Too Much Partying

The husband thinks he has isolated the issue with the ground heater, but he has to wait for parts. He worked on it yesterday until it was time for us to go to the party. I ended up not wearing my sparkly green top; I put it on and wasn’t feeling the love. I think I might need to lengthen that Toaster sweater pattern after all. I wore a Burda 6315 tunic made from some Joanns rayon sweatshirt fleece in a bright grape color paired with my plain black Renee pants. Part of the reason was that I was chilly and that outfit was cozy, but I’m also trying to pay attention to what clothes I reach for over and over and why. I love the way that Burda pattern fits my upper body. Those tops settle nicely on my shoulders and I am not constantly tugging at and adjusting them. The armscye and sleeve cap fit well together and there is no excess fabric in my armpit.

[I’d like to find a better term than “sweatshirt fleece,” because that makes it sound casual and sloppy. Rayon sweatshirt fleece fabrics tend to be more polished. This one certainly was dressy enough for a party, albeit a party in Montana and not Seattle.]

We enjoyed ourselves at the party. The food was amazing. One of the mixer drivers is from the Philippines and he brought homemade egg rolls and some adobo chicken that was delicious. (I asked—he said the chicken was his mother’s secret recipe.) I am trying to be careful about what I eat, but after two Christmas parties in three days, my digestive system is complaining a bit. I might have to stick to salads for dinner this week.

I went back to the furniture store yesterday morning and found a plain vanilla La-Z-Boy recliner in dark brown leather. The store is sending a delivery truck on Tuesday to bring that one and pick up the electronic recliner. We have bought quite a bit of furniture at this store over the years and it’s because they are local and the service is excellent.

So, I am looking at my calendar for the week. With the exception of two meetings tomorrow and a possible Serger 101 class Wednesday night—although no one has yet signed up—I have nothing on the schedule. I am going to try my utmost to keep it that way. I plan to hole up here, avoid people, and attempt to move some of my projects forward. Maybe I will even get the tomatoes processed, two months late. We’re running out of salsa, so I’m feeling the need to get that done.

I have to get this clothing manufacturing itch under control, though. The ability to make clothing that fits me well is heady stuff. I made a pile of the projects I want to prioritize. Each fabric has a pattern paired with it:

That sweater knit on top is another Walmart mystery fabric. It is destined to be a Harper cardigan, although I want to make one of the longer versions. I think that was a three-yard piece, so I have plenty.

I’ll have a marathon cutting session and set the projects aside to work on as I have time. I’ve also got another Liz Claiborne top I want to deconstruct. That one has a lovely pleat detail at the neckline, but I don’t wear it often because it is too short. I’m going to take it apart and make a pattern from it. Better to put it to use that way than to let it languish unworn.

I need to stop going through the stash and fondling fabric, because all that does is generate more frankenpatterning ideas.

And So We Punt

This has been a rather frustrating week for both the husband and me. We’re so used to having carefully-planned schedules that when things go sideways, we get cranky.

I managed to rescue my week, mostly, although the way it started out yesterday made me wonder if I should just give up sewing. I cut another (yet another) pair of Jalee Renee pants from the Robert Kaufman black sparkle ponte and thought they would be a quick win. And then I sewed a leg seam the wrong way. (There is no right or wrong side to this fabric.) I had to undo the whole serger seam and re-sew it. I ran out of bobbin thread halfway down a topstitched seam. I didn’t have enough elastic for the waistband and had to sew together three shorter pieces. It was one thing after another.

I persevered. They are done and ready to wear (apologies for the lousy photo):

I am all about the sparkle this week, apparently.

I also tackled one of the pattern alteration projects on my list. I love the Easton cowl, but I don’t like either the length or how it fits me in the hips. It just looks weird to me. I have been wanting to frankenpattern it with the Lark Tee, because I like the way that one fits me and the length is perfect. I laid the two patterns down on the cutting table and matched them up at the underarm, then traced a new pattern consisting of the top of the Easton cowl and the bottom of the Lark Tee. That added about 3” to the length of the Easton cowl pattern and put the hip shaping where I needed it.

For the fabric, I pulled out a rayon crepe jersey from—of all places—the Walmart remnant rack. I wish I knew where they were getting these remnants. This is a lovely piece of fabric.

[Here is your spinning lesson for today: A crepe yarn is made by taking a two-ply yarn and plying it with a single strand of yarn. I’m leaving out some technical details (sorry, Sarah), but the result is a textured, rather bubbly strand of yarn.]

I was planning to use the purl side of the fabric as the right side because of the interesting texture, but the fabric is black and a very fine jersey and I sewed the first seam with the knit side as the right side. I was not going to take out that seam and re-sew it.

I am delighted with how the top turned out, however.

Both the length and silhouette are perfect and that rayon crepe jersey is luxurious. I’d take two yards in every jewel tone if I could find more.

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The husband has been on the hunt for a ground heater, a piece of equipment that would allow him to thaw out frozen ground so that he could continue to pour concrete through the winter. The local tool rental place has one that they rent for $1500 a day and it’s booked solid. He finally found one for sale by a tool supplier in Colorado. The seller had it freighted up here and the husband picked it up yesterday morning. Unfortunately, it has a problem. The burner doesn’t stay on, although the seller said he ran it for several hours with no problem to make sure it was working. The husband spent all day yesterday trying to get it to work here, with no success. He was not happy last night.

And the recliners were delivered yesterday, but we’re going to send his back for a different one. The one I bought has electronic controls, which is fine for a person who gets into the recliner and stays there for hours at a time, but the husband is in and out of his recliner multiple times over the course of an evening, and having to push a button and wait for the recliner to close up is just too frustrating. He wants one with a manual lever. I did not consider that when I was shopping. He really needs to go and find one for himself. The store has a seven-day return policy, so I will talk to them today. We put his old one back in the living room.

I do like mine, though:

I like that it rocks—my previous chair did not—and it is much more comfortable for my back.

The little deer has figured out that I do chicken chores around 4 o’clock every afternoon, so it shows up and stands near me until I give it some corn. I guess I have a pet deer now.

Partying With the Crafters

We had such a good time yesterday at our sewing group Christmas party. This is the group that meets every Thursday at our Community Center and also puts on the craft co-op sale every September. I think there were 18 of us. We started out with visiting and a potluck lunch and oh, did we eat well! I was sitting between Robin and Sarah, with Susan on the other side of Sarah. We stuffed ourselves silly.

The party includes an optional gift exchange. If you bring a gift, it gets a number taped to it. At the beginning of the gift exchange, the people who brought gifts pull numbers from a bag and then the “elves” hand out the numbered bag that corresponds to the number each person pulled. We start at #1 and open the gifts in turn, and the gifter is revealed.

One of the women made crocheted “popcorn strings.” Such a clever idea and the string made a great necklace for Bonnie.

When we got to my number, Judy, the woman who had brought that gift said, “You can exchange that one if you like,” and I knew immediately what my gift was. I said, “Why on earth would I want to do that?” as I pulled this out of the wrapping:

Judy is well known for making Poppins bags (Aunties Two patterns) that are in great demand at the co-op sale. She also gifts a small one each year at the Christmas party. She said that she knew I had made some, which is why she offered to exchange it. I pointed out that quilters rarely get quilts as gifts—why gift something the recipient can make?—and that hers were nicer than mine. 🙂

[We do not do the stealing portion of the gift exchange, so I had no worries that someone would take this from me.]

Robin brought my birthday gift, too, which was a box of tea, some comfy socks, and a candle. She said she thought I needed a care package after all the running around I did in November. The candle smells like snickerdoodles. She suggested I burn it and make the husband think I had baked cookies. (My friends know me so well.)

After the gift exchange, Arlene led us in a game of bingo. Much hilarity ensued. We played until everyone won a prize—we drew a small wrapped gift from a bigger bag—and opened those when the game was over. I love that all the gifts revolved around sewing supplies, beauty products, and chocolate. We are so easy to please.

I came home, made myself a cup of the tea Robin had given me (coconut—yum), put on my comfy socks, and sat down to read for a bit. I had brought home leftovers from the party for the husband, including two pieces of Sarah’s raspberry/blueberry cheesecake. Those didn’t last long.

