Mother's Day in Seattle

I took the Jeep out for its inaugural road trip this past weekend. DD#2 moved into a new apartment last week and asked if I would come out and help her get settled. Her boyfriend’s mother also came for the weekend, so I got to spend some time getting to know her. She’s a lot of fun. DD#2’s boyfriend has an older brother who also lives in Seattle. In fact, the four kids—the boys and their girlfriends—now live in the same apartment building, one floor apart. We all had a great weekend together.

On Friday, the four ladies went shopping. We went to Bellevue Mall in the morning and had lunch at the Nordstrom Grill. I had a chance to see what was new in the fashion world for spring. Spoiler alert: We are back to lots of neutrals—ugh—although I did see some absolutely gorgeous Eileen Fisher linen pieces in this mallard green color:

The picture does not do this color justice. I love green anyway, and I like that this is not the bluish teal that is usually so prevalent.

I bought two Nordstrom label T-shirt dresses that are a relaxed princess seam style with pockets on the front seams. They are made from a beefy cotton interlock. Normally, I avoid cotton interlock because it has lousy recovery and looks baggy after a short time on the body. The Joanns cotton interlock is particularly awful. Most cotton interlock fabrics are either 100% cotton or 98% cotton/2% spandex. The Nordstrom dress was made from an interlock fabric that is 93% cotton/7% spandex. I wore one of the dresses over the weekend and it held its shape very well—

—which brings me to my current source of irritation. Why can’t home sewists find these kinds of quality fabrics? Why must we settle for cheap imitations? Yes, some stores carry deadstock fabrics—including Eileen Fisher deadstock—but those are entirely hit-and-miss in availability.

I’m still chewing on that. If someone can clue me in, please do.

After lunch, we headed over to University Village. The boyfriend’s mom wanted to do some furniture shopping and DD#2 wanted to see about getting some pillows for her new couch. I was tickled to see knitted items in Potter Barn and Crate and Barrel. This octopus was cute:

And this knitted pillow had some cabling on it:

I took a couple of hours on Saturday afternoon to run down to Pacific Fabrics. I could spend days (and lots of money) there, but I confined myself to three yards of a cotton woven from a new fabric manufacturer called Fableism Supply Company. From their website:

Hello there!  We are a small family owned manufacturing company called Fableism Supply Co.  We initially started Fableism because… if we’re honest… we are very picky with our colors.  We knew exactly what we wanted.  We wanted a range of desert inspired warm colors and a coastal inspired palette of cool colors.  After years of searching for just exactly what we wanted and coming up empty handed.  We decided to just go for it.  We took a giant leap of faith and decided to trust our Creator and trust ourselves with the vision He gave to us.  So we began.  We searched high and low for earthy colors.  The kind of colors you find in old book illustrations, and maps.  From the highlights and shadows of an acorn, to the sweeping colors that paint the sky at sunset, these are the colors that inspire us.  These are colors and textures we want to live in. 

Yes, emphasis on “earth tones” (what is the fascination?) although they do have some nice, saturated colors. I bought a green that is a bit lighter than the Eileen Fisher mallard color from the first photo in this post. (Fableism does have a color that is almost identical, but Pacific Fabrics did not have it in stock.) I think the fabric is destined to become View B of New Look 6344:

This is another $0.99 Hobby Lobby acquisition. I am eager to try this pattern, because I think it has definite possibilities. The longer length looks like it will be just about perfect. I’d leave off that collar, though, and make a plain neckline.

We finished off the weekend with a Mariners game on Sunday.

Truly, the weather was spectacular. I’ve made dozens of trips to Seattle and I don’t think I’ve ever seen it sunny and warm for three days in a row.

I drove home yesterday, getting stuck in a backup on I-90 going through Spokane, courtesy of THREE (!!!!) accidents along a two-mile stretch of highway. What is with people?

Now it’s back to work. The husband took care of all the plants in the greenhouse and they are doing much better after several days of warm, sunny weather. The piglets had fence training over the weekend and now are busy exploring the pasture. I’ve got to cut the grass. Hopefully we are done with snow for a while.