!!!
Thankfully, we caught it early and notified our landlord, who arranged for pest control to come take care of business. We only had a very small number of things really damaged. (Unfortunately, including my gifted vintage 100% cashmere sweater... *sob*.) However, I did lose the last three days of my
Anyway, pest control sprayed the building today and set traps, so HOPEFULLY the problem gets solved. I have no faith though... how do we know for sure that they're gone? When can we stop living out of plastic bags? When can I remove all the wool sweaters from my deep freeze?
Once again, I feel affirmed in my decision not to really stash wool or fabric. In fact, my small stash of quilting cotton (inherited from my mother) was culled to about 50% (at the end of a very long day 2 in the laundromat). I totally, TOTALLY understand all the positive feelings that come from stashing and don't judge anyone who does it - on the contrary, I get it. It's just that, for me, the negatives and risks completely outweigh the positives. I'd rather hoard small, un-infestable things like nail polish. (Don't you wish they sold nail polish in smaller bottles? There are so many pretty colours and I never use any of them in any significant quantity.)
So, I haven't been sewing too much, to say the least.
I have sewn a few non-clothing items lately, and I have to admit, I find it way more rewarding right now. I feel a bit accountable to this blog to continue with the clothing, and I know I want to, but honestly I kind of want to make simple, practical things these days. If I had the funds I would dive into quilting full-force, I think. And I have a (not no) secret idea about making "hope chest" items (i.e. baby items, long before any plans for babies happen in this household) which seems practical to me but I fear will seem crazy to others. (Thoughts?)
So, I guess the gist of it is: I'm not sure what direction my crafting and blogging will take in the near future, but I'm kind of excited to find out. That is, if the damn bugs will vacate the building already.
I am looking forward to seeing where your crafting goes. I am so sorry for the marathon laundry session. It sounds horrible.
ReplyDeleteWith regard to your hope chest I say build one if you want but leave yourself open to the idea the things in it could be for babies other than your own. As someone who believed completely that I would have children of my own I can testify that life sometimes does not go the way we expect and you may never have children of your own. But you will almost definitely have children in your life that you adore that being to friends and family and as they are born you can dip into your hope chest for them if you have no baby of your own to clothe.
I don't mean to imply that life won't go as you hope, I'm just saying IF it doesn't be prepared that a hope chest MAY cause you pain.
Gosh that was depressing wasn't it! I'm sorry. Think about rainbows of fabric and mountains of pretty yarn - now that's a better way to finish this comment isn't it?
Yes, that's good advice and pretty much what I was thinking... basically just go ahead and make baby stuff and treat it as a stash for gifts, keeping the pieces I like best just in case we have babies who could use it one day. Even if we do have babies, there's no guarantee the stuff I make would work (for example, if I make cute girl stuff and then end up with a bunch of boys).
DeleteAnd no, not depressing - just good thinking! It's wise to guard against future hurt for sure, although I also like the idea of embracing hope and being prepared. I just know if we finally get to the stage where we have kids I probably won't have the time/motivation/energy to make them half the things I'll want to!
Glad to hear you've found a new job - I hope it all works out. Cripes how awful to have a moth problem. I can't imagine having to store and freeze all my clothes!
ReplyDeleteThe clothes were one thing, but every towel, spare sheet/blanket, winter coats, sleeping bags, childhood teddy bears... ugh, the list goes on. We don't have a lot of stuff really but when you have to include EVERYTHING it suddenly seems like we do.
DeleteThanks for the well-wishes!
Very stressful! I'm intrigued by how everything seems to happen at once. All is well, and moving along, and then boom - moths and work and cats getting on your nerves and people having birthdays you have to plan. Egad. Once all this sorts out, you will have some good stories, though.
ReplyDeleteI know, right? And having gone through such a long period of calm over the past year, I have to admit that my coping skills for chaos (which aren't wonderful at the best of times - I hate being really busy) are sub-par.
