Stuck on Sleeves

I am in search of the perfect sleeve for these woven tees I’ve been making. I like the armscye from the New Look 6543 but I need to tweak the cap shaping a bit. I think it’s too high, for one thing, and tends to pouf out at the top. I read somewhere—but can’t find the link to save my life—that too much sleeve cap ease is often drafted into commercial patterns. Conventional wisdom is that for woven fabrics, 1" to 1.5" of ease is sufficient, meaning that the length of the sleeve cap should only be that much longer than the circumference of the armscye. Most patterns direct the sewist to sew a line of easing stitches along the cap, which are drawn up to ease the excess fabric of the cap into the armscye. Some of these commercial patterns have more ease than that, and it takes a lot of wrestling to set in the sleeve without wrinkles or pleats. This article on the Ikatbag website does a superb job of explaining the shape of the armscye and its relationship to the sleeve cap, and the author goes so far as to say that the length of the sleeve cap should be equal to the distance around the armscye. I am working on wrapping my head around that.

Getting flat fabric to fit around squishy, unique bodies is both art and science.

In the meantime, I’ve added another project to the queue. I decided that my sleeve board needs a new cover. The metallized fabric is dried out and cracking, and the padding underneath is in sad shape. (I bought the sleeve board at a thrift store.)

I need to get out my bin of utility fabrics and find a remnant of metallized ironing board fabric. I don’t use that fabric on my actual ironing board—I prefer a cotton twill cover—but I know I picked up a remnant or two of metallized fabric at Joanns just in case I needed it.

[I also see that it’s probably time to take off my ironing board cover and wash it . . . ]

In the process, I will get to use the cording foot on my serger to attach the drawstring in the same way it is on the existing cover:

We are supposed to get rain again at the beginning of the week, so I might tackle this project then.

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I think I will be getting a Bernina sewing machine. I am not getting the 990. I was talking to the quilt store owner on Wednesday and she mentioned that a lot of the 880s are coming in on trade from people buying the 990s. She’s selling the used 880s for even less than a new 5-series machine would cost, and I’ve been considering buying a 5-series for a while. (I am not an impulse buyer.) I’ve had my Janome 6600P for 12 years now and while it’s been a great machine, I am running up against some of its limitations.

The 880 was not a popular machine. When the Bernina tech was here in April to service my Q20, he and I talked about that model. He had a lot of positive things to say about the design and mechanics of the 880, and all of his comments were wholly unsolicited because he had no idea I was thinking about getting a new machine. After hearing his opinion of that model—and knowing that he’ll be available should I have any issues—I am comfortable with purchasing a used one. He thoroughly goes over any trade-in models before they are released for sale.

The 880 is more machine than I ever anticipated having, and it comes with an embroidery module, too. I don’t need another hobby, but there are occasions when having embroidery capabilities will come in handy.

Another Déclic Top

We had a glorious day of rain yesterday. I am glad I was able to get the grass cut when I did. And because it was raining, I was able to stay inside and sew. I took one of my Déclic tops to the quilt store on Wednesday to show the owner, because the fabric came from her store. I try to do what I can to encourage her to keep ordering a few garment fabrics in addition to quilting cottons. She thought the Déclic would make a good class and sent me home with another rayon challis for a store sample. I sewed that up yesterday and will drop it off this afternoon:

I like it. I made it a size larger than the one I made for myself so she could wear it.

After I finished the top, I tried to work on some stalled projects, but they are stalled for a reason and I couldn’t get them restarted. I am missing my Necchi industrial and need to get the tension assembly fixed so I can use it again. My Janome 6600P isn’t quite up to sewing heavier fabrics. I need a machine of a size between it and the Juki 1541 and that was the niche the Necchi filled, quite nicely. I could pop one of my Singer 31 machines into the treadle table in its place—the Necchi BV and Singer 31 are almost identical in design—but I prefer the Necchi.

Instead, I cut out another New Look 6543. This one has a V-neck instead of a round neck. I did all the prep work of sewing bust darts, making the facing, and finishing the edges on the serger. All that is left is to assemble it and that won’t take long. The rain is still coming down, so I’ll do that this morning.

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After leaving the quilt store on Wednesday, I had a niggling feeling that I should stop at the Salvation Army thrift store. I don’t ignore those niggling feelings when I get them, because they almost always lead to something interesting. I wandered around the store until I got to the furniture department, where I spotted a card table—but not just any card table. It was a card table with a sewing machine cutout. I let out a small gasp of surprise and went over to check it out. Singer made card tables for the 300-, 400-, and 500-series machines. Based on the size of the cutout (although I haven’t measured it yet), I suspect this is a table for the longbed 301. The price was $14.99 so I folded up the table and hightailed it to the register. These tables sell for a pretty penny on eBay. I have another one in the basement that I got for $30. I probably should list them.

This particular thrift store used to have a really nice craft section, but they’ve stopped stocking it. They got rid of sewing patterns a few years ago and won’t take them now. I overheard one of the store managers talking to someone as I came in, and she said that they’re getting too many donations. The last time I took donations to them, I was told that they aren’t taking any “flat pieces of fabric,” including bedding or comforters. I can’t quite square “too many donations” with a store that doesn’t have as much inventory as it used to, so I’m not sure what is going on.

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I spotted another snake in the garden. It was in the strawberry patch. I know it is not the same one I saw by the cucumbers, because the cucumber snake was smaller and a darker gray. At least the snake is eating bugs and not strawberries. A squirrel got into the greenhouse and just about sent me into cardiac arrest because I didn’t see it until it ran past me and up one of the posts. We had a short conversation about what is and is not appropriate squirrel habitat and eventually it left.

I have to remind myself that I am just the groundskeeper. 😐

A Tiny Nest on the Ground

I headed out to the garden early yesterday morning so I could work before it got hot. I have very little heat tolerance, so anything above 70F is “hot” to me. I planted three rows of beans, mulched some potatoes, picked three gallons of strawberries (after kicking several robins out of the strawberry patch), and cut back the grapes. The trunks were dead almost all the way to the ground. I am not sure what happened—my friend the vineyard manager said that if there is a cold snap after the sap starts running, that can cause the trunks to burst. I did see a few places where it looked like that had happened. There is new growth coming up at the bases so the roots should be okay. In any case, we’re basically starting over with the grapes.

