A Midweek Trip to Missoula

The Jeep and I went to Missoula yesterday. I said to the husband that I feel a bit disloyal to the BMW, but I really enjoy driving the Jeep. I couldn’t find one thing on it that I would change (except perhaps the gas mileage). The seating is incredibly comfortable. We used to joke that driving DD#2’s Crown Victoria police cruiser was like driving a couch, and this isn’t far off. I know I’m going to appreciate that on trips to Seattle. The Jeep is not as nimble as the BMW, which takes a bit of getting used to, but the 3.6L V6 engine has plenty of power. In some ways, it reminds me of driving my Dodge MegaCab. The dash layout is clean and uncluttered. All in all, I am very happy with it, and the husband is happy that I am happy.

The BMW and that Dodge MegaCab remain at the top of the list of my favorite vehicles ever, but the Jeep is a strong contender.

I went to Missoula on a business trip. My first stop was A Clean Stitch, the Bernina/Janome dealer. I sat down with the owner and we looked at our calendars and scheduled a few more classes. Their classroom space is finished now and they are working hard to line up teachers and classes. I also picked up the acrylic insert for Robin’s sewing table. She bought a new Janome sewing machine from them in January but needed a different insert for her table. When they tried to mail the insert to her, the post office informed them that her address was not valid, despite the fact that she gets all her mail delivered there. Rather than risk the insert getting lost, I brought it home with me.

[The US postal service appears ready to make another sweeping move in the name of efficiency and saving the planet. About 10 years ago, they stopped sorting the mail here in Kalispell and began sending it to Missoula before bringing it back here to deliver. It looks like our mail will now be transported to Spokane—four hours and 250 miles away in another state—to be sorted before bringing it back here to be delivered. With each passing day, the movie “Idiocracy” starts to feel more like a documentary than a parody.]

After lunch, I stopped in at The Confident Stitch to interview the owner, Kate McIvor, for the podcast. The Confident Stitch is a rarity these days—a successful fabric store offering both modern quilting fabrics and apparel fabrics—and I wanted to find out more about Kate’s business philosophy. We had a good chat and that interview will be next week’s episode. The store is in downtown Missoula, which gave me another opportunity to practice driving and parking in close quarters.

The Jeep does not have snow tires on it—and won’t get any until next fall—so I have to pay close attention to the road conditions. I hit a couple of heavy snow squalls coming out of Missoula. They didn’t last long, but the road was wet and it was 31F, which are perfect conditions for the road to ice over. Once I got past those squalls, though, the weather improved considerably.

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The time change has been a stark reminder that winter is over, at least “winter” as I define it. With more daylight in the evenings, the husband is less inclined to come in and relax after dinner. I’m planning to spend Saturday afternoon cleaning up the greenhouse so I can start planting next week. Soon it will be time for chicks. And all of the spring activities are gearing up. The older I get, the longer I wish winter would last, because that’s really the prime time for sewing.

The baby quilt arrived at its destination. I forgot to take a picture before I sent it, but my cousin took one:

This was a fun pattern and I really liked the bit of free motion quilting I did within the blocks. I also did ribbon candy in the borders using the Amanda Murphy ruler.

I worked a bit on the Portsmith Tote the other day, but the tension assembly on my Necchi BV broke. I am waiting for a replacement part to arrive. Original parts aren’t available, but that machine shares so much in common with the Singer 31-15 that I am pretty sure the same part for the Singer will work on the Necchi. We’ll find out. I could finish this on the Juki 1541 if I get time to work on it.