I did not think it had been that long, three, maybe. Whatever have I been doing? I just went to check out my temp agency website dashboard, because I truly cannot bring any of it to mind, this minute, which is a little disturbing. I worked all March through April, two months. And, of course, there can be no doing of anything else if I have to go to the office every day.

It was a particularly trying office too: interestingly, my first experience in 30 years of genuinely incompetent lawyering. Attorneys are often trying: demanding to the point of irrationality, arrogant right up to abusive; however, up to now, they all knew how to format discovery, and how a motion works … and that when the judge tells you to do something, you had better do it. It still distracts me to think about it.

However, this does not explain the other four months. Oh … I remember what else: there was the cat sitting: actual access to actual premises (very nice premises) for two whole months: that would have been February through March. I got some things done before the assignment started.

I told you all before about my falling under the sway of some slow stitchers on YouTube. Ms. K3N is my favorite. Her work is very boro, very sashiko, but other stitchers do very colorful and frilly work. And where do they get all their bits and pieces from, you might wonder? Well, actually, most of the YouTube posters on this subject have mammoth stashes of everything textile, including recycled linens, that you could ever hope for. So then, what is a newbie to do? Well, she, or even he, can purchase, for a mere $5.00, plus postage, a little collection of this and that, to add to their own growing stash, from me!

I laundered, I ironed, I cut up pieces of this and that to fit into a 6×9 inch cellophane envelope, and then, I did not post any of these for sale. First, I put the packages together in February, in the dark, and later noticed stains on pieces that I had not noticed then. And, I got to thinking, it was actually a pretty silly idea. And so the project petered out.

Also, did I mention that the furnace on the lovely premises suddenly ceased to function? You can, I’m sure, understand know how anxiety producing such a thing is, especially if it’s a furnace that is not yours, but you are supposed to be minding.

There is always bloody something to put a sensitive soul like me onto the skids. And here I am, some months later, still … obsessing, we might have to call it.

Since I’ve been back in the car, for all of May, I’ve done a quantity of slow stitching. I’ve made a boro-inspired rice bag entirely by hand. I like the way it turned out very much. I’ve mentioned previously that I am attending the East Bay Heritage Quilters open quilting sessions, held in a community room of a local church. Now that “postcard season” (see “Catching Up”) is over, I’ve been taking my rice bag and working on the “fake-boro” embellishments to it. The bag itself is made from free fabric. At these open sewing sessions, many of the ladies use the opportunity to de-stash. They bring fabric they believe they’ll never use and put it in the free pile. I’ve been making out like a proper bandit, and the thing I like most is that it tends to be vintage fabrics that haven’t been in the stores for many years. The colors and patterns in my rice bag are strongly reminiscent of the 70s-80s designer, Laura Ashley, for whose work I have a nostalgic fondness. My mother painted her bedroom a similarly feminine milky green. [I must go Google. Mrs. Ashley died in 1985; the brand was sold. Don’t you go Google, you’ll get depressed, as the current product line is altogether pitiful. When a thing is done, it should just be done.]

And now I’m onto Inkle Loom Braiding. I bought a lightly used Ashford Inkle Loom from a fellow Spindles & Flyers Guild member. It is a smallish variety of the loom, and I can use it in the vehicle quite comfortably. I must credit the YouTube once more. Though I still consider card weaving to be beyond me, you can warp colored cotton threads onto an Inkle and tabby weave up some very pretty things with very little anxiety attending.

The plain bands work up quickly. This is just two-three weeks work. And … I am making a serious crafter’s effort to document my work.

And a person should credit the pattern. It’s from Anne Dixon’s Pattern Directory of inkle braids, and everybody carries it, including the inescapable Amazon. There are already two spots where I did not follow the pattern, but it’s still going to be just handsome down the front of a beige linen top.

The Black Sheep Gathering is mostly about fleece judging, and animal judging, and a potluck. It is a lovely event. I must try to remember to take pictures.