Define Curvy

This is a post about why it is so hard to design for and fit female bodies. It includes a lot of questions for which I don’t have answers, but I find it helpful to think through and talk about these issues.

I chose the Remy Raglan by Sew House Seven for an upcoming class on making tops. I like raglan styles and they are easy to sew. I also like Sew House Seven patterns. I’ve made myself three or four Toaster Sweaters and I also like the Free Range Slacks. SHS has a comprehensive sizing guide on their website. I’m not laying any blame on them; rather, this post is to highlight how designers have choices to make and their choices impact the process of making one’s own garments.

Sew House Seven patterns come in a wide size range, and most come in both “standard” and “curvy.” If you look at the sizing guide on their website, Sew House Seven notes that:

There are differences between the Curvy and Standard sizes 16 -20. The shoulders on the Curvy sizes are narrower, the cups are fuller, and the tummy and hips are rounder than the Standard sizes. The Standard sizes grade slightly in height and the Curvy sizes do not grade in height.

Patterns typically are drafted for a body that is 5'6" tall and wears a B cup. Any deviations from those norms require adjustments to the pattern. I am 5'7" tall, which doesn’t seem like a huge variation, but I have a longer-than-average torso. I have to lengthen tops by 2-3". And I do not wear a B cup. I almost always have to do a full bust adjustment of some sort or use my sloper, which has bust darts incorporated into it.

For some reason, the words “standard” and “curvy” trip me up. I think my body is “curvy” in the traditional sense. My bust and hip measurements are almost identical. My waist measurement is 7" less than my bust and hip measurement. I can’t find a specific reference, but I remember reading somewhere that an hourglass shape is defined by a waist measurement that is 10" less than bust/hip, so I’m close, but not quite there.

I don’t think my definition of curvy lines up with the Sew House Seven definition of curvy, however. Looking at their fit guide, I believe their definition of curvy lines up better with women who have pear-shaped bodies and carry most of their weight in their tummy and hips.

It’s a bit hard to see in this photo, but I laid the standard pattern piece for the size I made over the same size in the curvy version.

I noticed immediately that the standard pattern piece flares less below the armscye than the curvy piece does. The curvy piece also has slightly narrower shoulders, and that was the biggest clue for me that I needed the standard pattern piece. I have broad shoulders and have to adjust that area on many patterns.

That decision out of the way, I made a muslin out of an old linen sheet to check the fit. Except for the length—more on that in a moment—I nailed it out of the gate. The upper bodice fit well and I was able to move my arms and shoulders without binding.

I went ahead and made the store sample out of some Kaffe cotton sateen. I made it in the size I had chosen without a length adjustment. If I am making a store sample for a class, I try to make it exactly according to the pattern, without any adjustments for my body. And this is what it looked like when I put it on:

Is this a fabrication problem or a fitting problem? I don’t think it’s a fabrication problem—I’ve used this cotton sateen enough to know that it drapes nicely. The Remy pattern does make the point, several times, that sewists should choose a very drapey fabric because a stiffer fabric won’t hang as nicely. This is a fitting problem, and here it is in a nutshell:

These are the front and back pattern pieces for the Remy, laid side by side along the side seams. What do you notice? The front length, which is on the right side of the right pattern piece, along the fold, is exactly the same as the back length. That’s fine if you’re flat chested. If you have any kind of bust fullness—and I would argue even a B cup amount of fullness—the front isn’t going to be long enough to go over it. If you have a fair bit of fullness there, as I do, the front definitely isn’t going to be long enough to go over it. The front of the top rides up as a result. I almost always see some additional length in the front pattern piece of most patterns and was surprised not to see it here. I suspect this is the reason for the emphasis on using a drapey fabric. This problem was less evident in the muslin version I made using the old linen sheet, but it was still present. I also haven’t done the same front/back comparison on the Curvy pattern pieces, but I’d be willing to bet that they account for this issue.

There are two fixes for this, which come down to making a full bust adjustment of some sort:

1) Redraft the front curve so that it is lower than the curve on the back and provides the extra length that is being taken up in the bust.

2) Add bust darts.

The first fix is easier than the second. I don’t see a lot of raglan patterns with bust darts. I did find a couple of tutorials on adding bust darts to raglans, though, and I don’t think it’s overly difficult. I haven’t decided which method I am going to try. Either way, I will begin by lengthening the pattern pieces by at least 2".

Some days, I wonder if I need my head examined for trying to teach garment classes. I am much better about seeing problems and knowing how to fix them than I was a few years ago, but “solving for X” isn’t easy when X could be one of many variables or even a combination of several variables. (I’m looking at the raglan sleeves in that photo of me, above, and wondering if I need to adjust those, too, or if that’s a side effect of trying to take a selfie in the bathroom.) The feeling of satisfaction when you nail the adjustments and get a flattering garment is worth the effort, but you have to kiss a lot of frogs to find that prince.

A Friday Trip to Missoula

Deana and I went to Missoula yesterday. The weather was stellar and we hit only a moderate amount of tourist traffic. Our first stop was Swanky Sisters, a quilt store in Ronan. Up until a couple of months ago, this store was in a tiny space next to True Value in a strip mall on the other side of Highway 93. They moved to a much larger space and it is a joy to shop there now. They carry Tim Holtz fabric. Amazingly, I found a bolt of fabric from his Memoranda line, which I think came out in 2017(?). I have some of this in a different colorway; I don’t remember seeing it in this teal version. Of course, I bought some to add to the stash.

We continued on to Missoula. I reversed my usual route so that we would be downtown mid-morning and assured of getting a parking spot. Our destination was The Confident Stitch. Deana has been purchasing mostly one-yard cuts and fat quarters of quilting cottons she likes. I bought—boring alert—two yards of a white cotton lawn to make myself a top. Sometimes what I need is a plain white cotton tee or top and I never seem to have the right one.

After leaving downtown, we headed to Vicky’s Quilts Down Under. This is such an unassuming store but so much fun to visit. It’s in the basement of an office building. I like to check here when I need an out-of-print fabric because looking through her inventory is like going on an archeological dig. She’s got fabric lines from years back. And she somehow knows where everything is. I am on a Marcia Derse kick now and bought yardage from the Marble Run line.

I got enough to make a dress, because the substrate they used for this line has a gorgeous hand even though it’s technically a quilt cotton.

White tops notwithstanding, I still prefer to dress like a parrot.

We left Vicky’s and headed to Cracker Barrel for lunch. Deana is a good Southern girl and knew all about Cracker Barrel but I have never eaten there (that I can remember). I had grilled catfish—I love catfish—with a side of fried apples. It was yummy.

