Bags, Bags, and More Bags

Yesterday was delightfully cool and showery—perfect planting weather—so I put out the rest of the plants. I was beginning to worry a bit about the lack of precipitation, because our little spot in the valley seemed to be in some kind of rain shadow. All week, I watched the sky and the radar as rainclouds and storms formed to the north, south, east, and west, but never over us. I would rather not have to start watering just yet.

The showers continue this morning. I will probably stay in and sew. The first batch of canvas grocery bags is done.

These are made with two colors of 10 oz duck canvas and a quilting cotton lining. The size is roughly the same as a paper grocery sack. I’m still using the ones I made almost 10 years ago. They are strong and durable and I always get comments on them at the grocery store. (They are so strong and durable that the baggers sometimes overload them.) And I get to have fun going through my stash to find fun linings.

I still need to fine tune a few settings on the 1541, but it’s a pleasure to use. It is out in the garage, and while that is a good spot for it, I am going to set up my spare iron and ironing board out there as well as put a dedicated set of snips, pins, and other notions nearby. The walk back to the house is short, but I won’t want to keep running back and forth in January.

I’ll finish what’s left of the bags today and move on to some other projects. I am feeling comfortable enough with the machine that it’s probably time to tackle some generator covers. And I also have that raincoat pattern in the queue for later this summer or fall.

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We are still being plagued by a ground squirrel in the garden. The husband closed up the tunnel openings by the grapes, but the raspberry canes are now tall enough to provide cover. I suspect the ground squirrel is getting into the garden via the raspberry patch. Those canes may have to be thinned out a bit more.

The garter snake is hanging around the outside of the chicken coop. I see it almost every day when I go out to do chicken chores. I concluded that it is feasting on mice and is probably mighty irritated that the Farmer Lady removed it from the all-you-can-eat buffet inside the coop. All that protein is likely the reason it’s such a big specimen, too.

The bunnies—definitely plural—spend most of their time in the backyard. They seem to be quite fond of dandelion stems, and heaven knows we have plenty of those.

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This was a tough week dealing with other people, communication-wise. I blame the full moon. I get particularly frustrated by the Facebook serger group I belong to. For some reason, that is the only group where the discussions really torque me, and I think it’s because so much bad information gets posted there. A few weeks ago, someone asked about using decorative threads in her serger and half a dozen people chimed in and said, “Decorative threads are only for use in the loopers, not the needles.” That is completely false, but people make these statements with authority even though they have no idea what they are talking about.

This week, someone asked for input about choosing a new serger. She said she was retiring and wanted to do more sewing and had the budget for a very nice machine. She was looking at the Bernina L860 or a high-end BabyLock. Of course, several people jumped right in and said they thought spending so much money on a serger was ridiculous. You know what? It’s none of your business what other people spend their money on. Those kinds of value judgments—in both directions, because I can’t stand it when people criticize others for knitting with acrylic yarn, either—are unkind and unnecessary.

Elaine and I are supposed to attend the annual meeting of our denominational conference in Portland this month. We discovered, however, that what is usually a two- or three-day meeting has been abbreviated to one day, and not even really a full day, either. That has caused us to rethink our travel plans. I believe it is important to attend the meeting, but the assumption that people should be willing to travel 10 hours for a six-hour meeting has stirred up in me some feelings of resentment. Our conference has a lot of churches in Oregon, a few in Washington, a few in Idaho, one in Alaska, and one in Montana. Those of us out in the far-flung hinterlands have long felt that the conference tends to be a bit Oregon-centric. Furthermore, there will be a gathering on Friday, but it is limited to credentialed leaders. It was explained to us that the credentialed leaders felt it was important to have a gathering where they could get together and talk about the issues that are important to those serving in ministry. I get it. However, I think that a parallel gathering or service project could have been planned for those of us coming to the meeting who aren’t invited to the Friday gathering. It just feels a bit ungracious to me.

I’ll get over my disappointment. I still think it is worth attending the meeting, but we might decide to split up the trip into two days and take our time getting to Portland.