Our built-in shelves are finally beginning to look like shelves. I’m excited and impatient. You’ll notice the wall behind them is bright red. Until a couple weeks ago it was beige with white shiny wainscoting. When we took off the wainscoting we realized that a)it was covering random scraps of very dark wallpaper and b)the bottom half of the wall is a different texture from the top half. So that’s fun.

It’s no big deal behind the shelves–between the three coats of classic red paint and all the books that will be on those shelves, the wall will look fine. As for the rest of the basement, well, I guess wainscoting fits the Victorian library look I was going for . . . maybe we’ll just be replacing the ugly wainscoting with darker, nicer wainscoting. It’s easier than re-texturing the walls.

In other news, I finally finished the cross stitch I was making for my oldest daughter. It took about a month longer than I’d planned, partly because I got busy and partly because it’s a huge poster-sized stitchery, but it’s done and framed. I’m not so proud of the flowers I improvised. The tiger lily came out well but the lavender looks more like a lilac. Still, oldest really likes it, and now she’ll have a beautiful reminder of our good old pre-Christian values that will last a lifetime.

I’ve already picked out my next project and ordered the yarn for it. Months ago I found a pattern for a crochet hoodie with a cool textured look I’ve never tried before. I’m a little nervous but I’m pretty good with crochet patterns so I should be able to figure it out. Here are the sample pictures. I will, of course, be making mine in black. I will probably not look like a sexy model when I wear this hoodie but I’m still excited.