Scout Tee Summer

I did some garden work yesterday morning because we had thunderstorms in the forecast after lunch. I cut the grass, then used the string trimmer to clean up around the edges. I enjoy the exercise. The snakes were out for a while so I talked to them, too. The plants are taking off now that they’ve had some heat and sunshine, although it is supposed to be cool and rainy this weekend. We’ll take as much rain as we can get for as long as we can get it.

After lunch—while it rained—I finished the latest Scout Tee. I think this will be the last one for a while. I have plenty of warm-weather woven tops in my closet now. This is not a color I wear often but I do like it.

I still had some time after finishing this top before I had to start dinner, so I traced off the narrow-leg version of the Free Range Slacks. Those are on the list for later this summer, probably in some Kona Crush.

The lining fabric for the Lou Raincoat arrived yesterday. It is the dark purple. The raspberry is the dry oilskin. I would have liked a punchy, bright print for the lining but I was having trouble sourcing a good lining even in a solid color. I saw this and went with it.

The raincoat will be the first project in the queue in July. I also have a couple of projects in the works behind the scenes. Hopefully, I will have some news about those by the beginning of August.

I wish I could get the AI-generated sewing slop to stop showing up in my Facebook feed. All it does is irritate me, and there is so much of it out there. Now it’s even coming in the form of videos. A post over the weekend showed a video with a young woman wearing a strapless dress/bustier-type costume. It was both anatomically (her body) and structurally (the bustier) inaccurate. I try to scroll past these posts or mark them as “not interested” but I still want to see the good sewing content.

How stupid humans can be sometimes.

A Road Trip to Oregon

Last week was very busy. I have two days to breathe and recoup before I head to Albany, Oregon via Tacoma on Wednesday. Robert and Deana are staying here. Our church’s regional denominational meeting is in Albany and I am a delegate. My friends, Mike and Kathy, who live in Tacoma, are coming with me. Mike is giving a presentation on the last evening of conference about his work with the Tacoma Refugee Choir.

I was going to make a stop at Pacific Fabrics in Seattle on my way to Tacoma, but there is a soccer match at noon that day. Pacific Fabrics is only a few blocks from the stadium, so DD#2 suggested I avoid that area. I am bummed about that but I am having dinner with JC Briar when I am in Albany and she suggested a visit to two local fabric stores there. JC was the tech editor for my knitting patterns and books and I don’t get to see her very much anymore, so dinner with her will be a treat.

I am also looking forward to a long drive in the car by myself. I haven’t had one for a couple of months and I always get a bit twitchy without a road trip to clear my head.

******

On Saturday morning, I was a guest of the Teakettle Quilt Guild in Columbia Falls, Montana. I gave the short version of my thread talk there. Such a welcoming group of people! I only knew a few of the members but they were all very gracious and attentive.

I did have some time yesterday afternoon to start making a Scout Tee from some of the fabric I bought in Spokane on Thursday. I am using a pale lavender chambray fabric. Purple is not usually a color I gravitate to, but this is very pretty. I just have to bind the neckline and hem it and it will be done.

Cali Fabrics just got in a shipment of deadstock fabrics and it included some black lightweight 100% wool fabric. I ordered enough to make a pair of Rose Pants for winter.

******

The husband continues to work on the deck at the rental house. I helped by staining some of the trim boards on Friday afternoon. I can’t do much but I can wield a paintbrush.

After the crew poured the concrete last Tuesday to fill in the holes in the bathroom floor, the guys from church got busy framing in the new bathroom and showers. It’s looking good:

When I get back from Oregon, I have to start thinking about the bike tour that our church is hosting at the end of July. I am in charge of food for that event. We will be feeding about 75 people for four days. The new bathroom needs to be operational for that event, but it doesn’t have to be painted or completely finished.

Interfacings, Where Art Thou?

I am in danger of making myself a Flintstones wardrobe—the same patterns over and over again—but I think that’s okay. That doesn’t seem to me to be much different than a capsule wardrobe. I made another rayon batik top, one that I absolutely love.

I got the fabric at A Clean Stitch in Missoula the last time I taught there. This will work nicely with a pair of navy blue pants (the Rose Pants!) or capris.

I am not going to start the Lou Raincoat until July as I have too much going on between now and July 4. I might knock out another Scout Tee from the purple chambray I bought in Spokane but that will be it. By the time I get the raincoat done, it will be time to think about cool-weather projects.

*****

When we were at The Pink Thread in Coeur d’Alene, I checked out their selection of interfacing and found one I hadn’t seen before, Pellon 281. It is not on my master list of Pellon products. Is it a new offering? The Pellon website has this description:

Pellon 281 Woven Stretch Fusible is a lightweight, woven, two-way stretch interfacing. It is sheer and silky, offering a luxurious hand and soft support in blouses, dresses, lightweight outerwear and lightweight suit fabrics. Woven Stretch Fusible fuses easily to hard-to-fuse fabrics such as rayon and acetate. Great for both lightweight and midweight fabrics.

I think it will be awesome for facings on these rayon batik tops. I had already fused interfacing to the top I just made, so I haven’t had a chance to try the Pellon 281 yet. I bought three yards. It’s only 20" wide.

While I was on the Pellon website, I ran across two other new-to-me interfacings. One is SF568. The description says:

Pellon® SF568 Lightweight Shape-Flex® is a lightweight woven, fusible interfacing and part of our popular regular Shape-Flex® interfacing line.  It provides lightweight, yet crisp support for collars, cuffs, yokes, pockets, facings, and other detail areas of a garment. It can also add body and permanent stability when used as a backing for needlework and punch embroidery. Lightweight Shape-Flex® is intended for light woven and knit fabrics.

I am excited about trying this one if I can ever find it. Shape-Flex 101 (SF101) is great for many projects, but it is too heavy for some things.

And the last one is Pellon 460, which sounds like it would be great for activewear:

Pellon® Stretch Fuse™ is a lightweight, multi-directional, stretchy fusible interfacing perfect for fabrics of all kinds. It provides soft and supple results, while maintaining body and shape!  The protective liner aids in the fusing process with stretch fabrics.

