This might turn out to be a wordy brain dump and I will refrain from boring you with the reasons for my absence on this blog, but just want to say that I’m still alive and healthy; I’ve just been preoccupied with other stuff — such as unrelenting house repairs, a steady increase in books and reading (it’s now officially my Bookworm Era), aging (which accounts for a necessary afternoon nap), a bit of travel (a weekend stay in another city will cause a week’s worth of “recovery”) —and so on and so forth.

But wait dear readers, I have been sewing, just not for myself. At this moment there’s just one three-piece ethnic outfit in 2026, not yet finished. Below is minuscule photographic evidence where I’m working on a faced edge. The complete outfit will be posted soon.

The other projects of 2026 — one a gift to my 87 year old aunt, and the other two are “secret projects” —- were not mine and will also make an appearance when the time is right.

Staying within the realm of wardrobe additions:

My closet, despite being full, is lean and hungry for new stuff and I promise to rev up the sewing activity and exercise the writing chops by scheduling regular posts about sewing, fashion, and other related stuff. I really missed the connection with my readers.

I will be faithful to my bookworm status too. One of my current reads is this fashion related book about ground breaking designer of the 1940s and 50s Claire McCardell. I love the narrative style, based on extensive research (including quotes from McCardell’s personal letters) by author Elizabeth Evitts Dickinson, wherein we get to peek into McCardell’s realm.

Final yay: the new Project Runway season is on! Season 22 is on Hulu and Freeform, a new episode is dropped every Thursday very late at night in my time zone — which means I get to watch it on Friday.

I’ll end this brain-dump here with many thanks for reading. Many thanks for understanding the long break. More to come….

Samina