A Craft Fairy Delivery

Whenever I have opined on the blog about not being able to find craft supplies, a package invariably shows up a few days later. I took up embroidery and not long after that, UPS delivered a box full of my mother’s DMC thread collection and books. (She used to do cross-stitch; some of those supplies have been passed on to DD#2.) Another time, I got a shipment of elastic and fabric. This past weekend, a box came bearing these:

I believe I am set for ribbon now. Thank you, mom. At least your craft room is getting cleaned out.

Tuesday was errand day, so I didn’t get much sewing done. I did put together the last Lark Tee before I left for town. I dropped the jacket off at the quilt store, went to Costco, and picked up a three-yard length of royal blue double-brushed poly from the Mystery Fabric rack at Walmart. That’s going to be the muslin fabric for a waterfall jacket (McCalls 6084). If the muslin turns out well, I’ll have a royal blue waterfall jacket. The style is similar to that A Little Somethin’ Jacket I made on Monday, but out of a knit and much closer fitting. I have a black one that is just about worn out and also needs to be remade.

[As I was getting dressed for church on Sunday, I thought to myself how nice it is to have a closet full of clothing that coordinates, in colors that I like to wear.]

After lunch, I cut the fabric for a couple more serger class samples, but I need thread before I can start putting those together. I’ll pick up some of the thread on my next trip to town. I put in a big order with Wonderfil for the rest. One of the class samples is another version of that half apron I made last week. Now that I have ribbon, I’m going to experiment with adding ribbon to the flatlock seams. The second project may end up being a class next spring, but I need to find out if it works, first, and that means making up the pattern.

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We had a very productive day here yesterday at Chez Schuster-Szabo. I did a deep clean of the foyer and my office and ran the air scrubber most of the day. I need to do the kitchen (again) and the laundry room and then I’ll start working on the upstairs. That air scrubber definitely has cut down the amount of dust circulating in the house.

While I was working inside, the husband and his crew were working outside. They had a day off between jobs (very unusual) so he had the guys working here. Two of them split and stacked wood and the other two helped the husband replace the plastic on the greenhouse:

The original plastic lasted 10 years. The new plastic is reinforced, and the husband also ordered some shade cloth to keep it a bit cooler in there in mid-summer. He got a smaller piece of shade cloth for the chicken yard, too. We’re getting everything battened down because a cold front is coming through on Friday and snow is in the forecast for the whole week after that. Nothing like falling off a cliff into winter.

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The husband has a business credit card that gets Amazon reward points. The reward points are mine to spend as part of my “salary” for being the construction company bookkeeper. We had a hefty balance, so I ordered myself a nice Arrow cabinet for my Bernina serger with a custom insert to make the machine sit flush with the table. I prefer flatbed machines and all of mine are set up that way.

I’ve got a pile of stuff to take to the thrift store on my next trip to town. I’m also going to check and see if any of the stores will take fabric scraps for recycling. I’ve sorted out what I can either pass on, use in my classes, or turn into scrap quilts, but I still have quite a bit left, especially garment fabrics. I hate to send them to the landfill if they can be recycled. One store does package up bales of clothing that isn’t saleable, so I’ll start with them. (Yes, I know, I could make dog beds to donate to the animal shelter, but there are only so many hours in the day.)

A Jacket and Three Tops

I was on fire yesterday. I knocked out a jacket and three tops and have a fourth top cut out but not assembled. I love productive days like that. Let’s review:

This is the A Little Somethin’ Jacket from CNT Patterns:

The fabric is a rayon batik from Robert Kaufman, purchased in Missoula. This went together in two hours. I made the tunic-length jacket with long sleeves, but it’s still a couple of inches too short for me—when I have it on, I can tell that the proportions are wrong. I knew that was likely, but this is a class sample and I wanted it off my to-do list, so I didn’t take the time to lengthen it.

Other sewists who reviewed this pattern noted a few issues. It is drafted generously, so I went down a size and was glad I did. The sleeves are inserted flat, which I’m used to doing with knits but not wovens. One reviewer thought the sleeve caps needed to be redrafted. I agree with her. The sleeve cap is too shallow for the armscye. In a knit, that wouldn’t be as much of an issue, but this rayon batik did not stretch. Normally, I would have set in the sleeves on the serger, but I ended up sewing them on the machine with the sleeve side down so the feed dogs could ease in the extra material. That worked nicely. I finished the seam on the serger.

[And of course, after I finished this, I happened upon a serger technique video for adjusting the differential feed to ease and serge a sleeve into an armscye. I’ll put that in the arsenal of techniques to try next time, although it is one of those serger methods that you really only get one opportunity to get right.]

Again, this pattern was written for assembling on the sewing machine, so I had to think about what parts I wanted to do that way and what parts I wanted to do on the serger. The seams have to be finished in some manner because rayon batik will fray if you look at it sideways. I reinforced the corners of the neck with some squares of interfacing, which was a good decision as they would be a weak point otherwise after clipping into them. I also used stay tape on the shoulder seams. As a result, the inside does not look as couture as I would have liked, but at least I know this won’t fall apart in the wash.

The front has a self-facing. I finished the bottom edge on the serger before folding it up and hemming on the sewing machine. All the exposed seams are finished or sewn on the serger.

I think this will make a good class. If I have time, I might lengthen the pattern and make this up again in some cotton interlock.

Task #2 was to make a second Easton Cowl out of a rayon jersey from the stash. That one was another quick sew. I was done by noon:

I think this top will get a lot of wear. It could be worn either with jeans or dress pants—or those Renee ponte pants that I reach for over and over because they are so comfortable. This still has to be hemmed, but it’s the beginning of a stack of tops that I will hem later in the week in a marathon coverstitch session.

I took a break for lunch, then got out the Lark Tee pattern from Grainline Studio and cut two of those from the double-brushed poly prints I got at the quilt store last week. After wearing the one Lark Tee that I had made a few months ago, I decided that I like that pattern even more than the top I drafted for myself, so I am just going to use it for my basic T-shirts. I discovered, as I was serging the first one together, that I had cut the 3/4-length sleeves for both tops instead of the long sleeves. I was momentarily annoyed until I looked down and realized I was wearing one of my favorite Liz Claiborne tops with 3/4-length sleeves, which is why it is one of my favorite tops.

Some days I just need to get out of my own way.

Those two Lark Tees are finished and in the queue to be hemmed. I have a third one—with long sleeves—cut out and waiting to be assembled. I might try to get that one done this morning before running errands.

I haven’t quite decided what is next. Getting the jacket and the second Easton cowl made up were the most urgent clothing projects and now they’re done. I should get back to quilting and make a dent in that pile of projects. I also need to continue my deep house cleaning and make tomato sauce and salsa.

Heat and Hot Water

The husband spent the weekend finishing the wood boiler project. I know better than to interrupt him when he is in focused work mode. Just before dinner, I spotted this:

The wood boiler is now operational. We can use this to heat the house and keep the propane as a backup heat source. The wood boiler is also hooked up to the hot water heater to provide virtually unlimited hot water. (DD#2 will be happy to hear that.) The system looks like this:

The husband explained it to me, but I didn’t make an in-depth study of how this works. The wood boiler comes with an app and is hooked up to our wifi. He has been keeping tabs on the temperature from his phone. The house did get pretty toasty last night, although anything above 70 degrees is too warm for me.

On to the next project.

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While the husband was working on the wood boiler, I cut out fabric for this:

This is the A Little Somethin’ Jacket by CNT Patterns. We’re going to try this as a class next month. The class coordinator at the quilt store south of town suggested it. She made one years ago and liked it well enough that she wants to try making the jacket again in flannel. I pulled a rayon batik out of my stash—it’s the wrong season for a light jacket, but I know the store has rayon batiks in stock and I try to make class samples in fabrics they carry. If I like this, I might make a version out of some heavier rayon knit (sweatshirt weight). Theoretically, this could even be made from a ponte knit.

The pattern consists of three pieces. The front is self-faced. This shouldn’t take long to make up. I’m doing the tunic version with long sleeves, although I suspect it may still be short on me. We’ll see.

I’m also going to make another Liesel + Co Easton Cowl. That’s the class I am teaching on Friday. Tera texted me yesterday to let me know she’s planning to take it. I made that top way back in May or June and I want to familiarize myself with the pattern again. I’m doing the long-sleeve version this time.

