Friday Faves / Summer 2024
Hellooo!
I can’t believe I’m already staring down the beginning of the school year less than two weeks away. but here we are in late summer already. Love ya, August! My birthday month!!
Michigan is one of the most beautiful places to be in summertime, and this year it’s been especially lovely. In July after we got back from Amsterdam our family spent a couple of weekends in West Michigan visiting family, dropping Hugo off at sleepaway camp, swimming (err…wading…it was 65 degrees F) in Lake Michigan and in Mr Rae’s parent’s pool, and camping with my extended family. Last week I was in Maine teaching at AGOS; this week Elliot is in Seattle visiting my parents and Clementine is at choir camp. It will feel nice to have everyone back together and the kids in school.
Now that I’m back home, I’ve been trying to catch up with some of the projects I had put to the side while I was prepared to teach. I had hit some roadblocks with the Gemma update before I left, which I was planning to release in July, so I’m picking it up again this week. I really hope to have it out soon, along with the Beatrix update, so you can have them in time for late summer or early fall sewing!!
Here’s what else I’ve been into and up to these past couple months:
drawing: Without small children in our house to scribble on it, the dining room chalkboard wall has been bare for quite a while. Clementine had some friends over for her birthday at the end of July and requested that I draw a “birthday chalkboard with flowers.” I had fun with it and even took a little timelapse video which is here.
reading: I read three books in July and have two to recommend: Geraldine Brook’s People of the Book was really fascinating, and My Sister the Serial Killer was deliciously suspenseful. Highly recommend both!
enjoying: I treated Clementine to acrylic nails for a birthday present and got my toes done while I waited for her. I have the funniest little toenails so I don’t get them done professionally very often, but I picked out a variety of pastel colors and had them painted in rainbow order and they are pretty fun.
Have also been enjoying all of the Kamala/Tim excitement in my Substack feed, and yesterday out jogging I saw a sign for Kamala that said "MALA” (Make America Laugh Again), loved that. Lest We Forget the Horrors is always in my bookmarks tab. Feeling so hopeful about this election.
knitting: I just finished a second Summer Anker’s Shirt, yay! Photo above is of it in progress. I really love my first one which is a lovely copper color but it is 100% cotton and stretches terribly; even so, I still wear it all of the time. I’m trying another one in cream in a blend which should hold its shape better. I’ve also made a bit of progress on the yoke for a sweater for fall, Plant People by Brienne Moody (below).
sewing: For my Gathering of Stitches workshop, I created a piece of patchwork fabric for my demonstration so I’ve been working on sewing it into a fun new Trillium dress.
wearing: new glasses from SEE - these are definitely more subtle than previous pairs but I love the delicate butterfly shape.
OH! I wanted to show you two fun things I picked up whilst in Maine. I found a white cotton tunic at a thrift shop with Jess and Wanett which is no longer white because I threw it into Jess’ indigo dye pot at camp and now I love it so much!! And, a silky rayon dress with front tucks and a back tie that I found at a vintage shop in downtown Portland. Between these two things, the piece of Nani Iro fabric I bought at Fiddlehead in Belfast on our free day, and the two tops and a piece of double gauze that I got in the garment swap I got at camp, I’m going to have a whole new wardrobe.
