Mini Bathroom Remodel - Removing the Shower Doors

One of the things I was looking most forward to in this mini remodel was removing the shower doors attached to the bathtub.  You may not agree with me, but I think that framed shower doors are gross.  I’m ok with the frameless variety that are popular now, but 1980s framed sliding shower doors are just disgusting.  Here in warm humid Florida mold develops under the seals on the doors, under the handles, inside the tracks pretty much everywhere scrubbing is impossible.  There is no way to get them completely clean without completely disassembling them including the doors themselves, and dipping them in bleach.  I couldn’t wait to get the repulsive things out!

Before:  Ugly, gross, impossible to clean framed sliding shower doors.

Framed sliding shower doors are actually surprisingly easy to remove.  It took us less than 5 minutes to completely remove the doors (although cleaning up the residue left by the doors took significantly longer).  Here is what we did:

Removing the First Door

First Firebeard grabbed the door on the outside of the bathtub and lifted it up out of its upper track.  Our door had a small clip holding the bottom of the door to the bottom track as well.  I was able to pop this out with a screwdriver while Firebeard held the door up.  Then we moved this door well out of the way so we could handle the next door.

Next Firebeard grabbed the second door and lifted it out of the upper track.  The upper track then lifted up on its own accord, and it was at this point that we realized that the upper track was being held on by gravity alone.  While Firebeard was still holding on to the second door I removed the upper track (so it didn’t fall on him and brain him), then quickly removed the clip holding the door onto the bottom rail.  I was a little too busy preventing injury to get a picture of this part.

Shower Doors and upper Track removed.  Bottom track and sides remain.

We were left with the bottom track, which appeared to be caulked in place, and two side supports which were screwed in and caulked. 

Unscrewing the side supports.

Scoring the caulk on the side supports.

We removed the side supports by scoring the copious amounts of caulk holding them in place with a razor and then unscrewing them.  The tops of the supports came away easily, but the bottom where the side supports met the bottom track required some additional scoring and a bit of twisting to pry them loose.

Scoring the caulk on the bottom track.

Removing the Bottom Track.  Gross.

The bottom track was held on by caulk and an adhesive strip (under the track).  We scored the caulk on the side of the track to loosen it, then simply pulled it free from the adhesive strip.  Underneath was another confirmation of just how gross framed sliding shower doors really are.

Removal of shower doors complete.  Clean up from removal to come.

Even with all of caulk and dirt and god knows what else left behind after removing the shower doors I was amazed by how much better the bathroom already looked.  

Total Cost of the Mini Bathroom Remodel Thus Far: Still $58.96

• Faucet Kit:  $44.99
• Stem Tool: $5
• Tub Spout Rings:  3 at $2.99

Next time - Removing the Caulk Left Behind

Mini Bathroom Remodel - Leaky Faucets No More

The first stop on our journey to a beautiful “new” bathroom, is changing out the tub faucets that have been dripping for months and driving me nuts (but not nuts enough to do anything about).  The drip finally got bad enough that my conscience couldn’t let it go any longer, and we dropped some money on a tub faucet trim kit.  The kit we got was the Danco 39696 Trim kit with Cross-Arm Handles for $45 on Amazon.  I picked this one because the handles look a bit vintage, which is my favorite bathroom look, and it was significantly cheaper than buying all of the replacement parts piece by piece.

The Dance Tub/Shower Remodeling Kit.  Check out the before and after.  Tile magically transforms when the new faucets are installed!   

I want to first say that if your tub faucets are dripping you probably don’t need entirely new tub faucets, you probably only need the washer that sits at the back of the stem where the stem connects to the water line (which is MUCH cheaper than changing out the whole faucet).  Since our handles were ugly, our stems had seen better days, and our stem seats had been damaged from months of cranking down the handles to stop the leak, we decided to change out the whole assembly.

We started by turning off the water and removing the old handles, and stems.  The preexisting handles were hideous, 1970’s builder grade blocks of metal that I couldn’t wait to be rid of, so I was extremely happy about this part.  When we removed the stems we found that they were in better shape than we had expected, but we went ahead and replaced them anyway since we had the new parts.  I am glad we replaced them because the new ones are much smoother turning. 

