Sunday snippets

in which our plucky heroine cogitates...

"don't die before you have to..." This concept showed up inside my head this morning. Have been thinking rather a lot lately about how small my life and my world have become in the last six years, and how my response to that has been a greater and greater "not doing-ness", a curling up and shutting down. I don't deny the effect of the ongoing micro and macro external dumpster fire in exacerbating the situation.

It also seems true that with the passing of time most folks are faced with a lessening of stamina. Thankfully my mental capacity seems to be fairly stable, and am quite grateful that riding my bike and walks around the neighborhood are still within my capacity. It has however become more and more difficult to push myself to be social, when any option now for in-person connection is so very limited and fraught...

Back in the Before Times I had managed, with effort, to create for myself enough of a social circle to almost balance my isolation. My mantra then was "my friends all have busy and complicated lives, they aren't ignoring me on purpose" and I saw folks at SCA events, was able to attend social gatherings, or invited them to visit Acorn Cottage for monthly Crafternoon time or occasional parties or shared meals.  I miss my SCA camping activities, and wonder if those days of being outdoors are now only to be memories. I miss all the various ways of connecting with people and the natural world, and have not figured out any feasible substitution.

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~ it's a big one... ~

not my spectacular allium, but isn't it lovely!

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Saturday my Mammoth flannel order arrived. The colorway "sepia" was darker than I expected, appearing almost like grey squares on a black background, but really is like a subtle gingham of black, off-black (sepia?), and grey. I can't wait to see how it looks once washed and dried, but that will have to wait until after the weekend when the local launderette is open so I can use their dryer. The household tumble drier died back in December 2024; as it is really needed only very occasionally just`for pre-shrinking fabric I've not bothered to replace it for the sake of convenience. (It would take quite a few trips to the launderette dryer at 75¢ to amortise the cost of a new appliance)

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Worm bin refurbishment... I keep "pet worms" in a small indoor habitat to turn my produce scraps into compost. When from time to time the tote bin they live in becomes mostly worm castings it's necessary to remove. out of that and start over with fresh damp shredded paper bedding, usually a few times a year.  This requires removing the entire contents of the worm home, including the worms!

I cover a folding table with a plastic tablecloth and make several mounds with the dark damp crumbly stuff. The worms dislike light, and the drier outdoor air, so they move towards the inner portions of the mounds. As I gradually and carefully remove the now wormless outer portions of the castings (aka worm manure) the worms keep migrating inwards. Eventually there are much smaller mounds consisting mostly of worms. They are now back in a freshly cleaned habitat, full of shredded damp newspaper and ready to transform my produce scraps and peels into castings to make the garden happy. Odorless and quiet way to keep at least part of the household circle turning.

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May SMART goals (x=extra)

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	Rosa sketch	Bad Smell gone	greenwaste bin
2	boro thread basket	dishrack tray	recycle bin
3	boro basket 2	paring knife	recycle bin
4	boro basket 3	cut back mint	greenwaste bin
5	boro baskets 4 & 5	mended pillow	greenwaste bin
6	sharpening box	scrubbed stove grates	x
7	8 jars pickled beets	worm habitat	x
8	7 jars strawberry rhubarb	x	x
9	ikat pinafore	x	x
10	x	x	x
11	x	x	x
12	x	x	x

today's gratitudes -
- Got most of the way through my morning walk before I noticed my left foot starting to think about being cranky. This is improvement.
- worms have been doing well in their bin, and I've well over a gallon of castings
- video chat with friends

Time of Isolation - Day 2151

I think I can I think I can...

in which our plucky heroine gets things done...

Over this last week I finally gathered courage, located boot straps, and have made significant progress on the Babs brooch project. My intention is to have finished it by the end of the weekend. The remaining steps are to solder the brooch findings in place, drill the various needed spots for riveting the layers, prepare the pearl pins, then assemble the pieces, polish the setting, set the enamel, attach the pearls and the brooch pin, and take a deep breath and call it done.

