Farmers Wife blocks...

Blocks all laid out and cat free...

...put a fork in them because they are done!

I wish I could say that I had a grand adventure this weekend, that I went some place special and dined on culinary delights beyond my wildest imaginations...

...nope...

I sewed and sewed and sewed some more...don't get me wrong, I love to spend my weekend being creative and productive...this weekend I was hell bent on finishing the blocks for the Farmers Wife quilt, and I did...I was not completely true to the book but I mixed in many classic quilt blocks to make this creation my own.  It is s great to see the light at the end of the tunnel...

This morning, I laid it out on the living room floor much to the delight of the kitties...they rolled, they attacked and even took the time out for some personal grooming all on top of the blocks.  Ami was even kind enough to eat a couple of the labels that I made, after making 83, one for each block, so I have a map when assembling...

I also spent some time this weekend going over the materials for the online English 102 class I am taking this semester.  I am looking forward to directing my mind in a new direction.  And, in a lucky twist of fate, there is no home work due the week of the wedding!

Sashing and stuff...

Let the sashing begin!

This is the second week back at work...the week before classes start.  Everyday this week was hectic and crazy...From all reports, the first few weeks of classes are going to be pretty rocky, there is a littanly of projects not complete.  I came home each day a little fried from the activities.

Sashing was the only crafty activity that I could do, it didn't require a lot of measring or precision, pretty much just squaring up the blocks and sewing the sashing on...I got through 24 blocks during the week, I'm just that much closer to getting this project done!

I had a doctors appointment on Tuesday, I was down nine pounds from my visit last year and I left the office feeling good about that...

Eating wise, my week was only OK and I made it to the gym twice...next week will be better!

Three Block Sunday...

Light & Shadows

Sundays are always bittersweet, it's the last day of rest before you have to go back to the work grind...it's always a flurry of vacuuming, laundry, prepping food for the week.  It takes work to get ready to go back to work...

Squash Blossom

I managed three blocks today...the Squash Blossom block is the only block that is technically from the Farmers Wife book, all the "other" blocks are classic ones, so that's how I am looking at it.  I have learned so much and become a better technician in the process...

Shoo Fly

Blocks 73, 74 and 75...

Saturday, lunch with MIZ...

Churn Dash redo

It's so nice to get up in the morning without the alarm clock.  Even when you get up around normal work time, it's on your terms!

I was up around 5:30.  One of the first things I do on Saturday mornings is I check the Barbara Brackman blog for the block of the week.  This weeks block is called Indiana puzzle and features curved piecing.  I have not  done this in a quilt, i have sewn plenty of curves during garment construction.

Wrench

Armed with my cup of coffee, I re did my churn dash and fashioned a wrench for the Farmers wife quilt.

I met MIZ for lunch at Red Lobster.  It had been about two months since our last visit, we had lots to catch up on.  Mike Storms stopped by our table, he and I had waited tables together at the 35th Ave store about 100 or so years ago.  After lunch, we hopped into her new Mercedes SUV (super swank in my book...) and hit the Arrowhead mall for a little shopping.  I don't think that MIZ really does alot of shopping, we always have fun and some good laughs while we are out together.

Old Maid Puzzle

The evening was low key, one more block an a trip to WalMart...

72 blocks done...9 more to go!

Back to work...

Ohio Star

It was hard to get back into the swing of things...the alarm went off at 5:15 and my immediate thought (the one I have every morning) was, I don't want to get out of bed...

My schedule is 7-4, I am hoping for some time by myself in the office before all hell breaks loose each day...

The problem with not leaving town and having the vacation experience was, in some ways, I felt like I never left...

The week was busy with emails to catch up on, orders to recreate, invoices to reconcile and any manner of office business that usually pops up...

Sashed block

I went to the gym twice, which is one less time than I scheduled myself on my Google calendar.