Then we found out that we were missing a tool (don’t believe the box when it tells you everything you need is included).  The seat, which looks a bit like a thick washer with a funny shaped hole in it, and sits in the pipe within the wall, needs a special tool to be removed called a seat tool (Olive, one of the kid’s dolls helped illustrate it’s placement).  There was no seat tool included in the kit, and we had no seat tool, so Firebeard when on his first trip to Home Depot and bought one.  That is another $5 if you are keeping tabs.  Once we got the seat out and compared it to the new one we knew where our leak had come from.  It was in rough shape.

So we had gotten everything out, and it was time to start putting things back together again, starting with the shiny seat.  Then in went the stems, their weird plastic covers, the flanges that cover up everything that comes out of the wall, and finally the handles. 

Giant Gap Between Flange and Handle.

But wait, there is a problem.  There is a space between the flanges and the handle where the stem is visible.  Not a good look!  At first we thought we had done something wrong, so we took everything apart, and meticulously followed the directions when we put things back together.  Still a gap.  We took everything apart one more time and put everything back together while willing the length of the stem shorter.  That didn't work either.

You would think that all of the parts in the kit would fit together, but they don't.  So we made our second trip to Home Depot trying to find parts that would work.  We bought the longest flanges available ($7 a piece) in the hope that they would cover the ridiculously long (and more expensive to replace) stems.  There was still a gap.

Miracle Solution - Tub Spout Ring.

So Firebeard made one last trek to Home Depot in a desperate attempt to find something that would fix the problem before we capitulated and exchanged the kit for a much more expensive faucet set.  He came back with tub spout rings, which are tub spout decorations that just happen to fit our flanges perfectly. 

Tub Spout Rings Installed.

 They raised the flanges the perfect amount the fill the gap between the flange and the handle and cover the stems.  At just $2.99 a piece they were the perfect budget saving solution.

After!

The only problem we have with them now, is that they make the rest of the tub look pretty poor in comparison.

Total Cost of the Mini Bathroom Remodel Thus Far: $58.96

• Faucet Kit:  $44.99  (Get the Kit)
• Seat Tool: $5 (Get a similar Seat Tool)
• Tub Spout Rings:  3 at $2.99 (Get the Rings)

Seattle and the Dinosaur

Last week I went to Seattle for a conference and Fire Beard tagged along (he had just finished the bar exam and needed a break).  Even though I didn't really have nearly enough time to explore the city we had a great time, got to see some of the iconic Seattle sites, and now want to go back to see the rest.  

Before we left The Boy gave us one of his Lego dinosaurs to keep us company during the trip.  We carried the dinosaur everywhere we went and took pictures of it exploring the city with us.  He went to the Space Needle, on the monorail, to the Pike Place Market, and to the first Starbucks.  

At the first Starbucks we discovered the “You are Here” mug series, and picked up souvenir mugs for the kids (they actually asked for mugs - even kids know that Seattle is the coffee mecca).  The Girl got the Seattle mug, and The Boy got the Washington mug.

When we got home the kids got their mugs, and the dinosaur was returned to The Boy.  After we explained how much the dinosaur enjoyed Seattle and showed him some of the pictures from our trip, The Boy decided that the dinosaur missed Seattle, and made the dinosaur a home in the Seattle mug.

That lasted for a few days, until the Lego Space Needle that we had ordered during the trip as a present for The Boy finally showed up.  Now the dinosaur is trying to claim a new home - the Space Needle.

Happy Saint Patrick's Day

It’s Saint Patrick’s Day!  Here in the US that mostly means wearing green, pinching people that are not wearing green, and drinking!  If you are lucky enough to live in an area with an active Irish community, it can also be a great time to learn more about Irish Cultural Heritage.