I’ve got a few other patterns stacked and ready to cut out once I get these two done.

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The mother of one of my high school friends sent me this by way of my mother. They’ve been in Women’s Club together for decades and Laura reads the blog, so she knows how I feel:

I showed it to the husband and it made him laugh, too. Thank you, Laura! I have this hanging over my desk now.

We Made Pillowcases

Some day I might learn to quit paving the road to hell with my good intentions. Or not.

I had the brilliant idea of scheduling a sewing class at the Community Center. This is one of those chicken-and-egg situations that involves throwing a bunch of stuff at a wall and seeing what sticks, metaphorically speaking. Until we offer classes, we can’t generate interest in the classes, and until there is interest in the classes, we don’t know what classes people want to take. Also, I needed to test out the reservation plug-in on the website. That part, at least, worked well, as every student reserved a spot and paid through the website.

Two ladies signed up for the morning session. I had interest from a mom with two girls, as well, but they had a conflict in the morning so I said I would do an afternoon session for them. I took all my stuff up to the Community Center yesterday morning; Susan’s husband, Jim, came over and helped me unload the car. Susan and Jim live right across the road.

Class was supposed to start at 9 am. At 9 am, I had no students.

9:05: No students.

9:10: Still no students.

9:15: I texted Susan and told her I was waiting until 9:20, then going home.

9:20: I got back in my car and headed for home. I live about five minutes away. As I was pulling into my driveway, Susan texted me and said she thought the students had shown up. I turned around and went back to the Community Center. When I arrived, two ladies cheerfully got out of the vehicle and said they were late because they “had to stop for coffee.”

I put on my polite face and invited them inside and we had a class on making pillowcases.

[I could have been snide about the fact that they were half an hour late, but I am representing the homestead foundation and trying to generate interest in our organization. Also, just because they had been inconsiderate didn’t mean that I needed to be rude in return.]

One lady had some quilting and sewing experience, but the other lady was a rank beginner. The lady who had never sewn before was delighted that she actually made something. I took a picture of her finished pillowcase:

That was the only picture I got. It’s hard to remember to take photos when one is in the middle of teaching.

I took a break for lunch, then went back for the afternoon class. This was a mom and her 10 year-old daughter and the daughter’s friend. We had a great time. The daughter’s friend is a sharp little cookie who has a bright future as a sewing designer, LOL. She would have made pillowcases all night if we had let her. Unfortunately, I had only brought enough fabric with me for each of them to make one. Mom also asked if I would teach beginning knitting classes as she wants to learn.

I probably will offer some classes again, but not until after Christmas. The class fee generated some income for the homestead foundation and every little bit helps.

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I’m looking at a stretch of open days on my schedule and contemplating what I want to work on next. After dinner last night, I got out the Squash Squad wool embroidery pattern and prepped the first block:

This was a Sue Spargo stitchalong on Instagram two years ago. I tried to follow along, but there were all sorts of problems with Instagram. (I am no fan of Instagram.) I couldn’t find the posts with the instructions, Instagram TV didn’t work properly, etc. I gave up in frustration. When the printed pattern became available, I bought it. This second attempt is proceeding much more smoothly. I will have plenty to work on in the evenings this winter. I just love all those bright bits of wool.

I think tomorrow is going to be a marathon cutting session for clothing patterns. The fabric does me no good until it is sewn into something. In the meantime, I’ve been making up serger technique samples here and there and adding them to my class materials.

The husband spent all day yesterday getting the guts of the wood boiler system hooked up in the basement. I think he’s getting close to the end of this part of the project and we should be able to fire it up soon.

Rescue Machines

I taught a Bernina serger mastery class on Wednesday at the quilt store south of town. The class is open to anyone who has a newish Bernina serger; it’s free to customers who purchased their machines at that store. The store offers similar mastery classes for people who have purchased sewing or embroidery machines.

I had two students. One had a Bernette air-threading model and the other had the L890, which is the serger like mine but with coverstitch capabilities. The class ran from 10-3, and that gave me ample time to cram as much information about their machines into their heads as I could. This was my first time teaching the class. I was not sure how best to structure it, but I was happy with how it went. The first hour consisted of most of my Serger 101 class material—threads, needles, basic serger operation, etc. (These were upgrade machines for both students.) After that, I took them through the stitches, starting with a four-thread stitch, then the three-thread stitches, the two-thread flatlock, and ending with the gathering foot and piping foot before we ran out of time.

I’ll do that class again in January.

I have four students signed up for tomorrow’s beginning sewing class at the Community Center, so I spent yesterday morning getting machines in order. I’ve picked up a couple of Janome entry-level machines at thrift stores on my travels. Even their lower-end models have all-metal guts. One of the machines went to live in Alaska for me to use when I visit the kids. The other is a Janome Jem, which is a sought-after model for taking to quilt classes. And in August, Sunnie found a Janome One-Step at the thrift store in Bigfork and brought it to me.

That poor little machine—judging by the stickers on it, it had been thrifted and re-thrifted several times, and I suspect that’s because someone got into it and mucked it up. The needle was stuck in the left-hand position. The plastic housing obviously had been opened at some point and hadn’t been put back together correctly. I cleaned and oiled the machine, put all the settings back where they were supposed to be, closed the plastic housing properly, then tested the stitching. It sews beautifully! Thank you, Sunnie! We will use it in class.

My friend Susan’s daughter dropped off a Singer 401 over the summer and asked me to check it out. There was an issue with the bobbin case. (She was not in a hurry to use it but I know she’s visiting this weekend and I want to get it back to her.) While I had all my tools out, I went over that machine, too, and fixed the problem.

I need to make time to tinker with machines this winter. Getting them up and running is so satisfying.

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I’ve found myself doing a lot of publicity work for both the homestead foundation and now for our church’s gift festival in November, and it’s a perfect example of how progress is not always positive. Publicity used to involve printing and mailing press releases to local newspapers, radio stations, and TV stations. Now, everything is done online, except that to submit a press release, you have to fill out an online form and—in many cases—create an account. All of that takes so much time. I spent 10 minutes yesterday morning creating and verifying an account in order to add information to a local TV station’s online calendar. When I was all done, I hit “submit,” and got this message:

Your event appears to be spam and will not be accepted!

The message came with no way to appeal that decision. I scoured the website looking for a contact e-mail without success. I’ll try again today, but I am not going to waste time on it.

I’ve also been frustrated by one of the local Facebook groups. We have two: one for Bigfork and one for Kalispell. The Bigfork one is so easy—I create an “event” for what I want to publicize and it goes right through. I’ve done the same thing for the Kalispell group but getting it past the admins is next to impossible. Sometimes (rarely) the event gets approved and sometimes it doesn’t, and I can’t figure out why. I’ve e-mailed to ask for clarification and gotten crickets in response. Sigh.

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After tomorrow, I have nothing on the calendar until next Friday, and nothing on the calendar the week after that. I plan to keep it that way. I’ve got to get my canning projects done and I plan to sew. I have so many ideas clamoring to get out of my head. It occurred to me the other day that I haven’t even begun to explore the possibilities of my coverstitch machine. I’ve only used it for hemming, and it has decorative stitch capabilities just like sergers do (top coverstitch and chain stitches). Much to do.

Health and Beauty Day

I went to the dentist yesterday morning for my twice-yearly cleaning. The hygienist pronounced my gums “very healthy” and the dentist said my teeth were “beautiful.” Apparently, the dentist my mother took us to as children did an exceptionally good job with the fillings I do have and the dentist said she doubts I will have problems with them. I had very little plaque and I was in and out of there within 45 minutes.

This is the toothpaste we use:

I can hardly stand to brush with Colgate or Crest anymore—it’s like brushing with soap. As long as this keeps working so well, we will continue to use it.

I ran a few errands between the dentist appointment and my afternoon haircut appointment. I dropped off the aprons at the quilt store north of town so they could display them for an upcoming class (not scheduled yet, but probably in January), and picked up two additional yards to make another apron for myself. I went to Walmart, Hobby Lobby, and Michaels in search of 1/4” ribbon for my serger experiments. This is the wrong time to be shopping for it. Apparently, it’s all been bought by other crafters using it for Christmas projects.

