these are not the colored lights you are looking for

in which our plucky heroine sleeps in...

Last night my sleep was interrupted with about a two hour long visual migraine. While it is a blessing that it is only the visuals and not the pain that so many of my friend experience, it is very distracting. What it looked like (irrespective of if my eyes were open or closed) was what started out as a flashing star shaped hatch mark in one corner of my peripheral vision, and gradually spread out in an ever expanding curve across my entire field of vision, looking very much like multicolored flashing lights of a carnival or fun fair. It was impossible to return to dreamland until the neuro-storm had finally finished and drifted away beyond the range of sight. 

It is a peculiar phenomenon, that only happens very rarely, maybe once every five years or more. The first time it occurred, back in the mid 80's, I had no idea what was wrong and why I suddenly could not see anything in my surroundings. The school nurse was convinced that the sudden flashing blindness was caused by my "hyperventilating" (which was her diagnosis for almost everything other than active wounds). I am grateful that my first migraine happened in the classroom and not as it did for my mother, who first had one while driving on the freeway in Los Angeles!

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~ sparkle in snow ~

The ditsy printed design on the oldest of my knit turtleneck tops is apparently meant for christmas; it took me a number of years to notice that scattered amongst the wintery scene, here and there a few of the ¼" conifer trees have colorful decorations. 

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As planned yesterday, today's dinner was an Eastern European-esque version of spinach rice bake: barley, cabbage, mushrooms, onion, cheese, eggs. It was tasty, but as suspected, would have been improved with a different cheese. Maybe kashkaval, maybe chevre, or some combination of the two. Tillamook was too bland.

this recipe from my childhood is become a staple breakfast dish, or equally well as a potluck contribution, should we ever have social gatherings again...

~ Spinach Rice Bake ~
1 C cooked starch (rice, kasha, bulgar etc)
1 C shredded cheese
1 c cooked veg, chopped
2 eggs
2 T melted butter
2 t chopped onion
⅓ C milk (or 1 T dry milk and ⅓ C water)
½ t Worcester sauce
½ t dried herbs (or such fresh herbs as seem pleasing)

10 x 6 baking dish, 350°F, 20 - 25 min

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I've found the missing miniature bed with the hand painted canal boat roses, in a "somewhere safe" that wasn't really deeply hidden, huzzah! Now all that remains missing from the tinyworld is shoes, Opal's birkies, and two pair of winter boots. Those can all be remade much more easily than furniture, so I am relieved. Just as I am thinking and planning for various human scale refurbishments and project for 2026, am also looking over how things stand in the tinyworld and what projects come next...

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wishing joy to all who celebrate:

























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December SMART goals (x=extra)

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	2 pairs underwear	vegetable steamer legs	fridge science experiments
2	knitted shrew	shrew eyes	yard waste bin
3	1 pair undies	Gamma bucket lid	recycle bin
4	2 alphabeast  drawings	one page of the embroidery transfer	recycle bin
5	1 alphabeast  drawing	daypack mended	recycle bin
6	phone pouch	cleaned keyboard	x
7	x	undie waistband	x
8	x	x	x
9	x	x	x

today's gratitudes -
- reliable recipes, the cooking equivalent of TNT sewing patterns
- sewing machine walking foot
- Mischa reading "A Child's Christmas in Wales" aloud
- finding the lost tinyworld bed

Time of Isolation - Day 2007

a happy accident

in which our plucky heroine notices a small but surprising difference...

...accidentally ordered a M/L size mask when ordering backups*, instead of my prior size S/M. It actually fits better, which was unexpected. The edges of the inflow valves no longer push into my face, which will make wearing the mask less annoying.

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~ word! ~

A sign of the times, seen while out walking with Kate last Friday...

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I finished patching the grey linen pinafore (now five years old, that I made in the first year of the pandammit). The sides of the bodice were worn threadbare, almost shredded to raveling, but rather than bin it, decided that there taking some of the scraps left over from the start and adding neat patching would get me at least another year or more. By shaping the bilateral patches identically, it created an effect almost like color blocking! I suspect a smaller decorative patch on the center front pocket would make it look even less like "make do and mend". Not that there is anything wrong with mending. Repair is radical!

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Thank you, no... yet another reason to avoid the Book of Face. Today it reminded me of the birthday of someone very dear, someone who is no longer in the Bright World. Ouch!

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Did too much carving in the last few days, and bruised my little finger, by using it for leverage. I shall have to be more cautious about not letting hyper-focus cause actual harm, but I have no intention of not continuing the creative activity.

