by governmental decree

By decree of the Jennifer Government (by which I mean ME and nothing to do with the book of the same name which I have never read -- I just like the idea of having authority to make decrees), this is going to be an Old Business Weekend at Chez Jen. I am going to finish some of this stuff that has been hanging around tormenting me with its undoneness -- flopping out of drawers, falling out of bookshelves, tripping me, burying me, generally taunting me and guilting me in that special way that unfinished projects have. I've got a good jump on it already -- I finished the top to a quilt I've been working on (VERY sporadically) since last February. Now to put the back and binding on! (I kind of hope it keeps raining like it is right now, because that will make it easier...) Stuff to goodwill + stuff put away + projects finished = FANTASTIC. I expect it will be hideous at times (which is why it's still not done) but it will be so great to have some things finished. I have a stack of movies from the library for the sewing stuff, and I have liters and liters of diet coke for the other.

I also have a stack of books sitting right here by my computer that I am going to write tiny short reviews for (or else!) -- if I wait until I'm ready to do full-length ones, I will NEVER do them, and it's already been months and months on some of these. Here's to clearing out the old to move on with the new!

Anyway.

Updates to this post as I proceed.

update #1: 7 AM Saturday: You may thank David Bowie and the swimming, biting babies for the early hour of this update.
Project news: the quilt top is completely done and pressed (and 82" square, which was really weird because I did it mostly by eyeball rather than measuring), I have figured out how I'm piecing the back (I'm making this from stuff I already have, so there is a lot of piecing that I might not normally do), and have started making those backing pieces. Photo of the front in the next update! I have one mini-review 3/4 written, and of course it's not as mini as it should be.

bonus! (hilarious! on what planet is someone telling you their weird dream a bonus? but I'm telling you anyway...) So, it is my recommendation that if you run into Dream David Bowie DO NOT ask him if he's afraid of being typecast by playing Tesla again. It makes him crabby and he will use way too much packing tape on the chair he's making out of couch cushions and packing tape. I experienced this crabbiness first hand as we stood in a dry field by a busy freeway. He was wearing a suit and a top hat while he taped away and we discussed some trouble he'd been having with his email. (I think I was some sort of assistant, Ugly Betty style. Way to dream big, subconscious!) Crabby Dream Bowie and I made it across the freeway to a Kwikie Mart type place (he wanted a blue drink, and yes, I had to carry his stupid cushion and tape chair) and then we were in some huge area that I assumed they were using for his movie. I noticed a Tesla movie poster that had lots of very cool old-school movie typography on a table, which meant extra flourish to the words Featuring Katharine Al(something) and her Aqualatti. Synchronized Swimmers! I woke up suddenly when I saw for myself that the Aqualatti were a team of synchronized swimming babies with really sharp teeth and creepy synchronized cliche devil-baby voices. Once I heard them ask in unison "will there be blood?" I exited dream world tout suite. Who needs that kind of stress? Dream Bowie will have to deal with his own tape chair, email, and the swimming biting babies, because I'm not going back there if I can help it.

update #2, 4ish Saturday: Here's the promised picture of the front... this project was a sort of remix of an old quilt that I had started in a moment of insanity and abandoned once my retinas recovered. I like it so much better this way. The back is all cut out and almost put together. After that, comes layering the back, the batting and the top, then tying it. Actual quilting is not my thing, so I'll tie it with white pearl cotton and if I'm ever going to quilt it, it will happen MUCH LATER and probably be done by a trained professional. Next exciting adventure: will I have enough of the fabric I like for the binding?? Never a dull moment, I tell you...

update #3, 6ish Saturday: all right, I haven't done any more work on projects, but I think the sunset I'm looking at out my window is worthy of note, as was the walk from which I just returned. I thought the crocus were blooming in the park before, but they were not! They were blooming today. The sun was out casting shadows and making everything look better than it probably should. I'm talking the full golden light on almost blooming trees while Here Comes the Sun plays on the ipod deal -- it was an almost religious experience, I'm telling you! (this is the secret of life in the pnw: the winter weather is so miserable so often that when it's even a little bit nice, everything seems wonderful, or at least significantly less miserable than before.) PLUS, there was a St. Bernard puppy which was so cute I almost had to leave the park or risk making an absolute fool of myself. (I managed to avoid complete disgrace.. but OMG, SO CUTE!) I am a little bummed that the lunar eclipse is not visible west of the rockies, but... this sunset is pretty nice, and it's still light after 6pm, AND the neon that I can see from my window just came on and it looks very lovely against the streaky blue/orange of the sky. Now back to work.

update #4 2pm Sunday: back from library. Must eat, and then I will get that quilt tied! I gave up last night because it's big and there was no easy way to get it spread out without moving a lot of furniture. I got it pinned, but there were PROBLEMS. So I'm going on the theory that this kind of work is better tackled when there is ample light and the clock's not inching to midnight.