Here in the Tallahassee/Big Bend Area we are lucky to have a small but active Irish community.  Every year they put on a Saint Patrick’s Day Parade and Festival.  This year the parade was a lot of fun.  Even The Boy, who generally hates the large crowds and loud noises inherent in parades, had a great time.  That is probably because the Saint Patrick’s Day parade is a rather more intimate affair than most parades.  The Saint Patrick’s Day parade is not a big parade by any means.  There are not a lot of people in the actual parade, and there are not huge crowds attending.  From beginning to end the parade took less than 5 minutes to pass by us, and took at most 30 minutes to make the entire 0.6 mile circuit around Lake Ella.  The people in the parade that hand out candy and necklaces to the kids were able to literally hand out candy and necklaces to the kids rather than throwing it in the general direction of the kids in the crowd, and everyone was very friendly.  Generally my kids want to go back home as soon as a parade is over, so I was pleasantly surprised when they asked to stay longer.  We made our own circuit around the lake before we left, exploring the stands and booths set up for the festival along the way.

But today is Saint Patrick’s Day, which requires some celebration.  If you are staring a pint of green beer in the face, and feeling a bit green yourself, I would like to offer an alternative; The Grasshopper.  The Grasshopper is a mint chocolate flavored, green colored cocktail, that probably originated in New Orleans. It tastes a bit like melted mint chocolate chip ice-cream, and is really good!

The Grass Hopper

Ingredients

• Creme de Menthe
• Creme de Cacao
• Half and Half, Single Creme, or Light Cream

Directions

• Combine equal parts Creme de Menthe, Creme de Cacao, and the cream of your choice in a cocktail shaker
• Fill the shaker with Ice
• Shake the combined ingredients and ice until the outside of the shaker becomes frosty
• Fill Martini Glasses with the drink, straining out the ice 
• Garnish with Mint Leaves (Chocolate Mint is preferred if available)

 

Hall Bathroom Mini Remodel - The Plan

I would like to introduce you to my hallway/kids bathroom.  Since we moved into our new house, almost a year ago now, we have barely touched this room (other than to clean it, and you know...use it).  While it is perfectly functional, it is also extremely boring.

The Before Picture

When I started feeling bad after Christmas we took a bit of a break from our big remodeling projects.  Even though I am feeling better now, I’m not quite ready to jump back into the heavy work – enter the bathroom mini remodel, also known as, how much can paint really do? 

Before - From the other Side

My vision for the bathroom is to make it a mostly grown up space with a few fun kid friendly touches, that will grow with our children.  We will be fixing some problem areas, painting, adding some storage, and accessorizing in a fun, big kid sea creature theme.  No flooring will be replaced, no walls will be changed or removed.  All of the major features of the room will stay more or less intact.  This is basically a face lift, and I am really excited to see just how much difference it can make.

So what is the plan?

• Change out the leaky tub handles
• Remove the sliding glass doors and replace with a fun themed shower curtain
• Re-caulk the tub and tile (it really is that bad)
• Color the tub and floor grout since it does not look clean regardless of how much  I scrub it
• Paint the walls, ceiling, and trim
• Update the vanity with paint, shaker style molding, and new hardware (and possibly a faux finished countertop)
• Add some shelving above the toilet and next to the sink
• Change out the mirror
• Add some finishing touches, like towel hooks, pictures, etc
• And now that I have seen the pictures for this post I think improving the lighting may be in order as well

How long will all of this take?  Well since most of our time to work consists of weekends and the evenings after the kids go to bed, it will probably take a while even though this is only a mini remodel.  Oh well, such is life.  I hope you enjoy the journey with us!

Tallahassee / Big Bend Community Calendar

Around mid December last year in the midst of many family friendly holiday actives, I began lamenting that similar activities did not happen more often the rest of the year.   The Tallahassee / Big Bend Area of Florida where I live is a great place for College students and young adults without children to find fun things to do (there are numerous events, bars, clubs, and shows catering specifically to them), but if you are a young to middle age adult with babies or school age children it can be hard to find things to do.

I decided that my New Year's resolution would be to find more community activities that my family could participate it, and enjoy the community I live in more.  Then soon after Christmas I started feeling poorly and promptly forgot about my resolution.  Now 2 months, many doctors visits, and the miracles of modern medicine later, I am feeling much better, and am ready to start my resolution.  

I began by trying to find actives for my own family to participate in.  I wanted to find things that looked fun or educational, didn't cost an arm and a leg, and were not being held on a school night.

As I found things to do, I realized that other families were probably struggling with the same problem, and decided to post what I found online in the hope that other families could benefit as well.

