Making the most of a weekend

You all know how I squeeze every minute I can out of a weekend.  And, this weekend was no different.  Well, a little different.

Work has been hard and I was drained.  So Saturday, all I did was needlepoint.  Rob and I went to JoAnn's and lunch and the hardware store, but other than that, it was pretty much sitting on the sofa in the studio, doing needlepoint.  I have a piece I had done about 2/3 of and wasn't liking it.  So, I took almost all of it out and am replacing it.  More about that later because I'm replacing parts of it with my own drawn designs, and I'm pretty proud of that.  It was a great way to recharge and be indulgent and Sunday, I felt more like myself. 

I got up off my duff and got some things done.  First thing I did was put the Simply Delicious quilt in the washer with two color catchers.  I had been so nervous about not prewashing the reds.  One catcher came out dark brown.  The other came out stark white.  Not quite what I expected, but I didn't see any run in the quilt.  So, we laid it in the living room floor and I blocked it. 

I should always remember to take pictures before dark. 

The quilt has a ton of little squares.  I thought those were going to make it impossible to block, but it was the opposite.  They were like little guide marks as I worked my way around the quilt.  I used those and pinned it to the carpet at seam lines.  And, it came out nearly perfect.  There is one little spot that I think a dog tried to jump over and pulled in a small section but I believe that came out when it was hanging last night. 

We played a little on the deck, putting on furniture and plants.  We are very excited.  And, the deck is wonderfully built.  We paid the man off on Friday, and gave him a nice sized tip and explained that we didn't think his bid was sufficient for the work he'd done and we were very grateful.  (the pics make it look like it's not level, but that's because we live on the side of a hill.  I could not get the perspective right in the pics.)

It rained on Sunday, so we made Sydney go lay across it to protect it. 

We're looking at stains and things now, to decide what to ultimately do with it.  But, it needs to dry for a few months before we do anything.  Every time we open the back door, I smell fresh lumber.  It's wonderful.  Some things needed cleaning and repair before we put them on the new deck.  That's what we're working on now.  And, we bought a mat to go under the grill so we don't splatter grease on it.  Now that we've got a deck that you can sit on, we're finding new uses for it.  What we had before wasn't a place we wanted to sit and it's going to take some time to get used to having something new.

On Sunday, I started cleaning the sewing studio closet.  That had gotten a little away from me over the years and I was dreading it.  I keep the areas I can get to pretty neat.  That's the stuff I use all the time, so it needs to be accessible.  But, behind that, there's a layer of storage that needed sorting through.  I filled a trash can and half filled a large box for goodwill.  There's still more to sort, but there's also the collection of UFOs and fabric and started projects and things I started and didn't enjoy.  And, figuring out what to do with it all.  Some to keep.  Some to give away.  All the supplies for my many and various hobbies.  Which is fine, except I've given up some of those hobbies and would really like to get move the supplies on to someone that's still doing that.  (anybody still do cross stitch?  I have some stuff I'd share.)  I also just put a bunch of stuff away.  It's amazing how much stuff I can pull out and pile up instead of putting it away, so every so often, I need a putting away day.  That's generally preceded by spilling something because there was no good place to put it, so I had to stack it on top of a pile that was unstable.  Fortunately, I didn't let it get that far this time. 

We have a good life, but abundance can sometimes be oppressive. 

And, the rest of the day was filled with chores and cooking.  Chores and cooking.  Chores and cooking. 

The borders are on the Christmas quilt.  I knew that paisley was going to be perfect.  The backing is the same paisley and it's made, too.  But, when I looked at it all yesterday morning, I decided I need a light layer of white muslin between as an extra color barrier or the backing and batting are going to show through the white quilt top.  Grrr.  But, glad I thought of it now.  It would be much harder to add later. 

I pulled the fabric  for the Radiant binding, but somehow managed to get too busy to cut it.  A project for another day.  I think I got a little tired of that while I was quilting it and I need a little bit before I can pick it up and finish.

Everybody have a great week!  Hi-ho, it's off to work I go.  Rob has to go to court.  He saw a car that had run off the road and he called the police.  That's all he did.  But, he has to go to court as a witness because the drunk driver is fighting the conviction so hard.  An abuse of the court system...the guy was drunk enough to drive off the road, hit a tree and pass out in the car.  What else is there for the jury to know? 

Lane