The Seahawks played their first pre-season game and won, they kicked it up in the third quarter.  I will be happy when we go to the bar to watch the games with the other Seahawkers...

By Friday I was tired, a nap on the couch and a cup of coffee revived me and I brought Vic back to the kitchen table and did a little sewing...

Looking forward to lunch with MIZ on Saturday...

Day Seventeen...

Carolina Lily

I tried not to oversleep this morning...I knew that if I did I would have a hard time detting to bed tonight with work in the morning...

First up was a trip to Trader Joes for some ingredients for some of the items that I read about last night in the their food blogs.  Not a bad time to go, 10am on a Sunday...

I pieced my Barbara Brackman block in the early afternoon.  When I was done, I had to start the hard task of cleaning up my sewing machine and the boxes of fabrics that had been my friends over the last two weeks...

Ashley helped me tidy the house for our dinner guests, then at the last minute, Steve called to say he would not be able to join us...Alyssa came over and we gave her the scrapbook with pictures of Josh when he was little and the packet of Army benefits that we got from Fort Leonard Wood last September.  We had a pasta dinner, watched the deprived dress show on TLC and had a pleasant visit.

Day Sixteen...

Three finished quilt tops

Today was my last full day of sewing...I worked on the Jo Morten quilt top for most of the evening...

Since this is Monday (when I'm writing, I have a horrible sense of recall)

I must have done other things...if so, I just don't remember...if something else comes to mind, I will add it...

Oh yeah...while searching the web for a recipe for balsamic glaze, I found a couple of very cool websites that feature clean eating and other healthy nutritious recipes and tips...bookmarked them...made a lovely batch of balsamic glaze, can hardly wait to try it...

Day Fifteen...

Lazy...again...

Two naps today, each lasting about 30 minutes or so...

I have been wanting to go to Sun Valley Quilts for a couple of weeks now.  I was disappointed...the clearance section had really crappy stuff and they have raised the prices on the regular fabric.  Ever since the new owners purchased the place, it has just been different...

Finally got the car washed while I sipped on a frozen drink from QT...they didn't have the melon berry flavor that I liked...leaving the house today was a little disappointing and it was hot as you know what...

Got my Clooney on and watched "The Peacemaker", I picked it up in the bargain bin a couple of years ago and decides to break it out of it's shrink wrap...

My crafting project for the evening was to get the borders on my Jo Morten "convenience panel that I picked up in California...

Day Fourteen...

It felt good to wake up in my clean room...it's amazing how much better the room feels without all the extra boxes of stuff cluttering the space...

I met Dorene for lunch, it was a working lunch.  She needed to give me my performance review so we got that bsiness out of the way and then had a great visit over Indian food...

Did a bit of shopping today for the bathroom, new shower curtain and rugs at Anna's linens, new towels and a fresh supply of Seahawk fabric at Walmart and then a trip to Joanne's later in the evening for scrapbooking sopplies and pillow forms...

I got another row onto the kids wedding quilt, that was the creative effort of the day...

Day Eleven, Twelve and Thirteen...

A cluster entry...

Enjoying the clean room!

I have spent the last three days cleaning my room...the last time I did it, it also took three days in 2004...

So you can imagine the multitude of time capsuled things I found, threw away, recycled and shredded...condolence cards from my moms passing, Nortons medical records, some Norton spew, cards from Josh's ex girlfriend and a birthday card  with $50!

I vacuumed, dusted, sorted and sneezed more than once...

We went to Walmart and bought new sheets, lamps and a bookcase...

The bathroom is clean too...

The reward for all the hard work (besides the obvious...) was to bust out the sewing machine...which I did, I was squaring blocks for the kids' wedding gift when things just weren't going right...that's when I decided to start fresh in the morning...

In the meantime, the boys have enjoyed playing and napping and tonight I will sleep well after a job well done...

During the cleaning, I unearthed a few books, so I decided to take advantage of my new found (re found) library, I started reading on of my short story compilations...