5/17/13

Stuff and nonsense

Wanna know why I spend so much time in the back yard?  I was trolling Rob’s Youtube station to see if he’d made any of the treadling videos public and stumbled up on this little video.  He does a good job of showing my flowerbeds from another person’s perspective.  Mostly when I talk about it, I talk about what’s in it, but Rob really gives a good idea of how it feels to be in our back yard.  The birds, the breeze, the green.

Sydney had an assignment in Spanish to find a painting by Francisco de Goya (or as she pronounced it, de Gayo, which lead to much confusion on the part of her parents…vowels are so important.)  Anyway, she picked The Countess of el Carpio as her painting.

The-Countess-Of-El-Carpio

(image borrowed from www.franciscodegoya.net)

She had to pose in a reproduction of the painting.  Okay, so we had our own little Modern Family moment of Cam dressing up Lily for pictures.  Anyway, here she is, the Countess.

Sydney as the countess

Not too shabby, huh? 

Anyway, I’m taking the opportunity to work from home.  In the time I would have been in the shower (yes, I plan to spend the whole day in my pajamas) I set the National two-spool up with the motor. 

100_5375

It is not pretty.  I just built an L shaped frame to support the motor, but it turns the handwheel and so now, I can test the machine and get the kinks worked out before Rob builds the official base to hold it all.  I may order a longer belt before he does that so I can get the motor farther from the handwheel.

100_5377

But, other than that, it is a success and I will be able to sew with the two spool, using an electric motor.  I still haven’t worked out how to wind a spool yet for the bottom thread, but I’ll get there.  And, I discovered I have about 30 spools to fit it that hold between 100 and 150 yards of thread.

Okay, so have a great Friday.  I knocked out all the things I wanted to play with this morning so I can focus on work the rest of the day. 

I hope.

Be well.  Lane

7 comments:

Elizabeth said...

It's so hard to focus on work when there are fun things to be doing. But it pays for the fun things, so I guess it's got to be done.

I loved Rob's video tour of your backyard. You have created such a lovely space out there! Well done!

xo -E

Kath said...

Quite delightful Lane.

Auntie Em said...

Love the painting recreation of Countess Sydney!

mssewcrazy said...

Enjoyed the tour and the sounds. I used to like to work in the flower beds but they are such hard work I finally couldn't keep up and had to cut them way back. I really like your backyard and the green house-neat to be able to save the potted plants from the little bit of cold weather in the south. I enjoy the sewing blogs but love seeing the owner's surroundings and interests so I too enjoy your blog-very interesting.

Megan said...

I enjoyed Rob's video very much Lane. What impressed me so much about your garden was that it's so clear that it is loved and cared for. Wanna come work in my garden? LOL

Megan
Sydney, Australia

Coloradolady said...

Lane, Oh. My. When Rob opened the door of that fence, my breath caught in my throat. What an amazing oasis you two have created in your yard. It is breathtakingly beautiful. Simply Beautiful. I so enjoy Robs videos, the video speaks so much more than photos. Man, you have a wonderful back yard, makes me want to get out of my sewing room and get to doing something about "what I thought" looked good in my own, boy was I wrong. Wow.

Oh, I loved that pic of Sydney. My kids always had to do things like this and I have boxes of costumes I made, Robert E. Lee, Betsy Ross, Pocahontas, and the list goes on! That brought back a lot of memories for me! You all did a wonderful job with her costume! Super job! Have a wonderful weekend!!

qltmom9 said...

Oh,your garden is DELIGHTFUL! And, Sydney, as always, is beautiful! What a fun assignment.
My brothers built an outhouse like yours for my sister's garden paradise! I love the little house behind your home. What do you use it for? That was fun...but, now, you need to invite your readers over to sew in the backyard like Bonnie was doing! They'd TOTALLY be rejuvenated and refreshed. LOL! That sure doesn't look like the TX we saw (McAllen) for Darl's work assignment once! DELIGHTFULLY lovely.

Lucy~