Our Walmart has a new display that I have started referring to as “mystery fabric.” It’s full of 2-, 3-, and 4-yard rolls of fabric with very little fiber content information. At most, the label might say “100% polyester,” but often it says, “Fiber Content Unknown” or something similar. I’ve taken to perusing that display periodically. Yesterday, I happened upon a three-yard bundle of some navy blue knit that I am 99.9% sure is rayon spandex. I bought it because it was only $8 and I can always use it for muslins, if nothing else, although the fabric is not bad. I’m wondering if Walmart some other entity is buying up mill ends and packaging them for sale.

I stopped in at the quilt store south of town—which was insanely busy—to check on the enrollment for my serger mastery class today. I came out of there with some flannel and two cuts of double-brushed polyester knit from Quilting Treasures. I was in the store the day the QT sales rep was there and I knew the fabric was on order. It arrived this week. QT’s line of DBP is some of the nicest I’ve seen, with gorgeous prints in saturated colors. I got this one:

And this one:

Both likely will end up as fall T-shirts. If I had had time yesterday, I would have whipped one up to wear to class today.

I think it’s rather a shame that some of these gorgeous fabrics don’t make it to quilt stores. I’ve concluded that people with winter coloring are a definite minority; most store owners seem to gravitate toward muddy earth tones because those are the colors they personally prefer. (The other two prints that came in were just as lovely, but they weren’t colors I could wear.)

The last place I stopped was Joann Fabrics, of course, so I could check the remnant rack there. I ran into a friend of mine and chatted with her for a bit.

Tomorrow and Friday will be devoted to getting ready for my sewing class on Saturday. I am waiting to work on canning projects because the husband has the basement torn up while he installs the guts of the wood boiler system down there. As soon as he’s done, though, I’ll get to work on canning up tomatoes, dry beans, and BBQ sauce.

Serger Studies

I finished the second BabyLock serger apron, another design by Deb Canham. I don’t often wear a half apron—I am just too messy and need the coverage of a full one—but this would be cute for a special occasion.

The main fabric is from Cathe Holden’s Flea Market Fresh line for Moda. (She has a similar line called Flea Market Mix.) The contrast fabric is something that I pulled out of my stash. I have no idea where it came from. The selvage says E.E. Schenck, which is one of the big fabric distributors. I thought it coordinated nicely.

I would do this differently on the second iteration. Those flatlock ladder stitches on the skirt were made with a turquoise 12wt Wonderfil thread, but I switched to the orange for the edge of the ruffle and I wish I had used the orange in the skirt, too. That’s one of the hazards of working through a pattern for the first time. The photo of the finished design did not show any details, so I had no idea how this was going to look until I finished mine. Oh, well. I think I would also thread some 1/4” ribbon through those flatlock ladders. I can’t really do it after the fact because there would be no good way to secure them. I’ll leave it as is. These are all class samples and sometimes it’s good for students to see what didn’t work just as much as what did.

I am in love with the three-thread narrow edge using 12wt threads in both loopers:

It’s so ridiculously simple but looks so nice—much better than a plain hem, I think.

I am still making friends with that gathering foot. When it’s used to gather a single layer of fabric, it works really well—I gathered the top of the skirt that way and it’s such an improvement over gathering on the sewing machine. The edge is finished and doesn’t fray, and the two needle threads are strong enough for adjusting the fullness of the gathers along the width. Using the gathering foot to gather and attach simultaneously, though, is a bit trickier. Even with the differential all the way up and the stitch length at its longest setting, the ruffle doesn’t gather as much as it does alone. And there is the problem of managing the two layers of fabric as they feed into the machine. The top layer feeds into a separate opening on the foot to keep it from being gathered and it tends to want to slide out. Also, you really only get one chance to do it correctly.

I’ll keep working at it.

The other detail I love about this apron is that piping between the skirt and the waistband. I used the piping foot for that and the whole process was fast and easy.

After I finished the apron, I pulled out another BabyLock pattern—for a wine gift bag. I knew I had wine-themed fabric in the stash, so I pulled that out, too, and some coordinating fabric for the lining. I had just enough of the wine-themed fabric for three bags, which turned out to be a good thing because I didn’t get it right until the third one.

It’s a free pattern, so I don’t expect much, but I do expect some basic information. No seam allowance was given, so I shaved off a knife’s width as I serged. The instructions call for 1/4” wide ribbon or cord for the tie, but don’t say how long the ribbon should be. I used 24”, which seemed about right. The tie is folded in half and inserted into the seam. For the first bag, I tried some decorative cord, but it shredded itself and came out of the seam when I tried to tie it.

Bad words were said.

For the second one, I used black satin ribbon and was careful to shorten the stitch length as I came to that part of the seam to make sure the ribbon was securely anchored. Somehow, though, the ribbon slipped out of the seam before I sewed it and I did not discover that fact until I turned the bag inside out and found the ribbon on the floor.

More bad words were said.

On the third try, the ribbon stayed put. These are super quick to make and I might do some for next year’s co-op sale.

My cutting room looks like a toddler went through it. It’s a mess because I was pulling down bins to get out supplies and changing threads and needles on the serger. I have a few more projects I want to make with other stitches—I played around with blanket stitch edgings on fleece and flannel before I had to stop and make dinner—so it will probably stay messy until later this week.

I’ve got four people signed up for sewing on Saturday thanks to Susan’s publicity efforts. She put up a sign at the apple cider pressing day last weekend. Nicole Sauce’s podcast yesterday was a debrief of the recent Self-Reliance Festival in Camden, Tennessee and she mentioned that people need to see something an average of seven times before it sticks in their brains.

Tater Tots

The husband and I dug potatoes yesterday afternoon. I drove the tractor out to the garden and parked it and we dumped the bounty into the wagon:

We did a couple of new varieties this year, including German Butterball and fingerlings, both of which did well. The husband said the fingerlings looked like tater tots as he was digging them up. We also had the usual Yukon Gold, Red Norlands, Classic Russets, and Purple Vikings. These all got sorted into burlap bags and put in the root cellar. We’ll use the yellow ones first as they don’t keep much past Thanksgiving.

Potatoes are so ridiculously easy. You put them in the ground, let them grow, and dig them up five months later.

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The husband had to saw cut a slab yesterday morning so I spent a couple of hours on that second apron pattern while waiting for him to get back. I got to test out a few stitch ideas, too, and I am excited about the possibilities.

This is the two-thread reverse flatlock stitch—serger thread in the lower looper and 12wt decorative thread in the needle—with quarter-inch ribbon threaded through it.

Gail Yellen has done some videos on this technique on her YouTube channel. I really hope I get to take a class with her some time. I went back and watched a few of the videos again now that I have a better understanding of what she’s describing.

I’m teaching the Bernina serger mastery class this week at the quilt store south of town. We might not get to try out all of these techniques, but I’ll cover as many as I can.

It feels like we’ve now settled into the fall/winter routine. My recliner and I are getting reacquainted. I don’t use it much during the summer. I sat and watched those Gail Yellen videos last night while sewing down the binding of that table runner I quilted last week. I have another chicken embroidery block prepped and ready to work on, and I’d like to revisit the Sue Spargo Squash Squad project, too. I bought the actual pattern for that one as I had so much trouble with the original Instagram release. And I always have hexies to work on if I get bored. (Honestly, how does anyone get bored with so much fun stuff to do?)

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I am supposed to teach a Beginning Sewing class at the Mountain Brook Community Center on Saturday. The promotional information says, very clearly, that pre-registration is required, because I need to know how many kits to put together. (I plan to teach how to make burrito pillowcases.) We’ve had expressions of interest and a few inquiries but thus far, no registrations. Susan and I talked about it briefly yesterday and I said that I would not be at all surprised if people show up at 9 am next Saturday expecting there to be a class even if they didn’t pre-register. (“Pre-register” does not mean five minutes before the class, either.) Reading comprehension seems to be at an all-time low these days. Do I spend time this week getting class kits together if no one signs up, just in case people do show up at the Community Center?

I’ll decide by Thursday. I have another one of these on the schedule for January, so perhaps the timing may be better then.