All the events that I find will be posted on the new Community Calendar page linked to from the Gerwerken Crafts Main Page.  So far there are two events, The Saint Patrick's Day Parade and Festival being held this weekend, and the North Florida Veg Fest being held next weekend.  You can see additional details on the calendar page.

If you know of an event that you would like to see on the calendar please tell me about it, but keep and mind that I am not listing all community events, just those that fit my criteria.  So, what does it take for an event to be on the calendar?

• It must be either an event it would be appropriate to take a school aged or younger child to, or a date night event.
• It can't be held on a school night.
• It needs to cost no more than $20 for my family of 4 to attend (I might occasionally bump that up to $50 if something really amazing is happening.
• It has to be something I would take my family to (I know, this one is really subjective, but I hope you like my choices).

On an unrelated note, you might notice a few changes to the Gerwerken Crafts website now, and in the near future.  I was hoping to finish them all prior to the calendar going live, but decided that getting this weekend's event out was more important.

Playa is a lake again!

We have a Lake Again!

About 2 months ago I told you how our neighborhood lake had dried up, leaving us with a playa, or dry lake bed.  The playa wasn't bad, the kids enjoyed playing on it, but we missed our lake.

Then about a week ago it started raining.  It rained for 3 days and 3 nights (thanks hurricane season), and at the end we had a lake again.

Kayakers!

Then as we were driving by on Saturday, I saw something I didn't think I would ever see in this lake, Kayakers!  I actually jumped out of the car to take these with my phone before they got too far away to see (sorry they are not the highest quality).  

So far the lake only has a couple of feet of water, but we should be getting some more water later this week.  Hopefully soon, the lake will be back to it's former glory.

We have Floors in the Office!

Office to Do List:

• Remove old gross Carpet and Carpet Pad - Check
• Pull out the 12 Million Staples that were used to install the old carpet - Check
• Tear down old cat hairy window treatment and Discover Missing Piece of Crown Molding - Check and Check
• Remove base boards - Check
• Remove piece of crown molding next to missing molding - Check
• Scrap/Strip/Sand Peeling Paint from Molding - Check
• Patch holes and Prime patches - Check
• Prep Ceiling and Walls for paint - Check
• Paint Ceiling and Walls - Done
• Install Flooring - Done
• Sand and repaint Base Boards
• Reinstall Baseboards
• Install quarter round molding
• Reinstall Crown Molding with the addition of Missing Piece
• Finish Painting All Molding
• Make Pretty!

The last I left you in our home remodel saga, we had just finished preparing to paint the office, and now not only has the office been painted, we have floors.  Glorious floors that are neither covered in cat hair, or possessing an odd smell!  Is it weird that this makes me feel like a kid at Christmas time?

The flooring is glue together tongue and groove that does not click together.  We installed it completely on our own, and it was our first time installing this type of floor.  We had read or watched every single tutorial on the subject we could find before we started and read the full manufactures directions, even so, when we first started installing it, we started questioning the sanity of doing it ourselves.  By the time we finished (DAYS later) it had become easier, we we had become faster, and now the idea of doing the next room doesn't seem so bad.  I think I may go into the detail of installing it a bit when we do the next room and share some of the mistakes we made and the solutions we found.

Now that the floors are in, I feel like we have rounded a serious corner in our office remodel and we are finally starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel.  The walls and ceiling have been painted, and the floors are installed.  It is looking like a room again.

Ok, I will admit that there is still plenty of work to do, but it feels like I am almost there.  I feel motivated to hurry up and finish up the rest of the tasks on my list, so I can start to move furniture in!

From Lake to Playa in one Season

When we moved into our new neighborhood in April we were excited about the lake.  It was a big beautiful lake that stretched into the distance in a rather mysterious way, making it hard to tell just how big it was.  I made it a point to drive by it on the way to and from work, because it made me smile whenever I saw it.  And after dinner we would walk down to it to watch the birds. At the time the rain fed lake overflowed it bounds, creating a little creek that wound around the neighborhood.  Ducklings were born, tadpoles turned into tiny frogs, and we looked forward to a long summer enjoying the lake.

