A Stocking Variation

If you haven’t listened yet, this week’s podcast is an interview with Whitney Luckenbill of TomKat Stitchery. We got to meet in person at Sew Expo and made arrangements for an interview in mid-April. She is so darn much fun and I am excited to see where her business goes this year. She has plans!

We’ve had some good soaking rain here. I’m expecting the potatoes to pop up soon if they haven’t already. I’ll have to mow the grass as soon as things dry out. The piglets have plenty of straw to burrow in. The chicks spend most of their time in a clump, although I think that’s a defensive maneuver against the phalanx of big chickens staring at them through the wire walls more than it is due to cold; the clump is not under the heat lamp, which it would be if they needed warmth. The big chickens have nothing else to occupy their time, apparently, than to stare at the chicks, because every time I go out to the coop, that is what they are doing.

I finished the third Christmas stocking, although clearly I missed a step. I must not have measured or trimmed properly, because the center section of this third stocking is longer than it is on the other two stockings. You wouldn’t know that I had already made two of these. 🫤

Oh, well. I’m not re-doing it. We’ll call it a design element. I was watching tornado coverage while I was sewing, so perhaps I was distracted.

I did a pleated cuff on this version, just for something different. I think I like it better than a gathered cuff.

[Just an aside here to say that although I love Starlink, it has an annoying tendency to lose its connection a couple of times a week, usually around 4 am when I am trying to get some work done. It also happens occasionally at night, according to the husband, and interrupts his YouTube viewing. Sometimes it is out for 45 minutes. As I am writing this, I am waiting for it to come back online. I can see Starlink’s status through the app on my phone.]

Gail Yellen’s patterns are pretty good, although I suspect she is one of those people who thinks globally rather than at the detail level. There are times when I scratch my head and have to read the instructions again to make sense of what she’s saying. I am one of those people who prefers bulleted or numbered instructions rather than narrative-style instructions.

Good tech editors are worth their weight in gold, let me tell you.

We are drowning in eggs, so I made two pumpkin pies and a large sausage-and-egg bake yesterday. I am planting more pumpkins plants this year than I did last year, because we’re almost out of canned pumpkin. Those of you who have never seen the husband eat a meal have no idea how many calories he requires. He’ll eat half a pumpkin pie in one evening. And he still wears the same size clothing he wore in college.

The check engine light came on in the Diva as I was leaving the dentist Monday. Whatever is throwing the code doesn’t seem to have affected its performance. I think I’ve put more miles on that car with the light on than off.

All the Baby Animals

The pie social was a success, although we are suffering from the usual problems of not enough help. I said to Susan that the 60- and 70-year olds should not be the people doing all of the heavy lifting for these events. If it weren’t for Susan and Sarah baking pies, we wouldn’t have had many pies to serve, and one of our older board members did all of the table setup and takedown. We are glad that everyone comes and enjoys themselves, but I wish that more people stopped to think about all of the work that goes in to putting on these “community” events.

I was at the information table and visited with people as they came in. We had quite a few new attendees and people new to the area along with the regulars. I also heard a lot of positive comments about the fact that we pushed back the date for the plant sale. I think we will keep the later date from now on.

The weather stayed nice until the pie social was over. Now we are getting more rain. Our employees were here working on their trucks yesterday, and one of them helped the husband move the chicks over to the coop while I was at church. The chicks are a bit shell-shocked, as they always are. All of a sudden they went from a little brooder box to a 5' x 5' room with a bunch of very big chickens staring at them through the wire. They’ll figure out soon enough that they are safe and can run around.

The piglets are settling in, too. They found the food right away:

These are a good size—about 25 pounds apiece. I have to ask our supplier what breed or cross these are.

The weekend was busy, but everything went (mostly) according to plan. I have a dentist appointment at 8 am this morning. I haven’t decided what the schedule will be for this week. I have to finish the Christmas stocking store samples, and I need to start knocking out some warmer-weather tops and dresses. This is an ongoing problem. When I have time to sew, in the winter, I am not thinking about making items to wear when it’s 80F. And when I need them, I don’t have time to make them.

If it keeps raining, though, maybe I can make a couple of Malva Tees or Laundry Day Tees.

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Joanns has come out of bankruptcy reorganization and I am curious to see what happens next. I hope that the people now steering that company have learned a few lessons. Customers want a fabric store, not a glorified Dollar Store carrying plastic crap from China. No one needs acres and acres of polyester fleece. And if you teach people the skills they need to buy and use your products, you’ll be creating a stable, ongoing customer base.

That may be too much to ask. We’ll see.

Pies and Piglets and Punch-Needle Embroidery

We went ahead and pushed the date of this year’s plant sale back by two weeks, to June 1. The snow we got on Wednesday was demoralizing. (We had 3" of snow one year on June 10, so this is not unusual, just demoralizing.) Yesterday was sunny and warmer. Today is supposed to be stellar, just in time for our community pie social this afternoon. Another system comes through at the start of the week, but at least it isn’t supposed to get so cold.

I made a roaster of chili for the pie social. I would prefer to stand behind a table and dish out chili, but Susan and I discussed personnel and I am better utilized at the information table. I made up a big posterboard display yesterday afternoon. I can schmooze and welcome people for three hours. It won’t kill me.

Sarah and Susan are our resident pie-making experts. Sarah has been experimenting with adding natural coloring to her pie crusts and texted me some photos last night:

Isn’t that gorgeous? Sarah is so creative. I am not a baker. I did not get that gene. Gardening and sewing, yes, but cooking is my least favorite domestic activity.

One of the women in our sewing group, Beth, has been playing around with punch-needle embroidery, and she brought this to show on Thursday. She’s another maker with a fountain of creative ideas. This isn’t that large—maybe 4" x 4"?—but it’s adorable. Beth said this may end up as a journal cover.

Before the pie social today, the husband and I have to go pick up five piglets. The timing isn’t great, but it is what it is. The chicks also need to get moved to the coop soon so they have more room to run around.

I’ve been juggling about twenty different things this week consisting of a thousand tiny details. The schedule should ease up after this weekend—and having two extra weeks for the plant sale helps considerably—so I’ve been tackling some projects that don’t require a lot of mental energy. I cleaned out a couple of closets and made a pile of items to take to the thrift store. I hemmed two pairs of pants. I moved the inkjet printer upstairs to my computer because it needed a firmware update, so I did that and made sure it was operational. The husband uses it to print foundation plans and he gets cranky when tech stuff doesn’t work.

