The Weekend Wrap-Up

 

 
I’d have to say that it’s time for a Weekend Wrap-Up. 
 
The weekend got off to a busy and productive start with the semi-annual one-day retreat.  I was humbled by the enthusiastic greeting I received from my retreat and guild friends. The next quilt on my must-make list is a two-color blue-and-white kaleidoscope quilt.  I had thought about starting it during the retreat, but it would have helped had I actually done more than think about it ... I knew that I have plenty of reproduction blues but alas, I didn't have enough of a suitable white nor of the purer blues I’m hoping to use.  I’m planning to hang this quilt above our bed and am trying to incorporate more of a beachy feel to our décor, so I’m going to go with purer blues and white, none of which I have enough of in my stash.  (Yes, I have some shopping to do today – woo hoo!)  So instead I worked on what has been my retreat project for at least a couple of years now, my indigo/neutral pineapple. I got almost 4 blocks pieced ... I had one block about 1/3 done, I pieces two complete blocks, and I got a good start on a 4th block. 

Lest that seem like I was slacking, those are almost 14" blocks. I should have, if I recall correctly, a total of 10 finished blocks.

These are a few finishes … the one on the left is quilted and bound while the two on the right are just at the flimsie stage.  Unfortunately I failed to make note of whose quilts these were.  The retreat went until at least 9:00, but around 5:00 I started to tire.  I did manage to stick around for another couple of hours (a girls' gotta have dinner, right? - especially when it includes Italian cream cake for dessert!). Needless to say, I was exhausted when I got home and slept really well that evening.
 
Saturday was a slower day ... which is just what I needed after an exhausting Friday.  I managed to do some tidying up around the house, got caught up on our financial recordkeeping, supervised DSIL’s setting up our new TV, and had some fun with T#3 and #4 while the rest of the family went to the movies with friends. 
 
Sunday was a fairly slow day as well.  I finally got around to pressing the bedskirt for the new daybed bedding set … when we moved in, I couldn’t find a daybed bedding set that I liked at all, so I “settled” for standard twin-sized bedding.  It didn’t take long before I realized that it wasn’t really working and that I didn’t even care all that much for the bedding set I’d chosen.  

I also finished putting away my supplies from Friday’s retreat and spent some time working on my ongoing hexie project (this and that pineapple project feel like they’re never going to get done - ha!).

(Pay no attention to that “old lady hand”.  Ugh)  While it wasn’t nearly as warm as I would have liked, I did get outside for a walkabout … and I noticed that my hydrangea not only has a good number of buds, it’s actually started blooming! 

That light green flower in the center is the flower just opening … this hydrangea blooms white, so the flowers appear to be a very light green when they first open.  You can also see lots of little buds above and slightly to the left of the flower.  My iris are also blooming.

My azaleas are still blooming, too. 

Our garden is doing fairly well.  Our tomatoes are doing well, in spite of the colder weather we had over the weekend.  Our lettuce will be ready to pick in a few more days.  Alas, like last spring, our green beans (the few that sprouted - grrr) seem to have been a tasty meal for some critter.  We haven’t seen any signs of the raccoons that feasted on them last spring, so I’m wondering if it was the rabbits.  DH replanted more green beans … and I was finally able to persuade DH to plant some cucumbers. 

And of course, the most important part of the weekend was watching the Blues win Game 1 of the conference finals.  Let’s go Blues!!

I hope that whatever you have planned for today includes a little something that brings you joy ... have a great day!
Kathy