Unfortunately, an internet search for online retailers carrying either SF568 or Pellon 460 isn’t yielding much. I tried to order some of the SF568 from one of the online retailers and got an e-mail saying they didn’t have it in stock. I have an order in for the Pellon 460—the retailer’s website claims it is in stock, so I guess we will find out.

I sent an e-mail to Pellon customer service asking them what is going on with these two products. This is not the first time I have tried to order a Pellon product only to be told by the retailer that it isn’t in stock and/or they can’t get it. I wish these companies would stop teasing sewists with unicorns that don’t exist.

If I were in charge of Pellon, I would do the following:

• Simplify the naming system so it makes sense

• Make up comprehensive data sheets for each product like Vlisilene does (the European interfacing supplier) that show usage, temperature settings for fusing, etc., and offer them as downloads on the Pellon website.

• Figure out a way to educate consumers about the products, whether that is with updated YouTube tutorials, brand ambassadors, posted information in big box stores like Hobby Lobby, or something else. (I would sign up to be a brand ambassador! 🙋🏻‍♀️)

• Replace the ubiquitous nonwoven interfacings (ick) at all big-box retailers with the higher-quality specialty products.

Let’s hope that these three interfacings are new products and that Pellon is making a step in the right direction. I think they got lazy when they were able to sell their products through Joanns and now they have to up their game.

A Great Day for a Road Trip

An over-and-back trip to Spokane is very doable in the summer when it gets light at 5 am and doesn’t get dark until 10 pm. Deana and I left here at 6:30 am and pulled into The Other Janet’s driveway at 7 am. The three of us hit the road and made it to Spokane about 15 minutes before The Quilting Bee opened. The Other Janet checked her serger in to the service department and we were off again.

Coeur d’Alene, ID and Spokane, WA are only about 25 minutes apart, so we headed back toward CdA to visit a couple of stores there. Between the two cities is Post Falls, ID, which is home to Shabby Fabrics. You may have seen their YouTube channel. Last year, they opened a retail showroom in the front of their warehouse. They specialize in kits, but their showroom also has individual items for sale, and the merchandising is top-notch. The showroom is a fun place to wander around. I bought five half-yard cuts of 1930s reproduction fabric to add to the stash, because I want to make a 1930s-style quilt one of these days.

The Pink Thread opened last fall in CdA and carries garment fabric as well as quilting fabric. The Other Janet quilts small pieces but is more interested in making garments. I was pleased to see that the store had expanded its selection of garment fabrics. The Other Janet bought some white knit fabric for a T-shirt and I got two cuts of lightweight wovens for tops, as well as some Pellon interfacing that is destined for my Sew Expo 2027 interfacing class and a skirt pattern.

By then, it was time for lunch, so we went to a nearby Panera for sandwiches and salads. On our way back to Spokane, we stopped at Becky’s Sewing Center, which is the local Bernina dealer. I got two more cuts of woven fabric—Tilda chambray—for two more tops.

We got back to Spokane around 1 pm. I took the Jeep through the car wash and we popped over to Value Village to see if they had any machines or fabric. That was the store where I found a BabyLock serger for $13.99 a couple of years ago. They didn’t have any sergers, but I got three yards of a very nice black-and-white knit fabric for $3.99. It’s perfect for a Burda knit dress pattern I have in the stash.

While we were poking around Value Village, The Other Janet got a text that her machine was ready. We did a bit of shopping at The Quilting Bee, but I didn’t see anything I couldn’t live without.

Getting home took longer than getting there. Summer road construction is in full swing and we got held up in a few places. We delivered The Other Janet to her house around 7:30 pm and took a quick peek at her sewing room. Deana and I were back here around 8 pm. It was a long day but a productive and fun one.

This was my haul—most of it, anyway.

I am staying home today to do paperwork and housework this morning and some sewing this afternoon. Tomorrow morning, I give the condensed version of my thread presentation to the Teakettle Quilt Guild in Columbia Falls.

Two Words

I wrote an e-mail yesterday that I had been hoping not to have to write, but it has been almost a month since the plant sale and I have yet to hear any word of acknowledgement or appreciation from the board of our local community organization for the work I did chairing the plant sale—the plant sale that raised $6000 for the organization. (The plant sale is that organization’s biggest fundraiser.) The AI summary of the June board meeting noted that the board voted to donate money to the local elementary school’s horticulture program in thanks for the plants that they always donate to our sale—an action which I support wholeheartedly—but there was no mention of thanking the person who started plants and raised them in her greenhouse or who coordinated all the moving parts before, during, and after the sale. I made sure that my thank-you notes to the volunteers who helped with the plant sale were in the mail within two weeks of the event. Susan, who is on the board, thanked me, but Susan thanks me for everything. ☺️

So I e-mailed the president of the board and noted that I had not yet heard from the board regarding the plant sale. I also noted that failing to thank people is how organizations lose volunteers. I received a prompt and thoughtful response from him in which he personally acknowledged my efforts and said he would bring the matter up with the board.

No one likes to be taken for granted. Our fire chief—the volunteer fire chief of an all-volunteer fire department—does a fantastic job of remembering to say thank-you to everyone who helps to keep our fire district humming along. I am one of the people who will take food to responders on a structure fire or car accident and invariably, within a day or two of the incident, I will get an e-mail from him thanking me for doing so. He knows that it is important for people to be seen.

And the thank-yous don’t require grand gestures. The husband is delighted when people thank him by bringing him food. Even just saying two words—”thank you”—goes a long way toward making people feel appreciated.

It makes me wonder why thanking people is such a huge burden. Is everyone just too busy? That shouldn’t be an excuse. I sometimes think of the comment that my church pianist mentor made to me one time. Catherine and I were talking about being church pianists and she said, “It’s hard work to make this look so easy.” Perhaps people assume that because we make it look easy, it must have been easy and thus not worth acknowledging.

I am not perfect. I am sure I have missed acknowledging people when I should have, but I do make an effort to say “thank you” when I can. If our fire chief can do it, so can I.

