Trying Again

If you were here a year ago, you might remember that I was trying to fit a shift dress based on my self-drafted woven top pattern. The dress had diagonal drag lines running from just beneath the bust out to the sides. Interestingly, the tops don’t, or else the lines just aren’t as obvious.

This is where fitting gets frustrating.

Every book I checked said to increase the bust dart intake to pull up the excess fabric on the sides and make those drag lines disappear. Nope. The darts in that pattern fit perfectly as they are. When I started monkeying with the darts, I ended up with a dress that would fit Dolly Parton. My theory was that the center front of the dress needed more length, not that the sides needed less. I tried a few adjustments and ran up a muslin from a sheet before other tasks took priority and I had to give up.

I tried on the muslin again yesterday. I still have drag lines—less obvious than before but there nonetheless—so I got out Saremy’s book, Fitopedia, and started reading. The fix I am going to try is actually under Upper Chest Flat (AKA Rounded Chest) and the adjustment looks like this:

This should add length to the center front of the dress above the bust and make those drag lines drop out. Theoretically. I have to make another muslin to test this idea and I won’t have time to do that until after my pickling classes today. I may also have to tinker with the position of the bust darts but that’s not a difficult adjustment. I don’t think I have a rounded chest (AKA pigeon chest), but something about the way my bust is shaped makes adding length at the center front necessary.

Dresses were on my list of things to make this summer because I love to throw on a linen shift dress when it’s scorchingly hot. Here it is August—and a year after the first iteration, no less—and I am still trying to figure this out.

And alas, I do not have enough of that Brandon Mably black-and-hot-pink print to make a Scout Tee because I would have to fussy cut the fabric to preserve the print. I may have enough for some kind of tank.

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Sarah gave me a tomato start of a variety called Gargomel, and it’s is just sprawling all over. This is what happens when you amend your garden soil with pig manure:

I never prune my tomatoes, obviously. I prefer barely controlled chaos in my garden. 🤪

I planted another new-to-me variety this year called Thunder Mountain. This is supposed to turn all kinds of lovely shades of red and orange and yellow when it’s ripe, rather like the sky after a big thunderstorm.

Some of these varieties that start out black like this don’t ripen in time, but I have high hopes for Thunder Mountain. It is looking good and it’s only early August. We harvest tomatoes well into September here.

The other varieties are my old standby ones like Oregon Star and Cherokee Purple.

Fitopedia!

Last year, I interviewed Saremy Duffy on the podcast. We had such a great conversation! Saremy has had a long and fascinating career in the world of sewing and textiles. She started out as a patternmaker, launched her own business called Chicken Boots—making bags for knitters—started a YouTube channel called Sew Sew Live, and now has written a fitting book. I have been eagerly anticipating the release of this book. When Saremy told me a review copy was in the mail to me, I could hardly stand the waiting. It arrived a few days before the bike tour, so I had to wait another week before I could sit down and take a good look.

This is the book for those of us who have ever stood in front of a mirror trying to figure out why a garment doesn’t fit the way we thought it would. Saremy’s approach completely flips the fitting process on its head. She doesn’t ask, “What is wrong with the person’s body that it doesn’t fit into this pattern designed for an imaginary ideal?” She asks, “What needs to be changed in this pattern so that it fits this particular person’s body?” Thus, a full bust adjustment is re-named “Bust Cup Small,” to indicate that the pattern’s shaping does not account for additional breast tissue. In a world where bodies are held to unattainable standards of perfection, that single change in perspective takes away the judgment and negativity that often accompanies garment sewing.

[Saremy includes an “also known as” tag to indicate the more common terminology for this adjustment, so underneath the “Bust Cup Small” entry, it says, “Also Known as Full Bust Adjustment (FBA). Each entry shows a photo of a garment exhibiting this issue.]

What really sets this book apart, though, is how thoroughly she goes into the adjustment that needs to be made. Each entry includes a list of symptoms—what strain lines, wrinkles, or gaps might be apparent in the garment to indicate this adjustment is necessary. Below the list of symptoms is a “Solution,” as well as “Other Possible Solutions.” That second one is brilliant. I can think of a number of situations where I thought the solution to a fitting problem was to adjust one area when I actually needed to adjust a different area. Cross-referencing additional solutions helps the sewist to think about the garment more holistically.

Saremy advises the sewists which pattern pieces need to be adjusted as well as advising what other pattern pieces might be affected by this adjustment. And then she gets into the nuts and bolts of making the adjustment. Darts? How large? Where? What does the adjustment look like for a raglan? What about princess seams?

Every time I open this book, I come away with another useful piece of information. And this is only the first volume! Saremy promises that she is working on a second book about fitting the lower body.

The book is available now and can be ordered on Saremy’s website and from other retailers. If you do any garment fitting at all, I strongly encourage you to add this book to your library. I know that my copy is going to become a trusted friend in my sewing room—almost like having Saremy there with me! (Do check out her You Tube channel livestreams. I love to have her on the background when I’m sewing.)

The Janets Go to Missoula

The Other Janet and I went to Missoula yesterday to do some shopping. She was looking for buttons and trim for two projects. Unfortunately, we found neither, but we both came home with more fabric. I wasn’t going to buy anything because my stash is big enough, but these days, when I see nice garment fabric in person, I hesitate to pass it up.

At the Confident Stitch, I bought some Robert Kaufman Brussels Washer Linen in black because all four of my Washer Linen Scout Tees have been in heavy rotation this summer. I wish that fabric came in more colors I could wear because I’d have a Scout Tee in every color.

