Weekend projects

Who else plans out what they'd like to accomplish on the weekend? I know I do. By about Wednesday, I'm dreaming of days off and starting a list of the things we need to accomplish, places we need to go, things we need to pick up, chores that can't wait, and sewing.

And, I stick to the list. Oh, we might do more than I've written down, but I get everything moving so that we can accomplish what's on my list, at least.

Unfortunately, that sometimes means there's no time for little things...like mopping, or scrubbing the kitchen sink. I might not get to the dishes, but you can bet that every inch of fabric I buy in a weekend will have been edged and laundered by the time I go to bed on Sunday night.

Hey, a quilter's got to have priorities, right?

This weekend, I want to stay near the house. I can't think of any errands we need to run or places we need to go or things we need to pick up. That means that we can just have fun this weekend.

So what am I planning for fun?

I want to plant those three roses we picked up last weekend. I haven't been able to grow roses in years. The tree in our back yard grew over my flower bed and my roses gradually withered and died of blight. All except a Mr. Lincoln anyway. But, this year, I'm putting in new rose bushes; shrub roses that will be more resistant to disease than hybrids. The flowers may not be the ones that florists like to deliver, but they'll smell just as sweet. I've never grown pink roses before. Red, white, yellow; but never pink. There's a first time for everything, eh?

I also want to cut out a Linus quilt. I had one all planned. I knew the pattern. I knew the focus fabric. I was all set to start cutting this morning. But, I couldn't find a thing to go with that bright yellow/orange/olive focus fabric. Oh, I found things, but they were bits and pieces and this quilt is going to need a yard of each of those colors. Again, I ask, what is a quilter to do? I'll have to go buy fabric to donate to Linus. Okay, so that might not happen. That's not what I'm making Linus quilts to do. I'm trying to bust stash, not buy fabric. So, I'm thinking that I might put that focus fabric aside again and cut out something else. I have another set of fabrics pulled with a fish theme. They were supposed to be for April, but hey, they might need to be March instead.

And, I want to finish in the potting shed. This year, I'm converting the potting shed to a sun room. The shed has a wood floor and that just isn't working as an area to keep plants. I need a floor that can get wet and stay wet until it evaporates. Instead, I end up mopping the floor after I water unless I'm very careful not to spill. And, that never happens. But, the space is the perfect size to handle a set of vintage aluminum lawn furniture that I bought many years ago and have never had the perfect place to use. It has canvas covered cushions, so I couldn't leave them outside because I never remembered to pull them in out of the rain. I only pulled the cushions out when we had company over. But, even that didn't work so well because the mosquitoes were so bad that only the smokers went outside and they didn't worry about a comfy place to sit. They worried about not being bled to death. So, we bought a movable greenhouse last fall, just after we'd packed everything into the potting shed for the winter. Now, I can actually use the space as a sunroom, with my comfy furniture, and enjoy being outside even when the mosquitoes are divebombing the clear plastic roof trying to get to me. And next fall, we'll set up the new greenhouse with a dirt floor to hold all the plants that won't winter outside.

And, I'm still working on Simply Delicious. I finished piece 22 of 35 of the apple block this morning before work.

And, finally, I'd like to cut out a shirt for Rob. Have pattern, have fabric, have thread, have buttons. Now, all I need to do is make the time. After I make him a shirt, I hope to make myself a pair of jeans. Not for any particular reason, except I have bolts and bolts of denim and even though I'd like to make 100 denim quilts to sell as picnic quilts, I know that I will never get to it...that would make quilting too much like work anyway.

Okay, so that's it for me. I will let you know if I actually get to all these ambitious goals...or if I spend the weekend in the swing with a good book. I could really use some swing time.

Take care and have a great Friday. Lane