Some parts of gardening are a long game.

I came in and had some lunch, then went back outside and mowed the yard. I found this little nest on the ground:

So fun to see what materials went into it. I see chicken feathers and pine needles.

I did laundry when I got back from Bend and all my woven tops needed to be pressed, so I did that. Ironing clothing I have made is very satisfying.

I cleaned and hulled the strawberries and put them on a tray in the freezer. The chickens got the hulls, which they think are a special treat. Dave gets very excited when he sees them.

I am not going to work as hard today. I have a podcast interview this morning, and by the time it’s done, I probably won’t want to be out in the garden, although I might water the fruit trees. Temps cool off tomorrow. If it rains, I am going to sew.

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I bought this apron pattern in Bend:

It is the Six Corners Apron by Vanilla House Designs. This is a unique apron. I have a some remnants with large, bold prints that would showcase well in this style. Aprons are on the list of things to make, but they aren’t at the top of the list. I want a few more rayon tops and I’d like to get those Haralson bags made.

Plant Shopping

One of the nurseries in town is having a sale on plants—buy sixteen 4" pots of perennials and get 20% off. I stopped there yesterday to do some shopping:

This haul included both herbs and flowers. I am moving some plants to the herb garden from elsewhere on the property and getting donations from friends, but I had to buy a few, too. I do love primroses. We are supposed to have cooler, rainier weather this weekend, so getting these into the herb garden is on the schedule for Saturday.

I also got a container of praying mantis babies and let them loose in the big garden. The husband commented that it’s like an episode of “Wild Kingdom” out there. I’m glad, because it means that I have cultivated a healthy ecosystem.

Guess who is hanging out by the chicken coop again?

I am pretty sure this is the same one I relocated last week. It has returned to the all-you-can-eat mouse buffet. I just hope it doesn’t go into the chicken yard or coop and get attacked by chickens.

The mama robin has two new babies in the nest in the porch rafters.

While I was at the nursery, I looked at their selection of birdbaths. They cost more than I want to spend. I thought I might get one with a pump so I could have moving water, but I am not spending $500 on a spa for the robins. I have a few other ideas.

Today’s #1 task is getting the corn and beans in. Yes, it’s late, but I am hoping that having given them a head start in the greenhouse will make a difference. The rows of lettuce and arugula are up in the big garden.

The grapes still have not leafed out, although there is some new growth at the bases. I checked with a friend of mine who is a vineyard manager in North Carolina and she said I can cut everything back to the new growth and re-train new trunks, so I plan to do that. I also lost a few cucumber and melon plants to that cold snap. They looked okay initially, but it’s clear now that they didn’t make it.

We are still eating strawberries. I am going to start freezing what is coming in because the raspberry tsunami is on the horizon.

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I want to sew, but the garden requires my attention. I’m trying not to be too impatient about this. Gardening season won’t last forever and we’ll have snow again before we know it. And if we get a few days of rain this week, I’ll have a reason to stay inside. In the meantime, I have been sneaking into my sewing room occasionally and doing some prep work so the projects are ready when I get a chunk of time to work on them.

Back From Bend

A group of us went to our conference meeting in Bend, Oregon, this past weekend. Elaine and I, along with one of our members named Rob, left Thursday morning. Eleven hours later, we pulled into the hotel parking lot. I love road trips, but that was a long one. I was grateful to have had some company with me.

I had been to—or rather, through—Bend once before, on my way to teach at Black Sheep Gathering in Eugene, but that was over 20 years ago. Bend has changed quite a bit since then. It has become quite the popular place and its population has exploded. As the person doing the driving, I had a lot of trouble there, and it wasn’t until we left that I figured out why.

Bend is full of roundabouts. Almost every intersection is a roundabout. I understand that roundabouts do a better job of routing traffic than four-way stops. I get that. The five-mile trip from our hotel to the meeting site included close to a dozen roundabouts, however, and it was agonizing. As we were leaving Bend yesterday and back out on the open road, it dawned on me that I was getting motion sickness driving around all those roundabouts. Temporary and mild motion sickness, yes, but enough to be noticeable. I could never live in a place like that.

Elaine and I met up with our friend Beth, from Boise, on Friday morning. The three of us prepared four comforters for tying:

These were set up in the back of the meeting space so that people could work on them during the worship or seminar times. Beth brought the tops and thread, I brought the batting and pins, and Elaine made up instruction cards to put on the tables. By the end of the conference, all four comforters had been tied. They will be bound by a quilter from one of the Oregon churches and sent to Mennonite Central Committee to be distributed.

I was walking into the meeting area when I spotted someone doing some hand sewing, so I went over for a closer look. Emily, who is half of the husband-wife pastoral team at Menno Mennonite in Ritzville, Washington—where we have the relief sale every fall—was making hexies. (There may have been some excited squealing when we discovered that both of us brought EPP projects with us to work on during meetings.) I asked Emily if I could take a few photos:

Emily inherited a stack of aprons from her mom and aunt, so she decided to turn them into a quilt. She also had fabrics from some of the dresses she wore as a child.

I did not get to the big quilt shop in Sisters, which was only 20 minutes away, although Beth and I joked about ditching a seminar to go there. I did run out to the Joann Fabrics in Bend to get a few supplies and discovered a quilt store next door, so I stopped in for a look around.

Rob and I left Bend early yesterday morning for the trip home. Elaine went on to visit her sister in Seattle for a few days.

I am glad we got to go, but that was a long trip for a short meeting and I am tired. I don’t have a lot on the schedule this week, thankfully. The gardens are going to need my attention. The rest of the raised beds arrived. I should probably start shopping for a birdbath and a bench or some chairs for the herb garden. And plants, of course. I’ll need more plants.

Planning Future Projects and Finishing Old Ones

Sarah donated a whole collection of plants for my herb garden, including some thyme, dill, zinnias, and other flowers. I am excited to see those beds fill up.