******

I made half a top yesterday. We may get thunderstorms on Saturday so I’ll try to finish it then. I may also make a couple pairs of Free Range Slacks before starting the raincoat. I have those two lengths of Kona Crush that would work nicely for that pattern. It is wonderful to be able to go to my closet to get dressed and be able to pull out clothing I’ve made and love to wear. Everything coordinates. Everything fits. It’s not falling apart in the wash. The colors are flattering and ones I love to wear. I love it.

Relaxing with Friends

I went to the dentist early yesterday morning. I only needed a cleaning, but I am going to have to have a crown put on another molar on the other side of my mouth. Our previous dentist—now retired—had been watching this molar for the past 10 years because it has a crack in it. It also has a filling that is now over 50 years old. She told me that I would know when it needed a crown because I would either have pain or hot/cold sensitivity or both. I’ve had very mild temperature sensitivity for the past month, so it’s time to deal with it.

While I was making my followup appointments, I commented that I wouldn’t really have time for the crown until August, and the receptionist said, “Is your summer busy?” I replied that it was nuts. She said, “I’m exhausted already,” and I said, “And it’s only June.” This is what happens here. We have to cram so much summer into three short months that we all feel like we’re going 200 mph every day.

On the way home, I stopped at the church to see how the bathroom renovation was progressing, which led to a conversation with one of the guys about concrete. The plumbing was done and they were ready to fill in those areas. When I got home, I texted the husband about plans for pouring. After some back-and-forth with another guy who is working on that project, the husband got a mixer truck scheduled to deliver concrete at noon. I decided to go back up to the church and watch the proceedings. The husband and crew were only about a mile away at another job, so he sent the crew over with wheelbarrows and tools. The mixer truck showed up at 11:58 and they had the holes filled in about an hour. (The husband had to stay at the other job.)

The concrete will be cured enough today that the guys from church can start framing in the new shower and bathroom area.

When I got back, I found Robert and Deana relaxing in the glider rockers in the herb garden. I went out and joined them for a while. By that time, all my Tuesday plans had gone out the window, so I simply sat and enjoyed visiting with them. I am glad they are making themselves at home, and I was happy for the excuse to slow down and breathe for a while.

******

I am meeting Dawn this morning to hand over her completed Burnside Bibs. (We will look like we’re making a drug deal in the feed store parking lot. 😂) When I get home, I am going to make one more summer top and then start on the Lou Raincoat.

I’ve been incubating some long-range plans for the last few weeks but another opportunity presented itself yesterday so now I have to factor that into the equation. I don’t want to overcommit to the point where I don’t have time to sew.

******

Yesterday was warm and windy, especially over in eastern Washington, and there are several wildfires burning already. One is actually within the Spokane city limits and I have a friend whose house is only a few miles away from that one. She is okay for now as the fire is moving away from her, but if the wind changes, she may have to evacuate. It could be a scary summer for some areas of the inland Northwest.

Apple Mysteries

Our friends from Tennessee arrived late yesterday afternoon. They unloaded their car and we all sat down to a dinner of Salisbury steak, potatoes, green beans, and pecan pie for dessert. I did not make the pie. One of my friends at church made it for the husband as a thank-you for doing the concrete cutting in the basement for the bathroom renovation project. The four of us sat and visited for a couple of hours. They will be here for a month, so we didn’t feel the need to do all of our catching-up at once.

I’ve mentioned that my friend Susan has grafted a number of apple trees for me. She likes to hunt down unique varieties, especially local ones, and if there are extras, I am happy to put them in my orchard. I ran across this article yesterday morning:

Apple Once Thought Extinct Discovered in Pullman by WSU Student

Pullman is Pullman, WA, and WSU is Washington State University. I should note that “extinct” is a loose definition—here, it means mostly that the apple variety disappeared from commercial production and common identification. Because apple trees don’t come with built-in signage advertising their identity, DNA testing is the best way to narrow down the variety.

I mentioned the article to Susan after church yesterday morning and she was very excited to know that Walbridge—the “extinct” variety—had been found and identified. (Apparently, there are also some Walbridge trees in Colorado.) I have no doubt that Walbridge trees will show up here as soon as she can get her hands on some scion wood for grafting. In the meantime, she is considering sending off a leaf for DNA testing for an unidentified apple tree that grows here in our little community. It produces apples that look like this:

She says it is very tasty, not a good keeper, but worth having anyway. Perhaps a good pie apple? I will be curious to find out if it can be identified.

I could easily become obsessed with apples. When my sister and I were growing up, our parents took us out to a place called Henrietta Hill that I think must have been in Henrietta Township in Lorain County, Ohio. (My mother can probably fill in the details.) There was a large orchard there and we would get apple cider to bring home. I am particular about my apple cider. The cider sold here is way too sweet. Most of it comes from Honeycrisp apples, which I also think are way too sweet. I want apples that taste like the ones I grew up with, tart and tangy. The closest I’ve come is the State Fair tree in our front yard, although I also have some smaller Macintosh and Cortland trees that I suspect will produce the kinds of apples I remember once they get large enough to set fruit.

I know what I like and I like what I know, LOL.

Our lone cherry tree was loaded with blossoms this year so I am wondering if we will finally get a decent cherry harvest. I believe that one is a Montmorency.

This is what you get when I have no sewing to share. Go eat an apple.

A Third Pair of Burnside Bibs

I have some favorite pattern companies and Sew House Seven is one of them. I’ve made at least half a dozen Toaster Sweaters, I love the Free Range Slacks, and this is the third pair of Burnside Bibs to come out of my sewing room. The bibs are not difficult but there are a lot of steps.

Everything has been planted in the garden. I hustled to get the last of the plants in yesterday morning because we had rain in the forecast after lunch. Interestingly, I have not seen any snakes recently.

The afternoon rain and storms were a good reason to stay inside and sew, and because I had cut out the bibs a few days ago, I was all ready to sit down at the machine. By the time the husband came home, I had completed the body of the pattern:

All that is left is to make the straps, ties, and belt loops—the bibs have ties that extend down from the shoulder straps and feed through loops on the back waistband—and attach those to the body with the bib facing. The design is very clever. One more afternoon sewing session should be enough to finish these and then I am going to start the Lou Raincoat. I have a busy week coming up but I should be able to eke out some sewing time.

