Final walkthrough on the basement is scheduled for the 29th and I have the gifts I planned for the contractors done:
The tan one went together with no issues at all. The tweed one fought me every step of the way, and part of that was poor construction choices on my part–I added Soft and Stable interfacing to all the parts and it was just too thick along with the fabric. Making matters worse, the turquoise lining fabric I had in my stash turned out to be bulletproof, and my machine just refused to sew through more than three layers of it (a first). So I ended up HAND SEWING all the binding down, an exercise in frustration.
But they’re done and they look pretty clean, so they’re wrapped up and ready with a thank-you note for next week. (Assuming we get the toilet put in and we can find different light fixtures and the floor guys can fix the gouges the plumber’s drill left when falling down the stairs… it’s kind of been “two steps forward, one step back” for a week.)