Serger Summer

My Serger 101 class on Monday was supposed to have two students, but one called in sick. The lucky remaining student got a mastery class on her BabyLock machine. She was not a serger newbie, just unfamiliar with that new-to-her machine, so we made samples of all the three- and four-thread stitches. She was delighted and I got additional experience with the BabyLock models. That’s why I don’t mind teaching a class with one student; I learn as much as the student does. And this lady drove in from 2-1/2 hours away, so I wanted to make it worth her while.

The owner of the store in Spokane called me last evening to touch base. I have six students, which is about all we can fit into her classroom space and still be comfortable. I’m curious to see what machines students bring. I’m not as familiar with the newer Juki machines—mine is almost eight years old—so I’ll be getting up to speed on those models.

And I have two Cookin’ in Color apron classes next Wednesday—one during the day and one in the evening. It is so hard to schedule classes in a way that makes everyone happy. The Saturday time slots are usually full. The store would schedule classes on Sunday, too, but my Sundays are committed to church activities.

I wore my new Laundry Day Tee to class on Monday, but I’m not as happy with the double-brushed poly version as I am with the rayon spandex version. The DBP from Joanns is thicker than the rayon jersey and doesn’t drape as well. I also compared the Joanns DBP to the QT Fabrics DBP that I bought in Missoula—which I made into another LDT, now awaiting hemming—and there is a noticeable difference in the weight. Unfortunately, it appears that most of the fall knits that Joanns is stocking are going to be DBP. They have very few rayon/spandex knits. I’ll still wear it, but I won’t use the Joanns DBP for any further versions of that pattern.

I was perusing the Seamwork Patterns website yesterday and was excited to find this pattern:

This is the Sadie Tunic. This is almost identical to the Liz Claiborne tunic I bought in Seattle that I’ve been thinking about copying. Now I don’t have to.

Most pattern companies provide large format files of their patterns, so I’ve been taking them to the place in town that does blueprints. I’d rather pay to have the pattern printed there than print them here and have to tape dozens of sheets of paper together.

***********************

The owner of the quilt store where I taught the pants class recommended a new podcast called Sew & So, which I am enjoying very much.

From the website: The Sew&So podcast will be a simple and casual conversation with many guests in the sewing/quilting community. We will talk with different individuals on what excites them, what inspires their work and how they grow and connect with their communities.

The episode from the recent Bernina University in Palm Springs was especially interesting.

Listening to sewing podcasts is about as close as I am going to get to sewing for a few days, though. The pressure canner is taking up residence on the stove today. I’ve started organizing the pantry—moving what is left of last year’s canning to the upper shelves so those items get used up—and figuring out how much of what I’ll need to do in the coming weeks. Today is green beans and then carrots. I was in the kitchen most of yesterday afternoon doing the prep work. I also made a raspberry crisp for the husband. My friend Anna dropped off a box of romaine lettuce; she said it needed to be cleaned and she didn’t have time, so I could either clean and use it or give it to the chickens. I did both. I pulled off the outer layers for the chickens and kept the good parts for our salads.

I remembered to get a picture of the Carolina Amethyst peppers yesterday. They are such a pretty color:

I thought that one had sun scald, but I think they are that color until they start turning purple. Or not. I am curious to see how these taste.

We might get some spotty thunderstorms today. The forecast also looks like more hot weather for the foreseeable future. The chickens are hot and cranky and pecking at each other. I’ll put the sprinkler on today to see if I can cool them off a bit.