*****

We were awakened just after midnight by the fire department pager going off for a motor vehicle accident up the road. The husband got dressed and headed out and I listened to the scanner traffic. Our road has a number of 90-degree turns along its length and the corner where the accident happened is well known for catching more than a few drivers. I believe the driver and occupant will be okay, but the CenturyLink box got taken out again—for about the 93rd time—because CenturyLink put it in the worst spot possible. We have Starlink (because we got tired of the CenturyLink outages) but the rental house has CenturyLink, so I need to pop over there this morning to see if the house has internet access. The rental house can access Starlink, but the signal isn’t very strong.

*****

Our friends are scheduled to arrive tomorrow afternoon unless things change. They are bringing lovely weather with them—mostly sunny skies and temps in the 70s for at least a week. We have all sorts of fun stuff planned. My friend Robert is going to join the Flathead Valley Community Band for their July 4th concert after the parade. The director is DD#1’s band director from high school who retired a few years after she graduated. I e-mailed him and asked him if it was okay for Robert to sit in and he said yes, so Robert will be joining the trombone section. We also have tickets for the Glacier Orchestra concert at Rebecca Farm on July 3rd. As much as I love the husband, he has no musical background or skills beyond playing the radio, so when Robert comes to visit, I get to indulge in endless discussions in my second language.

My New Favorite Pattern

The Rose Pants are finished and hemmed. I love them so much I dreamed about them last night. 😇

I need a few more pairs of these, both long and in culotte length. A pair of black wool ones would be amazing to wear to church in the winter.

I cut out Dawn’s Burnside Bibs yesterday afternoon and marked the pattern pieces. That project is all ready to go whenever I have time to sit down at the machine.

******

For my Seattle-area peeps and podcast listeners: I will be teaching at Quilting Mayhem in Snohomish, Washington, on September 3 and 4 (Thursday/Friday). They chose two sewing classes and two knitting classes. For class descriptions and to sign up, click on the following links:

Fit Without Fear
Pattern Hacking and Frankenpatterning
Knitting Skill Builder
Basics of Lace Knitting

Quilting Mayhem is a wonderful store. I first visited it last June when my friends Robert and Deana—who are coming to visit next week—and I were in Everett for a drum corps show. Deana sews and has a thriving machine embroidery business, so we visited all the fabric stores we could find around Seattle while Robert was working with the drum corps. Quilting Mayhem takes up an entire block in the adorable town of Snohomish:

They are a Bernina dealer and carry quilting cotton, apparel fabrics, and some yarn. I have since been back a couple of times. About a month ago, they posted a call for knitting teachers on their Facebook page. I sent off my teaching package with a list of my classes—both knitting and sewing—and waited to see if they were interested. I expected them to choose knitting classes but I am delighted that they chose a couple of sewing classes, too.

******

June has gotten way overscheduled—most of it in a good way—and my desk calendar is a rainbow of highlighter colors. The Other Janet and I (and, hopefully, Deana, if she wants to come with us) are going to make a quick over-and-back trip to Spokane next week. The Other Janet’s serger needs service and the shop that services that brand here in Kalispell has a waiting list. I suggested she talk to The Quilting Bee in Spokane about their one-day service. They used to service my Janome sewing machine and their service department is very good. (They have four techs on staff.) If we get the serger to them by 10 am when they open, they should have it done by 2-3 pm. And if it happens to be a good excuse for a road trip, so much the better. The Other Janet has never been to The Quilting Bee, heh heh heh.

Another Winner

I love that Costco opens at 9 am for Executive members. I would do all my shopping as early in the day as possible if I could. Before I left for town, though, I attached the waistband to the Rose Pants and inserted the elastic in the back. I can’t tell you how much I love these pants. They are definitely going into the tried-and-true pattern library. They fit well and were not difficult to make. This is the third Made by Rae pattern I’ve used and I have been very impressed with all of them.

I still have to sew down the front waistband and hem them.

The pleats do lie flat; these will get a good press once I am done with the sewing. I did not finish them when I got back from town because I decided to clean the rental house, instead. I stripped the beds and washed the sheets, cleaned the bathroom and washed the towels, vacuumed, mopped, and made sure that everything was in order. The washing machine hoses are no longer leaking. I made a list of a last-minute items to get when I’m in town tomorrow. Our friends are leaving Tennessee today to make the long drive out here.

Outside, it was blustery and rainy. We have one more day of rain today and then it looks like we’re in for a stretch of nice weather.

I am making another pair of Burnside Bibs for another one of the staff at the quilt store. Hers will be from the same fabric as Sammy’s, but in a slightly different color. I think I’ll start working on those today after I finish the Rose Pants. Once the bibs are done, I’ll make the Lou Raincoat from the Seamwork pattern.

******

The little chipmunk that has been running around the herb garden came up on the porch yesterday and was hiding under the mini-fridge where we keep eggs. It scooted out and stood in front of the fridge and squawked at me when I was walking back from the rental house. I find it hilarious that these animals think they own the place. I warned the husband to watch for it so it doesn’t sneak into the house when he opens the door.

A group of crows—or ravens, I can’t tell—found the ground squirrel carcass and were making quite a racket in the woods yesterday. That may be why the chipmunk was up on the porch. The crows were mostly yelling at the turkeys who were walking through their cafeteria.

And another group of robins is nesting in the porch rafters. Really, I don’t think we have quite enough baby robins flying around yet. 🙄

Thank goodness, there have been no bears. At least not ones I have seen.

A Sunny Monday in June

Task #1 on the list for yesterday morning was class proposals. I am tentatively scheduled to teach at a store near Seattle at the beginning of September. (The official announcement will be made when the listing is up on their website.) I talked to their class coordinator last week and we selected the date and the classes. I told her that I would provide photos, class descriptions, skill levels, and my supporting business documentation by the beginning of this week so they could begin marketing the classes.