The last stop in Missoula was A Clean Stitch, which is the Bernina dealer where I sometimes teach. I bought some decorative thread for one of the serger projects in the queue. The owners were at BU and we were in some of the same classes, so we did a brief recap of our experience. They also asked me to call them next week to schedule a serger mastery class soon.

Of course, no trip to Missoula would be complete without a stop at the Amish store for ice cream on the way home. I had Strawberry Cheesecake and Deana chose Huckleberry. We sat in some rocking chairs on the front porch and enjoyed the beautiful day.

The Remy Raglan is on the docket for today. By hook or by crook—even if I have to stop answering the phone or e-mails—I am going to spend the next two weeks doing what I want to do. I only have a short window of time before I have to start harvesting and canning, and I also want to enjoy spending time with Robert and Deana.

The Many Ways to Sew

My friend Deana and I went to Thursday sewing for a bit yesterday and we laughed so hard my belly hurt. Sunnie and Robin and I are going to try to get to Spokane for a few days in August if nothing is on fire. It rained again yesterday and more is in the forecast for next week, so I am optimistic.

After sewing, we grabbed some lunch, ran a few errands, then ended up at the quilt store. I dropped off the Harper Cardigan and the Kaffe top and got fabric for a few more store samples. I am going to hole up in my sewing room after Robert and Deana leave and do nothing but sew for at least a week.

The store owner and the class coordinator and I sat down with our calendars and scheduled several classes between now and the end of the year. I had prepared a list of potential classes in five different areas—quilting, general sewing, embroidery, garment-making, and serging—and we chose one class from each category for every month.

I am trying to maintain control of my schedule, and referring to sewing and teaching as my job—which it is—seems to be the only way I can keep people from assuming that my time is up for grabs. I am not retired. I don’t have unlimited leisure time to be at other people’s beck and call.

About that new serger . . .

When I bought my L860, three years ago, I chose that model rather than the L890 coverstitch/serger combo machine because I already had a Janome coverstitch machine. And my coverstitch machine mostly does what the L890 does—mostly. The Janome is particular about certain threads. It tends to shred metallics because the thread path takes a hard 90-degree turn against a metal guide. 😕

Bernina recently came out with some belt loop folders for the L890. Photo from the Bernina website.

The belt loop folders do exactly what their name suggests; they make belt loops. (If you look at the underside of the belt loops on jeans, you will see that they are usually done on a coverstitch machine.) I’m not in the business of making coverstitch belt loops, but Gail Yellen has used these folders to make some very cool (not belt loop) sewing projects. I had the chance to try out these folders at BU in the Overlocker Accessories class.

I want to make some of the Gail Yellen projects. I also teach classes on this machine model. I decided it was easier just to have one of my own. I’m going to keep the Janome coverstitch set up for hemming knits, because it does that very well. I’ll use this machine for other coverstitch techniques.

*******

I mowed the grass in the garden yesterday morning—before it rained, thankfully. Everything is looking great out there. The raspberries are ripening. I weeded the potatoes a few days ago and accidentally dug up two classic russets which were already a respectable size. We had them with dinner last night. The brassicas look amazing and I think I am going to have a lot of cabbages. The peppers, squash and cucumbers are still small but I don’t expect to start harvesting from them for another couple of weeks yet. I am satisfied with where we’re at right now.

Nature and Vacuums and All of That

I am having a heck of a time keeping my desk clean these days. Every time I get it cleaned off, I come back to find a pile of papers on it. I’ve got several big projects in process at the moment with a lot of moving parts.

I’ve given up on QuickBooks for payroll. Their programmers appear to be more interested in adding AI to everything than in fixing the bug that is keeping me from using the payroll module. I went to reconcile the bank statement this month—a process which used to take me 10 minutes and now takes twice that long—and a screen popped up announcing that AI was ready to help me. I DON’T NEED HELP RECONCILING THE BANK STATEMENT. I need QB to get out of the way.

Our accountant recommended Gusto for payroll. Honestly, I may just continue with my old-school Excel spreadsheet. Payroll software makes the tax deposits automatically, but even making them manually isn’t that onerous. I’d love to ditch QB altogether but there is no good alternative, unfortunately.

Monday was not a sewing day; I had an appointment with my naturopath and had to record this week’s podcast episode. I thought I might get some sewing in on Tuesday, but the husband is buying another work truck—he will sell one of his other ones—and I needed to fill out the loan paperwork and get it back to the bank. This is the truck he wanted to buy last time he bought a work truck, but there weren’t any to be had in the entire United States. He found one in Arizona, so we jumped on it.

On my way to the bank Tuesday (around noon), I stopped in at the quilt store. I traded in my L860 serger for an L890 and had to drop off the L860. I was scheduled to teach a serger mastery class on Tuesday afternoon, but as of Sunday afternoon, when I checked with the class coordinator, no one had signed up. She said she would cancel it. However, the store staff didn’t know it had been canceled and someone signed up for the class on Monday. I didn’t know I had a student because I was operating under the assumption that the class had been canceled. I happened to be in the store, taking care of the serger trade, when a woman walked in and said, “I’m here for the serger class!”

Ooof.

I taught the serger class. Becky had mentioned to me at BU that she also wanted to take the next serger class so we called her and she came right in. I didn’t have my class samples or handouts but I made it work. Marci, who was working at the store that day, had a notebook of samples that she had put together after she took my class a few years ago, so we used that. And I got to the bank just before closing time and dropped off the paperwork. Crisis averted.

Ashlee and I came back from Bernina University with all sorts of ideas, some of which are what led to me trading up to the L890 serger. I will explain that in the next blog post so this one doesn’t get too long. I’m taking over teaching the mastery classes on all the machines, which will free up the owner and the rest of the store staff for other tasks. I have some work to do in the next couple of weeks to get up to speed on what I don’t know.

I also ordered a Bernina 700 PRO embroidery machine. That model has no feed dogs and can’t sew; its entire reason for existing is to do embroidery. The 880 came with an embroidery module, but I don’t want to tie up the 880 with embroidery projects. Its embroidery module can be used on the 700.

[Everyone in my family will be getting embroidered gifts for Christmas. You have been warned.]

I am also making samples to put around the store. Samples sell fabric, and sometimes patterns, and sometimes even machines. And they generate interest for classes. Ashlee asked for some samples ahead of Kaffe Fassett’s visit. I have one of the tops I made from a cotton sateen wideback and I picked up some Kaffe quilt cotton to make a very cute little girl’s dress pattern. Before BU, I cut out a Harper Cardigan from the Marcia Derse cotton jersey that the store received a few weeks ago, so I finished that yesterday (on my new serger!):

This pattern comes in four lengths. I made the longline version this time instead of the classic version I usually make. I like the longer length. The fabric is from Marcia’s Art History line. This is also going to the store.