Skill Building

I did not coin the term “time confetti”—that honor belongs to a woman named Brigid Schulte in her book entitled Overwhelmed: Work, Love, And Play When No One Has The Time. I did not read the book, so I must have picked up that phrase from reading a review.

I do sometimes feel overwhelmed, but certainly not as much as I used to when my kids were growing up and I was producing books and knitting patterns. I am far more cognizant now of that feeling creeping up on me and therefore better about nipping it in the bud. I am also painfully aware that my time problems—such as they are—stem from the fact that tasks take longer in real life than they do when I am doing them in my head. A quilt takes longer to make than the 30 minutes I spend laying it out in EQ8.

And even with years of teaching experience, class prep still takes time. I have found no way around that. Just because I know how to do the technique does not mean I am prepared to teach other people how to do it. A lesson always sticks better with a tangible project. A handout provides support during and after the class. All of this takes time to find and assemble.

I kissed the husband off to work yesterday morning and went straight to my cutting table where fabric and an apron pattern were waiting for me. Most of the serger and sewing machine manufacturers have free project tutorials on their websites. BabyLock has some really good ones, including two apron patterns designed by Deb Canham. I’m thinking of teaching one of these next spring at the quilt store north of town—the BabyLock dealer—but I needed to make the apron, first.

The instructions were reasonably well written. I appreciated that the order of operations had been arranged to minimize thread changes, although there were still several throughout the pattern. This is a good skill-building pattern. The bodice features pintucks, the pocket has reverse flatlocking, and the bottom ruffle is attached with the gathering foot. Again, I wish it had been written in a less machine-specific manner, but I understand that the manufacturers want to highlight their machines. I had to do a bit of translating from BabyLock-ese to Bernina-ese.

Even knowing my serger as well as I do, the apron took most of the day to make. The design is not simple. I was working slowly and deliberately and I had to change threads and needles half a dozen times. The gathering foot took a bit of practice to master. I think the apron turned out well, though:

The fabric is 30’s Playtime by Chloe’s Closet. It has little spools of thread all over it. This was a thread-intensive project and used up most of a 400 meter spool of 12wt thread. I’m going to have to put in a WonderFil order soon. And I added several stitch swatches to my record book:

I made up this record sheet so I could have a place to write down stitches, thread, and machine settings. This book has been a lifesaver. I hand out copies of this record sheet to the students in all my classes so they can make their own record books.

It felt very good to have an entire day to do nothing but sew. I also pulled fabric for the other apron pattern. That design features piping and cording techniques, so I’m eager to try that one. Now that I am playing with new serger techniques, I have even more project ideas swirling around in my head.

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The mouse problem seems to have been solved, but now there is a rodent larger than a mouse running around in the ceiling. I hear it early in the morning and I heard it again the other night while we were watching TV. The husband seems unconcerned. He suggested it was a chipmunk but I think it is more on the order of a squirrel. Hopefully it will not die up there.

Little Bunny Foo-Foo is starting to turn white. The husband saw him outside the kitchen door the other morning and alerted me. It’s too bad these animals don’t talk. I’d like to interview some of them and find out what they think about the coming winter. They know things we don’t.

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I pulled a bunch of knit fabric remnants to take to one of the young women who works at the quilt store south of town. She bought the Juki serger I traded in when I got my Bernina. She’s busy making headbands and I am happy to give her my leftovers. I freed up an entire storage bin yesterday.

Controlling the Time Confetti

Keeping my schedule from being fragmented into a million pieces is an ongoing battle. Some weeks it’s easier than others. Winter usually has less time confetti than the warmer months. (That may be why I prefer it.) Although I have learned to maximize little bits of time here and there, I still have projects to which I would like to devote single-minded focus for several hours (or a whole day), especially when I need to puzzle out some construction or design issue. It is almost physically painful for me to have to stop and switch gears in the middle of that process, and that, in turn, makes me hesitant even to start.

I taught serger classes on Monday and Tuesday. On Wednesday, Susan and Elysian and I spent five hours putting the homestead foundation quarterly newsletter together to mail. That had been on the schedule for several months and I knew it was going to take a good chunk of the day. Even with three of us working and a new paper folding machine (it is so slick), it still takes five hours to do the newsletter because we are limited by the speed of my copier. The copier will print 300 double-sided pages per hour. We send out 1500 newsletters.

You get a photo of the new paper folding machine because I don’t have any other pictures for you:

This absolutely was money well spent.

I looked at my calendar and didn’t see anything for Thursday or Friday, but as he was leaving for work yesterday morning, the husband said he had gotten my snow tires out and I remembered that I needed to get that taken care of. (He could do it here were it not for those stupid tire pressure monitors on most cars now.) I try to get tires changed by the end of September or beginning of October. Most people wait until it actually snows, and then it’s a mad rush. The tire places do not take appointments. It is first come, first served. I traced a few patterns before heading to craft co-op, where I popped in and visited for 15 minutes, then continued on to town.

On my first foray through the tire place’s parking lot, I could not find a spot. I left and ran some errands and came back about an hour later. (It was 12:30.) I was able to find a parking spot and went in and talked to one of the owners. I need new snow tires this fall, but I do not want to put those on until later in the season because I don’t want to drive new studded tires on bare roads. The current set will be adequate even if we get a surprise early snowstorm. I went ahead and ordered the new ones, and the owner said, “Come back in an hour and we will fit you in.” We chatted a bit about how busy they were so early in the season and the owner told me she thought it was because so many new people had moved to the valley.

[I will stay home the first time it snows because I don’t want to be out there when all of these newcomers discover that watching a YouTube video on winter driving did not prepare them for the real thing.]

I went and had lunch and came back as requested. They were able to get my car in and the tires changed and I was home by 3:30. I took care of chicken chores and made dinner and wondered where the day had gone.

I realize I am whining about a first-world problem, but it’s my blog and this influx of newcomers has caused all sorts of issues here. While I was waiting to go back to the tire place to get my tires changed, I stopped in at the quilt store north of town to pick up fabric for a project. Mary, one of the women who works there, said she had spent two whole days doing nothing but sewing. I told her that sounded heavenly.

Therefore, today and tomorrow—after we get the potatoes dug up—are going to be devoted to nothing but sewing. I am going to work on those projects, mostly for future classes, that are going to require some experimentation. I will get projects stacked that I can work on in the evenings or at craft co-op. I will close the curtain on the kitchen door and make it look like no one is home. I’ve got podcasts and videos queued up and dinner will go into the crock pot to cook. Wish me luck.

A Flood of Ideas

I finished quilting the table runner. The fabric is Pumpkin and Blossoms by Fig Tree for Moda. The binding will be in coordinating Grunge. This picture was taken in lower light so the quilting would be more visible:

That ribbon candy quilting pattern in the border is so much fun.

I can see why Sherri McConnell is so addicted to making table runners. They are quick, easy, instant-gratification projects and a great way to try out new quilting stitch patterns.

I stopped at Staples yesterday to see what kind of system I could put together for organizing my quilting rulers. They have outgrown the box they reside in currently. I bought a plastic milk crate and these expandable hanging file folders and they work perfectly:

Now I can locate a specific ruler quickly. One folder has my Amanda Murphy rulers and the other one has the HandiQuilter rulers.

My new rolling serger/tool case is supposed to arrive tomorrow. I like being organized.

I taught a Serger 101 class on Monday with two students and another one yesterday with three students. I thought both classes went well. I am always happy when students leave wanting to go home and make a few things or take additional classes to learn new techniques. However, teaching serger classes sends the creative part of my brain into overdrive. I have a ton of pattern and class ideas swirling around in my head. I’m going to try to eke out an hour or so to at least make up some samples on the serger.

Truly, I don’t have a “favorite” part of sewing. I love it all, from piecing to serging to machine quilting, making bags, making clothing, making quilts.

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Some of us from the sewing group/Ladies Club had a going-away party for Sunnie last night at Moose’s Saloon, a Kalispell landmark. Sunnie is going back to Texas for the winter. Preliminary reports are that this year’s craft co-op sale beat out last year’s gross revenue, which is wonderful. And everyone agreed that using the sanctuary to display the quilts worked really well. I expect we will do it again that way next year.