I did the most damage at Vicki’s Quilts Down Under. It seems odd to find garment fabric at a quilt store, but she carries quite a bit. I got several yards of this beautiful linen print which will either become a shift dress or a pair of pants—probably a dress.

I also bought a couple of yards of a basic black rayon crepe to make another pair of Made by Rae Rose Pants, and the last of the bolt of this Brandon Mably print just because I loved it. IT’S HOT PINK AND BLACK 😘:

Technically, this is a quilting cotton, but the substrate that Kaffe and Brandon use for their fabrics is quite silky and a bit drapier than a regular quilting cotton. I love it for clothing. A top from this and a pair of black pants might make a nice outfit for the reunion—at least everyone would be able to find me.

Despite not finding the buttons and trim for The Other Janet, the two of us had a lovely day together. The weather was great and it wasn’t as smoky down in Missoula. They are much drier down there, though, and are going to Stage II fire restrictions. And I’ve seen several reports out of Spokane of the police detaining and arresting people for trying to start fires there, as if that city hasn’t had enough to deal with already.

Today and tomorrow will be spent getting ready for my canning class on Saturday. This house looks like a bomb went off in it. I also want to go to sewing today so they don’t forget who I am. I should have some time in the next two weeks to make at least a few more warm-weather items to wear before it snows.

Cucumbers and Zucchini

I am back on an even keel here. I had no problems with the dental work on Monday other than I had to get about twice as much novocaine as a normal person. That happens every time I have work done (which, fortunately, is not often). Our previous dentist retired last summer due to some health issues. Our family had been seeing her since 1994 and I trusted her implicitly. The young guy she hired as part of her practice, though, is also very good.

I had to make a quick trip into town yesterday morning to get pickling cukes from the Hutterite stand because all of my cucumber plants died in June. I am teaching a pickling class on Saturday to about 11 students over two sessions—one morning and one afternoon. The Hutterites set up a stand every Tuesday in front of the Army-Navy store in Evergreen, so I bought two 10-pound bags from them.

I shredded four zucchini in anticipation of making a big batch of zucchini bread. The recipe calls for oil and I didn’t have enough. I’ll have to pick up some today.

Sunday is my day to bring the message at church. Fortunately, my sermon just about wrote itself yesterday morning. It’s a pretty good one, if I do say so myself. 😇

And I did all the beginning-of-the-month paperwork for the construction company. We have ONE supplier—the concrete company—who hasn’t gone to online invoicing yet. Their statements used to show up in the mail around the 5th of the month, but lately, they haven’t been arriving until the 15th. I really wish they’d ditch the paper statements; it would make my job a lot easier.

After tackling all of that, I didn’t really feel like sewing yesterday afternoon. I’m not quite ready to jump back into the Lou Raincoat yet. What I need are some small projects so I can feel like I am accomplishing something. I might make a few zipper pouches with some leftover quilt sandwiches. I could also whip up a new top to wear to my all-high school class reunion at the end of the month.

The heat comes back for a few days this weekend but then it looks like it might moderate a bit back to the low 80s. that’s good, because I have some canning projects planned. The pantry is looking pretty bare.

More flowers from the garden:

It’s a bit of a disaster out there but I am going to ignore the weeds and enjoy the flowers.

The Vegetable Tsunami Begins

What is happening in Spokane is just awful. The area that is burning is not too far from one of the former Joann Fabrics stores where I used to shop. I also have a friend that lives a few miles from that area. She hasn’t had to evacuate (yet) and is giving updates to our homesteading group.

If you look at the drought maps, we’re not nearly as bad as eastern Washington, but we still have to get through the month of August. All it takes is one stupid person flicking a cigarette out a car window or leaving a campfire without making sure it is dead out, and we’re off to the races.

March and August are my least favorite months here in Montana. At least we are getting a few days of cooler weather before it heats up again (91F on Friday).

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The plants that survived June’s deer invasion into the garden look spectacular. We will have an excellent crop of winter squash. I harvested the first zucchini yesterday:

I thought I would come back after a week of not checking and find them all the size of baseball bats.

I need to make a thorough investigation of the tomato patch today after church. I see fruit on the plants and I suspect there may be some ripe tomatoes hiding in that jungle.

We have several feral cats hanging around the chicken coop—they help to keep the mice population under control—and yesterday morning I spotted one of them running through the yard. I went out to see what was going on and discovered that the cat had chased three deer into the woods behind the chicken coop. Perhaps it aspires to be a mountain lion. I thought it was pretty funny. The cat was sitting at the edge of the grass looking like it was going to pounce, and the deer were standing there staring at it.

I am caught up on cleaning and laundry. Yesterday afternoon, I made a quilt block. I am participating in a group quilt project and my contribution is due this week. (The project is a gift, so I can’t show you the block.) I made an Economy Block with some machine embroidery in the center square. I had been hoping to do more machine embroidery this summer. This is a good start, though.

I sewed the quilt block togther on Vittorio, my Necchi BF. That poor machine has been neglected of late. I really need to make an effort to sew on it more often. It really is the smoothest sewing machine I own and working on it is an absolute joy.

I am getting having dental work done tomorrow morning at 7 am (a crown) and I have lots of paperwork this week, but The Other Janet and I have a trip to Missoula planned for Wednesday. We are going to spend the day shopping for fabric. I can’t think of a better reward for getting through bike tour!

Cycling the Flathead

Even though we are a small congregation—about 40 of us, currently without a pastor—our church manages to do some amazing things. A few years ago, one of our members had a vision to put up a gazebo on church property that could serve as a waystation for cyclists on the Great Divide cycling route every summer. (The husband poured the concrete for that project.) The gazebo is well-used throughout the warmer months, with some cyclists even camping overnight there.