Then the wet Spring turned into a dry summer, and the lake began to shrink.  It is not strange for shallow lakes here to lose some of their water to evaporation in the heat, and we have a large lake nearby that drains periodically when the local aquafir is running a bit low, so we were not that worried.  After all, summer is hurricane season, surely we would soon have a big storm that would rain for days filling our little lake back up.

More birds came enjoying the shallow water and easy access to snails.  We even got some rare birds for the area like spoonbills.  It was still beautiful in its diminished state, and the birds made up for the lack of water.

Now it is almost fall,  Hurricane season will be over soon, and our lake is empty.  I continued to drive by to and from work, and we continued to walk down after dinner, but the snails and the birds are all gone, except for the occasional vulture.  The weeds are several feet tall in some areas, and where they do not grow the soil is dry and cracked like a desert.  Our neighbors seem unconcerned.  It has, as they point out, been a very dry summer.  We still have hope that our lake will fill back up, but if it doesn't, we will still have a nice playa to play in.

Former formal living room turned office

I promised pictures of our new house when we moved in months ago, and I did not follow through.  I had forgotten just how long it takes to move in, and when you are doing some redecorating/remodeling on top of that, it takes even longer.  So my house has been looking a bit post apocalyptic, and I haven't been super keen on showing that off.  However, I've realized that is part of the process.  The house is going to look worse before it looks better, and it is a tad misleading to show the before and after and not the days/weeks/months of work that it took to get to the after, and say, "It was easy, you can do it!"  So, without further ado, the office/craft room/guest space; a work in progress.

Former Formal Dining Room

Our office is the former owner's formal dining room, which went nicely with their formal living room (to be seen later).  We are not that formal, and an office is a much more useful space for my family than a formal living space would be, so the former formal living room will be our very large dining room, and the former formal dining room will make a nice cozy office.

Office in the Making: To the Left

Office in the Making: To the Right

Carpet and baseboards have been removed, bad paint has been stripped, holes have been patched, and priming is complete.  We are finally just about ready to begin painting.  It has taken us a really long time to get to this point.  Why?  This...

And This...

Peeling Paint.  LAYERS of Peeling paint.

Being a good little worker that doesn't cut corners, I stripped the paint.  And stripped the paint.  And stripped the paint.  And stripped the paint.  

About 7 layers of paint (and many hours) later I was left with this:

And I realized that I had been an idiot, and learned a lesson.  I have no intention of staining that door, and the door is nothing special.  I simply need to make sure that my new paint adheres correctly.  So from now on, I will not strip when sanding will do, and I will not sand when liquid sanding will do, and I will not spend more time and money repairing an object than it would cost to simply replace it.

Next time painting, and figuring out what to do about this;

Mysteriously Missing Crown Moulding 

End of Summer

At the beginning of the summer as the temperature rises, the native Floridians prepare to hibernate in their climate controlled dens for the summer.Knowing that going out in such high temperatures can cause severe burns, incite violence, and completely stop the brain from functioning, the native Floridians turn down the air conditioner, pull the blinds closed, and prepare to avoid the sun as much as possible for the next several months. 

As fall approaches the Floridan begins to stir.Since the temperature does not change in their climate controlled dens, it is not clear what lets the Floridan know that fall is approaching.Perhaps they can tell based on subtle signs, such as the the snow birds returning from their annual migration, or the proliferation of pumpkin spiced everything.What we do know, is that the Floridians emerge from their caves every year on labor day weekend.If that that time the Floridian begins to sweat, it is said that summer will last another 6 weeks, but if the Floridian doesn’t sweat, legend says that Fall will come early.

We had a high of only 81 F today, and we are forecasted to have a day this week with a low in the 50s.  That is unprecedented.  I don't remember the last time it felt cool outside before October....ever.  It is amazing.  I'm actually sitting outside today writing this.  

My kids even willingly went outside to play today.  I think that may be the first time they have willingly gone outside to play without water involved since we moved into this house in April.   We decided to put up a temporary play area for them out of a sun sail and table and chairs to encourage them to go out a bit more, and so far it is working!

We originally got the sun sail from Ikea to block out the horrible light of the day star, but began to melt during our original attempt to put it up, so it has been in the hall closet ever since.  It made a great little lean to type structure for the kids to play under.  