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March SMART goals (x=extra)

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	-	grey pinafore	art exchange
2	-	-	many dead weeds
3	-	-	-
4	-	-	-
5	-	-	-
6	x	x	-
7	x	x	x
8	x	x	x
9	x	x	x

today's gratitudes -
1. Flow won an Oscar for Best Animated Feature Film
2. Oven-roasted lemon potatoes... using up the last of the previous grocery order. As long as we still can have food transported from other biomes, I will continue to enjoy lemony goodness. (also, look into making and preserving verjuice from feral grapevine for homegrown sourness?)
3. Uncanny Magazine: always good things to make me think, sometimes good things that make me cry...

Time of Isolation - Day 1690

* I figured that getting a few sets of replacement filters from Lee Valley would be good general practice, and while I was at it, decided that a backup of another whole elastomeric mask would not be a bad idea either, as who knows what various supply chain issues may happen in the future.

Monday musings

in which our plucky heroine cools off...

Since it doesn't seem that we will see many more cool days for a while now, it is time to deploy the bedroom AC. Last year, the "waste heat" blown out into the side yard rather cooked my small plum tree, drying much of the leaves to a crispy brown, and prematurely turning the fruit to unripe prunes. Lest that happen again, something must be done. The best option would be to move the unit to the other bedroom window, which has no trees nearby. But for now, I managed to drag a sheet of plywood from the carport and tilt it up to lean against the window awning as a deflector. It is far enough from the unit that it shouldn't overheat in any kind of dangerous fashion, and it sends the warm air out to either side, away from the tree. It certainly isn't the most elegant of solutions, but a useful kludge.

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Now that the yard has been mowed, every morning is an opportunity to do a (very) modest amount of pruning. All the fruit trees need attention, as summer pruning is the best way to continue to keep them small, or to make them smaller. So far I have thinned out the side yard plum, done a bit of cutting back of the quince (still needs more!) partially deadheaded the sage, and trimmed back some of the foliage overhanging the sidewalk. Still LOTS more to do, but one benefit of getting up crazy early is that it is cool enough that I can do yard things in comparative coolness. My hand is still quite sore from my fall, so any two handed garden tasks are really not possible, like using the loppers, but I can make small cuts with the Felco pruners. Yay for that!

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... after our Sewing Nomads meeting on Saturday, I was so inspired by CCL making a rayon pinafore, I thought such a thing would be very suitable for summertime. After a good rummage around in my fabric on Sunday... I realised I don't have very much rayon at all!

I was able to find one piece that was large enough to hopefully cut out pinafore pieces, if I'm careful. It is a grey/off-black tiny shibori dot print (dark on one side and lighter on the other); I might be able to make the pinafore reversible, which would be great for travel! I'll use something other than self fabric for the edge binding, for easier construction and to save fabric. If I forgo my favorite huge "teacher pockets" (which gobble up a lot of fabric) but instead make good sized patch pockets, I can stack pockets back to back for true reversibility.

Today I went looking for my favorite TNT pinafore pattern, and it seems to have disappeared, (along with my favorite blouse pattern, but that is less critical because I am not planning on making a blouse this summer) While I know they are somewhere in the house, because hello, I wouldn't have discarded them... I do not want to spend hours hunting them down. I am wondering if I can just wing it? and maybe make a gathered skirt pinafore instead, which would be a lot faster than cutting and finishing gores, as it would just entail a few straight seams rather than 8 or 9 off grain seams. I wouldn't try that style with any other and more robust fabric, but the rayon is really light and drapey, so I think it wouldn't end up too bunchy around the middle... Hmmmm....

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Not only are two of my favorite patterns missing, but the Anker battery charging brick, and my travel toiletries bag. I just don't understand how things can disappear in such a small house!

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July SMART goals (x=extra)

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	Pelican enamel	many apples thinned	recycle bin
2	Pelican pendant setting	grapevines cut back	yard waste bin
3	indigo shibori popover	backyard mowed	recycle bin
4	stripey rayon popover	side yard mowed	-
5	-	grey popover mended	-
6	x	x	x
7	x	x	x
8	x	x	x
9	x	x	x
10	x	x	x
11	x	x	x
12	x	x	x
13	x	x	x
14	x	x	x
15	x	x	x

today's gratitudes -
1. the medtech at the grocery store where I got my bivalent vaccine was wearing a mask
2. made another popover rayon top, this one in a black/white stripe, and I played around with stripe directions.
3. my poor battered left hand continues improving, albeit very slowly, because soft tissue damage is slow to heal. But I can use it for gentle tasks now, which is better than a week ago

Time of Isolation - Day 1120



drone light show

"that's all right, I have a lid out in the car"*

in which our plucky heroine has a rather busy day...