The Remy Raglan is up next. I’ll make the muslin this weekend and—hopefully—the store sample right after that.

I’m excited that I’ll be teaching more this fall. I also have a reason to learn machine embroidery and I have more reasons to sew. Now if I can just keep my desk clean . . .

Best Sewing Vacation Ever, Part 5

On Wednesday of last week, Deana and I headed north from our hotel in Marysville, WA. We stopped at a shopping center just off I-5 which had both a Hobby Lobby and a Michaels. I was curious to see if and how the Michaels stores would expand their sewing departments now that Joanns is gone. This particular store had a fair offering of fabric—about an aisle’s worth—and Deana was able to find out from the store staff that more stock is on the way.

Hobby Lobby continues to disappoint, at least in terms of apparel fabric. They had no new apparel fabric for the spring and it doesn’t look like any is coming for fall. I did buy two McCall’s patterns for $2.99 each.

A bit further north was the charming town of Mount Vernon and another quilt store:

This was not a large store, but it was packed with fabric. I bought the lone fat quarter bundle of the Tim Holtz Blue Palette fabric; I have been buying two bundles of each color, but I took what they had. I also got a length of Kaffe Fasset cotton sateen wideback in a black-and-white print and the last 1-1/2 yards of an Anna Maria Parry cotton lawn. That is enough for a Déclic top.

From Mount Vernon, we headed south to Snohomish, another very cute town and the home of Quilting Mayhem:

I had heard of this store—it is a Bernina dealer—but this was my first visit. I’ll be going back, I’m sure. The store is huge and the front spans one entire city block. Half is classroom space and half is the retail area. Machines and accessories are on the second floor. I bought a few mini charm packs of Ruby Star fabric and some yardage from the Tim Holtz Blue line. (If I had my druthers, I’d buy a bolt of each fabric, but I am trying to be reasonable.)

By then, it was time for lunch. I think both of us were shopped out at that point.

Later that evening, we headed to Everett Memorial Stadium for the Northwest Youth Music Games. This was a gathering of seven drum corps from around the country—mostly west coast—for performances ahead of the Drum Corp International competition in Indianapolis in August. Robert has been working with the Sacramento Mandarins:

I so enjoyed this. I was in marching band in high school and loved every minute of that experience. The evening was chilly, so I wore my quilted jacket. It was very cozy. I think that jacket is going to get a lot of use this fall.

On Thursday morning, we dropped off my rental car and continued east on I-90 back to Montana. No trip to/through Spokane would be complete without a visit to the Quilting Bee. I was able to pick up a second fat quarter bundle of the Tim Holtz Blue Palette fabric. We hit some traffic on the way home but were here in time for a simple dinner.

******

Yesterday was an errand day because of the holiday weekend. Amazingly, though, the entire day was almost frictionless. Everything I needed to do went off without a hitch. How unusual. 🧐

I’ve got a pile of projects on the sewing table and I need (and want) to work on them this week. The garden needs some attention, although it is mostly coasting along without much input from me. We’re supposed to have a cool, rainy day on Thursday. I said to the husband that this weather pattern is almost perfect—a few days of sun and warmth followed by a cooler day of rain. I’d be happy to have this continue all summer.

Best Sewing Vacation Ever, Part 4

All of my Monday BU classes were lectures. I started with a Gail Yellen class in the morning. Gail is fantastic. She has pushed the limits of the Bernina L-series sergers—I have an L860—and has designed some very creative projects with them. I already had been introduced to most of what she talked about in her lecture, but seeing her video setup was worth the price of admission. Marci and Becky were in that class with me.

Marci and I then went to a presentation by Christy Burcham, one of the Bernina execs, on the new line of 300- and 700-series machines. I am not an employee of the store and don’t do sales, per se, but I am called upon in my classes to provide information about Bernina machines so this presentation was very helpful.

After lunch, Ashlee and I went to another garment class. The presenter was Fabian Renteria, one of the Bernina educators. That class was full to bursting—more proof that garment sewing is on the minds of a lot of store owners.

My last class was Embroidery Stabilizer Bootcamp, presented by one of the staff at OESD (Oklahoma Embroidery Supply and Design). OESD is a heavyweight in the world of embroidery and this presentation went through the various fabric stabilizers and how to use them. I really needed this class. Unfortunately, I had to duck out 30 minutes early to get to the airport, but I am sure I’ll be referring to the handout frequently.

Two of my very good friends are visiting Montana from Tennessee. They were here last fall and decided to come back for another visit. I’ve been friends with Robert since I was 14 and he was 16 and we sat next to each other in the trombone section in high school. His girlfriend, Deana, sews and embroiders. Robert has been consulting for the Sacramento Mandarins drum corps this summer. When he found out the corps would be in Everett, WA, for a show, he and Deana decided to drive there (they flew into Spokane) before coming to Montana. When I found out they were going to Everett, I decided to change my travel plans to meet them there.

I flew into Sea-Tac, rented a car, and got a hotel room. Everett is far enough from the airport that I didn’t feel like driving up there after a long day. I met them early Tuesday morning and whisked Deana away for a day of fabric shopping. 😇 (Tuesday also happened to be DD#2’s birthday, so I stopped at her apartment in Seattle to give her a hug before she left on her vacation.)

Deana and I got on the ferry and went across Puget Sound to Kingston. There is a fabric store called the Quilted Strait in Port Gamble. I haven’t been there in a few years, mostly because it usually is closed when I’m driving past that area. I bought a yard of Kaffe Fassett wideback for another woven top, a fat quarter bundle of some sewing-themed fabric, and Amanda Murphy’s new book:

This is intended to be something of a doodling book, with patterns to follow to become comfortable with free-motion quilting designs, but I’m going to photocopy the pages and “quilt” them on the Q20. I think they’ll get into my brain faster that way.

After leaving that store, we drove to Bainbridge Island to visit Esther’s Fabrics:

Deana was busy collecting quilting cottons and fat quarters at each store. I bought a kids’ dress pattern to make for the store and a possible class. We also stopped for lunch in Bainbridge and had the most amazing turkey sandwiches ever.

We left Bainbridge on another ferry headed for downtown Seattle and

I love this sign. They also had a new sign warmly welcoming Joann Fabrics customers, which I thought was a lovely gesture.

