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My friendslist seems to be erupting into spontaneous applause today just at the fact that it's September. Yay September. Let me join in - I'm thrilled that summer is over and fall is *almost* here. Woo.
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galagan took the afternoon off yesterday, and we drove to Brattleboro, Vermont. (Why Brattleboro? The answer is mostly because we could.) It was a gorgeous day - and I even spotted a few stray branches on those Vermont trees starting to turn colors. Note that yesterday was still officially August, which seems Too Early for These Things. Not that I'm complaining. We drove into New Hampshire purely for Elena's benefit - it was her 21st state. Yes, you read that right. (Before the grand cross-country drive, she had been to *6* states though. That effort really pushed her into new territory. She has been to more states than she is months old - that would be 18, next week). Anyway, we wandered around downtown Brattleboro, which is very cute and quaint. Elena did not want to walk though. She's in a phase where she will only walk 10-20 feet before falling to her knees and whining.
Today's big accomplishment has lots o' back story. Several *years* ago, my mother got me a sewing machine for Christmas. As I recall, I was just getting over the flu and felt like crap, and we were celebrating Christmas early becausegalagan and I were spending the actual day with his mother and family (his mother died in 2003 - so this would have been 2002). So - I wasn't in the mood that day, and while excited about the machine as a present, feeling too full-of-ick to do much about it. I was also in the middle of planning a wedding. (It's embarrassing now, how long ago this all was.) Then, I was going to set it up in our spare room, except then we acquired a roommate, who took over the not-so-spare-anymore room. And he moved out when we got a baby. *Then* we moved to LA and into a teeny tiny apartment. So, anyway - the upshot is that in all these years I've never set it up, because I never had anywhere to put it. Now, that day has finally come.
So! I set up the machine the other day in the far end of our dining room. Today I got out some scraps and figured out how to wind a bobbin, threaded the thing and voila! It sews!!! I've always always had trouble with sewing machines in the past - they don't thread right, or the tension is wrong, or I can't figure out some doohickey, and so I get all intimidated and figure that handsewing would just be easier anyway. So I was expecting trouble, and instead this went very smoothly. (I'm just waiting for the other shoe to drop.) Perhaps all my past troubles have actually taught me a thing or two, and so now I have actually accumulated the knowledge of how to do this. So yay me!!!
I have big plans - I've been wanting to do a denim quilt for years, and have collected roughly 8 million pairs of old jeans. I just bought some red bandana print flannel for the backing, and it's going to be a raggedy quilt, with the denim and red flannel alternating. Those of you who know quilting will understand what I mean, I think, and the rest of you will have to wait to see if there are pictures forthcoming.
galagan took the afternoon off yesterday, and we drove to Brattleboro, Vermont. (Why Brattleboro? The answer is mostly because we could.) It was a gorgeous day - and I even spotted a few stray branches on those Vermont trees starting to turn colors. Note that yesterday was still officially August, which seems Too Early for These Things. Not that I'm complaining. We drove into New Hampshire purely for Elena's benefit - it was her 21st state. Yes, you read that right. (Before the grand cross-country drive, she had been to *6* states though. That effort really pushed her into new territory. She has been to more states than she is months old - that would be 18, next week). Anyway, we wandered around downtown Brattleboro, which is very cute and quaint. Elena did not want to walk though. She's in a phase where she will only walk 10-20 feet before falling to her knees and whining.Today's big accomplishment has lots o' back story. Several *years* ago, my mother got me a sewing machine for Christmas. As I recall, I was just getting over the flu and felt like crap, and we were celebrating Christmas early because
galagan and I were spending the actual day with his mother and family (his mother died in 2003 - so this would have been 2002). So - I wasn't in the mood that day, and while excited about the machine as a present, feeling too full-of-ick to do much about it. I was also in the middle of planning a wedding. (It's embarrassing now, how long ago this all was.) Then, I was going to set it up in our spare room, except then we acquired a roommate, who took over the not-so-spare-anymore room. And he moved out when we got a baby. *Then* we moved to LA and into a teeny tiny apartment. So, anyway - the upshot is that in all these years I've never set it up, because I never had anywhere to put it. Now, that day has finally come.So! I set up the machine the other day in the far end of our dining room. Today I got out some scraps and figured out how to wind a bobbin, threaded the thing and voila! It sews!!! I've always always had trouble with sewing machines in the past - they don't thread right, or the tension is wrong, or I can't figure out some doohickey, and so I get all intimidated and figure that handsewing would just be easier anyway. So I was expecting trouble, and instead this went very smoothly. (I'm just waiting for the other shoe to drop.) Perhaps all my past troubles have actually taught me a thing or two, and so now I have actually accumulated the knowledge of how to do this. So yay me!!!
I have big plans - I've been wanting to do a denim quilt for years, and have collected roughly 8 million pairs of old jeans. I just bought some red bandana print flannel for the backing, and it's going to be a raggedy quilt, with the denim and red flannel alternating. Those of you who know quilting will understand what I mean, I think, and the rest of you will have to wait to see if there are pictures forthcoming.