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vellumblue.bsky.social
vellumblue
@vellumblue.bsky.social
76 followers 83 following 130 posts
Sewing, cats, life in Seattle.
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vellumblue.bsky.social
When your nephew requests a Freddie Mercury jacket for his Halloween costume, what else is a crafty aunt supposed to do but get to work?
A boy in a bright yellow jacket with buckles and white pants poses next to a girl with an elfin witch(?) costume.
October 31, 2025 at 5:12 PM
vellumblue.bsky.social
Never thought there’d actually be a time these shirts fit all 3 kids at the same time!
Three children, ages 1, 5, and 9, sitting on a ferry. They are each wearing matching handmade long-sleeved t-shirts, with a very late 80s blue-green dolphin print.
June 24, 2025 at 2:18 AM
vellumblue.bsky.social
Watching this does make me feel like less of a fraud for my Orcas hat though!
A white woman with glasses wears a Seattle Orcas hat. In the background is water and hills.
June 19, 2025 at 1:47 AM
vellumblue.bsky.social
Damn I love outdoor pizza season.

200g of dough, crushed tomatoes with some salt, garlic and oregano. Then dollops of burrata filling, basil and olive oil added after the bake. I will live on this all summer.
A homemade pizza on a wooden peel on a patio table. The crust is charred in spots. On the pizza is a red sauce with dollops of white burrata filling, torn basil and a drizzle of olive oil.
June 18, 2025 at 1:35 AM
vellumblue.bsky.social
Quiet Sunday morning; tea and milk in my handmade set.

It took several tries to successfully make the creamer. I ran out of time before I could make a perfectly fitting sugar bowl lid, but that gives me a reason to come back to pottery again in the future.
Milk being slowly poured into a mug of black tea. Both the mug and the creamer are made of white, carved porcelain. They almost look like wood grain. A mug of tea, a creamer, and a sugar bowl sit on a counter. They are a matching set of handmade white porcelain. Each are carved all over, looking like wood grain.
April 27, 2025 at 5:22 PM
vellumblue.bsky.social
My dad just sent me this photo of his class celebrating Easter in Tours, France, 1939. (Dad is the 1st bunny on the left in the front row). My thought process:
- Aw, cute!
- Bet he hated wearing that.
- Wonder if the kids dressed as chickens were jealous of the bunnies.
- Wait, are those AXES?
A black and white photo of a class of children in costumes. The front row are bunnies. The back row are birds, chickens I think. The middle row are wearing dark cloaks and appear to be holding axes!?!
April 20, 2025 at 7:55 PM
vellumblue.bsky.social
It took over a year, but I made a quilt for a wall hanging in my basement room! I really love the way this one turned out.
A portion of a living room. There is a quilt on the wall that gives the illusion of a corkscrew. In the foreground is a couch with pillows, another quilt, and a black cat.
April 18, 2025 at 3:59 AM
vellumblue.bsky.social
Annual tuition, room and board: $1775. Does not include slide rule.
ESTIMATED COST OF A COLLEGE YEAR Before enrolling in the Institute, each student is urged to make an accurate estimate of his expenses. There are certain basic expenses that every student will have to meet irrespective of his resources or individual tastes. The following minimum estimate of expenses is for an academic year of two terms, including recesses and holidays which fall within and between these terms, making a total of 37 weeks. Tuition, two terms (in 1953-54). $900.00 Board, 37 weeks. 525.00 Room 260.00 Books and Materials 68.00* Insurance. 22.00 $1,775.00 Excluded from this estimate are variable and versonal expenditures such as transportation, clothing, laundry, and recreation for which each individual should make his own estimates. The amount for board is based on actual meal costs (average) in the Institute cafeteria dining services; payment is by the meal, and individual variations are to be expected. *Not included in this estimate: $25 deposit for chemical supplies and breakage for all students who take chemistry. Incoming Freshmen should allow $40 more for non-recurring items, such as slide rule and drawing instruments.
April 13, 2025 at 9:10 PM
vellumblue.bsky.social
It feels tacky to discuss the cost of the building. But maybe that’s a thing you can talk about with your “date.”
RECREATIONAL FACILITIES Walker Memorial, built in memory of President Francis Amasa Walker, is the center of the social activities of the Institute. The building was finished in 1917 at a cost exceeding $500,000, contributed in part by alumni. On the third floor are a gymnasium with a regulation basketball court, lockers and dressing rooms, offices for various student activities, and a fencing room. Below are recreation and reading rooms, and a comfortable and interesting recreation center with a small dance floor and soda bar where students can bring their "dates.”
April 13, 2025 at 8:58 PM
vellumblue.bsky.social
Sailing is *by far* the most popular recreational activity? I guess it makes sense it’s not a sporty bunch.
A black white picture of a sailboat on the Charles River. The text reads: Intercollegiate sailing had its birth at M.I.T. The Sailing Pavilion, located directly in front of Walker Memorial, houses the Technology-designed dinghies, as well as a number of larger craft, comprising the largest sailing fleet in the world. Every student is eligible to participate, and sailing is by far the most popular recreational activity.
April 13, 2025 at 8:55 PM
vellumblue.bsky.social
Nothing on ethics, I see.
Course index of the E section. Lots of economics and electrical engineering. Nothing on ethics.
April 13, 2025 at 8:51 PM
vellumblue.bsky.social
I have a feeling the 1952 version of the class on the biological effects of nuclear radiation was not done with delicacy.
N20. BIOLOGICAL EFFECTS OF NUCLEAR RADIATIONS (A). The interaction of nuclear radiations with matter. Effects of energy absorbed from nuclear radiations on simple and complex chemical systems, on unicellular and multicellular organisms with special reference to human beings. Theories of the action of radiations on living matter. Physical and biological factors influencing the biological response to radiation. Comparison of acute and chronic exposures. Radiation dosage and dosimetry. Biological and physical bases for safety standards. Applications to industry, biology, and medicine.