I confined myself to a length of lightweight linen for my Remy Raglan, once I get that pattern sorted. Deana needed a little cart:

Satisfied that we had seen all there was to see, the two of us headed back up to Everett to meet Robert for dinner.

More fabric shopping tomorrow!

Best Sewing Vacation Ever, Part 3

Sunday at BU was a light day. I had only two classes. The morning session was another make-and-take-teach-this-at-your-store class where we made a zipper pouch with a vinyl window. We were using the 770 PRO and 790 PRO machines.

Ashlee and I were in that session together. Our teacher was exceptionally good. Becky was next door in the same session with a different teacher who was not so good. ☹️

I am no stranger to making buttonholes. I did them on my Janome 6600P. I had not yet made buttonholes on a Bernina, however, and that was a life-changing experience. I now want to make buttonholes on All The Things:

I may teach this zipper pouch project at the store at some point.

My afternoon class was called, “Guiding the Garment Customer Journey: From First Impression to Your Bottom Line,” and it was taught by Maggie Smith, who owns a store called Pintuck and Purl in North Hampton, NH. I said to Ashlee afterward that it was gratifying to see that our store is ahead of the curve. The Quilt Gallery has been carrying apparel fabric and offering garment classes for the past couple of years. Most stores are frantically playing catch-up as they try to attract former Joanns customers.

The class discussion was lively and informative, with an emphasis on how to be welcoming to customers who might belong to a different demographic than the store’s regulars. In other words—“Don’t be a snob.” I think our store does a good job at being welcoming.

[In related news, I have eight people registered for my “Learn to Sew” pillowcase class at the end of the month.]

I appreciated having a lighter class day in the middle of the weekend. Four days of intensive learning is a lot.

*******

I’ve been catching up on paperwork now that I’m home, but I’ve also been sewing. I had a pile of flying geese units left over from making the quilted jacket, so I assembled them into Sawtooth Star blocks. I ended up with nine 9-1/2" blocks and seven 3-1/2" blocks. They went into the orphan blocks bin until I decide what to do with them.

It began raining Friday night and rained for much of yesterday, so I spent the day tracing patterns. I’m going to make the Icaria pants from Itch to Stitch:

I’ve had this pattern for a while. These pants are dead simple—three pattern pieces and a length of elastic—but I have some great fabrics in the stash that would be perfect. I lengthened the rise by an inch after watching Karina’s video at the Lifting Pins and Needles YouTube channel. She is about the same height as me, so if she has to lengthen a pattern, I make the same adjustment.

I need to get the Remy Raglan pattern printed while I am in town tomorrow so I can make a muslin of that top. I’m going to use worn-out linen sheets. Target was carrying linen sheets a few years ago and I bought some for our bed. They have developed holes, so now they will be repurposed as muslin fabric for the Icaria pants and the Remy top. After I check the fit with the muslin, I’ll make a top out of some linen I bought at Pacific Fabrics in Seattle.

Best Sewing Vacation Ever, Part 2

Saturday was my big machine embroidery day at BU. I deliberately chose these classes because this is an area where I don’t have a lot of experience.

The first class was called “Go for the PRO!” and focused on embroidery using the 700 and 790 machines. The 700 is actually an embroidery-only machine—no feed dogs—and that was the machine I ended up using. The teacher was Mary Beck, who had taught Friday’s serger class. She really is an excellent teacher. I learned as much watching the teacher as I did taking the class.

Most of these BU classes are intended for dealers (and staff) to take back and teach at their stores. This normally would be a three-hour class, but Mary taught it in 1-1/2 hours. We learned about the different kinds of embroidery files and how to expand and compress designs. I think machine embroidery is very cool:

At the end of the class, each student had made a very cute tea caddy:

The other side has pockets for holding tea bags. I have to hand sew the top opening closed, which is why the clips are there.

Just before lunch, I had two short classes (30 minutes), one on the new stabilizers from Wonderfil and one on threads from Superior Threads. I am a Wonderfil educator, so I am a bit partial to their products.

My afternoon class was called “Embroider on Everything.” We were using the top-of-the-line Bernina 990 machines. That model retails for $23,000. The class was in one of the ballrooms where about 40 machines had been set up. However, the class had twice as many students as machines, so we had to partner with someone. I understand why Bernina structures it that way, but it’s not ideal, as you will see in a moment. 🫤

My partner was a staff member from a store in New York. She had more embroidery experience than me, which was not surprising considering I was starting from ground zero. We had to choose whether we wanted to be an Elk or a Bee. I chose Elk. Each of us had a kit with a tote bag, a hat, and a towel. The Bees got to use the machines first. While they embroidered a design on the tote bag, the Elks went to the back of the room to learn how to put the hat in the hoop. By the time we had accomplished that task, the Bees were done embroidering their tote bags and were supposed to relinquish the machines to the Elks.

I successfully embroidered my hat:

Once a hat and a tote bag were done, each student got to embroider a small towel. We used the magnetic hoops, which are very cool but also very dangerous to fingers. (One of the class aides pinched his finger in the hoop and had to put a band-aid on it because it was bleeding.) My machine partner embroidered her towel first. By the time I got my towel onto the machine, it was getting close to the end of class and the teacher and aides were hurrying the students along. I had just started embroidering “BERNINA” on my towel when my partner said, “Here, you need to take this spool of thread,” and reached up and snipped the thread.

Snipped.The.Thread. In the middle of the embroidery design. Fortunately, there is a way to tell the machine to go back and start at a previous stitching line. I think my partner was feeling bad about what she did, so she re-threaded the machine for me and got it going again. Unfortunately, she hadn’t rethreaded it properly and the needle broke. We had to call over a class aide, who deftly fixed the whole mess, but I wanted to say, “It wasn’t my fault!” I had to hurry, but I was able to finish embroidering my towel.

As unfortunate as my situation was, my friend Becky, also from our store, was paired with someone who wouldn’t relinquish the machine and insisted on doing all the embroidery herself. She also wanted Becky to take the embroidered pieces in trade for Becky’s (unused) kit. Some people are just rude. I think Becky and I need to sit down together and have our own class.

[Even if money were no object, I have no desire to purchase the Bernina 990. It truly is an amazing machine, but I don’t feel the affinity with it that I do with my 880. That’s just how it is with some machines. I’m already dreading the day when my 880 is no longer useable because I can’t get parts for it.]

After those two classes, I am feeling much more confident about attempting some machine embroidery on my own. I have also gotten some great advice from my friend Deana, who is visiting us with my other friend, Robert. They live in Tennessee but came out here for a few weeks to escape the heat. Deana has a 15-needle embroidery machine and does beautiful work.