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Did I get any quilting done this week? Not much. I have got to get a handle on the schedule and keep it from being hijacked. Susan and I have been discussing Christmas caroling—we usually get a group together from church and go the Saturday or Sunday before Christmas—but I told her yesterday that I am just not feeling it. We will be down several male voices this year, and caroling doesn’t work as well with a tiny group. I also feel like a lot of stuff got dumped on me this fall that I wasn’t expecting and I am tired of being responsible for keeping wheels from falling off buses. When the volunteer activities begin to take up so much time that they keep me from getting my stuff done, that’s a signal that something is wrong.

I am going to be home all day today, hopefully with no interruptions. The recliners are being delivered this afternoon. I may not quilt; I may just cut out a few more clothing patterns and leave the quilting for next week. Robin and I looked at our schedules yesterday. We’re going to aim for a trip to Spokane some time in late January. We usually get a nice thaw around then.

That little deer that was on the porch last week has been hanging around the yard. I tossed out some corn and an apple for it yesterday. I asked the husband if he minded me adopting a pet deer and he said that was fine as long as it didn’t end up in the house. It isn’t full grown yet and I am not sure why it’s alone.

A Sparkly Toaster Sweater

I am not one of those people who only buys supplies for a project when I need them. If I lived in a large metropolitan area with lots of brick-and-mortar suppliers, I might be, but I live in a rural area with few choices. I will admit that that has led to some hoarding tendencies, or as DD#2 describes them, “apocalypse preparedness buying habits.”

[One of our college friends commented, back in the spring of 2020, that I was the only person she knew who actually was prepared for a pandemic and lockdowns.]

When I get hit with a creative urge, the last thing I want to do is spend hours and hours searching for the supplies I need, either in town or online. I want to be able to pull some remnants out of the stash, put together a quilt sandwich, and produce a stack of potholders.

I’m trying to find a balance. A few weeks ago, on a sewing podcast, the host said, “There will always be more fabric,” although I immediately thought of that period of time during the supply chain disruptions when Kona Black was scarcer than hens’ teeth. I do buy fabric even when I don’t have immediate plans for it, and sometimes that means it marinates in the stash for a while.

About a year ago, I picked up some slinky knit black and emerald green special occasion fabric on clearance at Joanns.

I left it out for a few weeks while I considered potential projects for it. I finally had to admit that it was beyond my skill level at the time—very stretchy and hard to work with—so I stuck it in the stash and forgot about it.

One of my friends at church asked me a while back about the Sew House Seven Toaster Sweater. I said that I hadn’t bought the pattern because it was a very boxy, cropped design and one I didn’t consider flattering on my body. That pattern flitted across my radar screen again recently, and I realized that there are two versions. Toaster Sweater #1 is a raglan design with a wide banded bottom and cuffed sleeves. Toaster Sweater #2 was the one I had passed on.

Now that we are no longer being held hostage by the scourge of low-rise pants, I am willing to consider some shorter sweaters to wear with my high-rise, wide-leg Liz Claiborne jeans. I thought that Toaster Sweater #1 would be a good pattern to try. I bought the pattern that contains both versions and traced off Sweater #1.

The husband and I are going to a Christmas party this weekend hosted by one of the concrete suppliers. I want something dressy to wear, but not over the top. I immediately thought of that slinky black and green fabric. It occurred to me that the Toaster Sweater #1 might be a good fit for it. One of the ways to handle excessively stretchy fabric is to have a garment with a lot of seams to provide structure and control. I needed to make a muslin of the pattern anyway. If my idea worked, I would have a top to wear to the party. If it bombed, I was out two yards of hard-to-work-with clearance fabric. And I like raglans.

I chose to make the size 14 based on the finished measurements given in the pattern. The fabric was a joy to cut (/sarcasm/) because it waned to slide all over the cutting table. Testing serger settings was a must. I had to bump the differential on the serger up to 1.25 to keep the seams from stretching. The garment went together quickly, though—it took me about an hour and a half—and because the bottom and cuffs are banded, it can be made completely on the serger. No coverstitch hems required.

The finished sweater is not much to look at on the dress form, but it fits me perfectly. Even the length is good.

The pattern calls for topstitching the seams. I didn’t think that was necessary, nor would it be fun with that fabric. I will give the seams a light steaming instead. This fabric is not as heavy as what is called for in the pattern—I should have hacked that turtleneck into a cowl—but all those seams do keep the fabric under control. Other than those issues, I think this pattern was a good choice for this fabric.

Toaster Sweater #1 has gone into the tried-and-true pattern pile. I have a few other sweater knits in the stash that will work nicely and plan to make at least one or two more.

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Yes, I realize that I made a top yesterday instead of working on a quilt. I had intended to spend the day with the Q20, but the schedule got hijacked in the morning and I had to adjust. Barring any unforeseen issues, I should be home all day tomorrow. I will quilt while waiting for the recliners to be delivered.

Our sewing group has its Christmas potluck/gift exchange today. I’m making a quiche with bacon, mushrooms, and Swiss cheese. The chickens are cranky because they are stuck in the coop, but they are still laying.

Back In the (Quilting) Saddle

I did quilt yesterday, but I’ll be honest—my brain is stuck on making clothing. The wardrobe still has a few holes yet to be filled—I am woefully short on dressy tops to wear to church—and I have a chunk of black sparkle ponte that wants to be a pair of Renee pants to wear with the turquoise velvet top I bought in Seattle. I will be good and continue to work on my quilts, but I may throw in some clothing projects here and there.

[My current obsession is a YouTube channel called FebelsaDIY. The videos demonstrate how to modify a basic bodice sloper into a variety of knot top and twist-front garments. These videos are going to save me a ton of time re-inventing the wheel.]

Rather than go straight to working on a top, I eased back into quilting by making potholders. I pick up Insul-Bright batting remnants whenever I see them on the remnant rack at Joanns and had two pieces that were each almost a full yard. I layered them with leftover pieces of cotton batting, a top from one of the many food-themed remnants in the stash, and a backing, then quilted the sandwiches on the Q20 with allover meandering loops. A yard of quilted fabric yields a nice assortment of casserole hot pads, potholders, and mug rugs.

These will get stacked up until I have time for a marathon session of machine binding. Some will be gifts. The rest will go into inventory for next year’s craft co-op sale.

While I quilted, I listened to Gail Yellen’s serger Christmas stocking class. The class was held live on Saturday but I have the video recording for as long as I need it. I decided it would be better to preview the class rather than try to sew along live. Also, she had some issues with the pattern and I decided it would be better to wait and see if she worked the bugs out. (She did.) I’ll work on that project here and there, too, because she’s teaching some techniques I can use in upcoming serger classes.

Our transitional pastor and I had a meeting yesterday afternoon. We’re all trying to help her settle in, and she and I are mostly responsible for planning the Christmas Eve service. We’re meeting again next Monday.

And I ran my first meeting last night as chairman of the Homestead Foundation Fundraising Committee. This is a job I inherited from our church’s former pastor, who was also active in the Homestead Foundation. He wanted to resign from all his board commitments when he retired and I agreed to step in. We shall see how this goes. I limited the meeting to one Zoom session of 40 minutes—it’s a free account and cuts off at that point—and kept things moving along. I spend a lot of time in meetings and I don’t have much tolerance for ones that drag on, especially if they drag on past my bedtime. (No one wants to have meetings at 6 am, sadly, which would be my preferred time of day.) We’re at the end of the year and this was mostly a check-in meeting.

I will have to attend the general board meetings now, as well, and report in as head of this committee. I knock out at least half a dozen prayer shawls a year just sitting in meetings. Sometimes I think meetings were invented by extroverts specifically to torture introverts.

I haven’t gotten to canning tomatoes yet, although I did one batch of navy beans the other day and have a pot of red beans soaking to can this afternoon. I made two pumpkin pies for the husband yesterday. He ate half of one for dessert last night. I think I gain weight just watching him eat.

I came out of the garage the other day to find a visitor on the porch:

I am not sure where it was going, but I didn’t really want it in the house.