If you have any suggestions for outdoor activities that won't cost an arm and a leg, that big kids would like, please leave a note in the comments.  I would love to hear your suggestions!

New Chicks!

We just got a bunch of new baby chicks!  We are pretty sure they are a mix of red sex links and barred rocks.  They should all be pullets (girls), but I guess we will find out what they are over time.

The little dots on their heads are to tell them apart.  Don't worry, it won't hurt them.

Arn't they adorable!

FO - Pigwidgeon

Pattern - Errol from Charmed Knits, Yarn - Gerwerken Knits, Sock

I actually finished this project a while ago, but never posted about it.  I admit I really didn't like this pattern very much, but my son loves the outcome, and that is what counts.

FO - Mandrake

Pattern: Mandrake Plant by Phoenix Knits

Yarn:  Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece, and Hemp for Knitting AllHemp3

Needles:  HiYa HiYa Bamboo US 2.5

My kids are finally interested in Harry Potter.  Finally!  You have no idea how excited I am about this.  I am a huge Harry Potter fan, and I have been trying to get them interested in Harry since they emerged from the womb, but the books were boring (not enough pictures) and the movies were scary.  Eventually I found the Harry Potter "gateway drug," Legos.  

Harry Potter Legos, lead to the Lego Harry Potter video games (that do a surprisingly good job story telling without words), which lead to the Harry Potter books books (finally!).

For the pot, I made doughnuts of foam covered in strips of brown cloth, and glued them inside pot to act as the "dirt".  In the video game mandrakes scream and break glass until you put them in their pots.  The kids have been enjoying pretending that he is screaming and then shoving him back in the pot.

Jingle Bell Run

This Saturday the girl ran her first 5k.  She ran with Fire Beard, in the pouring rain, and loved every minute of it.

I was very proud, from the top of my head to the tips of my wet frozen toes.  Seriously though, it was miserable out there.  I stayed cold for hours after we left, and we didn’t even stay for the big Christmas parade after the race.  I was shocked and proud when she came over the finish line with a smile on her face, and told me she wanted to do it again next year.  I guess the girl is one tough cookie!

St Nicholas Day

St Nicholas Day is a children's holiday celebrated on December 6th throughout much of northern Europe.  It is celebrated in memory of Saint Nicholas who was known for his generosity and gave treats to poor children around Christmas Time.  On the night of December 5, kids leave their shoes out for St Nick.  If they have been good, they will wake to find little presents St Nick has left in their shoes.  Often these presents are candy, or small toys.

My family has never celebrated St Nicholas Day before, (and neither has the vast majority of Americans from what I can tell), but we did this year.  On December 5th my kids left their shoes out, and the hope that I would fill their shoes with treats if they were good (they were).

The Pavlova Blouse

The Pavlova blouse is a wrap shirt pattern by Cake Patterns, a wonderful new pattern company from Australia.  

Steph C, the owner and designer at Cake Patterns has an innovative approach to sizing that makes her patterns easily adaptable to a wide variety of body shapes and sizes.  Unlike most patterns in which your size is determined by only one body measurement (usually the bust), Cake patterns allow you to mix and match your pattern pieces based on several body measurements.  In addition, the suggested fabric is usually a knit, which also make fit a bit more forgiving.

I decided that in this, my first foray into using Cake Patterns, that I would follow the pattern instructions blindly, trusting in Steph C’s fitting and drafting ability, and see what came out.  After completing the pattern, I am glad I didn’t try to go my own way.  Cake patterns are NOT like any other patterns, and while I am a fairly experienced seamstress, I would have been lost if had had not followed the pattern exactly as written. 

I ordered the PDF version of Pavlova from Cake’s etsy shop.  I printed the pattern, put it together, started to cut out my size, and only then realized that my size wasn’t present.  Warning:  Unlike the paper version of the pattern which contains all sizes, the PDF pattern does not contain all sizes.  This mistake was entirely my fault.  It clearly says in the etsy ad which sizes you are buying, but I looked only at the picture, and bought the wrong size.  So then I bought the correct size, printed it, put it together, and cut out my correct size.

