Missing in Action

The basement has us busy enough for the time being that I'm going to find precious little time for sewing. It was another no-sewing day yesterday...second day in a row. I'm afraid today will be as well. Housekeeping is going begging too. Fortunately, I have my trusty cat to help me write my blog posts or y'all might get a first-hand experience with someone who is missing in action.

Before starting anything yesterday, I did my slow-stitching. You didn't think I'd miss that, did you?

When I'd finished that, I moved my hoop to the next section, and I finished that up this morning.

And, let me just tell you, I was feeling pretty darned smug because I was going to move my hoop to what might have been the last position of this large piece. When I opened it up...what?

Unless my eyes are deceiving me, there's nothing there! I completely neglected to trace out the right side shelf and bracket. Doh! It's supposed to look like this:

Oy boy. I can't believe I did that. Fortunately, I can peel the backing away from the stitchery, and I can slip that final bit between the two fabrics to finish it off. I'm probably going to have to fire the person who traced this out originally...or maybe it was a cat. It's been so long I can't remember what happened. Regardless, it'll have to be pressed, traced, and colored before I can finish it off. And this being Sunday, I'll be sure to tell the rest of the blogging world about this by linking to

Okay, and here's something else that's missing. Old books, old DVD's, old games, old snuggle blankets, and lots of other old stuff we didn't even know we had. We spent a good part of the morning sorting junk from this wall unit. Then I took pictures of the wall unit and listed it on Craig's List. It was less than an hour before I had a response. The potential buyer wanted to come by within the next hour to take a look.

In the meantime, I drove all the donation items down to Goodwill and left them. About a half hour after I got home, the buyer showed up with a truck and some cash, and that baby is so outa here. It's a strong motivator to keep going. 

We'll empty off another bookcase this morning, and then there are two closets to sort through. We'll do that over the next two days. We don't yet have a date for the carpet removal or installation, but we're getting ready for it just the same. It's a hassle, but I'm happy to be finally doing this job I've been threatening to do for at least five years. And new carpet will be so nice.

So after all that, it was a perfect reprieve to spend the afternoon tasting wine with Erik and Mae. The Gran Moraine winery has beautiful grounds. I've pictured the whole area on a better weather day at this old post. The pictures on that old post will give you a burst of sunshine too. The sun is one more thing that's missing in action just now. It poured rain for a good part of the day, but stopped for just a bit when we arrived at the winery. It gave me a chance to take some pictures of every blooming thing in their pretty gardens.

Their dogwood is just about bloomed out.

Just below it...this ground cover. I think this is what we've always called "candy tufts."

These little rosebuds were about the size of a thimble.

The primroses were pretty.

And they had some very pretty colors of iris.

They poured us a little glass of rose while we waited for our table.

And they served us up a couple of charcuterie plates. So yummy. This is my new favorite thing. I might try this myself sometime this summer when we can sit outside and enjoy it.

These were the wines we were tasting. As I've mentioned before Mike and I are endlessly amused by the descriptions of wines.

The wines were all good, but our favorite was second from the bottom. We ended up buying a bottle of it. And who can resist when the wine is described as "breezy, immersive, and existing in the moment." Certainly, I want to exist in the moment when I'm drinking wine. It helps when you're contemplating cleaning off bookshelves and emptying out closets.

Okay, so all of that to say that I'm probably going to be missing in action in the sewing room for at least the next couple of days. I'm still hoping each day to get back to the animal in my sewing room. I'd really like to have all the fusing finished on him before I'm forced to move everything out of the sewing room. Things seem a little unbalanced right now with carpet removal breathing down my neck. If necessary, I can move my project to another room and continue working from there. I don't need my sewing machine for that.

It's going to be a busy Sunday ahead. We don't have any plans for Memorial Day tomorrow aside from cleaning out closets. What about you? Do you have any plans for the holiday weekend?