2-18-13: Presidents Day!

Oh how I love love love three-day weekends!  And this one was a chiller in Long Beach - the wind chill made it feel like temps were in the teens instead of the thermometer reading of low-30s.  Perfect weather to hibernate and get some chores done. 

Little Olive and I had alot of quality time together between shopping, painting, reading, and tickling. She also had a couple playdates so I got to enjoy watching her have some friends over.  We also went out to lunch as a family with one of my commuting friends, which was really nice.  And the lunch was so big, we each got two meals.  :-)

First, I needed to tackle the mess that is my sewing room.  I've been meaning to clean off my dresser top for over a year, so that was a big plus to get it done.  I like feeling organized and neat (before):

 AFTER:

As far as my sewing progress, I actually got two quilt tops done!  First, I finished the second of the three "On the Fence" 16-block top.  I didn't take a picture, since it is similar to the one I completed last weekend.  But, I did save the ends I cut off from making the blocks and I  had enough to make a patchwork block for a pillow sham:

When I head to Florida to visit mom and we select border and back fabric, we can border and back the sham too.

Last night, I laid out all the fabric packs I had left to sew and asked Little Olive to rank the order in which she'd sew up.  Her first choice was one I have wanted to piece together.  The fabric line is called "Mama Said SEW" and it is designed by Sweetwater for Moda Fabrics.  I have to say, I absolutely LOVE this quilt top!  I've been admiring it as I was sewing it together.  I just got it done with barely enough daylight to spare to take an outdoor picture:

 

The colors are red, black, gray, and cream...I think because cream was used instead of white, makes it "softer" even though it was black in it. Last but not least, I photographed the new reversible tote bag and got it posted to our Etsy shop:

Alas, tomorrow I'm back to work, but I have Friday off so three-day-weekend, followed by a three-day work week, followed by another three-day weekend.  It is so nice.

Mr. Olive got a call from Macy's today, asking him if he would want to work part-time.  After he did the seasonal stint there, he really ended up liking the job and was disappointed that he was taken off the roster with the other seasonal hires in mid-January.  He has to re-apply, which he immediately did, so he's hoping he can pick up shifts this week.  Fingers crossed!