Can't Lose Me in a Snowbank

I know some people will be upset about this, but my friend Twila, who directs our church choir when we have one, and I have decided not to have a choir for Christmas this year. Our pastor’s retirement at the end of October brought with it some upheaval—not unexpected—and the interim pastor just started on December 1. Twila did a ton of work heading up the gift festival in November. Last month was a meat grinder for me. Christmas Eve is on a Saturday night with church again the following morning. The two of us had a long talk and decided to pass on a choir this year. Honestly, we’re both tired.

If people want to get torqued about this, they are welcome to take over the job of scheduling practices and finding music. And they’ll have to get another pianist (good luck with that) because I am not learning any new music for the rest of the year. Also, we never have enough tenors.

The new recliners are being delivered Friday. Yes, that’s plural. I bought myself a new chair, too. I realized that the one I am currently using is contributing to some back problems and making me less willing to sit and watch TV with the husband in the evenings. I found a recliner for myself in red leather, to match my red living room. The husband’s recliner is a nice rich brown leather.

We watched the Western Truck and Tractor Repair channel on YouTube last night. This is a mechanic in southern Oregon who travels around fixing heavy farm equipment. The husband said that he likes these videos because this guy is even busier than he is, and that’s saying something. I like to watch the videos because the guy is an absolute genius and I enjoy his rants. Half the time I have no idea what he’s doing on these trucks, but it’s like a soap opera with a cliffhanger at the end of every video. Will he be able to fix the truck? On last night’s video, he was calibrating a turbo actuator on a diesel engine. The husband has done this on his trucks, too. (I probably ask a lot of annoying questions and maybe the husband wishes I hadn’t bought myself a new chair, LOL.)

WS came over yesterday afternoon to practice his piano lesson. I do not mind if kids play my piano providing they wash their hands, first, and don’t bang on it. I listened to him practice and stepped in now and then to help him figure things out. I am trying to encourage good practice habits. He’s coming along. After he finished practicing, he spent about 20 minutes flinging himself down the big piles of snow in our yard on his sled. I wanted to join him but I would prefer to avoid a trip to the ER. Our friend Tommy stopped by, too, to buy some eggs and visit for a bit. He was skiing nearby.

I found the most fabulous piece of fabric on the mystery rack at Walmart yesterday:

This is another chunk of double-brushed poly and you can bet your biscuits I am going to make myself a top from it. I refuse to dress in muddy earth tones and sad pastels when I can fill my closet with stuff like this. You won’t be able to lose me in a snowbank.

And did you see?—Pantone’s color of the year for 2023 is Viva Magenta:

This year’s Color of the Year is powerful and empowering. It is a new animated red that revels in pure joy, encouraging experimentation and self-expression without restraint, an electrifying and a boundaryless shade that is manifesting as a stand-out statement.

Yes, please! I need more pink and red in my wardrobe. I’m a bit heavy on greens and blues right now.

I also bought the pattern for the Sew House Seven Toaster Sweater. When this first came out, I was like, “Eh, that will be too short on me,” but I’ve decided to give it a shot. I like that it is a raglan and I can always lengthen it a bit.

Back to quilting tomorrow. Before I start working on an actual quilt, I am going to put together a big sandwich of fabric, Insul-Bright, and batting and quilt that. I’ll cut it into potholders and bind them. DD#2 has been asking for some and I could use a few more, too.

I Am a Princess

I went to sewing on Thursday but didn’t stay long. I love all of those women, but even being around people I like is too much sometimes.

At home, on the cutting table, was a project I’ve been wanting to tackle for a while: doing a full bust adjustment on a princess seam design. I love princess seams. I think they are very flattering, but I’m hardly ever able to find garments with princess seams that have enough room for me.

I went through the pattern stash the other day and pulled out this one:

I almost didn’t buy this pattern because I was not crazy about any of the designs. For experimenting with an FBA, though, view D was perfect. I traced the pattern pieces before I left for sewing. When I got back, I slashed and spread the side front pattern pieces according to this tutorial.

I also set the coverstitch machine up for chainstitching so I could try basting my pattern pieces together that way. A chainstitch is the same kind of “unzipping” stitch that is found on feed bags. Oh my, is that slick. I was able to baste the pieces together and then take them apart again.

I cut a muslin out of some mystery rack cotton jersey from Walmart. Amazingly, I nailed the FBA on the first try. The princess seams lie exactly where they are supposed to with no pulling or excess. (Yay, me!) I hadn’t taken enough off at the sides, though, so I unzipped the pieces, removed the requisite amount of fabric, then re-sewed them. All of those changes were transferred to the pattern pieces. By the time I got to that point, it was dinnertime and I had to set the project aside.

Before I picked it up again yesterday morning, I finished another LC knockoff top. The serger was already threaded with pink thread and I didn’t want to change it twice.

This is the second top made from the deconstructed-top-turned-pattern. The first was a royal blue and white striped version. (I even matched the stripes at the side seams.) Both fabrics came from the Walmart Mystery Rack. Both are lightweight DBP. It’s a bit too cold outside to wear either of them comfortably right now, although I suspect they will get a lot of wear in the spring. I’ve got one more length of Walmart DBP that is destined to become another one of these.

Back to the princess seams. The muslin body was done, so I put one sleeve into it to test that fit. I’m almost never happy with the way sleeves are drafted on these patterns. They tend to be drafted as slightly (or more than slightly) dropped shoulders, even with shaped sleeve caps, and I think they are sloppy and oversized. I don’t want to be hauling that excess fabric around under my arm. I scooped an inch out of the armscye on both back and front pieces to make them fit closer to the shoulder. I then re-measured the armscye and the length of the sleeve cap and adjusted the sleeve cap accordingly. I think the sleeve could use a bit more tweaking, but I got it to where it was good enough.

The cotton jersey worked for the initial muslin, but this is a tunic that wants a fabric with some weight to it. I pulled a chunk of black cotton interlock out of the stash—another Walmart fabric—and cut a second top using my altered pattern. You’ll have to take my word for it that it fits. I could not get a good picture of me wearing it, and it looks funny on my dress form because the dress form is not as busty as I am. I put the cowl from view B on my version and I like it very much. The top is cozy and the length is perfect, although cotton interlock is probably my least favorite knit fabric. It’s beefy but it has zero recovery. I would like to make this again in a cotton fleece—the Robert Kaufmann Trainers fleece is lovely—or a rayon French terry. I would choose something other than black because my wardrobe is funereal enough as it is. And if this pattern were lengthened into a dress, I think it would be spectacular in a ponte.

Goal achieved. I have a good princess seam bodice pattern that I can hack into other tops and dresses. Having those inexpensive cuts of knit fabric from Walmart in the stash to use for muslins is great.

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The indoor lettuce system is up and running:

I pointed out to the husband, though, that it takes weeks for a tray of lettuce to grow into enough for a salad that he demolishes in one or two meals. The lettuce will grow back at least once after cutting and I have trays going on rotation, but I’d have to have three or four of these systems running to grow enough for him to have a salad every night.

One of my friends said to me once that she buys a rotisserie chicken from Costco and it’s enough to feed her and her husband for several nights. Huh. I wonder what that’s like.

Zombies Begone

The concert last night could not have gone better. The kids played very well and the pianist nailed all of her solos. I did have a moment of panic when I walked in, because the chairs and stands were set up completely differently than they had been for practice. The piano was way in the back, and the conductor and I had to have a quick conversation about whether I had sufficient line of sight to her. (Two of the songs started with piano only before the other musicians came in.) Everything worked out, though.

I bugged out after the concert and before the reception. The reception is for the kids to receive their accolades. Also, during the concert, the conductor introduced me as “the pianist at the Mennonite Church in Creston” and added, “And I have discovered that she is also an accomplished seamstress!” I appreciated that bit of hyperbole, but I didn’t want to go to the reception and give people an opportunity to ask me to hem their pants, LOL.

This latest storm off the Pacific brought snow to Seattle. I-90 over Snoqualmie was closed again yesterday because of accidents. (Some people are slow learners.) Spokane got hammered. We’ve had almost-continuous light snow, but I think we’ve only gotten about 6” so far. I think this will be what my mother-in-law used to refer to as a “snow globe” winter.

And now my overscheduled marathon month is over. Whew.

