A Day Out

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I’ve missed pools and hot tubs and steam rooms and massages a lot this year…almost as much as wearing An Outfit somewhere outside of the house. So I feel pretty clever to have realized hot springs can mimic a lot of the spa experience and can be safely enjoyed outside.

Doc and I both had yesterday off so we drove north for a couple hours to spend the afternoon at Maple Grove Hot Springs. It had been over a year since we were there last but it’s still great, with river views and lots of magnesium and lithium in the water.

They’re doing reservations for soaking to make sure there aren’t crowds, and we had this pool to ourselves all afternoon. It was just what I needed–sun, hot water, no cell service.

PLUS, on the drive up we stopped at a fabric store in Preston, Suppose. I’d ordered some Ruby Star toweling from their website earlier this year (which looks like it’s down at the moment) and was impressed by their online selection. Reader, the actual shop was like Aladdin’s Cave of Wonders: They had the mushroom rayon I’ve been looking for for six months! They had a bolt of Anna Maria Horner pegasus rayon, which hasn’t been in stock anywhere in 7 years! They had voile and flannel and knits and even yarn!

Fabric is the best souvenir, even if it’s just a one-day vacation.

Tuesday Project Roundup: Samurai Jacket!

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This was one of those projects where the fabric and the pattern just come together–it’s fun to make and the end product is everything you hoped it would be, namely, A JACKET WITH JAPANESE WARRIORS ON IT:

This is Japanese cotton dobby I snatched up from Stonemountain without a project in mind. Looking through my patterns while planning the Autumn of WFH Jackets, I saw an old Built By Wendy for Simplicity jacket pattern, Simpicity 4109. I’d made the view with the wide sleeves back in 2007 (so long ago I have the post but no pictures) but hadn’t tried the straightforward “chore jacket” style.

 

I had to find a bigger size on Etsy, since I’m a lot broader than I was 13 years ago, but I’m glad I did. It’s a simple pattern but has some good details. There’s really deep back facing (I finished it with bias binding, because why not)…

…and some truly delightful pockets, on which I did the finest pattern matching of my life.

The print was big enough that I didn’t want to break it up over the front, so I took time to get the pockets perfect. I didn’t have enough fabric to do any matching that exact across the body but I think the scale helps disguise that.

This was just a fun sew that ticked all my boxes: easy construction, precise topstitching, contrasting undercollar, detailed print, HORSES, Bob Ross pthalo blue and all my other favorite colors.

 

Definitely one of my favorite projects of the year.

How To Make A Puzzle Mat

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Step 1: Get some felt, see if it will fit your table, wait for Toby to get off it it.

Step 2: Cut felt into 2 pieces, start putting out puzzle on the bottom piece, wait for Toby to get off of it.

Step 3: Put the top felt piece over the puzzle pieces and re-arrange your coffee table decor in the 30 seconds when Toby is not on it.

Step 4: To assemble puzzle, take off coffee table decor and top layer of felt. Hurry and put the top layer back on over a corner when you see Toby headed over to help with the puzzle.

Wednesday Poem

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We got rain over the weekend for the first time in weeks. Here’s something seasonal about it, by Ursula Le Guin:

OCTOBER
from Six Quatrains
by Ursula K. Le Guin

At four in the morning the west wind
moved in the leaves of the beech tree
with a long rush and patter of water,
first wave of the dark tide coming in.

Tuesday Project Roundup: Simple

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We’ve used cloth napkins for quite a while, long enough to be on a second set. The first set from World Market was so off grain they never folded up nicely; the second set from Crate and Barrell had a deep hem that warped and crumpled the minute it was washed.

I spent way too long over the weekend looking for replacement napkins online, only to worry that they, too, would be off grain, or have weird hems, or be exorbitantly expensive for something you’re going to use to wipe tomato sauce off your face. I definitely spent longer shopping for napkins than I took to actually make napkins–once I realized I could make them exactly how I wanted.

I got four napkins from a yard of Japanese dobby I had leftover from making a serger cover and ironing board cover back in April. They ended up 18 inches square and they are indeed on grain–I ripped the fabric vs. cutting (very satisfying). To finish, I tried out the rolled hem on my serger for the first time, using wooly nylon thread I had on hand from sewing gym tights. I didn’t have to press in tedious narrow hems and they should look just fine after washing. Boom!

I’m going to make another set of four today, since the serger’s all set up and I have an old shower curtain that would mix and match with this print. (All of my thrifty Midwestern ancestors are looking down on me and smiling right now.)

Live Your Best Life

By in Toby

I thought I could be coming down with something yesterday so spent a lot of time on the couch–which was pretty much Toby’s dream come true:

I think I was just tired since I feel just fine this morning. But let’s follow Toby’s example and fully enjoy the blankets you’re given this week.

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