Monday, November 12, 2012

Slow weekend...

I did not go into over achiever mode this weekend. I turned down the activity level a bit and rested a good portion of the time. I still managed to "go" a lot though through out the weekend. Friday after Jeff got out of work, we did the late fall dreaded clean up chore. He dug out the ladder and I went up on the roof to clean out the gutters and sweep off all the leaves that were piled up on the house and garage. It is not a fun job. I am not particularly fond of heights. I had a hard time climbing up the ladder because it was a little flexible as you stepped on each rung. It didn't move or shift any but it just flexed a little. Once I was on the roof I was ok except for the leaning over the edge part to reach the gutters. On the back side of the garage was the worst part since a lot of leaves were collected there and as I swept them down and off the roof was wet underneath. Very slippery and so I had to be especially careful then. My mantra was "Don't do a Betsy" and "Don't fall off the roof like Doug". I did slip once but I was sitting down and so the traction from my jeans and shoes did stop me before I got too close to the edge. That is my least favorite job of the year but it is done now and I don't have to do that again for a while.

On Saturday, I prepared my stuff to take to Tina's for Stitch and Bitch group. I made apple dumplings for snack and prepped my fabrics to make 2 casserole carriers while there. The apple dumplings were yummy and I got the carriers constructed but not quilted while at Tina's. I did finish them once I got home. Here they are.
Here are shots of the quilting motifs that I used.
I learned how to draft these from another online class that I took, Machine Quilting with Templates by Kimmy Brunner. The first one is a Mariner's star, that can be created inside a square, a circle, an oval, or rectangle. The sides of the shape do not have to be stitched but can be if you choose to. I did not stitch the shape sides and just let the star shine. I also did some fills in the points and center. The second one is a 16 pointed star with no quilting done inside the points. You can fill the points in with different fills or quilt the background area so the star pops a bit but for a casserole carrier that the quilting is primarily functional and won't be seen a lot I chose to keep it simple.
We also went out to dinner Saturday evening to the school for the fireman's chicken pie supper with Dan and Stephanie and her parents. It was so good and then I had everyone back to our place to finish up the apple dumplings that I had left from the morning. It was quite a full day but a lot of fun.

I also completed a journal cover. It is one of the patterns that we got from Charlotte at the retreat in New York.
I have 3 more journal covers that I want to finish before the craft sale. I need to try to get as much done this week as I will be traveling next week.

I got a photo of the sunrise this morning.
The colors are not as true in the photo but it was quite beautiful.

I got an email from Esterita Austin on Saturday about her class in Hawaii in March. I am so excited about this and am making my plans to go. I told Kate that she would be seeing me in March so she better be there. I also got an email from Carlene who does a fabric dyeing workshop that coincides with Esterita's workshop so I have to get my registrations filled out and sent in. I am so psyched. Things to do while in Hawaii. I definitely want to go snorkling again were we went this year. I didn't get to go parasailing last time so maybe we can do that and I want to go hiking again. I am going to have to get myself in shape so I can do all these things. Woohoo. I am so excited. (Can you tell I am excited?) I am sooooo excited. Can you tell?????

Well, I am off to get those registration forms completed and I hope you have a most wonderful day. Get excited about something. It gets the adrenaline pumping. It makes you feel alive and you might as well get that feeling from something good as opposed to some tragedy that occurs.





1 comment:

tina said...

If you go parasailing, we will deffinately have to do the zip lines in new york state next time we go. LOL. Im excited that you will get to go take a class with Estereda, and visit with Catherine, as go to Hawaii again, and spend time with your "little girl"