Today I stopped by a local antique store and found a table to use for my sewing table. I (or rather my mother) put down a small down payment. I’m waiting on my pay to come in and when it does I’ll go back there and pick up the table. I’m very excited. It’s nothing fancy but it’s exactly what I wanted.

The room is almost cleared out so I can start setting it up but the heat has made it incredibly hard to do anything. I was supposed to go visit my best friend this weekend but she decided to get really sick. Since this means I’ll be home instead of away yet again, I am hoping that the room will get done this weekend.

I still have to make curtains. I have them half cut out. It might be a good idea to make them before the quilt along starts huh?

I always have design envy when I start browsing the web and see great looking websites. Of course there are many not so great sites out there too but so many of the sewers out there have these really nice sites. I’ve yet to find a Word Press template that I really really like.

Additionally, I’ve been trying to re-conceptualize my sewing site, Polite Façade. I am planning to hire someone to design a logo for me. It won’t be until September, probably, because I’m traveling for the next two weeks. I’ve gone back and forth and around in circles with different concepts and finally came to the realization that in order to be truly satisfied, I’m going to have to hire someone and get it done right. Unfortunately, I don’t know that I’ll ever move beyond sewing as a pass-time so shelling out the well-deserved money to a designer is not really something I have a budget for. I wish that I did. I believe very strongly in supporting independent designers and I believe in paying for quality. I just wish I had more money!

My web design skills are fairly minimal and I can’t seem to settle on something for Polite Façade. I don’t know what I should put up on there either. Initially, I tried to keep a blog there that was just devoted to sewing and then leave this blog as a more personal one. I realized that just left me with two blogs that were almost never updated. The best thing to do is to simply blog here and if I want to talk about sewing, then talk about sewing I shall!

So what to do with my site? If I were ready to launch a store, I’d know what direction to go in but at least until the sewing room moves from dream to reality, that just isn’t going to be the case.

I feel myself trying to cling to summer as it slips away. I don’t want it to end. I don’t want the fall to get here. I don’t want cold weather. I also want to be able to stay home and sew. But… I’m a single woman. I need to make ends meet and that means moving forward despite the fact that I’m digging my heels in. I guess I’m not alone in not knowing what I want to be when I grow up even though, at this point even I will admit, I’m grown up. Sometimes it feels like I’m alone. When you have so many friends who are married and who have chosen careers and are following that path, it’s hard to justify wanting so much to be Peter Pan.

The reality is, I like staying home. I am fortunate in that I have been able to go through school, earning 2 university degrees and working on a third. I am fortunate that I have been able to avoid settling for less though I’d love to settle sometimes. I know what I want, a job I can do from home. My own hours, for the sake of my health and my sanity. The freedom to be mobile. The freedom to devote time to creating. I envy those that are able to do it. I also envy those that are content to go to an office or building every day, wear uniforms or suits and do so with no regret. That isn’t me. I wanted it to be me, very badly. I know, now, that it won’t ever be. Armed with that knowledge, I am lost and grasping in vain to the last strings of summer and this freedom.

I had been looking for a small shelving unit for what will eventually be my sewing room. I had thought an old spice pantry would be perfect but I hadn’t really seen anything. The other day while my mother and I were looking for something else in the tool shed, I saw this wooden shelving unit. I asked about it and we hauled it out. It’s not 100% what I wanted but it’s certainly more than adequate. What makes it even better is that my great grandfather made it. There’s also a magazine rack that he made.

Tonight I bought some paint and I sanded down the shelving unit, though I didn’t sand it down all the way. I don’t care if it’s not perfect, I’d like it to still look a little “rough”. I put on a coat of paint and it’s back in the tool shed drying. Tomorrow I’ll put on another coat and hopefully that will do. I’ll probably wash down, sand and put a coat of paint on the magazine rack as well.

If I ever get there, my sewing room is going to be pretty awesome.

I have a few projects either in my head or in the works but I can’t post about them because they’re intended to be gifts and I don’t want the intended receivers to know what I’m doing! I’m itching to start clearing out the room next to my bedroom and making a genuine sewing room. Soon, I hope. This whole sleep disorder thing really puts a cramp in my style when I’m too tired to do anything most of the time.

Today I’m going to try to go to Fabricville. I want to pick up a walking foot for my machine now that I’ve gotten paid. I’m attempting to create a mini quilt or table runner or maybe just a weird placemat for my nightstand. I think I sort of kind of almost know what I’m doing. Sort of. Kind of. If it gets made and doesn’t look terrible, I’ll post a photo and talk about what I did.

Well I suppose it’s lunch time so I should probably go feed my face. This wasn’t a very interesting update!

So this has been an interesting weekend. I’d decided to build myself a thread rack following this tutorial. I mentioned previously about buying peg board and what not. Well, yesterday I also went out and bought an electric saw. They had one on sale and I figured, why not. I’m sure this won’t be the only time I want to saw something.

I spent all afternoon outside working on this thing yesterday and all afternoon today. It was 28C today and guess who forgot to put on sunscreen. Guess who looks like a lobster? Yes… Me.

Anyway, today (or I guess it’s yesterday now) was my mom’s birthday and some friends came over with cake and had a short visit. I was sitting on the deck painting my thread rack, my saw still out and my father said something to the effect of I’ll probably never use the saw again. Thanks for the support there dad. Don’t get me wrong, my dad is great and he’s always supported things that I do but he’s also pretty pessimistic. The comment irked me a little. Well first of all, I really don’t think having power tools handy is ever a bad thing. Obviously my parents don’t have any or I wouldn’t have had to go out and buy my own but that’s fine, I want to have my own anyway. I’m sure there were plenty of times we could have used some power tools and just didn’t have them. Secondly, I don’t intend to simply build this thread rack, pack up the saw and never use it again. I don’t have any solid plans for another project but that doesn’t mean it won’t get used.

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