I’m tired of it. Done. Enough. I’m playing the game where I make special note that each day sunset is a bit later so days are getting longer so in theory Spring should come. Now do we think it will ever warm up enough and this will melt?

You can see the extra 6-10 feet that we have to dig out here because the plows have decided to narrow our cul-de-sac.

The possibilities are endless and exhilarating!

I rarely fit into normal adult-sized furniture. We like our new Ikea armchairs because they are not as oversized as so many offerings in America.

However, there was still a minor problem, especially for our library and my preference to sit and read for hours on end.

My feet didn’t touch the floor.

That gets painful quick. I am only 30, but I no longer am game for sitting cross legged for hours.

We didn’t like any of the foot stools in the shops. They were either too big or even bigger with price tags to match.

No problem, E and I are no stranger to making what we need.

First we decided on the size I required and then stopped by home depot and joann’s. Yes, I know, we used big box stores. Does that defeat the purpose? No. Do we wish we had easily available alternatives? Yes. There is a large fabric store near us and I had a negative first experience, which was my fault but I’m still not ready to try them again.. yet. We’re looking for lumber stores that agree with our available shopping hours.

The base came together quickly. It is well constructed. That part we’ve done many times before.

We covered the top with foam, cotton muslin, and a lot of staples. Is it perfect? Definitely not. I became very impatient at this point; the foam was not cut straight. Does it work? Yes. Is it passable? Yes. It just doesn’t have that each corner is evenly balanced look. This part went easier than I expected. I held the fabric taught and E stapled around for me. Even though we own lots of clamps and things I do see this portion as a two person gig. Despite my impatience I am happy with how this part came out.

Then my impatience was almost the end of me. I never fully sketched out on paper what I planned. I had a yard of upholstery fabric. It wasn’t the cheapest, nor was it the most expensive out there. I had a plan in my head about what I would do to cover. I even thought ahead and planned for hem allowance of a sort.

Don’t think it went badly. It didn’t.

I cut a rectangular top and then cut enough for the sides. I sewed the sides together and the bottom hem of the resulting circle. I then eyeballed the pinning of the sides to the top and went at it. Without planning and thinking of the corners; they are something I’m not very experienced sewing.

It works. It definitely covers the frame, very snuggly (thus no photos of the base frame, I am not in the mood to wrestle it off).

I forgot, however, that at the mental design stage of this project, I wanted to incorporate corner pleats so that it would more closely match the style of the arm chair slip covers (which I happily bought ready-made).

Oops. It’s not a big deal and I hope some day soon to try again and this time try to practice sketched plans, sharper corners, and patience. Why? I love using this little stool so much I move it between the library and living room depending upon where I sit. It might even be the perfect height to go with my spinning wheel. I’m spinning more, or at trying to. I’m unofficially attempting to spin 5 minutes each day during Tour de Fleece and through the anniversary of our buying this house. Which is coming up. I can’t believe it’s been a year. We’ve both accomplished more and less than we expected. And that’s okay. We’re happy (and healthier).

In any case, I think that is a clear sign I need to make another one don’t you? Maybe this time I’ll pause to plan a little better and document the process along the way.

p.s. Froggie is Shadow’s other new BFF. I’m apparently not allowed to play with him (froggie) anymore. He’s Shadow’s friend.

So, how doth my garden grow?

I have a heck of a lot more than a little bit of earth! When we purchased our home, I said that quarter acre of land didn’t seem like a whole lot, especially since I grew up on a bit more. I had grand plans for what I would grow.

You can stop laughing now.

Right.

Lots of stuff happened since my bit of dreaming and today. Work picked up. Other work became more defined. I was sick for a while. We renovated the library. I discovered how intense the landscaping the prior owner left was.

I spend more time trying to keep the front of the house looking somewhat maintained than doing much else. Thankfully the back is semi-marshy and quite shady so the fact that I haven’t mowed in about a month isn’t a big deal. (I hope to do so early tomorrow morning before the heat picks up).

For kitchen gardening I have a window box and two deck rail planters of varied herbs and one tomato plant alone in a otherwise unused bed.

Surprisingly I consider this a success. I’ve used my rosemary, basil, and dill quite a bit. Tonight I planted some sage and parsley. I keep forgetting to buy mint.

For other (?) gardening I have a nice window box and a planter by the front of various leafy plants. They’ve been there for quite some time and I ain’t killed ‘em yet so I consider this a success too.

The other day we took hundreds of photos of the exterior of the house and the landscaping from various angles. I’m aiming to simplify with low maintenance but appealing shrubbery. We have a beautiful japanese maple smack in the middle of the front and it’s proving difficult for me to balance. Why? When combined with the walkway, something I’m not in the mood to move, this year it’s a bit much. I like symmetry or a balanced asymetrical design. I’ve yet to figure out that balance for the front. It’ll happen. I have three flower beds I expect to tear completely out. At first this upset me, but I’d rather not plant things than have things look ragged and terrible because I just can’t maintain them. I need to do something with the walkway lights. If I hit one of them with a mower again next week I will scream loud and be annoyed. I know friends in many varied fields… how I wish just one was a landscape architect who wanted handknit socks!