Sew Expo used to ask teachers to submit complete class proposals, including photos, but there was no guarantee that any or all of the classes would be chosen. Submitting complete proposals is a lot of work, especially if it’s a new class. It takes time to make and photograph class samples. When I taught for TKGA, they required a complete syllabus broken down by time (15 minutes on topic XYZ, 10 minutes on topic ABC) as well. Two years ago, Sew Expo went to a different model. They asked teachers to submit a list of class ideas and descriptions. Their class coordinator calls each teacher to talk about the classes in more detail. Who is this class for? What skills do students need? What skills will they learn? How do you see the class unfolding time-wise? Only after the list of classes is nailed down does the teacher have to submit the formal, complete proposal for each one. It frees teachers to be more creative about their class offerings and I think Sew Expo’s overall slate of classes is much stronger as a result.

Sew Expo’s class coordinator and I met back in February and chose the classes I’ll be teaching in 2027. I have until September to submit my formal proposals, but I wanted to get them done now and off the to-do list. Half of the classes are new, so they required photos. (Thankfully, I had a lot of class samples already made for those classes.) I decided to go ahead and take all new photos for all of the classes for both the store and Sew Expo.

Photography is just about my least favorite thing to do. Part of that is because the lighting in my house is so awful. Outside photos look much better, but they require an overcast day without rain (or snow). I’ve got a 3' x 3' light box—an actual box, not a surface with a light beneath it—that I sometimes use to take photos. Garments don’t fit in the box, but it works for most things.

I set up the box and took a bunch of different photos. I try to imagine how the photo will look in a mailer or on the website. Does it communicate what it needs to communicate? Are the colors accurate? Is there enough detail?

I spent most of the morning and an hour after lunch working on this, but all of my proposals are done and submitted. Yay.

******

The husband got the deck joists in place on Sunday, in between bouts of sun, rain, wind, and hail. It was a bizarre weather day.

He put a couple of pieces of plywood down on top so I can get into the house and clean. I still have to climb a short ladder, but I don’t have to tiptoe across the joists. I think he’s hoping to get the decking on this weekend.

After I finished my class proposals yesterday, I decided to work on the Made by Rae Rose Pants. They went together more quickly than I anticipated. All that is left to do is to attach the waistband, insert the elastic, and hem them. (Late afternoon sun coming into my sewing room. 🫤)

This is not the best quality fabric—Joanns rayon/linen—but it’ll do for these. I will field test them and decide if I want to make another pair out of the royal blue tencel twill in my stash.

Robins and Rodents

The forest animals seem to be laboring under the delusion that I exist to provide food for them. I was in the garden by 7 am yesterday morning, digging some weeds out of the strawberry bed. As I worked, I was treated to a loud scolding by a flock of about eight robins sitting in the tree above me. (There are so many robins this year. So many.) Apparently, they were angry that I was interfering with breakfast. Every time I turned my back, one was down in the bed looking for berries.

[Our strawberry harvest this year is going to be minimal, partly due to the robins and partly due to the fact that I should have thinned the plants more than I did. Next year, I’ll be more aggressive about thinning and put a row cover over the bed afterward.]

Yesterday afternoon, we spotted the ground squirrel again out in the woods behind the herb garden. The husband went out with the shotgun. He thinks he hit it, but he couldn’t find the body. Sometimes, they retreat back into the pile of logs and die.

This summer’s theme seems to be robins and rodents. The bunnies are in the yard every morning and there is a very industrious chipmunk running around the herb garden. It hasn’t done any damage yet, but I am keeping an eye on it. And the baby robins seem to think the herb garden is their own personal playground. They like the birdbath.

******

Work continues over at the rental house. I painted the section of wall behind the washing machine where the husband fixed the leak and had to patch in a new piece of drywall. While I did that, he regraded the driveway. It had several really high and really low spots and now it is level and smooth:

That entire yard needs to be regraded but that’s further down the list. The ground in the yard is so uneven that I can’t even cut the grass with the John Deere mower and that is not an anemic machine.

After lunch, the husband went to the hardware store down in Bigfork and picked up a color card for the deck material. We chose a neutral medium brown color that will work with the existing house color, although he said that at some point, he wants to re-side the house with Hardi-Plank or something similar that is fire resistant.

He plans to get the decking on this week. Our friends arrive early next week to stay for a month. (I’m so excited! 🎉)

******

The little chickens are big enough to be in with the big chickens now, so the husband took down the fencing and opened the door to the separate room inside the coop. I am sure it will take a few days to sort out the pecking order, but no one has drawn blood yet. He put out a couple of straw bales as a distraction:

The chickens eventually tear down the bales and spread the straw all over the chicken yard.

Setting Deck Beams

The husband’s only job yesterday was a concrete-cutting job in the afternoon, so he and the guys set the beams for the deck before lunch. I watched and took pictures. I like to watch the husband work.

The Gradall forklift was the first piece of equipment we bought, over 25 years ago, and I think it has been the most-used piece of equipment we own.

The guys set the first beam on top of the sonotubes that were poured last week, then set the second beam at right angles to it:

Next they had to replace the beam that was holding up the porch roof. That one was a bit trickier to place, but the husband is all about safety:

It looks good and is securely in place. The house will fall down before this new deck does.

In between taking photos, I cut the grass in the garden. I did not see any snakes, though. By 10 am on a sunny day, it’s usually too warm for them to be on the black plastic. I need to run the string trimmer out there this morning.

When the husband got home from the concrete-cutting job, we were going to sit for a while on the porch before dinner finished cooking. As I walked out onto the porch, though, I spotted a ground squirrel running through the herb garden. I went and got my .22 but it had disappeared. We sat on the porch with the gun—I am sure we look like Ma and Pa Kettle, sitting on the porch with our guns waiting for the varmints to come back—but we never did see it again.

Now that only a few piles of logs are left in the woods, the number of ground squirrels has decreased dramatically, but it only takes one to decimate a row of lettuce.

I have a pair of the Made by Rae Rose Pants cut out and ready to assemble. So far, I’ve only managed to interface the waistband and mark the pleats, but at least it is forward motion.

Party in the Garden

Warning, snake photos ahead.

