Lavender in the Strawberries

I tackled the strawberry bed yesterday morning. I still need to do some thinning, but the paths between the rows are clear. The strawberry bed is right next to the lavender hedge, so this was not a surprise:

It’s a lavender seedling. It can’t stay where it is, so I will dig it up and move it to a better location.

The lavender seeds I planted in a tray in the greenhouse never germinated, but seedlings pop up in all sorts of inappropriate places in the garden. Go figure.

The squash seedlings are looking good.

The garden and the greenhouse are my two favorite places to be right now.

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I started a pair of long Free Range Slacks from some black linen yesterday. I got as far as cutting them out and attaching the pockets to the fronts. I am trying very hard to get out of the habit of not working on a project unless I can focus on it for hours and hours, because sometimes I only have 30 minutes. Even if all I can do is rethread the serger and finish some edges, that’s forward progress.

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I bought four more chicks from WS. He incubated eggs last month, including one of our Leghorn eggs. He is keeping that one, but I am curious to see what that chick looks like, with Little Roo as the dad and a white Leghorn as the mom. All of the chicks seem to be getting along. A couple of the chicks might be roosters, but that’s the way genetics works. We will deal with that when the time comes.

I talk to Little Roo several times a day and I think he has learned his name. He stops and looks at me when I call him.

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Our homestead foundation has a YouTube channel and I posted a new video to it yesterday. This video was produced by Rhianyon Larson for an eighth-grade history project in 2016. She placed at the state level and went on to the national competition. She has graciously shared the video with the foundation. It gives the history of our community—called Mountain Brook—and I thought some of you might like to see it. My friend Arlene Johnson makes an appearance and there are photos of some of the people who were our neighbors when we first moved here in 1994.

We really do love it here. This is a special place.

Bursting at the Seams

I am all registered for my classes at Bernina University. I was able to get into the ones I really wanted to take—a class with Amanda Murphy and a class with Gail Yellen, yay!—as well as a few on machine embroidery, threads, and serging. Someone signed me up for karaoke on Friday night. LOL, we’ll see. I also got into a couple of classes focused on helping customers with garment sewing. My sense is that most Bernina dealers lean more toward quilting, but with the demise of Joanns, some may want to expend their inventories a bit. I think it’s great that Bernina is providing support for that.

I will have a full four days, but I am excited to see what I will learn.

My last ruler class was yesterday. The students want to know what else we’re going to do, so I told them I would try to come up with something for the fall.

I ordered Tim Holtz’s latest Palette collection (green) from Fat Quarter Shop and it came this week:

So pretty.

I am hoping to work on the BU jacket today. I need to make a decision about the inside layer. It’s either going to be the silk batting or a layer of flannel. I have plenty of stars and just need to get the pieces made.

The husband and I were commiserating over dinner last night about keeping plates spinning in the air. Each of us has a lot going on right now. I spend a lot of my time taking care of babies—piglets, chicks, and plants. The greenhouse is filling up:

All of the squash and cucumbers I planted last week have germinated. I need to transplant a few more trays of seedlings today and start the melons. I have high hopes for the plant sale this year. Everything looks really good and I think we will have a wonderful selection of plants.

If I don’t work on the BU jacket today, I am going to cut out a pair (or two) of Free Range Slacks. I like that pattern so much that I lengthened it to full-length pants. I spent an hour going through my closet yesterday morning to organize my warmer-weather clothes. I should not complain—I have clothing and the ability to make what I need—but my wardrobe frustrates me. This time of year, I find myself changing clothes several times a day. I put on my chore clothes in the morning to take care of animals and make breakfast and clean up the kitchen. If a trip to town—or teaching—is on the schedule, I change into something nicer. And when I get home, I have to change back into my chore clothes to take care of chickens and water plants.

The husband wakes up, puts on the same kind of clothing every day, and wears it until he’s ready to go to bed. 🫤

A first-world problem, for sure. Even a pair of coveralls wouldn’t solve the problem, because I just don’t want to risk ruining my nicer clothing.

Rollercoaster Ride

Yesterday was a weird weather day. I had a hard time keeping the greenhouse at a consistent temperature. We’re still dropping into the 20s and 30s overnight, so we keep the propane heater running from dusk to dawn. However, that heater has an annoying tendency to turn itself off, randomly, so we keep a backup diesel heater in the greenhouse as well. That one is on a thermostat. We discovered the need for redundant systems the hard way a few years ago.

The husband turns off the propane heater—if it is still running—during his morning rounds. If it gets too cold in the greenhouse, the diesel heater will come on. Usually, though, the sun has come up by 9 am and the greenhouse starts to get toasty just from the solar radiation. I keep an eye on the thermometer, because beyond 45F or so, I have to begin opening screens and vents to make sure the greenhouse doesn’t overheat.

Yesterday, the weather alternated between sunshine, clouds, rain, thunder, lightning, snow—graupel—and everything in between. When the sun was out, I had to open vents in the greenhouse. When it clouded up and cooled off again, I had to close vents and turn on heaters. Wash, rinse, repeat.

[Michael Snyder, who does the Pacific Northwest Weather Channel on YouTube. hates the term graupel. With a passion. He claims it is not a legitimate weather term.]

This is what it looked like in the yard after one system rolled through with thunder and lightning (the toe of my muck boot for scale).

The rest of this week looks like it will be less chaotic, weather-wise. I see forecasted temps in the high 50s and low 60s with just a few showers on Sunday.

Sarah brought over a few flats of plants in the afternoon. She and Susan start seedlings at their houses, but when plants get too big, they move them to the greenhouse.

While all the weather nonsense was happening, I made the samples for my last ruler class, which is tomorrow afternoon.

