This Week in My Haven: No. 23
This week in my haven had a more hopeful feel to it. The temperatures were above freezing, the sun was out more, and the (massive) piles of snow were melting. It was actually a pleasure instead of a dreaded chore to take the dog on her daily walk! I also felt like the weather was mirroring what’s happening with Haven Handmade this week. It feels like new spring growth is on the horizon for my shop in the same way that it is out in nature.
Shop announcements:
I have been working on making it simpler to order a sweet, soft Huggable with the likeness of your choice. I keep making little changes and updates to this order form. If you have any suggestions for me, I’m open to hearing them!
Just one of the Huggable kids I made this week.
What I’m thinking about: Telling the Haven Handmade story. I was asked to share about starting Haven Handmade at the Kosciusko County Extension Office’s virtual banquet. This office oversees the 4-H program in the county. I participated in 4-H for 10 years growing up, which is how I got my start learning to sew. In the process of preparing my materials for the banquet I did a lot of reflecting on everything I’ve done in the past six months and how that connected with my experiences growing up. I also got to wondering how the Haven Handmade story will be told further in the future. Only time will tell!
What I’m making: I did finish my red bamboo knit Orosi top last weekend! It’s such a great style and the fabric is perfect too. I look forward to wearing it a lot! (The pattern is from Sew Beautiful by Kennis Wong). I was also able to stitch up a new pair of flannel pj pants last weekend too. And not only do I have cozy new jammies, but I also think I finally found my ideal woven pants sewing pattern. I created the pattern from bits and pieces of other patterns and made adjustments to get the fit I was after, and now I have a pattern for elastic-waist pants that can be used for making pajamas just as easily as it could be used for other casual bottoms. I’m thrilled about this and want to try making a pair from a fine wale corduroy next. Time to go fabric shopping!
What I’m cooking: Some weeks I cook almost everything from recipes and other weeks I cook almost everything without them. This week was the latter. Tonight we are making our favorite tortilla soup recipe for dinner though, so I thought I’d share it. This soup started out as a recipe from How to Cook Everything Vegetarian by Mark Bittman, but we’ve made some little changes to suit our taste. I typed up the recipe to reflect those changes and to pare down the instructions. If you try this recipe, I’d love to know what you think of it! Our favorite thing about it is that you can add so many garnishes to it.
What I’m reading: I started reading Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid this week. I’m only a few chapters into the book, but I am really enjoying the story already. The book doesn’t waste any time getting the plot moving! Even though the beginning chapters are eventful, I think it’s going to be interesting to see how the main characters and their relationship to each other changes.
I’m looking forward to getting outside to enjoy some longer walks and fresh air this weekend. I hope that you get to enjoy a little bit of nature wherever you happen to be this weekend!
(Disclosure: I do not receive any compensation for the recommendations or reviews I post here. All opinions are my own.)
