...I know, it's not on a Tuesday!
The weekend short story: I worked a long time on a few things.
I truly intended on making a lot of progress on beading the mermaid. I ended up spending only a couple of hours on her. I made some progress, just not as much as I intended.
On Saturday, I spent an inordinate amount of time doing the finishing work on a pin poke (pin cushion). I finished the stitching of the item in 2004. Every time I picked up the finishing kit to make the pin poke, I was put off by the directions. It's not that the directions were bad. It was simply that they were written for people who did not have the kit.
It told you to cut out the cardboard supports and the fabric, some of which was already done for you in the kit. Not a big deal, except that the instructions combined the cutting and the gluing steps. So you cut out a two circles of cardboard and glued something onto one of them. You didn't get to the second round of card board for another 2 or 3 steps. To my mind, it would have been better to cut out everything first and then proceed through the gluing and sewing steps.
Anyway, I decided that I
needed to finish this thing and get it off my plate. It took me several hours with lots of breaks to get this thing put together. It looks fine, but I know what to do next time, if there is a next time.
This is the Seaside Pin Poke:
Finish work completed 3/3/18
Stitching started 06/2004
Stitching completed 07/04/2004
Pattern: The Seaside by Eventide Designs
Once I finished that, I was in no mood to do any beading. I working on the spindle spinning of Mirabel handspun [
Ravelry].
My mission on Sunday was to replace the decaying roller shade that covers the skylight in my studio. I keep the skylight covered when I am not in the studio to protect the fabric and other items from Sun damage. The shade itself was brittle from being exposed to the sun.
The opening is approximately 32x62-inches - not exactly a standard size. The Husband investigated replacement shades for me and found one that we could custom-order online. We brainstormed on what else we could use. We decided that a room darkening curtain panel would work and be less expensive than a custom shade. I bought a panel from Target that cost $20.00 and has a nice teal color that picks up some of the colors in the room.
I decided to use the roller from the old shade on because it already had the hardware mounted on one end of the opening. I cut the panel, leaving a seam allowance down the side and enough room for a hem on the end. A quick stitch on the sewing machine and it was ready to hang. I put the roller through the existing hem and slid a narrow spring-tensioned curtain rod (also Target) in the other end. I mounted the roller in its holders, stretch the shade across the skylight, and used the tension rod to hold it in place on the other end.
I thought about taking a photo of it, but when it's closed, it completely blocks the light--great for the fabric, not so great for photos!
By the time I finished with that, I was too tired to work on the mermaid. I watched the Academy Awards pre-show and worked a little bit on the St. Charles needlepoint picture. I then moved on to spinning more Mirabel.
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