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Visiting the younger child (DD#2) is always a humbling experience. She does not let her father and me get away with anything, nor is she shy about sharing her opinion of our activities. She did say, as we were driving around last week, that if she still lived at home or nearby, she would start a YouTube channel and monetize the two of us.

[That made me laugh, because I remembered an early Sewing Out Loud podcast where Zede told her daughter, Mallory, that she should write a guide on “How to Monetize Your Mother.”]

I’m not sure if DD#2 thinks that we’re comedy gold or what, but don’t hold your breath. The husband says he has no interest in becoming famous.

The girls have been campaigning for me to get a new recliner for their father. This is his current recliner:

I bought it 22 years ago from a local furniture store. The first night it was here, he fell asleep and spent the whole night in it. This recliner is falling apart. Seams have split and the stuffing is showing. He has had to weld the frame back together in places. Various dogs have chewed on it. The little boys always want to sit in “Tom’s chair” when they come over.

He is adamant that he doesn’t want a new recliner, but I went shopping yesterday before the concert. I went to the same furniture store and tried out all of the recliners until I found one that feels like this one. He’s getting a new recliner as soon as I can arrange for delivery. The store says they will haul the old one away, but I need to check with WS, first, because he told me one time that if the husband ever got a new recliner, he would like the old one.

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Seamwork came out with a very timely article this week: “How to Sew Without Overflowing Your Closet.” This is a conundrum I have been wrestling with in my head. I like sewing. I like making clothes. I love the challenge of fitting patterns. I like seeing garments hanging in my closet that I know will fit me well, flatter my coloring, and last more than one season. I love textiles and fabric. At some point, though, I am going to have enough—although “enough” is relative depending on one’s point of view—and won’t need to make anything else.

I promised to be disciplined, though, and I will hold myself to that. I will cut out a few patterns today and tomorrow, but starting Monday, it’s back to quilting. I enjoy quilting, too. That won’t be a hardship.

Zombie Pianist

I tend to forget how much a day of teaching takes out of me. I’m naturally an introvert; I can be an extrovert when the situation calls for it, but that usually has to be followed by several days of avoiding people.

Yesterday’s serger Home Dec class had five students. My limit is six—you’ll understand why in a moment—so I was right up there. One of the students had had a traumatic brain injury years ago. She and I visited before class and I planned to keep a close eye on her to make sure she had what she needed. Hers was the oldest machine, a 90s vintage Bernette serger whose guts are very similar to my Juki.

The other four students had air-threading BabyLock machines. Three of them were repeat students who had taken other classes from me.

Overall, the class went well. The reason I limit the number of students is because not only am I dealing with different personalities, learning styles, and skill levels, I also have to troubleshoot a variety of complicated machines. Knitting needles and yarn are ridiculously simple by comparison. I had one student who was ahead of everyone else (not unusual), and I was working hard to make sure the others were keeping up. The woman with the vintage Bernette serger struggled mostly because of her machine. She knew how to thread it and what she needed to do to get it to work, but we were pushing the limits of its abilities and that frustrated her. When it came time to do rolled hems, she couldn’t get past some tension problems. I looked at her threads and asked her how old they were. She had had them for many years. I suggested we change them and showed her the very obvious difference in quality between older and newer threads. Switching out threads helped, but she still wasn’t happy with her rolled hems. We changed and tested various settings. I was just about out of ideas. Finally, I asked her what needle was in the machine. I should have started there, but she had just had it serviced a few days before. I made the assumption that it was the correct needle. It was, but it was a serger needle. Serger needles seem to be very similar to “universal” needles in that they are a hybrid of a needle meant for wovens and one meant for knits. The tip isn’t quite sharp enough for wovens but it won’t snag knits. Using such a needle gets one around the issue of having to change needles based on the fabric. Like most middle-of-the-road solutions, however, universal needles don’t do either job very well. I will start students with them but I also make sure they understand that there are other, better, choices.

We switched out the serger needle for a sharp Microtex needle and that did the trick. If she wants to keep serging, though, she may need a different machine. By then, class was almost over and I had to scoot off to concert rehearsal. That student was determined to keep working on her project. Thankfully, two of the other students in the class were planning to stay and finish working on their projects, and they said they would help her if she needed it. I gave her my phone number and told her to call me if she had any questions or wanted me to meet her at the store.

Some time in the 20 minutes between leaving class—when I was very much “on”—and getting to concert rehearsal, my brain decided it was done for the day. I’m familiar with that feeling as it used to happen when I taught knitting. I’d get to a point in late afternoon where I literally could not process any inputs. You could ask me to add two plus two and I would just look at you blankly.

I sleepwalked through the concert dress rehearsal. Like most church pianists, I am a decently good sight-reader because people are forever plopping music down in front of me and asking me to play (or sing) it. When I have practiced a piece, though, I become familiar enough with it to anticipate what is coming next. I’ll be aware that a tricky sixteenth-note run is coming up and get my fingers in position to play it. I’ll be able to count six measures of rest without losing my place.

I sat down at rehearsal and looked at that music—music I know well and had played well at Monday’s rehearsal—and it was like I had never seen it before. I was having a lot of trouble keeping myself focused. The gas tank was empty and I played badly as a result. (I have solo sections in three of the pieces.)

I apologized to the music teacher afterward. I do not have anything on the schedule today (besides practicing), and I promised to be well-rested and focused for the concert tonight.

Note to self: Don’t stack the schedule like that next November.

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I did get pics of a couple of the student projects from class. These are simple table runners. We start class with them so that the students can re-familiarize themselves with their machines.

One student did a lovely Christmas version:

Kathy, who works at the store, did hers in Camille Roskelley’s Nantucket Summer fabric line:

After that, I was too busy to snap pics, but the others turned out well, too.

November is almost done.

Birthday Celebrations

DD#2 and I got up last Wednesday morning and headed for the ferry. We’ve started something of a new tradition where we spend Thanksgiving with DD#1’s in-laws. Last year, it was just them, their older son, and DD#2 and me. This year, DD#1 and DSIL came down from Alaska and DSIL’s maternal grandfather was visiting from Wisconsin.

I love DSIL’s parents and am so happy that our families can get together like this. His mom is an exceptional cook and baker and the food is always fantastic. And this year, my birthday fell on Thanksgiving Day.

Unfortunately, while we were sitting in line at the ferry, waiting to see if we could get on the 7:55 am run, the car behind us bumped into the BMW. It was a gentle tap, nothing more—I suspect the kid let his foot slip off the brake momentarily. He hurried up to my car with his name and number scribbled on a napkin and said that if both of us were able to get on the same ferry, he would come back and talk to me.

His car was right behind mine on the ferry after loading, so we took pictures of each car. I couldn’t see any damage, but the husband said that sometimes the clips holding the bumper will snap. As it turned out, this kid was a 2013 Gonzaga grad. (I have a Gonzaga Mom license plate holder.) I told him I would have the car checked out and let him know if there was any damage.

We arrived at DSIL’s parents’ house around 9:30 where we all sat down to a “light” breakfast of eggs, oatmeal, muffins and bagels, and fresh fruit. Oh, and apple crisp to put on top of the oatmeal. No one ever leaves the table hungry. DSIL’s dad went out and looked over the car for me. He said the only damage he could find was the faint imprint of a Phillips-head screw on the bumper, likely from the kid’s license plate.

DSIL’s mom had done much of the prep work for the day ahead of time. My contribution was to make the apple salad, of which I later had two big helpings, because what could be better than apples, grapes, and mini-marshmallows covered in homemade whipped cream? After a dinner of turkey with all the trimmings, we went for a walk around the neighborhood with the dogs. Several other neighbors had the same idea.

We came back for a dessert of apple, pumpkin, and pecan pies along with an ice cream cake for my birthday. The cake had an Oreo crumb base with Tillamook cherry ice cream on top. That was delicious.

Once everyone was stuffed full, we gathered in the living room for the evening movie. The kids chose “Top Gun Maverick.” I’m not a big fan of action movies because they tend to be thin on plot and heavy on blowing things up but I enjoyed this one. I’d watch it again.

DD#2 and I said our good-byes and headed for the hotel. I didn’t want to drive back to Seattle so late so we just got a room for the night.