The fuel company was scheduled to come out and move propane tanks yesterday. We bought a new 500-gallon tank for the rental house and planned to have them move that 250-gallon tank over to the greenhouse to replace the 250-gallon tank that was leaking. I got a call that the tech would be there around 9:15, so I headed out to the greenhouse to wait for him. I decided to take a stroll around the garden before he showed up.

I immediately spotted this guy sunning himself on the plastic in this year’s cucumber patch.

I had a short conversation with him and continued on. A bit further down the plastic, I saw these two:

I also counted three juvenile snakes (smaller and without stripes) on the other side of the garden, for a grand total of six. Yay! Happy ecosystem! My only concern is that I don’t want to step on anybody who might be underneath the plastic. I try to make my presence known before I walk over it.

I have seen a couple of ground squirrels running through our yard but none in the garden yet. I am hoping that the presence of these snakes—even if they can’t kill and eat a ground squirrel—will be enough of a deterrent to make the ground squirrels question the wisdom of snacking on my cabbage seedlings.

The propane tanks were moved successfully. The fuel company always has a big sale in July, so we’ll wait until then to get them filled.

Our day of sunshine was short lived. It’s raining again this morning.

******

I have been pondering this whole AI issue a lot lately, especially with regard to sewing. I do use ChatGPT on a casual basis and with the understanding that it’s largely a matter of “Garbage In, Garbage Out.” The context of the questions I ask it matters greatly to the quality of the response I get. Even with good input, its answers are often wrong or misguided.

I am aware that some of the fabric companies are putting out completely AI-designed lines. I am trying to spot those lines when I shop, although I know that our local quilt store has made the decision not to order any fabric lines that are AI generated. One of the problems is that the fabric companies are not always forthcoming about the fact that the line has been designed by AI, and I believe that consumers have the right to know.

What I find really troubling, however, is the amount of AI slop that is infiltrating the pattern world. Search on any term like “blouse pattern” and a whole slew of obviously AI-generated patterns for sale on Etsy come up. In most cases, I can tell from looking at the line art that the pattern is not going to result in what’s pictured, but a less experienced sewist may not.

I am curious to see how this plays out. I wonder if AI may be one of the more stupid ideas that humans have embraced over the years.

Having the Right Tool is Important

When I teach my serger mastery classes, I talk about the fact that sewing machines have been around since the latter half of the 1800s. Sergers were invented by the Merrow Company (still in business!) in 1881, although domestic sergers didn’t make it to the home sewing market until the late 1960s. Coverstitch machines have been in use industrially for a while but weren’t available to home sewists until the 1990s.

It’s the last one that I find so fascinating, because I’ve gotten to watch the evolution of coverstitch machines in real time. I bought my first coverstitch machine, a Janome CoverPro 1000cpx, about 15 years ago. That machine had a lot of issues. Facebook had (has) an entire group devoted to that model, with instructions in the files for raising the feed dogs and making other adjustments that should have been done at the factory. I have only ever been able to use it successfully with all the tension dials set to 0—but use it, I did, until I replaced it a few years later with a Janome CoverPro 3000cpx. Janome seems to have worked most of the bugs out of the 3000. I’ve hemmed a lot of T-shirts with both machines.

Coverstitch machines did not come with a lot of educational support. Johanna Lundstrom’s book, Master the Coverstitch, probably kept a lot of people from tossing their machines out the window. And thank goodness for Facebook groups and crowdsourcing and people who were willing to take apart their machines to raise the feed dogs and then tell others how to do the same thing.

Coverstitch machines were invented to meet a functional need—hemming garments—but with their advance into the home sewing market, they have evolved into machines that can also be used to make many kinds of decorative surface design stitches. Gail Yellen is an absolute genius when it comes to pushing the decorative coverstitch envelope.

I now have three coverstitch machines, because my Bernina L890 serger is both a serger and coverstitch. The Bernina can do a few things that the Janome coverstitch machines cannot. The Janome machines have a hard time with decorative threads, mostly due to a design flaw. The looper thread path makes a hard right turn through a metal guide, and that metal guide has a tendency to damage and shred metallic threads. The L890 is much kinder to metallic threads. And the L890 can make a five-thread combo stitch using both the serger and the coverstitch capabilities, which the Janome machines cannot as they are dedicated coverstitch machines.

[There is a point to this blog post, I promise.]

The Bernina L890 was released in May of 2021. Bernina doesn’t often miss the mark when it comes to their products, but that machine has been on the market for five years with only one coverstitch foot—the all-metal foot. Janome, in contrast, has always had a clear plastic foot available for its coverstitch machines. Why does that matter? A coverstitch hem in the round is finished off by stitching over the beginning of the hem by a few stitches. It is impossible to see those stitches underneath a metal foot. It’s why I’ve continued to use my Janome coverstitch machines to hem T-shirts rather than hemming them on the L890. The L890 is the better machine but the Janome, with the clear foot, is easier to use.

Early in 2026, Gail Yellen made a YouTube video announcing that Bernina had come out with a clear coverstitch foot for the L890. (I suspect she’s been leaning on them about this.) The foot promptly sold out. I have been looking for one since then—checking at every Bernina dealer between here and Seattle—to no avail. I ordered one online about six weeks ago and the store owner told me they were backordered, but he had been told by Bernina that they would be available again in May. I got a shipping notice a few days ago so I’ve been expecting the foot to show up in the mail.

My neighbor across the road (hi, Kim!) asked me if I could hem a pair of pants for her. Her daughter is getting married next month and she bought a beautiful pair of pants and a top to wear to the reception. She came over on Saturday and I marked the pants and hung them up in my sewing room. The pants have two layers—a knit inner layer and a slinky outer layer—and I knew I would have to hem at least the inner layer on the coverstitch machine.

[Before anyone asks—no, I do not hem pants and do alterations unless I like you very much, even if it’s a simple job like this one. I have no desire to get into that business.]

I was about to set up the Janome to hem the pants when I got a notice on my phone that the clear coverstitch foot for the L890 had been delivered and was waiting in the mailbox. Yay! Perfect timing! Here are the two feet side by side:

The Bernina is all threaded and ready to go, so I’ll get these pants hemmed and back to Kim.