Trying every morning to deal with windfall fruit (plums to the yard waste bin, apples to be salvaged for sauce), and do a bit of pruning... if I get to it while it is still cool out, the Danger Bugs are asleep... I'm beginning to wonder if the yellow apples are actually Golden Delicious. (though they are far more tart and less the sweet and slightly floral taste I associate with that variety)

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~ creativity challenge ~

design sketch for neckline decoration

now that the sleeves have been pieced together, I will be starting on the leafy counterchanged motifs for around the neck of the long sleeve jersey top. The tiedye sleeves will get teal foliage, and the teal center front and back will have foliage backed with the remaining scraps of colorful tiedye jersey. I'm thinking about using some translucent small glass beads in irridescent light and dark turquoise as well, to border the design edges alongside the hand stitchery...

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This Linguistic Family Tree is so visually beautiful (created by Minna Sundberg, creator of the webcomicStand Still. Stay Silent) as a way of presenting knowledge. And this is only the indo-european language tree, there are a number of other language trees here on the planet...

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Rode my bike to the local farmer's market this afternoon, where I was very excited to be able to pick up 10# of organic San Marzano tomatoes. I plan on making some tomato sauce for pantry storage, (since I cannot eat commercial tomato products. According to the National Center for Home Food Preservation, that will make about eight half pints of sauce.

I shall have to check how many lids I have available, sigh. First step will be to clear out enough freezer space, as I freeze tomatoes before processing them. As they then thaw, the skins slip right off with a little encouragement, thereby eliminating all faffing about with blanching and ice water baths. It will be wonderful to have the option this winter for tomato based meals!

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September SMART goals (x=extra)

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	Greek masks block carved	rodent removal	yard waste bin
2	pillowcases printed	bicycle tube replaced	recycle bin
3	snood for Ariadne	side plum pruned	yard waste bin
4	memorial calligraphy	apple tree pruning	broken oven bits
5	tiny fox "Almandine"	moar apple pruning	-
6	fig lemon jam 5 jars	added bat embroidery	x
7	Almandine clothing	x	x
8	windfall applesauce 5 jars	x	x
9	Nandina blouse	x	x
10	x	x	x
11	x	x	x
12	x	x	x
13	x	x	x
14	x	x	x
15	x	x	x

today's gratitude - There is a farmers market, there is one organic farm that sells there, they had what I wanted, and I was able to use my old person farmer's market scrip, plus the "double your EBT" benefit to get lots of tomatoes to process at an affordable cost. And if I have enough lids, I can get more next week or the week after, and put more up for pantry storage... wishing I had bought more wide mouth lids the only time I saw them earlier this year, but I am grateful that I did buy some. (Might be time to give the reuseable Tatler lids a try!)

* from "The Further Adventures of Nick Danger" - Firesign Theater

out of balance, but still determined

in which our plucky heroine hangs on with her fingernails...

Every day, I start out making a list of four or five simple tasks I need or hope to complete... I remember being able to easily do at least that much, and still have time for work, and for play. Nowadays I am lucky if I can manage one or two. My life is out of balance, on all the axes that I can observe, and I have no idea at this point what will improve the situation. I do my best to get in some physical movement each day. I make a point of noticing the small bits of beauty in daily life. I attempt to stay in contact with other people, albeit in the limited digital fashion that is all that is available. It isn't enough.

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~ creativity challenge ~

Starting my recombinant tiedye top, recutting and filling in the former front neckline now turned cuff edge of the sleeve... The other sleeve, cut from the shirt back, only will need a narrow bit to extend the cuff edge. There will be enough additional scraps to do reverse applique decoration around the neckline, to blend the teal jersey fabric with the tiedye into a harmonious whole. With gratitude for the gifted tee with such a beautiful dye job done by my friend Aeolus... This will provide me with quite a lot of "slow sewing" over the next few weeks.

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The windfall apples, with all the bruised and buggy parts cut away, were still enough to make five jars of applesauce, (two 16oz and three 8oz) The sauce seemed a little too tart, so I added just a bit of dark brown sugar, which softened the flavor to a slightly caramel/tart combination that was very pleasing.

It is hard to remember what the apple varieties are, since the tree was acquired over fifteen years ago, and I have no records, plus much of the tree has been damaged... based on the appearance, I think I have Jonagold and Gala? The branches where I was rigorous in thinning earlier this year have rewarded me with quite large single apples, and there are a number of them still on the tree.