My friend Janet (yes, there are two of us) came over on Tuesday with a waxed canvas bag project that had exceeded the capabilities of her sewing machine. The 1541 made short work of attaching the leather handles, sewing in the lining, and topstitching the top edge. I wish I had remembered to take a photo of it because it was lovely. She also brought a pair of jeans with her and I used the rivet press to put a new front button on them.

I took the row covers off all the plants yesterday. Some of the cukes and squash look a bit peaked, but everything seems to have survived. We are in for a stretch of warm weather now. The garden should bounce back. We looked at the raspberry patch last night—buzzing with bees and other pollinators—and I told the husband to be prepared for an absolute tsunami of berries in another couple of weeks.

I spent yesterday afternoon prepping the Haralson bag pattern and trying to move an old project along to completion. I had a leftover chunk of blue waxed canvas from Klum House, so I cut enough pieces for two Haralson bags:

One of the women in our sewing group makes the most beautiful Poppins bags, and she always does hers two at a time. It makes sense. I’ll either gift one of these or put it in the sale in September.

The other project is an English paper piecing kit that came with a class Tera and I took at Garden of Quilts three (!) years ago. Tera finished hers—she is much better about that than I am.

The class focused on glue basting EPP. I generally baste my pieces with thread, but glue basting works, too. Of course, after three years, the little glue stick that came with the kit had dried out, but I found another one and carried on. I need to make 20 of those hexagon units. They get sewn into five columns of four units, then trimmed to make either a pillow or a wall hanging. Above them, you can see a couple of hexie flowers. They will be appliquéd to some linen and quilted to make a couple of quilted zip pouches.

I’ve been trying to work on embroidery or EPP in the evenings. Sometimes I want to sit and read, but that’s hard to do when the husband is watching videos because I get distracted by the process of replacing a wheel bearing on a Toyota. If I do handwork instead, I can watch and sew at the same time.

This is like handspinning. As the old saying goes, spinning on a drop spindle is slower by the minute but faster by the month. It’s why I have to do something with those hexie flowers, because I’ve managed to accumulate over two dozen of them.

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The Bernina 990 was unveiled at Bernina University this week. It looks like a phenomenal machine but I am having trouble getting past the $23,000 price tag. I’m not judging anyone who buys one—how other people spend their money is none of my business. I just wonder how sustainable that is as a business model. After the initial rush of buyers, will they be able to continue to produce and sell a model at that price?

My Janome 6600P does everything I need it to, so I have no plans to upgrade.

Podcasts and Pouches

I spent yesterday morning editing two podcast episodes. One was today’s episode, which is an interview with Anne Graham. She repairs products for Patagonia. I learned a lot listening to her talk about her job. I also edited next week’s podcast because I needed to have the information available ahead of time to send to C&T Publishing for a blog tour. The guest is Kathleen McVeigh, who has a book coming out next Tuesday entitled Reclaimed Quilts: Sew Modern Clothing and Accessories From Vintage Textiles. That was another fun interview. We discovered, during out post-interview chat, that she knows a young man from our church because they attended college together.

[Cue “It’s a Small World, After All” music. You may thank me later if that gets stuck in your head.]

I have so much fun with these interviews. The world is filled with fascinating people. I just wish more of them would say yes to being podcast guests. A lot of the older people I want to interview don’t feel comfortable with the technology.

I didn’t do any sewing yesterday, but I did prep a couple of patterns. I cut pattern pieces for the Haralson Bag and I also printed and taped patterns for a collection of quilted pouches from Rosie Caldwell.

You might be saying to yourself, “Why on earth would Janet need a pattern for something so basic?” I’ll tell you why. Sometimes Janet gets tired of doing everything from scratch. It was absolutely worth the $5 I spent on this pattern to have the math already done for seven different zip pouch sizes. Also, the designer did a superb YouTube video detailing her methods. And I never balk at supporting an indie designer.

I plan to start by making the largest size pouch because I want to experiment with appliquéing some hexie flowers onto the base fabric before quilting it. I have a ton of hexie flowers. They need to be used and I don’t have the patience to sew them into a Grandmother’s Flower Garden quilt.

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I woke up this morning fully expecting to mourn the loss of my cucumber and squash plants. Missoula was under a winter storm warning yesterday (!) and I wasn’t sure how cold we would get overnight. It’s 40F as I write this, though, so I think the plants are okay for another day. They were covered. The husband and I checked on everything last evening. If they can survive one more night, we might be out of the woods. (This is Montana, though. Who knows?)

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I am being a thorn in the side of our denominational conference. Part of me thinks I should just shut up and be gracious, but the other part of me says, “No, they need to know your thoughts about this.” Mennonite Church USA is divided into regional conferences—broken up roughly along geographic lines—and our church belongs to the Pacific Northwest Mennonite Conference. One of the challenges our congregation faces is the fact that we are so far from the rest of the churches in the conference. The majority of churches are located in Oregon, but there are some in Washington and Idaho, one in Alaska, and ours.

We have an annual meeting every summer. Until the pandemic, tradition dictated that a different church would host annual meeting each year, and they would alternate—one in Oregon, the next in a different state, then back to Oregon, etc. Our congregation hosted it twice and I was chairman of the planning committee both times. I also served for four years on the board and did a lot of traveling to and from Portland (where the office is located) for board meetings. Even in February.

The pandemic meant we didn’t have an in-person annual meeting for two years. Last year, it was held in Portland as a one-day meeting. Elaine and I went (and then went to Seattle for a few days afterward), but I expressed my disappointment that it was only a one-day meeting. Getting to Portland is a 10-hour drive.

This year, it is in Bend, OR, which is in the middle of the state. The schedule of events obviously was created with the expectation that people would be traveling on Friday morning and Sunday afternoon, as most of the attendees have a half-day drive or less. We have an 11-hour drive. What bothers me most is that the second delegate session is scheduled for Sunday morning before the worship service. Did I mention that we have an 11-hour drive and we lose an hour going back? The other delegate and I will miss that session. If we stay for it, I’ll be pulling into my driveway at midnight. Yesterday, we received information for the second delegate session, which is table discussions, and the question that caught my eye was “Are there ways in which your congregation yearns for greater connectedness [to PNMC]?”

