Is it time to take a nap yet?

Long day(s). This is going to be an early night, I can tell.

Christmas was lovely, if too full of food. Too much food is why I dozed off in front of The Nativity Story later that day (at least that's my story). I ended up having to back the movie up over half an hour in order to find something I knew I had seen before the sleeping episode.

Up early this morning to meet a friend, who then forgot we were meeting and showed up an hour late. Almost talked too long, and just made it home in time to meet the friend who was coming here for coffee.

Late Christmas evening I cleared off the dining room table in preparation for the cape project. This dining room set is the one my parents bought when we moved into our house when I was five years old. I learned to sew at that table, over the years cutting out hundreds of garments and quilts at it. The table itself is in grand shape, due to my mom's insistence on buying the half inch thick, felt bottomed, rubber topped protectors.

Since the table can be expanded to set twelve friendly folk (or ten frenemies), it makes an excellent surface for pattern cutting. I had just over two and a half yards of velvet to lay out (seven and a half feet). In spite of the food-induced semi-coma I was alert enough to arrange the fabric right sides together, but with the nap running in the same direction.

This afternoon I cut out the cape, then repeated the layout and cutting process with the lining fabric. If I can keep my eyes open, I can piece both outer layer and lining tonight, so they can hang overnight before the final assembly. With a bit of persistence, the cape will be mostly completed this weekend. The final hand sewing of marabou around the hood will have to wait until next Wednesday's payday.

Actually, I do have a white chandelle boa, but the feathers are much longer, and it would be too much around the face. Why do I have a white feather boa in my closet? It's a leftover from a Christmas-themed play we did at church a number of years ago. It's been used since, as a prop for a murder mystery dinner I hosted a few years ago. Maybe the poor thing will get another outing this New Year's eve...