That same member wanted to bring the Mennonite Central Committee Western States Bike Tour to the Flathead Valley. This is a fundraiser for MCC. The Eastern and Western tours alternate every summer. We knew that pulling off this event would take some work. I am not sure we realized how much work, but it was absolutely worth it. About two months ago, several guys in our congregation began demolition on the existing bathroom areas in our church basement. The husband cut out part of the concrete floor so they could access the plumbing. Walls went up. Showers went in. The guys drywalled. We painted. It seemed like the whole church pitched in, in ways both large and small.

We had meetings. I volunteered to be in charge of food. (I am not sure where my head was that day, LOL.) We do have someone in our congregation who is a professional chef, but he was already scheduled to be somewhere else the week of the bike tour. He helped me ahead of time with recipes and some of the prep work.

[You need to know that I do not like to cook. It is my least favorite domestic activity. I do it because the husband requires a ridiculous number of calories daily, but it ranks right up there with cleaning bathrooms. Laura Ingalls Wilder once commented that she didn’t like to make buttonholes, so she became very skilled and efficient at them. That’s the approach I take to cooking. After almost 40 years, the husband has no complaints, so I must be doing something right. Having said all that, though, I am incredibly organized and an absolute whiz at multitasking (yes), and sometimes I think that’s the more important skill.]

Riders began arriving at the church last Sunday afternoon. Some came in RVs and some stayed in nearby Airbnbs, but the majority planned to camp on the church property. We had an orientation meeting and I checked with the riders who had special dietary needs to make sure we were covered.

I was at the church at 5 am Monday morning to prep for a 7 am breakfast. Our breakfast menu was basically the same each day: baked oatmeal (made the day before and reheated), sausage or bacon, fresh fruit, and individual yogurt cups. We also made sure to have plenty of coffee available. Each night was a different dinner: ground beef casserole, pulled pork, teriyaki chicken, and then leftovers.

I had the days scheduled down to the minute. The first crew served breakfast and cleaned up, then a second crew showed up at 10 am to cook dinner and prep for the following day. A third crew came late in the afternoon to serve dinner and clean up. (The dinner crew made sure that I was on my way home by 5 pm every night, which was wonderful.) Every morning, I put a list of the day’s tasks up on the fridge so that any of the kitchen crew could look at it and see what needed to be done. If someone took on a task, I gave them free rein and didn’t micro-manage. The recipes were all printed and available for everyone to see. A nearby room served as our pantry and each day’s supplies were stacked there and labeled.

Our church has a second kitchen in the basement of the original church building. The plan was to have the riders make their lunches after breakfast, so I suggested we put the lunch station in that second kitchen. That worked beautifully. One of the women was stationed there every morning to make sure the riders had everything they needed, and that kept them out of the way of the kitchen crew.

We ran like a well-oiled machine and there were no arguments or conflicts. (I did have to make it clear that if you were not specifically on the duty roster, you had no business being in the kitchen.) The only problem we ran into involved the 72-cup coffee urn that dates back to probably the 1980s. We have been using it quite a bit lately—two funerals and a church service in our former pastor’s garden—and when I started it up Tuesday morning, it tripped the breaker several times and then died altogether. We now have a new one.

Other than that one issue, we had plenty of food and everyone seemed happy. We served one last breakfast yesterday morning before the riders left. A gentleman came up to me after breakfast yesterday and asked me if I had a catering business (🤯) so we must have done okay. Truly, operations, not cooking, is my forté. I was tired—Tuesday was an intense day—but having everything organized meant I could enjoy the week, too.

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Now I need to catch up here. Being at the church 12 hours a day for five days was the equivalent of being out of town for a week. We are under a red flag warning today because a dry cold front with gusty west winds is supposed to come through this afternoon. Spokane is in really bad shape because it is much drier there than we are. Hopefully, we will not have any new fire starts.

The Foundation of a New Fire Hall

Our fire district has been in need of a new fire hall for many years. We have outgrown our current main station (we have four stations altogether). Fortunately, we have a fire chief and a board of trustees with a great deal of vision. They were also committed to building this station without raising taxes on the residents of our district. Our firefighter’s association members have worked tirelessly over the past 8 or 10 years to raise the money to build this station.

The footing pour was scheduled for yesterday morning. By the time I arrived at 7:30, the first truck of mud and the line pump were already in place:

This is looking north up the Swan Range. Glacier Park is somewhere up in the middle of the photo, behind the mountains. We are getting a lot of wildfire smoke and by lunchtime, temps are pushing 90F. The mornings, though, are actually quite pleasant.

[Yes, Montana is breathtakingly beautiful in the summer. Don’t move here thinking it will be like this 12 months out of the year. March is horrible. Also, it gets cold and we have snow, which actually sounds wonderful to me right now.]

About a dozen volunteers showed up to help, including many of the current firefighters. One of our employees came and helped because he lives here in the district. Our former tenant came to help because he also has construction experience and his dad was a firefighter for many years. They poured the footing for a shop on his property (around the corner from our house) on Friday afternoon.

Everyone here had at least a little bit of construction experience (or could take direction). Even the chief, who has many skills besides chiefing, got in there with a trowel.

That’s our chief in the maroon hoodie, talking to Rich, who is a former firefighter and now one of the trustees. Rich and his wife, Libbie, are heading up the bike tour planning for our church.

The footing pour was done mid-morning. I am not sure what is next on the schedule and when (walls?), but I am sure the volunteers will show up to help again.