The first session covered straight-line quilting with rulers. The second was on circles and ovals. Last month’s class featured stars, hexagons, and flowers. This last session is on borders and sashing.

The Stellar jays have been all over the yard this week. I spotted the pileated woodpecker, too. When the husband and I were out working in the garden on Saturday, about 30 jays were clustered in the trees over our heads, squawking loudly. At one point, I stood outside the greenhouse while a jay sat on the fence post 10 feet away and scolded me roundly. I am not sure what they are so upset over, but they surely are vocal about it.

Garden Cleanup

After a lovely Easter service at church, I spent yesterday afternoon out in the garden and greenhouse. The husband and I got quite a bit done even though it was cool and showery. I transplanted a few more trays of plants while he rototilled the garden. I am not a huge fan of tilling—I think it brings up weed seeds and causes more weeds to grow—but it’s the easiest way to get the soil amendments into the ground. He tilled the area where the potatoes were last year. I had mulched the potatoes with hemp waste from our farmer friend. The hemp worked great as a mulch, but our friend warned us that it might make tilling impossible because the hemp is rather stringy. He thought the hemp fibers would wrap around the tines of the tiller. Thankfully, we did not have any trouble. The hemp mulch had broken down over the winter and tilled in nicely. That area has had a lot of rotted straw and now hemp added to it and it is reasonably free of rocks.

Once the area was tilled—that far section—we put black plastic over it.

The squash and pumpkins will go there this year. I grow them on black plastic anyway, so I’m hoping that putting the plastic over the freshly-tilled soil will keep the weeds to a minimum between now and the end of May. Black plastic does not an asthetically-pleasing garden make, but it works. Weeds in Montana are absolutely relentless.

The tomatoes will go in that middle section. They do well there.

Except for the potatoes and the brassicas, there isn’t much to plant until the end of May. I spotted a couple of emerging pea shoots yesterday. I need to keep pruning out the raspberry patch. The strawberry bed also needs some attention. I still have to prune back the lavender hedge. And I can putter around in the herb garden.

After their big day on Saturday, the piglets have been sleeping a lot. They are still babies.

When they aren’t sleeping, they are eating. We will keep them inside the Piggy Palace for most of the week. When they go out into the pasture, the husband will train them to recognize and respect the electric fence.

Piglets

The local community college had an Earth Day celebration yesterday with activities and seminars. Our church’s communications person—who does a great job of highlighting local events—posted about it on our church’s Facebook page on Friday afternoon with the comment, “For all our gardeners, our homesteaders and our climate care advocates… see you tomorrow?”

Alas, this gardener and homesteader did not have time to attend the Earth Day event. That is sometimes the sad irony—we don’t have time to celebrate because the to-do list is so long. Yesterday was a busy day. The husband moved a dozen wheelbarrows of pig manure from the Piggy Palace over to the garden for me.

Pig manure is like nuclear fuel for plants. Chicken manure works, too, but this is the good stuff. The piles will get raked out and spread around before I put the plastic down.

While he was doing that, I raked up dead vegetation into piles for burning. The potatoes are going to get planted where the tomatoes were last year. I move things around from year to year, as much as I can. It confuses the bugs.

I also planted squash and cucumbers for the plant sale. This year, I am trying Burpee’s Butterbush, a butternut squash variety that ripens in 75 days. I’ve been planting Waltham’s Butternut, but it takes 95 days to ripen and doesn’t always make it before a frost takes it out. I’m also trying Burgess Buttercup this year. Buttercup squash is a favorite of a couple of our gardeners at church and often shows up in potluck dishes. It’s very good.

I am going to try West Indian Gherkins again, too. I started those last year and they did really well until I put them outside and they got snowed on (in June). They never recovered. I’ll give it one more shot.

We were due at the pig supplier’s farm at 2 pm to pick up piglets. She supplies piglets for many of the 4-H kids, too, and they were allowed to choose first. We arrived after most of the kids had left. The piglets were out in a big pen in the yard.

Fortunately, we didn’t have to wrangle them ourselves. Carol and her kids caught them and handed them off to the husband, who put them into large dog crates in the back of the truck. Pigs hate it when their feet leave the ground, so as soon as a piglet got picked up, it started squealing. Loudly.

I forgot to ask Carol what the breed cross was this year, but I can text her today and ask. They are usually Duroc crossed with something else—York, Landrace, etc.

Late in the afternoon, Susan’s grandsons came over (with their parents) to see the chicks and piglets. They always ask if they can play with the wooden trucks, too, so we let them do that for a while. My dad made those trucks when I was pregnant with DD#1, and they have been a huge hit with little boys.

We have rain in the forecast for today and tomorrow, but then things dry out for the rest of the week. I’m teaching a class Wednesday afternoon. Otherwise, I’ll be working out in the garden.

More Stars and Lots of Tomato Seedlings

This end of this post includes a long discussion about my favorite gene mutation. You won’t hurt my feelings if you skip it.

I finally felt better yesterday after being run over by that virus for two days. I spent the morning out in the greenhouse re-potting tomatoes. My conservative count is something like 250-300 tomato plants. I suspect more. These are not all for me. Most of what is out there is inventory for the plant sale at the end of May. What doesn’t sell there gets donated to the local food bank.

I am pleased with how the plants look. (But of course I forgot to take a picture while I was out there.) I need to transplant a few more trays of seedlings into larger pots and it’s also time to begin planting the squash and cucumbers.

Thursday was cold and windy and we lost power for a bit. I started the generator. Had it just been me, I would have puttered around without electricity for an hour or so, but I didn’t want the chicks to get cold without their heat lamps.

