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Jules and I are heading to Asheville for a long weekend visit with our Dad. No kids, no spouses, no pets. Just two girls spending time with their Dad. Holding on.
Our friends have been in Rwanda for weeks. They won a grant to study development patterns in Rwandan cities and their travels took them all over the tiny country. They brought me back this traditional sisal Rwandan basket, made by hand at a women’s cooperative. I love the form, and the lid. The pattern represents the mountains of the country, also known as Land of A Thousand Hills. They also brought this back for MP. Can you guess what it is?
The answer is here.
Oh Wallpaper……why? Why did I do this? That was all I said for the first hour we were papering. During that first hour, my thoughts progressed from “oh my, we are going to divorce over this” to……”Oh my, I’m going to punch him in the throat” to……”that’s it, gloves off, it’s Go Time”……lol…..You know why? Two obsessive architects, following the exact rules as printed while simultaneously obsessing over the exact alignment of the seams while the adhesive is drying and then you need to tear it off and reapply…….NOT A GOOD FORMULA.
We decided to take a breather and switch rolls. I obsessively aligned at the top of the wall to about 2/3 of the way down. MP took it from there while I cut the next piece. Once we ironed out our rolls and our system (two pieces in) it was smooth sailing. I am a wallpapering machine, I’m not afraid to say it!*
I love, Love, LOVE this paper though. When I walk in the room, I just stare at the wall (double checking each and every seam…..I hope that compulsion wears off). The design is remarkable, concurrently Modern and Ye Olde. It looks like something out of an very old Apothecary that time has forgotten, and it looks great with the new duvet. But from afar, it looks very clean and modern. I have a ton of extra pieces and I’m thinking of what I could wrap them around (books, boards, boxes…..). More pictures here.
*(note to self: never again wallpaper anything).
Happy Birthday. I’m sorry your present is going to be late. I know you keep saying you don’t care, but I care. So, until I get the final piece and can send it off, I hope this will suffice. I want to tell you in the best way I can, how much I love you and how much you mean to me. I know we each go through life, secure in this knowledge. A little secret we will always keep. Not everyone has this love with a sibling, and ours has always been and will always be uniquely ours. Mom deemed it so when she raised us to believe that no matter what life brings us, we will always have each other. I think of you every single day, and wonder why we don’t live down the street from each other. I wonder if it would be better, or, whether our husbands would feel marginalized by our immediate need to sequester ourselves and chatter away. Regardless, I miss you. And these are the things that play through my mind:
- How beautiful you are. With each passing year, that only becomes more true.
- The beautiful life you have made for yourself.
- Your remarkable children and how much joy you bring to their lives. They light up when you walk in the room, a smile spreads from ear to ear when they squeal “MOM”!
- I giggle to myself at the way you snuggle Lottie. So calm, so maternal….she just lays on your lap staring at you.
- The way your projects, big and small, consume you. And no matter what, you have to call or email me just to be sure.
- The times we show up to dinners, parties and even just the movies dressed in the same outfit, completely unplanned. Sometimes when I go out I wonder if you were to show up, if you’d be wearing the same thing. My version would be more conservative, and slightly preppy. Your version would be more artistic and everyones’ heads would turn.
- Dad. We both are thinking of him a lot….and I am thankful that I have you to call after conversations don’t go smoothly. Sometimes I just need to cry, and I know you do too. I’m grateful we have such vivid memories of him, and our times together, especially the photo safaris. Each of us remembering different moments, and sharing them. Hanging on to something that is slowly slipping away.
- Mom. Our rollercoaster of awe, gratitude, and marveling her strength while at the same time, maintaining a sense of humor about her only-child syndrome and escapist tendencies. I see that you see I am becoming more and more like her. I often think of the times when it was just the three of us at the dinner table, and you would have us in stitches. You would get me laughing so hard, Mom would make me leave the table.
I don’t know what I would do without you in this life, and that thought cripples me. So instead, I rejoice that I have a sister as wonderful as you. There is no one in the world like you, no one. I am eternally thankful that you are my sister. Every. Single. Day.
The presser feet arrived, very late. The best part? They do not fit on the ankle of my machine. I ordered 3 different types (straight stitch, invisible zipper and edge stitch) and not one of them fits. No idea why (the site I got them from provided the link directly from my machine model) but now I will need to see if the store near me has a shank for my machine with a smaller ankle. All that waiting for nothing. Sigh. Ok, rant over. On to the dress.
It’s complete! The fabric….oh my. Buttery soft chambray in “charcoal” (it’s actually a very light gray). The zipper, though not to my expectations of perfection, is straight and invisible. I just wish I could have stitched closer to the edge. But it’s fine, it fits and I’m pleased (are you convinced?). The pattern was seemingly daunting with all the pleats and tucks, but in actuality it was pretty straight forward and I thoroughly expect to always look for pleats in future patterns. In fact, I have a handbag from this fabric in my head that I’m picturing with tight, tailored pleats (inspired by this little number).
I imagine wearing this as a tunic top with skinny pants. It’s a bit short to wear the office. Now I need the warmer weather to put it to the test (9 inches of snow in the forecast for tomorrow). For the record, I can not explain the degree to which I am uncomfortable showing a photo of me in the dress, as I like having my photo taken about as much as I like scrubbing a toilet. But, you know….growing here, opening to new things…….
They’re here. These 3 little rolls will supposedly cover my big wall. I’m not positive, but I think it will all go down on Saturday. Our friend is back from Rwanda today and will be around to help us this weekend (I think this is a 3-person job).
I’ve never papered before, so if anyone has privileged information, now would be the time to set it free.
Last fall my MIL sent me a newspaper article on a Jamestown alpaca farm near her home. It was a fascinating article, a dream if you will: 2 young retirees purchased a farm on Jamestown Island, raising alpacas, wool…..lots of wool…… It got me Googling other local farms in my area ( I’ve been to Drumlin Farm, but it’s not really the same thing). I expected all of them to pop up in Vermont or wetsern MA. Fits the stereotype, what can I say). But down the line I found this: Martha’s Vineyard Fiber Farm. I bookmarked the site for future exploration, and since I’ve been trying to get my knitting mojo back lately, looking through my stash, spending a little time on Ravelry, I checked it out. I devoured the entire site, the story, the goats, the sheep, the beach! The dogs! And best of all, they sell their yarn on Etsy of all places. I’m trying to decide between the CSA farm share or just buying up some wool for a new sweater. I hesitate to buy the yarn without touching all of them and being able to buy the definitively softest one, so I may do the CSA sampler. Either way, I’m in love. MP and I have been wanting to make a day trip to Martha’s Vineyard, and now I have the movtivation to make it through the Sagamore Rotary / Bourne Bridge black hole.
Edit: there is a group on Ravelry too!
Edit2: they have a pet Chihuahua too! *swoon*