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~ aurora cardigan? ~

Earlier this week got caught up in playing with a photo of the Winter Night knitting pattern thinking it might be a good use for my collection of Lopi and Lettlopi yarn. Mostly I don't wear pullover sweaters, so a rough cut/paste helped me imagine it as a cardigan, possibly using the cuff band also at the hemline, and adding star dots to the body. There is just about enough yarn in my "Icelandic/Lopi" storage box to complete this with a striped varied dark color background, only needing to acquire a few light colored skeins for the aurora motifs, what decorative borders used, and the stars...

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wardrobe refurbishment update:
Found some scraps of medium blue interestingly textured silk from a thrifted camp shirt, a good if slightly darker color to edgebind the blue striped herringbone pinafore; with much piecing of binding strips, should be enough for all the edges. 

Foolish me didn't think to contact Bolt absolutely as soon as the post about deadstock velour showed up this past weekend. I headed over there Wednesday afternoon only to find that alas both the black and the teal had already sold out. My choice was between lime green and dusty rose, and the idea of lime green undies did not appeal... but since good velour is so very hard to find, a few yards of dusty rose and thread to match are now in storage here, likely enough to see me out, along with the venerable (gradually diminishing) black velour

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5th God printing block is almost complete, so of course I have finally unearthed the missing original block. Since it is not in as good condition as remembered, I'm not at all sorry to have worked on a new copy of that design. 

Having the lino cutting tools temporarily stored in the boro baskets is helpful, since the baskets keep the tools handy and their sharp ends protected. A taller narrower basket triad would be even better... shall look for have found a skinny jar (that formerly held capers) to use as a suitable mold for just such a possible future project.

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May SMART goals (x=extra)

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	Rosa sketch	Bad Smell gone	greenwaste bin
2	boro thread basket	dishrack tray	recycle bin
3	boro basket 2	paring knife	recycle bin
4	boro basket 3	cut back mint	greenwaste bin
5	boro baskets 4 & 5	mended pillow	greenwaste bin
6	sharpening box	scrubbed stove grates	x
7	8 jars pickled beets	x	x
8	7 jars strawberry rhubarb	x	x
9	ikat pinafore	x	x
10	x	x	x
11	x	x	x
12	x	x	x

today's gratitudes -
- leftovers 5 flavor eggplant and shrimp bok choi stir fry
- a pumice stone works really well to clean off the iron stove grates; not "like new", but no longer greasy/sticky despite regular washing
- determination finally kicked in

Time of Isolation - Day 2150

a long rather lonesome weekend

in which our plucky heroine does yardwork...

started off by refilling the string trimmer, then took it to clear some of the south side yard, as far as the single extension cord tether... Next was pruning: cutting back the parking strip persimmon which is grown so large as to overhang the road, which makes it difficult for folks to park on the street. Trimming the young pears and the dwarf apple in the front yard. Cutting back (currently flowering) culinary sage that was falling across the front walkway, since disturbing bees is not ideal. Also taking string trimmer to the not-peppermint that grows beneath the clothes line along the north side chain link fence.

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It was our long memorial day weekend, and various folks were all off at various events. Most of my usual weekend pixel world video chats didn't happen. From time to time I would find myself imagining the places, usually when the sounds of early morning birds, or the scent of damp air, call forth the memory. Grateful to have those memories at least. I didn't allow myself to sink into despair, though emotional balance feels rather run through a graphic equaliser. 

Have been doing my best to improve sleep hygiene, not staying up crazy late and instead getting up early. Managed twice to get out of bed and walk before breakfast, which is a long term goal. Not sure how folks manage to create stuckfast habits, as the rule of thumb to "just do it for a month" has not been enough. Pleased I didn't let myself lie down and nap this weekend either, which behaviour has proved to be a bad plan for my equlibrium and equanimity. 