DeleteDefinitely will make for some funny stories, anyway! :D
UGH. ugh! i hope you're giving the laundry bills to your landlord.
ReplyDeleteYou know, that hadn't even occurred to me. Can we do that, legally? The infestation is not the building management's fault - it has to do with other tenants bringing questionable shit into the storage units. (We have at least one hoarder in this building who stuffs useless old trash into any vacant unit - ugh.)
DeleteOh, YUCK! There's nothing like an animal invasion to make life truly miserable-- after mice in the fall and squirrels (live! in my house!!) in the spring, we couldn't take anymore and are moving this month.
ReplyDeleteI hope your new job becomes a bit more fun and manageable. And I don't think you should feel an obligation to make anything/any specific sort of thing. Of course, we all love to see what you make, but life is too short to do stuff you don't feel like in your spare time!
OMG, squirrels IN your house?! ACK! Good luck with your move :)
DeleteI have to admit that we're starting to wonder if we should thinking about moving on, because we're not confident they'll be able to completely rid the building of the problem. But it's sad, because we don't want to move really and specifically don't want to pay any more than we're paying now (it's a good deal for this city.)
Moths!? That really sucks! And I completely agree with the nail polish. I did recently see small bottles (Shoppers? London Drugs?)from a major brand selling for only $1.99! I thought they were perfect seeing that I NEVER use a full bottle of polish and I own about 40 of them. I'll try and pick one up this week and let you know.
ReplyDeleteFor the hope chest, I say go for it! I agree with your 1st commenter in that the items could be for other people's babies as well. Also your baby may not fit the items you knit so don't get your heart set on something only to have a baby with a big head or born during the wrong season. Also I wish I would have knit more before being pregnant. I just didn't have the energy then.
Ooh, do tell me if you find out where it was! I've seen those mini OPI bottles and such before, but they always seem to be sold in a pack of 4 or 5 and I don't want all the colours. I don't mind having a lot of nail polish kicking around exactly, it just seems wasteful and takes up more space than it should.
DeleteThanks for the feedback! Those are definitely good points as well (size/season). And you're not the first person I know who has said that they just weren't able to make all the things they wanted while they were pregnant... that's part of what got me thinking about the idea, actually.
moths! as if you weren't handling plenty on your plate already. That is tragic about the vintage cashmere sweater, I would have been in tears. Here's to things getting better, and the moths being eradicated!
ReplyDeleteOh how awful, moths? Wow. That's got to be heart breaking to see their damage. I do hope that has caught them all.
ReplyDeleteI believe peoples blogs should be driven by the author. If you only want this to be about clothing, that's fine, but I don't think you should feel pushed in any direction by your audience. I read a couple of quilting blogs, I'm not a quilter but I love the end product and the ones I read tend to post about their life in equal measure. I skip over the details if I'm not in the mood but I do find it all interesting.
I hope the bugs are gone by now! About where your sewing is taking you I'll just say one thing: do what you like, sew what you want. I'll still be here to see the gorgeous things you'll do :) xx
ReplyDeleteI was just looking at my blog roll this morning and wondered what you've been up to lately. I remembered you were taking a break from blogging, but I swore I had left a comment on this post when you originally published it!
ReplyDeleteWell, anyway, I hope you had a nice summer and the moth problem was fixed soon enough. I look forward to your return to blogging, but in the meantime, take all the time you need - clearly I'm still checking in 3 months later! :) I feel like this summer was the first time I felt any true momentum with sewing in the 3 years I've been at it, so I guess we all just find the right time in our own time. Sending happy thoughts!
Thank you so much! I'm woefully behind in blog reading and commenting as well, but I am still alive and kicking. Not sure when my return to blogging will be... I keep thinking of posting an update but worry this blog will end up with more "this is why I haven't been blogging" posts than anything else! LOL
DeleteI hope you had an excellent summer as well, and hopefully I'll become a little more active on here again soon!