Winter is on the Doorstep

Yesterday was likely the last nice day of the season, so after church, I went out to the garden and put away all the hoses. The husband came out and helped me finish up after he completed his big project. A tree fell on our rental house the day I left for Seattle, and he’s been working on repairing the trusses and replacing the damaged section of metal roofing. Thankfully, no one was hurt when the tree fell.

We’re supposed to get rain all day today, so I am glad both projects are done.

My neighbor, Theresa, and her husband recently returned from a month-long trip to France. Theresa knows I love to wear scarves and she always brings me one from their travels. This time, she gifted me this decadent black-and-white chiffon scarf from Paris. I wore it to church yesterday:

I almost hated to take it off, but it’s not proper garden attire.

One more evening of hand sewing and the binding on the I Spy quilt will be finished.

I ordered a copy of Kenneth King’s trouser drafting workbook the other day. The workbook is optional but recommended for the trouser drafting class. I’m only four pages in and already I have learned that “trouser” is the preferred terminology, because the term “pants” means undergarments in many countries and is considered vulgar. I also learned that when determining the half-hip measurement on women, the tape measure should be placed 5" below the waist on women who are 5'4" to 5'9" tall—but there is an exception! Kenneth notes:

There are figures where the fuller part of the hip is about 3 inches (7.5cm) below the waist. I see this in women of Eastern European ancestry.

This is my shape—I have a high hip curve—but I was unaware that it was related to my Eastern European roots. Fortunately, my girls inherited their paternal grandmother’s Norwegian birthing hips. The husband weighed 11 pounds, 15 ounces at birth and my MIL didn’t have a C-section.

I expect to learn a whole lot more in this class.

I’ve changed my mind about the pattern I want to use for the quilted coat. Butterick just released this one in the Fall/Winter collection:

It’s a bit less fussy than the New Look jacket.