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Years ago a friend gave me a beautiful elaborate Indonesian ikat weaving ( tablecloth? wrap?). Rather than leave it forever folded on a shelf, I decided to try and turn it into a pinafore, since it was brown/black, cream, and russet. Wasn't sure there would be enough fabric, so I sketched out several possible layouts. I'd figured on making the bodice more of a bib front with straps, but then realised if the strips intended for straps were instead pieced together, there'd be just enough to make the usual back. I'll also be making patch pockets instead of my favorite XL "teacher pockets" (which take a lot more fabric). This handwoven and hand-dyed fabric is so spectacular I'm glad to have figured out a way to enjoy it often in the future.

It isn't obvious in the photo, but there was no attempt on my part to match or align the various motifs, there just wasn't enough fabric for it. While not quite a zero waste layout, there was no remaining scrap larger than my notably small palm. I did choose to feature the gores with the border design on the long edge centered at the front of the skirt (the ones with no border are on each side, and the ones with the border on the short edge are centered on the back) While working on this project, I was reminded of the images in "The Arts and Crafts of Turkestan", acquired more than 40 years ago. It was fascinating how the robes and garments were cut out from elaborately patterened ikat weave with no intent to match or balance the designs. Later I learned how intricate and therefore precious those fabrics were/are, and the difference between how I'd been taught to sew and how these robes were cut to make use of every bit of the labor intensive fabric. 

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Oh jolly, more things to add to my admin task list: look into what new insurance coverage is available... At least that task has about a half year to get it done. My current admin task is screenshot copying all the images and text from my website, since Pharamond is closing down hosting service. Then I get to find a new host and build a new website, whee!!  

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Have been thinking about a Laurel elevation gift for a friend... my 2nd idea was a knitted/felted laurel garland, but it turns out I don't have the correct yarn for that but I do have yarn to do a tablet woven Laurel band. Am now trying to find out favorite color(s), in the hope that I will also have a suitable background yarn. It has been ages since I've done any tablet weaving. Thinking about a tabletop warp weighted loom, a long term wishlist item; it might be possible to DIY something better than my first attempt years ago with a stick tied to the bookcase, or possibly modifying a tabletop weaving frame

(similar to this one below)

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May SMART goals (x=extra)

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	Rosa sketch	Bad Smell gone	greenwaste bin
2	boro thread basket	dishrack tray	recycle bin
3	boro basket 2	paring knife	recycle bin
4	boro basket 3	cut back mint	greenwaste bin
5	boro baskets 4 & 5	-	-
6	sharpening box	x	x
7	8 jars pickled beets	x	x
8	7 jars strawberry rhubarb	x	x
9	ikat pinafore	x	x
10	x	x	x
11	x	x	x
12	x	x	x

today's gratitudes -
- leftover stir fry from yesterday for dinner tonight, along with roasted cauliflower
- got a fair amount of yardwork done this morning, then enjoying the sound of rain on the awnings in the afternoon...
- Every day I carve a bit more on the new 5th god border block. Just past the halfway point currently. 
- found some new old stock of the good foot balm on Ebay
- the memories of good times in the past

Time of Isolation - Day 2145

Saturday snippets

in which our plucky heroine tries not to drown...

Struggling with feeling very down-hearted lately... missing that which will not return: parents and friends no longer in the Bright World, and Earth That Was aka the Before Times. Nothing left to do but keep on keeping on, and paying attention to any and all of the smallest of bright spots

Parked my bicycle at the end of the ramp to lock the front door and head out to run errands - there was an distinctive buzzing sound near my right ear, and as I turned my head, there was a hummingbird no more than a foot or two away. Probably annoyed that I was blocking the sage plant (currently covered with stacks of purple flowers)

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~ shelf stability ~

Making space in the chest freezer and reminding self that summer will be a good chance for total defrosting. The tray of beet cubes turned into the 8 jars of pickled beets. The bowl of mixed rhubarb and strawberries, sugar macerated and seasoned with cinnamon and orange peel, a project started too late one night, waited patiently in the freezer for me to finish the project and turn it into 7 jars of strawberry rhubarb sauce...  (+ 1 jar that the lid fell off!! whilst in the waterbath, never had that happen before!) And a reminder to self that qualitylids are cheaper at Fred Meyers than at the hardware store.