I missed Saturday evening’s karaoke session because our financial advisor lives in Salt Lake City and I had made arrangements to have dinner with him. I heard that karaoke was quite entertaining, though.

Best Sewing Vacation Ever, Part 1

I am back from Bernina University—with a post-BU detour to Seattle for a few days—and now it’s time to share everything I saw and did.

Our flight left Kalispell last Friday morning at 5:30 am. We were in Salt Lake City by 7:00 am. After a short van ride to the Hyatt Regency, we checked in, registered with Bernina, got our swag bags, and headed to the ballroom for the opening session. All six of us were wearing our quilted jackets/vests:

Sammy, in the middle, had entered her jacket in the fashion show, so she went backstage to get ready. The rest of us went and snagged our seats in the front row. Nick Verreos—Project Runway contestant and fashion designer—joined Bernina Exec Christy Burcham to host the fashion show:

Sammy and her jacket were a huge hit. People stopped our group many times throughout the weekend to compliment her on it. She used Tula Pink’s new line of fabric—Full Moon Forest—and included some really creative embroidery techniques.

After the fashion show, more Bernina execs came out to talk about the company, hand out awards, and give updates on new products. The 990 Pro, released last year, was a hard act to follow. This year’s new releases included updates to the 700-series line and a special Maker’s Edition of one of the Bernette serger/coverstitch machines.

We broke for lunch. After lunch, I had a class with Amanda Murphy, which was more of a product launch than an actual class, but at least I got to meet her in person.

My second afternoon session was a hands-on class on the new Maker’s Edition Bernette serger:

My only complaint about this class was that the machines had not been set up and tested beforehand. We were using the hemmer and binding attachments in coverstitch mode and they were quite fiddly and required several adjustments before they would work properly. That’s not unusual, but I don’t think it’s fair to the students to make them spend their class time doing a task that should have been done ahead of time. We also had to double up and move from machine to machine, round-robin style. I was able to make four of the five samples and called it good. Mary Beck was the teacher and she was excellent.

One of the nicest perks—and there were many—that Bernina provides to BU attendees is to give them a USB drive with every single handout from every single class, even the ones we weren’t enrolled in. That little thumb drive has a wealth of information on it, including the files on it to create sample cards for every technique on the Bernette and Bernina lines of sergers. I love that kind of stuff, so I am going to print out the cards and make those samples as a reference for my serger mastery classes.

There was no shopping at this event, per se, although dealers could place orders with vendors and see upcoming products before they are released. Bernina did have a BU Store, though, and I bought myself some fun Bernina-branded clothing, including a T-shirt and some socks. I also got a set of quilting rulers:

It’s hard to see, but the one on the left makes a Christmas tree and the one on the right makes a teardrop shape.

I have to say that Bernina fed us extremely well throughout the weekend. The evening reception featured so many great appetizers that we didn’t have to go out for dinner. Most of us were wiped out after a long day and made an early evening of it. And that was the end of Day 1. Day 2 was even more exciting, so stay tuned.

The Garden Waits for No One

The garden loved the rain we got over the weekend. It is starting to look like a jungle out there. The strawberries are still producing, although the berries are a bit waterlogged. I have to get out there today or tomorrow to mow the grass, or I’ll have to whack my way through with a machete by the time I get back from BU.

I sewed the zipper into the quilted jacket yesterday, so that’s all done and ready to wear. Have I mentioned how much I love double-sided 1/4" tape? It makes inserting zippers so quick and easy.

And I cut out another woven top. I am using one of the Kaffe Fassett widebacks—one yard is plenty because the widebacks are 108" wide. This is the print:

I made the neck facing and sewed the darts yesterday afternoon. Sewing the rest of the top together shouldn’t take too long. I’m not quite sure why I am favoring woven tops over knit ones this summer but I’m going with it. I don’t mind having to iron them. I love to iron.

Of course, now that I told you that I am making more wovens than knits right now, I have to show you some of the Marcia Derse cotton/lycra jersey that Ashlee ordered for the store:

This is from Marcia’s Art History line for Windham Fabrics. I bought a couple of yards of this, too. I was hoping to get this made into something before BU—a Harper Cardigan?—but unless I figure out how to cram 24 more hours into the day, that’s not going to happen.

No sedate prints or boring neutrals for me. 😇

******

There has not been any evidence of grizzly bear activity. I’ve seen a few does with new fawns and, of course, the resident turkey posse, but that’s been it. Even the garter snakes have been in hiding.

We have a couple of broody hens sitting on eggs. If any of the eggs were fertile, we should know in another week or so. I don’t need any more rooster chicks, but a few more pullets would be welcome.

In Search of a the Perfect V-Neck

Yesterday was a sewing day. I made a top:

This is my frankenpatterned woven tee with the V-neck from Burda 6146. This is a modest V-neck that doesn’t flash my bra at everyone. I am going to hack this V-neck onto the Déclic top pattern. That was last summer’s sleeper pattern. I love that pattern except for the fact that I am constantly pulling up the front of the tops I made from it. 😑

The fabric is a rayon batik from The Quilt Gallery, our local store. I bought everything they had in bright jewel tones and am slowly working my way through the pile.

This one is going to Bernina University with me. I am hoping to knock out one more of these this week, probably in a Kaffe Fassett cotton sateen. I can make one in about four hours, start to finish.

I’d still like to lengthen this pattern into a dress. That’s on the list of things to do in July. Sunnie gave me a chunk of rayon fabric last summer in black, blue, and teal. She bought it at a thrift store. I’ve been saving it because a) it’s gorgeous and b) I think it’s three yards long, which should be plenty for a dress.

Speaking of Kaffe Fassett, Operations Manager Ashlee asked for a class on sewing a top using some of his fabric lines. We are doing this in anticipation of his visit to the store in September. I gave her three options and we decided on the Sew House Seven Remy Raglan:

I haven’t decided if I will stick with the cropped version or lengthen it for myself. I’ll measure the pattern once I have it printed to see what I think. I suspect I am really going to like this pattern—I love raglans—so I may look for a nice chunk of lightweight linen for a version for me when I’m at Pacific Fabrics in Seattle.

*******

I popped out to the garden yesterday afternoon to take a look at everything. The plants do not appear to have suffered because of the cold snap, and they certainly appreciated the rain. The temps are warming up again. Except for a bit of weeding and watering, I can coast for a few weeks until things begin to ripen. The husband is usually good about harvesting raspberries for me, because he likes to go out there and eat them.

