Sunday, November 9, 2008

An inside day.

It was forty degrees Fahrenheit today and raining - a great day to stay inside.


In the last several months I have modified several sweatshirts by adding binding, buttonholes, and buttons, and I always think the whole project should take about a half hour. But. . . it takes me nearly that long just to decide which fabric to use! This one is for my mom's 86th birthday, which is in three weeks. She already has a pink one from last year's birthday, a purple one from last Christmas, and a yellow one from Mother's Day. This Christmas I'm thinking turquoise, or maybe red. When you're 86 years old and live in assisted living, there are not many things you need, so when I found something she likes and uses, I stuck with it!
Larry and David went on a music store run, so Daniel and I decided to clean the attic. Well. . . I decided, and Daniel kindly agreed to help :>} He's tall and can reach the screw that holds the trap door closed without standing on a chair. (which is the way I have to do it)

It was definitely a two person job to bring all this stuff down.


Hallie likes the attic! The first time he ever went up he seemed just stunned that he had lived here all that time and didn't know about the "upstairs". :>}



The ceiling is low, not even enough room to sit up straight!




Do you know what these are? Shirt sleeves - yes, just sleeves. Years ago I worked at a uniform company as a seamstress. I often had to transform long sleeved shirts to short sleeved, and I got to keep the sleeves. Nice! I made four baby quilts for coworkers who had babies, and placemats (just small quilts, you know - lol) when someone retired, and a patchwork pillow for the Christmas gift exchange. I used templates and drew around them to get 3" squares and then stitched them into the "trip around the world" pattern, which was my favorite at the time. I had forgotten I had quite so many sleeves left!





David was cooking up some frozen stir-fry, and we admired the vegetable tower.






6 comments:

Connie said...

What a great idea with the sweatshirts, Diana. That one in the picture is very pretty.

Tine said...

The sweatshirt looks wonderful! what a great idea. I have some plain cardigans lying around, maybe this is what they need?!
The shirtsleeves are an amazing source of fabrics. Lucky you! And how sweet of Daniel to help you out :-) I imagine cleaning the attic is not really a dream-job?!

Suzanne said...

I am always intrigued by attics. We dont really have them here, though they are starting to take on popularity in some of the houses been built.
Love what you have up there after the clean up you will be feeling quite refreshed.

Gingerbreadshouse7 said...

Ladydi, I loved the trip to the attic with you...it's wonderful to find those old things again that one forgets they have and it's almost like having your own private "flea" Market. I loved that cardigan, neat idea, you want to be my kid? Ginny

Anonymous said...

I hate pullover sweatshirts but would love to have the cardigans so I ought to give that a try. Did you have instructions to go by or just do it on your own? Looks great.

ladydi said...

Thanks, friends! The sweatshirts are ever so easy - I'd love to do a tutorial. I just made it up as I went along the first time, and did all the rest the same way. The hardest part is choosing which fabric to use.

Suzanne, no attic? Where do you put those things that you aren't using right now, but you might want later? Maternity clothes, baby clothes, toys, children's books, all those things you might need for your grandchildren some day. It took me years to give away my maternity clothes!

And Tine, you're right, cleaning the attic isn't anybody's favorite job - except the cat!

Company's coming for Thanksgiving, so we have some serious cleaning to do. AAK! And no, they're not staying in the attic, but we needed to make room up there for the overflow from our porch. Our poor untidy porch, which I've never been brave enough to show you.

Ginny, sure, let's adopt each other!