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beauty in the time of isolation:

Honeybees are still active, gathering pollen and nectar where they can find it...

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September SMART goals (x=extra)

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	Greek masks block carved	rodent removal	yard waste bin
2	pillowcases printed	bicycle tube replaced	recycle bin
3	snood for Ariadne	side plum pruned	yard waste bin
4	memorial calligraphy	apple tree pruning	broken oven bits
5	tiny fox "Almandine"	-	-
6	fig lemon jam 5 jars	x	x
7	Almandine clothing	x	x
8	windfall applesauce 5 jars	x	x
9	Nandina blouse	x	x
10	x	x	x
11	x	x	x
12	x	x	x
13	x	x	x
14	x	x	x
15	x	x	x

today's gratitude- I may be old, but I got to see a lot of good bands!

when the going gets wierd... the wierd turn pro

in which our plucky heroine continues resolute, moment to moment...

not even day to day, as each day seems wierder than the previous one. Although Sunday just involved cleaning up the broken glass, which was tiring, but not peculiar. Monday was started fairly pleasantly (see below) and after the class ended, I went outside to pick some of the plums before the forecast windstorms arrived. I filled two tote bags as the wind picked up speed, and noticed that my throat was feeling raw, and the sky was an odd shade of yellow-grey. Went inside to check the AQI websites, but they all said that air quality was "green = good (20 AQI)" which wasn't true. Some kind of time lag in the updates, or a glitch, since the next time I checked it was "red = unhealthy (180 AQI)". In the interim, I shut down the house fans and closed all the windows, as well as preparing the candle lanterns and matches in an easily accessed space, and clipped the mini flashlight as a necklace.

As the winds increased, and news reports began coming in about trees coming down, I decided that I would set up my camping bed in the kitchen, that being the spot furthest from the big tree next door, and the big trees in my front yard. Might be overkill, but better safe than sorry. Aside from the howling of the wind, I slept fairly well. The magnetic towel racks made a useful spot to hang my glasses and the flashlight above the head of my cot...

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~ 100 day creativity challenge - day 50 ~

Monday I took a six-hour online SCA Ithra class on making your own gloves, and my (successful) goal was to fit a pattern, so that I can actually make work gloves etc that will match the shape and size of my hands, which have very short fingers, but are otherwise an ordinary women's medium/large. I have never had gloves that fit me aside from handknit homemade ones; inch long floppy empty ends of fingers rather reduce the functionality of work gloves for yardwork or handling rough objects. I am eagerly looking forward to trying this pattern out in suitable leather in the future (once I manage to acquire some deerskin, or goatskin leather)

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Jesmyn Ward's essay articulates a personal connection between tragedy, COVID and BLM in an intensely beautiful and heartbreaking way. I read it and wept, and remain determined to do what little I can to work for change...

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beauty in the time of isolation - day 167:

so, Friday my young neighbor brought this over to my front porch, they have been working on this surprise for Nandina: a little pup tent complete with zip up sleeping bag, pillow, and plenty of cushiony camping pad! I am not sure who is more charmed, me or my tiny housemate...

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The Kitchen Saga: Removed the oven door yesterday, as suggested by a friend; turns out that lifting the door straight up slides it off the brackets that hold it to the internal door springs, who knew? Now it is in the carport waiting for a trip to the transfer station. Been trying to get through to the gas company to find out what might be needed to convert the cooking appliance here back to a gas appliance, (which is the first step in the process of gathering information) but having real difficulty getting through to the customer service department. Persistence is needed.

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lyrics here
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September SMART goals (x=extra)

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	Gwen sunhat	removed oven door	old underwindow
2	dozen EQUITY prints	x	dead cold-packs
3	tiny deer hat	x	yard waste bin
4	x	x	recycle bin
5	x	x	favorite saucepan
6	x	x	oven door glass
7	x	x	x
8	x	x	x
9	x	x	x
10	x	x	x
11	x	x	x
12	x	x	x
13	x	x	x
14	x	x	x
15	x	x	x

today's gratitude - no trees fell on Acorn Cottage last night

Friday fragments, mostly textilia

in which our plucky heroine catches up on a few things...

Springtime seems to be a bit early this year, but these crocus are a welcome sight nevertheless...