******

The short load of concrete showed up yesterday morning and the husband got the sonotubes filled. It is still raining, although the rain is supposed to taper off after lunch. Tomorrow is forecast to be sunny and 70F. The fuel supplier is coming tomorrow to bring the new 500-gallon propane tank for the rental house and to move the 250-gallon tank from the rental house to the greenhouse to replace the one that is leaking.

I Need a Raincoat

I was able to mow the entire yard on Saturday morning. Thank goodness, because right after that, it started to rain. It has been raining steadily ever since. Snowmelt is still coming off the mountains and the rivers are rising. The husband and I went out to dinner Saturday night and the parking lots near the old bridge river access were already starting to flood.

[Everyone who remembers the event talks about the “Flood of ‘64,” when torrential rains came down on top of heavy snowpack in early June and devastated the area. The Daily InterLake has a story about it if you want to read about what happened.]

We went to our favorite restaurant, Mercantile Steak, where the husband had prime rib and I had sea scallops. Yes, it’s a steakhouse, but I will always choose seafood over anything else if I have the option. The food there is very, very good. Afterward, we went to Home Depot so the husband could get supplies to fix the washer hookup at the rental house. It’s been leaking and it needs to be fixed before guests arrive. He had to replace some drywall as part of the repair, so I’ll have a bit more painting to do.

And because it’s raining, I feel the urgent need to make a raincoat. 🙄 I’ve had Simplicity 9713 in the queue for a couple of years, but I want to make the long version of that one. What I need right now is a mid-length version. I have four yards of a beautiful raspberry-colored dry oilskin (Merchant & Mills) that I bought at The Confident Stitch in Missoula, but all I have is the four yards that were on the roll. (I would have bought more if it had been available.) Four yards is just enough for a mid-length raincoat. I have been looking for a raincoat pattern I like and I’ve narrowed it down to the Lou Hooded Rain Jacket from Seamwork:

Of course, by the time I make a basic muslin and start working on the actual jacket, the weather likely will be hot and dry. I’m going to sit with this idea for a bit, but it’s on the table. If I don’t make it now, it will be raining again in the fall and I’ll be wondering why I still don’t have a raincoat.

The rain is supposed to continue through at least noon tomorrow, but we don’t completely dry out until later in the week.

The broody hen in the chicken coop got off the eggs she’s been sitting on for the past couple of weeks and moved to a different nesting box. I checked the eggs with a flashlight—they were still warm, so she must have moved not long before I came in to check—and I think they are all fertile. I tucked them in with her in the new nesting box. I am hoping she just got confused or was routed out of the box by another hen. Chickens are not known for their intellectual prowess.

*****

Progress on the bathroom remodel at our church continues apace. All of the concrete has been broken up and removed, which was a thankless job handled by a couple of our church members:

Yesterday, after the service, a few of the men were discussing next steps and looking at the plans. The new plumbing has to go in next. This is an exciting project, but it’s a fair bit of work.

Yet Another Top

I worked in the herb garden yesterday for a change of pace. After all that rain Thursday night, it was very easy to pull weeds out of the paths. I also put in some annuals—pansies and lobelia—and cleaned out one of the raised beds for lettuce. The robins sat patiently on the fence posts waiting for me to finish so they could look for worms. The birds seem to like the herb garden and the birdbath.

I should have cut the grass after lunch but I decided to sew, instead. Mowing is on the schedule for this morning. I need to get it done today because it is supposed to rain for the next several days.

This is the latest iteration of my custom-drafted top pattern. I made a round-neck version this time:

This might seem like boring sewing to some people. This is a simple pullover top consisting of three main pattern pieces—front, back, sleeves—and a neck facing. There is nothing complicated or challenging about a top like this, but it sums up exactly why I sew. Finding something like this in ready-to-wear would be impossible. This top fits me perfectly. I can put it on and completely forget about it. The front isn’t constantly shifting toward the back. It doesn’t pull across the bust. It is long enough. I have full freedom of movement. And best of all, the fabric isn’t a washed-out pastel or muddy earth tone.

I absolutely love this print. I happen to have a pair of capri pants in that lighter blue color and this top coordinates perfectly with them.

I like challenging sewing projects, but sometimes, it’s more about the function than the process. I needed some summer tops and now I have them. They aren’t fancy, but they meet the need. And I love to see them hanging in my closet.

As soon as I finished this top, I cut out another Scout Tee from some Robert Kaufman Cambridge Cotton Lawn that I bought at The Confident Stitch down in Missoula. I purchased it in both black and white, and I am making a black Scout Tee. The fabric is lovely.

I’ve got two pieces of rayon fabric left that I want to sew into tops before the end of June. I’d also like to make up at least one pair of Rose Pants. I could use a couple of casual T-shirts, too, if for no other reason than to remind myself how to sew with knit fabric. I’ve been over here in the world of woven fabric for quite a while.

******

The husband has to wait for a short load of concrete to pour the sonotubes for the deck. The batch plant has a mixer truck coming to Bigfork for a job on Monday morning, so after they pour that job, they will send the mixer truck here with what’s left. He’s doing a concrete cutting job today. Some of his concrete cutting jobs are for commercial businesses and have to be done after hours or on weekends.

Much Happening

The system sitting over California has been throwing thunderstorms at us for the past few days. They are coming up from the south. This was the view from my front yard yesterday afternoon:

We got quite the wild storm overnight. The flashes of lightning were almost constant and the weather station recorded 662 strikes. (I am unsure about the range.) It rained hard—the rain gauge measured half an inch—which is good for all the plants I put in yesterday morning. I am hoping to get out and finish planting this morning if the rain lets up. I don’t mind working in a light drizzle, but a steady downpour is no fun. The forecast is for cooler and rainier weather through Tuesday. We need all the moisture we can get.

If the weather keeps me out of the garden today, I will sew. I started a top yesterday afternoon and it’s about half done.

In other news, we have tree swallows nesting in boxes on the back of the woodshed:

The husband put up those boxes some years ago, but I can’t remember seeing birds nest in them before. Apparently, swallows prefer old woodpecker holes in cottonwoods, but if those aren’t available, they will nest in boxes. I see them swooping around the yard eating bugs.