This is how things get done in Montana.

I did two more grocery runs once Costco opened, then helped out at the church with the final cleanup. Seeing everyone come together to help with this bike tour and the bathroom construction project has been such a joy. When our congregation decided to become lay-led at the beginning of 2026—the preferred term is “congregation led” but I find it so cumbersome to say “congregation-led congregation” so I just use “lay-led”—we wondered if it would work. Our former pastor was there for 26 years and then we had a transitional pastor for three years. We are still searching for a pastor, but I think this time has been good for us as a congregation. This is going to be a long week but we’re going to have fun.

Ready to Welcome Riders

I believe we are in good shape for providing meals for the bike tour. I have one more shopping trip this morning for meat and bread for Monday and Tuesday. Everything else is already at the church. I’ve also taken half my kitchen over there; we have a commercial kitchen, but it’s a bit thin on the equipment that makes cooking easier and more efficient for me. I’ve got a lot of large stainless steel bowls and pans that I use for canning and they will be a big help.

I should note that this bike tour is a big fundraiser for Mennonite Central Committee, and the funds raised from this particular tour are going to benefit Ukraine. Our church has some strong connections there. Donation information is on the linked website.

I will have to do another shopping trip, probably Tuesday afternoon, but we’re waiting to see how much food we go through on Monday.

I was relating to the husband yesterday how my grandmother, my great-grandmother, and my great-aunts did all the cooking for the reception hall owned by my uncle. (Gargus Hall in Lorain, OH, for my Ohio peeps; we had our wedding reception there.) They made copious amounts of roast beef, chicken paprikas and dumplings, stuffed cabbage, parsley potatoes, kolache, kifli, ladyfingers, and other foods almost every weekend for many years.

[In the months leading up to our wedding, my two grandmothers engaged in what I referred to as the kolache wars; one of them would come to church and say that she had made a dozen kolache for the wedding and the next week, the other one would come to church and say that she had made a dozen kolache for the wedding. We had plenty of kolache at the reception. LOL.]

Today is a work day at the church. The new bathrooms are done (and look great!) but the church needs a good cleaning before guests arrive.

The husband is heading over to the new fire hall soon because he and a crew of volunteers (other firefighters) are pouring the concrete footings today. I will try to get some pictures.

Obligatory flower photo:

These are some echinaceas from a few years ago.

Don’t expect many blog posts this week. I’ll be at the church at 5 am every morning getting the coffee going.

More Baby Robins and Bike Tour Groceries

We’re not done yet with the baby birds. I’ve seen two in this nest, although only one popped its head up for a picture:

I can’t remember the robins ever having clutches so late in the summer. It’s about that time of the year for baby chimney swifts to be falling down the chimney, too, so I have to keep an eye out for them.

The husband tells me that the two yellow plum trees over at the guest house are loaded with fruit this year. Last year was the first time they had borne anything (a whopping five plums between them) since we planted them over 10 years ago. I think plums need different varieties for pollination and those are the only two trees we have, so I am not sure what’s going on.

I stayed home yesterday. I have to do more grocery shopping today, tomorrow, and Saturday, so I thought it was best to give myself a day away from the insanity. I am so worried that I am going to forget something we need. I’ve got a veritable notebook of lists and recipes and more lists. This initial supply is only for Monday and Tuesday; I’ll do another shopping trip on Tuesday once we see how quickly things are disappearing. And I discovered that one of the riders has food intolerances to raw onions, corn, and MSG, so that’s going to require a few more alternative offerings. One thing we don’t know is if people are going to want to have lettuce on their sandwiches or if the recent cryptosporidium scare is going to mean they’ll avoid it.

Someone gave me half a dozen leftover grocery store cookies from the church potluck last week. They were still sitting on the counter, uneaten, so I asked the husband why he hadn’t hoovered them down. He said that he thinks that he has been eating my cooking for so long and it’s so clean—no gluten, soy, canola, or high fructose corn syrup—that when he eats processed food, it doesn’t sit well with him. (This is a ploy for more pies with homemade pie crusts, I know it. 🤨) Even our chickens get a soy-free feed.

For the bike tour, I’ve also got prep schedules made up because everyone who is helping is a volunteer and I want this to be as easy as possible. When a task is completed, it can be crossed off the list and we know it’s done. All of the supplies are sorted and labeled by the day that they will be needed (Monday’s dinner, etc.) so that we can grab only what we need.

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I don’t have enough time to do any kind of sewing, but I did spend an hour yesterday putting away class samples and organizing my sewing supplies. I placed a wholesale thread and stabilizer order with Wonderfil a few weeks ago and that box arrived and needed to be emptied.

I am still thinking about my dress for DD#2’s wedding. I haven’t settled on a style yet and I need to do that soon.

Pretty Flowers

The flowers are blooming in the herb garden so I got some photos. I am enjoying the pops of color here and there.

This yarrow is a lovely pink:

I planted borage once and will never have to plant it again, as it has escaped the beds and is making itself happy all over the garden. (Someone should deadhead the marigolds . . . )

And the black hollyhock bloomed. I love hollyhocks and this one is my favorite variety (Nigra).

The raspberries are ripe. My Tacoma friends Mike and Kathy—we went to conference in Oregon together—have been staying in the guest house for the past couple of days. They stopped here on their way to South Dakota and Mike preached the sermon on Sunday. I gave them a container so they could pick raspberries to take with them on the next leg of their travels. The husband has been snacking on raspberries, too.

