Prior to the office project, I had been working on this dress.  It’s turning out really beautifully, and I’m excited to finish it.  The fabric is a gauzy wool-lurex knit that I bought on ebay for $5 a yard.  I am LOVING the wide stripes, because it made it super easy to ensure my pieces were cut correctly.

I stopped short of finishing the sleeves and the neckline, because I’m terrified I will blow it.  I’m an intermediate beginner sewer at best…and I’m rusty, to boot.  I’m also not convinced that the finishing on the pattern is going to suit this fabric.  The sleeves call for elastic, but I’m torn between a folded band, which may look busy — and a hem, which I’m more likely to mess up.   Probably a hem, looking at it.

All in all, though, I recommend this pattern — in my mind I’m making this in blue or gray jersey, and wearing it all the time.  It’s modern, graceful and flattering.

I think I’ll move my sewing stuff to the dining room this weekend.  I’m itching to have something other than the office to occupy my time.

On moving into this house, we inherited a built-in office. The previous owners had picked up office salvage from Construction Junction. This was handy as I work from home…but ultimately it was too much desk.

See?

Half of the desk was usually covered with craft supplies and *stuff* that could better be housed in a bookcase or cabinet. And I dreamed of having a reading nook with a squishy chair, and there’s nowhere else in this house that will happen.

So, we tore it out. And I am undertaking the process of re-wallpapering, painting, and ultimately decorating.

Here’s where I am…I’m re-wallpapering the bottom half of the wall with paintable wallpaper and putting up a chair rail.

Unfortunately, it means my current workspace looks like this:

And that’s not conducive to anything.

Solar System Bedding from The Land of Nod

I’m pretty thoroughly in love with this quilt from The Land of Nod.  However, Jimmy McBride puts Crate and Barrel to shame.  Look at this:

Jimmy McBride's "The Black Eye Galaxy"

Game over.  That’s just crazy beautiful.

Nasturtiums, Parsley and the Compost Heap

Things are slowing down in the garden.  It’s been a good season.  We had tons of tomatoes, greens, carrots, beets, peppers…the list is long.  We had absolutely zero luck with squash.

Chard, Celery, Leeks and Bee Balm

I wish I would have started seeds all through the season — with a steady supply of seedlings I could see easily doubling our output.  As it stands, we practiced “laissez-faire Square Foot Gardening.”  As such, the boxes were constructed with cedar 1×6″s and the soil mix was 1/3 peat moss, 1/3 vermiculite, and 1/3 organic soil and compost mix from Steel City Soils.  I did not plant in a grid, and well, I regret that somewhat.  I had a tendency to crowd seeds, which led to slow growing.

Making the transition to “thinking beyond the refrigerator” was a challenge, but most of what we grew found a place in either the freezer or our bellies.  What didn’t ended up in the compost box.  Before building the box, Dean was convinced that composting in our small yard was an invitation for stank, but it proved a mostly unsmelly enterprise.  The concept of compost was, however, lost on our 86-year old Italian neighbor, who has an opinion on everything we do in the yard.  “Why don’t you just put it on the street?  They’ll take it away!”  (She’s very nebby, in local parlance — such a useful word.)  When we explained that the resulting compost was actually valuable and would save us money, she softened.  Thank goodness it didn’t smell.

Up next: a cold frame for winter greens.