Oh, the irony.

Yes, we yearn for greater connectedness and annual meeting is one of the ways we get it, but not if the schedule is set up such that we miss key events. I realize that we are a minority and the event has to be planned with all the churches in mind, but in the past, delegate sessions rarely were scheduled for Sunday morning.

I sent off an e-mail with my concerns. I expect there will be additional discussion about this at the actual meeting. In the meantime, I am working on my attitude.

Bring on the Herbs

Part of the herb garden is ready to be planted. I love the way it looks. I went with the white metal raised beds because they were the only color in stock and I didn’t want to wait until the middle of the summer for a different color. I think these look especially nice with the gravel.

Now I need to think a bit on what plants I want to put and where. Some I already have in other areas—like the patch of oregano that escaped into the lawn—and some I can get from friends. (Every time I mow the grass I crave pizza.)

We ordered additional beds for the other half of the garden. They should be here within a week. We’re calling them the “lettuce beds” because we never seem to have enough lettuce and that’s what will get planted there.

The tomatoes and squash appear to have survived yesterday morning’s brief freeze, but I made sure everything was covered well yesterday afternoon just in case. It’s down to 35F again this morning. I’ll leave things covered until Wednesday, when it is supposed to warm up again.

I harvested three quarts of strawberries yesterday—much to the annoyance of the birds looking for free snacks—and made more shortcake for the husband. The peas are up and the cabbages and broccoli have, thus far, remained unmolested by ground squirrels. I think they got tired of waiting and went elsewhere.

I worry that the grapes may be done for. It’s the middle of June and they haven’t even begun to start leafing out yet. I wonder if the ground squirrels destroyed the root systems with their underground tunnels. I’m not optimistic, but we’ll see if the vines leaf out in the next few weeks. If not, replacing grapevines will be on the list for next year.

I still think that the extended weather forecasts are way off. They predicted a warm April and May—nope. They said it was going to get hot in the middle of June—I do not consider 31F to be hot. We’ll find out eventually, but I don’t think we’re in for the blisteringly hot summer that is being predicted.

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It’s supposed to rain today and tomorrow, so I get to stay inside and sew. I’ll probably knock out another New Look 6543 top, but I’m itching to start a bag project. The Noodlehead Haralson Belt Bag looks like a fun one, and I have the pattern:

Sometimes I get tired of hauling Hermione’s Magic Bag around with me. I think it would be nice to have a small bag like this for the essentials when I am out and about.

Winning Streak

I finished the New Look 6543 top and tried it on. I think I have cracked the code. It fits perfectly. Lengthening it and repositioning the bust darts before tracing the pattern made a world of difference. I can’t think of anything I would change about the fit:

I’m a bit disappointed in the fabric, which is why I used it for a muslin. I bought this rayon challis at Pacific Fabrics. It’s hard to tell from the photo, but when I washed it—in cold water with several Color Catchers, as is my habit with new fabric—the blue ran all over the white background and turned it a sickly gray color. I’ll still wear it, but the print is not as fresh and bright as it was off the bolt.

This is a dead simple pattern. It allows the fabric to shine, though, and will be perfect for some of the bright printed rayons I’ve acquired. I’m going to make the V-neck version next.

I’ve reached a point where I doubt I will buy ready-to-wear clothing again unless it’s an item I just can’t make or I find something I like in the Liz Claiborne tall department. Most RTW will always be too short and only offered in muddy earth tones.

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This is making me a bit nervous:

That’s the temperature right now, at 4:23 am. The forecast was for a low of 42F, so I didn’t think about protecting anything. I may have to wake up the husband and have him help me go throw some tarps and covers on the tomatoes and squash and hope for the best.

Gardening in Montana is not for the faint of heart. This has been a challenging spring and early summer.

We got some small hail and thunderstorms yesterday, which called a halt to work in the herb garden. The husband decided not to move the fence line after all. We have room for a few more raised beds now. (He wants to plant lettuce.) I’ve also planned for a seating area and a birdbath, so I’ll have to start shopping for those soon.

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Based on the number of e-mails I’ve gotten lately about their clearance sales, it appears that Joanns is attempting to clear out as much deadwood as possible. I’m still cautiously optimistic that they can save the sinking ship. What a case study in bad management that turned out to be.

Herb Garden Reno

The husband and crew had some time to kill before a concrete pour yesterday, so they worked on the herb garden. I wanted to see what was living under the billboard tarp, and sure enough, when they pulled it back, a two-foot long garter snake came scooting out. (All of the garter snakes around the chicken coop are big, no doubt due to their high-protein mouse diet.) I did not want the poor snake to get stepped on, so I picked it up and relocated it underneath the front porch.

The guys put the weed barrier down and placed the raised beds. A load of gravel and a load of topsoil were delivered yesterday morning, and the husband will move that over today.

I got the heaviest-duty commercial-grade weed barrier I could find. It’s what is used in playground installations. If you look closely at the photo, you’ll see that it only comes as far as the gate. We decided to make the herb garden slightly smaller. The husband will run a line of fencing to close off that end, which will give us considerably more room to get to the chicken coop. Right now, there is a 3' wide walkway between the garden and the chicken coop, and moving that fence line will open it up to about 12'—big enough to mow around the coop and get equipment in there if needed.

The garden will have space for some chairs and a table or at least a birdbath.

It’s coming together. I will be happy to have some kitchen herbs closer to the house when I need them.

While they were working, I planted some rows of lettuce, arugula, collards, and Swiss chard out in the big garden. We are supposed to get rain for the next few days. This is Monday’s forecast:

I’m not sure how one has a winter storm watch during meteorological summer, but there it is. This is typical of the kind of June weather we had when we first moved to Montana.

I had enough strawberries yesterday to make shortcake for the husband for dessert.

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I’m making a muslin of New Look 6543:

This was in my pattern stash, so I decided to try it. I lowered the bust darts and lengthened the top by 2" before I cut the pattern out. All that is left to do is to set in the sleeves and hem it. I’m finding that I really like woven tops for summer. The only drawback is that they have to be ironed after washing. My ironing board is always set up, though, so that’s minor.

