Long story short, we've had a new oven sitting on a pallet in the middle of our kitchen for about two and a half years. The oven it was meant to replace was dying and then it died fully and completely about 2 years ago. So we've been living without an oven for 2 years because I couldn't find anyone to install it, and we kept hitting road blocks every time we attempted to move forward with DIYing it. (The huddle that we ran into a year ago was the need to move a gas line for the cooktop above - something I was not going to DIY!)
Anyway, we unexpectedly were able to get the oven installed by someone about a week before Christmas! I finally have the ability to bake things again - this time without a computer brain and with a convection option (which turns out is just the old-fashioned term for "air-fry" ).
Now that the oven on a pallet is out of the way, I've been going through the cabinets and trying to reorganize and "lazy-proof" everything. If I can just find a home for everything, we might actually keep the kitchen from becoming a nightmare.
I don't have an actual pantry, so we bought a metal shelf unit for storing all the big things like water, paper towels, etc that don't fit inside the tiny cabinet openings with fixed shelves and put it in front of the pointless door we never use (see photos 3 & 4). Someday, I might wall off the door and put in an actual pantry in the corner, but that is a long term dream for later.
Lazy-proofing involved setting up an organized coffee station for my husband (the coffee drinker) and pulling all the tea options out of the cabinet for easier access since he now enjoys hot tea with me as well. (It used to be an avalanche of boxes and too many things got buried and forgotten in the mess.) Now we can easily see what we have with the tea caddie shelves on the counter (pic 5).
So my kitchen is still a mess because I have to make a bigger mess before things actually get better, but it's almost there. I got a breadbox and a coffee maker slider with a drawer for pods that I haven't taken photos of yet. I refuse to tackle the spice cabinet until after I get everything off the island. Fingers crossed I can get it all put away nicely this week and be basically finished with it - I'm sick of spending time in the kitchen!
I spent the day priming things for paint and then I remembered to shoot a quick video. #SewingStudioBuild
I started cutting all the edges while Janet was away yesterday morning. When she got back after lunch, she pulled out a roller and started filling in. I'll put a pic below in the comments. #SewingStudioBuild
We broke for lunch and then came back with a portal ac unit plugged in to an extention cord from the house. Can't wait until they finished hooking up all the electrical and we have the mini split cooling the room for us - it was stupid humid today! #SewingStudioBuild
I made a patriotic 18th Century style skirt for and indie film maker to wear to her documentary premiere. Unfortunately, it has been delayed (she and her husband are still working on the final edit) and won't be out today as originally planned, but she'll have a skirt whenever it comes out later this year!
In true historical style, the skirt back ties around the waist and then the front ties around the back. This creates side openings that allow access to any pockets worn underneath. Modern women are always complaining about small or no pockets - they used to be separate accessories and as big as you wanted! (Example photos of me modeling it over my jeans at work because my coworkers wanted to see it.)
I couldn't help myself and matched the stars on the seams and even managed to hide horizontal tucks on the bottom layer that don't interrupt the stars (it's two layers of skirt). It can be worn with or without a petticoat, and the top layer can be draped with loops of red ribbon I stitched ...
Apparently I’m now collecting vintage sewing machines, though I think I’m going to have to cut this off at two for space reasons. My husband and I went to an antique shop downstate that we visited last year and liked, and we found this. It’s very compact because it uses a hand crank instead of a treadle or foot pedal. As far as I can tell in my research, this company was the first to manufacture sewing machines in England, and based on some pictures that I found, it looks like it was made somewhere between 1902 and 1906. This bobbin looks so crazy to me!
I’m pondering something for a current refashion project, and thought I’d get some input. I’m turning one of my old knit dresses into a skirt, because the bodice never lay quite right and I think I’d get a lot more use out of it as a separate. (Plus it already has pockets!) I was playing around originally with just turning the original midriff piece into an elastic casing, but it’s way too bulky with all of the gathering. So now I’m removing the piece altogether, and discovering that apparently I did the gathering directly onto this piece, it’s not holding together with the mesh lining as I’m removing it. (Bad younger me.) I’d really like to preserve this lovely gathering, but I do also need to retain the stretch or it’ll never fit. For now, I’m clipping the heck out of it as I go, but I need to figure out how to baste this back together without losing the stretch, and also what to use as a waistband. Should I try removing that gathering in the midriff piece and use ...
