Like sands through the hourglass...

Trying my best to appreciate what will soon be replaced by pointy, sideways rain. Sigh.

Photo via my iphone. Not bad, considering I was on a bridge, on a bike, facing backwards, imagining all sorts of scenarios where my body and precious gadget would plummet into the river below. Notice none of those visions stopped me from taking the photo.

Sunday Sewin' Milestones

Ladies and gentlemen, your attention, please. I made that skirt. The one answering the door. It started out as a square of fabric but it's been transformed into a fully wearable, not hideous garment. With a zipper. A ZIPPER. As if that isn't exciting enough, I also sewed my first set of darts. Besides a couple patches of crooked stitching, I'm feeling pretty good about skirt #1. Compared to my expectations, it's the Paul Bunyan of skirts. (That's a good thing.)

Or at least it was, until I realized that I had whipped together a piece of clothing that's too small for me. As you can see, it clearly doesn't fit my purple doppelganger. (I thought we'd all feel better about putting Paula the dressform through this kind of public humiliation rather than forcing you all to look my ass unsuccessfully crammed into it. You're welcome.)
So anyway, I'm aiming to give it to someone who can squeeze their buns into it. It's a heavy-ish twill, guessing around a size six, and has some great darts. Some of the best darts I've ever seen. The Swiss Family Robinson of darts. Someone take the skirt. Please.

Skirt pattern from this handy little book.

I pickled!

I realize that based on how often I talk about it, you'd think I put up a few pints every weekend. Not true. I'm a giant poser. Or I was. I recently delved into not only my first pickling project, but I canned those buggers too.

And it was... pretty easy. Yes, there were steps that had to be done in a specific order. No half-assing allowed in preservation town. But all in all, fairly straightforward. I've already single-handedly taken down a pint of pickled green beans. And I'm still alive. Proof of my aptitude. Or resilience to botulism. We shall see.

Many thanks, once again, to this fantastic book.