April 13, 2025 at 8:42 PM
vellumblue.bsky.social
Technology of Food Products is essentially “canning for men” right?
20-11. TECHNOLOGY OF FOOD PRODUCTS. Methods of food preservation and manufacture. Semi-plant scale operations in dehydration. Production of fruit juices and concentrates, canning processes, and quick freezing of various foods.
April 13, 2025 at 8:31 PM
vellumblue.bsky.social
Contemporary ideas on political and economic development. “Current philosophies of hope and despair, and perspectives beyond 1950.” This one could be useful today.
H81. CONTEMPORARY IDEAS ON POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT. Continues emphasis of H71 and H72. Topics include "hard-boiled" schools of thought: Sorel, Pareto, Vaihiger; Pragmatists and Institutionalists: John Dewey, William James, Veblen, the "pragmatic revolt." Problems of the "Welfare State": Herbert Hoover, J. M. Keynes, war and "total mobilization," economic planning, and the problem of freedom. Responses to crisis: Fascism, Communism, Democratic Socialism, Catholic views of reform, current philosophies of hope and despair, and perspectives beyond 1950.
April 13, 2025 at 8:24 PM
vellumblue.bsky.social
Not one but two classes on Books and Men.
Excerpt from the 1952-53 MIT course catalog. E31 BOOKS AND MEN. Literature of Western Civilization. Reading and discussion of great books from Homer to present. Selected writing of the past, offering insight into experience of man as an individual, into his social experience his attitude toward nature of universe, and the schemes of value used to regulate his life. Considers relation of content to form, provides introduction to such literary types as epic, drama, novel. poetry, and short story. Readings from Homer, Greek drama, Horace, Dante, Song of Roland, Volsunga Saga, the Bible, Chaucer, Marlowe, Shakespeare, Dekker, Renaissance poetry. E32. BOOKS AND MEN. Continuation of E31 with readings from Swift, Pope, Voltaire, Balzac, Goethe, Lola, Dostoevsky, Ibsen, Shaw, Eliot, Frost, Sandburg, Silone, Faulkner.
April 13, 2025 at 8:15 PM
vellumblue.bsky.social
Today in things I can’t believe my dad has held onto, but also it’s long enough ago that it’s sort of interesting again: the course catalog from his freshman year at MIT 72 years ago.
A book yellowed with time reading “Massachusetts Institute of Technology Bulletin. Catalogue Issue for 1952-1953 session. Published by the institute. Cambridge Massachusetts. June 1952.
April 13, 2025 at 7:52 PM
vellumblue.bsky.social
Is it even a Stylemaker retreat if I’m not making something out of strawberry fabric? 🍓
Fabric laid out on a sewing table with pattern pieces laid on top, ready to be cut out. The fabric has a black background with red strawberries on it. In the background are more work tables with people sewing.
April 5, 2025 at 12:50 AM
vellumblue.bsky.social
Off to the sewing retreat I go!!
The back seat of a car with two sewing machines (a serger and a coverstitch) buckled into each seat.
April 3, 2025 at 9:03 PM
vellumblue.bsky.social
Really delighted, proud, and excited to see the first woman sworn in as King County Executive. Bravo Exec Braddock!
Shannon Braddock and King County Presiding Judge Shah stand at a podium with their right arms raised. A close up of Shannon’s face is visible in a tv monitor behind her.
April 1, 2025 at 10:45 PM
vellumblue.bsky.social
Otto says he’s sorry, he can’t be bothered by a storm right now. He’s found a duvet left on the ground.
A black cat curled up sleeping contentedly in the middle of a fluffy duvet in a pile on the carpet.
March 27, 2025 at 4:06 AM
vellumblue.bsky.social
Last day in the studio for my 3rd era of pottery. I know there’ll be a 4th era one day, but I’m feeling a little sad (and of course now I have tons of ideas for things I want to try).
5 pieces of pottery on a table, waiting to be glazed.
March 26, 2025 at 3:59 AM
vellumblue.bsky.social
I’m PM’ing a project to refresh our floor at work, and I’ve been having too much fun doing daily updates to staff on what new furniture has arrived.
A stuffed black & white husky named Sparky in an office chair at a sit/stand desk. Sparky is wearing a headset and has a laptop open. A stuffed black and white husky is in a small conference room with 3 chairs. The dog is on a Teams call. The screen on the wall shows a very handsome tuxedo cat is joining the call remotely. A stuffed husky is standing in front of a wood credenza. The dog’s had is inside one of the doors of the cabinet. A stuffed husky is sitting inside a study pod. It’s the type of lounger you might see in an airport.
March 6, 2025 at 1:58 AM
vellumblue.bsky.social
Before/after of carving these little porcelain luminaries. Time elapsed: one viewing of Pride and Prejudice (1995 version, aka the only version).
Casualty: Sadly, the little creamer on the left didn’t make it, but I’m excited to try again, with a matching sugar bowl.
Next stop: bisque firing.
5 hand-thrown porcelain vessels on a tray. Their surfaces are plain, ready for carving. A TV is on in the background. 4 porcelain vessels with intricate vertical carvings. A TV is on in the background.
February 28, 2025 at 4:23 AM
vellumblue.bsky.social
Back in the pottery studio, carving it up.
Two heavily carved porcelain mugs in process in a pottery studio. In the background is a container of tools.
January 25, 2025 at 3:32 AM
vellumblue.bsky.social
This is how Otto’s going into 2025.
A tuxedo cat is sitting on an unfinished jigsaw puzzle on a table. He looks very angry, with exposed fangs. In reality, he’s just mid-yawn.
January 12, 2025 at 7:40 PM