Happy Sewing Machine Day!

Today is National Sewing Machine Day, so if you have a favorite machine, give it an extra pat of appreciation. I did an interview with someone yesterday who referred to her collection as a “sewing machine orphanage,” so that is what I am calling mine from now on.

In today’s episode of Adventures of a Spatially-Challenged Sewist, I’m going to tell you about making this bag:

This is the Portsmith Tote from Klum House. It’s a very simple, minimalist tote. I’ve made far more complicated patterns; their Slabtown Backpack was a fun project I made two summers ago. This one, however, gave me fits, and it was a prime example of how pattern instructions—or the lack of them—can be critical to a successful project.

The original pattern is for a basic waxed canvas tote without a lining. An expansion pack is available which offers options for a lining and a zipper top. I, of course, went whole hog and decided to make the bag with both a lining and a zipper.

All was going well until it came time to insert the lining. The zipper extensions were attached by then and were flipped up over the top of the bag. The instructions said to pretend as though the extensions weren’t there throughout the rest of the construction. I knew that something wasn’t quite right, but I couldn’t figure out what, so I charged ahead. My experience with Klum House patterns has been that even if I don’t understand a construction technique, I should trust that it will work out.

Yeah, not this time. I turned the bag inside out and the zipper extensions were between the bag and the lining. Clearly, that was wrong. I turned the bag inside out again, ripped out the seam, and then it hit me. The instructions were missing one critical sentence that would have made everything make sense:

Tuck the zipper extensions down into the bag and ignore them for the remainder of the construction.

I did that, re-sewed the seam, and when I turned the bag inside out, everything was where it was supposed to be.

I should be a professional pattern tester, because if there is a way to screw up something, I will find it. Go ahead and laugh at me—I find myself very entertaining.

I used my rivet press for attaching the handles and that worked well. I also sewed all of this on the Juki 1541 and have become more comfortable with that machine. I am glad I was able to figure out how to slow down the servo motor, because I needed the control for some small areas. (Speed is fine for long seams, but not for topstitching a 1" section of zipper flap.) I also mended the husband’s work pants while I was at it.

Will I make this bag again? Eh, maybe not. If I do, I’ll use the waxed canvas from AL Frances. This was waxed canvas from Klum House. The canvas has a finer weave, which I like, but the “wax” is a vegan formulation and it’s oily rather than waxy. The bag has no structure; in the first photo, it’s stuffed with towels to give it some shape.

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The robins have been unbelievably obnoxious this year. I’m used to them scolding me when I get too close to a nest, but there are half a dozen hanging around the porch and all they do is spend their days squabbling with each other. A couple of robins sat on the garden fence and yelled at me yesterday while I was in the strawberry patch, because apparently, that is their strawberry patch.

[The husband says that the property belongs to the animals and I am just the groundskeeper.]

I have not seen the snake again, but I check every time I go out to the garden.

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I stopped at Joann Fabrics yesterday while I was in town. I wonder if they’ve hired a new manager? The store was clean and tidy and some of the shelves were restocked. Perhaps they’ve turned a corner.

Snake and Strawberry Season

Just after I wrote Sunday’s blog post, I went out to the garden and spotted a snake! Unfortunately, I may have shrieked with joy and startled it, and it slithered away before I could get my phone out for a picture. I was happy to see it. I hope it has relatives.

The strawberries are coming on:

Yum.

I took the BMW to town bright and early yesterday morning to get the summer tires put on. Technically, the studded tires needed to be off by May 31, but I hadn’t yet had a chance to do it. The benefit of waiting was that the tire place was empty and they had my car in and out within 45 minutes. I drove home, dropped off the winter tires, then went back into town to make a Costco run. Apparently, we are getting a new Costco—the third one in 25 years. The new location will be a bit further north of the current one, in a newly-developed area. I heard a rumor that there is supposed to be a Safeway going in at the same location as well.

I had to stop using Costco’s Kirkland dishwasher tabs. They seem to have reformulated them recently because I have been using them for years with no problem. This last batch, however, imparted some kind of weird smell to my stainless steel pans that became apparent as soon as I heated the pan. It was a strange chemical-y floral/lemon scent. All I know is that I can’t stand the smell—and I don’t want whatever is causing it in my food—so I threw out the rest of the tabs and sent Costco an e-mail.

More first-world problems. 🫤

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Joanns announced on Friday afternoon—which was a strange time to let the world know what is supposed to be good news—that they have appointed a new interim CEO and board of directors. After reading the bios, I am cautiously optimistic that Joanns is making an effort to elevate itself above the glorified Dollar Store it became over the past decade. At least one of the new board members appears to have some retail clothing/fashion experience (Macy’s and Bloomingdales). Perhaps she will help steer them back toward building a sustainable customer base of people who want to sew their own clothes.

Or I could be completely delusional and none of that is going to happen.

I’ve got a podcast interview at 9 am and then I am hoping to get out to plant a few more things in the garden. The husband is pouring concrete at 6 am, so both of us were up at 3:30 this morning. That’s easier for me than it is for him.

And if I get all of that done, I’m going to sew after lunch. I need to mend a couple of pairs of the husband’s work pants and I’d like to finish some bag projects, so it would be a good day to spend some quality time with the Juki 1541.

One-Yard Wonder

I have another reason to love the Déclic pattern—I can get a top out of one yard of a 54" wide fabric. As soon as I realized that, I went stash diving for a remnant that I bought at The Confident Stitch in Missoula on one of my trips with Robin. I fell in love with it even though it was only a yard and I had no idea how I would use it. Ta-da! 🎉

This is also a rayon challis, although slightly heavier than the FIGO challis. I am pretty sure it is deadstock. I have this same print in three yards of the turquoise and blue colorway, which has been earmarked for a dress. Now I am thinking I could just lengthen the Déclic into a shift . . .

