A Colorful Thread: August 2020
Weaving together my life as a maker and other spheres of life.
Best of Stitched in Color {August}
On My Mind
Experimenting:: with hexagons and triangles. I’m inspired by this image, which I snapped on our trip to Germany last winter:
I see the opportunity to machine sew these shapes without y-seams. As I’ve hardly worked with hexagons, the prospect is intriguing.
Reading:: I’m reading two share-worthy books at the moment.
Essentialism by Greg McKeon is a self-help sort of book about streamlining life to enable your greatest contribution to the things matter most. Most of the principles here are already my habit, but it’s nice to hear them fleshed out in words and in other’s life stories. Especially as we are house-searching, the decision-making elements of the book have been helpful. The book is fairly concise and meaty, which is refreshing for this genre (and imperative, given the topic!).
Between the World and Me by Ta-nehisi Coats. In the format of a letter to his son, this master essayist explores America’s racial history with bold, personal insight. This book is really unlike others. It’s almost poetry, almost journalism, almost memoir and altogether quite powerful. I’m not surprised it has received such high honors.
Following:: Steffi @QuiltWerke. Steffi has been sewing the Penny Sampler this year - two versions, actually! Here eye for color and fabric is lovely. I can’t decide which version I’m going to like better, her low-volume Penny Sampler or her winter one. Recently, Steffi shared this Trip Around the World quilt in progress. I absolutely adore the colors, don’t you?
Anticipating:: A new quilt-along! This fall I have cleared space in my schedule to produce a pattern for my Indie Geese quilt and lead a quilt-along. Super excited to sew a new version of that flying geese quilt. This time - totally different color scheme!
Last time I shared that we want move house in order to be closer to Elora’s school. I don't blame you if you’re confused. Her school situation is confusing! She currently attends two schools: a special school for language delay (only one in the greater area) and a Waldorf preschool (uniquely small class size). Both seem like a great match for her, but both are 30 minutes away (one way!) by bicycle. If all goes well, she’ll make a lot of language progress and be ready for mainstream Dutch school sometime in 2021.
For now we’ll have to put in the time on the bicycle, but we want to move to live closer to her future longterm school. Not only will this save time, but it will make it possible for Elora to learn to bike to school herself (very important Dutch skill!) and enjoy after-school playdates with friends, as is the custom here. We expect to live 6+ more years in this city, so settling in near Elora’s school just make sense. When Elora is ready to start mainstream school, we’d like her to attend a bilingual English/Dutch public school to support her English speaking. She is already speaking more Dutch than English! Since language is generally hard for her, being bilingual is a big ask. She needs all the support she can get.
Anyhoo, we’ve been house shopping since early July, but the market is tough here. There are hardly any houses for sale. What is available usually doesn’t have a room that is large enough for the longarm sewing machine, a critical part of my business.
After nearly two months of looking, we found an amazing house and put in an offer last week. The house is just 4 minutes walk to the bilingual school for Elora. Our offer was above asking price, but someone outbid us. That’s not uncommon here in the Dutch housing market, but still super disappointing.
To tell you the truth, I completely fell in love with that house. It was built in the 30’s and has gorgeous light, stained glass accent windows and an ideal layout with lovely lines. I’ve never felt quite as excited about a house before, so I’m having trouble moving on. Haha, it’s like a bad breakup. Lots of regrets. I’ve shared a photo so you can mourn with me. Wink.
I know I am supposed to hope that something better will come around soon; but, I can’t bring myself to imagine that possibility yet. Maybe with time. Meanwhile, our current home is still a nice place to be. That’s my current mantra. Plus, we have plenty of time to make this move happen.
xo,
Rachel