After putting together both PDF versions of Pavlova, I feel qualified to comment on the quality of the PDF version of the pattern.  I have used many PDF patterns, and while most are perfectly useable, few seem to have had any thought given to the orientation of the pattern pieces on the paper they are printed on.  As a result, PDF patterns often have empty pages, or nearly empty pages or multiple pattern pieces converging on the same piece of paper.  In contrast, there was obviously intentional placement of the  Pavlova pattern pieces on the printed pages.  There were no empty pages printed.  The pattern pieces intersected as few pieces of paper as possible.  Multiple pattern pieces intersected the same piece of paper only when necessary.  All of these thoughtful touches made putting together the printed pages of this PDF pattern easy compared to most of the PDF patterns I have used before.  The pattern pieces could be put together in chunks which fit on my dining room table.  I did not have to clear the entire floor of a room to tape together ~40 pieces of paper at once.  I highly recommend the PDF version of this pattern (just make sure you buy the correct size)!

The pattern itself is brilliant and weird.  I have never see a pattern that looks anything like this pattern.  I wasn’t even initially sure if I was holding it right side up or upside down.  There is no obvious neck line.  There is nothing on the pattern to indicate where the neck line is.  The main pattern piece is the front, back, and sleeve of the blouse.  Imagine cutting a blouse in half through the front and back of the blouse, then cutting cutting the side seam one of your blouse halves from the hem up to the armsyce then through the bottom of the sleeve.  This leaves the sleeve attached to the body, and the shoulder seam intact.  Now lay your blouse half out flat with the back hem at the top and the front hem at the bottom with your neckline forming a “C” in the middle.  Now on the front half, on the side opposite your sleeve add a triangle shaped flap with the narrow part closest to the neck opening and the wide part closest to the hem.  This is basically what the pattern looks like.  Fire Beard described it as looking like “half a bear skin rug,” and frankly I think that is pretty accurate.  

The directions and construction diagrams are very good, but made no sense on my initial read through.  I decided to follow the instructions blindly without really understanding what I was doing, and the blouse came together perfectly.  I was sure I was reading the instructions incorrectly in step 5 in which the neck facing is applied.  The neck facing initially looks like it is being applied upside down.  I followed the directions anyway, and realized that the neck facing edges are enclosed by the neck facing itself.  The end result is like tucking the two short ends under and top stitching.  This is easily the most difficult part of the pattern, but it really isn’t hard once you wrap your mind around it.  The last step (step 12) really isn’t that well written.  It basically says finish the rest of the edges.  In this step you fold over the neck facing and the facing of the front wraps and ties and sew them all down at once by starting at the end of one tie, sewing up one side, around the neck, down the other side to the tip of the other tie.  I would recommend pinning starting at the neck.  You will have to double fold the edge under at the neck line so that the inside edge meets the outside edge and the inside is finished rather than raw.  You can then use this amount as a guide for how much you need to fold the front facing under to finish the edge.  The front facing narrows as it goes toward the end of the ties.  The amount you fold under will go from about .5 inch at the neckline to nothing at the end of the ties.  If you do not fold the edge under and instead just sew down the raw edge where it meets the body of the blouse you will end up with an unattractive jog at the neck facing.

Now that I have completed the Pavlova and wore it around a few days, there are a few things I will do differently next time I sew it.  The pattern is made with the back slightly longer than the front, so that the back has a flap that would make it easy to tuck in.  I would extend the length of the front so that it is at least as long as the back, and I may lengthen the body overall, because it is very short.  It is also made so that the front ties simply overlap each other, making them compete for space.  This is much easier than sewing an opening in one side that one tie can slip through, so I understand why the pattern was written this way, but I will opt for a side opening next time.

So the big questions:

Does the finished pattern look like the picture?  Yes, the resemblance is remarkable. 

Would you sew it again?  Absolutely, but I would modify it slightly to better fit my body and lifestyle.  I am actually already planning another.

Dry Wall Hole Repair

One of the many things I did this summer was a bit of home improvement, starting with my bathroom.  We decided to change out many of the towel rails, hooks, etc, leaving us with holes in the walls that had to be patched.  I became very good at patching these holes over the course of the summer, and thought I would share my technique.

The most recent hole to be patched was a rather large one in my kitchen.  I decided to remove an ill-fitting and unused phone jack, and patch the hole it left behind.

