Tuesday, July 18, 2017

A Midsummer's Update

If you're not following me on Facebook or Instagram, you may have wondered why the blog has been quiet for the past month. I figured I'd do a big update and fill you in on the happenings at the Hajek Homestead. 


Firstly, we finally turned our three season porch into my summer sewing room. Although it won't work year-round in the Minnesota climate, I'm hoping to get a good 6-7 months of work a year up here in this gorgeous space until we can afford to insulate it properly. For now, the good coat of paint did wonders!



Also, my husband and my father-in-law created this custom dream sewing worktable for me! Perfect dimensions and I'm so happy to have the work space! I've covered 2/3rds of it in cutting mats and it is awesome!


The main purpose of this sewing room, however, is to create a good enviroment to shoot the photos for my new sewing book! Yes, that's right, I am working on two books this summer! As I finish up the first draft of "The Professor and the Siren" (83k and counting) I am also designing, creating and photographing the project for my long-planned sewing book (more details on that coming soon over at the sewing blog.) 


 If that wasn't enough to create a busy summer, I've also been managing a huge garden. Twice the size of last year's plots, and with more weeds all around to contend with. However, we've been enjoying the raspberries, peas, herbs, carrots, beets, spinich, kale, rhubarb, lettuce, summer squash and strawberries already, with tomatoes, cucumbers, winter squash, potatoes, beans, corn, and pumpkins well on their way! Not to mention the blueberry bush experiment...


...or all of the flowers!


 Fresh carrots, harvested and thinned.


Mateo also continues to do well. His current weight is pretty solidly just over 15lbs, although he could still bulk out more. He remains a sweet cuddler and constant source of entertainment, although he's been a bit stressed this week as both Nathan and I are down with a bad case of the flu. 



While the sewing room is my day job, I also bounce between little handicrafts that occupy my hands while we watch TV. Lately I've gone through a miniature embroidery phase...


...and I'm now in the midst of a quilting phase.


We're also back in library mode, as Nathan got a card and is a good deal better at keeping up with returns than I am. We're lucky to live close to several libraries, and our system just introduced some gorgeous new library cards!


I haven't been doing a ton of drawing lately, but I have done a few sketches of characters from my regular RPG groups. The above sketch features the various Twi'leks from our Star Wars game. (I play Zavi).


I am also in not one, but three Hogwarts RPGs. It's a little insane, but there's nothing like getting an envelope from your game master with the Hogwarts seal on it...


...unless it is maybe the letter inside!


I am playing a Hufflepuff in one game, and two very different Slytherins in the others. (Game #3 was originally going to be Gryffindor, but then we shuffled some things around.)

It's no wonder that this summer is just flying by! August marks the 1 year anniversary of the publication of "The Mermaid and the Unicorn" and I am planning some fun things for that, so please stay tuned!

No comments: