Dear Mom,
See? I was doing other things than playing Wii all weekend. I finished sewing this top, the one that I needed to get ribbon for at Michael's. (It ties in the back.) I found this rad material on clearance at Joann for 3.00 a yard, which was all they had left. One yard. My pattern called for more, but I figured out a way to seam the back so I could squeeze a while shirt out without so much a a scrap left over. (More or less.) I was thinking about how you told me once that you never ended up using the pattern layouts as they recommend because that way you can get more use out of your material. And over the weekend I hemmed the pants I'm wearing in this picture, which had been hanging around with the tags on for the last two years. YAY for new pants. And I also took up the straps on a black knit dress from Old Navy which was designed for some sort of Amazon girl. The seam is a little wonky because the material kept eluding my pressure foot, so I'm thinking about sewing down cool ribbon or maybe embroidering something at the top of the shoulders to camoflage.




Love,
Ruth
p.s. I also designed those new earrings.

Dear Mom,
I think this is the toad equivalent of "two thumbs up" for the Log Island we installed in the fish pond.




Love,
Ruth

Dear Mom,
I checked on the garden today, and so far, we've got a good showing from the radishes and the broccoli rabe. It's the Ron Garden.

Love,
Ruth

Dear Mom,
Remember how Noemi got us a videogame, the Nintendo Wii, for Christmas but every store was sold out? Well, when Ron and I went to Rochester on Friday, we finally found one. It has been far from the only thing we've been doing the last two days, but:




Really, really bad.
Love,
Ruth

Dear Mom,
Have you been to a Michael's store lately? You know how Martha Stewart now has a line of crafting supplies there? Well, Ron and I went to Rochester yesterday to get supplies, and I needed ribbon for a shirt I'm sewing (need to learn to read the small print on the pattern) in a color I didn't have laying around. We were in a plaza with a Michael's, so I went in there. If I didn't have Ron with me, I would have spent a lot longer poking around every little thing. There is so much neat stuff! First of all, there are all sorts of ribbons in pleasing, CONTEMPORARY colors, unavailable in the regular ribbon area. And so many cool sticker and label type things, and all the packages have holes punched in the bottom part so you can store all the different things you get in a ring binder. It's so silly, but there were a billion colors of glitter. Really beautiful colors. What can I put glitter on? (I didn't buy any, but if I could figure out what needs sparkling, just watch out.) And the prices weren't too high at all. Surprise, surprise.

Unfortunately, I felt kind of weird yesterday. Don't know why, could even be the storm moving in (which still isn't here). But it kind of took the fun out of eating out. But I'm fine, so not to worry. When you come visit, we can go up and eat at the Indian restaurant we had dinner at. It's really, really good. And Ron will come too, because it's right down the street from Beers of the World, the biggest beer store ever.

Love,
Ruth

Dear Mom,
Yesterday we finished putting in the garden.




Corey and Claire

If we had had more fencing, and had tilled more, we definitely could have used the room. It's pretty packed in there, and there are entire families of vegetables that are missing. Oh well. Now we just have to hope something grows.




Claire





Ron, Corey and Dan

Love,
Ruth

Dear Mom,
100th post! I promise to get back on track with daily postings.
In that spirit, here's a tunic top I finished last week. Started on the race horse, finished on the mule. You can definitely see wonky parts when you look close, but something in me has changed and it's not a deal-breaker anymore. I'll still finish the project up and wear it, I just keep moving fast enough that people can't see where the stitching isn't straight. Do you recognise this material? We bought it when I was sewing in high school, and I have held on to it like it was especially valuable. It did take a couple days to deliberate in my head on the right project for it, but then I just dove in. All-in-all it fits pretty well, although it probably won't double as a dress as it's totally see-through.




Love,
Ruth

Dear Mom,




When I was 11, and you bought me my first sewing machine, I want to thank you for not buying the lowest, cheapest model. Thank you for buying a good machine, because even though she wasn't working so well for the last few years, and then when I pulled her out on Monday she wasn't working at all, I was able to bring her to the local quilting shop and spend a hundred dollars to get her back up to snuff. After using the New Electric for the last few years, which is like riding a green horse, always slightly out of control and ready to spook, when I brought the New Home back after an overnight at the shop, it was like riding some old mare, calm and steady. One that walks in a straight line, footsteps always the same. Amazing. Thanks.
Love,
Ruth

Dear Mom,
Happy Mother's Day! I hope you had a good day with your other daughter, the one who gets Mother's Day because she's a mother. Here's a little thank you to you for today, and another special treat will be arriving in the mail in a couple days. YAY! SUPER SURPRISES!




Love,
Ruth

Dear Mom,
When one furry is sad, another is happy.




Kids.
Love,
Ruth

Dear Mom,
So sad.




Love,
Ruth

Dear Mom,
last Friday the Check Engine light went on in my car. Geez, Louise. When Ron looked under the hood, he noticed that one of my distributor cables had a bad connection to the engine. Like it had corroded away. So Ron took my distributor cap and cables off and took them to the store to order new ones. It took three false starts with the auto parts place to get the parts in, but today, Ron and I fixed the engine in the car. (He needed my help because Subaru puts the parts where normal sized people can't reach them.) TA-DA no more Check Engine light. Shazaam! The parts alone were 150 bucks or so, so having the garage do it for us would have been a lot of money.

Now for its maiden voyage...
Love,
Ruth

Dear Mom,
This morning Jack caught a mouse. Ron woke me up at 6am and we pried it from his steel jaws and I put it outside. It had some bald spots but seemed fine. Then a little while later, Jack barfed up what seemed to be way more mouse parts than had gone missing on the one I freed. As I was on my hands and knees cleaning up, I thought about taking some pictures, and then I realized that mouse feet are way more interesting to look at on the driveway than on the persian rug. blech.
Love,
Ruth

Dear Mom,
Diaspore:




Trace:




Trace, detail:




From the series, Still/Moving, front view:




From the series, Still/Moving, back view:




Love, Ruth