Our pig supplier called and said that weaners will be available to pick up on Saturday. I didn’t think we were going to do pigs this year, but the husband changed his mind a few weeks ago. We’re getting four. The 4-H kids get first choice, which is fine. We’re not raising pigs to show. I managed to get a date on the calendar with our processor for late August. He informed me, though, that he’s retiring after this year. ☹️

This hasn’t been the most productive week of my life. At least I got a little forward motion on the Tim Holtz quilted jacket. I think I am just about ready to start sewing blocks together.

We might plant potatoes this weekend or next.

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I’ve mentioned before that I have done a lot of research on that MTHFR gene mutation that runs rampant on both sides of my family. The last time I saw my naturopath, I said to him that I thought I was mostly dialed in, but it felt like there was still a critical piece of the puzzle missing.

The MTHFR gene is involved in the methylation cycle in the body. The methylation cycle is complicated and affected by more genes than just MTHFR, but that one seems to cause the most issues. I am homozygous—two mutated copies—for that gene, which downregulates the effectiveness of my methylation cycle by something like 80%. The mutation manifests in different ways in different people. My mother has a B12 deficiency. I cannot utilize folate. Other effects can include blood clots and strokes.

[It is also interesting to note that there is a higher incidence of autism in people with this gene mutation. I’m not going to get into that, because it’s a huge topic and the cause/effect is far from clear, but DD#1, who is a pediatric occupational therapist, does a lot of work with kids on the autism spectrum. She and I compare notes periodically on what we’ve found regarding this mutation.]

Because the MTHFR gene codes for an enzyme called methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase, and the mutation reduces the amount and effectiveness of that enzyme, the focus on “fixing” that gene mutation has always been on folate. It is why foods are fortified with added folic acid, except that the folic acid is synthetic and it actually causes more problems than it solves. The irony is that people with the MTHFR gene mutation do better not eating foods fortified with folic acid.

A lot of medical practitioners will prescribe methylfolate to their patients with this gene mutation. That works for some people. The problem is that other people—me included—cannot tolerate methylfolate. My naturopath and I tried several times to see if adding methylfolate would help me. It doesn’t. I get anxious and angry within a few hours of taking it.

I’ve managed to work around the negative effects of this mutation by taking a B complex with a different form of folate (folinic acid) and a few other supplements. And then I ran across the missing piece. My problem isn’t lack of folate per se; virtually all of my issues disappeared when I began taking 400 mg of riboflavin every day. I started that back in December because every so often I get a swollen tongue and redness around my lips. My dentist remarked on it when I was in to see her in December. I knew it could be related to a B vitamin deficiency—possibly riboflavin—but my B complex had 20 mg of riboflavin in it, which is way more than the RDA of 1.1 mg per day for women. (Riboflavin is a water-soluble vitamin so any excess gets eliminated from the body.) I thought I was getting plenty.

Studies have shown that 100-400 mg per day of riboflavin seems to be a therapeutic dose for those who need it. I started taking 400 mg of riboflavin every day. I told my mother to start at 100 mg a day. (The husband asked me why I was running clinical trials on my family members but my mother is used to me floating these weird ideas. I was the one who figured out she had a B12 deficiency in the first place.) The redness around my lips and the tongue swelling disappeared. The problem wasn’t a lack of folate. The problem was a lack of riboflavin, which is required for folate to be effective in the methylation cycle. And while I didn’t feel bad before—I am fairly healthy and have lots of energy—I feel even better taking the riboflavin. 🤯

It is worth noting here that my mother got headaches at dosages above 100 mg per day of riboflavin. Obviously, she doesn’t need as much as I do.

Here’s the sad part about all of this. Right now, the place where I am finding the most information on this mutation is in the MTHFR forum on Reddit. There are a couple of very helpful, very knowledgable people in that group. One of them has come up with a protocol for people who find themselves with this mutation. I’m going to print out the protocol and give it to my naturopath when I see him in July so he has it for future reference. The protocol starts with optimizing riboflavin levels.

The other new tool in the toolbox is ChatGPT. People are using artificial intelligence to come up with personalized “supplement stacks” based on their genetic data. While I have mixed feelings about AI, I understand the desperation that some people feel. This morning, one of the members of the forum said in a post that, “ChatGPT is light years ahead of my doctors. Not because it has more knowledge but [because] it's actually listening to me.”

I can’t blame doctors. The current medical system is set up to optimize profits, not to help people. and when one treatment shows promise—like methylfolate—they prescribe it to everyone whether it helps or not. (Most B-complexes on the market now contain methylfolate and/or methylcobalamin, which is B12.) When you have a hammer, everything looks like a nail.

I’ll keep chipping away at this. I wish I had had this information decades ago, because I think it could have helped several of my family members, but I’ll use as much of it as I can going forward. Thank you for coming to my TED talk.

Slow Sewing

I came down with a cold on Monday and it has rather knocked me for a loop. Because I’ve managed to miss everything else so far this winter and spring, I was feeling somewhat invincible. 💪🏻 I can deal with being punky for a few days; the worst part is that I am moving at about a third of my usual speed and things aren’t getting done.

I’ve been lounging around, drinking hot tea, and reading for two days, although yesterday, I did muster up enough energy to sew a few stars for the BU jacket. The 12-1/2" stars are done. Yesterday, I made eight 3-1/2" stars:

The key to sewing blocks this small is thin thread. I used Wonderfil DecoBob 80wt thread and a 75/11 needle. Thread takes up space, and in a tiny block, space is at a premium. This is also one of the few times I press my seams open.

I got out the jacket pattern and did a dry fit with some of the blocks to see what I think:

Here’s where it gets a little tricky. The Beachcomber Jacket pattern doesn’t call for sashing of any kind between the blocks, but I think I might want sashing. (Those open spaces can be filled in with flying geese or half-square triangle units.) I need to think on that some more.