I messed around again with the coverstitch machine and the 12wt Wonderfil Glamore thread. The machine simply doesn’t like it. That thread is a metallic and it seems to be getting hung up along the thread path. I switched to a 12wt rayon thread (Wonderfil Accent) and had zero problems, so I ordered some spools of Accent to have on hand.

I am still having a great time with the podcast. There are so many interesting people to talk to out there in the sewing universe.

One Coverstitch Stocking

I only finished one Christmas stocking yesterday. I worked on the coverstitch version, which I hadn’t made before, and ran into a few problems along the way. I am working from the pattern version that came out with the online class. I need to get a copy of the printed pattern that was released to stores and compare the two.

In any case, it’s done, and the second version should go more quickly:

I’m going to change the order of operations slightly when I teach this. The pattern starts with the foot section. I’m going to start with that upper panel. The stitch, a two-thread flatlock, is the same in both sections; the stitch settings differ slightly.

I had a lot of issues trying to do the coverstitch section in the middle (the white fabric). My Janome coverstitch did not like the metallic Glamore thread. The pattern says to interface that piece of fabric before stitching. I used Pellon SF101 and I suspect I need to use something lighter. I’ll try a different interfacing on the next one. It’s either that or I’ll have to switch to something like a 12wt rayon thread for that area.

When Ryan was here last week servicing the Q20, we talked about classes. He taught a class last year on basic machine issues and how to fix them. He did a good job and I told him he should teach some additional classes. Like most of us who teach, though, he knows that the class prep takes a lot of time and can be tedious.

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The weather for the next couple of weeks is not looking promising. I am happy about the rain, but we’re spending a small fortune heating the greenhouse. And the plants need the sunshine, not just the heat. I am kicking around the idea of moving the plant sale to a later date next year. (Of course, if I do that, we’ll probably have the warmest April on record here.) There will be inventory for the sale, but it’s going to be on the small side. My experience is that even small plants catch up by the end of the season. Small plants just aren’t as appealing to buyers.

And it’s tough to have baby animals when the temps still get down to freezing at night. The chicks are going to have to move out of the brooder soon. We do have a heat lamp for them in the coop, but I am sure it will be a bit of a shock. We pick up piglets on Saturday. They’ll stay in the piggy palace for a few days. I think the husband can put a heat lamp out there, too, if necessary. With enough straw, they should be able to burrow down and stay warm.

When we were out planting apple trees in the cold and rain on Sunday, I said to the husband that I was reminded of all of the camping and field trips I went on when the girls were in school. (He is not much of a camper; he likes to sleep in his own bed.) Those trips all happened in April and May and the weather was usually crummy. The kids who didn’t dress properly were miserable. I once slept in a tent in Glacier Park when it got down to 32F overnight, but it is that cold rain that really does you in.

April Showers and Christmas Stockings

The husband and I planted apple trees on Sunday afternoon. It was cool and rainy and Susan assured me that it was a good time to plant, so I went to her house and brought back six grafted apple trees. Having a friend with a master’s degree in botany and a love of apple trees is wonderful.

Infrastructure improvements continue. The husband is going to install a gate in the pig pasture so he can get equipment and trailers in and out of there. While he was at the farm store getting the gate, he also bought wire panels for a new-and-improved pea trellis:

I could grow a lot of peas on this trellis. I think I may use half of it for some cucumber plants or loofah vines or something.

After much discussion and negotiation, we settled on a design for the herb garden. This process was difficult because the husband wants a fully-formed idea that he can measure and plot out, and I struggle with producing the required fully-formed idea. (You know, because I can’t see things in my head.) I tell him what I would like and he then gives me five reasons why what I want cannot be done. We’ve wrestled through enough projects together that we come to a consensus, eventually, but it takes some effort.

I need to order the raised beds and weed blocker, and the husband will arrange for gravel and dirt to be delivered. I think it will be lovely when it’s done. The beds probably won’t get planted until June, after the row crops are in.

It rained on and off yesterday; we need the moisture, but it would be nice if the temps got above 40F. The propane heater stayed on in the greenhouse all day.

I did a podcast interview just after lunch, then worked on some store samples. I am teaching Gail Yellen’s serger/coverstitch Christmas Stocking pattern at the store here and also in Missoula. Both stores need a stocking to display—having a display really does help to fill the class—but I only have one stocking made. The pattern includes two versions, so I thought I would make up one serger stocking and one coverstitch stocking for each store.

Truly, the hardest part of this pattern is cutting the pieces and keeping track of what goes where. Each stocking has two sides and I am making two stockings. The “feet” are made up of five pieces flatlocked together, and those five pieces have to go together a specific way. I used a lot of labels and made sure things were laid out properly before I serged them together:

The assembly should go much faster now that the feet are done. I’d like to finish these today. We are struggling to get out of this cool and rainy weather, so I’ll be inside again.

Birthday Lights

I asked the husband what he wanted for his birthday, and he said he wanted to stay home and get some things done around here. I completely understand that sentiment. This time of year, especially, there is so much going on that there is no time to stop and look around.

We had a leisurely breakfast of bacon and eggs, after which each of us looked at our to-do lists and chose something. I cleaned up around the house and threw in a load of laundry, then went out to the garage to clean out the chicks’ brooder box and fill it with clean wood shavings. In another week or two, they will move out to the chicken coop. I watered the plants in the greenhouse. The husband worked outside and took a load of garbage to the dump. We reconvened over lunch.

We didn’t get the rain that was promised on Friday. Yesterday was cool and a bit blustery. After lunch, I went to my sewing room to look at patterns again. I don’t know where my head was on Friday, but I hadn’t read that Simplicity 9469 pattern properly at all. I completely missed the middle size. The finished sizing reads Small, 42-1/2", Medium 46-1/2", and Large 50-1/2". I went ahead and traced the Medium and we’ll see how that one fits.

I also got out the Varda dress pattern and traced that one, although I am starting with the top. (Lengthened, of course.) The Varda is a French dart dress. If the top fits well, I’ll go ahead and make a dress.