After removing the phone jack and box, and making sure that the left over wire was safe to leave in the wall, I sanded down the edges of the left over hole.

Next I applied the patch.  Since this hole was so large I could not simply fill it in with spackle.  While there are many ways to fill a hole this large, I decided to use a commercially available patch.  This one is a 4” by 4” patch by Workforce.  It was available in the paint section of my local home depot.  The patch was just big enough to cover the hole.  I believe that there were slightly bigger patches at my local home depot, but honestly, I think this is about as big a hole that should be patched with this technique.

Then I spackled over the patch and a small margin surrounding the patch.  I recommend doing several thin coats of spackle, letting the spackle dry between coats, rather than globing a bunch on.  The spackle I used was Dry Dex.  It starts out pink, and dries white, making it easy to tell when it is safe to apply the next coat.

When the patch was no longer visible under the spackle, and the last coat of spackle is completely dry, it was time to sand.  I like to sand from the outside edges of the patch toward the center, using a circular motion.  When I was finished I had a giant mess, and a smooth surface.  I rubbed my fingers over the surface of the patch to make sure that I did not feel any bumps, high or low points, etc.  Mistakes will be easier to feel than see at this point.

When I was sure that my patch was perfect, it was time to paint.  The glossier the paint, the more visible mistakes will be.  I used satin finish paint in my example and  I am pretty happy with the result. 

Good luck on your next home improvement endeavor. 

An Ode to Surly

October 2002 was a good month.  Grad school was going well, Firebeard and I went on our first date, and Surly was born.  However, I wouldn't know about Surly's birth for 4 more months.  It was February 2003 when I first met Surly.  He was a skinny puppy, being bullied by the other dogs at the pound when I decided to take hime home and keep him safe.

He had already had a hard life.  Surly had been removed from the home of his previous owner because he had been badly neglected.  When I got him he was 15 pounds, and the pound informed me that he had been only 7 pounds when they received him.  He was up to 30 pounds about a month after I took him home. 

Despite his early malnutrition, Surly was never food aggressive, however, he did eat a few odd things early on.  Very soon after I brought him home he decided to ingest a large christmas light bulb, and a steal wool pad.  I thought he was a goner, but he was absolutely fine.  I would say that it didn't effect him at all, but he never ate non food items after that incident.

Surly and I did a lot together those first few years.  When I rode my bike he ran after me, when I went swimming he jumped in too, and when I layer down he snuggled with me.  Then in February of 2005 he started acting strange.  He seemed depressed, and didn't want to snuggle with me like he used to.  Instead of crawling on me to get to a good spot on the couch, he carefully avoided crawling on me.  After about a month of this strange behavior I had decided to take him to the vet, when suddenly his behavior made sense.  I was pregnant with the girl, and he had been carefully avoiding my stomach the entire time.

I never had to worry about Surly when we took the girl home from the hospital.  He immediately included her into his pack.  He carefully watched over her during the day, alerting me when she woke up or lost he pacifier, and at night he slept in the hall between our rooms.

As the kids grew Surly watched over them, and tolerated everything they did to him.  He even protected the other animals in our household.  I was a bit worried about what he might do when we brought chicks home, but I need not have been.  He watched over the chicks just like he had the children, herding them to safety, and even protected them from other dogs. 

It was around July 2012 when we found out he was sick.  He had a lump in his throat, a large lump, that we knew was cancer even before the vet confirmed it.  He had late stage lymphoma, that had spread all over his body.  The vet didn't expect him to live more than a month.  We immediately started feeding him whatever he wanted, not expecting him to live long enough for there to be consequences.  Firebeard left for school about a month later, with Surly still alive, and me expecting a quick decline.  

The decline didn't come, at least not right away.  For months he was his normal self, not needing the steroids the vet had given him, and getting fatter from all the extra food instead of thinner from the cancer.  He slept in the kids bedroom, watching over him at night, and stood guard during the day as they played in the yard.  Eventually he needed the steroids. He started sleeping more, and slowed down.  At the end he developed type 2 diabetes, and had difficulty eating.  He lived a year after his diagnosis.   

I miss him.

If you were part of Surly's life, and would like to leave a comment or story about him I would appreciate it.