This print also pairs nicely with several pants and skirts in my closet. My closet is a mess right now as I try to make sense of what I’ve got and what I need. I have three different wardrobes. The first consists of pants and tops for working around here and is clothing I don’t mind getting dirty. The second is nicer clothing for running errands in town, teaching, going to meetings, etc. The third is dressy clothing for church and also special occasions such as weddings, funerals, or events where I am playing the piano. And within each of those wardrobes, I need options for differing times of year and weather conditions. I’ve got pieces I might pull out only once or twice a year, but when I need them, I need them.

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The watering system in the garden is working well, although I will need to get more soaker hose in town this week. I don’t need a garden of the size that I plant, really, but I enjoy gardening and the excess produce always finds a home. Yesterday, while I was out there, my poppy bloomed. I saw that the first flower was about to burst, and when I looked at it again, it was open. By the time I finished working and went inside, all three of these flowers were open:

This poppy came from my friend, Marcie, and it makes me smile every time I look at it.

We ate the first strawberries yesterday.

The pigs made me laugh. The grass in the pasture is very tall. Whenever the pigs hear me in the garden, they come over to the fence to visit. I heard them oinking as they headed my way, but all I could see was the top of the grass waving back and forth. Eventually, five pigs burst forth. They’ve already more than doubled in size in a month.

I am a bit concerned that I haven’t seen any snakes yet. They like to hang out on the black plastic at the far edges of the garden, so when I go out in the morning, I always check those spots. I am not afraid of snakes, and indeed, I think they are a good barometer of the health of the garden. My garden is as organic as I can make it. I don’t use any chemicals. While we were planting last week, we were digging up earthworms 6" long and as big around as my little finger.

Miles of Hoses

I headed out to the garden after the husband left for work yesterday. Before I could lay hoses, I had to cut the grass and do some trimming, so I got that out of the way. I also did some weeding along the way. The strawberries are starting to ripen. I’m going to put row cover on them today to (hopefully) deter the turkeys.

I knew that laying out the hoses would be a big job. We have a lot of hose, mostly because the husband bought a bunch of 3/4" contractor-grade hose that turned out to be more trouble than it is worth. It is made of some polymer material that is plenty flexible when it is warm outside, but the manufacturer neglected to field test it in locations where the temperature drops below 60F. (Hello? We live in Montana.) Below 60F, this hose is as flexible as a steel rod. The husband got tired of dealing with it, so he bequeathed a bunch of it to me to use in the garden. I hate it, too. It is the hose of last resort.

The soaker hose is another problem entirely. I need 5/8" soaker hose because our water pressure is sufficiently high—even with a pressure reducer fitting—that it blows out the 3/8" soaker hose. I can’t use quick-connect fittings, either, because they won’t stay connected under pressure. I like the flat fabric soaker hoses, but I look at the sewing on them and the plastic fittings and I know that they probably won’t last more than a couple of seasons.

[The husband says no one wants to pay for quality hose; I said I don’t think anyone makes quality hose anymore. I am aware this is a first-world problem. I’m not hauling water in buckets from a mile away to water my plants, and for that I am grateful, but I am tired of paying for lousy quality merchandise.]

As a result, I have limped along the soaker hoses we’ve had for 20+ years. I really should have replaced them last year and didn’t. They’ve been spliced and repaired, but the longest length of 5/8" soaker hose is in such bad shape that it would have to be spliced about every six feet to make it usable.

I sorted out the larger soaker hoses that were still in reasonably good shape and ran one length around the squash and cucumbers. Another length went down the row of peas and over to the rhubarb and a couple of apple trees.

The tomatoes and potatoes still needed soaker hose. After lunch, I made a quick trip back into town to Walmart. I noticed, when I was there the other day, that they had some 5/8" soaker hose that looked to be of reasonable quality, so I bought five 50-foot lengths. It has metal fittings and it’s very flexible.

I may still need more after I get everything else planted, but at least I can water what is already there.

The husband and one of our employees put the shade cloth back on the greenhouse for me. Now that I don’t have hundreds of plants growing in there, it’s better to have less intense light coming in.

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Karina, at Lifting Pins and Needles on YouTube, posted an interesting video yesterday. In it, she talked about how she has come to dislike rayon spandex fabric and likely won’t use it anymore. Even with gentle treatment—my tops are washed on the delicate setting and hung to dry—the fabric eventually develops a white fuzz; it’s not pilling, per se, but just an allover white fuzz. It’s especially noticeable on darker or saturated colors.

Until Karina mentioned this, I thought it was because most of my rayon spandex has come from Joanns and Walmart (see previous comment about quality merchandise), but she lives in South America.

It’s a shame, because rayon spandex is one of my favorite fabrics. It’s cool to wear in summer and I like it much better than double-brushed polyester, which doesn’t breathe. I might buy some rayon spandex from Minerva or another reputable fabric supplier to see if it has the same issue.

I Should Go to Hawaii

One of the things I do love about summer is the fact that it gets light so early. I went into town around 7:30 yesterday morning. The farm store was my first stop, followed by Walmart for a few miscellaneous items. Kalispell was deserted and it was lovely. I didn’t have to fight traffic, wait in line, or deal with hordes of other human beings. I finished up with a quick trip to the grocery store—butter was $2.98 (!) with no limit so I stocked up—then came home to unload.

After checking on plants and animals, I went to sewing at the community center. Oh my, I never laugh as much as I do with that group. Show and tell was fun and I got to see what people have been working on for market. At noon, I came home, ate some lunch, then went upstairs to sew. I thought about making another Simplicity or New Look blouse, but then I remembered a pattern I downloaded some months ago for a lightweight summer blouse. The design is the Déclic Top from Atelier Scammit and it is offered as a free pattern on their website.

I located the pattern and pulled up the Lifting Pins and Needles YouTube channel. Karina made this blouse, which is how I first heard of it, and I wanted to review her comments. Karina and I are of similar height and body shape, and I’ve learned that if she has to adjust an area of a pattern, I’ll probably have to adjust it, too. She shortened the upper bodice of this pattern to make the armhole openings and V-neck a bit more modest. She also shortened the length of her top because she likes them a particular length. I shortened the upper bodice per her instructions, but in any pattern, I always trace the length of the largest size. In hindsight, I should have added the inch I removed from the upper bodice to the length. That’s a fairly minor detail and easily corrected in the next iteration.

