Stay-at-Home Sewing Retreat

Cody came on Friday, to stay 'at Mimi's house'... we had supper, made some Jello with fruit in it, played, watched Shrek a little, until it was time for his tubby & bed. We played a bit in the snow Saturday before lunch. He loves to be outside! We got some more use out of our redneck sled, which is an empty 50# bird seed bag. It works very nicely, I might add! After playing for a short time, we came in & had lunch, played a game, read a story and Cody was off for a nap. Being outside must have worn him out... he slept for about 3-1/2 hours! He was still sleeping when Jennifer & Jon came, so Jennifer went upstairs and crawled in bed for a nap, too.

After Cody went home on Saturday evening, I went to the sewing room, to begin my weekend retreat. With Cody here, it did get delayed a bit, but, I am not complaining... My boy ALWAYS  comes first!

Today, (Sunday) I finished up the quilt top I was working on for several days now. It is going to be donated to the local quilt shop for Quilts of Valor, (these quilts go to our wounded service men & women). I'll post a picture in my gallery. It was made with fabric from my stash... I love it! But, unfortunately, there is a lot more fabric to go! I also made a scrappy crumb book cover for my Bible. I'll add that to the gallery, too. First, I'll have to remember to take the picture! I will get to retreat next weekend, also. I'll be at our country house, and enjoying the piece & quiet, and a fire in the fireplace! I am trying to decide what project to take along with me. Maybe, instead of taking on a 'new' project... I'll take a UFO that has been shelved for a while! I think I'll feel better if I actually get one of them finished! I have been making so many charity quilts lately, that I think it's time to do something specifically for me, or should I say, something that will stay at my house!

Monday morning, I will be headed to town for the banking, errands and grocery shopping. I will also make the trip to the personal care home to see Mom, and the nursing home to see Pop, before coming home, to do the laundry. Yippee! (That's sarcasm regarding the laundry folks!) Maybe in the afternoon, I'll get to the sewing room. But, if I don't, I have several UFO's that need the binding hand stitched... I have been trying to get to these for a week now!

I am working on my sewing room a little at a time. I have most of my fabric folded and on the shelves. I have been cutting up the smaller pieces of the fabric into strips (strings) for more scrappy quilts. I do want a cabinet made for my storage bins that Dennis got me for Christmas, and have put in the order on the 'honey-do' list... though, Dennis has his seminary school work to do, I think I'll have to find a carpenter to do it for me.  I need to make curtains to cover the shelving, to protect the fabric from dust & light. I want to have the walls painted, too. To brighten up the room. Right now, it's brown paneling... YUCK! I do have the permission of the parsonage committee to paint the paneling. To paint though, I'll have to have the room cleared out! That will be a huge chore! Maybe, I can just shift things to one side, paint that wall, and shift it to the other side, etc. That might be easier. The sewing room also needs better lighting... track lighting would be good, but, not practical, really. The next pastor might need that room for a bedroom, where track lighting would not work. Maybe it'll be easier to go with lamps instead. I have fabric to make window curtains, too. I'm going to have a full day of making curtains! I might have to get online to find more of the fabric I already have! I also, need to replace my ironing board cover. I have been trying to decide what fabric from my stash to use. Right now, it is just covered with unbleached muslin... pretty bland, but, it worked! I want something a little brighter & cheerful! Wow... writing all of these projects down for the sewing room, makes it sound similar to my quilt UFO list! When am I going to find time to sew them? ;-)

Well, it's late, (1:30 AM-Monday), I'm not really tired, so I'll go watch some TV. Hopefully, that will help. I'll probably even make a cup of tea, too! I love my tea, anytime of the day or night!