Friday Faves / March 2024
Hellooo!!
I’m like a deer in the headlights, like what month is it even? Wow, OK, it’s March already. No surprise, I skipped the Friday Faves post in February…honestly that month is already a complete blur. * Scrolls through photos app on phone just to remember what happened*
Oh! Last month Mr Rae and I celebrated 20 years of marriage (see photo of us as just-married-babies below) and we took a delightful weekend trip without kids to San Diego. Thank you to my sister Kricket and Ross for kid-sitting - that is still hands down the best present anyone can give anyone with kids. We stayed in La Jolla on the ocean, spent a day museum-hopping in Balboa Park, took many a walk on the beach, saw the seals and seal pups, and had dinner overlooking the ocean at sunset - dreamy. We also got lucky with the weather, which apparently has been “rainy with a chance of flash flood.” And of course, last week I moved out of my studio. I knew this going in, but now I know it know it all over again: moving suuuuuucks. Still trying to find my way around mountains of boxes and pull pieces of my brain off the floor.
{Unrelated: I was going to use this post to remind you to sign up for A Gathering Of Stitches' Slow Fashion in Maine in August 2024 because I’m teaching at it but OMG IT SOLD OUT in less than 24 hours on Sunday which is inSANE, so if you managed to snag a spot, YAY!! I’m seriously so excited.}
I’m taking a break from local workshops and teaching (other than my library gig) because I literally am without a physical space to do so right now. The space I thought I had lined up last week fell through…ugh…so that’s just going to be a good thing for me for now. I do love a good shake up. Interestingly, I’ve done two different interviews recently - neither have been posted yet but I’ll make sure to share the links when they do go live - but it’s so interesting to me to answer interview questions at such a weird moment for my business. What does it all mean? Only time will tell.
Finally, I want to say a huge thank you to everyone who purchased fabric from my studio sale. Not only did you help me get rid of yards and yards of fabric so I didn’t have to move it, you helped me financially during a month when I really couldn’t get any work done, so thank you thank you thank you. The quilting cottons sold out almost immediately but there are still a few yards of the flannels, knits, and corduroys left still if you want to take a look; I’ve marked the remaining pieces down. Oh and I found some yardage of the laminates (red dogs, yellow umbrellas) that I didn’t even realize I still had, so I added those to the Small World listing, should you find yourself in need of something fun to make a cute raincoat - the two I made for Hugo are shown below — or waterproof pouch with.
{Related: the kind comments so many of you left on this post and its IG companion post were so very moving. Thank you.}
Here’s what else I’ve been up to and into…
reading: I’ve had zero brainspace for reading books, but I did read Emily St John Mandel’s Sea of Tranquility on our trip and it was fantastic (the SIM! So good!!). Also: Catherine Newman (whose book I featured in the last edition of Faves) has a Substack, Crone Sandwich, and it’s bringing me so much joy, like spit out your coffee and belly laugh joy.
sewing: turns out listing all of my flannel fabrics for the Studio Sale reminded me how much I love them, so I made a pair of fox pajamas for Hugo to replace the nearly-identical size 6 ones he was handed down from Elliot that were hitting him mid-shin (he’s almost 10). Next up: flannel fox PJ’s for meeee! Should be done with mine just in time for summer. That was a joke. Also - received a lovely piece of Ruby Star canvas to work with for my first RSS Maker ‘24 project (shown below right). Any guesses what I’m making?
watching: Dune part I (at home, last Friday night) and part II (Saturday night, in the theater, opening weekend!!) was really cool. If you’re a diehard Dune fan, you might not love the fair amount of departure from the book in Part II, but this nerdy gal who read Dune repeatedly in college really loved it, if that’s worth anything.
listening: Mimi Cheng’s Dinner Party Playlist is on repeat and it’s a good one. Some real gems in there (discovered via Big Salad by Joanna Goddard).
throwing: axes. Mr Rae and I went axe throwing for a friends’ birthday last month. 100% dreaded it going in, and 100% loved it going out. Turns out I’m not half bad at throwing an axe. Who knew? Also: good reminder yet again not to decide ahead of time how much I’m going to like a new experience.
eating: we love the Kale, Sausage and White Bean stew from DALS in this house but we’ve made it so many times the kids are a little sick of it. This Creamy Zuppa Toscana is like a yummy sibling to that, with gnocchi instead of the beans, plus roasted red peppers (don’t skip!) and cream, so I’ve been making that instead.
stitching: Jessica Marquez’s first Pattern Club sampler arrived in the mail and it’s exactly what I need right now (below, left).
knitting: I’ve stalled out on my G8Gingham with a mere half sleeve finished, so I’m parking a pic of it here in hopes that Future Rae will see it and feel inspired to pick it up again.
planning: a vacation to Amsterdam this summer for the whole fam. Time to take these Dutch kiddos to the Netherlands so they can learn how to klompen and operate a windmill, like God Intended.
(rec’s welcome)
(seals at sunset)
(seals on a sunny afternoon)