The design is very simple: two pleats at each shoulder, a V-neck with facing, and slightly extended sleeves. I’m not a huge fan of dolman or grown-on sleeves; however, this is a lightweight fabric and in the summer, I don’t mind this style.

The fabric is a FIGO rayon challis, purchased at the quilt store south of town. It was lovely to sew and gave me no fits at all.

I could tell as soon as I dropped it over my head that this is going to become a favorite summer top. It fits beautifully, and all the colors in that print mean that I can wear it with a variety of bottoms. The husband said I looked like I was ready to go to Hawaii. He doesn’t care one bit that I dress like a parrot.

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This morning’s first task is cutting the grass in the garden, followed by laying out and hooking up the hoses. It’s an elaborate system but it allows me to get water where I need it. One hose comes out of the water line in the greenhouse. That hose is hooked up to a manifold with four valves. One valve is hooked up to a hose that feeds the west side of the garden, and that hose will split at least once more with another manifold. The other three valves are hooked up to hoses on the east side of the garden. The main hoses are hooked up to soaker hoses that snake around the plants. We have excellent water pressure even at the far edges of the garden.

Once I get that done, I’ll straighten up the house—entropy took over last week while I was getting ready for the plant sale—and then see what mischief I can get up to in my sewing room.

The Chicks Venture Outside

The employees were here yesterday, waiting for the husband to get back from looking at a job, so they helped me plant the garden. We got the peppers, tomatoes (all 32), zucchini, pumpkins, and cucumbers in. After the guys went back to work, I started corn and beans in the greenhouse. Those won’t take long to germinate, and the extra few days will let the ground warm up a bit more. I could have direct-seeded them, but I am trying to outrun the ground squirrels and turkeys.

I still need to run my hose lines and plant the stuff that is left. I feel like I am behind, but everything should catch up within a few weeks. And after all this rain, I have a fair bit of weeding to do, too.

After lunch, I mowed the grass, stopping periodically to check on the chicks. The door to the chicken yard is open. Only one or two have been brave enough to venture outside:

I am sure it is terrifying. Not only have they not been outside yet, but there are all these big chickens out there staring at them.

I discovered another robin’s nest with babies in one of the front porch rafters. And this mama—she’s hard to see—built her nest on top of the electrical meter:

I couldn’t get any closer because daddy robin was making unhappy noises nearby. I’ve been dive-bombed before by protective bird parents, so I keep a respectful distance.

[I see that someone has been gored by a bison in Yellowstone already. That didn’t take long. 🙄]

No one signed up for the thread class in Missoula on Friday, so we cancelled it. I’m offering the same class at the end of July and several students have signed up, so it may just be that the timing wasn’t good.

I desperately need to do some sewing. If I spend mornings working on the garden, I should be able to devote afternoons to working on some projects. Let’s hope, because I am starting to get twitchy. I’ve been doing a bit of English paper piecing in the evenings, but I need to sink my sewing teeth into something.

Helping the Homestead Foundation

I did the official tally for the plant sale total yesterday and we made over $4000 for the Homestead Foundation. Not bad for a little community plant sale. The local food bank sent a van out yesterday to pick up the leftover plants. The driver made two trips, and reports are that by the time he got back with the second load, half the plants from the first load had already gone to new homes. The food bank will plant any that are left in their community garden and harvest the produce. I am glad that we are able to contribute in that way.

Our Homestead Foundation has an interesting history. For years, it was the school that served our community, which is known as Mountain Brook. The last classes were held there around 1996, the year before DD#1 entered kindergarten. Because Mountain Brook School had been annexed to the Cayuse Prairie school district—the elementary school my girls attended—the district maintained responsibility for the campus. The terms of the original deed stipulated that if it ever stopped being used as a school, the property would revert to the original owners, a local family by the name of Brown.

My friend Susan is the person who came up with the idea of turning the school into a community library, and the Mountain Brook Homestead Foundation was established as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit around 2000. When the Cayuse Prairie school district decided it no longer wanted responsibility for the campus, a search was undertaken to find the descendants of the original Brown family. They, in turn, donated the property to the Homestead Foundation.

It has taken several years to find our footing. The Homestead Foundation—of which I am a board member and the chairman of the fundraising committee—is now responsible for paying the bills. Just the cost of keeping the lights on and doors open is about $11,000 per year. That doesn’t begin to address the cost of capital improvements. There are two buildings on the one-acre campus. One is the 1927 schoolhouse, which is a darling building that could be used as a community center but needs a tremendous amount of work. The other is the 1950’s-era building currently being used as the Library and the meeting area for our Thursday sewing group. That building also needs some maintenance.

I am hoping that we will be able to recruit additional volunteers. One of the phrases I hear that frustrates me to no end is “Why don’t you [insert fundraising idea here]?” This is an all-volunteer organization. Fundraising and grant-writing for this organization could be a full-time job for me if I were willing to allow that. We don’t lack for ideas on how to make money. We lack the manpower. I know that community involvement is at an all-time low these days—our local volunteer fire department is struggling, too—but I am seeing more interest from our community in coming together to make the campus a vibrant and useful meeting place. I hope we can capitalize on that.

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The baby robins left the nest, but it looks like mama is gearing up for round two. She’s been tidying up the nest and now looks like she’s sitting on another clutch of eggs.

I think the rain has moved on. It looks like it will be at least partly sunny and warmer here for the next week, getting well up into the 70s and 80s. I’d like to get plants in today and tomorrow. After all this rain, the grass needs to be cut again, too.

Now to Plant My Own Garden (and Sew)

The plant sale went well. We hit our fundraising goal and then some, and I am satisfied. I am relieved that it’s over. This was a very challenging growing season, to say the least, and keeping baby plants alive is almost more challenging than keeping baby animals alive.

Now it’s time to plant my garden. I have a well-deserved massage scheduled for tomorrow morning and I need to record this week’s podcast tomorrow afternoon, but Tuesday and Wednesday will be devoted to getting plants into the ground. After that, I plan to spend some time sewing. I have put my projects on the back burner for too long.