Susan and Elysian are coming over this morning so we can print the Homestead Foundation quarterly newsletter and get it ready for mailing. After that, my three main tasks are going to be continuing a deep clean of this house and running the air scrubber, making tomato sauce and salsa, and working on sewing projects. We do have to get the potatoes dug this weekend—we put it off last Saturday so we could go get the wood boiler—and finish putting garden tools away. The weather has been stellar. Temps have been in the low 70s and that continues through the early part of next week. I’m seeing forecasts for low-elevation snow after that, though, so I wonder if this is a head fake that will be followed by an early winter. In 1996, it started snowing on October 15 and the snow didn’t stop until May. We’re about due for a hard winter.

The husband mentioned that he wanted to take a trip to Spokane some time and order a pair of custom boots from Nick’s. He’s been so frustrated with the cheaply-made work boots that fall apart after a few months. Nick’s will measure and custom make a pair of boots, although the delivery time is anywhere from 18-30 weeks depending on their workload. We need to order some soon so he has them for next spring. We’ll probably make a quick overnight trip to get that crossed off the list.

DD#1 and DSIL are also looking for a new truck. Their current truck bit the dust, although I think they—or actually, DSIL’s parents—got their money’s worth as it was the vehicle DSIL drove in high school. The dealer in Spokane might be able to get them the new truck they want. I told DD#1 that if I needed to pick it up and drive it to Seattle to get it on the ferry to Alaska, I’d be happy to do that.

Lots to do, still, even with the end of gardening season.

Checking the Muscle Memory

I uncovered the Q20 yesterday, vacuumed out the guts, and oiled it thoroughly. It’s time to start quilting with it again. I was a bit worried that I had lost some muscle memory over the summer—I haven’t quilted on this machine for almost four months—but I did a few practice pieces and the movements came back to me quickly.

I pulled out a simple table runner (Nine-Patch Table Runner pattern by Sherri McConnell) and began with Amanda Murphy’s advice to “quilt the bones” with some stitch-in-the-ditch quilting around the blocks.

Then I moved to making circle flowers inside the nine-patch blocks:

That was fun. I think I will do some matchstick quilting in those side triangles and ribbon candy in the border. I wish I had used a slightly thicker batting inside this runner, but it still looks good. I’ll get through the stack of table runners and then get back to working on some bigger quilts.

I think that taking a break from serger projects for a while is a good idea. If I stop obsessing about all things serger, the brain will continue to process without my assistance. Perhaps it is just waiting for me to get out of the way.

I decided on a rolling tote for transporting my Juki serger back and forth to classes. I went with the Husky Stack System:

This is basically the same design as the serger trolleys that Joann Fabrics sells. The front unzips and peels down to expose the inside. However, these have a hard plastic frame and additional bags can be stacked on top of this one. I’m starting with the base and will add another one if needed.

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While I was quilting yesterday afternoon, the husband was getting the wood boiler in place. I had to go out and help him snake wires down through a pipe in the slab and over to the basement. Eventually, the boiler will heat all three buildings—house, garage, and shop—but we’re starting with the house.

He has been studying all the documentation so that he knows exactly how this boiler works. The husband is nothing if not thorough.

Clarity in All Things

I’m going to have to switch to other sewing until I get this serger stuff figured out. My frustration level is too high right now and trying to push my way through this isn’t the best course of action.

I started working on the serger pillow pattern that I bought in Spokane in August. Oh, my. This is a line of very attractive patterns with full-color printing, but they are not written well at all. I can tell when patterns haven’t been tested or tech edited and these could have benefitted from both.

Problem #1 is that there is no schematic or up-front instructions to indicate how many pieces to cut in what size. The general supplies list on the back specifies 1-1/2 yards for the pillow body and ruffle, 1/2 yard coordinating fabric for the fringing strips, and 1/8 yard fabric for the ladder (flatlock) and chain stitch sections. A simple schematic identifying which fabric was which on the pillow would have gone a long way toward improving these instructions, as the fabrics used in the sample pillow in the photos are similar in color and print. A cutting list would be even better. And there needs to be some consistency in terminology, units, and other picayune details that annoy people like me.

After puzzling out what needed to be done with which fabric, I set the Bernina serger up for a two-thread wrapped overlock stitch on the widest setting—needle in the left position and cutting width at 9. This pattern is written for the Bernina L-series sergers, specifically the L890. It does say that, in tiny print, on the front of the pattern. However, I would rather see this pattern written more generally, to apply to a wider variety of sergers. I do not think it is necessary to have an $8000 serger to make a pillow. Even my $400 Juki serger will make this stitch.

The two-thread wrapped overlock stitch is serged on the folded edges of three strips. That stitch then needs to be secured on the sewing machine before cutting the needle thread and releasing the lower looper threads to form a fringe. It’s a slick technique, but it requires a bit of practice. I had to serge the edges of the fringing strips, then take them over the sewing machine and run a very short straight stitch through the serger needle thread to secure the fringe before cutting.

As suggested in the pattern, I used two 12wt threads in the lower looper (Spaghetti, from Wonderfil).

It took me over two hours to make three fringing strips. This is part of why I have to make things ahead of time for classes, because I need to know how long each step is going to take. I got this far and just didn’t have it in me to figure out the next couple of steps.

This project is in time out. I may try again at some point or I may not. We’ll see.

I did get a couple of good class project ideas from the woman who coordinates the classes at one of the quilt stores. I’ll see her on Tuesday after my Serger 101 class at that store and we’ll discuss them further.

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The husband and I went to Missoula yesterday morning to get the wood boiler. One the way, we listened to a couple of podcasts, including an interview with Danielle Dimartino Booth. She’s a very sharp financial analyst and I always like to hear what she has to say.

We hauled the wood boiler back here on a trailer. The husband will get it hooked up soon and I’ll get some pictures of that process when it happens.

Date Day continued with a visit to the finished home of one of the husband’s customers. The homeowners hosted an open house for all the contractors. We don’t get to do this very often, so it was lovely to go and talk to the homeowners and the other subs and see the home. Most of the husband’s work was hidden, holding up the structure, but he also did some concrete patios around the outside.

And after that, we went to a new-to-us restaurant courtesy of a gift card from another homeowner. I think this place has been there for a long time; we’ve just never eaten there. I felt rather like we had been sent back in time 25 years. The decor was old-fashioned (very Montana), the food was great—it’s a steakhouse—and the service was exemplary. I think we’ll be going back. The husband said he wished it was closer to home, but it’s not that far from Home Depot, which was where we went afterward. I am looking for a rolling case for my Juki serger so I can transport it back and forth to class. I’m using a rolling milk crate at the moment, which is adequate, but I need something sturdier that will also hold more of my supplies so I’m not carting around three or four separate containers. I looked at a few different systems but haven’t decided on one yet.

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I’ve got a Serger 101 class tomorrow morning at one quilt store and a Serger 101 class Tuesday afternoon at the other quilt store. People can be very particular about what store(s) they patronize. I’ve had some students take classes from me at both stores. Other students will only take classes at one store or the other. I don’t sense any overt hostility from either store toward the other one—and I have zero desire to get caught up in any drama—but I probably need to be more mindful of scheduling issues.

Quilts in the Sanctuary

Toward the end of last year’s co-op sale, a group of us discussed the fact that we were running out of room for all the merchandise. That sale started in our community center up the road—which it outgrew—and moved the nearby Mennonite church fellowship hall. I suggested we display the quilts in the sanctuary, draped over the pews. That idea took a bit of time to settle, because many of us grew up viewing church sanctuaries as holy places. Our congregation actually refers to it as the “auditorium,” so I didn’t think it would be a problem.

We tried it this year and it turned out to have been a good idea. This is how all the sale quilts looked from the balcony:

At the start of the sale, I was stationed in a chair just outside the auditorium, in the Christmas section, listening to the comments as people came through that area and saw the quilts. The visual impact was dramatic.

This is such a talented group. I walked around just before the doors opened and looked at all the beautiful items for sale. The Christmas section is always full of lovely quilts and home dec pieces:

And Sarah put up a wonderful display of her dipped beeswax candles and linen tea towels. I suspect she will sell out today if she didn’t yesterday. I saw lots of people walking around with candles.

I stayed until noon. We had a lot of shoppers come through and everyone seemed happy with their purchases. I bought some of Sarah’s candles and two green linen towels for my kitchen.