*******

One of the husband’s cousins is coming to visit today. We attended this cousin’s wedding 33 years ago—DD#1 was eight months old—and haven’t seen him since. He is bringing his nephew and his nephew’s girlfriend with him. Summer is for visitors!

A Bit of a Breather Now

Our church conference this past weekend was wonderful. We were at the Lutheran camp on Flathead Lake. I realized this morning that I spent two days staring out at the amazing scenery and never took a picture. I live here, so sometimes I forget to stop and appreciate it.

I finished knitting a prayer shawl while I was in delegate sessions and seminars and began putting the fringe on it last night. The yarn is Fleece Lite, from Hobby Lobby. I like it.

My supply of Lion Brand Homespun ran out with the previous prayer shawl. I would have bought more but Joanns seemed to be out of it for most of the past year. This Fleece Lite makes a reasonable substitute.

We keep a quilt stand with prayer shawls on it in the foyer of our church. Anyone is welcome to take one, either for themselves or to give away.

I also played piano and sang with the group. The singing was amazing. Our closing song during our worship service Friday night was The Canticle of the Turning, set to a familiar folk tune, and it’s a favorite among our congregations. I was on piano, our song leader was on guitar, our retired pastor was on guitar, and another woman played the flute. And, of course, we had 75 very talented singers in the room. There is a synergy that happens when a group of musicians is in sync and communicates almost without speaking. It doesn’t happen very often, but when it does, it’s a beautiful thing.

Megan Ramer, pastor of Seattle Mennonite Church, was in charge of planning the hymn sing and worship services and I thought she did a stellar job. I found out that there is an organization in their neighborhood called Refugee Artisan Initiative that teaches language and sewing skills to refugee and immigrant women to help them to integrate into the community, to work and provide for their families. I am hoping to interview someone from RAI for the podcast.

Another attendee was the director of Camp CAMREC, near Leavenworth, WA, and when she found out I teach sewing classes, she asked if I would be willing to come teach at one of their quilting retreats in the spring and fall. Of course!

******

The husband told me last night that he heard from our next-door neighbor yesterday that a grizzly bear broke into their chicken coop and killed 27 chickens. I saw a photo of some of the carnage. I know there has been a bear (or two) wandering around, but we haven’t seen any. The husband said he would take the shotgun with him when he makes his rounds at night. I will carry bear spray and look around very carefully before I head out to the garden. It might be time to put up a game camera.

******

I’m staying home today. It is still raining and a bit chilly—Missoula was under a frost warning last night!—so I plan to stay inside and cut out three woven tops. I will assembly-line the production.

Make It Modern

I worked on my Place for Everything Tote yesterday afternoon. I am reasonably good at binding, but binding these byAnnie bags is not easy. The Bernina 880 has zero trouble handling the extra bulk. It’s just tricky to make the binding look nice. I ended up making my binding 2-1/2" wide instead of the 2-1/4" wide called for in the pattern. Part of that was because I cut bias strips on my Accuquilt cutter and part of it was because that extra 1/4" makes a difference.

[I am not a fan of machine-sewn binding. I prefer sewing down binding by hand. On this project, though, there is no good way to hand sew binding to clear vinyl. Interestingly, all of us who made jackets for BU sewed down the binding by hand, so I don’t think I’m the only one who feels this way.]

The pages are done:

I am hoping the rest of the bag comes together quickly.

I’ve got a few free days next week (finally) and my plan is to cut out three woven tops and sew them together. I want to wear me-mades at Bernina University.

[On Wednesday, I wore one of my woven tops and a pair of denim wide-leg crop pants that I bought at Kohls. Several people asked me if I had made my pants. I just had to laugh. I wanted to say, “No, I made my top! Ask me about my top!”]

During class on Wednesday, Ashlee and I talked about marketing my learn-to-sew pillowcase class that is scheduled for the end of July. She asked me to make some store samples and gave me fabric from a new line called Groove, by Emily Van Hoff for Moda. Modern is not really my vibe, but every so often, it’s fun to sew with something I wouldn’t choose. We did a positive/negative with the pillowcases and I love how they turned out:

That pop of yellow in the flange is fun.

******

Today is payday for the employees. I am now on my third pay period without a functioning payroll module in QuickBooks. Heads need to begin rolling.

Our church conference kicked off last night with an Anabaptism At 500 hymn sing. I wish I had recorded it. We had 75 people in a room together, all of whom know how to and love to sing, and the sound was amazing. I accompanied some of the songs, we had additional instruments on some of the songs, and some of the songs we sang a capella. (So I also got to sing a bit.) I expect to be a bit sleep deprived this weekend, but it will be worth it.

When I got to the Lutheran camp last night, I noticed all the ground squirrels running around. Tons of them. It was a target-rich environment. 😛

Making Pants

I had two students in my Free Range Slacks class yesterday and we had a lot of fun. One student was my friend, Jenny, who is also on the board of the Mountain Brook Homestead Foundation. She has taken several classes from me. The other was the store owner’s daughter, Ashlee—now the operations manager of the store—who is about the same age as DD#2 and a lot of fun. Two students was plenty for the first time teaching that class. Ashlee says we should offer it again in the fall. She is working very hard to attract younger sewists as well as garment sewists, but it’s a process. Most people don’t associate quilt stores with garment fabrics.

Here is Ashlee cutting out her pattern:

She’s very interested in setting up a projector in her personal sewing space to avoid having to deal with paper/tissue patterns. I am old school and need to be able to hold a pattern piece in my hand. I doubt I will ever set up a projector, but I know some sewists love them.

Jenny finished her pants just before the end of class. I suggested both students use muslin rather than fashion fabric in case we needed to make any adjustments. Jenny is about the same height as me, so she’ll need to lengthen her next pair, but her first draft fit perfectly. Ashlee had no previous garment-sewing experience, but she gamely kept up and had assembled her pants by the end of class. She just needed to sew down the casing for the elastic and insert it, which she said she would do at home. She will need to lengthen her next pair as well.

That pattern was a good choice for first-time pants. The elastic waist let us concentrate on construction techniques rather than worrying excessively about fitting.

I need to run up a quick project for the quilt store this morning before getting ready to head to the Lutheran camp. The weather forecast is now calling for a possible 4" of snow as low as 4000' Saturday night. We’re at 3250'. That’s a bit too close for comfort. The husband and I may have to put row cover or tarps out on the plants after all. I don’t want to lose everything.

******

I am watching this Michael’s/Joanns “merger”—I don’t know what else to call it—with interest. I suspected that either Hobby Lobby or Michael’s would up its game after Joanns went out of business, if only because some of those larger yarn and fabric producers would be looking for a new national outlet through which to sell their products. I stopped at our Michael’s store a few days ago but the sewing section is still limited to one aisle in the back corner of the store. I think that Deana and I will stop at one of the larger Michael’s stores on our fabric shopping trip in Seattle because I know some of them are carrying fabric.