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We were sitting in the car on the ferry the next morning when the captain came on the loudspeaker and said, “We’re slowing down because there is a pod of Orcas ahead. If you want to see them, they are off the left side of the boat.” DD#2 and I went up to the observation deck. It was cold and windy and raining sideways—and the boat was rocking—but we were able to see the fins of the whales and even got to see a couple of them breach. Apparently, this pod is in Puget Sound for a few weeks every year around this time.

I had already decided, at that point, to head back home early because of the predicted snowstorm over the pass. Neither of us had any desire to battle Black Friday shoppers at the mall, so we did a Costco run and a Trader Joe’s run and got DD#2 all situated with supplies. For dinner, DD#2 had made reservations at Ray’s Boathouse, where she had scallops and I had the most amazing crab cakes.

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This marathon month is almost over and I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. I had a concert rehearsal yesterday afternoon. Today, I’m teaching an all-day serger class, then going to dress rehearsal. The concert is tomorrow evening.

I am giving myself until Monday to play with clothing patterns and sweater knits. Starting Monday, I need to focus on quilt projects. I have this out, waiting to be finished:

The plan is to to finish this quilt, my college roommate’s Sunbonnet Sue quilt, and a quilt for my sister that is supposed to be a Christmas present but which may be a Happy 2023 present instead. If I time it right, I should have lots of quilt binding to sew down (by hand) while DD#2 is here for Christmas. The Q20 is in my office, which is right off the kitchen, so while I am quilting, I also will be canning beans, salsa, and tomato sauce.

A Sweater Knit Bonanza

I am still trying to puzzle out this Walmart Mystery Remnant Rack phenomenon. Why Walmart and why these remnants? I decided that this trip would be a good opportunity to do some research. Do other Walmart stores have Mystery Remnant Racks?

Yes, they do. I think I visited a total of nine or ten Walmart stores between here and Seattle. All but two had remnant racks. (The small stores don’t have much in the way of craft sections.) The racks are full of remnants—mostly knits—put up as 2-, 3-, and 4-yard bundles. The bundles range in price from $3 to $8.

Walmart does not have a reputation for carrying quality fabric, but I refuse to be a fabric snob. I am somewhat appalled at the fact that quilting is a multibillion dollar industry populated mostly by retired white women with disposable income. We are never going to encourage young people to take up sewing if we expect them to spend $300-500 making a quilt. Ethical dilemmas abound on all sides of these issues.

And some of these Mystery Rack remnants are really nice. I picked up bundles of rayon jersey, rayon French terry, cotton French terry, waffle knits, and textured sweater knits, all in lovely, saturated jewel tones. Here are some of the sweater knits:

That one on top is particularly nice. There are only two yards, but that’s enough for a Harper cardigan with some corresponding black rayon jersey for the bands.

[Just before I left, I made a muslin of my deconstructed LC tunic pattern using a double-brushed poly remnant from our Walmart. I liked it so much I wore it on the trip. That one is a winner.]

I have no other avenue of shopping for these kinds of knits in person, where I can look at and feel the fabric before I purchase it. I also have no way of knowing where these knits are being sourced, so I have no way to get more of ones I particularly like. Oh, well. The Walmart Mystery Remnant Rack is a gift from the universe, and if I can’t go anywhere this winter, I will have plenty to keep me occupied.

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DD#2 had to work last Wednesday morning, so I entertained myself by visiting another Joann Fabrics and another Half-Price Books. I also went to the mall to do some research in the Liz Claiborne department at JC Penney, but two employees were moving and restocking all the racks with new items and they made it clear that they didn’t want to be disturbed. All I can tell you is that royal blue is a popular color right now.

After lunch, DD#2 and I walked around Ballard, one of the Seattle neighborhoods. I wanted to visit Monster. That’s a cute little craft store that carries embroidery and cross-stitch kits. I bought this one of an Aran sweater, which I thought was appropriate:

I also picked up a Robert Mahar anatomical embroidery sampler (I bought the heart). Both samplers are small—about 8” x 8”—and won’t take long to complete. Monster offers classes and Robert Mahar has taught there. I’ll keep an eye on their schedule to see if he comes back.

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Speaking of classes, a promo for a Gail Yellen class popped up in my YouTube feed yesterday. She’s teaching a Zoom class on making a Christmas stocking on the Bernina L860/L890 sergers. The live class is this Saturday from 10 am to 1:30 pm, although the class recording link is good in perpetuity. I signed up. I’ll think I will mirror the laptop feed to the TV in our bedroom and wheel the serger cabinet in there so I can watch and sew at the same time. I’ve been wanting to take a class from her and this project incorporates lots of decorative thread techniques.

Dodging Snowflakes

The husband and I do obsess about the weather. He works outside and I grow plants and travel. It behooves us to know what is on the horizon so we can make contingency plans.

I left last Monday morning for Spokane. I planned to run some errands and spend the night there. One of my stops was Regal Fabric and Gifts, the small quilt store where I taught in August. I popped in and had a lovely chat with Irene, the owner. The store is moving—hopefully some time soon after the holidays—and I am excited about the new location. The store will be located in the old Boyd-Walker sewing machine store downtown. Boyd-Walker was (I think) the oldest Pfaff dealer in the US until the store closed several years ago. I had been there a couple of times. The building is wonderful and that area has been renovated and cleaned up. There will be plenty of classroom space. Irene and I are going to visit again in January and get some classes on the schedule. Yay!

My original plan was to take my time getting to Seattle on Tuesday, but I looked at the forecast and decided that a better plan was to leave early and get over the pass before some predicted rain and snow moved in. I was very glad I did that. I left at 5 am—it was clear in Spokane—and by the time I started heading up the east side of Snoqualmie Pass, I was seeing warnings for freezing rain.

Given the choice, I would take snow over anything else. Snow is a visible form of precipitation that triggers something in people’s heads to tell them to slow down. Rain and fog don’t do that, especially if people aren’t also keeping an eye on the temperature. I saw vehicle after vehicle with Washington plates speeding past me as we climbed and I am sure it’s because those drivers think to themselves that they drive in rain all the time. Eventually, the freezing rain did get thick enough that the speed limit dropped to 45 mph and traffic crawled through it for about 25 miles up over the summit and down into Seattle.

It was 48F and pouring on the west side. I stopped in Issaquah for a quick visit at Gossypium Quilt Shop, Hobby Lobby, and Issaquah Sewing and Vac. That last place is a WonderFil dealer, and even though I have a WonderFil wholesale account, sometimes I just want a spool or two of something. This store carries many of the lines. I picked up a WonderFil Serger Thread pack:

I also bought a book of serger projects. I’m always looking for class ideas.

DD#2 was working on Tuesday and I couldn’t get into the Airbnb until 4 pm, so I continued on into the Seattle metro area and did some shopping at the half-price bookstore and a large Joann Fabrics. I came home with some fabric, but that’s a story for another blog post.

I’ll detail the rest of the trip in upcoming posts, but suffice to say that I had one eye on the forecast the entire time I was in Seattle. On Friday morning, I saw that a winter storm watch had been issued for Snoqualmie Pass from 10 pm Saturday night until 10 am Monday morning. My original plan had been to leave Sunday morning, drive to Spokane, and spend the night. I made a quick revision to those plans and decided to go home early. I have a rehearsal Monday afternoon and didn’t want to risk getting stuck in Seattle. All the snow tires and chains in the world wouldn’t help me if WSDOT closed the pass to travel. I left early yesterday morning and was up and over the pass by 7 am, although I drove in thick fog all the way from the summit to Spokane. The only way I knew my location was by the highway signs; I couldn’t see any of the landscape around me. Conditions cleared up in Spokane and it was sunny much of the way home. I arrived to find dinner and a happy husband waiting for me.

This is shaping up to be one of those winters where I probably won’t be able to travel much. I doubt I’ll get back to Seattle until spring, at least by car. A trip or two to Missoula or Spokane might be possible, but I think I’ll be staying put.

I’m going to skip church today even though it is the first Sunday of Advent. We made plans for the service without me and I hardly ever get a Sunday off. Being a church pianist is a job. I know people think I just come in and sit down and play, but as my friend Catherine used to say, “It’s hard work to make this look easy.” I’ll take the break.