I will try very hard to get my act together for next year’s sale.

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One of the topics Sarah and I discuss frequently is class prep. She understands what is involved. Teaching is only the tip of the iceberg, really. One first has to be somewhat competent in the subject matter, although I think all of us have been guilty at one time or another of being just one page ahead of the students. Marianne Fons talked about that one time in an interview and said that she and Liz Porter would come up with a topic for their quilt class, then go home and spend the week learning how to do it.

I’m trying to get these serger classes under control for 2023 but it’s frustrating. There are so many elements to balance: Choosing a topic, finding a project that illustrates the technique—either a commercial pattern or something I design—making class samples, preparing the handouts and supply lists, anticipating problems, etc. Stores want classes unique to them, and they also want to be able to sell patterns and/or fabric in conjunction with the class. And then we have to find a class time that works for everyone. Once the class development work is done, it’s done (for the most part), but class development doesn’t happen overnight.

I found a line of patterns designed for sergers and asked the store if they could order them. I bought one of the patterns from this line in Spokane in August. One of the issues I’m running into is that many of these newer serger patterns are designed for the high-end sergers. The patterns incorporate both serger and coverstitch techniques, although decorative stitches on the sewing machine can be substituted for the coverstitch chain stitches. Still, that means students have to use two machines. And I don’t want someone to come to a class and be stymied because they don’t have some specialty foot for a technique I’m teaching. I’ve also got to make sure that the recommended thread weights are available. Spools of 12wt thread are not exactly growing on trees in Kalispell, Montana. I can order sample spools of thread or thread kits from WonderFil, but I have to give them a fair bit of lead time.

I’m currently working up the serger pattern I bought. What I need is a solid week where I can do nothing but lock myself in my sewing room, sew up patterns and class samples, and put all of my class materials together. That won’t happen in the next two weeks—the calendar is already full—but I think I will put that on the schedule for the third week of October. I told the husband I might make a bunch of meals and freeze them for him so I don’t have to take time out to cook.

Maybe I am overthinking this and just need to get out of that headspace for a while. I worked on those scrappy log cabin blocks yesterday afternoon and before I knew it, an hour and a half had gone by and I had finished two more blocks. I like being in that sewing zone.

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The husband and I have Date Day today. We are heading down to Missoula to pick up the wood boiler. We also got an invitation to an open house this afternoon from one of his clients. The homeowner invited all the contractors to come and see the finished product. I suggested we combine a stop there with dinner out.

Our neighbor Smokey came by yesterday. He thanked me for inviting him to help himself to tomatoes while I was in Seattle and said that he took four big bags of them. That made me so happy. I did not want them just rotting out there. He makes sauce and salsa every fall and said that now his freezer is full of both.

Tops in Time Out

While I was pulling quilts yesterday to send to Ritzville, I corralled all of my works-in-progress. Having unfinished projects hanging around is a drag on my creative process and I need to see if I can move some of them along. I’ve got a stack of table runners that need to be quilted. They will be good for getting back up to speed with my free motion quilting on the Q20 because I also have at least five tops basted and ready to quilt. I also have several quilt tops in progress. Either the blocks have been made but not assembled or more blocks need to be made.

This first one has languished far too long. One of my Ritzville quilts from a number of years ago was a blue-and-white scrap quilt comprised of 1000+ half-square triangle units. My friend Pat, at church, quilted it for me. I had so many of those HST units left that I made an additional 20 sampler blocks with them. The blocks were in a box, partially sashed, so I took them out and finished sashing them. Two hours later, I had a top:

I am still thinking on this one a bit. I might take off that outer border and replace it with something else. Or I could leave the top as is and quilt it and bind it.

I also unearthed another top I started several years ago. I think I finally have a prayer of getting this one done. It’s from about the same time as the blue top. Corey Yoder, of Coriander Quilts, had designed a fabric line back then called Pepper and Flax. The colors were cream, gray, a butter yellow, and an acid green. It sounds weird together but I loved it. That was back when I wasn’t sure how much fabric I needed to make something—obviously, because I had made enough blue-and-white HSTs for two quilts, one of which fit a king sized bed—and I had only purchased a small fat quarter bundle of Pepper and Flax. By the time I realized that I couldn’t make much with it, that whole line had sold out. I tried supplementing with fabrics from the stash, but I couldn’t get the colors right.

Corey released Spring Brook, which had similar colors to Pepper and Flax with a blue thrown in. I bought a fat quarter bundle of that, too, and used a few pieces, but the colors still weren’t entirely correct and I didn’t want to add the blue to the mix.

Corey’s new line, Buttercup and Slate, just hit stores. The colors are very similar to Pepper and Flax. I picked up a few more fat quarters when I was teaching on Tuesday and NOW I think I can finish this quilt. Finally.

Our church is sending six quilts to Ritzville this year, four of which are mine. I dropped them all off with Elaine last night and she will make sure they get where they need to be for the sale.

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I couldn’t get out to the garden until it warmed up yesterday, so I spent the early part of the day ripping apart the living room. I took the slipcovers off the couch and loveseat and washed them, took down the valances and washed them, and I’ll wash the Ruggable rug today. I dusted and wiped down every surface so I could get as much dust as possible stirred up while the air scrubber was running. I think it has made a tremendous difference. Usually when I clean like that, my eyes will be dry and gritty afterward. I am not having that problem now. I’ll need to do a similar deep clean in other parts of the house and then, hopefully, we’ll just need to run the air scrubber periodically.

Most of the garden has been cleaned up and put to bed. After it warmed up a bit, I drove the tractor with the wagon out to the garden so I could toss all of the overripe cucumbers and other produce in it to haul back for the chickens. I brought in a giant box of acorn squash, one last watermelon, and half a dozen cantaloupe. All of the spent plants have been pulled up and stacked on the compost pile. I rolled up all the hoses and put the tomato cages away.

We were planning to dig potatoes on Saturday, but the husband got a call yesterday that the wood boiler is at the dealer in Missoula and ready to be picked up. They had given him a delivery date at the end of October, so this was a bit of a surprise. He’s going to try to pour the pad for it tomorrow afternoon and we’ll drive down Saturday and pick it up.

Small, Small World

The older I get, the more opportunities I have to look at the tapestry of my life and see all the intertwining threads. What’s really fun is to find where people and situations intersect—especially the ones that appear, at first, to have nothing to do with each other.

Sunnie took this picture of me and Sarah Anderson at the pie social a few weeks ago (I’m on the left and Sarah is on the right):

Sarah is a spinner and knitter and author of the book The Spinner’s Book of Yarn Designs. Sarah started reading my blog a few years ago after a student in one of her classes mentioned it. (I think that’s how the story goes, but Sarah can correct me if I’m wrong.) Sarah and her husband were planning to move from Seattle to Kalispell to be near their son and his wife and the grandkids, and then we discovered that the house they bought was only a few miles from me. Sarah has joined our sewing group that meets on Thursday and it’s like she’s always lived here. She also helped out with our pie social in the spring and brought her three sisters in from the midwest to attend the fall pie social.

[The apron I happen to be wearing in this pic says, “Borderline Spinners” on it, which is the name of the spinning group I belonged to in Pennsylvania before the husband and I moved to Montana.]

I’ve mentioned before that I listen to the Living Free in Tennessee podcast. I’m also active in that community’s chat group. Nicole Sauce, podcaster and homesteader extraordinaire, is learning to spin. (She also knits.) The topic of spinning popped up in the chat yesterday morning. A couple of us there have spinning experience.

I posted this picture of Sarah and me, and one of the other members—who lives in Denmark—said, “I adore that book!” I told Sarah that she has a devoted follower on the other side of the planet.

Sarah knows JC Briar, too, who was my tech editor when I was publishing knitting patterns and books. JC and Sarah were at the same Visionary Retreat hosted by the late Cat Bordhi.

Sunnie, who took this picture, has a dear friend in Texas named Bunny. In another bizarre twist, we found out a few years ago that Bunny knows a woman named Staige, who went to high school with the husband in Baltimore. Staige and Bunny are both active in the national organization for their college sorority, Delta Gamma. I am friends with both Staige and Bunny on Facebook.

The world is much smaller than we think it is.

