Fabric Temptations and Future Projects

It occurred to me that I have some blog readers who might not know about my history—distant and not-so-distant—that factors into my personal risk assessment. In 1994, when I was 28 years old, nine months after we had moved to Montana and when DD#1 was 18 months old, I was diagnosed with acute myelogenous leukemia. I spent six months in and out of the Cleveland Clinic undergoing chemotherapy. Thankfully, the leukemia went into remission and has never returned.

And then in February 2018, after coming down with the flu, I ended up in the ICU. All I remember is the husband taking me to the emergency room on a Friday night. I woke up a week later. The intervening time is lost to me because I was heavily sedated and on a ventilator.

I sometimes joke that I have survived two assassination attempts by the universe (gallows humor, you know), but I want people to know that I don’t make remarks about coronavirus flippantly. On the other hand, as the husband notes so often, it’s the stuff you don’t see coming that is going to take you out. I am way more concerned about the people driving down the road looking at their phones—I counted six of them on my way to town Tuesday—than I am about this virus.

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Now onto the fun stuff. I follow AL Frances Textiles on Facebook and a post about their new color of waxed fabric popped up in my feed the other day. The new color is called Lime:

They are taking pre-orders right now, so I bought a yard. I am a sucker for anything green.

And not fifteen minutes later—I kid you not—I saw a post from Klum House for their new color of waxed canvas, called Cobalt:

That’s a gorgeous shade of blue. I haven’t ordered any (yet) because I need to sew up some of what I’ve got. I am really happy, though, to see some of these brighter shades in addition to the ubiquitous muddy earth tones.

I’ve got everything to make the Klum House Slabtown Backpack, so that will be up in the queue after the wedding. I also registered for that Laura Heine collage class in Spokane the first weekend in November. (Tera?)

I haven’t forgotten about the Noon and Night quilt, either. That needs to be finished.

I have one eye out for an industrial walking foot or needle-feed machine. The husband says I should buy myself something, but really, I have everything I need and also most of what I want (and I am not just talking about sewing machines). A sit-down longarm quilting machine would be nice to have, but that’s a huge chunk of change. A new Juki 1541 walking foot machine is a couple thousand dollars.

[There is a Juki industrial on display at DD#2’s Nordstrom store in Seattle—to help advertise their alterations service—and I always pet it when I walk by. I have been hinting for a tour of the alterations department but so far, no luck, LOL.]

A Singer 111W walking foot machine popped up on Craigslist yesterday for $250; unfortunately, it was in Bonners Ferry, Idaho, which is 2-1/2 hours away. I told the husband that I didn’t think it was going to last at that price, and indeed, the listing was gone when I checked this morning.

My philosophy is that the right machine will appear at the right time.

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This has been simmering since yesterday:

I’ll strain the stock today and can it up. Lila will get some chicken skin as a treat.