Friday Faves / April 2024
Hellooo!
Spring is really fucking with us in Michigan this year but it’s been sunny for two days in a row now so I’m letting bygones be bygones la la la it’s a gorgeous day and I think I’m finally at the end of a sinus infection that had me in a funk for 2+ weeks so I can think straight for the first time in what feels like months. Thanks to moving my studio and all of that. Hugo caught the bug from me though, so he was home sick a couple days ago. Mr Rae was in Germany (again) for a conference this week, but he is flying home literally as I type this so it should be a somewhat normal weekend around these parts.
Work-wise, Elli and I have been productive little worker bees and we are slowly checking off tasks for a number of projects that I haven’t really had the brainspace to promote or post about. This includes redesigning the Trillium and Luna print pattern covers, projector files for a bunch of my PDF patterns, updating Beatrix and Gemma (new sizes, yay!!!) , moving ALL of our files out of Creative Cloud because they discontinued Sync (srsly WTAF, Adobe!?!) and Garnet and Emerald sewalongs. These are all in various states of completion: Trillium, for instance, will ship soon with the new cover; the projector files have not yet been added to the shop; Beatrix is ready to package up but I haven’t had time to reach out to anyone to help me promote the relaunch, and I’m a little stuck on the sewalongs because I recorded videos and can’t figure out how/where to share those.
Anyway. I know it’s a fine line between “feelin’ good to be productive” and “hapless pawn of late-stage capitalism” so let’s move on to some things I’ve been into and up to lately (that don’t make me any money)…
reading: After a bit of a reading drought last month, I turned it around with a bunch of winners in April. I finished and loved Horse by Geraldine Brooks, Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom (yeah, wow, right? I too cannot believe I had never read that one), and Tomorrow, Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin which I absolutely tore through two days ago.
enjoying: my daffodils. Really patting 2021 Rae on the back for perservering and planting 150+ bulbs — this is the third year that they’ve come back and I can’t get enough. And after reading Rachel’s Stitched Together post about the flowers she’s planted and enjoyed, I now have these, these, and these daffodil bulbs on my wishlist.
falling: down the rabbithole that is Jessica DeFino’s The Review of Beauty newsletter. It started with this Cup of Jo feature, quickly moved to You Have Fossil Fuels on Your Face and ended with me looking up every ingredient in the Three Ships moisturizers I started using last month (verdict: everything in them is JDF-approved, phew.). Related: The Three Ships buttercream lip balm is divine. Wish I earned some sort of kickback for those links, but alas.
watching: Not watching much on my own lately, but we’ve had a lot of family movie nights, which have been verrrry Kung-Fu-Panda-heavy (made it through I, II, III at home, and then IV in the theater) but also Ready Player One, which Hugo (10) loved so much. When Hugo was home sick this week he re-watched Nimona while I was working and I had forgotten how completely awesome that movie is. One non-kiddo rec, however: Deadloch, SO good!!
listening: Tortured Poets Department, what else?! Personally I didn’t really need all of those extra songs but Clementine and I have still found a number of really good ones to obsess over. Podcast-wise, the City of the Rails was riveting.
knitting: some fun socks using leftover yarn from the cowl I made for Elli last summer using the Seasons pattern by Summer Lee. I couldn’t figure out how to do two at a time with the neon yellow unicorn tail so I broke my Cardinal Rule of Knitting and am doing just. one. sock. at. a. time but I’m almost done with Sock #1. I will survive.
sewing: I rounded these sewing projects up in my last Studio Notes newsletter - sign up is here - but just in case you don’t get/want my Studio Notes, I’ve been sewing up quite a storm. Recent makes include a green Citrine cardigan, Rose Pants, Jade+Isla dress, and knit Luna PJ shorts (pictured below!).
One last thing! Don’t forget there are just a few days left to take advantage of the big sale on my Creativebug sewing classes, if you’re interested. Get the details in my post.
Have a delightful weekend!!
xo,
Rae
PS. See all of my Friday Faves here, sign up for my Studio Notes Newsletter here or my local Sew Ann Arbor emails here, and get my posts delivered to you by email via Substack here.