Start As You Mean To Go On (NYE, #23)

Sunday, New Year's Eve (#23):

The last day of 2017 was spent making stuff.

Dave and I went by the studio (by way of Starbucks) and visited with Paul and Judi and Crunch. While we chatted, I worked on a sculpture that's been tooling around in my head for the last several months and Dave glazed two bowls. We only stayed a few hours, but it was nice to play with clay again.

In the afternoon, we had all kinds of plans but in the end those devolved into Dave resting his shoulder (he has a pinched nerve) and me eating a big bowl of menduo (YUM) for a very late lunch and then taking a nice long nap.

I got up around 7:30 and Dave and I made dinner (steamed broccoli, cheesy grits made with leftover cheese fondue and, for Dave, Quorn nuggets). I cleared the table of my sewing stuff and we sat down to eat our dinner there for the first time in awhile.

As we ate, we discussed making a new "sticker chart" to keep track of the habits we want to get back to in the new year. When I finished my dinner, I pulled out some drawing paper and, while Dave finished his dinner, I made a sticker chart. As we work towards our weekly goals, we get a sticker for each accomplishment (the adult equivalent of earning gold stars). We each choose a reward to work toward. The deal is that Dave earns my reward and I earn his. So if I stick to my habits this week, Dave will get an extra guitar lesson and if he sticks to his habits, I will get a walking foot for my sewing machine.

After dinner, we cleared away the dishes and I put out my cutting mat and cut fabric for a new bag for myself. Awhile back, I stopped carrying around my big bag and had just been carrying my keys and wallet and phone in the pockets of the hoodie I've been wearing as my "winter coat." Only, now that the temperatures are climbing into the 60s--climate change? what's that?--I get overheated if I wear the hoodie. Anyway, I still need to carry my phone, wallet, and keys, so wanted a small cross-body bag.

I didn't have a pattern, I just made it as I went along. It took about three hours from start to finish, but in the end I had a lined bag (gray and black with a turquoise lining) with a zippered closure and flap that goes over and is secured with a magnetic clasp. There are pockets in the lining and a pocket at the back and a strap long enough for me. (Store-bought bags are made for women 6-7 inches shorter than I am, since I am 6-7 inches taller than average, so the strap always means that the bag sits just under one breast instead of at my hip.) In fact, I made the strap so long, that I knotted it at the top to take up several inches and it still sits in the right place.

The project took long enough that when the new year came, I was at my sewing machine--start as you mean to go on, they say--but Dave and I took time out to ring in the new year by pulling the cork on a bottle of perry (fizzy pear cider) that we have had in the fridge for awhile. It was tasty and just barely alcoholic so even though we polished off the bottle, I was still sober enough to sit down and finish sewing my bag.

After, I was tired and I thought I'd hop right into bed and go out like a light, but instead 3:00 a.m. rolled around and I was still looking at quilts from and reading the biographical information about the women of Gee's Bend (they made some mind-altering quilts and some are still making mind-altering quilts) and watching quilting and stand-up comedy videos on youtube. I finally got to sleep just after 3:00, only to wake up at 6:30. (Start as you mean to go on. Sigh.)