Newcomers: The Do Something Thread is to encourage you to work on those projects you’ve been meaning to do.
Projects can be anything. While we’re in Cafe Society, which implies certain things, and while I encourage you to work on creative stuff, whether writing, art, gardening, whatever, many of us have projects that don’t fit that really need to be done. So do them anyway! And tell us about it!
You don’t have to finish in a particular time span, but this is to encourage you to set aside time every week to work.
We encourage you to post pictures of your progress.
Encouragement, suggestions, and constructive criticism is all welcomed. For criticism, may I suggest the Oreo method? Say something nice, give the critique, say something nice, e.g. ‘I love the colors! But if you cropped it a little tighter it would look stronger. It’s so pretty!’ Or whatever.
There will be a new thread about every two weeks.
Continuing projecters: What are you working on? What have you gotten done? Any pictures?
I mentioned these before, I think, but now I have pictures!
My next project, that I can’t work on yet. I have no place to put stuff. I want to get my desk drawers out of my storage unit, but I can’t do that until I sell the bicycle that’s on top of them. Which I can’t do until I take pictures and I forgot to take my camera when I went last. So. Yeah.
Fedora decoration! I used my mom’s book on ribbon decoration to make the roses, then sewed them to another ribbon and added the buttons. I was going to do it as a band across the hat, but it didn’t look right, so I glued it into a bow instead. Close-up.Being worn.
I cut out and started sewing a new quilt top, but right now it’s not very interesting-looking. I just now got the purple quilt back, all quilted, and it’s looking good! I need to put a binding on, but another friend is going to finish the binding so a picture will have to wait.
We’ve had a ton of family in town lately and it looks like we might be going on a trip with them, so I don’t know that much else will get done.
Still going on the hexagon quilt - despite sulking over being given another six weeks in a cast and wasting the weekend playing Cast Away (the Armorgames one).
If I was knitting something, I’d make a joke about “casting on” at this point. Oh well.
Geez, Sunday again already? I request a scheduling change in the Do Something Threads: can we have just one per month so we can follow along continuing projects more easily?
I started some flower seedlings (cosmos, morning glory, garden heliotrope, sweet pea) and repotted my houseplants.
Everything that I direct-seeded in the garden is up! (Except the new potatoes and the nasturtiums.) Need to do some weeding and thinning, if the rain ever lets up for a long enough time.
Apropos of which, a song (to the tune of “It’s Raining, It’s Pouring”):
Thank you, thank you. The current To-Do List:
Thinning and weeding in the garden
Clean house and rearrange furniture in preparation for new roommate
Move office
That T-shirt baby quilt!
Start work on matching mother-daughter cotton nighties for friend and her 5-year-old
New crochet project, if I can pick one (it’s really hard to decide what to make for yourself! Gift projects are so much more motivating.)
Past the halfway mark and starting to pick up pace again. I’ll try and get a decent photo of the back as it’s much easier to see the progress with the black thread against the pale green backing.
I’ve been following along, but not participating, because I didn’t feel like I’d done anything.
However, I’ve started! I organized my coupons, have done piles of laundry, am working on a new blog (which is not ready to be introduced, but I’m having a lot of fun with), have been looking for a new apartment, and am making the house more orderly.
That last one is the only thing I mentioned when I originally said I was interested in this sort of thread. Unfortunately, it’s still in the “make it worse to make it better” portion of the ordering process. At this point, I’m expecting that until we move (and that makes me kind of want to cry, but it’s getting better).
My original to-do was my baby blanket, and I swear I’m making progress and it WILL be finished before she’s born, dammit!
However, my big “thing” this weekend was actually moving related - for background, my husband got a job in Massachusetts, starting Sept. 2. We live in St. Louis, MO. Our lease ends July 31, but we’re staying in MO until after I have the baby (due Aug. 20), b/c of insurance, work, etc. So, we’re moving to a furnished place for the month of August, so all our packing has to be done by the end of July.
We’ve amassed a LOT of stuff over the last 6 years here. My project this weekend was cleaning my closet. This may not sound daunting, but my closet is bigger than our bathroom and has a lot more than just my clothes in it.
Or should I say, HAD a lot more than just my clothes. Yesterday, anything that I can’t use between now and after we move was purged, either packed or put in bags or boxes to give away. Now, the only stuff in there are my maternity clothes that will be moving with me to the temporary place.
I actually got some writing done last night on my latest manuscript. I haven’t sold anything or even written much in the past year and, since having the baby, I’ve hardly written at all. So doing any writing was a huge coup. Plus, she got a new tooth in the early a.m., so she was up and down all night, which made writing all the more challenging.
And I managed to critique my husband’s company’s proposal language.
And I pruned all the suckers off my tomatoes last night (I didn’t even know tomatoes had suckers until my mom told me, but apparently she’s right) and weeded all my veggie beds, again a challenge since my little girl was born.
For what it’s worth, my to-do list includes:
Create new manuscript by the end of the year.
Plant & harvest my veggie beds for the 2nd year in a row.
Organize the house enough that I can hire someone else to come in and do the scrubbing bit (my husband and I work full time and have two children).
Sure, I can do that. I wanted to keep the threads small so people wouldn’t get intimidating about jumping in, but that doesn’t seem to be a problem.
I’m currently working on a couple of gifts for a member of my guild. Her birthday party is next Saturday, so I need to work fast. I’m embroidering two broaches for her - one is a custom monogram and the other says ‘Official Guild Mom’. I’m hoping to get that one done today.
The purple quilt is finished!! I finally got it back yesterday, and put the quilt label on the back. It says “Fight like a Girl! Love, [us]” We were a little late, I had hoped to give it to her on Monday when we took her out for a final blowout dinner before chemo started Tuesday morning. But she loved it, so yay.
I was going to be good and show pictures of the in-progress book, but I didn’t. My only camera at the moment is the one on my cell phone, so the resolution isn’t all that.
And then I thought “I still have more leather.” And the house flooded this week so we had workmen blocking off my computer, so that gave me time to sit down and craft some more…
I haven’t been real good about working, but I’ve gotten some stuff done. I remade my letterhead, which I needed for my resume. I redid my business card last week. And I’ve been working on typing up stuff, which is not particularly exciting, but needed to be done.