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The temperature hit almost 70F yesterday afternoon. We’re supposed to get a back-door cold front this afternoon, however, that will bring E-NE winds and much cooler temps.

The six chicks that are left are doing well. The plants in the greenhouse are also coming along nicely. I’ve transplanted some of the tomatoes but have quite a few still to re-pot. I’m also hoping to get squash and cucumbers planted this weekend. And depending on the weather, we’ll need to get potatoes in soon.

Down to Six

It has been a tough weekend to be a chicken farmer. I came home with 12 chicks on Friday, and we are down to six.

I should note that this is not our first rodeo; the husband and I have had chickens for more than 15 years and we know how to care for baby chicks. We used the exact same setup this year that we have used every year.

The chicks seemed fine when I brought them home on Friday. I popped out to the garage several times during the day to check on them, counting each time to make sure we still had 12. The husband came home for dinner and I left for a meeting. When I returned a few hours later, I looked in on the chicks—and only counted 10. The husband had gone out to check on them while I was gone and found two dead ones.

I had another meeting at church all day Saturday. Before I left, I called the farm store. They were not expecting a shipment of chicks that day, so they offered us a refund on the two dead ones. Their policy is to offer replacements or refund on any chicks that die within 24 hours.

Mid-morning, I texted the husband to ask how the chicks were doing and he texted back, “Nine.”

Yesterday morning, I cooked breakfast while he went out to check on them. He came back and said two more had died.

And when I got home from church, I found another one languishing. It died later in the afternoon.

I just checked on the six that are left and they all seem to be doing fine.

The husband and I talked about trying to get more, but at the rate people are losing chicks this year, there doesn’t seem to be much point. I talked to our UPS driver last week—he and his family have almost as many chickens as we do—and he expressed frustration, too. He got chicks in March and half of them died within the first week.

It is what it is. We chalk this up to circumstances beyond our control and go forward from here.

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I spent a couple of hours in the greenhouse yesterday afternoon transplanting tomatoes. I am pleased with how things are growing out there. Planting squash and cucumbers is on the list for later this week.

My focus for the past five days has been on church stuff. We had an outside consultant come in to help us with some visioning and identity work related to our pastor search. The process was worthwhile, but I was in charge of much of the planning and I’m a bit worn out. I need a few hours this morning to reorganize and get my feet back under me.

Peeps, Finally

I was at the farm store by 7:00 am yesterday morning and fourth in line. Three ladies were ahead of me, so we had a nice chat between ourselves and with the people who got in line behind us. At 7:30, an employee came and opened the door. We all filed in and another employee put our names down on a list and told us to come back at 9:45.

I came home, turned the lights on over the brooder box, and filled the waterer and feeder. I was back at the farm store by 9:45 along with a lot of other people. I chatted briefly with one of the women who had been in line with me earlier. Another woman standing next to me asked me what number I had, and when I told her, she said, “What time did you get here this morning?” I responded that we had been there by 7:00 and she said, “Oh, wow. I am number 37.” I thought to myself, “Lady, you’re not going to get any chicks,” because the store had only received half a shipment.

The employees began the process by giving out replacement chicks to customers who had purchased chicks previously that died within the first 24 hours. A few people came forward to get theirs. The three ladies ahead of me wanted either ducks or a variety of chicks. When my number was called, I asked for 12 Cinnamon Queen chicks. We need a red breed this year—each year, I get a different color so we know how old each group of hens is—and my choices were either Cinnamon Queen or Rhode Island Red. I went with the new variety. The ChickenFans website has this description:

Cinnamon Queen is a recent sex-linked hybrid breed. It’s gaining popularity because of its attractive name, ease of maintenance, and hardiness. Cinnamons are a mix of two well-known chicken breeds, the Rhode Island Red and Silver Laced Wyandotte, where the RIR is the rooster and the Wyandotte a white hen with black lacing. The result is a reddish-brown female and a white male, so their sex can be told immediately after hatching. The name ‘Cinnamon Queen’ finds its origin in the cinnamon-colored hens. The breed is quite large and heavy, being a dual-purpose breed bred for meat and eggs. Roosters weigh approximately 7.5 pounds (3.5 kg), and hens are tipping the scale at 5.5 pounds (2.5 kg).

I paid for the chicks, sped home, and got them into the brooder box.

They seemed to be doing well for most of the day, but we lost two last evening so we’re down to 10. Honestly, I am not surprised. I noted that a couple of the chicks looked like they were a few days old, but the rest of them looked like they had been dispatched from the hatchery within hours of hatching, and being shipped thousands of miles in a cardboard box is stressful. The husband may run in to the farm store this morning to get replacements. I can’t go because I have a meeting.

I checked on them a few minutes ago* and the rest of the chicks seem to be doing fine. Even if we end up with just 10, I will be grateful for every single one of them. WS came over yesterday afternoon to get eggs for his farmstand and said he has eggs in the incubator. We might also be able to purchase a couple of chicks from him.

*One of our neighbors got photos of a grizzly at his place the other night just a mile south of us. I had to walk out to the garage to check on peeps, and it occurred to me that wandering around outside in my bathrobe at 4:30 am might be less than wise, but I didn’t see any bears.

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I took a few minutes to sew late yesterday afternoon and was able to assemble a couple of stars:

This is one of those projects where I don’t know exactly how much fabric I am going to need, and while I think I have plenty, I am trying to be very careful with cutting.

We have a workshop today at church, so I am going to be tied up with that all day.

I See Stars

The Tim Holtz fabric I ordered from Fat Quarter Shop came this week, but I was still dithering about what to use for the BU jacket. I pulled out my bin of Tim Holtz fabric—not an insubstantial amount—and laid it all out on my cutting table. I like to do that because that helps me to see which fabrics play well together. Of course, two fabrics I hadn’t considered decided they liked each other. Who am I to argue with fabric?

