Staycation, The Wrap Up

Sorry dear blog readers, I feel like I've let you down by not posting for a whole week. I've left you hanging...whatever happened on the rest of my staycation?

Day 4, Thursday, was slotted to be Shopping with Eleanor Day. My friend Eleanor is the queen of shopping and bargain hunting and I anticipated a grueling, yet rewarding day of clothes shopping. You never know what you are going to find when you shop with Eleanor! Unfortunately, Eleanor had to cancel. So instead, I allowed myself two errands in the morning (one must not do too many errands on staycation!): purchase printer ink (long overdue) at Staples, and a brief trip to Joann Fabrics for polyester fiberfill and pillow forms. Then I headed back to the Studio for a few hours of bonus sewing.

Mike and I fortified ourselves with some sushi on Thursday night before we headed to the grocery store to stock up for our party. Mike ate EVERYTHING shown on that platter.

We bought groceries for the party on Thursday night, just in case the weatherman was wrong.

Mike and I had intended to have a cookout on Friday for the Fourth of July, but it rained all day, so we rescheduled for Saturday. This gave us a day to get organized and relax a little. I didn't do any sewing, but I ordered a few new patterns online to keep the quilting economy going. The pugs and I spent most of the day on the couch watching television. LarryPug had never seen Sex and The City before, so we had a mini marathon. He was slightly disappointed in Charlotte's choice of a King Charles Cavalier Spaniel, when she could have had a pug instead.

Saturday morning, I finished Logan's Scottie dog. Sewing in the gusset, which makes the dog three dimensional, was a wee bit challenging. Actually sewing in the first side was tough, but for some reason, sewing in the second side was easier. The charm squares came from an ancient Millennium fabric swap from 1999. I decided to stop kidding myself that I would make a quilt out of them. Don't worry, I have enough squares left to make 101 Scottie dogs.

I wonder what Logan will name his new friend.

I cut out four more blocks for my Swoon Quilt. The cutting of this block requires absolute precision and I'm best doing it when I am alone. I purchased this quilt as a block of the month in 2013 from Waterwheel House Quilt Shop in Vermont. One of the block measurements requires cutting on the 7/8" line. The fabric provided is scant and if you make an error, you need to buy more. I realized that I last worked on this project over a year ago.

This photo is from last year to show you a finished block.

I didn't have enough time to sew the blocks, but at least they are cut and ready to go. On the bright side, I'm making this quilt out of Kaffe Fassett fabrics, the finished blocks are HUGE and you only need nine of them for a quilt top. On the minus side, the kit has the bare minimum of fabric in it, the pattern uses truly scant seam allowances, and the block has a million pieces and it takes me almost all day to assemble one.

I have finished half of my Scrap Wave quilt. I promised myself that I would make a scrappy back or even another scrap quilt for the back of this quilt. It will not even make a small dent in my batik stash.

Four panels sewn together!

I am really, love, love, loving these colors!! I'm debating between a turquoise or a fuchsia inner border and binding.

By the end of my staycation, I had finished almost half the blocks for Susan's quilt. I calculated that I need 240 blocks to make it king size. Although I'm sure the finished quilt will be lovely, the blocks are kind of boring to make.

This is a good project to work on with a friend. Mindless sewing with minimal room for error.

I loved my staycation and will happily plan one again. It was great to spend lots of time sewing, eating out and playing with my girlfriends. Mike and the pugs got some quality time as well.

Have a great weekend!

Linking up to Patchouli Moon Studio's Linky Party. Thanks for visiting!

Pugs and kisses,
Nancy