The News from South Philly

I start my Christmas season on Black Friday every year, but not by venturing out into the carnage that is retail. Instead, I unpack a modest number of decorations and change my door and window wreaths from autumn to winter.

I'll do that in a little bit. Right now, I'm recovering from a bad case of Thanksgiving Toxicity (my entire system is vibrating from all that sugar and salt!) and trying to steel myself for one of the day's tasks. That would be beginning to sew the gift aprons. The first step is always the hardest, and I've done just about all the prep. The pieces are cut. The supplies and tools are assembled. The sewing machine is set up. The bobbin is wound with the proper color thread. The double layer of towels is on the kitchen counter and the iron pulled out so that I can fuse the interfacing.

All that remains is to put a piece of fabric under the presser foot.

So far, I've blocked two doilies, consumed three cups of coffee and 40 oz of water, looked at all my political blogs, washed all the upstairs dishes, and cleaned up after the cat. Perhaps I'll go make myself an omelet next.

UPDATE, 11:03: I've starched four more doilies, maybe five (I forget). I've ironed on the interfacing. I've discovered a couple of things I could have gone without discovering:

1. My eyesight has deteriorated enough that I cannot thread the needle without removing the presser foot so that light comes through the eye of the needle.
   
2. I have forgotten what all the glyphs on the dials mean and I have no idea where the book is.
   

Nevertheless, I have threaded the needle, adjusted the tension, found the correct stitch and stitch length, and sewn two short seams. Time for lunch!

Oh, and I discovered that the last time I used the flat no-steam iron was when we made grilled cheese sandwiches the Benny and Joon way. There are burnt butter stains on the towel.

The sky is mostly blue this morning, with puffy clouds off to the west. We had a clearing storm last night around 11:00 and now the cold front is settling in.

Judging by the rattling of the panes, I'd say it's going to be pretty windy out today. I think I'll try a little bike ride anyhow.

I dug out the fabric for the stepmother/stepdaughter aprons. Can't find the pattern but I do have another apron cut out, so I'll use that. I found the pincushion, too. Now all I need is the motivation... I've always wanted to love to sew, but the plain truth is that I hate machine sewing and I haven't got time for hand-sewing on these two. Bleah. (Edit: I cut the two aprons over the weekend but am not yet motivated to find the iron on interfacing or drag out sewing machine, ironing board and iron.)

I seem to have chased a couple folks off my mutual friends' list, probably by being a bit too vocal about my political convictions recently. Or perhaps I'm simply a casualty of folks' friends housekeeping, nothing personal intended. In any case, I certainly hope that being forthright hasn't run anyone off the ranch. I thought I was keeping teh snark reasonably under control and/or behind cut tags.

( I think I'll update this journal entry throughout the day as the mood strikes )