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At 5am I woke up, got up and flipped through some sewing books I had bought on-line on one of those waves of book-gathering - do you have those? They happen to me at the library, too. I get all excited about a particular topic and pile the books on, convinced that this time, I will read/use them ALL, because suddenly I am a very fast reader who is focused and makes very good use of her time. Yogourt containers I use; time I waste. Anyway, since Christmas is coming and I do have the odd gap in my otherwise strenuous schedule of two hours of work per week, I have been thinking about getting on top of making some gifts, and this year, I will be starting before Dec. 23rd - wa-hoo!

The first book was a baby book, which I bought because a few of my close friends have had kids recently. I have yet to make anything out of this book because I think most of it is silly (come on, decorative hangers? I can see Mom's eyes roll) and the few things that stand out require practice, and plenty of it. Stitching in a boldly contrasting colour only looks good if you have a very steady stitching hand. I will no longer be fooled by the hope with which those beautiful, professionally-taken photographs fill me. What I make will not look like that. After the twentieth try, though...

The other book is a basic how-to-sew-for-your-own-body book. I am all over the idea of making my own pants for the rest of my life. Trying on pants is a disheartening activity. This book I had yet to even open, but it looks good, especially for its spacial organisation tips - I love those. So I went on a re-organisation rampage for the day, and the result is not all that different from how things were set up before, which is sort of disappointing considering how much time I put into it, but like I said, I'm not so good there.

I have crammed my 'Thesis Station' (how do you like that?) from my little desk onto the end of B's desk, so I am now facing east instead of north. (This might make me smarter.) I took said little desk and transformed it into a full-time sewing table by a) taking the stuff off it, and b) moving it into another room. I know. Ingenious. One of the tips from the book was to put a big piece of paper-covered plywood onto a smallish table for cutting material. I will be able to do that now! (The floor is another option, but not with cats.) So, with both the time and the space to practice, I am set. I can hear the professional photographers knocking already...