I am sticking with the Sawtooth Star block because I’ve already wandered far enough off script with this project. The Beachcomber Jacket pattern specifies 12" and 6" stars. I will make three 12" stars—one for the back and each front—but I am also adding in smaller stars because of that two-piece sleeve.

And rather than use the print fabric for the centers of the larger stars, I am going to use additional stars to give a “star in a star” look. (Anything worth doing is worth doing in excess.) That print, by the way, contains a tiny bit of the same teal that’s in the background fabric, which is why they coordinate well.

I’m using the Eleanor Burns Flying Geese rulers to make my stars. I used that same set of rulers a number of years ago to make a quilt comprised entirely of flying geese units. It’s a bit of a strange method and it does waste a small amount of fabric in the trimming, but I found it gives me an excellent result. And I think it will be a more accurate method when it comes to making tiny flying geese for the smallest stars. 🤯

So that’s where this project is at the moment. I make flying geese units whenever I have a moment or two to sit down at the machine. The ones that don’t make it into the jacket will get used for another project.

My friend Anna gave me the baking sheets that I use to lay out my blocks. They are too big for either of our ovens, but they make great design boards.

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I lengthened the Free Range Slacks pattern into a pair of trousers. I want to make some black linen ones for summer.

The weather has improved considerably since last week, though, and I need to attend to outside tasks. I pruned apple trees yesterday afternoon. I have a hard time with pruning because I don’t feel like I do it well. I know the rules and follow them, but I always worry that I’m taking off too much. Of course, everything I prune always comes back with a vengeance, so I should just get over myself.

I’m going to run into the farm store this morning to see if I can get chicks, but this is the last attempt. If I can’t get any today, we aren’t going to do chicks this year.

Chickens and Slacks

I knocked out the Free Range Slacks yesterday and I can safely say that this pattern will get added to the tried-and-true collection. They don’t look like much on the hanger, but they fit very well:

The pattern includes some thoughtful details to keep these from looking frumpy. (I kept thinking while I was sewing them that I wasn’t yet ready to move from the Liz Claiborne department to the Alfred Dunner department at JC Penney.) There is a side panel with topstitching that would lend itself well to all sorts of fun fabric patterning. The pockets are nice and deep.

Many of the reviews I’ve seen complain that the rise on these is too high. Maybe for some people. I thought it was close to perfect—how often does that happen?—although I might raise the front another inch.

I might also grade down to the next smaller waist size. I made the regular version of the pattern, not the curvy version, and maybe I need the curvy version. The instructions have you measure the elastic for the waistband by wrapping it at your waist and adding 1/2". I did that and the pants wouldn’t stay up. I ended up taking 2-1/2" out of the elastic to get the pants to fit properly.

The only other adjustment I made was the “flat seat” adjustment. I didn’t want the pants to be baggy in the rear. The pattern includes an entire page devoted to fitting adjustments, including this one:

I shaved off about 1-1/2" from the crotch extension. Being able to compare this pattern to the StyleArc Linda pants was helpful.

I should have someone take a photo of me wearing the pants so I can check the fit on the back, but they feel good when I am wearing them.

The pattern also includes a version with a tapered leg. Honestly, I have had enough of tapered-leg pants over the past several years, which is why I made the wide leg version first, but all the tapered versions I’ve seen are very attractive. The wide leg version is capri length, but I want to make a full-length pair, too.

The fabric is the denim I bought at the quilt store on Monday. I thought the label said 100% cotton, but it feels to me like it has some rayon in it. Whatever the content, it was lovely to work with. I need to check the stash to see what other fabrics could work. A black linen pair would be very useful for summer. Or how about a pair from some Kaffe Fassett cotton sateen? I could go nuts with these.

The Tim Holtz fabric I ordered for my BU quilted jacket arrived Monday. I had some of it in the stash but needed a few more fat quarters and the background fabric. I’m going to start working on that project next.

Super Greens

I planted peas Sunday afternoon. I also started repotting tomato seedlings. I am very pleased with how things are looking in the greenhouse. Some time this week, I need to get out and prune fruit trees.

The husband bought this at the auction this past weekend:

I am so excited. He bought it because he thought it would be useful when we butcher chickens—which it will—but I asked him if I could have it in the garden for the summer. It will come in handy for cleaning and washing off produce.

Other women desire diamonds and pearls. A good stainless steel table makes my heart beat faster. 😂

I took a walk around the garden after I finished planting peas. I continue to be amazed at what survived the winter under the snow. More lettuce:

A few collard plants made it. This is a cold-hardy variety, but still—that doesn’t mean anything in Montana.

Collards are technically biennials, so I am not sure if I will be able to harvest the leaves off of them this season or if they will head straight for flowering and seed heads, but it will be interesting to find out. Maybe they will be like parsnips. I planted those once, about eight years ago, and every year I find them in odd places in the garden.

This is why I am not always in a rush to pull out plants at the end of the season. One never knows what might come up in the spring.

And the poppies are in a hurry to get going:

I need to move these over to the herb garden.

******

My mother got her robe yesterday, although it took from Wednesday to Monday to travel from Montana to Cleveland via Priority Mail. 😑 She said it fit “just right.”

I have the Free Range Slacks pattern and plan to start those today. The quilt store had a bolt of some really lovely denim in a lighter weight, so I’m making the store sample from that fabric. (I should have taken a photo of the end of the bolt.) Before I traced the slacks pattern, I laid the Linda pants pattern from Style Arc over the pieces to compare them. The two patterns were close enough in size and shape that I didn’t alter the Free Range Slacks pieces. I really need to know how the originally-drafted pattern was intended to fit so I know what changes the students might need. This is why garment classes aren’t just a matter of “Come in and learn how to sew this top (or pants)!” It does no good to learn how to sew a garment if the end result isn’t going to fit.