A Gold Star

I had seven students in my jacket class yesterday. I thought it went well. Two ladies came to class with their patterns already cut out. They finished about an hour ahead of everyone else. I prefer that students not cut their patterns out ahead of time because I like to talk about fitting and tracing and grading, but old habits are hard to break. They were happy with their finished jackets, though, and that is what counts.

I really need to do some kind of demo day or presentation on fabric choices. I don’t know that it needs to be a whole class—although I certainly could turn it into a three-hour class—because students don’t always choose the best fabric for their projects. I used to have the same issue when I taught knitting, even when I specified yarn and needle sizes. I had a woman show up one time thinking that she would use navy blue sock yarn on size 2 needles to learn a very intricate cabling technique. Um, no.

And it wasn’t that any of the students had the “wrong” fabric, but I would have steered a few of them in a different direction. I did spend about 20 minutes at the start of class talking about fabric and fitting and some other topics.

The really fun parts of class are the ones that aren’t scripted. One of the ladies, Mary, took the Easton Cowl class a few weeks ago. She brought this with her to yesterday’s class:

She had gone home after class and made herself another one. We ooohed and ahhhed over it. Seeing students take the skills they learn in class and run with them is one of the best parts of teaching. The husband asked me if I had given her a gold star. I should have.

The store owner was also in yesterday’s class. She made her jacket out of fleece and wanted to do the blanket stitch serger edging on it. I helped her pick out thread and showed her the settings on the machine. She was able to make a few test samples to try it out and said she would do the edgings after class.

I want people to be fearless. I want them to think creatively about how they can make their projects unique.

And because it was an all-day class, we had plenty of time to talk over a variety of subjects. Without prompting, several of the ladies complained about our Joann Fabrics and how depressing it is to go in there. They are not happy about the limited store hours, either. And my sense that people want to sew more of their own clothes again is not far off base. Certainly, these women would like to do so. The sticking point seems to be locating quality fabrics. I applaud the quilt store owners for being willing to invest money in garment fabric inventory, because that is a risk for them. I think they’re seeing the demand for those fabrics, though, and that feeds on itself.

I see parallels to what quilters say it was like in the 70s and 80s, when quilting started to enjoy a resurgence in popularity but floral-y calicoes were the only fabrics available. Look where we are now with quilting fabrics.

I’ll do my part and continue to wear my me-mades so that people can see what is possible. (I had on one of my LC knock-offs yesterday.) At the end of class the students were asking what classes we had scheduled for 2023. The interest is there—we just need to keep feeding it.

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I hope everyone has a happy Thanksgiving if you’re celebrating this week, and a great week if you’re not. I’ll see you after the fact.

A Fabric By Any Other Name

I wonder if Amazon will regret shutting down Fabric.com. I know they claimed it was losing money, but was that due to a poor business model or poor management? Any money-making proposition can be run into the ground by people who don’t understand customers’ needs and purchasing habits.

Walmart clearly wants to move into Amazon’s territory. I mentioned a few weeks ago that I discovered that Walmart is now doing order fulfillment with suppliers in much that same way that Amazon does. I’ve been able to find and order fabric through the Walmart website from Stylish Fabrics.

[Interestingly, it’s harder to find those same fabrics on Stylish Fabric’s website, although I am sure they are there. The search engine has useful filters; the issue seems to be inconsistencies in the product descriptions.]

Stylish Fabrics has a listing on Walmart’s website for rayon ponte roma fabric. They have an almost identical listing for the same fabric on their own website. I ordered two yards of this and it came yesterday.

This is a perfect example of why it is so hard to shop for fabric without being able to see and feel it in person. This fabric is described as a ponte roma. (Technically, I believe it is ponte de roma, but I suppose I’m asking for too much to have it named properly.) It is exactly the weight and blend I need to replicate that Liz Claiborne top. However, it in no way resembles the ponte from which I make all my Renee pants, and if I bought this intending to make a pair of Renee pants from it, I would be sorely disappointed. I think it would be better described as a rayon interlock knit than a ponte. Who gets to decide how a fabric is labelled and identified? The manufacturer? The supplier?

I did get Whitney’s list of her favorite online fabric stores and places to order specific fabrics as part of her TomKat Stitchery newsletter this week. That has been helpful for identifying good sources of quality fabric. Many online stores also offer swatches, but shopping for fabric that way is a time-consuming process.

I hate reinventing wheels that shouldn’t need to be reinvented, but at least I’ve found a good source for a nice, drapey, lightweight rayon doubleknit.

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I’m going to practice putting on and taking off my tire chains this afternoon. I’ve watched several videos because I always learn better by seeing an example. Hopefully, I will not need the chains. Michael Snyder, who does the Pacific Northwest Weather Watch videos on YouTube, said yesterday that the models are fluctuating too much to give any kind of accurate forecast for this week. He is hoping that they will converge and show some agreement by this afternoon. And the thing about driving over Snoqualmie Pass is that you really don’t know what the weather is like until you get there. That time I drove over in a snowstorm, it was 50 degrees and raining when we left Seattle. An hour later, at the summit, I was driving through four inches of snow.

First, though, I am teaching the A Little Somethin’ Jacket class at the quilt store. Some of the students from the scarf class have also signed up for this one, and I had to promise that I would talk about fitting and fabric in this class. My sense from teaching over the past year and a half is that people are searching for this information and wanting to make their own clothing, but they are coming up short.

Getting Organized for 2023

I met with the class coordinator at the quilt store south of town yesterday. Her name is Janet, too, and it gets a bit confusing sometimes—we were working in the office and the store owner called “Janet?” up the stairs and both of us answered without thinking. She also makes a lot of her own clothes. We got a bit distracted discussing different kinds of ponte for the Renee pants. She’s on her third pair and I’ve made four.

I’m glad we got together because I was missing a class date on my schedule. I have a Serger 101 class slated for December 14. No biggie—I could teach that class in my sleep and it doesn’t require any extra prep.

We scheduled the following classes for January, February, March, and April.

• January 7: Explore Your Serger Feet (Gathering, Cording, and Elasticator)

• January 11: Bernina Serger Mastery

• February 24: Renee Pants

• March 8: Coverstitch Basics

• April 8: New Look 6555 Keyhole Top (that was the dolman in rayon batik that the store owner bought from me when she saw it.)

We may add one or two more, but those are the ones that will go up on the website soon. I really wanted to add that coverstitch class, both because we have people who are interested in knowing more and because that will give me a reason to dig deep into learning all the coverstitch techniques. The owner asked me if I would teach some classes on making buttonholes and inserting zippers. I can teach just about anything that I have mastered myself, first, but I suggested that she ask one of her customers who used to make wedding dresses if she would be interested in teaching those skills. If she does, I’ll be signing up for those classes. The irony is not lost on me that I came to all of this with zero seamstress skills and yet I am teaching garment-making classes. Imposter syndrome, anyone?

I’ve got classes on the schedule for the other Kalispell store, too. And I really want to stop in and visit with the owner of the little quilt store in Spokane next week. I taught there in August and she said she would love to have me back, but it sounds like she’s also planning to move the shop. (I know where she wants to move it and I am just tickled about the possibility.) I’m taking my calendar with me and I’ll see what we can make happen after the move.

Getting the big items on the schedule four months in advance should help me avoid having another November. Theoretically. That does make it easier to say no to other requests, though.

The front that came through Wednesday evening scoured out the inversion and left us with brilliant sunny skies yesterday. The temps were not balmy by any stretch of the imagination, but it was a good day to put up what the husband refers to as “Janet’s Happy Lights.”

I got strings of these lights at Home Depot a few years ago. I take down the wind chimes and put these up after the time change, then reverse the process in the spring. I like that they provide a little extra light during the winter months when it’s as dark as the inside of a cow out there.

I also gave in and deconstructed that Liz Claiborne top. I decided it was too worn for me to keep wearing, so I took the seam ripper to it. I’ll trace the pieces for a formal pattern. The versions I made from the pattern I rubbed off of it are wearable, but they still need some tweaking. This is the best way to get an accurate copy for a top whose style and silhouette I really love.