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found a length of some tweedy (if thin) jersey knit in a medium grey in one of my fabric bins, and so cut out another pair of cropped leggings. They will be part of my SWAP 2020; despite the early flowers, it is still chilly enough that these will be a welcome addition to my everyday wardrobe. They will have a blockprinted trim along the hemline, using some recently carved counterchanged triangular blocks:

After several years, my pattern for leggings has been deteriorating, with the blue tape peeling up from the paper, so I transferred it to cardboard for future use. It would be great to get most all of the basic garment patterns in cardboard, which is ever so much easier to use than thin paper patterns. Cardboard is more difficult to store, but I suspect that space in a closet could be found, particularly with more decluttering

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the black/grey gingham flannel shirt is completed, and my guesstimate for how long to make the sleeves turned out to be just right. I will be making a note of that on the pattern for future reference, and foresee some additional shirts (as opposed to blouses) in my future sewing at some point...

The collar and neckline of the shirt, showing two different sides of the polkadot fabric (yoke facing, and bias binding along collar shirt seam), bias and straight-of-grain use of the gingham flannel.

The successful tower placket, both closed (above), and open (below)... again showing how I used the polkadot fabric to line the cuff and also to create the inner placket.

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started once again on the cuff embroidery for my rubakha... I'm more pleased with this iteration. Once I finish the embroidered arches, I will be outlining the printed motifs in the same metallic thread.

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February SMART goals (x=extra)

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	one pelican head	restrung grey beads	paper recycling
2	second pelican head	dial tone regained	frontyard prunings
3	rubakha trim printed	bra elastics renewed	bag to Goodwill
4	leggings trim printed	Arlys circlet	paper recycling
5	black/grey shirt	An Tir pennant	-
6	x	leggings pattern	-
7	x	Karla sewing machine	x
8	x	x	x
9	x	x	x
10	x	x	x
11	x	x	x
12	x	x	x
13	x	x	x
14	x	x	x
15	x	x	x

today's gratitude - I am grateful that I know enough to be of help to others, which contradicts my chronic imposter syndrome. I was able to help Karla with her sewing machine, which turns out to be a very nice commercial Singer, I am guessing from about thirty or forty years ago.

For want of a nail...

in which our plucky heroine is fighting a cold...

It was most annoying to have a letter arrive from the state insurance board, letting me know that a subcontractor's carelessness, and a stolen computer, put my data, (and that of over 650K other folks) at risk. Annoying because it meant that now it was necessary to do a great deal of paperwork with various agencies...

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On Saturday while at Summits A&S, I was able to take a workshop on Coptic bookbinding. While there wasn't actually enough time to complete the stitching, I did my best to find some online tutorial to figure out how to attach the second cover. Not sure I did it right, but it is all assembled. I'd like to try making a few more...

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Last night I printed front neckline panels, cuffs, and the cuff edging for my rubakha. The pieces printed in gold on silk ikat will have the motifs outlined in embroidery with metallic floss. The cuff edging was printed in black on "Hug Snug" rayon ribbon. I decided to go with a combination of block printing and embroidery instead of solid embroidery fill for two connected reasons. My initial desire to create this more elaborate Russian set of clothing was to make good re-use of the non-cultural-specific embroidery I did for the collar and cuffs of my elevation gown. Being able to use those embroideries to decorate a navershnik means that they will have an active life instead of living on a now-too-small gown in my SCA closet.

It also means that my new garb will be a bit more on the "inspired by" rather than on the "re-create artifact" side of the fence. The block printing is a significantly faster way to fill the centers of the motifs. So I feel okay about choosing this combination of ways to get metallic trim (particularly knowing what sorts of embroidery techniques would have probably been used) and about choosing to slightly modify some of the motifs for trim (and for surface printing of the navershnik fabric in the future) to reflect aspects of my SCA heraldry.

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Yesterday as a very minor craft project, I added the An Tir checky background to my proof blockprint... Last year in July I carved a block to be used, one of several, to create site tokens for 12th Nigh. Before sending it off to Adiantum, I tried it out on a piece of linen as a proof that the design was as desired. My idea is that the proof, now hemmed and colored, will be a nice addition to camp decor.

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"The Day Democracy Died".... I was as impressed with this well done filk as I am continually appalled that it is such a sad and apt commentary:

I suppose I am dating myself to note that "American Pie" was a big hit when I was in high school...

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February SMART goals (x=extra)

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	one pelican head	restrung grey beads	paper recycling
2	second pelican head	dial tone regained	frontyard prunings
3	rubakha trim printed	bra elastics renewed	bag to Goodwill
4	x	Arlys circlet	-
5	x	An Tir pennant	-
6	x	x	-
7	x	x	x
8	x	x	x
9	x	x	x
10	x	x	x
11	x	x	x
12	x	x	x
13	x	x	x
14	x	x	x
15	x	x	x

today's gratitude - I am grateful for my spare pair of eyeglasses. Once again I've misplaced my regular pair...

try try again...

in which our plucky heroine makes a second beginning...