I mowed and ran the string trimmer around the garden yesterday morning. Look what I found:

And a few minutes later, one of them appeared:

The snakes like to hang out underneath the zucchini plants, so I have to remember to announce myself before I look for any that are ready to harvest.

I am a bit concerned about the apparent decline in pollinators this year. The lavender hedges are in full bloom but there aren’t as many bees as usual. And our apple trees are going to produce a lame harvest. My Lodi tree—the older one that produced enough apples two years ago for a dozen quarts of apple pie filling—has a measly 3 or 4 apples on it this year. The State Fair tree should be producing this year, too, and it isn’t. I’m not sure what’s going on, but I don’t like it.

I went to town yesterday afternoon to do some of our grocery shopping and to check on prices and availability of items for bike tour. The amount of traffic in Kalispell this summer is insane. Our infrastructure just isn’t built to handle this inflow of people. I am going to do another run today to begin buying non-perishable items, but I am going to do it first thing this morning. The husband was working on the new fire hall foundation yesterday and said he waited for five minutes yesterday to be able to pull out of the property onto Highway 35 because it was just a long string of traffic.

Bike Tour and ChatGPT

I may not be posting much for the next two weeks. This week is bike tour prep—mostly grocery shopping—and next week is bike tour. I am going to try to mow grass today and get as much other stuff done around here as I can. None of that makes for interesting blog fodder.

I painted at the church on Friday and Saturday. The flooring installation begins today, so we wanted to have all the painting done beforehand. I spent three hours on Friday afternoon putting primer on the ADA bathroom ceiling and walls. We had a crew of seven working all day on Saturday. I painted the ADA bathroom and helped paint the men’s bathroom. We were all pretty wiped out by the end of Saturday, but we got it done. I should have taken pictures.

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I will tell you about my experience with artificial intelligence because it’s rather amusing (and, frankly, a little bit terrifying). I thought I would use ChatGPT to help me organize the shopping lists, prep schedule, and recipes for the bike tour. I am pretty good at setting parameters and being specific in my commands. I started out by giving it the recipes and asking it to upsize them for 110 servings. It did that. I gave it the menu for each day and asked it to begin assembling shopping lists and prep schedules. Everything seemed to be going well, but then it started tinkering with the recipes “to make them more flavorful.” It suggested that we create a manual that other groups could follow so they wouldn’t have to reinvent the wheel. I thought that was reasonable; if I am going to do all this work, others should benefit from it. However, that’s where it went off the rails. It began producing chapters and putting in a “kitchen philosophy” and before I knew it, it was up to 48 pages. I told it to “scale this back to the original recipes upsized for 110 and don’t do anything else unless I specifically ask for it.” It sent back a comment saying, “You’re right; we’re not producing an operating manual for a NASA rocket launch.” (Do ya think?)

I’ve constrained it to the point where I’m getting concise shopping lists and prep schedules. My commands are specific and business-like. I am not conversational with it. This will still be a useful manual when it’s done, but it’s not going to be 100 pages long.

We also have to make sure we are accommodating dietary needs. A handful of cyclists are vegetarians and only one has indicated gluten-free, but no one has indicated a specific food allergy. We should be able to offer several alternatives.

*****

And because we need a pretty picture, here are some hollyhocks:

I will try to make sure I get some pictures this week.

Hot and Sweaty Weather

The Big Secret Project has a deadline, and that deadline has been hanging over my head. I haven’t been procrastinating so much as I have been trying to find a dedicated block of uninterrupted time to work on it. The BSP involves some software with which I only have a passing familiarity. I wanted to be able to focus and work my way through it slowly and methodically. Blocks of uninterrupted time are a scarce commodity right now. I also wanted to have it done before bike tour preparations start in earnest this week.

Fortunately, I was able to work on it Wednesday afternoon and Thursday morning and was able to finish it before the deadline. The project has been submitted, so now we just sit and wait.

It’s been a bit of a stressful week all around, for lots of reasons. The husband had a job that had a firm deadline yesterday—a manufactured house was arriving to be set on a foundation and the foundation had to be ready for it. Normally, that wouldn’t have been a problem, but one employee was at his sister’s wedding, another got sick, and the third one has had a bit of trouble getting himself to work on time. The husband had a few late nights this week.

And it’s hot. I keep asking if it’s January yet. 🫤

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The Lou Raincoat assembly is underway. I worked on it Thursday afternoon as a reward for finishing the BSP. The pattern begins with making the pockets, which is a relatively low-stress starting point.

And then I attached them to the fronts:

I wanted to finish the pocket flaps and attach them, but I ran out of time. We will have to see how much sewing time I have during the rest of July. It might not be much.

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The church basement bathroom renovation has reached the point where we are ready to prime and paint. Flooring is getting installed on Monday, so we would like to have the painting done before then. I was there yesterday afternoon and got primer on the ADA bathroom ceiling and walls. I’m heading back over this morning for another shift. Hopefully, we will have some additional helpers.

We’ve had enough rain that the grass needs to be cut again but it may just have to wait a few more days. The plants in the garden are loving this weather. I should have zucchini soon. The raspberries are ripe and the blueberries should follow soon.

Woodpeckers in the Trees

Robert and Deana are on their way back to Tennessee. They both work with the local high school band and band camp starts next week. Robert helps out with the band and Deana is part of the crew that feeds everyone. I made dinner for all of us last night and we spent some time talking about plans for next summer. I will see them again at the end of August as we’re all going to our high school reunion in Ohio.

We got some rain yesterday. I ran the soaker hoses on the garden in the morning, too, before the rain started. These continued pulses of monsoon moisture would be very welcome over the next week or so. I’d be happy if we didn’t get the scorching temps that are predicted. The plants that survived the deer invasion look good, and the apple trees are leafing out again.