The robins are back for round two. I spotted mama robin sitting on the nest again yesterday. I don’t know if my nerves can take it. 🤪 One of the babies from the first clutch was in the birdbath in the herb garden.

If the broody hen in the chicken coop is going to hatch out any chicks, it should happen soon. I know she’s been sitting on eggs for at least two weeks.

I spotted another garter snake in the garden yesterday morning. This one was bigger than the one I saw the other day. I am so happy they are out there.

Still no Charlotte. I am going to assume she found herself a nice quiet corner of the greenhouse and is hanging out there.

******

The husband has a job to start up by Glacier Park, but the excavator hasn’t finished digging yet, so he and the guys worked on the deck project again yesterday. They are replacing “posts centered on concrete poured into holes in the ground” with sonotubes and bigfoots:

I teased him about making the new deck earthquake proof, but anything worth doing is worth doing in excess.

The New Deck Project

The summer tires are on the Jeep. I don’t usually wait until three days before the deadline to get the snow tires taken off, but I just haven’t had time. I was at the tire place a few minutes after they opened and they took the Jeep right away.

On the way home from town, I stopped at the community center to finish the clean-up from the plant sale. The food bank came on Tuesday to get the leftover plants. Susan coordinated that process because I was in town all day. Once the plants are gone, we have to get the tarps up off the floor, vacuum, and move all the furniture back into place.

After lunch, I put down the rest of the row cover so I could I plant the cabbages, peppers, and more of the squash. We had afternoon thunderstorms in the forecast again and I wanted to get as much in as I could before the weather went sideways. With such a short growing season, every day that a plant spends in the ground matters.

A very impressive line of thunderstorms did come up from the south, but it missed us by a hair. It went right up the Continental Divide (just to our east, over the mountains) and I watched it from the garden. I heard thunder and the weather station was picking up lightning some miles away.

While I was working in the garden, the husband and the crew were deep into the deck project at the rental house. They had already ripped off the front portion of the deck by the time I got home. (Husband is in the middle.)

They salvaged what they could but a lot of the wood was rotten and went straight to the burn pile.

The side deck was the next part to come off.

And then the husband brought in the excavator and the track loader to remove excess dirt and smooth out the ground.

This house was built in the mid-80s and he has had to retrofit parts of it because the construction was a bit skimpy. The posts holding up the side roof were resting on bits of concrete poured into holes in the ground. The new deck will have posts set into sonotubes. That roof is going to need to be replaced at some point, but we’re tackling one project at a time.

I am not sure what he plans for the replacement deck. He told me it’s still a blank canvas but he also knows that he’s going to have to let me in on the details at some point. 🤨

I feel like I have been running non-stop for the past week and a half. The house is a disaster area, which it always is at this time of year. Dinner has been whatever I can throw together at the last minute, although last night, I made Salisbury steak because I somehow remembered to take ground beef out to thaw. I made enough for two meals. We’re getting desperately low on canned goods, like beef and chicken stock, so I am going to have to do some canning soon. And I don’t need to tell you there has been no sewing.

Charlotte is somewhere in the greenhouse, although I haven’t been able to locate her. As expected, she moved overnight. I keep wondering if I am going to come downstairs some morning and she’s going to be in the corner of the kitchen again, like a dog that travels miles to get back to its family. I have no idea how she got into the house the first time, so it wouldn’t surprise me a bit to see her again.

Someone from QuickBooks has been leaving messages on my phone all week wanting to talk to me about “new features” for our construction company. I answered his call yesterday while I was out in the garden. (I sounded like I was on a construction site because the guys were working on the deck. 😇) He wanted to know if he could schedule a 15-minute call to explain the new AI tools. I told him that I don’t want more automation. What I want is for QuickBooks to get the hell out of my way so I can just do my job. The husband said the poor guy was probably traumatized after he talked to me.

In Which I Evict a Spider

Trigger warning: There is a picture of a not-small spider in this post, so if that bothers you, please skip today’s post. I can assure you that nothing of import happened yesterday.

******

I spent most of yesterday in town. I won’t complain about the summer traffic other than to say that I thought it couldn’t get worse but I was wrong. And now my eyebrows are shaped, my mouth is back together, and my hair is under control. I bought new hose fittings and some groceries. I have to go back to town today to get the summer tires put on the Jeep and then I am hoping to be able to stay home until next week. I want to get the rest of the garden planted. We got a few thunderstorms yesterday afternoon and I appreciate the rain on the plants that are in the ground.

The peas are up:

I know the ground looks like concrete but it’s the same spot where I grow peas every year because there is a permanent trellis there.

I moved Charlotte out to the greenhouse. I said to the husband that I think I traumatized her because she didn’t move from where I put her—although I know she is still alive—and he reminded me that the sum total of her activity was to sit in her web, unmoving, for days at a time. I’ll check on her this morning. She usually spun her new webs overnight when it was dark.

This is Charlotte. Her body is about the size of a nickel.

I kind of miss her, but forest animals belong outside, even if they would prefer to live in my house. I looked up at the corner of the kitchen out of habit this morning when I came downstairs and then remembered that she wasn’t there. And I have no doubt that the universe will send me some other poor creature to take care of. Let’s just hope it’s not a bear cub.

******

I came out of the greenhouse yesterday after moving Charlotte and found the husband standing next to the rental house, looking at the deck. He has a particular stance when he is considering a project, one that I call the “What do I do with this hole in the back of my house?” stance because I have a photo somewhere of him looking that way after he and my father took the back wall off our house in Pennsylvania 30+ years ago. I asked him why he was looking at the deck and he said he is planning to replace it soon. I thought that project was going to wait until the fall, but apparently, the front of the deck is in pretty bad shape. Fortunately, that is the part of the deck that doesn’t get used often. Our friends arrive on June 15 to stay for a month, so he wants to have it done by then. I reminded him that the Architectural Review Committee (me) would like to have a ramp incorporated into the deck design.

When the husband decides to work on a project, he focuses on that project and gets it done, so I expect there to be a new deck on the rental house in short order.