Home Dec Serging

I’m teaching a serger home dec class at the quilt store north of town today. I think we scheduled this back in March, after one of my first classes there. We scheduled the class and then I had to come up with a plan for what I was going to teach. One of the women who works there, Kathy, suggested the fabric line—Decorum by BasicGrey for Moda—and I think it was a great choice. We’ll be making a table runner, rolled hem napkins, placemats with pintucks, and a basket liner:

I’ve also got a flatlock pillow project in my back pocket in case we get through all of these. This is a day-long class and I have four students signed up, so we’ll see.

There is a stack of serger books sitting next to my chair, waiting for me to look through them. I need to come up with some new class ideas.

I decided not to do the craft co-op sale after all. I will go and help out for a few hours, but it was just too much for me to find all the stuff I’ve made and label and price it. Next year. Teaching serger classes really upended my plans for 2022—such as they were—and I need to get back on an even keel.

[Can you hear the universe laughing?]

I also decided not to go to Ritzville. Elaine is planning to go and will take the quilts. Robin and I are planning a trip to Spokane at the beginning of November.

The air scrubber arrived via the Big Brown Truck of Happiness yesterday afternoon. I had it running in the living room until the husband got home. It’s sounds like a jet engine, but even after a few hours, I could tell that it is making a difference. I need to do some deep cleaning and dusting and get the air stirred up. And I am curious to see how long it takes for the “change air filter” indicator light to come on.

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The war against rodents rages on. I came home from a meeting Sunday night around 8 pm. The house was unlocked but the husband was nowhere to be found. I kept hearing thumping noises from the chicken coop. I called his cell phone.

“Where are you?”

“I’m in the chicken coop.”

“What are you doing?”

“I’m killing mice with the shovel.”

The neighbor’s cat—christened Sylvester by the husband because he looks like one—was waiting outside the coop. He probably thinks he is in paradise with all those mice to catch and eat. Now that the feed is in the garage instead of the coop, the number of mice out there has decreased substantially, but we’re still seeing them. I counted six running around outside, and we caught one in a trap in here yesterday morning. The chickens are getting plenty of protein in their diet.

I’m hoping for a cold hard freeze soon. We’ve had chickens for almost 15 years and it has never been like this.

One of the Buff Orpingtons is sitting on a pile of eggs again. I candled them and at least a couple have embryos, so we’ll see if she can close the deal.

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I needed some mindless sewing more than I realized. I’ve got five cream-and-white scrap log cabin blocks done and another half dozen in various stages. I do chain piece them, sort of, although they grow at different rates depending on what scraps I pull out of the bag. I find it so interesting that such a traditional scrappy block has such a modern look when the blocks are put together. This quilt, when it’s finished, would look right at home in a contemporary setting.

The table that my Q20 sits in in was home to stacks of various items over the summer. The table has been cleaned off and now I’ll be able to start quilting there again. First up will be finishing my college roommate’s Sunbonnet Sue quilt. When I saw her in June, I mentioned that I was going to use a purple fabric for the sashing and backing and she told me that purple was her favorite color. She is planning to put the quilt in a room in her house that is painted that color. That was a lovely bit of serendipity.