pockets and plackets

in which our plucky heroine has a possibly splendid idea...

if my 15 minutes of stitching pages turn out well enough, I will have my calendar images for next year!!!

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~ moss and anti-moss ~
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I never get tired of mossworlds... and the gap between the branches makes me think I could just follow that pathway to a better timeline (edit: apparently the greenish grey botanical bits in the first photo are lichens. Which I should have known better. Maybe the common name is some sort of "pixiecups" and they are in the Cladonia group)

and then there is anti-moss... well actually the trunk of a monkeypuzzle tree that was removed from the parking strip a few blocks away, but what an interesting texture, eh?

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Well... I decided to go ahead, stop dithering and cut out the pieces for my raincoat. I remembered that I wanted to change the shape of the collar, but completely forgot I wanted to add a seamline down the front in order to insert the toggle closures. This is what happens when I forget to look in my planning notebook.That was right foolish of me, but I think I have figured out an alternative way to deal with it. Really I've no choice, since I don't have enough fabric to cut out an entirely new set of fronts.

I will have to use leather to make toggle ends, since the ends won't be tucked into a seam. All this 3D puzzling makes my brain hurt, but I am perhaps foolishly confident that in the end I WILL have a coat that is wearable! I'm going to do some sample sewing to sort out how the flanged pockets fit into the seamline, and also to check on how my idea of adding a secondary pocket flap to the interior facing should solve my fastening issues.

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~ 100 day stitch book project - day 8 ~

Not a terribly exciting change from yesterday, as it took me all of the 15 minutes and then a few more to finish the pistil stitching... but I am quite pleased with the way the applique flower echoes the print motifs but writ large. Not sure what I will add next to the page, there will have to be some rummage around in the box of scraps to allow for inspiration. So far my "rule" about using what pieces of already cut floss first seems to be good. I noticed that I used one piece from the previous page base rectangle in this page 2. Perhaps I will do the same in page 3, and use some of the little scraps from the Hawaiian fabric.

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feeling sort of puny today, headachy and sneezy and not quite right... could be a cold, could be oncoming spring allergies. Need to pick up some fresh Nasalcrom, fingers crossed the drug store has some. I took a COVID test just in case, but it was negative, as I expected. Going to get to bed earlier than usual in hopes that it may just be my insomnia catching up with me.

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January SMART goals (x=extra)

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	striped tabletweaving	drawings for Vikki	recycle bin
2	night socks toile	2023 calendar masters	yard waste bin
3	2nd set of calendars	pocket flap pattern	recycle bin
4	night socks	chore coat pockets	yard waste bin
5	music broadside	chore coat CF corners	recycle bin
6	fingerless gloves	bleachdye neckline	x
7	page 1/20	x	x
8	x	x	x
9	x	x	x
10	x	x	x
11	x	x	x
12	x	x	x
13	x	x	x
14	x	x	x
15	x	x	x

today's gratitudes -
1. feeling right chuffed to have 37 folks signed up in the Advent of a Better Year in 2024 group.
2. seeing the tips of greenery from a few of the spring bulbs, and buds on the hellebore.
3. huzzah! I seem to have poked at the settings/appearance in Discord so that I can now actually see the pages and see the place where I am typing my replies! Not sure what happened to make it all kerflooie, or why it took me so long to think of going to the settings on my account, but being able to respond to comments again and ask questions is a lot easier when words are horizontal in a text box and not one letter at a time strung out vertically!

Time of Isolation - Day 1056

hippo birdie too mee

in which our plucky heroine marks another trip around the sun...

This is just plain lovely... happy Solstice one and all!

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"And so the Shortest Day came
and the year died.
And everywhere down the centuries of the snow-white world
Came people singing, dancing,
To drive the dark away.
They lighted candles in the winter trees;
They hung their homes with evergreen;
They burned beseeching fires all night long
To keep the year alive.
And when the new year's sunshine blazed awake
They shouted, revelling.
Through all the frosty ages you can hear them
Echoing behind us - listen!
All the long echoes, sing the same delight,
This Shortest Day,
As promise wakens in the sleeping land:
They carol, feast, give thanks,
And dearly love their friends,
And hope for peace.
And now so do we, here, now,
This year and every year."

~ Susan Cooper

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The cold front is coming, I can feel the shift when I go out to ride my bike, so much colder than it was earlier today.  I can sit indoors and enjoy the lovely picture book. I can listen to the next installment of The Dark Is Rising.

My garden-ish friends warned everyone that the intense cold will be deadly to rosemary, so I found some tarps and covered the bush in the front yard. The rest of the yard plants will have to take their chances. We will have two days of wintery mix and ice, and then the rain will return, along with the less severe temperatures.

I can make food to eat, (though not the gyoza I had intended to cook, since the stashed frozen wrappers turned out to be freezer burned). If I want to have something fun for dinner, it is far too cold for me to ride my bike to The Fishwife for calamari takeout... and I am just not feeling like kitchen experimentation. Maybe a simple stir fry and a green salad will do.

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out and about:

continuing my effort to document paying attention and finding something beautiful even when it is a challenge. Just look at how the variegated holly leaves set off the red berries. I actually had to stop my bike ride and find a way to clamber around and be able to hold my bike and be able to take a photo. (I really need to figure out a kickstand for my bike in 2023! I had one a few years ago, but it didn't actually hold my bike upright, so I removed it)

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~ creativity challenge~

for some reason I am just really pleased with the look of this quick sketch...  This was done to show SR the various options for where the handwoven trim could be placed on the daypack. I was trying to figure out how I could both color in a mostly black/blue design and also show the structure. I thought I remembered picking up an opaque white Gelly Roll pen a while ago, and wowzers was that just the right thing!

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December SMART goals (x=extra)

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	skull collar #2	over sink light	recycle bin
2	2 baprons for Liam	crock pot lid	recycle bin
3	8 jars strawberry rhubarb	replace furnace filter	recycle bin
4	quince paste	alter colorful huipil	-
5	8 jars persimmon ketchup	vertical loom	-
6	4 more Liam baprons	x	x
7	calendar masters	x	x
8	6 jars quincemeat	x	x
9	x	x	x
10	x	x	x
11	x	x	x
12	x	x	x
13	x	x	x
14	x	x	x
15	x	x	x

today's gratitudes -
1. I'm still here, still above ground, still making and sharing as best as can be managed in this second third year of the COVID plague...
2. My experimental lasagna (using 5 flavor eggplant) was a success...
3. a box of treats from Ursel, including a Roman style Samian ware bowl from Leah and Randall that would be perfect for some future Saturnalia party, if there ever are in person parties again...

Time of Isolation - Day 1021