Life has been so full lately.
I don’t like the word busy because it sounds like my days are full of things that I did not put there, and that is not the case.
My days are full of long conversations with intelligent women with whom I have the privilege of working. They are full of books, reading them, browsing them at the library, thinking thoughts about writing one of my own, but never actually putting words on the page.
It’s been full of spring flower-hunting and hiking in the mountains, long walks by Lake Union and long leisurely dinners with friends.
They are also very full with a new hobby, which has partly been why I have stopped writing quite so much. It seems I can’t have two all-encompassing creative hobbies at once.
I got a sewing machine for my 38th birthday. Something that I have wanted for a while as a 4’11” grown woman who can never find clothes that fit just right.
Being a beginner at something is so immersive.
I have the sort of personality that when I find something I’m not good at, but that I enjoy, I go all in. I’m sewing after work in the evenings, spending entire weekend afternoons cutting and measuring and hemming and putting good sides together and watching tutorials as I accidentally sew the good side to the bad side. I’m at the stage of learning where hours evaporate. I look up from the machine to see that the sun is setting and the apartment is growing dark. It’s a flow state I haven’t reached in many years.
There’s a whole new language to learn. Raw edges and French seams and basting stitches and cutting on the bias.
And there are so many accessories! I thought sewing would save me money! But each weekend I’m back online buying a new color thread, scissors, pins, and chalk. I have more on my wish list that I’ve had to force myself to wait for because, of course, I don’t really need a cutting mat or elastic thread or a serger quite yet.
There is a whole online world that I didn’t even know existed. Sewing influencers, pattern makers, thrift flip videos where women turn oversized men’s shirts from Goodwill into intricate dresses and skirts.
Meanwhile, I’m still excited when I sew a straight line on a pair of pants I hemmed. I’ve also managed to take in a dress that was too big, cut the sleeves off of a dress that I haven’t worn in years, and make it look like it was always meant to be a sleeveless dress. I have turned too-long t-shirts into cute cropped ones, and in one of the hardest projects so far, I have taken in a pair of jeans that were too big, and they look great as long as you don’t look too closely at the center seam.
When I have attempted to make clothes from scratch, it’s a different story. There are the shorts I made out of thrifted fabric that are somehow both too big and too small. Then there’s the skirt with the elastic band that looks like a prairie skirt from the 90s that no shirt looks quite right with. My most recent attempt was a skirt with a zipper! and pockets! The zipper is somehow crooked, and while I intended for it to be high-waisted, it is so low-rise that even my 15-year-old self wouldn’t wear it (that’s not true; there was probably nothing too low-rise for my 15-year-old self).
All this to say, writing has taken a backseat, but I miss it. I have been falling asleep to Substack ideas, waking in the middle of the night, jotting notes down on my phone, the blue light illuminating my dark room.
I think I am out of the very beginner phase of sewing, and with a few upcoming adventures, writing is easier to take with me than my sewing machine. See you on the road.
After a huge start to the year with reading in January and February, March and April have been weird reading months. I have read a few books that I really liked, I have started a lot of books that I have not yet finished, and I have absolutely detested a few that I kept trying to read despite hating the characters (Yesteryear, I’m looking at you).
Here are a few that I finished that I really enjoyed.
The Road to Tender Hearts by Annie Hartnett. This is a feel-good book about a family that has spent years grieving the loss of their teenage daughter. We mostly follow the father, PJ, as he tries again and again to get his life back in order. The dynamic between him and his ex-wife, who lives down the street with her new husband, is heartwarming. When PJ finds out that his estranged brother and wife have been killed and that he is next of kin to look after their two children, he jumps at the idea, feeling like he is getting a second chance at doing that dad thing right. It brings together his whole family, and the ensuing road trip made me laugh out loud.
Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell. Without a doubt, the best book that I have read in the last two months. So gripping! So beautifully written! The story of Shakespeare’s family mostly follows his wife and their children. I haven’t yet seen the movie, so I’m not sure how closely aligned they are, but the book was spectacular.
The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Kline. This is my first time reading anything by TJ Kline, and it’s not usually something that I would pick up, but I really enjoyed it. A sci-fi style book, it’s about an orphanage on a small island far away from civilization. This orphanage isn’t a normal orphanage, but rather a home for the most extreme magical creatures, including a young boy named Lucy, short of Lucifer, the son of the devil. It’s sweet, it’s funny, it’s a good summer read.
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Until next time,
Laura
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