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Have been craving chow fun, or pad see ew... So far neither Hong Phat market or H Mart have any wide rice noodles either dried or fresh, so bought rice and tapioca flour instead with the intention of eventually attempting DIY. At Hong Phat also found macaroni shell rice noodles which will be fun to use for mac and cheese.

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Found lengths of black fabric under a pile of stuff beside the work table, not in the sewlarium where it belongs. My current temporary idea is to a. contain the various garment size pieces of fabric in bags based on colorway. and b. contain the scraps and cabbage bits first in unsorted bags and gradually sort them as well by colorway keeping only what will be useful for trim/edgebinding/mending. Abundance has past the point of inspiration and become stifling excess...

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May SMART goals (x=extra)

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	Rosa sketch	Bad Smell gone	greenwaste bin
2	boro thread basket	dishrack tray	recycle bin
3	boro basket 2	paring knife	recycle bin
4	boro basket 3	-	-
5	boro baskets 4 & 5	-	-
6	sharpening box	x	x
7	8 jars pickled beets	x	x
8	7 jars strawberry rhubarb	x	x
9	x	x	x

multiple gratitudes -
- knowing how to waterbath preserve food
- seeing a hummingbird up close
- large enough ikat fabric for a pinafore
- being able to get in to dermatology 2 days after I called for an appointment -  spot on nose is benign 

Time of Isolation - Day 2143

weekend whimsy and whatnot

in which our plucky heroine determinedly focuses...

The ramp up to eventing season is leaving me wistful. It feels like a whole lifetime would have to arise again for those good times to be possible, but wonderful that they ever did occur is what I tell myself.

Once every two months or so, a booklet of once a week coupons from the grocery store arrives in my mailbox. Mostly not much use, for things I never buy, so the whole booklet is recycled. The coupon for this week, though, was for a pound of ground pastured beef free with a 10$ purchase! Hence, there will be meatloaf tomorrow, mostly made into patties and plonked in the freezer for easy future dinners.

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~ homage to the 5th god ~

Almost all the lost things have been found, but my box-o-blox with some of my larger lino printing blocks is still missing... so re-carving will be the fastest way to have them either turn up again, or at the very least allow me to once again have this motif, I've begun. 

Bujold's "World of the 5 Gods" books are favorites of mine (and of a number of my friends) so a while back I carved a block with dancing rats and crows, inspired by a description of embroidered 5th god regalia decoration in one of the novellas. I wanted to use that block to embellish new pinafore, but discovered the block missing. So... have re-drawn the image, and begun carving anew. The lino I picked up from I've Been Framed is excellent, fresh and soft enough to carve easily. Am thinking that also drawing and carving a corner block with the "no hands but ours" motif would be a good addition, to help make a block printed border for a summertime kerchief, once at least one of the yard square pieces of cotton lawn gets a rolled hem.

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After making so many (5) boro baskets, it occurred to me that the same layered and stitched scrap technique would be a fun way to create a hat. However, after measuring my noggin, it turns out that there are no suitable objects inside the house that are the correct circumference. Kitchen canisters are too small, and the mixing bowls are much too large. Maybe one of the smaller plastic buckets used for yardwork  Maybe a plastic plant pot that was the right size?? OTOH, while checking out the buckets, found two different sizes of rounded square containers, which would be interesting to attempt...

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Yesterday, drilled a hole in the red paring knife handle, so as to allow it to hang up over the sink to dry. Mostly the over-sink hooks work well to dry cooking utensils like spatulas, slotted spoons, and colanders (the smallest cutting board just fits as well). All my other kitchen knives are carbon steel, so they get hand dried to avoid rust, but this Victorinox paring knife is stainless, but sharpens well and holds an edge. 

