Soggy Saturday

It has been raining pretty much solid since last Tuesday, and as a result, I haven't been out of the house since then either. We've lived in Oregon since 1978, and we've seen our share of rainy days. We don't let the rain keep us in, but it sure makes a good excuse for not going out, if you catch the difference between the two. And that means I totally fell off the exercise bandwagon last week. I'll pick it up again Monday, but I'll start off right here giving myself an "F" for exercise this week. It sure was nice to have so much sewing time though. And just like that history test, the "F" was worth it for a week of slacking in front of the machine.

The kitties know what to do. As I was leaving my office yesterday afternoon, I noticed Gracie curled up on the chair with her paw over her eyes.

When I got downstairs, I noticed Smitty curled up in much the same fashion on the living room couch.

Poor things...such a terrible life they have, living in a wet climate. Grab some tissue and pity the pathetic pussycats and their protective paws. (Absolutely awesome alliteration.)

I did a little more sewing yesterday afternoon. I made the tree blocks for the Mumm's the Word sampler I've been plugging away on.

Here's what the quilt will look like when its finished:

If you like this quilt, you can find the free pattern right here. The trees are located just below the mid-line. Here's a little close-up of them:

When I work on this next time, I'll be doing the long-awaited cat blocks located toward the bottom of the quilt.

When I have the cats finished, I'll be about halfway through the blocks.

This morning Mike helped me update the firmware on my sewing machine. I used to have to lug Big Bertha (who could stand to lose some weight) into the dealer. Apparently Bernina now feels it can trust its machine owners to update their own firmware because the latest update is online. This makes me very happy since it was a major hassle to drag the machine into the dealer. It meant that I simply didn't get the updates.

The new one was pretty important, however, because it will allow me to turn off the blasted securing stitch at the beginning of my seams. It was possible to avoid the securing stitch as long as I didn't use the automatic thread cutter when finishing a seam. Using the automatic thread cutter would reactivate the securing stitch. Since I dearly love the automatic thread cutter, it was kind of a bummer not to be able to use it.

I've been following the Yahoo user's group for my machine, but not very closely. My experience with that group is that it's often just a lot of folks complaining about their machines. Those of us who are happy with our machines don't get on to extol its many virtues. We are busy sewing. So reading through the posts would leave one believing that the machine is a complete dog...which it most definitely is not. (No disrespect intended toward dogs, by the way.) I learn about the updates there, however, and so it is a useful group if only for that reason.

But to get back to the firmware update, I used the touch screen to check which version I was on...not sure why, because I knew for sure and certain that I was several versions out of date. Nevertheless, I was amused by the screen's instructions for updating the firmware:

Basically, "Here's your memory stick. Plug it in." Yeah, I needed a little more than that, so I consulted the resident engineer. Honestly, I don't know how folks live without an engineer in residence. I hate to even think about the electronic devices I might have destroyed over the years if left to my own devices. (Ha! Did you see that? Electronic devices? Left to my own devices? I crack myself up sometimes!)

So aside from all of that excitement this morning, I've done some embroidery, and I'm just about to head into the sewing room for the rest of the day. Today I'm working on the next five blocks for the Hobo quilt I've been making.

It's a project from this book:

Later on this afternoon, I'm going to try the Pioneer Woman's recipe for Peach Whiskey Chicken. It looks pretty good, although I'm a little concerned about the four cups of barbecue sauce. That might be a bit much. I think I'll start with half. 

So, a busy day ahead, but a good day too. