Five Favorites: Sewing and Reading Edition

--1--

AdBlocker Plus just became my new best friend.  I've been increasingly concerned about the specificity of the ads I'm seeing in my Facebook feed (as in, I searched for something on ebay, saved it to a watch list, and the item popped up in my feed prompting me to buy it).  First of all, I think it is creepy, and a violation of my trust in both companies, which makes me less likely to buy anything through a Facebook affliate link.  Secondly, I strongly dislike the feeling that Big Brother is watching my every move.  And yes, I know there are better browsers to use like Mozilla (which get lots of bugs, in my experience) and more opaque search engines to use (like Ixquix), but I find that the quality of the results is just not as good as Google's results.   Thirdly, I don't want the constant visual pressure to buy buy buy to be happy, to match some unrealistic photoshopped picture of someone else's life or body.  It interferes with my own sense of contentment, and cheapens the quality of my interactions on social media (which, in the absence of ads, are quite uplifting and useful to me). So AdBlocker Plus to the rescue.  It comes free from the Chrome App store, which makes me quite happy.  

--2--

I'll blog about this blouse later, but this was my test garment for the blouse.

Gertie's Portrait Blouse pattern.  It comes with Gertie's New Book for Better Sewing, and, aside from the book being a great resource, this pattern is great.  It is super easy, very adaptable, and can be sewn up in less than an hour.  It is basically a t-shirt in woven fabric.  I've sewn up three so far, and I love them all.  

--3--

I made a portrait blouse out of this fabric--pics to come soon!

Japanese cotton.  Seriously. Where have you been all my life?  I think when you get used to the cotton offerings from Joann Fabrics, you forget that there might be other, better cottons out there.  This is not to denigrate the offerings at Joann, but they tend to be a rather uniform quality, and mostly of quilting weight.  I don't mind sewing garments with quilt-weight cotton, and have sewn several much-loved garments from quilt-weight cotton (so inexpensive, such fun prints!), but Japanese cotton is a big step up.  It does cost more, but comes in equally fun prints and the hand is just so nice and so smooth.  It is a step lighter than quilting cotton, but has a nice drape and weight.   I think now that I've got a nice base of me-made garments in my closet, and have whittled down the fabric stash I mostly inherited, I'm going to be more picky about my fabrics going forward.

--4--

I started re-reading Outlander to get me through to June 10 when the next Big Book is released, and remembered anew why I love reading, and why I love the Outlander universe.  It checks a ton of boxes for me: history, fantasy, romance, adventure, humor, quirky and memorable characters, strong storylines, long complicated plots, Scotland, World War II...did I mention Scotland??

--5--

Hand embroidery.  Ponchik has spent the last month or so (probably longer--in my sleep deprived state, I don't have great recall) thinking that the hours of 2:00-5:00 a.m. are playtime, or at least, not sleeping time, and I'm really starting to feel it.  I'm not safe to drive more than 15 minutes, and I spend a lot of time going about in a mental fog.  I can drink a cup of fully-leaded coffee at 9:00 p.m. and still go to sleep within an hour. I've made a ton of ridiculous sewing mistakes this month--mostly because of tiredness.  One of my mistakes resulted in my having to radically alter my Strawberry Fields Forever project, and during the revamp, I decided to add some hand embroidered strawberries to the skirt.  I remembered how much I like hand sewing, and plan to add more embroidery to other projects in the future!  I'll blog more about the specifics when I get around to photographing the whole outfit, but for now, a sneak peek: 

I've been doing a lot of hand sewing this week, and I have some Big Thoughts about the role of machines in crafting and community.  As soon as my brain can string two coherent sentences together, I'll write it up.

Go see Hallie for more Favorites!!