Missing That Critical Piece of Information

I played around with patterns on Friday but don’t really have anything to show for it; the process was more about fitting refinements than anything else. After lunch, I made the second of the two waxed canvas zipper pouches for the gift basket project. I’ll hand those off at the next Homestead Foundation board meeting.

Yesterday, I spent a couple of hours at the fire department auction in the morning, made a quick trip to Joann Fabrics, then came home. Unless our Joanns gets a big shipment of merchandise in the next week or so, nothing else remains that I need, and seeing the store prepare to close is like watching a dear friend die of cancer. I can’t imagine the mental fortitude it must take for the employees to get up and come to work every morning.

After lunch, I decided to revisit the byAnnie “A Place for Everything” pattern. That project has been languishing because the zippers were such a hassle. I bought the zipper tape by the yard and could not for the life of me get the zipper pulls attached. I watched the byAnnie videos. I tried the fork method. I cut down one side of the zipper tape. I removed part of the zipper coils on one side. Nothing worked. Yesterday, in desperation, I pulled up one more video on YouTube. The woman in the video said, “Here is the secret to getting the zipper pulls onto the tape,” and then she calmly demonstrated how to insert each side of the zipper tape at a 45-degree angle on each side of the pull until it clicks, grasp the tape, and pull down.

I tried her method and the zipper pull slid down the tape like kids at a playground. HALLELUJAH! It took me 20 minutes to attach all my zipper pulls and clip the zippers to the corresponding pieces of vinyl:

I watched the byAnnie videos and read the instructions and I cannot recall seeing or reading these specific instructions to insert the zipper tape into the pull at a 45-degree angle. Why not? It would make the process so much simpler! Certainly, it would have saved me a couple of hours of frustration.

I am now ready to move forward with this project. So many zippers, though. 😵‍💫

******

We have had many requests for a pants class at the quilt store. Now that I’ve had the Kenneth King pants drafting class, I feel a bit more capable of dealing with some of the more common pants fitting issues, although I am by no means an expert. I just know more than the students will know.

The store owner’s daughter suggested the Sew House Seven Free Range Slacks for the class:

I think this is a great choice. You all know how much I love my Toaster Sweaters. And Sew House Seven has some of the best sizing and fit guidelines on their website of any of the indie pattern designers. I think this will be fun.

******

I have got to get the peas planted this afternoon. Today is supposed to be sunny and close to 60F, but rain is predicted for most of this week. Today is the day to do it.

Coming to a Quilt Store Near Me

I happened to check my computer yesterday just as our local quilt store was beginning a special Facebook Live post. The big announcement? Kaffe Fassett and Brandon Mably are coming to the store for three days in September to do a lecture and two workshops.

Kaffe Fassett! I immediately went to the workshop page and signed up for the lecture and the Economy Block quilt workshop. (As of last night, that workshop had sold out.) I think it was pure serendipity that I happened to catch the Facebook Live—the universe was being especially kind to me yesterday.

I love Kaffe Fassett fabric—I have three Kaffe cotton sateens in my pile of wovens waiting to be turned into tops—but he was a knitter long before he was a quilter and a fabric designer. I have been seeing his work since the 80s and 90s. I am so excited about this, I can hardly stand it.

The lecture will be held at the Flathead High School auditorium, so there are plenty of tickets available for that event if you’re local and want to attend. Check the Quilt Gallery website for more information.

*******

Yesterday was crummy. The back door cold front coming down from Canada brought wind with it for most of the day, in addition to snow and rain. I stayed inside and made the muslin for McCall’s 8560. This is the pattern I will use for my Bernina University quilted jacket because there is much to like about it.

I might be able to go down one size, but I am going to stick with the size I made. The length is perfect. The sleeves are made using two pieces, with an elbow dart in the back piece. They fit extremely well and avoid that “tubes sticking out of the body” look that comes with a lot of these kinds of jackets. I am not a fan of the curved hems at the sides, so I will make the side hems straight on my BU jacket.

I’m not crazy about the dropped shoulder sleeves, either—I never have been, in sweaters or in sewn garments, because they make me look like a linebacker—but I am not sure I want to do the work of making them fit more like set-in sleeves. I have to think on that a bit more. I also need to experiment with battings. I want the jacket to have some drape, as much as it can have being quilted. I have some silk batting and I wonder how that would work. I will report back.

I’m sewing while I have the time because the weather is supposed to improve and I will need to be outside. I’m going to try making a Kashi dress today to test out that pattern.

Snow and Seedlings

The weather is so sloppy here, but we’re not having tornadoes or thunderstorms so I will keep my whining to a minimum. I feel bad for the husband. He has to spend the day getting ready for the fire department auction this weekend, which means being outside in this weather setting up the equipment field. We are under a winter weather advisory for a back door cold front. That will mean wind from the east in addition to the snow and rain.

Errands yesterday included a stop at the farm store for more crushed oyster shells for the chickens. I visited with one of the managers about chicks. She is so frustrated. She said that the orders have been “trickling in” and that when she checks the tracking numbers given to her by the hatcheries, the shipments are never where they are supposed to be. The US postal service is going to collapse under its own inefficient weight if this keeps up. I think we’re just going to skip getting chicks this year.

I went back through my collection of patterns and pulled out McCall’s 8650 for my quilted Bernina University jacket.

This is what I want: something neat and simple, and long enough that I won’t have to make any alterations. I traced it off yesterday. I’m going to make up a muslin in some pre-quilted fabric from Joanns. I want to make sure that everything fits before I go to all the work of making one with the Tim Holtz fabric.