By then, it was time to get ready for the wedding. Dressing for something like this is when I get to see precisely where the holes are in my wardrobe. Even though Montana events are much more casual than elsewhere in the country, I had fashion rules drilled into me at a young age. (No white after Labor Day, etc.) Also, as the pianist, I feel it’s my responsibility to dress nicely. I have many basics: pencil skirts in navy and black, wide leg pants in navy and black, lots of cardigans, but I need some blouses to tie everything together. In the end, I settled on a black pencil skirt with a green printed Liz Claiborne blouse and black cardigan. Green was one of the bride’s wedding colors, so I felt that was a good choice.

Besides blouses, I could use a couple of nice dresses, too. If I ever get that ponte sheath dress pattern worked out, I’ll probably make that in several versions.

A cold front blew in just after the wedding and it did rain, hard, for a while. While I was gone, the husband installed new lights in my office:

When we built the house, we put three banks of fluorescent lights in here. A few years ago, we switched out the fluorescent bulbs for LED bulbs, but then the lights began randomly shutting off for a few minutes before coming back on. I suspect the LED bulbs were causing the ballasts to overheat. I lived with it for far longer than I should have. About a month ago, the husband told me to order new fixtures. I like these; hopefully, flies will not collect in them and the light is much softer. I might actually consider making some YouTube videos now.

So I got a present, but the husband got to stay home and cross a few things off his to-do list, and that was his present.

Birthdays, Beans, and Blouses

Today is the husband’s birthday. He is five months younger than me, so from now until November, he and I will be the same age numerically. Today is also our neighbor Theresa’s birthday. And yesterday was Susan’s birthday.

Ryan, the Bernina tech, came out on Thursday to service the Q20. His mom owns the quilt store where I teach. We spent a fair bit of time gabbing about sewing machines while he worked. I think he enjoys talking to someone who knows enough about sewing machine mechanics to have an intelligent conversation about them. And I always learn something new from him.

I went to town early yesterday morning because I got letter in the mail that the Jeep title paperwork had arrived at the county MVD office. The last time I had to do this for a trailer—before the county farmed out LLC registrations to MVD Express—I arrived when the office opened at 8 am, took a number and got onto a text messaging list, then drove around town and ran errands until they texted me that they were close to my number.

I arrived at the office yesterday at 8:02 am. A line of people had already formed. I would have been #50 had I taken a number to wait, but I checked in with the lady at the information counter. She pulled my title paperwork, had me sign at the bottom, and said I could do the rest of the registration via their website and the county would mail me my plates.

Surely there is a more efficient way . . .

I did another batch of white beans this week. We were completely out.

We should have enough beans to get us through the summer.

I was going to prep a pattern yesterday afternoon, but after looking at it, I am having second thoughts:

I planned to make View B, which has a pleated front and keyhole opening (no tie). The issue is the sizing. This pattern comes in alphabet sizing, with huge jumps between sizes. I fall between the finished bust size for the Large of 42-1/2" and the finished bust size of the XL of 50-1/2". The Large would be slightly too small, but the XL is going to be enormous, even if I make it in a very drapey fabric.

I need to look more closely at how this is drafted to see if I can scale up or down. The design is not that complicated, so I wonder if I can frankenpattern this with Simplicity 9469, because I know that one fits.

I don’t know—maybe I should give up this quest for some nice woven blouses and just stick to knits. Those I know how to fit.

I Can Almost Taste It

I am so close to having a good blouse pattern. I finished this one and field tested it on a trip to town yesterday morning:

This started out as Simplicity 9469, with a few adjustments. The fabric is a rayon/linen blend from Hobby Lobby. On a previous muslin, I added bust darts and decided I liked the fit better without them. I am still puzzling over that one. Is it possible that bust darts may not be the solution for me that they are for many women because of my high hip curve? I can get the bodice shaped nicely with bust darts, but it’s almost as if there isn’t enough vertical space between my bust and my hips to widen out the top sufficiently to skim past my hips. If I can widen it enough, I end up looking like I’m wearing a maternity top. (A Scout Tee disaster comes to mind . . . ) I think it’s much more flattering (on me) to have a blouse that isn’t so fitted around the bust and flows gently all the way down.

I’m mostly happy with this. I will make a couple of small adjustments before I make another one, though. This blouse wants to ride back a bit. I did some research on that problem and I think it has two causes:

1. The neckline opening is too large. This is a common problem with V-neck tops—too wide, too deep—and one reason why I don’t often wear them. I find that most V-neck tops slide back and forth around my shoulders, even though my shoulders are broader than average. The V-neck on the Emerald Dress fit well, so I’ll compare the two patterns and see what I think.

2. I looked at Sarah Veblen’s fitting book and I think I still need some kind of broad back/prominent shoulder blade adjustment.

I’ll incorporate those adjustments into the next iteration and see what I think. I am aiming for a basic blouse pattern that can be hacked with different neckline treatments—like a flounce—and varying sleeve styles.

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I soaked a large pot of white beans overnight and I’ll can those up this afternoon. It appears we will get some rain after all, starting tomorrow. I think tomorrow might be a good day to tear apart a room or two and do some spring cleaning.

I’m driving the BMW locally and saving the Jeep for longer trips, at least until next winter. I’m sure the Jeep will do better in the snow as its ground clearance is much better. I am reluctant to give up the BMW’s 40 mpg, and if it should break down, I’ll be close to home. I’ll have to get the summer tires put on it before the end of May, but I’ll wait until the rush has passed.

Moving Right Along

Yesterday morning was devoted to re-potting and re-seeding plants in the greenhouse. Growing inventory for this plant sale is a always bit stressful. We’ve developed a reputation for having a good selection of healthy plants, and in terms of dollars, this is our biggest fundraiser of the year for the Homestead Foundation. I always breathe a huge sigh of relief when it’s over.

Some of the tomatoes were large enough to re-pot individually. I did that. Ironically, the peppers germinated ridiculously well and they weren’t even on a heat mat. Go figure. I potted those individually, too. Any pots that were still blank—no germination—were emptied and cleaned. I planted several new trays of tomatoes. We’ll see how fast they come up and grow. They still have time to get to a reasonable size before the plant sale, especially if the weather stays nice.

The rhubarb is up and looking good:

And I found a parsnip:

I planted parsnips once, about eight years ago. They still pop up here and there around the garden.

After lunch, I took down my “happy lights”—that’s what the husband calls the string of lights I put up around the porch in the fall—and replaced them with the wind chimes. I filled and put up the hummingbird feeders because people just to our south have reported that the hummers are back. And I cleaned out the porch fridge where we store eggs for sale over the summer.

