Doing the prep

 So after getting out of class and taking care of a couple things for next week, I came home and started moving and boxing and shifting the remaining stuff in the sewing room. There was still a fair amount to do but it's all now either out of the room, or (like the sewing machine, its table, and the cutting table) shoved to the middle of the room so I have a good 3' all around the perimeter of the room to work.

I also washed the walls but ran out of steam for doing the taping (and also it's starting to get dusk - my back yard faces east and is heavily shaded, and I prefer to do that in the light.

I used a mixture of Dawn dish soap and water - a friend of my mom's swears by that for painted walls and it seemed to do a good job. The walls in there were painted - 20 years ago when I moved in this place I painted them first with Kilz (there was a little mold from that old leak, also the former owner kept her dog in there some times and the dog apparently "marked" the corners) and then with sort of an off-white paint. 

But for the past few years, I wanted a "fun" color in there - way back when I first contemplate doing the home reno, I grabbed some paint chips from Lowe's and contemplated them. I *almost* chose a color called Second Blush, but I wondered if (a) it was a little too dark and strong, especially in a room where I am going to be matching fabrics to make quilt tops and (b) if it wasn't a little TOO close to Pepto-Bismol color for comfort. 

I had another color from a different brand, from a "vintage" line called Lotus Blossom, which was nice, but it had a slightly gray undertone that I was afraid would make it cold.

So in the end, I went with another Valspar color, very, very similar to the Second Blush in hue, but several shades lighter. It's called Savvy Pink. I got a gallon, after looking at the quarts and wondering if it would quite be enough (it probably would have, but it's better not to have to risk going back, and if I'm unhappy with the first coat I could always try a second). I also got the necessary trays and rollers and cut-in brushes and tape and a big tarp to throw over the stuff in the middle of the room (in case there was a major paint mishap).

I also looked at the Halloween decorations. None of the lighted stuff spoke to me, and I know I'd find the motion triggered sound-making things annoying in short order.

But then I saw the seasonal doormats. Yes, I have an owl head (that's kind of starting to break down, coir fiber doesn't last forever) but I liked this one so well that I got it:

Gnomes! With pumpkins! And it's more generic-fall than just halloween, so I can have it out longer. (I prefer cute Halloween to scary/gross halloween. I can do some "spooky" things especially if it's "funny spooky," but I'm not big on the gore or the heavy "death" imagery.) 

This is the kind of thing that makes me happy out of proportion to its cost - this was less than $15 but it will literally make me smile every time I see it. 

Another goal for this weekend is to get out the other Halloween stuff (I already put up the curtain thing I bought, but I also have some lights to go up and a couple little stuffed animals to set out) as well as painting and putting as much of the stuff as I can back in the sewing room.

One of my goals: sort the craft books. I know I have a couple that are duplicates, and I have several I will probably never use, so I might post photos here and let people have them for the cost of (media mail) postage, or, if no one wants them (or all of them), take them down to the library's used-book sale - so I can have better organized shelves and more space. I have a plan to put at least temporary labels on the shelves (e.g., "jelly roll and charm pack quilt pattern books," "novelty or theme knitting pattern books" "amigurumi books," etc.) and get the books all nicely organized.

Once all of THIS is done, I can start thinking about bringing stuff home from the storage unit, with the hope that between reorganization and editing the stuff I have, I can close out the storage unit and not have to both worry about paying for it, and not have to worry about "oh I 'need' this fabric, now do I have that at home or is it in the storage unit?"