I stop at Joanns every time I’m in town, because one of the employees told me they are still getting shipments from the warehouses. The apparel fabrics—not that our store had a big selection—have been marked down to 50% off but the quilting cottons are only 20% off. I check the remnant rack for any bits of Kona. The store is looking pretty empty, to be honest.

In preparation for making some spring tops, I retraced a few of my woven top patterns. I’ve frankenpatterned so many different combinations that things are starting to get confusing. My perfect woven top pattern combines the upper bodice of the Love Notions Candace with the bottom of New Look 6543, but I want to make a V-neck version and add a collar like the one on the Sew Over It Susie Blouse. (I have that pattern, too, so I traced the collar pieces.) Now I have a clean version in both round-neck and V-neck versions.

And I caved and bought the Itch to Stitch Kashi Dress pattern while it was on sale. Kennis is such an excellent pattern drafter that I know I won’t have to make a lot of changes beyond lengthening the pattern a few inches. I need some summer dresses for church.

******

The seedlings are staying toasty in the greenhouse despite this weather. Half of the peppers are up. Most of the tomatoes have germinated. I’m going to plant squash and cukes toward the end of next week.

I dug up two of the raised beds in the herb garden on Sunday and sprinkled lettuce seeds over them. We’ll see what comes up now that they have been well watered.

A Snow Day is a Sew Day

Anyone who has lived in Montana for any length of time knows not to get suckered into thinking spring has arrived just because we get a couple of days of nice weather. We had sun on Monday. Yesterday morning, we had this:

It was snowing hard when I woke up. By the time the snow stopped, we had about 9" of heavy, wet snow on the ground. It turned to heavy, wet slush as the day went on and the temps warmed up. Our electricity was out, too, from about 4:30 am until mid-morning, so we were on generator power. According to the National Weather Service, Kalispell set a new daily record for precipitation yesterday at 0.62".

More snow is coming tomorrow. After that, we are supposed to dry out and warm up again.

I did paperwork for a bit, then went upstairs to sew. I laid out the fabric for my mother’s robe on the floor of our bedroom and started cutting. I knew this would be a fairly quick sew, and it was. Some projects make themselves.

The pattern is excellent—as are all Itch to Stitch patterns—and the fabric was soft and cushy. This is Minerva’s Core Range Small Cotton Waffle Fabric in Dusky Pink. I definitely would use this fabric again.

The only change I made to the pattern was to shorten it slightly. (I made the size Small.) I also finished all my edges on the serger before sewing the seams on the 880. The pattern instructions state to finish the edges after seaming, but I find it much harder to wrangle the seam edges through the serger that way. Also, because this was a waffle fabric, serging first kept the fabric from fraying and from stretching on the bias edges.

I am tempted to go ahead and cut out a version for myself. The strawberry printed terrycloth I got at Joanns a few months ago is earmarked for a summer robe for me.

After I finished the robe, I rotated the fabric stock and put my summer fabrics where I can get to them. The sweater knits went further back into storage because—snow notwithstanding—I don’t plan to use them again until the fall. It’s time to start making summer tops and pants.

I had to order some additional Tim Holtz fabric from Fat Quarter Shop for my quilted jacket for BU. Once that arrives, that project will jump to the head of the line.

We Made Table Runners

The second day of class felt more relaxed than the first day, although I was so glad the store owner was there to help with the embroidery part of the project. We followed the instructions in the Power Point presentation to the letter but still had issues. She is going to talk to the design team and give them some feedback. And I’ll be taking a few machine embroidery classes at Bernina University in June, for sure.

Despite the hiccups, everyone was able to complete a table runner by the end of class. We took a group photo for the store’s Facebook page:

I am on the right side. My college roommate’s mother always used to describe me as the “tall, dark-haired girl” and I think that still fits, although there is some gray in my hair now.

You might also notice that my flying geese go in a different direction than the others. I made my table runner before I had the final set of instructions, and that was how they appeared in the photo I was given.

While we setting up the machines before class, one of the employees who is also going to BU described her quilted jacket project to me. She is using Tula Pink fabric and adding ribbons and embroidery. Her jacket is going to be stunning.

*******

Bunny was in the yard again yesterday morning. It is starting to turn brown:

After I got to the quilt store, the husband texted me a picture of Bunny inside the herb garden. Bad Bunny! We are going to have to put some wire on the bottom of the gate to keep it out.

I must have had some stray dry beans fall into the tub of potting soil, because I found this when I went out to water seedlings yesterday:

I carefully extracted it and repotted it in a bigger pot.

Everything else is looking good. I will wait until later in the month to plant squash and cucumbers. I am hoping to get the peas planted out in the garden tomorrow or Tuesday.

*******

I stopped at Joanns on my way home after class. Our store is empty enough that some of the fixtures are starting to come down. I scoured the apparel fabrics section and found a bolt of navy blue ponte (rayon/poly/spandex). I haven’t seen that navy blue ponte for several years. There was a bolt of the same ponte in black, so I bought three yards of each at 40% off. I have been wearing my Style Arc Linda pants a lot recently and could use a few more.

I’m not seeing a lot else that I want to buy. Hobby Lobby has yet to get any spring fabrics in stock and I’m starting to wonder what is taking so long.

The Roseto Robe is going to be my sewing project this week.

Fun with Berninas

Yesterday was the first day of the Bernina event at the quilt store. The students are making a table runner using both the L890 serger and either the 790 or 990 sewing machines. These are the top-of-the-line machines and are meant to give students the opportunity to see and try the high-end features. The Bernina educators, who travel around the country and teach these events, are the ones who design the projects. I think this table runner is one of the better ones. The goal is to show off the special features of the machines while making something useful. We made a sewing caddy during last fall’s event that was bit too complicated and frustrated the students. I didn’t teach that class but I was a class helper.