I was sitting outside on the porch yesterday afternoon, waiting for dinner to finish cooking, when I heard a commotion in the trees. It was two pileated woodpeckers—hopefully a mating pair? I was only able to get a blurry photo of one of them:

We’ve had them here before. I won’t let the husband cut down all the dead trees because the woodpeckers need them.

I am seeing (and hearing) some birds I haven’t seen before. Unfortunately, we can’t have bird feeders here because of the bears. Our neighbors across the road have had a black bear in their yard a couple of times this week. They have a game camera and I am thinking we just need to give in and get one, because the bear has probably been in our yard, too.

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As it turns out, I do not need to help with the drywall at church. One of our members who is heading up the project got a (professional) friend of his to come and help. I am going to stop at Sherwin-Williams this morning and pick up the primer and the paint. We’re hoping to get a crew together to paint on Saturday, so I’ll help with that. I definitely know how to paint.

I spent a couple of hours yesterday afternoon messing around on the serger. I am playing with decorative threads and edgings on chiffon and other lightweight fabrics. Something is going to come out of this; I’m just not sure what. I haven’t forgotten about the raincoat, but this is all part of another project that has a hard deadline and I need to devote the next couple of days to finishing it.

******

I see that the debate about changing the clocks has reared its head again. I would prefer to stay on standard time but truly, I don’t care as long as we eliminate the time change altogether. You would think that a country that has accomplished so much in the past 250 years would be able to resolve this issue once and for all.

Teaching Advanced Serger Techniques

I taught an advanced serger techniques class yesterday in Missoula for six students. The class had been requested by several of the ladies who took my mastery classes over the past year. I chose Gail Yellen’s Christmas stocking pattern for the class. Although we weren’t able to complete the project in the time allotted, the students were able to try every technique—or see it demonstrated on my machine—and each of them should be able to make a stocking at home. Sometimes, class is not the best place to try to make a project. Some of these techniques require practice and it is unreasonable to expect perfection right out of the gate. Still, we all learned (even the teacher) and had a lot of fun. I wish I had remembered to take some photos.

The Montana Department of Transportation has a major construction project on Highway 93 between here and Missoula, and travelers were warned to expect up to one-hour delays. I left at 6 am yesterday morning even though class didn’t start until 10 am. Even without construction, tourist traffic sometimes adds time to the commute and I wasn’t taking any chances. I got to Missoula in time to make a quick stop at both Walmart and Hobby Lobby before I had to be at the store for class. I picked up two more pieces of fabric from the Walmart remnant rack and snagged a remnant of green Kona from Hobby Lobby. I also bought thread and a few other items at the store.

Class ended at 5 pm, so I didn’t get home until about 7:30 pm. It made for a very long day, but an enjoyable one.

I am helping out at the church this afternoon and all day tomorrow. We need to get the new basement bathrooms finished before the bike tour, so I am going to be taping and mudding drywall. With projects like this, it’s all hands on deck, even the unskilled labor.

[We have a story at church about Margaret Kauffman going on a Mennonite Disaster Service trip. Apparently, when the MDS project director heard that an 80-year-old woman was going to be helping, he said, “And what am I supposed to do with an 80-year-old woman?” Someone from our church responded, “Hand her the tools and get out of her way.” Margaret knew what she was doing. I will be channeling my inner Margaret Kauffman while I work.]

I am going to be working on my own projects on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. I am going to pretend that I am away on vacation and make myself unavailable. 😇 I’ll make some huge amount of food Thursday morning so I won’t have to cook for two days.

Also, I keep forgetting to mention Deana’s blog. She has done a great recap of their time here in Montana and she is much better about taking pictures than I am. She has four entries, one for each week that they were here in Montana.

Obligatory flower picture (calendulas):

I need to get out and look at the garden this morning.

Hither and Yon Around the PNW

I had a quick appointment Friday morning and left Kalispell at 9 am to head to Spokane. There is a lot of road construction between here and Spokane, including work over both passes and in several spots in between, but I arrived just after noon local time. (I gain an hour going over.) The reason for this trip was to see DD#1, who was in Spokane with her in-laws for a church conference. We all spent the afternoon together. I had dinner with her in-laws because she had another event to attend, then we went to the evening church service where she and her MIL sang in the choir.

[I love DD#1’s in-laws. They are wonderful people and have been so good to her.]

I stopped at the Spokane Valley Walmart yesterday morning at 6 am before leaving Spokane to come home. The Kalispell Walmart just finished a big renovation project, rearranging the entire layout and moving the pharmacy to the front of the store. Crafts are now in the back of the store, and it appears that the remnant rack has been eliminated altogether. I am unhappy about this. I can’t figure out why some stores have remnant racks and some don’t. I certainly have done my share of shopping from the Kalispell store’s remnant rack. The Spokane Valley Walmart has a great remnant rack and I was able to find several two-yard cuts of fabric for my Sew Expo serger class kits.

The Missoula Walmart also has a great remnant rack and I plan to investigate it tomorrow after my serger class ends.

Because I left Spokane so early, traffic was not unreasonable and road crews don’t work on Saturday. I was home by lunchtime. The husband was putting shade cloth on the chicken yard when I arrived because it is supposed to get hot this week.

The shade gets let down during the afternoon and gives the chickens a place to get out of the hot afternoon sunlight. We had a summer five or six years ago where it was in the 90s for weeks on end and I had to rig up a misting system in the chicken yard to give them some relief.

