Overlap & Eyeball

Except to clean, it was well after dinner when I finally made it into the studio and then only to sew on two buttons. Before cleaning, I cut the rug - which I would much rather referred to vigorous dancing as the term was slang for in the 1920s but I mean I literally cut the rug.

Our kitchen has a corner sink and with the island in place, there's not much room for carpets. Most kitchen carpets are IMHO rather ugly but they do protect the floor from chips and water damage. I'd much prefer to have a custom woven rug but this $14.99 special from WalMart is more within my budget range and it was already here and paid for. The cut above was made by overlap and eyeball. That's not real accurate.

The original carpet was a rectangle that I folded and cut in half and then laid both pieces separately on the cutting mat and used the forty-five degree angle to miter from the finished to the raw edges which were then serge finished with the non-slip side up otherwise they wouldn't go through the machine. This worked well on the straight edges and less so on the bias. A zigzag would be better next time.

After serging, the edges were butted and zigzagged together with a heavy thread. I started at the finished edge and worked toward the serged one. When I got there...

... they didn't line up exactly right and the finished results are slightly rippled. It turns out my mistake was right at the beginning. I presumed the finished edges were straight. When I folded the carpet up, the wobble illustrated that they weren't. Next time, I'll overlap the ends right sides together, align the length of the sides carefully, and make the cut through both layers at the same time.

Cutting the rug leaves fluff balls everywhere and after spending the day cooking and cleaning and grocery shopping, I wasn't doing that again and taking it outside wasn't a possibility yesterday afternoon. We had torrential downpours. I've never, in the forty-two years I've lived here, seen that much rain - except on TV. Amazing. And wet. The carpet is folded up in the closet and I'll try again later. The theory is good.

Just to show that I was somewhat creative and successful, I made enough spaghetti sauce to give one container to my oldest son and his roommate and freeze one for later after making lasagna for dinner. Interesting how mozzarella cheese (at the back) and rhubarb crisp crumbles (at the front) look relatively the same uncooked. Dinner was yummy. Leftovers went home with the boys. All is well.

Today, other than coffee with a friend this afternoon, I have no commitments. Once I get the handle on the fourth bag, those are done except for photography and it's time to finish the Marcy pants. YEAH.

Talk soon - Myrna

Grateful - no flooding and a clean house