Susan has grafted several new apple trees for me. We’ll add Wolf River, Spokane Beauty, American Summer Pearmain, Aunt Penelope Winslow, Spice Sweet, Canadian Strawberry, and Sweet Sixteen to the orchard. I am happy to be getting another Sweet Sixteen—the original one I bought from Costco succumbed the second year after we planted it.

The chicks are starting to feather out and spend their days tearing around the brooder box. Dave stands sentry out in the chicken yard, giving the side eye to the tom turkey. I have assured him that the turkey has enough hens of his own without going after Dave’s girls, but Dave is still suspicious. The bunny is almost completely brown again. I am pretty sure the pileated woodpeckers have a nest in one of the trees, and I hear the owl every so often when I walk out to the greenhouse.

It is a relief to have settled into the summer routine.

I even found an hour late yesterday afternoon to work on another muslin of my blouse pattern. I am aiming for perfection and I’m not quite there yet.

The machine tech from the quilt store is coming out tomorrow to service the Q20. I’ve had it for three years, so it is time. I love that he makes house calls, because getting that machine out of the table and to the store would be a major undertaking.

Potatoes and Turkeys

The husband and I planted potatoes Sunday afternoon. He tilled that section while I was at church, and after lunch, I cut up the seed potatoes and we got them into the ground:

We planted German Butterballs (so good!—better than Yukon Golds), Clearwater Russets, and Umatilla Russets. I’ve been through Umatilla several times. It is a town in Oregon and it’s on the route I take to get to Portland.

[I ran across this news article this morning: Hutterites Share 250 Tons of Potatoes in Reardan. The Hutterite colony in Washington state gave away potatoes they couldn’t sell. Now I’m wondering what is going on with the potato market.]

I’m going to put the drip hoses on this area because we don’t have much rain in the forecast.

The husband also spread out the (very fragrant) pig manure for me, and we moved a couple of tarps to cover areas that I won’t plant this year.

I was entertained by this activity after dinner Sunday night:

This guy was very sure of his appeal:

It’s going to be time to get out the riding mower soon.

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Robin and I went to Missoula yesterday. I had to register the trailer that the husband accidentally bought a few weeks ago. Because it was purchased by the construction company, we had to register it through MVDExpress rather than Flathead County, and the closest office is in Missoula. Oh well, it was a good excuse for a road trip. The weather was stellar. We checked out the new Hobby Lobby store, Joann Fabrics—the Missoula store is in much better shape than the Kalispell store—visited The Confident Stitch, found a fabulous new restaurant right across the street from TCS, and stopped at A Clean Stitch on the way out of town. (Yes, two stores with similar names is not the least bit confusing. 😵‍💫 ) The owner of A Clean Stitch and I put two more serger classes on the calendar for June and July. And, of course, Robin and I stopped at the Amish store on the way home for a dish of ice cream.

I also stopped at The Good Food Store in Missoula and bought more seeds. I am going to replant some of the tomatoes and squash to see if I get better germination. The Good Food Store carries seeds from Triple Divide Seeds and I think I am just going to order from them from now on. They are a local Montana company and have most of the varieties I want to grow.

I don’t have anything on the schedule for the rest of the week—and that is not a challenge to the universe—so I’ll see if I can get caught up on the to-do list.

Garden Cleanup Day

The husband and I worked outside yesterday. I raked up dead vegetation in the garden and made piles to burn. He stacked firewood—courtesy of two trees that blew down—and burned three slash piles in the pig pasture. He also mucked out the pig palace; all that lovely pig manure will go over to the garden. He’ll make sure the fencing is secure and we’ll be ready for piglets.

I pruned raspberries and grapes and cut back the lavender hedges. He got out the rototiller and tilled the section where we’re going to plant potatoes this afternoon. I grow using no-till methods everywhere else, but tilling does make planting potatoes easier, and this year’s spot has had a lot of soil amendments added over the past couple of years. The dirt is looking really nice.

The rhubarb is up, as well as a clump of Egyptian walking onions I got from Sarah. I forgot to take pictures. You’ll have to take my word for it.

I am feeling it some this morning, but happy to be getting out and moving around again.

Unfortunately, I also found a couple of fresh ground squirrel holes. 🤬 It’s time to make sure we have enough ammo on hand.

I am not sure what is going on with my seeds this year. The germination rate has been surprisingly poor. I planted eighteen pots of a pumpkin variety last week—at the same time I planted melons and cucumbers, which popped right up—and of those eighteen pots, only six germinated. No rodents dug up the seeds in the other pots. They just didn’t germinate. The same thing happened with a couple of tomato varieties. And what does come up is growing slowly.

I’ve been getting seeds from the same company for over 10 years now. A couple of years ago, they moved from Oregon to Texas and ever since, I’ve had issues. I may have to find a new seed supplier.

The husband and I were supposed to have dinner last night with some friends of ours who live up the road, but they had a llama emergency and had to cancel. (They have about two dozen llamas and several of them are pregnant.) We ended up having dinner on our own and then checked out the new Barnes and Noble store in Kalispell. It’s not a large store—it went into the former Pier One building—and it’s heavy on hardbacks, gifts, and kids’ books, but it was fun to look around for a bit. When the girls were little, we used to go out to dinner and then to Borders for our family outings.

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Obviously, there has not been any sewing. I look longingly at my cutting table as I pass by. I’m also trying to decide what to do about the podcast. It’s doing very well—almost too well, lol. I passed five thousand downloads about a week ago. Clearly, there seems to be an audience for people wanting to hear about sewing and not cats.

[I have nothing against cats—we love the feral one who manages the mouse population around our chicken coop—but the cat thing has almost become a cliché. I was talking to someone last week who made the comment (unsolicited by me) that she likes to listen to podcasts until people start talking about their cats instead of the podcast topic.]

In hindsight, I wonder if I should have started with a podcast every other week rather than weekly, although finding and creating content hasn’t been too onerous. I have episodes scheduled through mid-May. I still need to get the social media end of things under control, though, if I can find time.

I have thoughts about all of this. I just need to organize them.

And I have a favor to ask. I found this piece of sweater knit on the Walmart remnant rack in Missoula.

