Time for Some Frankenpatterning

I bought the Olympia Dress pattern from Love Notions and looked at the instructions. I also watched Karina’s video for that pattern at Lifting Pins and Needles, as well as Love Notions’ own video. The method of making the neckline in the Olympia Dress results in a much nicer finish on the inside. The Olympia Dress also has set-in sleeves. The one feature of the Olympia that I don’t care for is that the skirt and bodice are seamed at the waist.

I know that trying to get the seam to lie at the right place on my body would give me fits, so I am going to frankenpattern the Olympia dress with the Miramar dress. The Miramar dress is cut in one piece for the bodice and skirt.

I’ll probably start with a top or tunic. The idea is the same, though. We shall see what happens.

I’ve added Lifting Pins and Needles to my regular YouTube viewing, along with Crumpets, Tea, and Sewing, and the videos from Minerva, a UK fabric supplier. I also love Inside the Hem, which is produced by a young woman who does the most wonderful critiques of new pattern releases from the Big 4/5 pattern companies. She is not shy about sharing her opinions and some of her comments are hilarious.

[Do not, under any circumstances, look at Minerva’s website or you will be stuck in a rabbit hole for hours. OH MY GOODNESS. The colors! The prints!]

I finished quilting the sashing on the red Churn Dash top yesterday afternoon. The next step is to begin quilting each individual block. I have some ideas. I think I’m going to wait on starting those, though—my college roommate’s top just needs to be basted with batting and backing and I can start working on that one.

I am halfway through the cream-and-white Log Cabin quilt. I have 32 of 64 squares finished. That one will be a king size quilt when it’s done. I am thinking it will be destined for the craft co-op sale in September. We don’t often have larger quilts in that sale.

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I am committed to dropping off tax stuff at the accountant’s office on Friday. I’m going to call and reserve piglets this morning. Hopefully we can get them from the same supplier. The seed order is just about ready. I’ll need to order trays, too. We have plenty of pots, but those trays are over 10 years old and have seen better days.

I am not unhappy to see the backside of January. It is usually one of my favorite months, but this year, it felt like a slog. Those two weeks without internet at Christmas totally wrecked my daily rhythm and I am only now starting to feel like I have it back.

I follow Jonathan Haidt, a social psychologist, on Twitter. This morning, he linked back to a piece he wrote for The Atlantic back in May of 2022: Why the Past 10 Years of American Life Have Been Uniquely Stupid. The title alone sums up how I feel most days. There is much to chew on his piece, though, and I’ll probably read it several times over the next while.

I’ve spent some time looking over some of my health reports, especially the ones having to do with that MTHFR gene mutation. My particular methylation profile is represented in only 7% of the population. DD#1 is interested in the topic, too, as it relates to her pediatric OT work. I think it’s helpful to revisit this stuff periodically, because results that didn’t make sense five years ago make a lot more sense today in light of new information. One of those reports had to do with dietary guidelines and I wanted to see how the food sensitivity results compared. (Not well.) I’ve added in a few recommended supplements and I am curious to see if they make a difference. Most practitioners will suggest methylfolate as a supplement for people with an MTHFR mutation, but I’ve tried that and it hasn’t gone well. Readily-available folic acid supplements are synthetic and are even worse. I try to get folate from beans and leafy greens, but I am going to try adding in some folinic acid (calcium folinate) to see if I can tolerate that form.

This is probably the most complicated medical problem I’ve ever encountered. I may not get it figured out in my lifetime, but I know more than I did 30 years ago.