That Sinking Feeling

Celebrating the new year by installing a new kitchen sink faucet

 

Fittings don't match, can't finish putting it in. Plus the hot water supply pipe won't entirely shut and is leaking about a gallon an hour

Pipe is draining to a garden hose to 

a garbage can in the basement.

To be fair, it's an old house and it's a new faucet. And in removing the old faucet, it finally broke, so I can't put it back on.

Happy new year!

Headphone Covers: Smaller Things Are Harder

 

While I was writing the earbud post, I realized I never wrote about the headphone covers. I think I put them up on IG, it was a super quick thing that held up a lot better than I expected it would. And they are still rocking, 8 months later. I never knew I needed leopard headphone covers; they always make me smile when I see them. They make other people smile, too. 

But how much stress do you put on the covers of your earphones? The original foam covers were getting shredded around the edges but not falling off. I did use the originals for a pattern, but they were so stretched out, they were little use.

The key is to cut that center hole a little smaller than the thing it's going around. The second is to test your zig zag stitch on a sample before you commit to the actual piece. You will blow a couple of these testing this out. It is just part of the process, forgive yourself now. If your fleece is precious, test it out with some that is not as important to you. 

You will cut out a lot of little circles. This part gets old fast.

The trick is to only pull them on your headphones once. If they aren't quite right, you have to cut another one to try again. There's not enough elastic in fleece to do this twice, unless you want to sew a tiny line of stitches to snug them up onto the headphones.

I mean, you could.  I'm just not that ..... handsewing-y.

I'm really not a fine finishes person. I can knuckle down and do it for friends or customers, but for my own use, not so much. While working on the Haptic Map Quilt is improving my needle threading skills, my stitches are still inconsistent. I keep buying new hand sewing needles thinking that will do the trick.

Uh no. Practice will. Boring dull practice. Which I make me do while watching movies Saturday nights. Yes, Svengoolie monster movie time is handsewing practice. 

We Interrupt Your Regularly Scheduled Mending Program

This is the closeup of the sewing room. Yes, it's a mess. But it's where I sew.

This is the longer view of the room. I only use half the room. And those wall lights are the only ones in the room that have fixtures.

Why yes, that IS an eight foot couch. That's a bunch of pillows and curtains and stuff that's leaving the room. I'm standing in the door, to my left is the wall.

I am going to have more sewing and I'm going to need the room. Seems easy enough.

I need a bigger table, I will need more hanging racks for the choir job. The couch is trying to find a home: it's been too long for everyone who's wanted it. 

Imagine: a couch too big for a frat house! They even found a truck for it.

 I've cleared a path for it out of the basement. At this rate, I'll just build a table over it.

 And this stuff needs to go in there (including that stuff under the table)

That table will get an extendable cover.

This stuff can stay in the cupboard for now.

I also need real lighting.
Yes, I am tired of the endless extension cords.

I started with replacing the dimmer switch

This suspiciously warm but functioning dimmer switch

Came out of this box.

A box that is not entirely secured to the wall.

Neither is the electrical cable coming into the box.

Neither are the light fixture receptacle boxes. When I've tried to wire up a new fixture, the box wiggles away on one side.

Old wiring. It doesn't look entirely right, and I don't have the talent to figure this out.

I pulled things out, shut off that circuit.

All the electricity-full wire ends are covered with twisty lock covers. No electricity is escaping into the air. Nothing is touching that cardboard (it's there so I don't reach for the switch when I walk in the room)

So I don't have a sewing room with electricity for now. 

So if you wanted your pants hemmed before the electrician gets here, you are out of luck.

On the plus side, I dug out all the ivy and put in the coneflowers and the hydrangea. 

I found and replanted the Minnow daffs.

Handcrafted Duct Work

Well, the holidays are always busy with making things for family and friends, minding kids and making foods.
As well, sometimes the holidays are about making it warmer.
And what could be more heart and soul warming than central heating, properly distributed throughout the domicile?
Previous remodeling of kitchen (not shown, but located above this photo) sent this duct to the interior of the new kitchen island. So for some time, we've had very warm pots and pans.
And now, the heat is vented to the actual room. Lots of metal cutting, shoving, not as much profanity as I had expected, and the retrofit is done.
I should mention, for the concerned, that the reduction in duct size works with the reduction in air traveling through the smaller ducting (lever on left side cuts down on air flow).

Unfortunately, now my son's room on the top floor is overheated. Gotta work on that one.

In conclusion, sometimes alterations include tin snips and hand drills. As much as I enjoy mixing it up between the tool shop and the sewing table, this puts new meaning into the word 'retrofit'.