Unfortunately, it is only a two-yard cut. (They seem to be leaning toward selling two-yard cuts, which is annoying to me as sometimes I need more.) Our Walmart has several pieces in this same pattern/fabric, but not in green. If you see it at your local store, would you let me know? I’d love to have another two-yard chunk. Two yards probably is enough for a Toaster sweater, especially if I use solid black for the collar and cuffs, but with four yards, I’d consider making a sweater dress. Thank you!

Photos and a Book Review

I’ve created a photo album for the visit to the Butte-Silver Bow Public Archives for the Sew Butte exhibit. If I can figure out how to add captions, I’ll do so, but for now, enjoy the photos. And if you are anywhere within a day’s drive, I highly recommend visiting the exhibit in person.

I have a book review for you today. This novel is part of a series that ranks right up there with the Darkover novels by Marion Zimmer Bradley as one of my favorites. The author is Sara Donati—the pen name of Rosina Lippi—and the title is The Sweet Blue Distance.

These novels follow members of the same family over a span of almost 100 years, from the late 1700s to the late 1800s. The original series—dubbed the “Wilderness” series because it begins with the book Into the Wilderness—details the story of Nathaniel and Elizabeth Bonner and their home in upstate New York. If you really want to sink your teeth into these books, start with that one. (I will warn you, however, that the second book in the Wilderness series, Dawn on a Distant Shore, is the weakest of the entire lot and best consumed as quickly as possible so that you may continue on with the rest of the novels.)

[Apple trees figure prominently in one of the later novels in the Wilderness series, which is why I have a Westfield Seek-No-Futher in my orchard. That was one of the varieties mentioned by name in the book. Susan found the scion wood for it and grafted two for me. One died, but one is still solidering on in the orchard in front of our house.]

The Endless Forest, the last book in the Wilderness series, was published in 2010, and we all thought that would be the end of the story. Rosina Lippi said it was unlikely there would be additional books. However, in 2015, I was walking through a Barnes and Noble in Spokane Valley and spotted The Gilded Hour. I am quite positive I let out an audible squeak of joy. The Gilded Hour picks up the story with one of Elizabeth and Nathaniel Bonner’s grandchildren, Anna Savard, now a physician in New York City. It is part of what Rosina Lippi refers to as “the Waverly Place series.” It was followed up by the second Waverly Place book entitled Where the Light Enters.

[I have every single one of these books in hardback, because they are that good.]

The Sweet Blue Distance bridges the gap between the Wilderness series and the Waverly Place series. Carrie Ballentyne, another of Nathaniel and Elizabeth’s grandchildren—but older than Anna Savard of The Gilded Hour—is a midwife in New York City. Through family and professional connections, she learns of a position available in Santa Fe, New Mexico. In May of 1857, she begins the journey across the country with her brother, Nathan. There is so much more to the story, but for me to explain it would spoil the joy of reading it.

Lippi is a master storyteller. Once I start one of her novels, I know I won’t be able to put it down until I finish it. She is skilled at weaving subordinate mysteries through the primary tale—mysteries that don’t resolve until the last few pages of the book. Her research is thorough and detailed, with a deep understanding of the cultural undercurrents of the period. She sugarcoats nothing, which can be devastating when one develops an emotional connection to a character who gets killed off as part of the story. (She once said, in her blog, that she rolls dice to decide who lives and who dies.) The character development is superb, which is why it is easy to find that kind of connection.

I cannot give this series enough praise. If you enjoy historical fiction with a dash of mystery, you’ll love these books as much as I do.

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I am still chipping away at the to-do list. It looks like we have one more cold day—temps in the 40s—before we warm up. I think we will be planting potatoes this weekend. I got German Butterballs again; they were so good last year. I also got Clearwater Russet and Umatilla Russet. I am quite fond of russets.

My Teal Emerald

I finished the Emerald dress yesterday and I am quite happy with it. I know this will get a lot of wear this summer.

Besides lengthening it—which I am very glad I did—I made a few minor changes. The instructions were somewhat vague about the topstitching. The pattern cover shows topstitching along the front and back seams, but I skipped that. I also topstitched close to the garment edge, rather than along the edges of the facings (about 2" in from the edge). I prefer more subtle topstitching that doesn’t emphasize the facings.

I love the bias drape. A YouTube sewist I follow says that she has yet to see a bias-cut garment that isn’t flattering on all bodies, and I agree. The V-neckline is perfection. I am undecided about the uneven hem; I think I would prefer a straight one. That Brussels Washer Linen is a dream to work with.

I did not like the sleeve facings and will change them if I make this again. I cannot for the life of me figure out why they were done they way they were. The facings are a crescent shape attached to the sleeve openings before the side seams are sewn. I had to do a lot of monkeying around to get them correct, and to me, they look amateurish and spoil the clean lines of the inside of the garment. I would extend the ends of the sleeve facings enough to sew them together into a full circle around the armhole opening. I suppose that because this is a grown-on sleeve, the designer was trying to minimize bulk at the base of the armhole opening, but I don’t think that extending the facing into a complete circle will make that opening uncomfortable, and it certainly will improve the appearance of the inside of the garment.

I’m still undecided on this pattern as a class. Making it took much longer than expected; I usually multiply my construction time by three to get a sense of how long a class would take, and that puts this one up around two full days. I’ll take the dress to the store and show the owner and talk to her about it.

I plan to shorten this to a tunic length and make a few tops. I’d be hesitant to make this pattern in a rayon challis or even a rayon twill, because cutting and sewing a fabric like that on the bias likely would drive me around the bend. Even with this relatively stable linen fabric, as soon as I cut each pattern piece for this dress, I took it straight to the serger and finished the edges so they wouldn’t stretch out. This dress can also be made by cutting the pattern pieces on the straight of grain, although there is less drape that way.

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I made a nice dent in the to-do list yesterday, but I need to attack the rest of it today. The indoor lettuce system needs to be cleaned out. I planted a tray of fresh rooting plugs with lettuce seeds and took the tray out to the greenhouse. By the time I get the current system cleaned out and washed, the seeds should have germinated and the plugs will be ready to move back inside.

We are supposed to be back into the 60s next week, and hopefully done with winter for good. This is Montana, though, and one never knows.