Speaking of Liz Claiborne, I popped into our JC Penney store yesterday just to see what they had in the Liz section. I was pleasantly surprised to find quite a few tops in bright colors—purple and red is a lovely retina-burning combination—but when I tried some of them on, I was disappointed to see that they were too short. Some Liz styles come in Tall versions, but not all of them, and not the tops I would have bought. I am pretty sure the Liz designers are drafting for an average height of 5’5” and I desperately need two extra inches.

[I have to manufacture sympathy for people who complain that they have to hem everything. At least they can find things to wear. Too long is easier to fix than too short.]

I did however, find a cropped sweater to wear with my Liz wide-leg jeans. I tried it on and liked how it looked, so I bought it.

Ready for Winter With Flannel Scarves

This was the busiest week of November for me and it’s almost over. I feel like I’ve gotten past a big hurdle. I finally got to practice with the kids yesterday afternoon, which was incredibly helpful. I have been going over my music here, by myself, but that told me nothing about what my part sounds like with the rest of the instruments, or how fast the conductor wants to take each piece, or what sections still need work. Two of the arrangements are ones we did last year. I need to polish up the other two.

I came out of practice at 5:00 pm to find that the promised cold front had swept in. It was snowing as I drove down to the quilt store, although thankfully not as windy as predicted. I had time to eat a salad before class while the students were threading their machines and cutting fabric. And then we got started.

The class project is a flannel scarf designed by Sandra Swick, the Bernina educator who taught our Mystery Make class last April. She graciously made the pattern available to Bernina dealers to give away with fabric purchase or to teach as a class. I taught this same class last month.

Dawn and Melissa cutting their squares:

Dawn at her machine.

I’ve had Dawn in several classes and she is a lot of fun. She knows more than she thinks she does and her projects always turn out well.

Barb, one of the store employees, chose this combination for her scarf.

Everyone completed a scarf by the end of class.

I am teaching the A Little Somethin’ Jacket class on Saturday and that will be my last class at this store for 2022. (I have one more class scheduled at the end of the month at the other quilt store.) This afternoon, I’m meeting with the class coordinator for this store so we can start getting classes on the calendar for 2023.

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The lettuce is doing much better in my revamped system using mason jars. The timer I bought last year is not working, however, so I need to get that sorted.

The new snow tires went onto the car Tuesday morning. I had the front end aligned when the BMW was at the dealer in September, and the car is driving very smoothly. I am ready for winter travel. The Pacific storm train looks like it’s ramping up—next week is supposed to be wet, but warmer, with temps up in the 40s here in Montana and lots of rain in Seattle.

A Month Full of Time Confetti

Finding interesting fodder for the blog has been difficult this month. My schedule has been fractured and full of small annoyances. I am so tired of people behaving as though they are the only ones on the planet. Twice in the past couple of weeks, someone (the same someone) barged into the middle of a conversation I was having and redirected it without so much as an “Excuse me.” (If it happens again, my response is going to be less than charitable.) Others act as though they are entitled to my time. I don’t know where manners and consideration went, but I’d love to see them make a comeback. And if they bring rationality and common sense with them, so much the better.

I spent yesterday morning running errands but was home by noon. (Town was blessedly deserted.) The husband was here doing paperwork. I told him to call if he needed me, then went upstairs to cut fabric. Now that I know the difference between heavyweight rayon jersey and doubleknits—as I said, I need to get out of my own way occasionally—I went back through my stash with a fresh eye. I pulled two fabrics from which to make that Liz Claiborne top and got them cut out. I cut two more Burda 6315 tops, one from French terry and one from another length of that rayon fleece from Joanns.

My birthday is next week, on Thanksgiving Day, and my mother always sends me birthday money. I like to treat myself on my Thanksgiving trip because it tends to coincide with good sales. I’ve been watching the transformation of my closet into clothing I actually want to wear and I am trying to be thoughtful about what additional fabrics and pieces I might pick up.

Seamwork had a good article on what to sew and what to buy. I was in Target yesterday morning and picked up a black rayon French terry waterfall cardigan. Yes, I am trying to perfect the drafting of a waterfall cardigan pattern so I can recreate my black rayon jersey one that is worn out. I don’t know when that might get done, though, and in the meantime, I still need a black waterfall cardigan. This one met all my criteria for fit, construction, and quality, so I bought it.

I bought a pair of Liz Claiborne wide-leg jeans in Seattle in September and wore them to church on Sunday. I had to laugh at myself because what I really need to wear with them is a cropped sweater or top of some sort. I don’t have any, because I am too old to wear low-rise jeans with tops that don’t come down past my navel. The LC jeans sit at my natural waist, though, so I’d be willing to revisit the idea of a cropped top to wear with them. (I wouldn’t do a sweater, though, as I am just too warm most of the time.) I paired the jeans with a Burda 6315 tunic. Several people complimented the look, so I must have done okay.

[The Burda 6315 top in its original configuration would work as a cropped top with these jeans. I lengthened it when I made it. I am sure DD#2 will also have some suggestions.]

Okay, enough about clothing. I am trying to work my way back toward quilting, although nothing major will happen until next month when the schedule clears. I’ve been working on that cream-and-white log cabin quilt, which is the perfect project for small blocks of time. I need sixty-four 12-1/2” squares. I’ve finished 11 of them:

Five more are in progress. The scrap bag doesn’t seem to be getting any emptier, however. Weird.

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Seattle is in the midst of a very unusual dry spell that is supposed to end the middle of next week. I don’t think I’ll have any trouble over the passes on my way there. Getting back might be a different story, but we’ll have to wait and see. During the winter, I always break the Seattle run into two days. During the summer, with plenty of daylight and regular tires on my car, it’s possible to put the car in cruise and make that trip in eight hours. I prefer not to drive in the dark, though, and I won’t push the speed with brand new tires on the car. Also, there is a lot of road construction around Snoqualmie Pass right now. The trip from Spokane to Seattle usually takes four hours, but I am giving myself an entire day.

A back-door cold front looks like it might be trying to push its way through here on Thursday and Friday. I am expecting winds from the northeast even though the forecast doesn’t mention them, which it probably won’t until someone from the National Weather Service in Missoula looks out the window and notices that it’s breezy. The guy who does the Pacific Northwest Weather Watch on YouTube just started a series on historic PNW windstorms. I’m curious to see if he includes the November 2015 storm that hit Spokane.

Pies and Babushkas

I took my pies up to the church yesterday morning. Shoppers flooded in as soon as the doors opened, which was wonderful to see as the two previous days had been a bit slow. I oversaw a version of the Mennonite Game in which several of my friends who get mentioned regularly in the blog got to meet each other in person. Sarah was there, so I introduced her to Tera and her husband, because they got a flock of Leicester Longwool sheep last year and I thought the three of them would be able to talk about fleeces and handspinning. As it turns out, Tera also knows Sarah’s daughter-in-law, who is a physician at the hospital where Tera works as a pharmacist.

[It’s a Small World, After All . . . la la la]

Tera’s husband lamented that he has never been on the blog, so maybe I’ll go visit Tera some day and interview him about his flock of sheep.

Here is Susan, who was heading up activities for the kids. Each year, the sale highlights a different country. The focus of the sale this year was on Ukraine:

Susan makes a wonderful babushka.

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I had planned to drop off pies and come home, but I ended up spending an hour at the sale. It was almost lunchtime by the time I got back. The (supposedly) heavier rayon/spandex that I ordered arrived a few days ago and I wanted to see how it sewed up, so I put that together yesterday afternoon.

Eh.

I’ve come to the conclusion that categorizing fabric by weight—either grams per square meter or ounces per yard—is basically useless. The range is too narrow. This was supposed to be a “heavyweight” rayon/spandex. It’s not. It is soft and drapey, just like the other ones I’ve sewn with, and does not resemble the fabric in that Liz Claiborne tunic.

Whitney, at TomKat Stitchery, did a YouTube video the other day where she talked about some of her favorite fabric suppliers. She buys certain kinds of fabrics from certain suppliers, and I remembered that she said one supplier carried different weights of ponte. I am most familiar with the heavier ponte, like the Robert Kauffman ponte that I’ve been using for the Renee pants.

