Sunday, January 13, 2013

Success!

I've been out of town, sequestered in a windowless conference room for 11 hours a day, 2 days in a row, with 10 of my colleagues interviewing candidates for an open position at my university.  It was an exhausting, yet intellectually stimulating exercise, and I left with even greater respect and affection for my colleagues.  And I left energized and excited by the finalists we selected to bring to campus.  But I was also ITCHING to sew!

I brought a quilt to work on, but never made a stitch.  Instead, it just adorned my hotel room bed and kept me cozy warm the two nights I had to spend away from home.  I also brought my GFG hexies out of retirement.  I did end up taking a few stitches during breaks on day two, and managed to get one flower done and attached to another.
I made the one on the left yesterday, and attached it to the one on the right that was probably made 4 or 5 years ago. 
But when I got home, I realized the way I put them together won't work with what I have together already.  Note to self - add just one flower at a time to the whole.
Looks washed out in the sun, but lots of scrappy color in this quilt top. 
I got home very late last night, and enjoyed sleeping in this morning as my kids were spending the weekend at a friend's house in my absence.  But my Cub Scout meeting was this afternoon, and I had to prepare.  I spent my entire morning and early afternoon measuring, cutting and drilling to prepare for our woodworking project.  I didn't have time to make a prototype - I just had to hope that I had thought of everything and that it would come together.
Spoon basketball.  I adapted a plan I found online to make these. 
And it did!  The boys were thrilled with their projects, and spent a bit of time trying them out.

Now, the kids are in bed, I have a cup of tea and my new copy of Jennifer Chiaverini's The Giving Quilt, and I'm going to enjoy a bit of down time.  The weekend was busy and full of interactions with other people, but everything about it was a resounding success!