Retuning Home

I've been away on vacation in Nova Scotia for the last week or so. I will post my goings on soon.
Jenn

Spare Blankie

New Blankie Back (lots of dots)

A Close Up of the Edge stitching and ribbons

New Blankie Front (frogs and jeeps)

The Original Blankie

My nephew James is just over a year. In the last few months he has claimed the blankie I made for him as an infant. He loves it.
But...Mom has to wash it nearly once a day, so she requested a back up blankie for when it needs to be cleaned. So I made one from scraps of flannel and the same ribbons as the original.

A Visit with Friends

A few of my good friends have adopted me into their family while my husband is away. I am invited to their house nearly every weekend for their family dinners. Now that Scott is home, I was so excited to have a chance for him to get to know them and vice versa. So We were invited there for supper tonight and things went really well. I even made Pavlova with fresh fruit on top. A great night had by all. Little Pim, their 5 year old, made us all name tags and drew pics on sticky notes to post on Scott, or as she called him "Jenn's Boy". lol

Old Auto Show

This afternoon we went to the Old Autos Car Show. It wasn't as good as expected. It was a lot of fun to visit with a few friends, though, and I am including a few pics of Scott's favourites.

Bought my Running Shoes

These are the first running shoes I have ever owned. They are the Nike Vomero+ 5. I also bought the Nike Plus Sensor for my shoe. It connects remotely with my IPod and clocks my runs (time, distance, pace, etc) and then I can connect it to the computer and track my runs. I am so excited to start with it tomorrow!

Picking Up Hubby

Well, the house clean out took until about 2am. I slept for two hours and was up at 4am. I got all primped up, wearing my hot new sundress, and headed out on the road. It took an hour to get to the airport and he was coming off the plane as I walked in. He walked over to me and put his arms around me. I tried really hard not to cry, but I was teary. We gathered his things, drove the hour home and both CRASHED from 8 am until 2pm. IT was great! We managed to make it into town after that. Took my new car for a test drive! Scott bought some new speakers for our Entertainment system. And I still managed to work in my run. Great day!

Scholar's Choice Sale

Once or twice a year, Scholar's choice has a 20% off sale for Teachers. Amazing deals. I have been making my list for a while. So I went in, armed with specific products that I  wanted. I figured that anything I couldn't find, I would order online and still get the discount. Somehow, I managed to find everything on my list, and a few great extras, and still make it out of the store for less than $100, taxes in! I love sales! I am super excited to get everything punched out and laminated! I'll post pics when they all get on my classroom walls in late August.

House-wide Scrub down

Scott arrives home tomorrow. Today is the day for a house-wide scrub down. That is not the regular, everyday cleaning. This involved taking down kitchen curtains, organizing the computer desk shelves, sweeping under the bed, finishing all the undone laundry, washing Casey's dog bed, de-cob-webbing the corners and washing the windows. I am almost done now, but will be by morning so I thought I would post. No pics, though. Maybe tomorrow...

Temporary Tattoos

I love temporary tattoos. There are a number of reasons I don't get a real one. Firstly, I'm a wimp. Not liking the pain. Secondly, I change my mind too much. I don't think I could commit to something so permanent. But I love temporary tattoos. They are like a fashion accessory! I can change them and put them practically anywhere. I got a neat package of celtic tattoos today. I put a knotted heart on my shoulder blade, A knotted butterfly on my lower back and a black trinity knot on my wrist. I love it there! I posted it on facebook to see people's reactions. I didn't tell them it isn't real yet. I'm waiting for a few incredulous responses first.

Painted Blackboard

My classroom has multiple blackboards on two different sides of the room. I decided to orient my class in such a way that most of the boards will be used as bulletin boards. The main board I will use as my "blackboard" was in rough shape so I started the process of painting it. It took a while to get the glue and gunk off of it. Then I taped up the frame and got one coat on. It will need a few more, but it's a start.

Finishing Touches on my Bedroom

Scott worked on our Master Bedroom on and off for about a year and a half. We finally got moved in a few months ago and have been adding things to make it feel finished. Today I finally got a few more embellishments done. We watch tv in our room a lot but we don't have a headboard, so we are always stealing pillows from other rooms to prop us up. So I made covers for two pillows and a body pillow, so that they are decorative along with being functional. Scott also made me a tall night table (for our tall bed) a while ago. So today I finally got around to making a cover for it (it's just a framed in table). I even made a second cover for Scott's side table when he builds it. It's really coming together!

Pet Hair Solution!

I just discovered the most amazing product. It's called the Pledge Fabric Sweeper for Pet Hair. It is fantastic. I have two long haired cats and a long haired dog (not to mention my long hair!) so I had resigned myself to furry furniture. But this thing works! I used it on my couch, rocking chair and Bed skirt so far. I'm so excited I want to use it on everything! I am totally using it on the carpet in the car. I am picturing using it on my wool winter coat. It works wonders! The packages says to throw it out when it gets full (which was one couch for me) but I popped one of the rollers out and emptied it. It popped right back in and works fine. No more pet hair on my guests' pants (unless the dog decides to rub up against them).

Steps Twelve and Thirteen

Well, the quilt is finally finished. Here are steps twelve and thirteen.
(12) I decided to "stitch in the ditch" quilt this one because of the awesome geometric patterns it would make. I followed the lines of the pieces. I used my edging foot to follow the ditch lines and it worked great!

(13) For the binding, I decided to do a double fold. I left about a half inch border of backing fabric and trimmed the batting to the same size as the top. I folded the extra backing over the top and then folded the whole "sandwich" about half an inch again. I used my edging foot and lined it up with the edge of the binding and used a zigzag stitch to attache the whole thing. The effect was nice. The batting in the binding made it kind of puffy.

So now it is finished. Ready to take home to the 'Rents in a couple of weeks time. My mom just redid her bedroom and is looking forward to getting her quilt to go with the room.