Visit to Mount Rainier

There was a long line at the entrance (Paradise side), but with our National Park senior pass, we got to go right in.  Parking, on the other hand, was ghastly.  One hundred years ago last weekend there were only 800 visitors to Mt. Rainier, and 147 cars.  This year it was more like a million.  Well, a lot, anyway.

We took the Nisqually Vista Trail, a short loop out to look at Nisqually Glacier.  It has certainly changed in the forty years since the first time I saw it.  

The meadows are in full bloom, and it's wonderful to see how they've grown back over the years.  Here are some of what's in bloom, with what I hope are correct identifications.

Magenta paintbrush

Sitka valerian

Broadleaf arnica

Heather

I never get tired of taking pictures of the mountain.

 

And we finished off with a really good lunch at Longmire.

I wore out the W

I'm just putting this picture here, because I need to link it elsewhere.

A Birthday Serger and a Little Bit of Sewing

After years of dithering, I finally bought a serger!  It's the Baby Lock Imagine with the fancy-pants jet-air threading.  The FP JAT poofs the thread into the loopers and I squint and thread the needles my own self.  I love that it's so easy to thread and that I can thread it in any order. If a thread breaks I don't have to re-do the whole thing.

I practiced using the new machine by making a few baby blankets - terry cloth on one side, cotton on the other, all serged up with a 4 thread overlock.  It was a good way to get used to the speed of the machine, get a feel for how everything lined up to the cutting blade and learn how to serge a rounded corner.

Hattie, of course, napped in the scraps.

Next I practiced a narrow rolled hem.  I want to use this for hemming some silk crepe de chine chemisey-thingies that I want to make soon.  I really love this rolled hem:

Then I took a deep breath and serged the seam allowances and hems of a Louise Cutting shirt that had been waiting around for a month or so for me to finish it.
It's Cutting Line Design's Point of View shirt, view B.  I did away with the pleat in the back and just gathered it into the yoke.  It's a lovely loose shirt to wear on its own or over a camisole or tshirt.  The fabric is a  cotton from Marcy Tilton.  It has a bit of a brocade effect and is a little greener in real life.

 The houndstoothy fabric is a light-weight scuba knit I got at Britex in San Francisco earlier this year.  It will eventually be made into a pencil skirt and tank top

 Loverly buttons from Nancy's Sewing Basket

 Gathers substituted for the back pleat.

A mitered corner that I would not be ashamed for Louise Cutting herself to see!

While I'm enjoying learning a new machine, and looking forward to using it more,  Hattie is enjoying plotting mayhem and practicing her evil laugh

Summer garden on a rainy day

This is David's garden:

One cherry

Two pears

Many apples

Many, many raspberries

This is my garden (which David takes care of for me):

My new Peace and a sunflower:

My old Peace:

Memorial Day:

Our neighbor's scarecrow:

Titanosaur at the American Natural History Museum

Wedding blouse finished!

The is Katherine Tilton's Butterick 5891.  One half is a silk jacquard (Nancy's Sewing Basket) and the other is a glazed linen (Emma One Sock).  I took the second picture with a flash to show how shiny it is.  Now I'm going to Divinity: Original Sin and kill spiders.

Teal silk jacket

This is Vogue 9035, Marcy Tilton's jacket, and I'm really pleased with it, especially the buttons.  I picked the fabric up years ago at Peggy Sager's booth at the Puyallup sewing expo.