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The husband has been working on the old Jeep. It got a new battery, an oil change, and a general tuneup. He also bought some sandblasting equipment so he can sandblast and repaint the trailer he accidentally bought a few months ago. I am excited about this because it means I can sandblast and repaint some sewing machines. We have been watching sandblasting videos on YouTube in the evenings.

The baby robins have been exploring the edges of the nest, which tells me they are almost ready to fledge:

Only two in this hatch; usually I see three. Once, we had a robin with four babies, and she was very busy keeping them fed.

The chicks are almost teenagers now. The husband will rig up the separate area in the chicken yard for them soon so they can be outside with the big chickens. The pigs are happily rooting up the pasture and doing pig things. They nap a lot, too.

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My sewing plans are to make more tops and blouses and finish a couple of bag projects. I need to get some patterns printed at the blueprint place; I was going to do it one day when I was in town last week, but I drove by and the parking lot was full. I’ll stop there this week on a day when everybody and his brother isn’t trying to get plans printed.

Plant Sale Prep

I had one student in class on Tuesday. Two had registered, but only one showed, so she got a private lesson on using her serger. She had a Bernina 1300MC, which is a model I didn’t know very well. (I know it better now.) It’s one of the early serger/coverstitch combo machines, and after using it, I understand why those machines had mixed reviews. Converting from serger to coverstitch and back is fussy. It has a chain looper that threads almost exactly the same way the chain looper threads on my industrial serger. By the end of class, we were able to get the machine to make a chain stitch, but not a five-thread chain/overlock combo stitch. She was going to take it home and watch some videos and see what she could get it to do.

Getting ready for the plant sale has taken much of the rest of my time this week. Sarah came over on Wednesday and helped me organize trays. We have a lot of plants and some things had gotten moved around and mixed up.

Yesterday, I pulled the plants I started for my own garden and set them aside. I still haven’t planted anything. We were under a frost advisory last night and indeed, it’s 31F now as I type this. A week from now, we are supposed to be well into the 80s. I’ll push hard to get everything planted next week. I’m teaching a thread class in Missoula next Friday.

I have a mix of old favorites and a couple of new varieties of plants this year. These are the tomato varieties I am putting in:

• Oregon Star—this has long been my favorite paste tomato. I’ve gotten fruits off these plants that weigh up to a pound. They are the backbone of my salsa and tomato sauce.

• Purple Russian paste—I also like these, although they are smaller than the Oregon Star.

• Northern Ruby paste—a new one I am trying this year. We’ll see how it does.

• Cherokee Purple—long a favorite of mine, I have planted it every year for over a decade.

• Indian Stripe—another favorite.

• Weisnicht’s Ukranian—this is one I got from Susan, and it’s a good all-around tomato.

• Dirty Girl—the open-pollinated version of Early Girl. I generally stick to heirloom or open-pollinated plants in my garden.

• Aunt Ruby’s Green—I am doing this one again this year, although I have mixed feelings about it. The taste is great, but knowing when to harvest is tricky as it doesn’t turn red. Still, I think it adds something to my tomato sauce recipe, such as it is.

• Black Krim—I succumbed to the description on the seed packet.

• Raspberry Lyanna—I succumbed to the description on the seed packet.

• Dwarf Saucy Mary—Sarah loves the dwarf and micro-dwarf varieties and this one looked interesting to me.

• Brad’s Atomic Grape—I am not normally a fan of grape or cherry tomatoes, but they are popular at the sale. I’m growing this one just to see how it does.

• Blue Boar Berry—the one cherry tomato I do like. I forgot to save seeds last fall, but I went out to the garden in March and picked one up off the ground, opened it, and planted the seeds. They germinated.

I have room for 32 tomato plants and I think this list exhausts that space.

Susan and I will put tarps down in the community center this morning. A group of volunteers is meeting here at 3:30 this afternoon to transport plants from the greenhouse to the community center to sit overnight. We set up at 8:30 tomorrow morning and the sale opens at 10 am. I’ll be making up signs and price lists this afternoon and making sure we have all the supplies we need. I think it’s going to be a great sale!

You're Not the Boss of Me

Despite being married for 34 years, the husband and I do not work well together. After butting heads over a project in the garden yesterday morning, I said to him, “Why do we have such a hard time working together?” He thought about it for a moment and said, “We both have a very large streak of You’re not the boss of me.”

A healthy dose of humor helps. Eventually, we come to an understanding and the project gets done.

He tilled in the last bit of pig manure. The tomatoes will go in that spot and I expect them to do very well. I weeded the strawberry bed; we are going to be inundated with strawberries this year if I can keep marauding turkeys and ground squirrels away. I prepped the row underneath the pea trellis for planting and discovered a ground squirrel hole right in the middle of the row. No doubt the little jerk has been wondering why the smorgasbord isn’t ready yet.

I’m trying not to think about being behind on gardening this year. I’m okay as long as I look at the weather and not the calendar. Next week, though, is going to have to be a push to get everything planted. I remind myself that everyone else is in the same boat. The people who planted a few weeks ago when we had that streak of warm weather lost all of their plants and will have to replant them.

We are supposed to get some wicked thunderstorms, wind, and possibly hail this afternoon. My class is from 10-1 and I’m coming home right after it’s done. I realized, when the husband was away last week, that I did not know how to start the new generator. He replaced our gas generator with a larger diesel one last fall. I had a cheat sheet for starting the old generator but hadn’t had a lesson on starting the new one. We went over that on Sunday and I took notes and pictures.

I made a sign for the plant sale:

Susan has this sandwich board to advertise events at the community center, so I made up two posterboard sheets to go on each side. They aren’t fancy, but they work. I also sewed up a clear vinyl cover to slip over the board to protect it from rain. I thought that was very clever of me. Susan’s house is right across the street from the community center and we put the sandwich board on her property.

I cut out another Simplicity 9469 top yesterday afternoon and finished all the edges on the serger. I just have to sew it together and hem it. I think I may lengthen that pattern into a dress and use the Fableism fabric I got at Pacific Fabrics.