My sewing room in the basement is open for business. Ed and I moved all the shelves, bins and other stuff from one corner of the basement into the room. This is the majority of my crafting stuff in the basement, but not all. There are still boxes on the other side of the basement that need sorted through.
There is still a lot of work to do down here, but it is now a usable space. Once I get my sewing area finished, we will set up the front of the room as a TV area with a couch, side tables, and big-screen television. I want a couch that can convert to a bed. Blake said that once we get that area finished, he'll stay down there when he comes to visit.
My sewing station is a combination of salvaged cabinets and pieces from IKEA. My son-in-law Craig is a construction manager for a local home builder. The other year when the neighborhood he was working was finishing up, he had to convert the sales office, which was in the garage of the model, back into a garage. Usually they just discard the desks. He grabbed them for me because he thought they would be good for my sewing room. I used the lower cabinets along with a tabletop from IKEA for the perfect sewing table.
I also bought another gridded tabletop and pedestals from IKEA for a cutting table. The pedestals will allow me to raise and lower the cutting table as needed. My back is thanking me for that!!
If you look on the left side of the photo above, you'll see some more cabinets. Those are along the back wall and are waiting for another tabletop from IKEA. The length I want is currently out of stock. Once it is in, I want to get that, another white bookcase like in the photo above, and a new chair. The folding chair I am using at the moment is too low. The chair I'm planning on getting will raise and lower and will be on wheels.
Besides the new furniture, I also bought myself a new sewing machine. It is a Baby Lock Brilliant. I gave my old machine to my daughter Trisha. She is now doing a lot of sewing and had a very junky Singer. She'll get a lot of good use out of my old Husqvarna Rose.
My first project on my new machine is an autumnal wall hanging. I purchases several of the 2024 Riley Blake monthly kits. Not all, though, because some of them just didn't appeal to me. I'm working on the one with the pumpkin. I'm not sure where I'll put it. It is meant to be hung on the front door, but I don't think I want it outside. I'll have to find a spot in the house to display it. Once I get others made, I can swap them in and out each month.
My garden has ended up being mostly a failure. The crops did fine, but I've been plagued with deer and rabbits. The cherry tomatoes have produced enough that Ed has had some to snack on. The deer have eaten all of the green tomatoes off the other two plants. I am getting a few eggplants. Need to find some recipes for them. The lettuce, beans and snap peas became rabbit food and the spinach just didn't grow very big. The asparagus seeds never sprouted. The only real success was the herbs and the flowers. The zinnias and marigolds look great and all of the herbs have been thriving. I need to go out and harvest some of the herbs to dry them. That will be this weekend's project.
My knitting has been slowly moving along. I'm trying to get a couple summer tops finished as well as my Candy Corn sweater.
The Shakerag top is my go to project when I need a break during the workday. It is definitely a hot weather top. Since we are past that season I'm not killing myself to get it finished.
The Cumulus Tee is coming along. It is miles and miles of stockinette. This is my TV and car knitting. Once the body is finished I just have the neckline to do. I'm hoping I get this done in the next couple weeks. I have something on September 19 that I would like to wear this to. I think it is a doable goal.
My Candy Corn sweater got pulled out of hibernation and it getting attention. I thought I had one sleeve done, but sadly no. I'm getting close to having the first sleeve done. Then I'll need to do the second sleeve, block and seam the pieces and do the neckband. My goal is to have this done by mid-October so it gets some wear during the Halloween and Thanksgiving season.
It is hard to believe that we are in the final third of 2026. I purchased my planner for next year and made the first entry.
July 1, 2027 - the first day of retirement!!! Ed will be retired for a month at that point. We are in the process of figuring out medical insurance for both of us. He will go on Medicare. I will need to find something off the market because I will only be 63. Ed is planning on spending most of his days fishing. I have a long list of things I want to do during my days, including walking, reading, knitting, sewing, and gardening. We are also planning the trips we want to take. We are definitely not one of those couples that won't know what to do with ourselves in retirement. 301 days to go!!!
