Simple Things

The clean up continues . . . I managed to clear out another boxful of various papers yesterday morning. Then I turned my attention to comfort. This spot is for the dogs. It's an old blanket and a discarded jumper of mine, folded into a thick piece of cloth. I'm stitching up the sides to hold it all together.
I've also spent some time on what is to be a big bean bag--that one's for humans. Today I hope to finish the lining bag and fill it with those incredibly mobile foam pellets. I have fabric for the outer casing, but I'm not sure how far I'll get with that. Maybe it will have to wait until next week to be finished.

Team Effort

I've been overwhelmed by house mess lately. It seems as though the everyday tasks that you'd expect to be straightforward are huge. Feeling paralysed and doing nothing just results in more mess--believe me, I've tried it! The other extreme of doing a blitz to get things under control takes more energy and determination than I can find right now. There has to be another way. So I've been trying to isolate small projects amongst the general chaos. I'm not even really prioritising, just pretty much picking a random task and getting it done. One such task is clean bedding for my dogs. As much as I love them, I cringe at the realisation that my whole house smells like an old kennel.

Last week I bought a few metres of calico and made up these bean bag cushions. I bought a bag of "beans" to fill them. I must be getting wise in my old age, because instead of attempting to fill the cushions by myself, I rang a friend. As it turns out one of my weaving buddies was here as well when V came over yesterday afternoon, so the three of us tackled the cushion filling task. With three pairs of hands on the job, we got these bags filled with only one or two stray bits of styrofoam reaching the floor--yay team!! Now to close off the gaps and make pretty covers. My plan is to make two sets of covers so I can easily wash and change them frequently. I'll see how I go with that.

Unfortunately the afternoon didn't end so happily, when my friend R went to go home, she found her car had been smashed--so badly that she couldn't drive it home. There was no note and none of my neighbours had seen or heard anything. So she spent several hours calling her insurance company, a panel beater and a tow truck before I drove her home. So this morning I woke to the satisfaction of the bean bag cushions and the disappointment of some-one's carelessness and lack of consideration. I'll try to hang on to the former and let go of the other . . .

Puppy Love

OK, so they're way past being puppies--they are definitely middle aged dogs. But I found this fabric irresistable:

My task for this morning is to turn it into doggy bean bag covers. It will be just right for their favourite spot in the sun. I'm planning to make two--one in the wash, one in use--and hopefully I'll be able to keep them looking somewhat civilised--the bean bag covers, that is.