A Lifetime of FUN!

Let's document our progress.

Though we both were so tired we didn't get a lot done on Saturday, and we lost Sunday to caring for a sick kitty, we made reasonable progress yesterday. As promised, finally some photos that show we are actually accomplishing something. First a view from the back toward the front, second a view of the kitchen. We'll probably be neater once the construction is finished.

Would you believe none of the cabinet bolts we had bought before to install the handles would work with the new cupboard doors, because they are thinner than the original doors? So we had to go buy more bolts before we could put the handles on the new doors.

We got all the cupboard doors hung and the catches installed except for one, and the only reason we didn't get that done was because we ran out of cabinet hinges. One short. Where that one went is beyond both of us. We turned the place upside down looking for it, without success.

We did some repairs to the banquette seat nearest the door, insulated some more areas and did paint touch ups. Having most of the cabinet doors on makes a big difference in how the trailer looks.

We need several bits and pieces of hardware, so I will try to take a trip in the next day or two and get those things. Merchants now rub their hands in glee when I pull into their parking lot.

Today I'd decided I'd make curtains. I unpacked the sewing machine I bought last Feb or March and have never used. (Okay, tell me I should have checked it out. I know, but I felt good when I bought it and immediately went into a nose dive and didn't feel well for months. It just got pushed into the corner and forgotten.) Hmmmmm, no manual. Not good. But there is fabric in the feed-dog showing it works on all the preprogrammed stitch options and I've been sewing since I was 10 so.... I hook it up, thread it and get a scrap to practice on before I start stitching.

ACK!! ACK!! ACK!! The bobbin simply knots into huge snarls underneath and breaks the top thread. I fiddle, I whine and threaten. No good. It sits there, shiny and new, speaking only Mandarin Chinese while I swear at it in Martian. ACK!!! ACK!!ACK!! What does it want? Only the Mandarin Chinese know.

Now what? My back is breaking in half, one reason I don't sew much. No idea what possessed me to buy this machine. Okay, I do know. I love to sew, but it kills my back. I remember this and think of all the lovely fabric I have - waiting to be made up into something nice. So, I come in to pound out my frustration on the laptop, and consider my options.

Aluminum foil on the windows? Naaa, that's just tooo trashy. This is very light material, gauzy sari stuff, maybe iron-on tape will hold the hems. I can hand stitch the rod channels.

Okay, four hours later. I tried the iron-on tape routine. By the time the iron is hot enough to melt the tape it also melts the fabric. ACK!! ACK!! ACK!!! So I try just pinking the edges and handstitching the rod channel. That's great. It takes two hours for one panel and I have 18 to do. Nope. Think, think, think. Better yet get on the web and surf the Big Box....

Aha! Home Despot has white vinyl mini-blinds cheap like dirt. $60.00 will outfit the whole trailer except for the big front windows. I will hand sew a Roman shade of the koi fabric for those two windows.

Seriously, I'm having way too much fun for one lifetime.