Hobby Lobby completely skipped the spring/summer fabric season. I see that they are now starting to stock some fall and Christmas fabric but no apparel fabric.

Baby Birds, New Fabric, and Some Turkeys

It feels like May and June have been one big event after another after another. Our congregation is hosting the annual meeting for our denomination’s regional conference this weekend. I was only tangentially involved in the planning; however, I am the pianist for the whole weekend—a hymn sing Thursday night, services Friday and Saturday evening, and a service Sunday morning. I enjoy playing, but some of the songs are new to me and have required practice. I spent time yesterday organizing music into folders so I know what I am playing when.

“How to Be a Church Pianist” was not one of the skills I learned when I took piano lessons as a kid at the Koch School of Music in Rocky River, Ohio.

I had hoped to do some sewing yesterday but it didn’t happen. Now that the jacket is done, the Place for Everything Tote is back at the top of the queue. I’m at the stage where I need to make a few miles of bias binding. I haven’t decided if I am going to take sewing or knitting with me to the conference this weekend. I am a delegate and will be sitting through several delegate sessions. At last year’s conference, the pastor from Menno Mennonite, in Ritzville, WA, brought her English paper piecing project—carried in her Place for Everything Tote—and we compared notes.

We have had such absolutely gorgeous weather since the first of May, but it is going to be cold and rainy this weekend. The high on Saturday may struggle to reach 50F. I sincerely hope we don’t get a frost, because I don’t have time to cover everything. Our conference is being held at the Lutheran camp on the west shore of Flathead Lake. 😩

My shipment of teal fabric from Tim Holtz’s Palette line arrived on Monday:

I’ve avoided teal for a few years because I was sick of it. Teal is one of the few jewel tones I can reliably find in the sea of muddy earth-toned ready-to-wear and I got tired of having so much teal (and black) in my closet. Obviously, I am coming back to it—the BU jacket has a teal background and I think this teal collection is my favorite so far of the new Tim Holtz line. (The photo doesn’t do it justice.)

The new appliances for the rental house were delivered yesterday so that’s been crossed off the list. And the zipper for my jacket is on the way, so I am reasonably certain I can get it sewn in before we leave for SLC.

I am teaching the Free Range Slacks pattern today. This should be a fun class. When I get back from BU/Seattle, I absolutely have to work on class submissions for Sew Expo and for the stores this fall.

We’ve had three older male turkeys hanging around the house. When a group of hens wanders through, it’s funny to see them puff up their chests, hoist their tail feathers, and start gobbling. They seem to have added up a couple of juvenile toms to their posse. Yesterday, the whole group was chilling in the front yard:

The baby robins have flown the nest. Three of the four left Monday afternoon. One baby didn’t want to leave and spent Monday night alone in the nest cheeping pitifully. I wondered if I was going to have to get up there and help it, but mama came back early yesterday morning and convinced it to fly.

Crisis Averted

Assembling the jacket was accomplished easily yesterday afternoon. Making the bias binding and attaching it took a bit longer, but I sat outside on the porch and watched mama robin feed the babies while I sewed it down. And I am thrilled with how it turned out:

Truly, what saved this project from disaster was the fact that I was able to cut the correct front pieces out of the back pieces. The shape of the armscye wasn’t quite the same as the original, but the sleeve cap fit into it without issues. This is a quilted jacket, not a tailored one, so no one will know. The front jacket pieces are narrower than planned because each one was half the width of the back, but that just means they won’t overlap. I kicked around a couple of ideas for closures, including large hooks and eyes or frog closures, but it occurred to me that a zipper might be the best option. I found and ordered a teal parka zipper from Zipper Shipper on Etsy. Hopefully, it arrives before we leave, even if I have to sew the zipper in by hand on the flight down to SLC. If it doesn’t, I’ll use the large hooks and eyes as a temporary fix.

I am glad I went with the teal binding. I think it lets the piecing shine. And I am glad I used the McCall’s 8560 pattern because the length is perfect.

Now I can move on to something else. I’d like to make a couple of tops to wear at BU.

*******

I did more planting and weeding yesterday morning before it got hot. I still have a few things to put in the herb garden, but the big garden is well underway. The nope ropes were out in full force. The big snake was in its usual spot, along with a second one:

And a third one was a few feet away:

I was telling the husband about them and he said to me, “You are a rare woman,” and I said, “Sarah likes snakes, too,” and he said, “Sarah is also a rare woman.” LOL. The snakes in the garden have never bothered me. I take them as a sign of a healthy ecosystem and as long as they are out there, I won’t have issues with some of the common insect pests.

The husband was getting supplies ready for a new job yesterday, so the rental house work will happen this afternoon.

Not Quite There Yet

I have not yet sewn the jacket together to determine if I have been able to avoid disaster. I spent yesterday morning weeding potatoes and laying out soaker hose, after which I made a pass through the strawberry bed and brought in another two gallons. A pair of opinionated robins—how dare I take their berries!—kept me company. (These were not the nesting robins, who do not have time to heckle the gardener because they are busy feeding babies.) The rest of the morning was spent making phone calls. I am working on something for the husband which requires calling people, but most of that time is spent navigating stupid phone menus trying to get connected to a human being with the answer to my question. It is absolutely maddening.

The weather has been showery all week. I am grateful for the rain and happy I don’t have to start the supplemental watering just yet. The hoses are all laid out, though, and ready to go. And I thought we had a lot of strawberries until I looked at the raspberry canes. We are going to have a tsunami of raspberries this year. (Deana, bring all your best recipes for using them.) I suspected that might happen after I ruthlessly pruned them the year before last.

Anyway . . . after lunch, while it rained, I finished all the edges of the jacket pieces on the serger in anticipation of assembling the jacket. I used a teal thread in the upper looper to match the teal background:

And a black thread in the lower looper to match the charcoal background.

Anything worth doing is worth doing in excess. No one is going to see the inside of the jacket, but this makes me happy.

I also spent some time cleaning up my sewing room. I had been dumping all of my stock-up-before-Joanns-goes-under purchases from last month on every empty horizontal surface and they needed to be put away. I can only work in clutter for so long.

The husband and I are going to work over in the rental house today, although I’d like to spend another couple of hours in the garden, first. The weeds don’t wait for anyone. If I have time this afternoon—or if it rains—I’ll see about sewing the jacket together.

