Manic weekends

Okay, so even I know this can't last; this period of getting so much done on the weekends. But, it's working out nicely now and so I'm just going to sit back and relax and enjoy it and when it's over, I'll try to remember how good it felt to be manic and get so much accomplished.

Friday night, we went to the middle school production of Annie. Wonderful. Tearful for me. Great production for a group of young people. Sydney didn't end up going home from there with her best friend for the night, but she did go over there on Saturday and stayed all night and we picked her up on Sunday. I think she was suffering a bit of sensory overload and so she was pretty quiet the rest of the weekend. That was NICE.

Saturday morning, I got up and made the back and pinbasted the story time stars quilt. It has a neat striped back that I seamed using the John Flynn method...and yes, I did get almost all the stripes to match...close enough.



After that, I painted the last cabinet doors and the last trim and the doorway in the kitchen. Whooeee, I'm glad to be finished with that. Except that means I need to get on to the next thing in there, which is some tile work around the window, a task I have not been looking forward to. Even though it's just not that much work. I just don't want to do it. And, then fresh paint on the walls and that room will be done. Course, it's taken so long to do it, it may be time to start again by the time I'm finished.

And, then I spent the afternoon in the yard. I started digging a flowerbed last week and finished it on Saturday. It's a small, triangular bed, but it will really be an impactful bed, I hope as I move my way down the other side of the yard, creating the effect of a long, curved bed that starts at one back corner of the house and ends at the other.

Since Rob and I had the evening to ourselves, we went on a little date for dinner and then came home and watched a new movie. That is so nice. We don't choose to do that often enough.

Sunday morning, I cleaned the sewing room. I did the dusting and putting away that has needed doing and that I've tinkered with for months, always doing just enough to leave me a path, but never doing it all. I have one small pile of quilt books left to sort out (alpha by author, don't you know). And, of course, this morning, i spread a quilt out in there to look at. So much for order. But, at least it's clean. And, after that, I put the second coat of paint in the kitchen.

Since it was just us, we decided to go for Asian food for lunch. Rob had been hankering for it and I'd put him off because I was busy, but at 11:30, I looked at him and said, "I'm between projects. If you still want to go out for lunch, let's go." And, while we were there, we worked through our last bit of conversation prior to carpet shopping and decided to go do that on the way home. We've been shopping for months, so this didn't need to be a really long trip. We just needed to make the last couple of decisions (mainly what store we were going to buy from since there's so little difference in the big box stores anymore). We stopped at one store and we just weren't all that impressed. Seemed that it was just going to be the normal routine buy. Then, we went to the second store. The carpet salesman is someone that one of my close friends dated about a hundred years ago (but I can't remember which friend), and even though I don't think he recognized me, it created a sense of comfort where Rob and I could walk around and shop together, openly, without thinking about whether some salesman would be prejudiced enough to lead us the wrong way. Not that that ever happens, but it is a constant fear that we face...likely predicated on how things were a long time ago, before the world figured out gay dollars were the same color as straight dollars. Anyway, we walked around, agreed to pay to have the house measured, pretty much decided what kind of carpet we wanted, and picked a couple of known brand names to check out samples, and we were ready to go. When we got home, Rob measured the house and we're carpeting much less space than I originally estimated, so that means less cost (YEAH!!) This is just all coming together and I am proud to brag, we did it all without a single argument. Whoohoo for us!!

After that, I needed a nap. But, I didn't take one.

I've been asked to donate a quilt for a friend's church youth group as a fundraising raffle. I picked Roll, Roll, Cotton Boll because I think it's a great quilt, but as I pulled it out and pressed and then pinbasted it, I realized how hard it's going to be to give it away. I love this quilt. I remember my frame of mind when I made it and how nice it was during that busy season to have this quilt to sit and relax with. It's a very ample lap size and I still have enough squares to make something similar for myself. This picture is after I finished pinbasting it to a deep red backing. Now, I just need to get started quilting it.



And, that pretty much brought an end to my weekend. Rob cooked supper for us and I did dishes. I did better this weekend than last. Last weekend I was so tired by Sunday night that all I could do was shuffle around the house and grunt. At least this weekend I was able to hold intelligent conversation, right up until bedtime. And, I think I was actually awake for about 193 seconds after my head hit the pillow before I was out for the night.

This morning, I went back in the sewing room and started clearing off the pile of fabric stacked on my Bernina from the feathered star quilt. I laid it out to pick a border. I am having real trouble deciding between the darker border on the left and the lighter border on the right. Decisions, decisions. I guess if I had to choose something to fret over, it's better this than the carpet thing, right?

Everybody have a great Monday. I'll be recovering from my busy life with a bit of making money. Funny, I work harder on weekends than I work for money. And, if you ask me, that's how it should be!

Lane