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The linen fabric pieces, which at first appeared to be black, instead daylight proves are a very dark blue. Which isn't bad, but still leaves me with only the black/white stripey patchwork fabric to make a pinafore from. That robust fabric, originally a gift from Luz Clara, would really be even better as a pair of overalls. Shall instead focus my garment sewing efforts on the other three colorways: brown, teal/turquoise, and possibly indigo/denim.

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May SMART goals (x=extra)

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	Rosa sketch	Bad Smell gone	greenwaste bin
2	boro thread basket	dishrack tray	recycle bin
3	boro basket 2	paring knife	-
4	boro basket 3	-	-
5	boro baskets 4 & 5	-	-
6	sharpening box	x	x
7	x	x	x
8	x	x	x
9	x	x	x

today's gratitudes -
- tools and knowhow
- mailbox coupon that was actually useful
- lino from I've Been Framed is excellent quality
- Super Supportive

Time of Isolation - Day 2137

Thursday thoughts

in which our plucky heroine makes small improvements...

This morning, after putting away the now dry dishes from last night, it became apparent that my long time method of using a towel under the dish drainer to catch extra drips was less than ideal for the crap formica countertop. Usually I remember to pull the towel out after it has done the job, which lets the counter dry out overnight as the damp dishes do the same. 

In the interest of not creating a mold farm, instead there was an Ikea excursion. They had VÄLVÅRDAD in stock, a powder coated metal catch tray large enough to (probably) fit the dish rack here. While I'd cleverly cut a piece of kraft paper the size of the bottom of my dish rack to take with to check the size, when tray and rack were in the same place it turned out I'd not accounted for the thickness of the wire legs. Fortunately, I have tools! There was good use made of the rawhide mallet and the stump; with crashings and bashings the legs were bent just enough to fit neatly inside the tray edges.

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~ very very sharp ~

Last night, inspired by this Instagram post, I finished making a sharpener for fabric marking chalks, from an old carved wooden box, hardware bits, and some new double edged razor blades (surprisingly cheap!). While my sharpening box didn't turn out quite the same as those others, it works eversomuch better and faster than scraping away at the edge of the chalk with a knife or scissors blade. The wooden box itself is at least fifty years old, maybe more, and likely came from an "import store" when I was young, and this will be a way of using it for something that will see more frequent use than tucked away on a closet shelf holding random smaller trinkets. 

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Well that was a bit of a perturbing minor memory fail... One of the several times living in the Lexington house with friends, the year after the Allston household broke apart, some of us moved there and kept living together. I've very few memories of those not particularly happy years. At my sisters husbands class reunion, one of the men (Doug Weston) from way back then ran into her and sent his regards. I'm embarrassed to not remember him, by face or by name, perhaps he was more Gary's friend than mine??.

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May SMART goals (x=extra)

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	Rosa sketch	Bad Smell gone	greenwaste bin
2	boro thread basket	dishrack tray	recycle bin
3	boro basket 2	-	-
4	boro basket 3	-	-
5	boro basket 4	-	-
6	sharpening box	x	x
7	x	x	x
8	x	x	x
9	x	x	x

today's gratitudes -
- mostly functional public transit
- when an Instagram inspiration actually works
- the stump Bill gave me

Time of Isolation - Day 2134

Tuesday trinkets and treats

in which our plucky heroine has a pleasant surprise...

FOUND!! My beloved retractable tape measure, long missing, turned up in, of all peculiar places, between the crock pot liner and the crock pot! When plugged in to start warming up (while prepping remains of last night's chicken legs to make broth for tom kha gai) noticed the inner pot was sitting all cattywhompus, so before it got hot enough to damage the plastic measuring tape housing it was back in the sewing box where it normally lived, and the broth was able to cook properly

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~ peony ~

Not in my yard, but walking (or biking) around the neighborhood there are all sorts of delights for sight and smell. Roses blooming, and fragrant wisteria... Right now the honeybees are so fond of the sage blossoms that they are loud when walking toward the front door

