Golf Cart Driving Lessons

WS spent the day here yesterday so Elysian could go on a fishing trip with the veterans group (she’s former Navy). He is a very responsible 8 year-old, so I decided he could learn to drive the golf cart. I let him drive me around the driveway and yard until he got tired of it. When his mom came to pick him up, he drove her around, too.

The little boys have their own YouTube account. I learn such interesting stuff watching the videos they choose. I never knew there were so many creative ways to blow things up, LOL. (Boys are so different from girls.) And now I have to put Mentos and Coke on my shopping list so we can try making a geyser. If we’re going to blow things up, we should have a chemistry lesson in the process.

I hauled in another wagon load of tomatoes from the garden. We’re getting some yellow Dr. Wyche tomatoes—a variety Elysian likes—as well as some unknown orange ones. I sacrificed a couple of huge Oregon Star, Cherokee Purple, and Purple Russian tomatoes for seed; those will ferment this week to remove the gelatinous seed covering and then I can dry them and save them for next year.

I am happy with the number of tomatoes going into the freezer. I should have plenty for salsa and sauce.

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After Elysian and WS left, I knocked out a top from the New Look 6555 pattern:

This pattern is going into the tried-and-true pile. Not only does it fit well, it only took me two hours to make, start to finish. I think I’ve also gotten over my dolman allergy as this doesn’t feel bulky under the arms at all. The fabric is a rayon batik from Northcott that I picked up at The Quilt Gallery in Kalispell.

[I’ve noticed that the stock a store carries has a lot to do with what colors the owner favors. I think the woman who owns The Confident Stitch in Missoula leans toward brights, because I can always find good colors for winters there. The owner of The Quilt Gallery tends to prefer muddy earth tones. I’ve been with her when she has ordered fabric and she gravitates towards browns, navy, and charcoal. This rayon batik line comes in some really beautiful brights, but she went with the more muted colors.]

I sewed the front and back center seams on the Janome and finished the edges on the serger. I had to do the front center seam on the machine because of that keyhole opening, so I did the back center seam the same way just for consistency. I did the shoulder and side seams right on the serger, however. And the Janome was fine with this rayon, so I think the issues I was having with that teal polyester were mostly because of the fabric. Putting the sleeves in and hemming the teal top is on the schedule for tomorrow.

I was watching some TomKat Stitchery videos yesterday while making this, and was pleased to hear her say that individual sewists will prefer certain pattern lines over others depending on what sloper the designer uses for drafting. The fact that I have trouble with Love Notions patterns is not in my head. She also said that some people do just fine with patterns from the Big 4 companies. As long as the pattern information includes the finished garment measurements, I have very little trouble getting the correct size. For the New Look 6555, I started with the size that corresponded to my full bust measurement but then went down one size after looking at the finished measurements. I wanted flowy, but not so flowy that it was flowing off my body. I can’t stand it when a top slides around on my shoulders.

No doubt two or three of the rayons I bought in Missoula will end up as versions of this top. I’m going to wear it to the quilt store this week, too, just to show the owner what the fabric looks like made up, but I know she’s going to ask me to do a class on it because I used fabric from the store. I am still trying to figure out how to resolve the clothing class conundrum. Making clothing is not as simple as making a quilt, and not every garment lends itself well to a class.

One of the patterns I picked up at Joanns on Friday is this dress:

I have just enough of the In the Neighborhood rayon from The Confident Stitch to make this, but I will do a muslin first in one of the other fabrics. That rayon was not inexpensive and I don’t want to risk ruining it.

Temperatures are supposed to cool to something more seasonable by the middle of this week. I hope so. I’m tired of being hot.