The Smell of Pumpkin Spice in the Morning

I spent a fair chunk of time on administrative tasks yesterday morning. When I created the new website for the Mountain Brook Homestead Foundation, I put up a very basic site with the plan that I would add/adjust things as we went along and figured out what was needed. I am offering a Beginning Sewing class on October 15—we’re going to make burrito pillowcases—and my class seemed like a good opportunity to install the online registration feature and test it out. We’ll see if anyone signs up that way. I also added the rest of the upcoming events for 2022. We will have a cider pressing day on October 8. Susan is doing an apple tree grafting workshop that afternoon, too.

At the risk of some of you telling me I am overloading my already-full plate, I’ll be taking over as chairman of the Homestead Foundation Fundraising Committee in November. I’m currently on that committee. The pastor of our Mennonite church is retiring at the end of October and he is the chairman. He has expressed a desire to pull back from his obligations for a while, so I’m going to head up the committee for next year. We have good ideas and I think we’ve done a great job meeting our fundraising goals so far, but like most groups, we lack manpower. I’ve had plenty of people tell me what they think we ought to be doing, but very few step up and actually put any action behind their suggestions. When we had the first garden tour, Robin—who was my hostess—actually wrote down all her ideas and identified who could do what, and that was an HUGE help when it came time to plan the second garden tour. I could use a couple more Robins.

The Homestead Foundation has a lot of potential. I am thrilled that we’re starting to have more seminars and classes at the Community Center.

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I cut out another Lark Tee yesterday and set it aside to take with me some time when I go in for Open Sew. (For me, it will be Open Serge, but that’s a minor detail.) I told Marianne that I would try to drop in for Open Sew at the quilt store on either a Thursday or a Sunday afternoon. I cut the Lark Tee from some DBP I picked up at Joanns in Seattle. Double-brushed polyester has now become my favorite fabric. I hated it when it was hot, but it’s nice and toasty when it’s cool out. I saw the bolt of fabric on the shelf and wanted some, but there wasn’t enough left on the bolt for a top. However, there was a chunk of that same fabric on the remnant rack. I took that as a sign from above. I bought the remnant and what was left on the bolt and had just enough for a top. This is me sweating it out as I cut the sleeves yesterday:

I tried on a lot of clothing when I was shopping in Seattle. I wanted to see what the different styles looked like on my body so that I would have a better appreciation of what patterns to search out—kind of a “sew the look” study for myself. I was pleasantly surprised by a couple of pieces, including a knot top (Halogen) from Nordstrom. The knot on that top, which I bought, is down at the bottom of the front rather than at the neck. I recently bought New Look 6689, intending to make the pants, but the top is similar in style to the Halogen top:

I cut out the top yesterday and started putting it together. The jury is still out on this one. Like most sewing patterns, this one is written assuming that the sewist will make it on a sewing machine, not a serger, so I had to spend the first few minutes figuring out the order of operations. Some edges need to be finished before seaming and some seams can be done on the serger. I am trying to be good and follow the instructions as given, but I got the front mostly done and realized that the front seam was left open—deliberately—for a good six inches above the knot. Theoretically, that opening will be covered up by the extra material there, but it’s unnecessary. I’m assuming that if I make this top out of the suggested lightweight French terry, which I did, I’m not going to have another shirt underneath and I’ll also be wearing it in cooler weather. Why would I want a 6” vertical opening over my abdomen?????? There is no opening like that on the Halogen top.

I took out what I had done there and closed the seam all the way to the knot. I don’t have high hopes for this one, but we’ll see. I do think the raglan sleeves are going to be comfortable and flattering.

I’ve got garden clean-up on the schedule for this weekend and next week. The furnace has been running and I put most of the insulated shades back up on the windows.