A Month Full of Time Confetti

Finding interesting fodder for the blog has been difficult this month. My schedule has been fractured and full of small annoyances. I am so tired of people behaving as though they are the only ones on the planet. Twice in the past couple of weeks, someone (the same someone) barged into the middle of a conversation I was having and redirected it without so much as an “Excuse me.” (If it happens again, my response is going to be less than charitable.) Others act as though they are entitled to my time. I don’t know where manners and consideration went, but I’d love to see them make a comeback. And if they bring rationality and common sense with them, so much the better.

I spent yesterday morning running errands but was home by noon. (Town was blessedly deserted.) The husband was here doing paperwork. I told him to call if he needed me, then went upstairs to cut fabric. Now that I know the difference between heavyweight rayon jersey and doubleknits—as I said, I need to get out of my own way occasionally—I went back through my stash with a fresh eye. I pulled two fabrics from which to make that Liz Claiborne top and got them cut out. I cut two more Burda 6315 tops, one from French terry and one from another length of that rayon fleece from Joanns.

My birthday is next week, on Thanksgiving Day, and my mother always sends me birthday money. I like to treat myself on my Thanksgiving trip because it tends to coincide with good sales. I’ve been watching the transformation of my closet into clothing I actually want to wear and I am trying to be thoughtful about what additional fabrics and pieces I might pick up.

Seamwork had a good article on what to sew and what to buy. I was in Target yesterday morning and picked up a black rayon French terry waterfall cardigan. Yes, I am trying to perfect the drafting of a waterfall cardigan pattern so I can recreate my black rayon jersey one that is worn out. I don’t know when that might get done, though, and in the meantime, I still need a black waterfall cardigan. This one met all my criteria for fit, construction, and quality, so I bought it.

I bought a pair of Liz Claiborne wide-leg jeans in Seattle in September and wore them to church on Sunday. I had to laugh at myself because what I really need to wear with them is a cropped sweater or top of some sort. I don’t have any, because I am too old to wear low-rise jeans with tops that don’t come down past my navel. The LC jeans sit at my natural waist, though, so I’d be willing to revisit the idea of a cropped top to wear with them. (I wouldn’t do a sweater, though, as I am just too warm most of the time.) I paired the jeans with a Burda 6315 tunic. Several people complimented the look, so I must have done okay.

[The Burda 6315 top in its original configuration would work as a cropped top with these jeans. I lengthened it when I made it. I am sure DD#2 will also have some suggestions.]

Okay, enough about clothing. I am trying to work my way back toward quilting, although nothing major will happen until next month when the schedule clears. I’ve been working on that cream-and-white log cabin quilt, which is the perfect project for small blocks of time. I need sixty-four 12-1/2” squares. I’ve finished 11 of them:

Five more are in progress. The scrap bag doesn’t seem to be getting any emptier, however. Weird.

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Seattle is in the midst of a very unusual dry spell that is supposed to end the middle of next week. I don’t think I’ll have any trouble over the passes on my way there. Getting back might be a different story, but we’ll have to wait and see. During the winter, I always break the Seattle run into two days. During the summer, with plenty of daylight and regular tires on my car, it’s possible to put the car in cruise and make that trip in eight hours. I prefer not to drive in the dark, though, and I won’t push the speed with brand new tires on the car. Also, there is a lot of road construction around Snoqualmie Pass right now. The trip from Spokane to Seattle usually takes four hours, but I am giving myself an entire day.

A back-door cold front looks like it might be trying to push its way through here on Thursday and Friday. I am expecting winds from the northeast even though the forecast doesn’t mention them, which it probably won’t until someone from the National Weather Service in Missoula looks out the window and notices that it’s breezy. The guy who does the Pacific Northwest Weather Watch on YouTube just started a series on historic PNW windstorms. I’m curious to see if he includes the November 2015 storm that hit Spokane.