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I was supposed to have four students in my serger class yesterday. When I got to the store, I discovered that one student had switched to the November class date because of a conflict. Another student—Cindy—was already in the classroom setting up. Cindy has taken two other classes from me, including the Serger 101 class and the apron class.

The other two students never showed up. The store staff tried to contact them without success. I get paid whether or not students attend the class, so it was no money out of my pocket, but the students forfeit their class fee.

Cindy and I had a lovely day of serging. She has come such a long way from that first class when she was terrified of her machine. She is comfortable enough now that she was willing to try some things without needing to be shown. We started out by making a table runner. She made this gorgeous Christmas version, specifically designed to fit her dining room table:

Cindy also mastered rolled hems and pintucks, and she’s going to experiment with some flatlock projects at home. I told her to bring some of her projects in so I can see what she has made.

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That air scrubber has been running intermittently for two days and I am amazed at how much better my allergies are. My eyes often bother me because of the gritty dust and I’ve noticed some relief from that discomfort, too. We’re supposed to get rain for the next couple of days. I think I might take the living room apart and wash the valances and slipcovers. That should stir up more dust to be filtered out. Once I have the downstairs cleaned up, I’ll have the husband move the air scrubber upstairs and repeat the process. (It is much bigger and heavier than I thought it would be.) After that, I should only need to run the air scrubber periodically.

I’ll be out in the garden today doing more cleanup before the rain. Digging up potatoes is on the schedule for Saturday morning. The husband is going to help me with that.

Home Dec Serging

I’m teaching a serger home dec class at the quilt store north of town today. I think we scheduled this back in March, after one of my first classes there. We scheduled the class and then I had to come up with a plan for what I was going to teach. One of the women who works there, Kathy, suggested the fabric line—Decorum by BasicGrey for Moda—and I think it was a great choice. We’ll be making a table runner, rolled hem napkins, placemats with pintucks, and a basket liner:

I’ve also got a flatlock pillow project in my back pocket in case we get through all of these. This is a day-long class and I have four students signed up, so we’ll see.

There is a stack of serger books sitting next to my chair, waiting for me to look through them. I need to come up with some new class ideas.

I decided not to do the craft co-op sale after all. I will go and help out for a few hours, but it was just too much for me to find all the stuff I’ve made and label and price it. Next year. Teaching serger classes really upended my plans for 2022—such as they were—and I need to get back on an even keel.

[Can you hear the universe laughing?]

I also decided not to go to Ritzville. Elaine is planning to go and will take the quilts. Robin and I are planning a trip to Spokane at the beginning of November.

The air scrubber arrived via the Big Brown Truck of Happiness yesterday afternoon. I had it running in the living room until the husband got home. It’s sounds like a jet engine, but even after a few hours, I could tell that it is making a difference. I need to do some deep cleaning and dusting and get the air stirred up. And I am curious to see how long it takes for the “change air filter” indicator light to come on.

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The war against rodents rages on. I came home from a meeting Sunday night around 8 pm. The house was unlocked but the husband was nowhere to be found. I kept hearing thumping noises from the chicken coop. I called his cell phone.

“Where are you?”

“I’m in the chicken coop.”

“What are you doing?”

“I’m killing mice with the shovel.”

The neighbor’s cat—christened Sylvester by the husband because he looks like one—was waiting outside the coop. He probably thinks he is in paradise with all those mice to catch and eat. Now that the feed is in the garage instead of the coop, the number of mice out there has decreased substantially, but we’re still seeing them. I counted six running around outside, and we caught one in a trap in here yesterday morning. The chickens are getting plenty of protein in their diet.

I’m hoping for a cold hard freeze soon. We’ve had chickens for almost 15 years and it has never been like this.

One of the Buff Orpingtons is sitting on a pile of eggs again. I candled them and at least a couple have embryos, so we’ll see if she can close the deal.

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I needed some mindless sewing more than I realized. I’ve got five cream-and-white scrap log cabin blocks done and another half dozen in various stages. I do chain piece them, sort of, although they grow at different rates depending on what scraps I pull out of the bag. I find it so interesting that such a traditional scrappy block has such a modern look when the blocks are put together. This quilt, when it’s finished, would look right at home in a contemporary setting.

The table that my Q20 sits in in was home to stacks of various items over the summer. The table has been cleaned off and now I’ll be able to start quilting there again. First up will be finishing my college roommate’s Sunbonnet Sue quilt. When I saw her in June, I mentioned that I was going to use a purple fabric for the sashing and backing and she told me that purple was her favorite color. She is planning to put the quilt in a room in her house that is painted that color. That was a lovely bit of serendipity.

Knot Sure About This One

I wish there were a way to make this seasonal transition happen more smoothly. My brain is ready for winter, but I still have some summer tasks to finish up. I cleaned off the apple and pear trees yesterday, then went out to the garden and pulled up all the tomato plants. I had invited people to come and help themselves to tomatoes while I was in Seattle, but there were still some left on the vines. I brought in one last wagon load of tomatoes to ripen. They will get added to the 30 or so gallon zip bags of tomatoes already in the freezer. I need to spend one or two more days out in the garden cleaning up and then I’ll be done.

I finished the knot top except for the cuffs. I am trying to decide how I want them—hemmed or with a band. Raglan tops look funny on my dress form, which has narrow shoulders and no arms.

I may make this again because it is so incredibly comfortable, but the second iteration will have some changes.

• The size is good—this pattern gave finished garment measurements, so I chose the size that gave me about 1-1/2 inches of ease on either side in the bust. The next size down was the same as my full bust measurement, and I didn’t want to run the risk of it being too tight.

• I do like the raglan sleeves. I could envision using just the top part of this pattern and redrafting the bottom plain, without a knot, for a very comfy sweatshirt-style top.

• I think that vertical seam opening I complained about has a purpose, which is to keep the back side of the fabric from wanting to flip over below the knot. In a solid color French terry, that would be a non-issue, but I’m using a print. And the backside of the fabric doesn’t show that much. Taking the seam back an inch would fix the problem, but I maintain that the opening does not need to be as long as it was in the original pattern.

• I sometimes forget, too, that I have a coverstitch machine, especially when I am trying to make a pattern according to the instructions. I started to make a narrow hem on the back, as instructed, and then remembered that I could do the hem on the coverstitch. That was a huge improvement. I think I could do a coverstitch hem on the front, too.

• This pattern has a facing for the neck opening. Eh. I would change that to a plain knit neckband and be done with it.

We’ll see. I don’t love this pattern enough to put it in the tried and true pile, but I might make another one with changes.

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In preparation for quilting season, I ordered myself a set of Amanda Murphy’s new Baptist Fan rulers. I also cut the fabric scraps that Robin gave me into long strips. I probably have enough fabric now for two cream-and-white scrap quilts. I didn’t feel like making another Candy Coated quilt with these, so I am doing the log cabin blocks that I did to make the quilt that is on our bed. I made one up last night to see how I liked it:

This is not a quilt that can be done in a weekend. I need 64 of these 12-1/2” blocks for a king-sized quilt. I’ve got these prepped for when I need some mindless sewing time.

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This should arrive tomorrow:

I am attempting to do something about the insane amount of dust and ash in this house. The industrial air scrubber models were about the same price as the home models, so I ordered this one. We’ll see how it does. I plan to put it in the living room. If it works well there, I may get a second one for the upstairs.

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Someone destroyed our mailbox while I was in Seattle. It happened in the couple of hours between when the mail lady brings the mail—usually around 3 pm—and when the husband got home at 5 pm. He came home and found all our mail scattered across the road. I noticed a few other destroyed mailboxes up and down our road, so I wonder if some delinquents with too much time on their hands thought it would be fun to drive down the road with a baseball bat and pretend the mailboxes were piñatas.

The husband has made sure that won’t happen again:

The Smell of Pumpkin Spice in the Morning

I spent a fair chunk of time on administrative tasks yesterday morning. When I created the new website for the Mountain Brook Homestead Foundation, I put up a very basic site with the plan that I would add/adjust things as we went along and figured out what was needed. I am offering a Beginning Sewing class on October 15—we’re going to make burrito pillowcases—and my class seemed like a good opportunity to install the online registration feature and test it out. We’ll see if anyone signs up that way. I also added the rest of the upcoming events for 2022. We will have a cider pressing day on October 8. Susan is doing an apple tree grafting workshop that afternoon, too.