As always with a class I’ve never taught before, the pacing is a bit of an unknown quantity. Students get hung up on things I don’t anticipate. And I, the teacher, am asking them to trust me that even the steps that don’t make sense to them in the moment will work out in the end. Classes like this require a lot of handholding and encouragement. I had six students yesterday. By the end of the day, every student had assembled a table runner. Today, we’ll be using the sewing machines to quilt and embroider them.

I am always worn out by the end of these teaching days, but it’s a good kind of exhaustion. We hit a point in the day where I could tell the students were getting frustrated—it was about 2:30 in the afternoon—so I stopped the class and told everyone to take a fifteen-minute break to walk around and do some shopping. Sometimes, it’s important to get up and stretch. Sewists are notorious for marathon work sessions.

I am also not used to being gone from home for an entire day. I had to think ahead about what to make and leave for dinner, because the last thing I want to do is cook when I get home after a day of teaching. If I had a day job in town, a lot of stuff just wouldn’t get done here.

*******

Kennis has come out with two very cute dress patterns recently. One of the students in my class yesterday bought both of them, so she and I went around the store before class to see if we could find suitable fabric.

This is the Vikos Tee and Dress, which is designed for woven fabrics:

And this is the Kashi Tee and Dress:

I like both of them, but I already have very similar patterns so I haven’t decided if I’ll get these or not. The Itch to Stitch patterns are some of the best ones out there, though—always thoroughly tested and very well written.

*******

The broccoli and cabbage are coming along and lots of little tomato plants have started popping up. I like to go out to the greenhouse and look at the plants every morning.

My schedule eases up a bit this week, although April and May are months when something is happening every single weekend. Our fire department auction is next Saturday and Sunday and I’ll be in the brat booth working as a cashier for at least one shift. If you’re local and come to the auction, stop by and say hello.

Revenge of the Quilted Jacket

I am going to Bernina University at the end of June. This year, it’s being held in Salt Lake City, so I asked the owner of our quilt store if I could pay my own way and tag along with the group of employees she is sending. (When I teach, I am working as an independent contractor, not an employee, so it isn’t fair to ask her to send me on her dime.) I view this as a way to increase my teaching knowledge base. I get to take classes on the newest machines, learn from nationally-known instructors, and come back with new class ideas. I think it’s going to be an amazing time.

Yesterday, when I arrived at the store to teach my class, one of the employees who is going to BU handed me a pattern and said, “We’re all making quilted jackets to wear at BU!”

😩😩😩😩😩😩😩😩

This is the pattern we’re using:

It’s the Beachcomber Jacket by Laundry Basket Quilts. This design uses a sweatshirt as the base—the batting, essentially. I don’t want to be the only one of the group not wearing a quilted jacket, so guess what has just gone onto my to-do list?

Each person has chosen a specific designer’s fabric for her jacket—Tula Pink, Kaffe Fassett, etc. I am going to do mine in Tim Holtz fabric.

It shouldn’t be too difficult. The irony is astounding, however. The universe is having a great laugh at my expense.

******

I taught my class yesterday, then had a mini-session from the store owner on learning machine embroidery. It is part of the Bernina Event this weekend, As the instructor, I should have a basic understanding of what I’m teaching. (This is part of why I want to go to Bernina University.)

Machine embroidery is interesting, but it’s not something that really grabs me. (Sorry, Deana.) I could see adding it to quilts and other projects occasionally. I am glad I have a machine with the capability, but I probably won’t use it very often.

******

It was 68F when I left the store yesterday afternoon. Plants are beginning to pop up in the greenhouse. The broccoli was up when I checked yesterday morning.

The flies this year have been awful. We always get some in the spring, but this year seems to be particularly bad. I swat at least half a dozen every day.

A Lavender Experiment

I planted and now I am (impatiently) waiting for things to come up. The temperature inside the greenhouse is holding steady at a balmy 80-ish degrees so it shouldn’t be long.

When I finished yesterday morning, I had half a tray of nine-packs full of dirt and nothing left to plant in them. I decided to try an experiment. I went out to the garden and scooped up a handful of lavender seeds:

I’ve never grown lavender from seed, at least not intentionally. My plants are so prolific that I have seedlings popping up everywhere. Lavender plants that began as seedlings in my garden are scattered from one end of Mountain Brook to the other because I gave them to anyone who wanted some. Propagating from cuttings or digging up random seedlings is easier than growing from seed. Lavender seeds need to be stratified—left in the freezer for a few weeks—and they can take up to a month to germinate. These seeds were stratified for me by Mother Nature, and if they take a month to germinate, that’s okay. This is an experiment. If they don’t germinate, I haven’t lost anything. If they do, I may have 36 lavender seedlings for the plant sale.

I took a good look at the garden yesterday and said to the husband that if he wants to take the track loader out there and do some leveling work, I would be most appreciative. The west side of the garden is not as level as the east side. There are also a couple of rotting stumps on the edge that could be pulled out.

I am going to sprinkle some lettuce seeds into the raised beds in the herb garden where we had lettuce last year. I found a few survivors that must have been insulated by the snow:

I’m always amazed at what comes up or survives even when it’s still cold out.

*******

The project for the boys is done. I am going to start working on my mother’s robe next week. I’ll be teaching for most of the rest of this week. And next week is April already. 🤯

Today is supposed to be stelllar—a high of 64F and sunny. We won’t know what to do with ourselves. I’m going to have to put away the sweater knits soon and take out the bin of woven fabrics to make some spring and summer tops.