I intend to do a modest amount of SCA sewing for myself this year, to use some of the fabrics I have on hand, to decorate the fabrics with block printing and embroidery, and to look a bit more at some historical styles I've not yet attempted. My current efforts will be to create some Russian/Slavic clothing, because I love the bling, particularly the temple ring ornaments, because I can indulge my embellisher's heart with trimming the cuffs, necklines, hemlines and suchlike in various ways, and because I would very much like to use the embroidered neckline and cuffs from my elevation gown on some clothing I can wear nowadays.

Last week I started on cuff trim for a rubakha (a linen underdress with extra long sleeves, that are pushed up along the forearm for a sort of ruched effect; I've enough thin white linen on my fabric shelves for the project, though I will need to piece some of the fabric on the body). I am wanting to use what I have rather than buy more new fabric.

some trim motif sketches

My first attempt at the cuff embroidery was not entirely successful...

metallic floss on silk ikat, 1" wide

after beginning working on sleeve cuff embroidery (above) I'm thinking, looking more closely at a better scan of the line drawing, that the foliate shapes *between* the arches are done with a different technique than the arches themselves. (arches appear to be done in something like an outline stitch, see below)

I am considering three different options for the foliage: block printing with metallic ink, applique with metallic leather, or actual metal plaques (or I could fill them solidly with embroidery). My inclination is to go for block printing, because I have the supplies on hand, because my other plans for this particular set of clothing are more an interpretation than a specific reproduction, and because it is significantly faster than fill embroidery. I know, because I did a set of collar, neckline, and cuff trim for Marya's elevation.

So, I'm starting over on my decorative trim for my rubakha. My new plan involved a combination of block printing and metallic embroidery, possibly in addition to some seed pearls. I was very pleased to recently find just a few more of the small spherical brass buttons from India, which I will use for the cuff closures.

corbie and foliage blocks 1" tall, embroidery sample,
metallic block printing ink sample, tiny buttons, silk ikat
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February SMART goals (x=extra)

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	one pelican head	restrung grey beads	paper recycling
2	second pelican head	dial tone regained	frontyard prunings
3	x	bra elastics renewed	bag to Goodwill
4	x	-	-
5	x	x	-
6	x	x	-
7	x	x	x
8	x	x	x
9	x	x	x
10	x	x	x
11	x	x	x
12	x	x	x
13	x	x	x
14	x	x	x
15	x	x	x

today's gratitude - I am grateful for the random treasures in my unsorted stash boxes, which sometimes turn out to have just what I need. I thought I had used all the remaining metal sphere buttons on the Marya project in 2018, and was not particularly keen on the thought of DIY options. This uses up yet another bit of stash, (and the shirt they came off will be turned into a kitchen apron for wee Kestrel)

not exactly a huipil...

in which our plucky heroine has a tiny new idea...

So, while laying in bed this morning waiting for my SI joint to stop hollering at me, gradually waking up, I started thinking about the two online challenges: SWAP on Stitchers Guild, and Spring/Summer 6PAC on The Sewing Place. It occurred to me that rayon huipil-style tops (like my popover dresses, but shorter) would be a Very Simple rectangular construction garment that could both fill in the gaps in my plan, and also provide a "canvas" for various surface design embellishment...  such simple tops would make good use of smaller yardage pieces, could be color blocked, and allow me to indulge my enjoyment of stenciled or blockprinted decoration, or embroidery, or AC reverse applique, or whatever...

#	SG SWAP		#	TSP 2 3PAC's
1	grey chore coat	➛	1	grey chore coat
2	grey linen pinafore	➛	2	grey linen pinafore
3	grey blockprint rayon top	➛	3	grey blockprint rayon top
4	grey cloud collar top			-
5	grey/black flannel shirt		1	teal/blue linen pinafore
6	grey chambray dress?		2	indigotiger rayon popover
7	grey knit leggings		3	teal/multicolor rayon top
8	blue brown horses blouse
9	grey/black/blue dress
10	grey black wool capelet
11	black corduroy pinafore

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Earlier this week took a few afternoons to work on block printing a bunch of postcards, to send off to the folks participating in the sekrit valentine swap... this time I tried several different acrylic paints as print ink, wanting to use what is here on hand, so the colors vary from cobalt blue to a sort of metallic blue/grey, as I gradually mixed in more metallic copper with the blue paint. The back of the postcard, where the message and address goes, I stamped with a vintage commercial rubber stamp I've had for decades, in the very center it says in wee tiny letters around the shield "the mark of originality"...