Robert and Deana treated us to dinner last night at our favorite restaurant in Kalispell. They are leaving early Wednesday morning and I will be sorry to see them go. 🙁

*****

Obviously, there has been no action in the sewing department since Thursday. Part of this week and all of next week are going to be devoted to getting ready for the bike tour, although I might have to schedule a few hours of sewing time here and there just to maintain my sanity. I may also have to close the curtains and turn off my phone and isolate myself as much as possible.

Birthing Creative Ideas

I go through these cycles every so often where I have an idea gestating in my brain, and waiting for that idea to develop and be born is a bit uncomfortable. Even writing about it is difficult. It’s a process of researching and accumulating bits of knowledge and hoping that my brain will synthesize something coherent out of those bits. The good thing is that I have learned to recognize the process when it’s happening, and I have learned to sit with the discomfort, even if I don’t enjoy it. If I had my druthers, I would lock myself in my sewing room and do nothing but work on that idea for hours—or days—on end. Unfortunately, the realities of daily life intrude. People need to eat.

I was going to go to town first thing yesterday morning. I wanted to be home by late morning so I could spend the rest of the day working on this brain worm. Just as I was getting ready to leave, I got a shipment notification from FedEx for a delivery I needed to be here to meet. They could only give me a general idea of the time, which was anywhere from 10 am until 2:30 pm. Lovely. I rearranged the schedule and decided I would go to town after the delivery arrived.

Nothing annoys me more than to get into a big project and be interrupted, which means that if I don’t know how much time I will have to work on something, I won’t even start. I looked at the list of smaller projects that needed to be done.

I paid bills and did construction company paperwork.

I cut the lining for the Lou Raincoat:

I still haven’t decided on interfacing. Construction begins with making the pockets, so I might interface those—the pattern calls for it—and see what I think.

I was going to sandwich and baste the Kaffe Fassett quilt top from last fall’s workshop but I didn’t have batting, so that had to be postponed.

I packed for my trip.

One of our neighbors stopped by for eggs and wanted to visit for a bit.

I collected and began organizing my class supplies for my serger class on Monday. That was a good excuse to find all my decorative threads and sort them. I have thread storage bins, but thread gets taken out and used for various projects or it goes to a class and doesn’t get put back where it belongs. I also needed to re-acquaint myself with the pattern and decide how I want to structure the class.

Finally, around 1:00 pm, FedEx showed up. We got everything sorted and I headed to town. There is a reason I run my errands early in the morning, before the zombie hordes come out. The traffic was insane. The people were insane—most of them wandering around with their noses in their phones, not paying attention to what was happening around them. I know I am being uncharitable, but people need to stop behaving as though they are the only ones on the planet.

It was almost 4:30 pm by the time I got home. I passed the husband on the way; he was heading over to lay out the foundation for the new fire hall and then attend the fire department business meeting. Our fire district is building a new (much needed) station and it was very important to our trustees and chief not to have to ask for a tax levy from the residents. The supporting association has been raising money for the station over the past several years. Community members are donating when and where they can. One gentleman donated the excavation services. The husband is donating his time and labor to do the foundation, although our employees will be paid for their work.

I made dinner and sat down to research serger techniques in a few of my reference books.

The brain worm is going to have to gestate for a few more days. I won’t have time to work on it again until Tuesday.

A Pretty Herb Garden

The herb garden is so lovely right now. Many of the flowers are blooming. I also cut lettuce yesterday.

This bed is especially lovely with the purples and greens and whites. I wish I could tell you I planned this, but I just plant stuff where I can find a space for it.

The bee balms are blooming:

The echinaceas are just starting to open up. I’ll get a picture later this week.

I am drying some chocolate mint for tea:

I have a dehydrator, but the mint—and lavender, if I get to it in time—dry nicely like this. It helps that the humidity here is only about 25%.

*****

QuickBooks was down for a couple of hours yesterday morning. I couldn’t log in through the desktop app or through a browser. We also got a quick surprise thunderstorm and some rain. I spent the time working on the menu for the bike tour. I asked ChatGPT to upsize recipes for 80 people—that, to me, is an excellent use of AI. When I am all done, I will have it create a shopping list and a prep schedule.

I also edited next week’s podcast episode. I won’t have time to do it before Tuesday. I am driving to Spokane tomorrow because DD#1 and her in-laws will be there for a conference. I’ll spend the night, then come home Saturday morning. I’ll see DD#1 in the afternoon. She has a dinner to attend so I’ll have dinner with her in-laws. Sunday is church, and on Monday, I am going to Missoula to teach an advanced serger class. I have six students. I am going to have to leave early in the morning because there is roadwork along the way with delays up to an hour. There really is only one way to get from here to Missoula and I’ll have to be prepared to wait.

I was going to cut out the lining for the Lou Raincoat yesterday but realized I hadn’t traced the lining pieces yet. I did that before I had to stop and make dinner. I’ll cut out the lining first thing this morning so it’s ready to go.

In the Thick of It

Summer is in full swing here. My schedule has eased up slightly, but I don’t dare relax too much, at least not until the bike tour is over.

I’ve had to make my peace with this year’s garden issues. I was cutting the grass around the perimeter yesterday when I spotted a ground squirrel sitting about 50' away, watching me. If I have the opportunity—or the husband does—it will get dealt with. I am not putting out any more cabbage seedlings until that happens.

The husband repaired the fencing and took some other steps to keep the deer out. She has a baby and she seems very persistent, but there is plenty of foliage for her to snack on outside the garden.

