Christmas "tree" · 5 December 2008, 10:02
I think this is the first year I actually did anything to decorate for Christmas. It’s not much, but it’s nice to have a few things up. I hung up our stockings (I still need to make one for Caleb), set up our nativity scene that we got from someone several years ago, hung up the Christmas lights I bought in college for my dorm room, and, while I didn’t want to put up a tree, I decided that I wanted a pine branch from somewhere to hang on the wall over our couch to hang ornaments from. (Try diagramming that sentence!)
So it was neat that yesterday, while driving home, I saw that the local retirement home had a pine tree that was recently trimmed, and the branches were still lying on the ground. So I pulled around, ran out quickly and grabbed a branch and went home. It was just the right length for all of our ornaments, and after I cut off the few dead bits, it looked pretty decent. Caleb likes looking at it when we’re on the couch.
— Jennifer
sewing machine · 9 November 2008, 22:48
I completed my first machine sewing project ever!
Last Christmas, Clint got me one of those “no-sew fleece blanket” kits, as a no-pressure way to encourage me to try doing it on the sewing machine, but I could do the no-sew method if I wanted to.
First, I should explain that I feel toward machinery the way many people feel toward computers. The sorts of things you hear some people say about computers, like, “What if I accidentally do the wrong thing and it breaks?”, “What if something goes wrong and I don’t know how to fix it?”, “What if I don’t know that something’s going wrong?” — that’s how I feel about anything mechanical.
We were given a used Singer Merritt 2404 sewing machine last year, and a couple weeks ago, Clint set it up for me, I found a threading diagram, and he helped me figure it all out. So after some practice adjusting tension and so on, I decided to finally tackle this blanket. But then it got out of hand. As with cooking, and most things creative, I just can’t leave well enough alone (for better or worse). I ended up not making an ordinary blanket. I made my very own Slanket. I saw it in the SkyMall catalog on an airplane on the way to… I don’t know where. Oregon maybe. It seemed like a great idea, since I love blankets, and it’s always a problem to try to keep everything warm while using a laptop.
I cut out holes in the main fabric and used what would have been the backing to make the sleeves, and then I used some more of the backing to make a big pouch into which you can put your feet, so you don’t have to carefully drape the blanket over your feet to keep them warm. This has the added bonus of making the blanket long enough for Clint to use, too. The stitches and seams are wobbly in places, but it’s quite comfy, and it hasn’t fallen apart yet.
— Jennifer
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Rag Rug · 27 October 2008, 10:44
I’ve been getting rid of old t-shirts by cutting them up into strips for a rug. Here’s my progress so far:
This is my second attempt at the rug. I had to undo the first attempt because it had gotten horrifyingly bumpy and uneven. What you see here is what happened after discussing the matter with Clint, who helped me figure out the pattern of increases and why it works the way it does to keep the rug flat, which has something to do with the value of pi. What a great and clever husband I have.
— Jennifer
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