In addition to heightened hoopla on the weekend, I was technically on vacation on Monday and completely forgot about Macro Monday.
I spotted this on my way to the car this morning:
Happy Wednesday! I'm working, which is not usual for a Wednesday, but still getting that "hump day" vibe and looking forward to the weekend (already)!
I had the day off of work today! I prefer my 3-day weekends to be Fri-Sun instead of Sat-Mon… but I guess I'll take what I can get.
I didn't want to, but I mowed the lawn this morning. Yesterday would have been a much better day for it, but I was otherwise occupied… Kate & I had our shopping/lunch date with Ginny. I know a few of you saw my IG stories about that. She was a HOOT! I'll do a separate little post about it.
I also had a meeting with the house painter this morning.
Otherwise, I've been sewing! I cut all the pieces for the girls' dresses and have been sewing a little bit each day. Plus I hemmed a pair of jeans for Kate last night. I finished Malina's (except for a button) this afternoon. I thought some sewing-related macro shots would be appropriate.
I bought a new machine a few months ago, and I've finally gotten around to actually sewing something. It's a Baby Lock Jubilant. There's a bit of a learning curve, as it has quite a few more features than my old Husqvarna — I have to look up how to do every single thing — but I like it so far and it has some great features, such as self-threading and a drop-in bobbin under a see-through plate. I have wound a bobbin and threaded the machine once or twice now without having to look it up, so that's progress!
Nice, even stitches. The machine has a speed control, so if it's on SLOW, it'll only go so fast (or slow, heh) no matter how hard I step on the pedal. That'll be great if & when the kids want to learn to sew. I can also forego the pedal altogether and just use a start/stop button… but that seems so weird!
I used one of the overlock stitches to finish the edges of the flutter sleeves. It's so cool to be able to do that!
I sewed one of those sleeves three times in order to get the flutter placed in the correct position, right-side up. Ugh! The sewing directions were similar to the ones you see in sewing where you knit a thing and then they tell you to knit another one but reversing the shaping, or whatever. Yeah.
Ginny's should go a bit quicker, now that I've done it once and know what to look out for. The pattern is Violette Field Threads' Ruthie. I might actually do a strip of velcro where the button should go because this is a size 2 (the smallest available) and Malina is a bit shy of that and also not a super-pudge like her brother & sister were! Or maybe one buttonhole and two buttons.
The hostas are blooming!
Kate took this great photo on July 4th. Junah directed our fireworks show, with an assist from Ginny, and Kate was our pyromaster. They're not even the star of this photo, but the hostas (and ferns) are definitely hard to miss, and the showstopper (Blue Angel) can't even be seen from this view. The ferns are almost monstrous this year! I've never seen them so big and full.
These were taken with my phone (Samsung Galaxy S9) in the front bed pictured above on Saturday when Junah was over "helping" me for a few hours. He essentially watched me pull weeds in the back yard for :05, declared it boring, and went up to the house and occupied himself with an old Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle car (missing pieces but still intriguing and fun) that we found at the antique mall, aka Nancy's. It's super fun going to the antique mall with him! He's getting to know the lay of the land, his favorite booths, the "shortcuts," and it's fun to see what catches his eye. Nancy lives just down the street from me and she gets a kick out of it, too.
I hope you had a great holiday and a wonderful weekend. I have been knitting, sewing, dying over all of the Revolutionary War airport memes, and celebrating a Women's World Cup victory!!
I can hardly believe it's July! Now's the time that summer feels like it might be slipping away, especially because we've hardly had any summer weather to enjoy… so.much.rain.
It certainly was summertime hot & humid over the weekend, with more of that in the forecast (along with more rain).
I've whittled the Macro Monday photos for today down from 10 (that I processed) to four:
There's a small stack of shells on one of the pergola benches… randomly stacked by one of the kiddos (I'm guessing Gin) and it's been undisturbed for days. I love the subtle colors!
Our young-ish catalpa trees are LOADED with flowers this year!!
And there are plenty of buds yet to open. So pretty.
So, naturally, our Airbnb guests arrived early on Friday and we were last on the list for appliance delivery… so that was less than ideal. The appliance guys arrived about :20 after the guests, but they were really great and the whole process went SUPER smooth! Had our guests arrived at regular check-in time, I'd have just been finishing up… just as I'd mentioned in my heads-up note to them. I'm really happy with the new fridge!
The thrift shop hop in Green Bay was fun on Saturday. Kate made a pretty good haul; I bought a pair of wine glasses and some sewing needles. Obviously, lunch was the highlight for me! We checked out Copper State Brewing Co., which is related to Copper Rock Coffee Co. located in Appleton. Kate had some pork tacos with a lager, I had a burger with an IPA and a half. I caught whiff of a hamburger on the way in and couldn't shake it…
I finished my Alabama Chanin A-line Tunic re-do! I found a back-side photo from June 2017 when I finished (the first time) to compare:
The difference in stitching is plain to see! I've popped it in the wash to even it all out (the equivalent of blocking knits). (Obviously, red is my preferred color for toenails!)
I did some #100daysknitorious2019 stitching on my Car Jacket, and also started some projects for the kids. By that, I mean that I mostly printed and taped and cut patterns pieces (so time consuming!). I'm making matching dresses for Ginny & Malina and a coordinating vest for Junah. I'm using some "Nana" fabric… a white embroidered cotton that were originally cafe curtains that my mom had made for the coffee shop (skirts of the dresses and body of the vest), and a floral Ralph Lauren sheet that was a favorite of my mom's (flutter sleeves, straps & bands on the dresses, welts & possibly facings on the vest & bow tie). We've been wanting to make something from that curtain fabric for a couple of years now, so finally… but it really needs stabilizing. I've ordered some fusible stuff and keep your fingers crossed that it's shipped sooner rather than later because just minutes after I did that, Ali sent me a message about a photo shoot for the kids on July 8th and it would be SO GREAT to have these projects finished. I could get away with adding another layer to the dresses, and maybe even to the vest… we'll see. I have a couple of days to think on it all.
Y'know, I was OK yesterday.
This morning, two blocks from work, a song came on the radio and I just started to cry… it's been hard to shake (doesn't help that it's gray and raining today).
My friend Carole calls that "sneaky grief." She is so right.
My mom died five years ago yesterday. And I miss her. A lot. I suppose I always will.
So bear with me.
The MACRO:
Another peony. The kids were over for a while yesterday and Junah was having a hard time when it was time to head home. He stomped outside… and I walked out after him. We sat together on the front porch and talked it out (sort of?), and then he jumped up and ran around the corner of the house. Pretty soon he came back and gave me this peony. Though similar, this isn't one of mine; he wasn't gone long enough, for one thing. So, thanks, sweet Junah… and neighbors!!
Speaking of the front porch, I stopped to take a photo of mine as I left for work this morning.
Do you see it? That sweet little kitty curled up on my porch chair?
That's not our cat. He/she sure looks right at home, though!
This is one of the sweetest photos I've taken of Malina yet; sitting on my front porch with her mama last night.
So, emotions are all over the place, anyway, and now this:
IT'S A RAD TIME TO BE A KNITTER!!
Though I don't post much about politics, I haven't been silent — except that I really cannot say that guy's name or call him "my president," so silent in a way, I guess. I am still utterly shocked that he was even elected and I still find him utterly despicable. He has done absolutely nothing to change those feelings.
I stand with Ravelry 100%
