Dirty windows and work accomplished

 Our windows were washed just before the scaffolding that had surrounded our building came down earlier this year. The forest fires in Canada have caused our windows to look like this.

It may make sense to clean them after fire season comes to an end or before my widows just get too depressing. I am not going to think TOO hard about what that gunk is doing to my lungs.

I have been working away at mending Chris's tallit. Each time I think I am done repairing the silk another broken bit appears.

I  assumed that the gold gutta (the gold colored paste used to keep the silk paint colors from flowing into one another ) was damaged but it had also damaged the silk.

I had to suture the tan painted silk to the turquoise and then chain stitch over the whole thing. The artist who made this tallit made two eyelets in each corner for the tzitzit. She looped the tzitzit through the two eyelets.  I don't think that the two holes are actually halachically OK and I have to do a bit of thinking to figure out how to solve THAT problem. My next task is to line and back this tallit.

I have begun on Allan's tallit. Yes, it is always scary to cut into expensive fabric. I cut the white wool to size by nipping the selvedge at the right length for the tallit and pulling a thread and cutting on the line created by the missing thread.

I also serged the raw edges so I don't have to worry about the tallit fraying as I work. I also cut the black wool stripes to size edged them.

I also turned my attention to the Schechter Mappah. The Ultrasuede under some of the text had gotten a hole so i had to create a new one.

The first layer of paint is down. I still need to refine the letters and add the vowels in red, then I will add the the little decorative bits so it all looks like a page from an old manuscript.

Some of my go-to simple black dresses have gotten too threadbare to wear. I had purchased yardage for more. Today I made a simple a-lined scoop necked cap-sleeved dress. I didn't take a photo. If you saw me wearing it you probably wouldn't notice it. A woman needs some boring dresses in her wardrobe than can be worn endlessly. I now have another such dress in my wardrobe.

Tonight's dinner was mostly just pulled out of the freezer-- that is the challah and chicken elements of the meal.  I made a barley pilaf with some shredded coconut that was left over from Passover and raisins and sunflower seeds. The chicken has a whole lot of flavor. The barley is mostly about texture. Don't worry we will be eating vegetable matter as well---probably just frozen broccoli.

Shabbat Shalom!