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I had forgotten the Haptic and Hue podcasts, when a post turned up on one of my social media feeds for their recent presentation about the Folly Cove Designers. Not only was that a treat to listen to, but now there is a lot more content for me to enjoy listening to

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As a way to supplement my earthquake shelf, ordered two new bulk food powders to try: coconut milk, and cheddar cheese sauce. it occurred to me that it might be possible to get some of the dried cheese sauce most often found in little aluminum packets inside boxes of Annies mac, or Kraft dinner. A pound bag was worth the taste test. As was pound of dried coconut milk; since it usually comes in largish cans too big for when I make dinner for one. Yes, I freeze the rest in cubes for future use, but it would be very handy to have some shelf-stable option in the pantry . 

The cheese sauce is tasty, (tried that one with rice pasta the day it arrived) and doesn't taste near as salty as the tiny packets. It will do nicely for pasta or other starch or for veggie sauce, even not in an emergency, as will the dry coconut milk, which worked out very well in dinner tonight (faux tom kha kai) Lots of substitutions but a tasty dinner anyway. Ginger instead of galingale, fresh lime zest and juice instead of makrut leaves, brown sugar instead of palm sugar, some red thai curry paste instead of fresh chilies, and the new powdered coconut milk (very easy to rehydrate by shaking 3 tablespoons in a jar with ¼ cup water. The soup was a treat, and there are two more portions for tomorrow and/or the freezer.

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Last week was the annual five days of "Making Zen": free online workshops, and Selina Ben's "Unwritten Folded Treasure Pouch" tutorial was appealing enough that it will be my next small handwork project. Combining as it does almost origami-esque folded design, and a new-to-me decorative fastening stitch, it will be another good use for small pieces of special fabrics.

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May SMART goals (x=extra)

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	Rosa sketch	Bad Smell gone	greenwaste bin
2	boro thread basket	-	recycle bin
3	boro basket 2	-	-
4	boro basket 3	-	-
5	boro basket 4	-	-
6	x	x	x
7	x	x	x
8	x	x	x
9	x	x	x

today's gratitudes -
- Good podcasts to listen to.
- Lovely scented seasonal flowers, particularly roses and wisteria.
- long missing beloved tape measure found
- honeybees love the sage blossoms
- faux Tom Kha Gai soup
- finished cutting out landscape blouse

Time of Isolation - Day 2132

betcha can't make just one

in which our plucky heroine solves a conundrum...

... and removes toxic art materials from the house;  also finishes up a second boro thread basket. Now the sewing machine and the serger will have their own, and there are ideas a-fizzing for other ways to use this technique.  

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~ strata ~

Working on a tiny stitched container is incredibly satisfying, one could become addicted to making these and the resulting small squashy palm-size basket is Just Right. This project is small enough to always have one on hand for pickup work. Limiting factor will be the thin gauzy fabric for the innermost layer.

Basket #2 will have the inner layer made from pinstripe leftovers from my most recent shirt sewing project. The directional changes remind me of geological formations. The base form I've been using was probably once a mustard jar, but for years now has been holding backstock whole peppercorns, so as it is turned about during stitching, it makes a small rattling sound, softer than a rain stick.

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a stinky saga... Last night before bedtime I caught a whiff of a most peculiar and somewhat acrid scent. Early today when I sat down at the computer for a video meeting, it came back randomly, but often enough to be concerning. (Since it smelled a bit like burnt plastic/shorted wiring! it was not something to ignore.) My pal Turquoise helpfully looked up info online about "odd smells in the home" which let me know what it likely was not... 

I spent hours this morning attempting to locate what was wrong. First opened windows in each room. Climbed up the stepladder to open the attic hatch, headed over to the far end of the workroom to check the circuit breaker box, went outside to sniff around both my heat pump and my good neighbors heat pump which is just across the side yard from the living room window. Unplugged every non critical bit of machinery, and switched off all the power strips. Periodically going outside to let my sense of smell reset...

