The sun and shadows.

It's another one of those Mondays where I'm swamped with work, even after coming in an hour early. I'm happy to say that I stayed on my goal of hanging out with Jim every other day, leaving Mike in bed to go running at 9 AM. Let me tell you what, it's so much more satisfying lounging around on a Sunday after you've run(/walked) three miles. And indulging on slow cooker pulled chicken sandwiches for dinner? Even better.

I went on a baking craze yesterday, whipping up fresh blueberry muffins and banana bread, so now my apartment is a dangerous area of leftover strawberry shortcake fixins, black bean brownies, banana bread, and blueberry muffins. Please. Somebody help me.

This weekend Mike and I went to the big Goodwill in Davis Square where I scored this sweet picnic-basket-turned-yarn-holder-with-built-in-needle-pockets along with some great dresses. Two of them I could wear off the rack (one of which I'm wearing right now) and two of them I plan to alter into awesomeness. Stay posted on the progress of those. I don't know if it always looks like this and I'm just usually still in my apartment getting ready, but the sun and shadows this morning were beautiful. See doesn't-do-it-justice-insta-above.

Home sweet chalkboard.

So like I said, I had a lot on my to-do list this weekend. One of those things was to buy chalkboard paint and create more chalkboard surfaces than one apartment needs. I'm happy to say that I succeeded!

I headed to the hardware store on Saturday with the best intentions. Unfortunately, as I tallied the bill for chalkboard paint ($15.50), roller ($3.50), and masking tape ($4.60), I because unsure. I changed my mind at the last minute and in the interest of saving money on a non-essential, I opted for the spray chalkboard paint.

Let me just say that I was terrified of fire when I was a kid. My dad, in an attempt to rid me of this phobia, would light the fireplace and hold me in his lap while we sat nearby. Despite my cries, he wanted me to know that I was okay. That when handled safely, fire was a wonderful thing. I eventually grew out of it, but the scene where the gas station explodes is still the scariest part of Night of the Living Dead. So when I got home, taped off a section of the wall in the kitchen, and began spray painting, I was seized with fear at the warning on the label: EXTREMELY, SUPER, UNBELIEVABLY FLAMMABLE. (Something like that.) I retreated to the porch and stared in the window, waiting for the pilot light in the stove to ignite the vapors and explode. I wondered how much a new stove would cost, if the flame would ignite the gas pipe that disappeared into the wall, if there was a possibility of our entire building exploding.

Eventually I gathered the courage to run through the kitchen to hide in my bedroom and call Mike. He assured me that everything would be fine with these comforting words: "If you were going to explode, it would've happened already." After I was sure that the stove and I were safe and friends again, I decided to head back to the hardware store and exchange the spray paint for the traditional chalkboard paint and the rollers. In short, I am slowly learning that sometimes paying a little bit extra can get you what you actually want rather than a cheaper, more dangerous version.

I spent yesterday watching movies I rented from the library while I painted various surfaces in my apartment. Here they are, all painted and decorated!

Those last pictures are of an old school desk that I inherited from my good friend Nabi that was turned into a mail-catcher in our hallway. What projects did you work on this weekend? 

"gather here and make something"

Saturday was a milestone for me. One of my top 5 summer goals is to learn to use the sewing machine I inherited last month, and thanks to gather here in Cambridge, I'm well on my way.

First of all, the store is adorable. Their organic fabric displays are complete with the cutest prints I've seen. I arrived a wee bit early (it's only about a 7-minute walk from my apartment carrying my ancient sewing machine!) so after I was set up at a table I browsed the array of quilting books, daydreaming as I perused the clothing patterns on display. gather here has the feeling of someone's comfy living room melded with a crafty workshop conducive to productivity. The sink station at the front brought me back to elementary school art class, one of my faves. Unfortunately I'm blanking on the names of the wonderful people who greeted and helped me, but everyone was very friendly and approachable. I've had some bad experiences at bike shops around Cambridge, so it was nice, as a newbie, to be welcomed by veterans.

The woman who taught the Meet Your Sewing Machine class took my old geezer Kenmore with stride, despite my lack of knowledge or manual. I felt a little guilty monopolizing her attention while she tried to help me decode the hieroglyphics and old school knobs, but luckily the other ladies in the class had similar machines so she could teach them all at once.

The things I learned:

• How to load a bobbin. Also, where the hell the bobbin hides and, you know, what a bobbin is. 
• How to thread my machine. (This took several practice runs and step-by-step photos on my phone. I am happy to say that I successfully threaded my machine today!)
• How to sew a straight stitch. Rocket science, I know.
• What all of my knobs do, including how to change the length/width/shape of my stitches. (My machine has so many options, so I feel like this is one of those "still learning" things.)
• How to release the entire bobbin holder contraption and that I should never ever do this unless absolutely necessary.
• How to change out my needles, as well as a rough description as to what needles are best for what fabric. (I am currently using the 90/14 needle that I inherited with the machine.)
• How to load and unload the different feet as well as what most of them are for. She also told us which feet she uses the most and which ones we'll most likely need. 
• That there's a nifty little blade on the back of the needle contraption that you can slide your thread through to cut it quickly. (She looked much cooler than I did doing it, but that's probably because she doesn't stick her tongue out like I do when I am even remotely concentrating.)
• How to sew and cut a button hole. (I need a stitch ripper sharper than the one that came with the Walgreens travel sewing kit I currently have.)
• How to make my needle cozy and less likely to break before I travel with my machine. 

This is a basic class set to get you acquainted with the basics of how to use your machine. It is the first step (of many, I assume) to becoming a sewing pro. The class mostly familiarized me with my Kenmore and gave me the confidence to get cracking. The class was a jam-packed hour and a half, and it was well worth the $15 it cost. (I probably used more than $15 worth of thread alone...) I will definitely be back for their Skip the Tailor class come August. That said, there are still some things I wanted to learn that I haven't yet:

• Let's start with the obvious one: I did not learn any of the correct sewing lingo. It's not that she didn't use it, it's that I was too busy snapping photos of my magenta thread to absorb it. 
• Which stitches are best for which sewing jobs.
• How to measure fabric, accounting for hems, etc., in order to alter clothing.

What sewing classes have you taken and loved?