At the risk of some of you telling me I am overloading my already-full plate, I’ll be taking over as chairman of the Homestead Foundation Fundraising Committee in November. I’m currently on that committee. The pastor of our Mennonite church is retiring at the end of October and he is the chairman. He has expressed a desire to pull back from his obligations for a while, so I’m going to head up the committee for next year. We have good ideas and I think we’ve done a great job meeting our fundraising goals so far, but like most groups, we lack manpower. I’ve had plenty of people tell me what they think we ought to be doing, but very few step up and actually put any action behind their suggestions. When we had the first garden tour, Robin—who was my hostess—actually wrote down all her ideas and identified who could do what, and that was an HUGE help when it came time to plan the second garden tour. I could use a couple more Robins.

The Homestead Foundation has a lot of potential. I am thrilled that we’re starting to have more seminars and classes at the Community Center.

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I cut out another Lark Tee yesterday and set it aside to take with me some time when I go in for Open Sew. (For me, it will be Open Serge, but that’s a minor detail.) I told Marianne that I would try to drop in for Open Sew at the quilt store on either a Thursday or a Sunday afternoon. I cut the Lark Tee from some DBP I picked up at Joanns in Seattle. Double-brushed polyester has now become my favorite fabric. I hated it when it was hot, but it’s nice and toasty when it’s cool out. I saw the bolt of fabric on the shelf and wanted some, but there wasn’t enough left on the bolt for a top. However, there was a chunk of that same fabric on the remnant rack. I took that as a sign from above. I bought the remnant and what was left on the bolt and had just enough for a top. This is me sweating it out as I cut the sleeves yesterday:

I tried on a lot of clothing when I was shopping in Seattle. I wanted to see what the different styles looked like on my body so that I would have a better appreciation of what patterns to search out—kind of a “sew the look” study for myself. I was pleasantly surprised by a couple of pieces, including a knot top (Halogen) from Nordstrom. The knot on that top, which I bought, is down at the bottom of the front rather than at the neck. I recently bought New Look 6689, intending to make the pants, but the top is similar in style to the Halogen top:

I cut out the top yesterday and started putting it together. The jury is still out on this one. Like most sewing patterns, this one is written assuming that the sewist will make it on a sewing machine, not a serger, so I had to spend the first few minutes figuring out the order of operations. Some edges need to be finished before seaming and some seams can be done on the serger. I am trying to be good and follow the instructions as given, but I got the front mostly done and realized that the front seam was left open—deliberately—for a good six inches above the knot. Theoretically, that opening will be covered up by the extra material there, but it’s unnecessary. I’m assuming that if I make this top out of the suggested lightweight French terry, which I did, I’m not going to have another shirt underneath and I’ll also be wearing it in cooler weather. Why would I want a 6” vertical opening over my abdomen?????? There is no opening like that on the Halogen top.

I took out what I had done there and closed the seam all the way to the knot. I don’t have high hopes for this one, but we’ll see. I do think the raglan sleeves are going to be comfortable and flattering.

I’ve got garden clean-up on the schedule for this weekend and next week. The furnace has been running and I put most of the insulated shades back up on the windows.

Changing Seasons

It’s raining now and supposed to rain all day. I am delighted. Today is also the autumnal equinox and I can say an official goodbye to the 2022 gardening season.

I’m not done by a long shot—I still have to clean up and put the garden to bed, make tomato sauce and salsa, and start up the indoor lettuce-growing system, but my schedule will no longer be dominated by time- and weather-sensitive tasks. That’s a relief.

It’s soup weather again. The sweaters and jackets have come out. Soon we will be relaxing with YouTube videos and embroidery projects after dinner. I love to garden, but summer is a hard season for me. I like the slower pace of winter.

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I taught two serger classes yesterday. We are still working out some scheduling hiccups. I have told both stores that I will be happy to teach classes even if only one person signs up. A time may come when I am less willing to do that, but until we generate steady interest in serger classes, I think the consistency is important. I do not want to get a reputation as a teacher who cancels classes. And a class of one or two students gives me a low-pressure opportunity to see if I’ve paced the material well.

The morning class was on rolled hems. I had two students signed up, one of whom was the owner’s son. He is the store’s sewing machine technician. I asked him if he was taking the class so he could make things with a serger or so he would know more about how they worked, and he said, “Yes.” He was very much interested in making cloth napkins. The other lady had plenty of serging experience but a new-to-her serger. This is us trying to puzzle out how to thread her lower looper:

We got it sorted. She completed a lovely set of batik napkins by the end of class.

I always get a giggle out of the differences between male and female students. Ryan, the sewing machine tech, spent a solid half an hour testing his rolled hem settings to get them dialed in. Even I don’t test that thoroughly, LOL. For someone with very little serging experience, though, he did well and also finished a set of napkins.

Toward the end of class, a lady walked in carrying a serger and said, with some surprise, “Is this the morning class?” Unfortunately, she wanted to take the morning class but had been told it was cancelled. She was understandably a bit disappointed. She and the lady in the photo, above, were my two students for the afternoon class, or so I thought. The afternoon class wasn’t supposed to start until 2 pm, but because we were all there, I asked the two of them if they wanted to get going half an hour earlier. The afternoon class was a flatlock scarf project. Both of them were serging along when the door opened and another woman came in with a serger. She said, “Am I late?” and I said that no, the other students were just early. After a bit of questioning, I determined that the third student thought she had signed up for the class online.

I’ll have to talk to the store owner about the scheduling bumps. It wasn’t a problem to add another student at the last minute, but clearly, some bugs need to be worked out.

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I have a dilemma and I haven’t yet come up with a solution. The Mennonite relief sale in Ritzville, WA, is next weekend. I go every year. I’ve been planning to go this year. I’m not crazy about driving back to Spokane again so soon after the Seattle trip, but I will do it.

However, that plan was predicated in part on the timing of the craft co-op sale. I had been told that the craft co-op sale would be held September 23 and 24 (tomorrow and Saturday). I opted not to participate this year because I was getting back from Seattle and teaching two serger classes and I thought that throwing the co-op sale into the mix might send me around the bend. I did ask if I could help out with some publicity on two of the local Facebook groups by making an event listing as I did for the plant sale and the garden tour. I was given the go-ahead and created the events, only to discover afterward that the sale dates had been changed some time in the last couple of months. The sale is NEXT Friday and Saturday. That information was not disseminated to the co-op members who weren’t present when that decision was made.

Sigh. The road to hell and all that. I edited the Facebook events and fixed the dates. I need to brush up on my mind-reading skills.

Now I have to decide. Do I want to go to Ritzville or do I want to stay here and participate in the co-op sale? Or do I want to stay home and make tomato sauce? I’m still thinking about it. I’d like to participate in the co-op sale and now I have time to get ready, but it means skipping the relief sale.

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The poor husband had his hands full dealing with mice while I was gone. We have always had a low-level mouse infestation in the chicken coop because the feed is out there. (The bags of feed and scratch grains were in garbage cans with lids, but the feeder is close to the floor.) The problem got bad enough this summer, though, that the husband booby-trapped the outside perimeter of the coop with mousetraps. They were constantly filling up, but our neighbor’s cat kept dragging off the full traps. We suspect there is a pile of mousetraps stacked up in the woods somewhere.

A few weeks ago, I went out to the coop with the husband one morning to check on something, and as soon as he turned on the light, many, many mice ran across the floor. A lot of mice. I’ve never seen that many mice in one place. The chickens, by the way, are happy to eat mice but they are lousy at catching them. They would prefer to have them served up by the farmer.

The husband rigged up a system to get the feeder off the floor at night and he put the bags of feed elsewhere. That solved the problem of mice in the coop, but then they began invading the house. I think he caught at least a dozen while I was gone. I haven’t seen any since I got back—although he caught one the other night after I went to bed—so he’s hoping that we’ve convinced them to go elsewhere.

All the rodents were bad in general this year. I don’t know where the coyotes were, but I hope they come back next season.

It’s raining today, so I am going to sew. I have a pile of new fabric waiting to be made into clothing. You’ll see it soon, either as yardage or completed garments.