It was clear after both walking round the house sniffing everywhere, and unplugging things, that the scent was mostly in the living room . . .  I then glanced down . . . Yesterday I'd purchased some "soft-kut" linoleum substitute, a grey rubbery slab, to carve a new printing block, and had left it on a side table near the computer zone. When picked up and sniffed, et voila, the source of the horrible odor. I immediately put it outside, and after breakfast, returned it to the art store, since it is too stinky for me to want in my house!! 

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As the last of my Sulky variegated mercerised cotton topstitching thread gets used up, remembering Fabric Despots aisles of threads, from many different manufactories (not just the single display that most shops have) makes me sad and wistful. There were so many years of shopping there, from when it was a special excursion from Olympia to Portland, and then once it was a few bus transfers away. It was such a reliable source of everything sewing related, a literal warehouse of fabrics for garments, for quilting, for home decor and all the notional items needed to make use of that fabric. We will not see its like again.

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Additional impetus to the declutter and tidy plan: sorting my smaller fabric scraps by color, as well as making clear what size of scraps are worth saving. It would be useful to have a modest box for holding packets of boro basket materials, since there are additional uses for such small containers of holding. I want to experiment with a triadic option next.

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May SMART goals (x=extra)

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	Rosa sketch	Bad Smell gone	-
2	boro thread basket	-	-
3	boro basket 2	-	-
4	-	-	-
5	-	-	-
6	x	x	x
7	x	x	x
8	x	x	x
9	x	x	x

today's gratitudes -
- seasonal asparagus
- dopamine hand sewing
- adorable tiny boro thread "baskets"
- Past Me cleverly ordered backup filters for the heat pump air handler. Current Me cleverly made a pull handle from duct tape to more easily remove the filter next time, as it is a Very Tight Fit.
- the Bad Smell was not the house wiring shorting out, but a package of Soft-Kut printing block, now returned to the art store.

Time of Isolation - Day 2125

weekend whimsy

in which our plucky heroine looks all around...

or at least up and down. Parts of the weekend were a treat, and parts were a trial. Successfully trying out a new to me handcraft technique, remembering the frozen Roma tomatoes, and visiting with friends online were treats. Spiraling down into dark weasel territory on Saturday night was hard; the worst of the brain weasels don't actually lie, they contain just enough truth to really hurt. Erroneous choices can't be undone, and chances noticed too late will not come again in this lifetime. The trick is to find the small joys still possible.

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~ Rosa ~

Mischa and I are gradually setting up a new Wanderhome game (our first since Steph left the bright world), building new characters and a new place to create stories. I'd only barely dipped into the world of "gaming", in a particularly gentle, interactive, non combat-driven way, when my newest friend Steph was diagnosed and C all too quickly took them away. The rough sketch above is Rosa the maned wolf, my new character. They are a peddler/trader and deal primarily in spices, dyestuff, incense, miniature bells, colored floss, and tiny shrine furnishings.

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The tiny shreds of fabric and ends of thread leftover when sewing become frelch and have apparently a magnetic attraction to caster wheels. Rather than my vain efforts to neatly dispose of them in the large waste bin in the workshop, it occurred to me that small scrap holders in the immediate vicinity of the sewing machine and serger would be a better and more direct option, easy to empty into the larger bin as needed.

Ann Wood's "Stitched Vessel" tutorial (which has been sitting in my file of patterns-purchased-but-not-yet-made for ages) seemed like it was a perfect solution. Several hours of hand stitching turned into this boro-esque thread basket. A second one is already on my work table, also using the random cabbage from assorted wardrobe sewing projects; there are so many potential uses for such appealing small containers! 

2 ½" high, almost 3" diameter
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With the weather so hot as to make actual cooking less of a treat, a glance in the fridge showed the ingredients for a sort of panzanella. Well, there was a slice of leftover bread, cucumbers, feta, salad greens and suchlike, all that was missing was a tomato... Then I remembered that there were Roma tomatoes in the freezer, intended for making another batch of Awesome Sauce! Peeled and partially thawed, it was cut into chunks and added to the proto panzanella. The tomato did collapse into shreds, but added good flavor and moisture. A hack worth remembering.