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February SMART goals (x=extra)

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	-	restrung grey beads	-
2	x	-	-
3	x	-	-
4	x	-	-
5	x	x	-
6	x	x	-
7	x	x	x
8	x	x	x
9	x	x	x
10	x	x	x
11	x	x	x
12	x	x	x
13	x	x	x
14	x	x	x
15	x	x	x

today's gratitude - I am grateful for the break in the rain, and for the floral signs of spring here and there, despite the howling of the wind at night...

turtleneck with a twist

in which our plucky heroine does some clever alteration...

though "love is not love which alters when it alteration finds", it seemed needful to change up the neckline of my striped hemp knit top, as I kept wishing that I'd originally made it with a turtleneck. But instead, I had made a rounded slightly scooped bound neckline, a bit too low for simply replacing the binding with a straight and wider band. Instead, remembering a Marcy Tilton neckband I read about ages ago, I decided to try making a twisted band.

Fortunately I still had some scraps of the hemp jersey from three years ago, and after measuring the neck opening, I cut a bias strip that length (plus a quarter inch seam allowance) and about eight inches wide. After seaming the short end making it into a tube, I folded the length in half, right sides on the outside, but then instead of simply pinning it evenly closed, I shifted the center back seamline offset about three inches from one another, and then carefully basted the edges together, maintaining the offset all the way around.

Were I to be doing this as part of new construction, I could then simply use the normal technique to attach the neckband, marking the quarters and the cross quarters on each, and then serging them in place. Instead, since the neckline was already finished with a narrow band, I used hand stitching "Alabama Chanin" style to stitch the new neckband to the older knit top. Sometimes I feel like I have more control using hand stitching.

The revised stripey top will be a little bit warmer to wear in the wintertime, which was my goal, as well as trying out a new-to-me technique, which worked successfully!

January SMART goals (x=extra)

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	card for Bera	better light in workroom	bag to Goodwill
2	Awesome Sauce	improve dotted neckline	paper recycling
3	horses blouse	button replaced	bag to Goodwill
4	Wanda ring	attach bench pin	bag to Goodwill
5	charter #1	new turtleneck neckline	-
6	Barbara mitts	x	x
7	wool capelet	x	x
8	x	x	x
9	x	x	x
10	x	x	x
11	x	x	x
12	x	x	x
13	x	x	x
14	x	x	x
15	x	x	x

today's gratitude - I have a washing machine, which means that I needn't spend a huge chunk of time every week dedicated to laundry, and can, instead, fit it in amongst other tasks and travail...

Friday fragments

in which our plucky heroine continues efforts to be of good cheer, and focus on what has been going well ...

There was a small break in the cold rain and wind, so I headed over to H-Mart to try and get some more gyoza wrappers. While there, I couldn't resist the eggplant display; they had seven different varieties, and while it was no match for the Berkeley Bowl that shines in my memory, it was pretty excellent, and I brought home some small Japanese eggplant to make "5 flavor eggplant" this weekend.

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the wool/cashmere capelet is finished, I stitched trim around the lower edge to echo that in historical images; alternating hooks and eyes down the center front opening hold it closed... It is just as cozy for wearing around the house as I had envisioned.

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in the "you don't ask you don't get" mode, while at the pharmacy (where I also made the sad discovery that now that I am old, my formerly totally covered prescriptions all have co-pays) it occurred to me to ask about one of my meds, which I need to break in half since they don't make a low enough single dosage... they recently changed the generic they carry to a different manufacturer, and the "new" pills shatter instead of splitting, even with a "pill splitter"... so I asked if there was some way that they could get me the former generic instead of the new one. Turns out that is probably possible, and hopefully tomorrow I can pick up that prescription. Fingers crossed!

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... and in additional tiny good news, there is finally a sprout in the cilantro pot, almost three weeks after the seeds were planted!

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← a surprise gift from Rafny - measuring bowls! each one has an inner line, for an amount of half the capacity of the total bowl, which seems dang useful, particularly for times when making a "half recipe"... Plus they are even the sort of subtle blue that fits seamlessly into my kitchen aesthetic here at Acorn Cottage

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finished the handknit wool mitts for Barbara. I forgot that the wool was also superwash as well as merino, both aspects of yarn that are not my usual. Cannot do a felted splice, but the mitts are so very soft, which is what she asked for, and New England wintertime is not yet over...