So no peas, no cucumbers, fewer beans, and not as many cabbages unless the second planting survives. Hopefully, the apple trees will be okay. We will have tomatoes, potatoes, raspberries, butternut squash, buttercup squash, zucchini, possibly Hubbard and Blue Kuri squash. I have made a list of things to change/add for next year, like netting over the strawberries. And I won’t be chairing the plant sale again, which should give me a lot more time to concentrate on my own garden.

We did get some showers overnight, which was wonderful. The longer-range forecasts have noted that depending on how far north the monsoon moisture makes it, we might continue to get rain through July. Every little bit helps.

I haven’t done any further work on the Lou Raincoat. The stuff going on behind the scenes is taking up time and brainpower and I am going to have to make some decisions here soon. This is probably the worst possible time of the year for a situation like this—in the middle of summer when I have a thousand other things happening and it’s hot and I am cranky—but I didn’t make the schedule.

I did play around with my serger the other day. Some of this is related to the behind-the-scenes project but the samples will also be useful for my Sew Expo serger class next year. This is a thin jute edging attached to some muslin using the cording foot.

Robert and Deana leave in a week. I can’t believe how fast their visit has gone. They are talking about being here for two months next summer, which would be wonderful! I am hoping some of our other friends can come out and visit, too.

If the blog is a bit light on content for the next couple of weeks, just know that it’s not for lack of wanting to post. I may not have anything noteworthy to say.

Montana is Beautiful in July

Yesterday morning, Elaine’s niece, Becca, came over to see the snakes in the garden. I told her that I was delighted that someone else appreciates the snakes as much as I do. She was brave enough to pick one up so we could visit with it up close.

She said I also have Pacific Chorus frogs in my garden. We looked for one where we were hearing it but could not find it. Good to know, though. I will keep an eye out.

That deer did far more damage in the garden than I first realized. It had pulled up about half the bean plants after nibbling off the tops. I replanted them and hope they will recover. The deer also ate about half the cabbage plants. Fortunately, I still have cabbage seedlings in the greenhouse, so I can replace them. I don’t know if the peas will survive, let alone produce anything.

This has been a tough year so far. The cucumbers gave up and died—I put them in and we promptly had a cold snap, and then it rained on them for five days straight. I think they decided it just wasn’t worth it. Of course, I am teaching a pickling class in August, so I will have to get Hutterite cukes.

The potatoes, all of the summer and winter squash, and the tomatoes are doing splendidly. We’re almost out of both sauce and salsa, so a good tomato crop is crucial. I don’t think that will be a problem.

We should also have a great raspberry crop. Every year is different, but I am a bit dismayed by how difficult gardening has been this year because of the animals. I think that replacing the fence on the south side of the garden is going to have to go on the infrastraucture list for next year. It’s not in good shape and that is the side where the deer was getting in.

******

Robert and Deana and I went out to the Glacier Symphony Orchestra’s America 250 concert last evening. It was held at Rebecca Farm, which is a large equestrian venue west of town. The evening could not have been more perfect. We arrived around 5:45, which gave us plenty of time to locate good seats on the lawn and avail ourselves of some food truck fare. We all had fish and chips from The Codfather. Delicious.

The performance was excellent. Some of the pieces were familiar to me but some were not. The concert lasted until 10:00 pm and believe it or not, it was just getting dark as we were leaving. I had hoped that we might see some northern lights as we drove home, but it wasn’t dark enough yet.

We are off to the parade and the community band concert this morning in Kalispell. I am hoping to do some sewing this afternoon, or at least cut out the lining for the Lou Raincoat. I have a big sewing-related project that needs to be done some time next week. It is the kind of project where I am going to need a couple of hours—or better yet, the entire day—of uninterrupted time. That project has a deadline and I also have to be getting ready for the bike tour our church is hosting, so I want to have it completed sooner rather than later.

More Baby Robins

I heard a noise on the porch outside my office yesterday afternoon so I went to investigate. I found Yet Another Baby Robin; this one must just have fallen out of the nest because it seemed a bit disoriented.

I kept an eye on it for a while. I did not hear Mama calling, which surprised me. The baby toddled over to the corner by the wall and sat down to wait. About an hour later, I heard Mama calling it and eventually, it flew off.

I thought we might be done with baby robins, but I spotted another adult sitting in a nest in the porch rafters—on eggs, I presume. I can’t remember robins nesting so late into the summer.

******

My one goal for yesterday was to cut out the Lou Raincoat. Cutting took me about an hour and a half. I wasn’t rushing, but I also had to be a bit careful because I can’t use pins on the dry oilskin or they will leave holes. Even if I had could have used pins, the fabric is thick enough that pins would not go in easily.

I spread out the yardage on the floor of our bedroom and laid down the pattern pieces. I used large clips to stabilize the pieces before I cut them, and added smaller clips to keep the cut pieces together.

It was slow going, but it worked. The pieces for the shell are all cut and stacked.

I cut judiciously, so all I have left is a small pile of scraps and a large one-yard remnant that I can use for another project.

Assembly cannot begin until I cut the lining pieces. I am trying to decide what to do about interfacing. The pattern instructions call for interfacing the outer shell pieces. I would have to use sew-in interfacing—fusible is not going to stick—although the dry oilskin certainly doesn’t need to be beefed up. I could interface the lining pieces. I will cut the lining pieces and make a decision. I don’t want the raincoat to be too stiff to wear comfortably.

******

All that rain made the grass grow, so yard duties are on the list for this morning. Robert and I are playing several piano-trombone duets for prelude at church on Sunday and I need to practice my parts this afternoon. If I have any time left, I’ll work on cutting out the raincoat lining.