Regaining my home

It is good to be home again. Now that my father-in-law's wife has transitioned to the facility, it will not be necessary for us to drive to Cleveland every other weekend. We can space out our visits to allow him to adjust to a life alone in the house. He will find his rhythm and routine.

Now I will be able to start spring cleaning here at the house. Or maybe I should just call it fall cleaning, whatever. It will be started this week. Hopefully it will not rain Thursday and I can get the last of the small branches bundled for garden recycling. Then we can cut the lawn and not have the shabbiest one on the block. Once the front yard is reasonable, I can start working on my sewing area. I have to get to it to be able to sew....

And do I have spectacular projects!! Not only do I have quilt blocks to catch up on, but I have a few daughter projects. It all started because DD2 asked if I would be willing to bring some patterns over the pond in November. YES-I will be going to London to visit her! She has two friends who are seamstresses and very into retro patterns. They love the Vogues, but to order online and then pay shipping to the UK is a lot of money, and they are graduate students. So, KS asked if I would be willing to bring them if they ordered them and had the patterns shipped to our house. Being a mom, and happy to know that the next generation is sewing, I said of course! Well, what happens but two days later I get a mailer from JoAnne's Fabrics that for the Labor Day sale all Vogue patterns are $3.99, limited to in stock, in store. I told KS to have the girls send me the numbers they wanted and sizes. Got an email the next day. I wanted to check out a location I'd never been so I schlepped to the JoAnne's in Gaithersburg-great fabric, so-so pattern selection. But, I got a great dress pattern for KS and red dupioni silk (washable!!) to make it, and a gorgeous blazer pattern for both-hip length for Roseola, waist for KS. But the best part, as always, was the fabric! I got a beautiful pale gray suit weight wool for the hip blazer, a red-with-embroidery fake suede for the waist length. The Rose wants to look more professional at her meetings, and at this point in her career she should. She'll be visiting in October and I hope to get a basic pant pattern fitted to her-then I can make her some dress slacks for her meetings.

Then I went to "my" JoAnne's in Langley Park and got the rest of the patterns the girls wanted. From online prices, I saved them about $60. I can't wait to see what they come up with for fabrics.

Another project will be to use up all the fleece that never made it into jackets or hoodies. I was going to donate it, but I can make lap blankets for the facility Peg is in. Most of the residents tend to get cold, most are in wheelchairs, and the fleece can be done in those no-sew rectangles. So, I have projects, lots of projects......