Catching Up, Part 2

I've managed to shift myself pretty well from work mode to home mode this summer. Some years it takes awhile, but this year I put some thought into a routine for the day. Haven't used the routine yet, but just thinking about it seems to have helped make the transition. My daughter left for "senior week" at the Maryland shore on Friday. After I dropped my daughter off at her ride's house on Friday morning, I took advantage of the fact that no one needed me for several hour and headed off to the quilt shop to pick up my Thimbleberries block of the month. On the way back, I stopped at two used book stores. One benefits a local hospital and I had never visited before. It's very well-organized and stocked, but a little pricey ($4 for a used paperback). The other book store is in Valley Forge Park and I dropped off a rather large donation of books my children had released from their shelves. It's smaller, but I managed to find a few paperbacks for $2 each. Since it was an absolutely gorgeous day, I indulged myself with lunch from the lovely shop next door and sat outside reading one of my books.

With our daughter off at senior week, my husband and I are home alone. Yesterday, we took a mid-morning walk and then I started cleaning while he went out with a friend. Managed to thoroughly clean the powder room and reorganize the closet in it before he came home and invited me to lunch with the friend and the friend's girlfriend. Which is how I wound up at a local tavern having a beer at 1:30 on a Saturday afternoon. It has been years since I've had that kind of time in my schedule. Not something I'd want to do every week, but a really nice change of pace.

Today, my husband and I made the 180 mile round trip to attend the worship service at my son's camp and see him installed as a counselor. It's a much better trip when I'm not driving and I used the time to finish a canvas ornament. My third finish in my 25-project challenge.

The quilt? It's the one I made for my daughter's Christmas gift and haven't shown before. My daughter picked out the Amy Butler fabrics. The blocks are from Calico Carriage Quilt Design's Post and Beam pattern. The pattern calls for the block to adjoin without the sashing, but I felt the sashing was needed to give the eye a place to rest. I had another Amy Butler fabric for the outer border, but think the batik I used ties it all together a little better.