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was not expecting thrilled to see this on Saturday morning when I checked the weather for the rest of the weekend: 
Issued: 10:57 AM May. 2, 2026 – National Weather Service...
HEAT ADVISORY REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM 8 AM TO 11 PM PDT SUNDAY... 
- WHAT...Temperatures up to 91 degrees F expected. Significant cooling expected overnight. 
- WHERE...Greater Vancouver Metro, Lower Columbia River and Cowlitz River Valleys, Inner Portland Metro, and East Portland Metro. 
- WHEN...From 8 AM to 11 PM PDT Sunday. 
- IMPACTS...Hot temperatures may cause heat illnesses. 
- ADDITIONAL DETAILS...There is around 5% chance of high temperatures of 95 degrees or greater in urban areas around the Portland-Metro area. Overall Moderate HeatRisk with relieving cooling temperatures overnight. Highs will be near record breaking temperatures for this time of year.
So it wasn't a big surprise that the temperature this afternoon on the front porch was 94° F (34.5° C). Very grateful for the magic cool air machine aka heat pump.

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I've rather fallen in love with the printed motifs of this fabric, and think it would could make a very fun autumnal shirt. Rather more colorful than my usual wont, but there are almost all the colors I do wear: brown, and grey, and teal/turquoise, and blue, as well as all the rest of the rainbow, in a playful admixture of shapes that reference mid-century design.

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May SMART goals (x=extra)

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	Rosa sketch	-	-
2	boro thread basket	-	-
3	-	-	-
4	-	-	-
5	-	-	-
6	x	x	x
7	x	x	x
8	x	x	x
9	x	x	x

today's gratitudes -
- heat pump aka magic cool air that falls from ceiling
- left foot less painful
- using frozen tomato as salad flavoring
- anti-weasel serum from friends
- riding my bike past the park, seeing families celebrating birthdays or other special occasions, life happening in a pleasant public place. 

Time of Isolation - Day 2123

Friday fragments

in which our plucky heroine is charmed...

Earlier this week the birdfeeders next door were spangled with goldfinches, which was such a delightful visual way to start the day.

Also rabbit rabbit rabbit for the first of May!

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~ acorn tassels~

All I ever want to be speedy is my sewing machines and internet connection) As previously mentioned, I am not a fast knitter. Some folks can bang out a Sophie scarf in a few days, this one took me a whole month of intermittent knitting. The last several days of which were taken up in creating these knitted acorn and oak leaves added to the tips instead of pom poms or tassels. It was so slow because sock yarn and tiny needles. It is fairly narrow, and long enough to wrap around my neck and tie, intended as supplementary warmth over a turtleneck, which was hard to imagine Thursday afternoon, when it was 83 F (28 C) on my front porch

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Monday my friend Poni was willing to take me on a trip to Linfield Gallery in McMinnville to see "Continuality" by artist Tammie Dupuis. I've been following Tammie on social media for years now, she is one of my artist heroes. Highly skilled in multiple art forms and thinking deeply about what she intends to communicate using those skills. It was wonderful to see the actual pieces, which are so much stronger and more resonant in person than in tiny pixel images online. Rather like the difference between an LP and a live concert. I was particularly taken with the "Counting Coup On Curtis" series of portraits, which combine beadwork and mixed media in a unique way that really needs to be seen in person.

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Eeee!! new Becky Chambers coming this autumn!

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"Acorn Cottage Crafthouse"could be a good name for Discord server, I need to look up how to start one...

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May SMART goals (x=extra)

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	-	-	-
2	-	-	-
3	-	-	-
4	-	-	-
5	-	-	-
6	x	x	x
7	x	x	x
8	x	x	x
9	x	x	x

today's gratitudes -
- goldfinches first thing in the morning
- pad see ew
- Tammie's artwork is amazing, impressive, and inspiring 

Time of Isolation - Day 2121