Animal Antics

Today, I get to pause and breathe after the recent whirlwind of activity. I am grateful for a few days of cold weather—we got a skiff of snow overnight—that will give me a reason to stay inside. The heater is on in the greenhouse and the seedlings will be okay until temps warm up again this weekend. The chicks are snug in their brooder box, and we have no shortage of animal entertainments in the yard.

This gentleman has been wooing a small flock of hens for the past week, without much success:

He spends a lot of time out by the chicken coop, too, and that makes Dave nervous. Dave doesn’t like competition.

The robins decided which porch rafter bay they liked best and finished building a nest. This is right outside my kitchen window, so I’ll have a front row seat when babies are born:

We have not seen any bear sign yet, although I know they are out of hibernation.

We decided to raise pigs this summer after all. We’ve had several inquiries from customers about reserving pork for the fall. Our pig supplier texted me on Sunday and asked if we wanted any this year. I suspect Cassie might have mentioned us, because this lady also provides the 4-H kids with their livestock, and Cassie was heading to her farm right after the wedding shower. I called the processor yesterday and made sure we had a date reserved, then texted the supplier and said we’d take five piglets some time in the next couple of weeks.

I’m going to put a roast into the crockpot after breakfast, then tackle the to-do list.

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I need to comment here about unreasonable expectations. I checked my e-mail when I got to the hotel Sunday evening and noticed that I had received an order that afternoon for several back issues of Twists and Turns through the Big Sky Knitting Designs website. Those are delivered to the customer via digital download. I noted the arrival of the order and moved on to the next e-mail.

When I got home Monday evening, the husband mentioned that there was a message on the answering machine from a customer about a pattern. It was after business hours (and I was tired), so I made a note to myself to deal with the problem first thing Tuesday morning. However, I came down in the morning to discover that the customer had filed a dispute with PayPal for non-fulfillment of the order.

1. I suspect the files are in the customer’s spam folder. I very rarely get complaints about files not being delivered. When I do, I send the files directly to the customer via e-mail and follow up to make sure they have been received.

2. I don’t even argue about these types of problems anymore. A dispute filing is a black mark against my seller rating, so I immediately refund the customer’s payment. I did the same with this customer.

3. I included a message to the effect that I was sorry the customer felt the need to file the dispute and explained that I had been traveling. I also said that I would have e-mailed the missing files immediately had I been given the opportunity to resolve the problem.

This is one of the unfortunate side effects of the culture in which we’re living. People have developed incredibly unrealistic expectations about almost everything. I am a one-person operation and occasionally, I am away from home. I don’t put my cell phone number on the website because I am careful about who has that number and because I do not believe it is necessary for everyone to have instant access to me. I do think my knitting patterns are worth purchasing, certainly, but they aren’t so important that the customer can’t wait 24 hours for an answer to a question. However, people have been trained to expect an immediate response for everything, no matter how trivial.

I’m old enough to remember when we had to send away via snail mail for items, and the terms and conditions almost always stated, “Please allow 6-8 weeks for delivery.” If some of these people had to wait 6-8 weeks for delivery these days, they might die of impatience. 🧐

Sew Butte!

A few weeks ago, I mentioned that the Butte-Silver Bow Public Archives had an exhibit on vintage sewing machines from the collection of Virgil “Sarge” Sargent. I contacted the archives and asked about the possibility of doing a podcast episode about the exhibit. That led to a discussion with Laura Sargent, Virgil’s widow, and an invitation to come down and view the machines in person. We decided on a date and I made plans. I left after church Sunday afternoon and enjoyed a lovely 3-1/2 hour drive down to Missoula and across I-90 to Butte. I needed to run away by myself for a while.

I’ve been through Butte a number of times, but I am ashamed to say that I have lived in Montana for 30 years and never been to Butte, except for the time I stopped at the Walmart there on the way back from Boise to get a battery for the BMW’s key fob. I checked in to the hotel Sunday evening, got a good night’s sleep, and arrived at the Archives yesterday morning at our appointed meeting time of 9 am.

My native Montana friends are welcome to weigh in on this opinion as they know more than I do, but Butte and Great Falls and Helena feel more like real Montana to me. Kalispell sometimes doesn’t even feel like part of Montana. Those cities seem to have a much better sense of—and are better caretakers of—their history. We have a historical society here in Kalispell, but not like the one in Butte. For whatever reason, I rarely hear about the history of Kalispell with the same level of detail. Perhaps it is because Butte’s history is so inextricably tied to the mining industry, and Great Falls’ to that of Lewis and Clark.

The Archives are housed in the old firehouse, which has a series of wonderful quotes about Butte engraved on the outside of the building:

Waiting outside the building when I arrived were three women, who introduced themselves as Laura Sargent, Leslie Doyle, and Rose Brock. Leslie and her partner moved to Butte some years ago and ended up working for Laura’s husband, Virgil, at the antique store he owned. (Laura has recently retired from a position with the county.) Sadly, both Virgil and Leslie’s partner died within a few months of each other, leaving behind an antique store and a warehouse full of merchandise.

To help deal with their grief, Leslie and Laura decided to do something with the sewing machines, and approached the Archives about an exhibit. They enlisted Rose’s help as a member of the Butte Chateau Quilt Guild to provide antique quilts as part of the display.

Laura walked me around the exhibit, which was set up to tell a story in chronological order. All of the machines came from somewhere in Butte-Silver Bow County. That alone blew my mind, as some of the machines were quite esoteric, like this Lewis industrial machine that was used to sew blind hems in draperies.

Butte had quite the fur garment industry, too, as one would expect in a cold climate and also in a place where some people were very, very wealthy.

The first floor showcased machines through the mid-1900s. Upstairs, the exhibit continued with more modern machines and one very early serger (Laura’s own). I was quite tickled by this Rocketeer that resides in a retrofitted treadle parlor cabinet.

I will try to make up an album of all the photos I took.

After touring the exhibit, the four of us sat down in the conference room for a conversation and podcast episode. We concluded the visit with lunch at a local restaurant, where I had the most amazing Reuben sandwich of my life. I was back on the road by 1 pm and home just before dinnertime.

Rose and Laura both asked if I would come back to teach a serger class, so I expect I’ll be making a few more trips to Butte in the future if we can make suitable arrangements. I’m only sorry it took me 30 years to get there. I do love Montana.

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The greenhouse is beginning to look very green, indeed. All of my seedlings have popped up, and on Sunday, just before I left, Sarah brought over half a dozen flats of plants she started at home. Susan and Elysian are also planning to bring over some of their seedlings. Every year, we try to have more inventory for the plant sale.