Yes, I’m aware I could probably pay some landscape company to do the yard maintenance freeing me to do the gardening. As long as I can push the mower I want to do it. Last year, without the walkway lights installed it took me 15 minutes to mow the front. They added 10 minutes to my time this year and I either step on them or hit each of them weekly.

I can’t believe I can now say this, I thought we’d still be working on the floor, but that went down quickly the week before:

We have a library.

Sure there’s still an extensive punch list… but wow. This room underwent the most drastic visual transformation: it was the prior owner’s bedroom. The closet was ripped out, wall paper & chair rail replaced with paint, carpet replaced with float flooring… One day we plan to repair and refinish the hardwood floors beneath, but for now, they are protected.

This is a little preview, when the room is more completed I’ll make a panorama. Books still need to be shelved and reshelved and added to librarything. Trim still needs to be painted and put into place. We need more lighting and seating.

We also need to find the time to enjoy all of the newly rediscovered books! The most common comments uttered by both E and I were, “we own this?” and “uh oh.. we’re out of space on this shelf!”

Reviews next time. I just haven’t had a chance to clean up those scribbles…

Anyway, the result is that we ordered a sawsall. I’m amazed it took us eight and a half months of home ownership to bite the bullet and do so.

We are reusing what we can of aforementioned closet. Most of the drawers will find a new home when we renovate the garage work-space (which neither of us can use as it’s sized for someone 6 feet tall). I plan to reuse the cedar and line my sweater drawers and my yarn bins.

It’s been difficult for me to get into this project, no matter that I really want it to be completed. A trip to Target on Sunday morning found the incentive that I needed. This silver globe will find a home in the renovated library space. It excited both of us and while we’ve not sat yet to discuss accessory and decoration budget for the room, we knew it was an item we had to have. Now? I’m obsessively tracking and waiting delivery of the closet-destruct-o-tool.

First question of the day:
I believe a home library should be full of lots and lots of well loved and read books.
What else do you feel a home library should have?

I’ve also been reading and rereading quite a bit. I’m still getting into the hang of needing to queue the completed list for an extra week. I think this should cover most of what’s been read since pesach! There are a few more that I’d like to discuss but I’ve yet to figure out the best way to approach them.

Next weekend is Maryland Sheep & Wool (a.k.a. Maryland). We plan to be there on Sunday. I plan to finally work on getting this whole weaving thing out of my system in the most innovative and budget friendly way possible. I’m not entirely sure what will happen next Sunday, but I do know that I’m reading all that I can in anticipation. These three are the latest. I’m leaning toward a small simple rigid heddle, but I might mix a frame (which I’ve already made) with some rigid heddles and see what happens.

Hands on Rigid Heddle Weaving by Betty Linn Davenport

Foundations of weaving by Mike Halsey

Frame-Loom Weaving by Jane Redman

After an incident which began with several ebooks from the library and concluded with free shipping at Powells, I’ll be able to shelve much of Mercedes Lackey‘s writing of Velgarth/Valdemar. I have the Reign of Selany now complete and awaiting shelving. I’ve reread each novel as it’s come into my possession. I next plan to go back to the beginning and finally acquire The Black Gryphon and make a complete collection. The following images list the ones I own and have reread in the past few weeks. I have no idea why the first isn’t the same as the rest. It is one of the few I purchased new..

I would like to take a moment to state that I will very happily shelve any scifi-fantasy books you would like to give a new home. I’ve recorded most of the contents of this section of my collection over at LibraryThing. I also maintain wishlists at amazon and powells, if you are so inclined. I’m not forcing, I’m just stating… While I’ve been known to shop at big box stores, I’d prefer if you hit an indie or even better a used book store. Why? I believe this says it best.

Returning to recent reads, it is a well known fact that a favourite book of my childhood is The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett. There are many reasons for why this book had no choice in becoming a favourite, but suffice it to say that early on when I discovered an author I adored, I tried to read everything they wrote. Imagine my surprise that while browsing iPod compatible audio books at the library the other day I discovered The Lost Prince! I couldn’t completed my transaction quickly enough and I begged all the various downloads and file transfers (to my humble and trusty 4gig 2gen nano) to go quickly and easily. They did. I will need to reread it and other “Lost Children” novels by Burnett before I write a true review but it was a great nostalgia ride and I enjoyed every minute!

Bonus question to tide you over until May:
Is there a book you recently discovered and were delighted and surprised because you thought you were well versed in all of the author’s work?

This joy of discovery brightens my day, I find the winter worries fade and my spring excitement warms.

Almost done.

We didn’t take off any expansive amounts of time to do renovations or to move. We’ve squeezed it in while attempting to keep up with everything else in our lives, namely that which helps pay the mortgages (want an apartment?). A half day here, a Friday there. It’s been slow going.

The house was move-in condition. We’re lucky in that all our work is really just to make it ours.

A considerable amount of our furniture is Ikea. This post is not about that, not really. It could just as easily be about hot dog rolls.

We recently purchased and built this cabinet. There are six boxes of kitchen stuff that are still full. (Where its all come from is a question for yet another day.)

What is perplexing us both is the bag of hinges we purchased, and that we didn’t notice this until assembly of the unit.

We have two doors to hang. Most cabinets of this type have two doors. Each door requires two hinges.

The bag contains, by design, three.