Calm after the Storm

This morning I sewed on the newly bleached lace to the front bodice of my granddaughter’s christening dress.  What a relief that it looks good to these old eyes of mine!

Here is the front of the dress, looking rather golden because of my kitchen lighting and the cherry cabinets in the background.  Trust me, this dress–and the lace!–is bright white!

Here is the back.  As you can see, I cannot finish attaching the narrow lace to the back until I’ve done the buttonholes.  That will get done on Wednesday at my sewing class.  Actually, my teacher is going to do that….if you mess them up the dress is ruined, so that is WAY out of my comfort zone.

I tied off the the rest of the lace on the pillow and have just finished bleaching and soaking it in hydrogen peroxide.  When it dries I hope I will find that it got as light at the lace I did yesterday…my fingers are crossed and I’ll just pause here a moment to go throw some salt over my shoulder!

Alrighty then!  It’s a damp fall day here, drizzly and dreary.  It will get dark an hour earlier than I’m used to this evening.  I have taken a moment to enjoy what will be close to the last things blooming in the garden.  It’s been such a mild fall, and surely the first hard frost can’t be too far away now.

These are the last few roses in the garden.

I couldn’t resist cutting a few of them, along with some lavender, to bring inside.  The summer colors looked quite out of place in the house.  I’ve moved them to my bathroom (of all places!) where a bit of pale pink, bright pink and purple look better.

It’s almost time to bring in my extended sheep family.  During the winter they stay warm in front of the fireplace.

The birds who lived here are long gone, along with all the hummingbirds who were attracted to the red mandevilla and sat on the wire waiting for a drink at the feeders.  The mandevilla doesn’t have much time left, so it’s singing its swan song.

I’ve already brought in some of the plants I want to keep for the winter.  l didn’t realize this  geranium cutting had a bud on it.  It is sitting on the window sill above the kitchen sink, and it opened yesterday during my trials with bleaching.  Today this bloom seems like a benevolent onlooker to yesterday’s events.

Lastly, here is the kitchen table.  It hasn’t been used much lately for eating!  While Bob is off sailing to Antigua, I haven’t felt much like cooking for one and sitting down to a meal at the table.

Mostly I’ve been using the table as I am now, to write emails and blog posts, with morning coffee or a glass something stronger in the evening.  I’m feeling pretty lucky that I had the opportunity to write this particular post.  The storm is past, and it’s looking pretty likely that there will be a christening dress worthy of dear little Tori, my tiny super moon!