Summer is so vastly different from winter, and not just because of the weather. The daily routine is different, the flow of the weeks is different—even what I cook for dinner is different. (No soups and stews again until the fall.) It’s almost like being set down on a different planet for a few months.

I Made a Mistake

All of the pieces of the BU jacket have been quilted and cut out. I am ready to begin the assembly. However, I made a mistake. I do not want to confess it until I know if the fix I came up with works. I was talking about it with the husband last night and his first question was, “Do you have more fabric?” I do, but what I don’t have right now is time.

The truth is that sometimes creativity—like weeds—flourishes in those places where it’s up against a rock and a hard place. In the grand scheme of things, this isn’t a disaster. I am fairly sure it’s fixable. Also, mistakes will be the subject of next week’s podcast episode because it’s important to make lemonade when handed a bag full of lemons.

Today is National Sewing Machine Day, for those of you who track those important dates. I love my sewing machines. I wish I could find time to go out to the garage and tinker with some of my vintage ones. Maybe next month. The garage is a lovely cool place when it’s 90F+ outside.

This morning, though, I absolutely have to get out and work in the garden. I need to bring in the rest of the strawberries. The potatoes desperately need weeding. The hemp mulch works nicely, but lamb's quarter still manages to spring up right next to the potato plants. Fortunately, lamb’s quarter is one of the easiest weeds to pull, especially after it rains.

[I am sure that the more enlightened gardeners out there will point out that lamb’s quarter makes a fine salad green, but I’m having enough trouble harvesting the stuff I planted deliberately without also having to worry about harvesting weeds.]

Those four baby robins are so demanding that papa robin has been drafted to help feed them. The photo isn’t great, but both mama and papa robin have been bringing bugs and worms to the babies:

I think this same mama robin has been building a nest in this spot for several years. She doesn’t get startled and fly away if I walk past the nest—or worse, strafe me for getting too close. (Papa robin, however, is still skittish.) I talk to all the animals. Even Bunny has stopped hopping away when it sees me. Now it just sits there, calmly munching on dandelion stems, while I tell it my plans for the day.

The husband found the little lame chick dead in the coop a few nights ago. That made me sad, but sick and lame animals get culled on farms—either naturally or deliberately—for a reason. I’ve had lame chickens before and they rarely do well. I was already starting to obsess about what I was going to do if that chick got outside, because I knew it wouldn’t be able to get back up the ramp into the coop.

I See the Finish Line

I knew that once the piecing was done, the quilting and assembly of the Bernina University jacket wouldn’t take long. Thankfully, I remembered—just in time—that I needed to reverse the piecing of the sleeves to make them mirror images of each other. It wouldn’t have been a catastrophe if I hadn’t, but better not to have to punt.

The silk batting was a good choice. I like the weight and drape it gives to the jacket. The quilting is allover loops, because I am at the “get it done” stage of this project and because I like loops. This is the back:

The fronts also have been quilted and cut out. I still need to quilt the sleeve pieces but ran out of time yesterday afternoon. Once those are done, I will serge the edges of each piece before assembling the jacket. I don’t intend for this to be a reversible jacket, so I am not going to take the time to bind the inside seams.

I am dithering about what color binding to use on the front edges. My choices are black, the charcoal that I used for the lining fabric, or the teal. I am leaning toward the teal. I’d like to finish this by early next week.

*******

I rearranged my travel plans for BU. I’ll fly down to Salt Lake City with the group from the store, but I fly to Seattle after BU instead of coming home. We’re on Delta from Kalispell. I could have stayed on Delta and just changed the flight from SLC to Seattle instead of Kalispell, but I didn’t like the timing of the flights. Either I would have to miss my last BU class to get the airport on time or I’d be flying into Seattle at 11:00 pm (ugh). Alaska Airlines had a flight at a better time and I had enough airline miles to pay for that ticket. I had had the foresight to get a refundable ticket on Delta, so I was able to cancel the original reservation and re-book as a one-way flight. I am all set. Robert and Deana are working on lodging.

*******

I was in the garden again at 6:30 am yesterday. This will be my routine for the rest of the summer unless it’s raining. I moved a piece of black plastic from one side of the garden to the other and surprised a nope rope:

I suggested it visit its cousin on the other side of the garden, the big snake that lives under the sage bush.

The strawberries are producing like crazy. I picked almost two gallons yesterday and that was only half the bed. I cleaned them and put them in the freezer on trays. It’s raining this morning so I may not get the rest of them until this afternoon.

Four Hungry Babies

I am attempting to establish some kind of routine for the summer. Yesterday morning, I cut the grass in the garden—at 6:30 am, while it was still cool out there—then did a podcast interview. That took a couple of hours to record and edit, and then I made a bunch of phone calls, including one to the person who ghosted us on Friday afternoon. She had left the office early without checking her calendar. After apologizing profusely, she helped me take care of what needed to be done.

And then, after lunch, I sewed! (Cue angels singing.) I finished putting together the second front of the jacket, then moved on to the sleeves. These are two-part sleeves. I assembled the front part of both sleeves and made the last Sawtooth Star for the back portion of one of them. Putting together the back sleeves is on the schedule for this afternoon. They have an elbow dart, so the piecing is going to be a bit trickier because I don’t want to be making a dart in a spot that has a star in it. I also dug into the stash and found the silk batting, so once all of these sections are assembled, I can make quilt sandwiches out of them and quilt them.

I can see the finish line. Yay. After the jacket is done, I’ll get back to working on the Place for Everything Tote.

******

I am working on adjusting my trip to Bernina University. My friends, Robert and Deana, are coming out here in July to spend a couple of weeks. They were here last September and liked it so much they decided to escape the July heat of Tennessee and come back. Robert is a very accomplished musician. He and I have been friends since I was 14 and he was 16—that’s 45 years if anyone is counting—because we sat next to each other in the trombone section of our high school band. He is doing some consulting this summer with the San Francisco Mandarins drum corps. The drum corps is touring, and one of their stops is just north of Seattle. That date happens to coincide nicely with their arrival out here. They are flying into Spokane and will drive to Seattle on the same day that I am supposed to fly back from Salt Lake City, so I am going to try to change my flight to go to Seattle, instead. I’ll meet them there, Deana and I will do some fabric shopping (she sews), and we’ll attend the drum corps performance before driving back here.

******

The poor husband is pouring a slab at 6 am today and the jobsite is an hour away. He left at 3:45 am. Early morning is not his best time of day. I, on the other hand, do my best work between 4 and 6 am.

The baby robins spend most of their time like this:

I feel for the mama robin. She is constantly flying back and forth with food for them.