Weekend Wrap-Up

We've had some pretty bizarre weather lately - lots of rain and crazy thunder & lightning storms. The forecast is always off, and always changing. It makes it hard to plan activities.

Saturday, Mr. P, the OnlyChild and I decided to go to A Taste of Edmonton, which is held outdoors downtown. It was cloudy, but looked okay out. By the time we got halfway there, it was pouring rain. After we parked the car, the rain stopped. We stayed for a little over an hour, stuffed our bellies with goodies, then headed home. And on the way home it poured and poured and poured. It was insane.

I don't mind the odd rainy day, but we've had a bit too many of those lately. The good thing about rain, though, is the excuse it gives me to stay inside. With Swoon once again out of commission while waiting for fabric, I pulled out the old bow-tie blocks from last summer and whipped up a few more. Forty-six more, actually, for a total of 172 blocks.

 

They're all sorted into groups of four to be sewn into bigger blocks. 

 

And I still have some red fabric left over if I need to make more (or for borders and binding).

I had a bit of help collecting the fabric for these blocks. In addition to my own stash of red, Jenn, Riel, and Julie all sent me precious pieces from their red stash. Thanks!

Yesterday (Sunday) was a gorgeous day (despite the forecast). I took AbbyDog for a very long walk in the River Valley.

 

Then we spent the rest of the afternoon in the back yard. The OnlyChild and my neighbour, Shannon, joined me in the pool while the dogs played in the yard.

And today? Well, it's already rained and thundered and right now it's cloudy. Laundry and packing has to be done because I leave on Wednesday for my trip back east.

I'm going to try to fit in some sewing tonight - those bow-tie blocks seem to be calling to me.

Stuck in the Corner with Swoon

 

Just waiting on a fabric order so I can finish that last corner.

This sucker is HUGE - 92" x 92". Yikes! It will fit nicely on my queen-sized bed.

Back in the Swoon of Things

Yesterday, I decided to do a little bit of sewing.

First I had to fix the ironing board cover because it keeps sliding off (drives Mr. P crazy when he tries iron a shirt for work).

Then I had to fix a tear in one of Mr. P's shirts.

Then I had to fix a button and buttonhole on one of Mr. P's shirts.

Then I had to do a bit of tidying up in the sewing room.

Then...finally...I got down to some sewing and some quality time with Bernice.

You know that it has taken me a very long time to decide what to do with Swoon. I had the blocks ALL finished in February. Unbelievable that the quilt has been in pieces on my spare room bed since then. Just plain sad, if you ask me.

So, here's what I did:

 

I added 4 1/2" sashing between each of the blocks and used the pinwheels I made from leftover triangles as cornerstones. I haven't sewn the sashing + cornerstone blocks to the rows of blocks yet, but here is an idea of what it will look like:

 

Keep in mind, this is all sitting on a single bed, so there isn't much room to spread it all out. The strips are just sitting on top of the rows of blocks here.

I think it's going to look great.

I still have the quilting dilemma, though. Maybe if I take it nice and easy, I can quilt this myself, one block at a time. It's already been a long-term project so obviously I'm not in a big hurry...

I didn't get back to the sewing today. I had a lunch/shopping date with my friend Maria. Although I should not have been shopping, I did end up with a new pair of capris, a pair of jeans and a shirt - all 50% off. But the guilt...oh the guilt... I had to confess to Mr. P right away instead of hiding the loot.

See what being home all summer does to me?

Cryptic

 

from Pinterest

You know I don't usually post cryptic messages; I either tell you or I don't.

But yesterday, I mentioned something about work and I didn't tell the whole story. I'm still not going to because:
1. I'm not sure I fully understand what happened, and
2. I'm getting over it.

Really, it was just a matter of those with "power" making a couple of very poor decisions that will most definitely affect me in a negative way next year. I will survive. And, like I said, I have an escape plan.

So, why am I telling you this (and being oh so very cryptic)? Because I need you to send some good wishes my way. Keep your fingers crossed. Pray, if that's your style. I'm looking towards making quite a big change, a very exciting change, and I dare not say anything more in case I jinx it.

If it doesn't work out, then the status quo is not so bad. But it would be (could be) wonderful...
xo

Knock Knock

Who's there?

Rachel

Rachel who?

It's no wonder you've forgotten who I am; I've been gone sooooo long. It was completely unintentional.

There was some crazy busyness at work. Followed by some crazy awfulness at work (which I won't go into detail about because I'm sure it will fix itself somehow and if it doesn't, well, I have an escape plan).

The crazy busyness and crazy awfulness left me with little time to do anything creative so I really didn't have much to share with you in the way of quilts or sewing. Sad. I've made exactly two things since February.

First of all, I finished the Ugly Swoon Block and made a table topper out of it. Of course, I completely forgot to take a photo of the finished product before I mailed it off to my mum for (late) Mother's Day. Duh.

And I made a quilt. This is actually my only quilt finish of 2012 and it's a little one. I used the same pattern as for this quilt and chose a Pom Pom de Paris charm pack.

 

It's kind of a special little quilt. A friend from high school and his wife have 4 children; the youngest is two years old and she was recently diagnosed with cancer (neuroblastoma). Oh, it's such a sad story. I can't even imagine what the family is going through. It sounds like she's going to be okay...but she's so little and she doesn't understand what's happening to her. I sent her this little quilt just for snuggling when she's not feeling well or needs to lie down. I hope she likes it.

So, those are my grand finishes. Not very impressive, eh?  

Swoon is still in pieces on the spare room bed; no progress has been made at all. I think I have a plan, though. That's a start.

I have fabric for a dress. I have fabric to make the OnlyChild a Ghastlies quilt (yep, had that for a while). I haven't finished last summer's Bow Tie quilt or the Christmas String quilt I have been fiddling with off and on. 

Oh, I made a belly dance skirt. It took me an hour at most.

 

I was in three dance shows - one in April and two in June.

What else? The OnlyChild moved back home after her first year of university. She's decided to go to school here (which should save us a bundle). She's got a great summer job working for a tour company, but it requires me driving her there and back - a 1/2 hour journey each way every morning and afternoon, which means two hours of driving for me. So, that's my summer eaten up. I don't really mind; it's nice to have her home. We celebrated my last day of school by going out to lunch:

 

I had a beet and goat cheese sandwich with quinoa salad. It was goooood!

I haven't done much so far this summer. We had some very hot weather last week so the OnlyChild and I spent a bit of time in the evenings in our pool. Our inflatable pool. Not kidding. It's big but not very deep and it feels wonderful on a hot day!

This past weekend my in-laws were in town so I escaped the city (long story - no love lost between us). I went to visit my friend Kim. We slept in every morning, drank our coffee with liqueur, consumed piña coladas all afternoon, and played hardcore Scrabble. It was lovely.

 

Kim headed back east today so I took the bus home from the airport where she caught her flight. Now I'm home with a week to kill before I go back east to attend my high school reunion. Twenty-five years! Can you believe it? Me neither. I guess I'll have something to blog about after that (and pictures to show too, I hope).

Okay, so we're all caught up.

I missed you!