A Rainy Sunday...

At 10.15am, I was still lazing in bed.

I have a confession to make. Two months ago, I would have jumped out of bed on a Sunday as early as 7.30am, eager to continue with a sewing project that I have got going.

Not this morning. I mean, I do have a project going at the moment, but 'eagerness' is the last word I would use to describe my feelings about it right now. For the first time, I don't feel excited about a project I'm working on. As usual, I have done all the necessary research before embarking on this project and have got all my materials ready and I know exactly what to do. Until I got started. I started measuring and cutting out the material and so far it has taken more than a day, just to cut out one of the front pieces, with wonky edges and corners. And I'm still trying to get it straight.

This project I'm working on is a pair of Roman blinds which Steve and I have promised his brother as a birthday present... it's very simple :- Steve buys the materials, and I put the blinds together. Only, it's not quite as simple as it sounds. For the first time, I dread going into the sewing room.

The fabric is long and stretchy and difficult to handle. Although I now have a good size measuring table, it's not made it any easier. Measuring out the right size to cut is a disaster; trying to cut it out on a straight line, is beyond catastrophic.

The edge of the fabric kept fraying and bits of fluff kept coming off, making it impossible to work with. Fely has kindly suggested a pair of pinking shears and pinking shears were obtained but that didn't help eiter.

Why am I blogging about this?

Well, I guess what I'm trying to say is behind every beautiful and succesful sewing project, there is a certain degree of frustration, depression, anger and exasperation. This one in particular, is at an exceptionally high level. And I haven't even yet started sewing it. But the past few months of sewing has taught me that resilience, determination and patience are the three main ingredients to completing a beautiful and neat project and as much as I dread it at this stage, I will certainly push myself to get past this stage and start to enjoy the project a bit more when I've made some great progress with it.

I remember a month back I started a project making my mum a blouse for her birthday following a pattern from a Japanese pattern book. That was also a challenge to me clearly because a. I can't read Japanese (whatever possessed me to buy a book with Japanese instructions??!?!) and b. the fabric I was working on for it was silky, smooth and stretchy and it kept falling off the table and 'running' away from me hence the cutting was no fun either. But I ploughed through it and was proud to be able to pack the blouse a few days before Mum's birthday and send it off. Hopefully it is now safely on its way to her.

The only thing I worry slightly about is the size. I didn't have her measurement but I used myself as the model throughout the entire process but the trouble is I am slightly bigger than Mum and the blouse itself is quite baggy. But we'll see :)

Anyway, back to my rainy Sunday...

So when Steve suggested that we go for a movie, I saw it as a means of 'escaping' from the task at hand. It was a movie called 'Unstoppable' featuring Denzel Washington, Chris Pine and Rosario Dawson, based on a true story. Due to the negligence and stupidity of a rail worker, an unmanned train carrying highly toxic and explosive chemicals was heading at full throttle towards densely populated cities and somebody has to stop it. It was an excellent movie based on a few factors :: it wasn't dragged on for too long; the introduction and background to build up the characters was relevant and sufficient and not too soppy; and during the entire movie, I was kept on the edge of my seat. The best thing of all about the movie yesterday -- it was free. Steve had managed to find a voucher off the internet which he printed and which gave us two free tickets to watch the movie. So all in all, a great experience!

To finish off this post, a couple of photos to show you who Sasha always favours in the house.

  

Those legs belong to Steve and that's where you'd normally find Sasha when Steve's sat at the computer doing his work. And no, it wasn't a Thursday when I took these photos. The man clearly has issues with his days...

Hopefully when I update my post again, I shall have more pictures to show you of the progress I've made with the blinds.

Take care now and thanks for dropping by.

This is a test...

well for quite a while now i’ve had the software MacJournal and i’ve been trying to use it to publish my blog entries. i haven’t been successful because the pictures never seem to end up in my blog. after reading various online forums, i managed to find some tips which i am hoping to try. i took these pictures when i was on sick leave yesterday. one shows a rare moment -- sasha resting her head on my leg, and the other shows my project growing bigger and bigger...

let’s hope this post goes on successfully and the pictures will show.

keep fingers crossed.

What do dogs dream?

Sasha has two donut beds. During the day she sleeps in her bed downstairs in the dining room and at night she sleeps in her donut bed in our room.

Sasha doesn't bark much. The last time I heard her bark was a few months back, at a squirrel outside the window in the garden.

Sometimes I watch her when she sleeps, her nose twitches and sometimes there is a muffled series of barking coming out through her throat. It's so cute I cannot tell you in words.

I always wonder what she's dreaming of. Chasing after a cat? A squirrel? A ball? Or ...?