Look how close I was to running out of thread before I was done! I had another shuttle wound but I really didn't want to have to add a new thread in at the very end. I was very happy to make it to the end without doing that, but I admit I did some fancy shuttle switching from time to time.

I've already hidden the ends. I haven't found anything for the lining yet but haven't looked either. I needed a break. I'll try to find something this weekend and wrap it up though. I'd like to take it to the guild meeting next week and see if it might be considered for the exhibit.

Here's a close up of the front tab closure. I have some rhinestone buttons that might fit in with this theme of shiny silver beads. It might depend on what I use for the lining too.

You might remember that while I was sick earlier this week, I had my good moments. This was one of them. I've lived in my house since 1977. Actually it was in November when I closed on it, so it's exactly 32 years ago that I moved in, a 28 year old widow with an 8 year old daughter and a 6 year old son. This 70's style contact paper was already on the floor of the cabinet. I always hated it but it was the least of my house issues over the years and since it was mostly covered up, I forgot about it. On Monday I was feeling really good later in the morning and I took everything out of the cabinet for the sole purpose of pulling up that horrid contact paper! It was so full I was too embarrassed to take a photo then, so I waited until I had everything out.

Do you know how hard it is to get 30+ year old contact paper up? It's like chipping away at stone. And then....I got the brainy idea of using my hairdryer to warm it up. I thought it would make the adhesive more pliable and it did! I think I had the whole thing stripped of contact paper within 10 minutes!

Then came the hard part - what to put back in? This is a bottom cabinet, quite spacious, but it really needs pull out bins. Some lucky homeowner will no doubt do that in the future, but I'll make do with what I have. I got most of my skillets and pans off of the stove now and I have two boxes in the living full of goodies to go to charity. I bought a 3-drawer crate to put the tools in - I keep a minimum in the house but it seemed like we could never find the right screwdriver so hopefully this will solve that. I have a storage tub in the pantry full of baking pans and cookie cutters. I only use them once a year usually so there's no point in stuffing them in the cabinets. My next goal is to clean out the upper cabinets and say goodbye to some dishes. My house is too small for family gatherings so I might as well dispose of the extra china. Maybe....some things are hard to let go of.

Sometimes I am amazed that I raised four kids in this little house! One year my cousin, who is my daughter's age, also lived with us and a couple of my sons had friends who lived with us from time to time when things got rough. I may not have had much in the way of material goods, but it was a lively and good life. I wouldn't trade those years for anything!

Last night while I looked for snowflake patterns to measure up against yesterday's frustration, I pulled out my phase TWO T.A.T. binder and decided I will finish that up now too. I have lots to do this weekend but I want to work on my diagramming for the design-tat class and get back to work on this segment of T.A.T. I got stuck at the part where you attach edgings, not because it is hard to do, but it is time-consuming and I didn't want to rush through it. I have nine projects left. Most are very easy so it's time to get it done. There is another tat proficiency program I want to complete too....all I need to do is gather my documentation and email it. I hear it will be nice out this weekend so I also plan to paint the primer on the basement exterior door and the replaced overhang to the roof. Nothing like doing it at the last minute before winter sets in!