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January SMART goals (x=extra)

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	card for Bera	better light in workroom	bag to Goodwill
2	Awesome Sauce	improve dotted neckline	paper recycling
3	horses blouse	button replaced	bag to Goodwill
4	Wanda ring	attach bench pin	bag to Goodwill
5	charter #1	-	-
6	Barbara mitts	x	x
7	wool capelet	x	x
8	x	x	x
9	x	x	x
10	x	x	x
11	x	x	x
12	x	x	x
13	x	x	x
14	x	x	x
15	x	x	x

today's gratitude - I know how to cook, I have food to cook and a kitchen to cook in, and decades of experience have taught me how to cook things I like to eat. In addition, this month I have been doing better at eating up the leftovers.

Indeed I have been feeling very much like a kind of metaphorical eating up the leftovers in relation to my sewing - using the fabrics I collected over the years and turning them into a wardrobe I like to wear!

Thursday thoughts and gratitudes

in which our plucky heroine spends the day at home...

Today I'm going to make preserves, and sew, and clear my workbench. I'm not going anywhere, partially because no invite, and partially because it is a holiday I have ambiguous feeling about so didn't push for an invite anywhere... so I decided that I would spend a chunk of the day on preserving food, as a practice of additional gratitude and I feel okay about that. (I started to go down that tunnel, of being depressed that no one wanted my company, and decided that using the day to be grateful was a better plan. For me, the key to maintaining my mental health is remembering to choose my focus.) This blog post by Terri Windling seems relevant to today, as does this: Haudenosaunee Thanksgiving Address - Greetings to the Natural World

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Finishing up some UFO's this week..

A new cotton lawn headscarf in blue and brown floral pattern. It always takes ages to do a hand rolled hem; this was started this spring and then set aside for other handwork. Since a number of my older Indian block printed scarves are starting to wear out, and I wear scarves often as my own hair is thinning and my head gets cold, it seemed like a good plan to finish up this project, and maybe start to look for another piece of cotton lawn to put in the "transit handwork" basket.

The leaf embroidery on the wool mitts with half-fingers for Drusa. It is going to be a cold winter, and my friend lives in a woodland yurt, heated by a wee little stove fired with the leavings of her woodworking. I want her clever hands to stay warm while she does needful tasks...

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Wednesday evening - seven 8oz jars and one 4oz jar of Awesome Sauce now cooling after preserving... one of my goals is to turn stored frozen food into the intended condiments. There will be Awesome Sauce (British chili jam) and Plum Sauce (homemade pseudo-hoisin), and some Strawberry Rhubarb sauce... plus, the persimmons all over the house are becoming ripe enough for me to start running the food dehydrator (and to try again for persimmon ketchup, this time sans cloves...

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I have been gradually and experimentally working on the rain capelet for a while now, finally finished on Tuesday... it is based on the German gollar pattern from Katafalk, but extended in the center front to a pointed vee-shaped hem, the better to add a sturdy outerwear separating zipper found in my stash-o-zippers. Finally sussed out how to draft and in what order to add pieces to create an extended underlap to one side of the zip to create a draft excluder.

Fabric: supplex bonded with goretex and thin fleece, lined with polartec. All edges bound with nylon lycra knit. The whole thing looked sort of sketchy/floppy until I added the edge binding when it firmed up and looked like an unusual but real piece of outdoor gear. I look forward to finding out if/how this model XP1 will work in realtime, it is a piece of gear I have wanted for ages...

The shoulders come out just a bit past my own shoulders, so should hopefully keep the parts that get the most soggy to stay dry. My idea is to wear this over a wooly layer in the ordinary damp wintertime, and to also be able to wear it over my current mostly worn out rain jacket for the same reason.

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November SMART goals (x=extra)

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	three sketches	necklace pegs	yard waste bin
2	2 more sketches	cardigan sleeves	paper recycling
3	scrappy collage cardigan	harvest 15# persimmons	lots of leaves
4	scrappy collage knit top	patched overall pinafore	apple watersprouts
5	floral scarf	Tullia mitts	yard waste bin
6	rain capelet	side yard drainpipe	paper recycling
7	Awesome sauce	Drusa mitts	-
8	quince jelly	hooks for plunger	x
9	x	x	x
10	x	x	x
11	x	x	x
12	x	x	x
13	x	x	x
14	x	x	x
15	x	x	x

today's gratitude - good friends, good food, a good home, and reasonably good health... truly all and any of these are a blessing