Glimpses of Sun(flowers)

Actually, the sun has made an appearance most days this month, of course there is so much water out there it all evaporates and turns into thunderstorms in the late afternoon/evening/night. Rain at night causes me a huge amount of anxiety, due I think to growing up in a house whose basement (where my room was located) flooded every time it rained. I always lie in bed worrying about what windows/sunroofs might have been left open, and what toys, tools, or equipment has been left outside--I have been know to make mad midnight pajama dashes out to the car to make sure it's closed up (now I have learned to just close all of the windows as soon as I get home).

This spider (and its supper) came in on some black-eyed Susans I cut for our dinner table Sunday night. It appears to be a Goldenrod Spider. C and I thought it was pretty cool, but my brother didn't appreciate sharing the dinner table with it (some boyscout!)

And I am getting some things done from the list. I had most of Sunday kid-free, thanks to Grampy taking them all to the beach for the day. Instead of getting busy and enjoying my time, I felt rather lost (why is the house so echoey?). I did some work for my class, tried to read in the hammock (until the mosquitoes drove me inside), even watched part of two episodes of Red Dwarf with my brother (TV? In the daytime? Unheard of!). I finally gave in and cleaned up the living room and made dinner (I had originally vowed to do no housework). I did spend a little time with my nature journal, which is always such a peaceful, meditative experience for me--I don't know why I don't do it more often. (Zoom in to see the hover fly).

I spent a lot of the day feeling guilty that I wasn't engaging my kids in some kind of wholesome family activity, and avoiding sewing this skirt, which I finally got around to starting after the kids went to bed, and finishing last night, again after the kids went to bed (after another full afternoon of feeling lazy and uninspired to do anything; I think I need some exercise).

It's a basic A-line skirt, with a zipper, a waistband with a button and back darts from Sew What! Skirts. I bought the fabric last summer, but never got around to it. It's the second skirt I've made from the book, which I for some reason like a lot more than a purchased pattern (even though drafting my own pattern is technically more work; I prefer it to messing with all that stupid tissue paper and obscure directions). I still don't trust my ability to measure enough to make the skirt actually fit, so it's a bit on the loose side (last year I made a skirt based on my favorite linen skirt, but neglected to add a bit of ease, so it's way too tight and now I'm gun-shy) and also the tension on my sewing machine is completely out of whack, and the more I tried to fix it, the worse it got, so don't look too closely or you'll see all kinds of puckered, lumpy seams. I did, however, install the hidden zipper correctly for once (instead of faking it), which is quite exciting!