Stories from the Sewing Room

I was unable to send or answer emails for five days. 😡 This appears to be a known Squarespace issue that started over the weekend for many people--Squarespace acquired all Google domains a while ago--a year, two years? I don't have enough technical ability to know how to fix it and Squarespace doesn't seem interested in fixing it either, based on the help forums and Reddit posts I've read. I used one of the workarounds listed in the forum and I think that has it working temporarily. I also had an issue with my Mailchimp blog feed last week that I thought I had resolved. Maybe it was related to the Squarespace issue?  

On to sewing. I have done ZERO personal quilting/sewing in the sewing room since last week. I had to spend some quality time with my seam ripper on a quilt for a few days and I spent a ton of time trying to figure out this technology snafu. 

I did work on several quilts for others. These three all belong to Paula. They ended up being much more challenging than I anticipated. The backs were all fleece and she sent two layers of QD Green for each. I learned that designs that require precise alignment and have backtracking/overstitching are not suitable for this fabric/batting combination.

The first quilt is quilted with Dino Tracks.

The next one is quilted with Paw Prints. Paula's piecing is always so precise and well-done. My in-progess picture of this quilt has disappeared from my phone.

And the final one is quilted with Mod Dotz.

I started Jeri's next group of quilts. This one is quilted with Sugar and Spice. I used Glide Vegas Gold and it really blended into the fabrics. She noted that this quilt was made in 2009 and I laughed because that's probably an average age for my own projects. I'll be binding all of her quilts.

In other sewing-related news, I have signed up for Cashmerette's sloper school. It starts next week and runs through July, I think. The pace looks manageable and as part of the class, the Cashmerette team will offer personalized fitting advice for each step. If you aren't a garment sewer, a sloper is a personalized fitting block that you can use to either create your own designs or use as an aid for fitting other patterns. I'm looking forward to learning the proper way to measure myself, diagnose my personal fitting issues, and then maybe create some wearable garments that are more flattering than what I can find to fit me in ready-to-wear. I've already started watching some of the fit library masterclasses (over 15 hours of instructions/lectures separate from the class lectures, which unlock each week of class). Edited to add that while Cashmerette focuses on those with a curvy build, they do offer inclusive sizing from 0-32 on the vast majority of their patterns. All club patterns have the full size range.

Over the weekend, we traveled to Indianapolis to see our daughter. We took a leisurely walk through IKEA and on the way home the menfolk saw a sign for Micro Center and wanted to stop. It was conveniently located near Jo-Ann, so we girls went to Jo-Ann. This one had a lot more selection than my local one, but the prices were not that great, in my opinion. There was still TONS of yarn. I purchased one novelty print for a donation quilt and one still-wrapped bolt to use as backing on a project I started prior to 2000! I am quite certain I paid more than they were worth. I also got two skeins of scrubby yarn and a package of elastic. Those were reasonable, not great. That will probably be my last Jo-Ann purchase ever. One local store is closing for good this week and the other has a few more weeks to go. 😥

My second order of the Vego tanks arrived at the end of last week. I got one assembled Friday night and we finished the other three Sunday afternoon. We planted the asparagus starts Sunday evening and covered the tank with a piece of chicken wire until we can get more dirt and get the fence installed. Not pictured is the rest of the retaining wall on the far side of the garden. My husband mowed the spare lot and worked with the retaining wall rocks and got poison ivy. 

Last week I was singing the praises of my meadow-like front yard. After rain and hot, humid temperatures, I must now admit that it is mostly weeds (but cute, flowering weeds) and does need to be mowed. We dug more of the lamb's ear out of the lawn. 

This is a picture of the buds and flowers of the unusual crabapple tree in the front yard. I noticed while taking this picture that the branches are either full of flowers or have none at all.

I briefly saw a Baltimore oriole Monday. It was on the hummingbird feeder instead of on the fancy oriole feeder my husband found in the freecycle area of the recycling center. 

I was going to share a picture of the three tulips I have blooming in my sewing room window well, but something ate two of them. 😒 Here's a picture of the stalks and the one remaining. I am originally from west Michigan and tulips are a thing there. I can barely keep them alive in my yard here in south-central Indiana. 

We attended Fine Arts night at school, my husband's graduation ceremony for the leadership class he's been taking since September, and also Underclass Honors night at school over the past week. The vast majority of kids receiving honors did not attend. My son has been slacking a bit this year and did not receive any academic excellence awards like he has in the past. He got a certificate for having above a 4.0 for eight trimesters, recognition for National Honor Society, and a certificate for Outstanding Achievement in Indiana Mathematics League. That last one was a surprise. We got to enjoy our third evening of jazz ensemble performance--they were at NHS, Fine Arts, and Honors nights. 

I'll be back tomorrow with the One Monthly Goal finish link up.