Lately / May 2026

things i've been into and up to, spring edition

May 08, 2026

hellooo, my friends!

As you all know I live in Michigan and something is deeply amiss if I don’t talk about the wackadoodle weather every spring, so let’s go. We had a tornado (!) and a brief warm spell where I got maybe too excited and prematurely potted some pretty pink dahlias on our front deck. But it’s now been weirdly chilly, so I’m hoping they’ll come through the cooler temps we’ve been having since, including a handful of overnight freeze warnings, oops! They sure did look pretty with the blossoming crabapple against the dark graphite color of our house for a hot second though. Also: I had our house painted black in 2019 and nearly seven years later I am still loving this color so much. It has undertones of inky blue on cloudy days, and it’s held up really well despite our painter’s warning that it would fade after a couple of years (it hasn’t).

Speaking of houses. This summer I’m hoping to update our very old, mildewy, 80’s-era main bathroom, and as a result I have spent more time than I care to admit auditioning various tile samples and scrolling Pinterest for bathroom inspo. Stalking tile company websites like it’s my job is such a welcome distraction from the utter mess that is *gestures at everything*. If our Dementor in Chief can obsess about that effing golden ballroom instead of doing his actual job, I can lose a few hours creating a bathroom mood board with zero guilt.

For Spring Break we took a family road trip to a lakeside AirBnb in upstate South Carolina. Elliot couldn’t come with us this time (his college has a different break than my younger kiddos), but we did take the puppy along. It was a lovely, warm week, and we had some nice waterfall hikes and spent mornings with coffee on the deck overlooking the lake. Unfortunately, all of the travel and change of scene may have been a bit too stressful for Marigold, and I did spend most of the following week in and out of the vet to deal with some subsequent dehydration and constipation. I now know the answer to the question “can you give a dog Miralax?” Two X-rays and $$$ vet bills, followed by a few weeks of cooking more fresh food for the dog than for my own family (ermigeeeerd). She seems fine now. Here’s our happy little fluffernugget:

A few other things I’ve been into and up to this spring…

enjoying: my daffodils. These have become a critical mood-booster for me each year. These are my favorites. Planting all of those ding dong bulbs one fall was of the best things I did for future me, no regrets. Honestly, all spring flowers, just the best. My bar for delight is set so low right now, they don’t even have to be real: Mr Rae and I went on a date and there was an amazing flower mural on the wall behind our table and it made me happy.

listening: what a treat to finally have another Yebba album in the world, it feels like I’ve been waiting forever for Jean. and my sister Kricket and I have tickets to see her in concert later this month — eep!!

Three podcast recs for you:

I didn’t realize how little I knew about how World Central Kitchen works until I heard José Andrés explain it to Trevor Noah in this episode of What Now and I tell you, it is fascinating.
Adults in the Room is just incredible. One episode, I was hooked.
My don’t-miss podcast right now is The Convocation Unscripted, which is hosted by three Christian historians and a sociologist examining religion and its role in our current political situation. As someone who grew up in a conservative Christian environment, I (like most non-Christian Americans) have found myself utterly baffled by how incompatible Christian Nationalism is with the actual teachings of Christ. This podcast digs into all of that (and one of the hosts is historian Kristin Kobes DuMez, see note below).

sewing: working on a pair of PJ pants with my vintage Mendicino by Heather Ross. I leveled up my sewing skills with a new technique for french inseam pockets, woot woot!

knitting: I finished my lemon yellow Ranunculus!! {More photos on Ravelry}

watching: Project Hail Mary did not disappoint. I was talking about it with my friend Karima, and she said, “is that the one that’s like, Ken in Space?” and I couldn’t stop laughing, because it’s so true. Interstellar, but make it funnier.

Taylor’s cover of Phil Collins’ Can’t Stop Loving You is great, I’ve watched it a million times, and I defy you to watch this cover of Believe performed for Cher by Adam Lambert and not shed a tear.

and OMG, the Artemis II splashdown was so good, right?! Two takes I enjoyed: Liz Plank’s Artemis II is Competency Porn and We are Starving for it, and Michelle Norris’ Isn’t it Great to see that Wonder is Still Possible?

stitching: I am sooo close to finished with my latest Pattern Club Sampler, below.

reading: Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt, Heartwood by Amity Gage, and All the Colors of the Dark by Chris Whitaker were all excellent, though I find myself recommending Heartwood the most.

Next I shall be pivoting from fiction to non-fiction with Jesus and John Wayne by Kristen Kobes DuMez, who is a professor of history at Calvin, which is where I did my undergrad. I’ve also pre-ordered her new book, Live Laugh Love, which looks amaaaazing.

and… I don’t usually say yes to advance copies of books, but when a publicist at Quadrille reached out to see if I wanted to receive an advance copy of Atsushi Futatsuya’s new Sashiko book, I couldn’t say yes fast enough. I’ve now had a chance to read it in its entirety and I can say that it’s an absolutely fascinating and beautiful book. If you have any interest in sashiko or have ever taken a sashiko workshop, it’s a must-read (you can pre-order it now, it comes out in just a couple weeks here in the US, next week in UK). Here’s a little preview:

Finally, there is still time to sign up for my online Patchwork for Garments and Shirring with Elastic Thread classes on Pattern Review, the first one starts next week! Sign up if you’d like to join us!! My classes are all listed here.

Have a lovely weekend!

Rae

PS. See all of my Friday update posts here, sign up for my Studio Notes Newsletter here or my local Sew Ann Arbor emails here, and get my posts delivered to you by email via Substack here.