swirl of yarn on the right of the photo is all I have left. I need to make a drawstring. I'm making a dark navy cardigan, hat and booties so this will be a modern-day "pram set" and I guess the pants will have to have a navy drawstring. Unless anyone has a bit of Knitpicks Swish in the dublin colorway they want to send me...ahem.

Anyway, they are city dwellers and have a gigantic dog which requires daily walks, so I wanted to make up a really warm set for the baby to keep him nice and cozy in the stroller this autumn. I'm also working up a plan for either a quilt or a knitted or crocheted blanket. I'm leaning towards quilting because my mom is making a blanket. Or perhaps I'll make both, who knows? But I need to bust a move because the shower is mid-May and I want my gifts ready then.

So I feel a little bit better having finished up some stuff. I still need to figure out a way to incorporate more meditative time into my days to keep me calm and sane. The kids are beating the crapola out of each other constantly right now - I mean I can't even turn my head without one of them pushing, smacking, pulling hair, shoving, kicking...it's awful! Hopefully with the nicer weather coming we'll get outside, work out some pent up energy, and quit it with the violence! We'd like to get the sandbox built this weekend, and I'm hoping to go BIG so there's something awesome to do in the backyard. Daughter tends to be really lazy without me goosing her to get up and do something, but she LOVES to dig (I often find her outside underneath trees, digging, digging, digging), so here's hoping a great sandbox will encourage more outside play.

I'd better get the day started. My parents have picked up Daughter for breakfast and the baking of Easter bread dolls, so now Hubs and I need to clean and prep for tomorrow's brunch, the eggs need to be dyed, and the Easter cutouts need frosting (I have the Wilton 101 cutter set, so we made eggs, crosses, bunnies, etc). Gotta cook and crumble the bacon for my quiche lorraine, and get out the dishes we want to use. Grandma's china? Not sure yet.

Happy passover, happy Easter, happy Spring! Have a wonderful weekend, all.

No comments: