New paint

I painted the bedroom this weekend. While I do love the Kimono Violet, it felt too energizing in the bedroom. So I went with Serene Breeze, a soft aqua color. It feels much more peaceful now, and looks so lovely with my mirrored gray dressers. I can't wait to finish putting the room back together.

I had just enough paint! :-O

Katrina Rib Sweater

I don't often write about my knitting on this blog, but I haven't been knitting much lately, and there's a bit of a personal story to tell about this. In 2005, I bought the Katrina Rib pattern to help support folks affected by Hurricane Katrina and of course to feed my need to hoard all things knitting! I bought yarn a few years later to make the sweater. And in 2009, I went though a horrible divorce (as if there's any other kind). A few weeks after the announcement that my then husband, now rat bastard, was divorcing me, I started this sweater. I kept thinking knitting will help. Each stitch will help ensure I keep it together. I worked on it diligently for a few months, and then I lost my knitting mojo. It was no longer a joy to knit, and it got pushed aside. I'd pick it up here and there, but not work on it consistently. Finally I started to enjoy knitting again and decided that I should really finish this sweater.

I think there's a nice symmetry that I started this during the divorce, and that now 5 years later I do feel like I've come out the other side. I think this sweater just wasn't meant to be finished until I felt like I had stitched the last piece of myself back together. So this sweater and I have been through a lot together. There's some rough parts in it, and maybe a couple of small holes, but my life is in these stitches. And in the end, I have something beautiful to show for it. Who could ask for more?

Thanks to the support of my dear friends in monthly craft night for encouraging me to finish, and for being there to make me laugh and acknowledge a big moment. Thanks for everyone who has had to listen to me talk ad nausem about the horrible divorce. It's helped me process it.

16-30 book a day

I realized I never published the last bit of the 30 books a day. One of the things that struck me about this is how often I repeat some of the same titles. :-)

16th Can’t believe more people haven’t read --Charlie Bone series! I think it's better than Harry Potter

17th Future classic -- hmmm... not sure I have one for this

18th Bought on a recommendation -- hmmm tough since I don't buy books usually

19th Still can’t stop talking about it -- Robopocolypse. It wasn't the best written book, but I'm convinced the robots will take over the world! 

20th Favourite cover-- Beautiful Ruins

21st Summer read-- Harry Dresden or Stephanie Plum series

22nd Out of print-- Foxes of Harrow

23rd Made to read at school-- Great Expectations...I still can't bring myself to read Dickens!

24th Hooked me in to reading-- Probably Little House on the Prairie. Emily of the New Moon made me want to be a writer.

25th Never finished it --The Brothers Karamazov

26th Should have sold more copies--Graffiti Moon

27th Want to be one of the characters--That's so hard to choose! Probably almost any book I'm reading!

28th Bought at my fave independent bookshop--I don't usually buy books.

29th The one I have reread most often--It's tough...I go in cycles with rereading...Gone with the Wind, Foxes of Harrow, Dubliners, Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, Tolkien are all ones I reread. It's gotten to where most of the books I own are ones I reread.

30th Would save if my house burned down My Winnie-the-Pooh books from when I was a kid.

Swimsuit coverup

I've been wanting a swimsuit coverup for awhile, and just couldn't bring myself to buy one when they seem so easy to make. A long time ago I bought some knit sheets with the idea of using them as fabric. Well, that was a disaster. It was really crappy fabric and just tough to work with. I did make a coverup out of it, but the size wasn't quite right. So at least that pain served as my "muslin".

I used this set of instructions, but was kind of frustrated that there wasn't a good feel for the size. So I found a similar set of instructions that had a better measuring scheme. So in the end, I came up with a wearable coverup!

Just notes for my self, the two front pieces were 14" and the back piece was 30", all were 40" long. I sewed the casing 17" from the top.

Frog Skirt

I've been working on cleaning up and clearing out stuff in my studio. I have a bit more work, but the sewing machine was calling me today. So I made a skirt out of this frog fabric I bought a while back. It's so cute!

#BookADay--Days 1-15

I don't have Twitter, so I can't tweet my responses to this cool campaign, but I thought this was fun! 

1st Favourite book from childhood -- This is a tough one...It depends on how old I was...Could be Winnie-the-Pooh by A.A. Milne, Morgan and Me by Stephen Cosgrove, or Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery.

2nd Best bargain -- I picked up Faeries by Brian Fround and Alan Lee from the bargain bin, such a lovely book

3rd One with a blue cover -- The Foxes of Harrow by Frank Yerby, or Even Cowgirls Get the Blues by Tom Robbins

4th Least favourite book by favorite author -- Hmmm....maybe Furies of Calderon by Jim Butcher

5th Doesn’t belong to me -- All the books at the library!

6th The one I always give as a gift -- I don't give the same book. If I give a book, it's always different.

7th Forgot I owned it --- I don't usually forget I own a book. More that I forget I don't have a copy of something. I probably forget which painting books I have more than fiction.

8th Have more than one copy -- I've bought multiple copies of Siddhartha because I kept losing or giving away my copy.

9th Film or tv tie-in -- Gone with the Wind!

10th Reminds me of someone I love -- Winnie-the-Pooh...actually doesn't remind me of anyone in particular, just that I feel loved reading it.

11th Secondhand bookshop gem -- The Foxes of Harrow by Frank Yerby...I love this book. I don't know where or how my parents had a copy, but we all used to reread it often. I finally got a used copy for Christmas a few years ago.

12th I pretend to have read it -- Great Expectations. It was assigned for 9th grade and I don't think I ever finished it.

13th Makes me laugh -- The Stephanie Plum series by Janet Evanovich. Sometimes I cry from laughing so hard.

14th An old favorite -- So many of these. I've mentioned a few already....Winnie-the-Pooh, Gone with the Wind, The Foxes of Harrow, Little Women, Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

15th Favourite fictional father -- This is a tough one. The father in the Barrytown Trilogy by Roddy Doyle is pretty funny. Maybe Matthew Cuthbert from Anne of Green Gables.

Art Deco Dressers

I saw this Ikea hack a while ago and though it would be a great way to get the mirrored nightstands I've been wanting in my bedroom for ages. I hesitated because I wasn't sure I wanted white, but when I went to Ikea, they had the dresser in gray. Woot!

So I started with two of these:

Then I ordered the Jasmine overlays from O'verlays.


I got mirror cut at Lowe's. They sell mirrors in 24x30 sheets, and will cut it for you. This is about an inch and a half too short, which is fine since the overlay covers it. However, I thought it looked weird from the side, so I got some balsa wood and filled in on each side. I wish I would have seen these instructions before I started. But it all worked out. :-)

So I spray painted the overlays gray. I used Liquid Nails to glue the mirrors to the drawer fronts, and found industrial strength glue dots (!!! so fabulous each dot hold about 4oz, and they are capable of up to 8 lbs) to adhere the overlay to the mirror. I was a little worried that the cut edge of the mirror would be sharp and I might cut my hand open and closing the drawers, but it is actually ok.

Here's the end result!