I’ve got another busy day today, but I’m hoping to be able to catch my breath tomorrow and finish that Emerald dress.

New Look Pattern Haul

Hobby Lobby will no longer be carrying New Look patterns. On my way to a wedding shower brunch yesterday morning, I stopped in at our store and looked through the clearance rack to see what I could find. All of the New Look patterns were $0.99.

I have plenty of patterns, so I confined myself to just a few—mostly dresses, a couple of hoodies, and one baby pattern that features a technique I might want to use to develop a serger class.

I am not sure what is going on with this clearance. I hope this doesn’t signal a trend by Hobby Lobby to downsize its fabric department, especially not in the face of the Joann Fabrics bankruptcy. I have had good luck with New Look patterns, although their size range is limited and I’m at the upper end of it.

The wedding shower was lovely. The bride is a member of the large family that helped found our church, and even though her immediate family worships elsewhere in the valley, she is getting married in our church’s sanctuary. I am supposed to be the pianist. I’ve known this young woman since she was about three years old, because she and DD#2 took dance lessons together.

The bride is on the left, DD#2 is on the right. Hard to believe this was more than 20 years ago.

I had fun visiting with my friend, Cassie, at the shower. She’s also part of that large family and lives up by our church with her husband, five kids and pigs, cows, and chickens. We have no shortage of homesteading topics to discuss. Her kids are in 4-H. I gave them a Singer Spartan sewing machine last year and Cassie said they have gotten a ton of use from it.

I came home after the shower and spent an hour puttering around the greenhouse and garden. The weather has been absolutely gorgeous lately. I moved hoses around and the husband and I walked the perimeter to see where the fencing needs to be repaired. The cucumbers and melons seeds I planted a few days ago have popped up. Unfortunately, a system is supposed to drop down from Canada on Tuesday and put us back down into the 40s for a few days before warming up again. I need to get seed potatoes this week. Planting those is on the schedule for next Saturday.

And I worked on the Emerald dress for a few hours before dinner. Despite the simple design, it’s a bit fiddly. I am not sure it will make a good class unless we do the top version. It would be difficult to have students cutting out large pattern pieces on the bias. There is a lot of staystitching, understitching, and edge finishing. (I finished the edges on the serger and sewed the seams on the machine.) I’ve gotten as far as attaching the neck facing and one armhole facing. I still have the second armhole facing and hem facing to finish. That probably won’t happen until mid-week, because today, tomorrow, and Tuesday are full, but I’ll be able to take advantage of the crummy weather to stay inside and sew.

When I say “fiddly,” I’m comparing construction of woven garments to construction of knit ones. I can whip out a knit top consisting of five seams and a hem in a couple of hours, so I forget that clothing made from wovens takes longer to complete. I think I’m going to like the dress, though. The Brussels Washer Linen has been a dream to work with.

Peeps, 2024 Edition

After breakfast yesterday morning, I went back into town to see if the farm store had gotten the shipment of chicks. I heard peeping as soon as I walked in. It is amazing to me how such tiny animals can make such a huge racket. Fifteen minutes later, I walked out with a box containing 12 Buff Orpington chicks, who are now occupying the brooder box in our old garage:

This is a lively bunch. They spent the day hoovering down food and establishing their own little pecking order.

I, of course, am an anxious mama and will be for a few weeks until they are big enough to go out to the coop.

The bunny—turning browner by the day—was out by the porch again:

I spent the rest of the morning working on pastor search stuff. Our congregation is actively seeking a new pastor, but we are at a distinct disadvantage. We are small and cannot currently support a full-time position. We are geographically isolated from other Mennonite congregations—unlike the east coast, where one can swing a cat and hit half a dozen Mennonite churches. And we’re in an area that has become unaffordable for many people. We began our search using the established channels, but that has yielded no candidates. A few weeks ago, I had a great conversation with a friend of mine in Boise whose church is also looking for a pastor. She suggested several ways we could broaden our search. Because I am the chairman of the search committee, I’m the point person for most of this work, although Susan’s daughter—who is also on the committee—did a chunk of research that is making my job easier.

This is a process, and we are aware that it is a process that may take a while. It’s also a situation where the concept of “trusting the process” takes on more weight.

After lunch, I finished tracing the Emerald dress pattern. There are two lengthen/shorten lines on the pattern, one just under the bust and one further down at the hips. The pattern indicates that it was drafted for someone who is 5’6" tall. I added 2" to the length of the dress using the upper line. Dresses that hit just below my knees are more flattering on me than shorter ones. Now it’s on to making the muslin.

Basking in the Solar Rays

I spent a lovely couple of hours (in blessed peace and quiet) out in the greenhouse yesterday. Sometimes I play podcasts while I work, but yesterday I enjoyed the silence. I planted cucumbers—two kinds—butternut squash, and zucchini. I did quite a few of all of these because we never seem to have enough at the plant sale. The trays have covers on them to keep little rodents from digging up the seeds, but I have extra seeds in case that happens.

When the sun is out, the greenhouse warms up nicely. Part of the reason we don’t use the greenhouse in the winter is because we just don’t get enough sun here. Heat is great, but plants won’t grow in a hot, dark greenhouse.

I have started tracing the Emerald dress. I found some fabric in the stash—a four-yard length from Walmart—that will work nicely as a muslin. Cutting the pattern pieces will require me to use our bedroom floor, as they have to be laid out over a large single layer of fabric and positioned on the bias, but once they’re cut, the dress should go together quickly.

I ran across this intriguing pattern a few days ago. This is the Ina Top by Juliana Martejevs.

This top fascinates me from a construction standpoint, although it isn’t something I would wear. The color-blocked sections are joined together with a contrasting serger stitch and stretched to create a lettuce edge.

Late yesterday afternoon, I recorded a podcast interview with a guest—it will be next week’s episode—that I enjoyed very much. Truly, getting to talk to these creative people is the best part of having a podcast.

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After my blog rant yesterday, the following popped up in my Facebook feed. The husband and I listen to Jordan Peterson occasionally. I don’t agree with everything he says, but he often provides food for thought, and what he said, below, resonated. Before someone comes at me for posting this, I am aware that there are many causes of depression and many effective ways to treat it, but certainly, each of us must take responsibility for our behavior.