And then I had an epiphany. (It happens.) I’ve been looking for a heavyweight rayon/spandex jersey to recreate that Liz tunic. I need to be looking for a lightweight ponte, instead. I got out the top and looked at it. Yep, it’s a doubleknit fabric, not a jersey. I was going by the fiber content on the tag and forgetting to look at the structure of the fabric. Shame on me.

Seamwork has an excellent article explaining the differences between a jersey fabric—which has a knit side and a purl side—and doubleknits, which have knit stitches on both sides with the purl stitches in between the layers. Interlock and ponte are both versions of doubleknit fabric. Doubleknit got a bit of a bad reputation in the 1970s (those polyester leisure suits!), but the newer fabrics are much nicer.

I revised my search efforts to find a lightweight rayon/spandex doubleknit fabric. Part of the issue is also overlap in terminology. Should I search for ponte or interlock or doubleknit? Searching on lightweight ponte brought up a lot of hits, but most of the fabrics were some combination of polyester and rayon. I don’t like the polyester-containing pontes. They can be too hot. I finally found a lightweight ponte that is 93% rayon and 7% spandex and looks like it might fit the bill. I ordered two yards.

Shopping for fabric online is frustrating. I’d much rather be able to see and handle some of these fabrics in person. I have ordered swatches, but that is a shotgun method.

The TomKat Stitchery newsletter comes out Monday evening and Whitney promised to include her favorite online retailers for specific kinds of fabrics. I think that will be a very helpful reference.

And I need to get myself a copy of this book:

I picked up a copy of the previous edition at a thrift store last year and gave it to DD#2. Fabric information is very useful in her job. I have taken her on a tour of Joann Fabrics to look at different kinds of substrates in person. If I see this book on my travels, I’ll pick it up.

I’ve been watching the Pacific Northwest weather closely. It looks like it will be in the 50s and rainy while I am in Seattle, although I might run into some snow going over the passes. I’m getting my new snow tires put on this Tuesday and I’ll also have the chains if I need them. I did notice that the Snoqualmie Pass Twitter account admitted that snow tires on 4WD/AWD vehicles (the BMW is AWD) are an acceptable substitute for chains. I thought that was the case, which is why I never carried chains. I think that studded snow tires on an AWD vehicle with Montana plates should get me some kind of special dispensation.

Pies, Pies, and More Pies

Today is the last day of our church’s International Gift Festival. We haven’t held one for the past two years because of the pandemic. We knew that we might have fallen off of people’s radar screens as a result, and traffic has been lighter this year. I think a lot of us are tired, too, and not feeling the energy that we’ve had in the past. This event comes just after our pastor’s retirement at the end of October. We have had to parcel out many of the tasks he has done so well for so many years. We’re also still in the middle of processing exactly what his retirement means for us as a congregation. We have hired an interim pastor, but she doesn’t start until December 1.

I tried to remember to get some pictures at the sale. while I was working The pies are always a big hit:

We had a couple of people ask to buy whole pies, and one lady even wanted to know if she could buy rolls to take home. Oh, how I miss Margaret and Ruthie! We were reluctant to sell whole pies and especially rolls because we did not want to run out. I came home last night and made another shoo-fly and another butterscotch pie for the sale today. I also made the husband an apple pie because he did my chicken chores for me while I was baking.

[I have lots of thoughts about the way society is ordered right now, some of which are not popular. One of these days I might let them out of my head and put them in a blog post.]

Ginger, one of the women who does our visuals at church, came up with the idea for the centerpieces. She is such a gifted designer. Between the two of us, we made about 15 of these bowl cozies:

The month of November is almost half done. Next week is a bit lighter. I have two serger classes scheduled, but one I’ve taught before and the other one should be straightforward.

I’ll deliver my pies to the church this morning. I’d like to get a few sewing projects moved along today. I spent about 45 minutes organizing the quilting cotton scrap bin yesterday morning. It is high time for a scrap cutting session with the Accuquilt cutter. I also put a quilt on the table with the Q20. Seeing it there might motivate me to get it done. And I need to prep my second squash block and another chicken block to work on in the evenings.

I need to do a resupply of yarn for prayer shawls. I am on my last four skeins. I’ve been using Lion Brand Homespun, although I’m not wedded to it; they’ve cut back on the color selection and our Joanns hardly has enough of any color for one shawl. I might check Hobby Lobby and Michael’s—I think each of those stores has house labels with yarns similar to Homespun. I’ve been a bit blindsided, too, by the increase in price. I guess it has been a while since I bought yarn.

Who am I kidding. Everything has gotten more expensive.

I’m making up some shopping lists for my trip to Seattle (and not just fabric). Perhaps I will hit some good sales on my travels.

Pies and Lettuce

I came home from town Tuesday afternoon and started to feel kind of punky. I immediately began dosing myself with vitamins, ibuprofen, and hot tea. If I am vigilant, I often can get ahead of whatever might be trying to take me out. I woke up yesterday morning still not feeling 100%, but I wasn’t any worse, either. My naturopath’s office changed my in-person visit to a phone visit so I didn’t have to drive there. (It’s an hour each way.) My doctor is happy with my bloodwork and with my assessment of how I am feeling, winter viruses notwithstanding.

By lunchtime, I felt almost back to normal. I made four pies for the gift festival today—two butterscotch and two chocolate shoo-fly. This is one of the shoo-fly pies:

I am not much of a baker. I don’t enjoy it and it is not where I like to put my creative energies. I am competent enough to provide pies when needed, but that’s it. I am much better at these kinds of pies than fruit pies, too, so I leave the fruit pies to other people.

I also revamped my lettuce-growing operation yesterday. Last winter, I did a system using small plastic totes from the home improvement store. The husband cut holes in the lid into which I dropped 3” net pots. The lettuce grew in rooting plugs inside the net pots. The totes were filled with water and growing medium.

That system worked well except that a) the totes were very heavy when filled with water and b) we could only get six pots in each tote lid. When I bought the grow light shelf after Christmas, I thought I might try 2” net pots in shallower trays. That worked—sort of—and then I switched to growing lettuce in the greenhouse and the garden over the summer.

I tried the indoor system again this month. The lettuce just doesn’t grow well in the shallower trays.

If you Google “Kratky system", you’ll get lots of information on growing lettuce in canning jars. The 3” net pots fit perfectly inside pint canning jars, but I don’t want a big system. (I haven’t eliminated that as a possibility just yet, however.) I messed around with the 2” net pots and a bunch of half-pint jars and discovered that the 2” net pots fit in those jars with the rings on. I have lots of rings, some of which need to be retired from canning.

I moved the currently-filled 2” net pots from the shallow trays to the jars.

We’ll see how this system does. Hopefully, the jars are big enough to allow the lettuce to grow but not so big that the setup gets unwieldy. If this doesn’t work, I’ll switch over to the 3” net pots in pint jars.

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This week’s Craft Industry Alliance newsletter included a summary of the results of the Premier Needle Arts annual quilter’s survey:

According to the data collected, the average quilter is a woman in her 60s who is retired and has a household income of $65k+. 17.5% of average quilters have full-time jobs. (Please do not begin sentences with numerals!) The average quilter today is comfortable with technology, has been quilting for over 10 years, and starts 10-12 quilt projects each year, mostly lap quilts or queen-sized quilts, in a traditional style. The average quilter spends more than six hours per week working on quilting projects.

As far as shopping trends go:

Three main factors determine where the average quilter shops. First is product availability. Then, the convenience of the location. If they’re shopping in person, they prefer to visit a brick-and-mortar shop that is 30 minutes or less drive from their home. The third determining factor when it comes to shopping is fabric choices and, according to the data collected, product availability is more important than price.

Are you listening, Joann Fabrics? Quilters do not want to be forced to buy two-yard minimums online. And I would hardly call a store that is only open six hours a day “convenient.”

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I am scheduled to work a morning shift today at the gift festival, which I will do if they will let me. I’ll take my pies to the church and find out. We also have the annual shareholder’s meeting for the craft co-op this afternoon.

I am not inclined to sew this week, although I did hem a pink French terry pullover and the gray sparkle Renee pants the other day. My schedule this month is such that I thought this might happen. Taking a break isn’t a bad idea.