Friday, August 24, 2012

A mixed bag of crafty

My body clock says 11am but my computer is arguing for 4:30pm, so I'm going to give up on the idea that I'd finish a hat and photograph it and get the file uploaded before I really have to knuckle down to finish today's task of Curtains.

Instead: you get a mixed bag of splendidness.


Car-Wrapping:

A friend tipped me off to a feature on the Nissan website that lets you pretend you're going to buy a commercial van and then wrap it with your company logo.  Right.  Let's get serious:  how about a van full of yarn and fabric stash, wrapped with images of all your finished projects?  Or maybe just your favourite cool fabric?

I wrapped my van (high top for more coverage) in the fabric I'm supposed to be turning into curtains after lunch, which happened two hours ago and was two hours late at that:


Still just so not tired of these cars. 


Toe-(and heart-)Grafting:

Unbelievably, I am onto the toe decreases for Bob's second sock, which means I could potentially be ready to graft both shut before he gets here.  (If the curtains go superfast.)  I had the idea to graft some other toes shut tonight too as I have two pairs of socks waiting for that little task but... did I mention curtains??

The unbelievable part is that what helped me finish the foot was watching an entry in the GI Joe movie franchise.  I swear, if I could have about a week of mindless action movies, that would be a good thing for me, and that is so not usual.

Of course there was that huge John Wayne bender I went on after Les died last year - for some reason, he always reminded me of John Wayne, and all those westerns kinda helped.


Pesto-Making:

One thing I really want to get onto this fall is eating healthy again.  I was reminded of the fact that 'again' is not unreasonable by the recent opening of a grocery store a few blocks from here - it's one I used to go to another branch of for a couple of years, to stock up on really good meal components which I would freeze and then thaw in installments for meals I planned ahead of time.  I was actually even keeping predictable meal hours then too.

Anyhoo, between that an the looming trip to Italy, I've been watching Lidia, queen of the Italian cooking show (in my house anyway).  Before GI Joe came on she showed how to make some pesto on pasta.

It goes like this:

Toast some walnuts.

Boil pasta, while blending the walnuts, a whack of basil, some spinach, some salt, and some oil in a food processor.

Pour the cooked pasta into a cold pan so as not to cook the pesto, then chuck some pesto onto the pasta and toss.  Add cheese.

Eat.

I mean really: surely I can do that??


Curtain-Making:

Oh man I am running out of time to do this job.  The reason it's still not started is that all the fabric I like is either not big enough or the wrong width for the lining I have available, so I'm gonna have to improvise. 

The plan for the cottage kitchen window is exactly this lame... two panels of unlined, nearly sheer white cotton, topped with red-banded white tea-towel fabric set perpendicular to the panels and folded such that the red band shows on the outside of the window too.  (actually this is partly so I don't lose any of the panel length to the top hem, but I like that they will be more or less reversible.)


Junk-Storing:

I am supremely focused on clearing up clutter this month - such a good coping strategy - and one thing I have really needed is a superfast way to organize the clutter in various desk and cabinet drawers.  I am so sick of buying sorter things for pencils etc. and then changing the configuration later and having to store the sorter things for a few years until I decide I can use them again.

So, this time, I just cut the relevant side off an empty box of cookies or crackers or cereal.  When the cardboard wears out, I can recycle it in favour of a new box.  Ditto when I change the setup.  And in the meantime, I can make the side of the box the 'top' for deep narrow storage at the side of a drawer, or the face of it, for something wide and shallow.  I even recycled the firm plastic nest for some cookies to hold erasers and paperclips.

I'd apologize for the lack of pictures if I didn't know you'd be bored out of your mind looking at pictures of such a boring (but functional!) crafty bit.


Curtain-Making Redux:

Okay, I'm outta here.  Off to the kitchen to open up my ironing board just when - oh man, it's 5:00 and I should be doing something about supper.  Or not! I can still eat at 6:00 and hope the curtains just whip themselves up, right?


Maybe you guys should just send a lot of good curtain thoughts my way.  And check in next week because if I pull this off, I am totally posting pictures.  Meanwhile: have a fabulous weekend.  Knit, sew, organize, have good snacks, and take care of yourself.

1 comment:

Trish said...

I have to say... If you watched John Wayne movies because they reminded you of Les, your choice of action movies after your mom makes me really, REALLY wish I'd met her. I mean, GI Joe? Awesome!!