Take Your Place In The Hierarchy (Jordan Peterson)

If you want to take your place properly in the hierarchy, part of your goal is to be a good person. We have a very old system in our nervous systems that keeps track of where we are in hierarchies, and it regulates our emotions. If you are not a complete psychopath, then you have a place in a social hierarchy. You are admired, respected, and valued by other people — and the neurochemical system that keeps track of that regulates your other emotions.

If you are low on the totem pole, for whatever the reason happens to be—sometimes you deserve it or sometimes it is accidental—your serotonin levels plummet, and you feel much more negative emotion and much less positive emotion about everything. That is clinical depression. So, it is absolutely crucial that you maintain a tenable position in the hierarchy—not one of power but one of competence. Even if you are not in a position that is tenable, you must be moving upward toward one that is—because that gives you hope.

People hit runs of bad luck and situations that can take them out of life—unfortunate illnesses, betrayal, and so on. There is no shortage of randomness and horror that can wipe you out even if you are doing your best. But you do not have a better plan than to do your best, and it tends to work much better than you think it will. Hierarchies are set up on reciprocity, skill, and trust. Almost everywhere, if you go above and beyond the call of duty in an intelligent way—interpersonally, socially, and with regard to the diligence of your work, the truth of your attitude, and courage—that will work.

Do your best. How simple, and how difficult.

More Log Cabin Blocks

I enjoyed teaching my serger mastery class yesterday. I only had one student, but I don’t mind teaching a private class. She was thrilled with her new machine and wanted to learn as much as she could about its capabilities. We went through the mechanics of it, then tried out the various stitches with different settings and threads. She left class excited to use her machine to make clothing and other items.

Our Mountain Brook Ladies Club made a quilt again this year to raffle off to raise money for the Homestead Foundation. Having struggled through those curvy log cabin blocks recently, I marvel at the amount of work that went into putting this one together. There are little stars in the centers of all those log cabin blocks.

Making a raffle quilt every year is a group effort. Several women pieced the quilt, another one quilted it on her longarm, and another lady sewed down the binding. My contribution was to sew the label onto the back of it, which I did last night. I’ll get a photo and ticket information onto the homestead foundation website later this week.

The husband set up the brooder box in the old garage. I have an appointment in town this morning and will stop at the farm store afterward to see if they have chicks. They usually get a shipment on Wednesdays. We have all black, white, and black-and-white chickens at the moment—with one mahogany-colored rooster—so I most likely will come home with some Buff Orpington or Rhode Island Red pullets.

We have not seen the little owl again, but I heard it in the trees one morning as I was walking out to the greenhouse. It must have a nest close by.

I’ve got two podcast interviews scheduled this week and two more next week. We’re heading into what looks like a string of warm days—62F by Sunday—so I am going to plant melons, cukes, and zucchini this afternoon. Most of the seedlings I planted two weeks ago are up and growing. If I get all of my planting done today, I’m going to start working on at least a muslin of that Made by Rae Emerald dress that the store owner wants as a class.

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I’m going to Seattle next month. DD#2’s boyfriend’s mother is also going to be there that weekend so I’ll get to meet her in person. I’m excited about that. And I’m going to need that road trip by then. I truly do not know what is going on, but I seem to have become the dumping ground for everyone else’s neuroses, criticism, and snark, and I am sick and tired of it. I have a rule: When dinner conversation between me and the husband devolves into me recounting all the toxic garbage I had to deal with that day, every day, something has to change. He doesn’t deserve to be party to it, too.

Here’s a news flash: Everyone is not entitled to my time. People do not have the right to bitch about the way I am doing something that no one else wants to do. I was not put on this earth to be unpaid staff for other people or organizations. An occasional thank-you would not be amiss. (The song leaders at church got together at Christmas and gave me a gift card to a local restaurant, which was so thoughtful and so unexpected.) I am not interested in having other people project their anxieties upon me.

And for heaven’s sake, it would be wonderful if everyone developed basic reading comprehension skills. I think I am a pretty good communicator, but people on the other end seem bent on deliberately misunderstanding what I say.

From now on, if you come at me with a load of negativity or crap that isn’t mine to deal with, expect to be ignored. I am too busy living and enjoying my life to expend any mental bandwith on negativity.

Green is the Theme

After discovering that I bought a regular Creative Grids 6" log cabin ruler in February instead of a curvy 6" log cabin ruler, I ordered the correct one from Shabby Fabrics. They are in Coeur d’Alene, ID, which boded well for quick shipping and receipt. Indeed, I ordered the ruler on a Tuesday and it arrived two days later.

This ruler makes my brain hurt. Part of it is the badly-written instructions. (I commented on this a few months ago with regard to the 8" ruler. ) Part of it is that I am trimming “logs” unevenly; the logs on one side of the block are wider than the logs on the other side of the block. I have to pay very close attention to which side logs are added and how they are trimmed. The seam ripper and I have become very close friends.

It has taken me much longer than I planned to make these two blocks.

I am reconsidering the idea of making an entire quilt. A table runner might do just fine. We’ll see. The second block was easier than the first, so maybe by the time the third one is done, I’ll know what I am doing. The actual block made by the ruler is one quadrant of this larger block, and I make fewer mistakes if I chain piece all four quadrants at the same time.

The topic for this week’s podcast is scrap quilts.

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After running errands yesterday morning, I stopped in at the quilt store to see how many people are registered for my serger mastery class this afternoon. (One, which is fine.) While I was there, the owner said she’d love to have a class on this pattern:

I have a chunk of Robert Kaufman Brussels Washer Linen in the stash, but I’m not sure I have enough. This dress is cut on the bias and requires almost four yards for my size. I might only have three. It’s a great dress, though, and one I could live in all summer. Shortened a bit, it would make a lovely tunic.

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It is still cold and rainy here. We got snow over the weekend, although it didn’t stay long. We are spending a small fortune heating the greenhouse, but it has to be done now that the seedlings are up. The weather is supposed to improve considerably by the weekend. I’m going to plant the next round of seeds tomorrow afternoon.

The plants in the indoor lettuce system are just about spent. They are starting to bolt, so I’ve cut what’s on them and put the excess in a zip bag in the fridge. I’ll clean out and replant the whole system soon. We had salad with our spaghetti last night, and the husband commented that the lettuce was especially delicious. We are lettuce connoisseurs.