Memorial Day Weekend

What does a long weekend feel like when you are retired? Pretty much the same as the rest of the week, but with hubby home, too. Pretty nice! Saturday was a day to go recycling and shop for groceries. We did some comparison shopping at Lowe's and Home Depot for wheelbarrows. I bought a cowl neck top pattern at Joann's. The pattern price is $19.95, good grief! Joann's always sells patterns at 40% off but I got this one for $1.99 because there was a sale.

Sunday: A canoe paddle on Pleasant Pond. We put in at the Route 197 end and paddled for a while. We decided to turn around while we still had paddling power in us. When we headed back we were facing the wind. Despite not being windy, there was still enough of a breeze to make it hard work, especially for two people who did not canoe at all last year. Looking for a little 2-3 HP motor for these situations.

Dresden Plate update: I've been making excellent progress sewing my plates to the background fabric. I'm using Robert Kaufman solid fabric from The Busy Thimble. It looks like muslin without the specks and is a very nice quality. I'm on #12; well on my way to completing the 16. Yesterday I downloaded the Audible app on my phone and started listening to Endurance. I have not been a subscriber for several years but I can still listen to my books in the library. What could be more enjoyable than hand sewing and listening to a good (true) story.

Dresden Plate update

Dresden Plate has center appliqued and then whole unit was appliqued to background fabric. Here the blue triangles are pinned not sewn yet. 15 more plates to applique. Not completely flat but I think it will do. I hesitated with applique but think that machine stitching would not be so accomodating to an imperfectly flat block and I would have tucks. With hand stitching I am able to bend the fabric and make it work. I'm happy with that. If I can do 2 a day I will be done in 8 days. We'll see. 

Dresden Plate

I've been working on a Dresden Plate block. I plan on having 16 blocks arranged 4 across and 4 down. The background will be plain muslin with light blue triangles at all four corners. The block will be 18 inches so without a border, the quilt will measure 72 inches square. I want to add a 3 inch border all around. 

I made a large "flannel board" out of foam core and quilt batting. I made one years ago that is about 12 inches square. It is nice to have another one that can hold a big block and some extra fabric pieces. 

I used Eleanor Burn's book Egg Money Quilts that is filled with Depression Era quilts to make. Her instructions are to cut strips of fabric 6x12 inches and cut wedges from a stack of five fabrics. That worked really well. Here are my stacks of wedges ready to be sewn together. This Dresden Plate has 20 blades. I sew four groups of five and then sew those together. 

I did some cleaning in my sewing room. Organizing my work space. I love this extra table for cutting fabric. I put a small ironing board on the end. I can iron a length of fabric and spread it out on the table and it stays smooth and clean. Luv luv luv. 

My retirement begins

May 15, 2018 Retirement

I retired on Wednesday May 9, 2018. My long awaited retirement ended  on a high note at work. I've made lovely friends at work and all was well there. I decided to retire a few months ago and chose May 11 as an auspicious date. As it turned out, I was able to leave two days before that, which was fine with me!

Day 1 of my retirement was spent at home sewing and enjoying life. I flitted around the house working on this and that and suddenly it came to me that there was no need to rush, there was no I have to do this because....because I have to go to work in the morning? No. because it's the weekend and I must get this done before returning to work? No. What an odd feeling but I am quickly adjusting and liking my new life.

Day 2 of my retirement. Bill took the day (Friday) off from work and we I left the house around 9 and headed up north to Flagstaff Lake. We drove along the Long Falls Dam Road and then onto the North Flagstaff Road. The North Flagstaff road is not paved and is quite rough and bumpy in places. We negotiated some large potholes that had logs filling them in. We got out a couple of times to see how deep the holes were and assess the risk of driving the Corolla over and through them. Happily, nothing stopped our journey and we were able to proceed at 10 mph most of the way.

We turned right onto the Grand Falls Road which was another rough road. We stopped at the gate before Grand Falls and cooked a delicious lunch at a clearing. Bill cooked up garlic rosemary pasta roni and we added chopped bbq chicken that we had cooked the day before. A delicious meal followed by a cup of hot decaf coffee.

We ducked under the gate and walked along the road until we came to a sign that pointed the way to Grand Falls.

Lunchtime

Turn right at the Christmas tree

The hike in to the falls was along a wide soft road. We could hear the roar of the falls and feel the cool mist before we arrived at the falls.

Grand Falls

Huckfest is held here in June. Kayakers float towards the falls and plunge over the falls. There are videos on YouTube. The kayaks plunge straight down and then pop up on the surface. Crazy!

Up river there is a beach. 

The water was really moving fast. I'm sure it was ice cold. Dangerous spot to fall into the water. 

Day 3 of my retirement Saturday

I was a bit weary from all our driving and traipsing around on Friday so we didn't do much but in the evening we went out to the SeaDogs restaurant with our friends. Two couples had been to Grand Falls years ago, which surprised me a bit since it is such a remote location. It was fun to share our adventure with everyone. 

Day 4 of my retirement Sunday Mother's Day

Bill and I drove through Litchfield and West Gardiner to go to Longfellow's greenhouse. I picked out an hanging basket to fill the urn and a basil plant. We bought Jackie a Martha Washington geranium. We dropped her plant off later in the day. The kids both called me in the evening. A very satisfying Mother's Day.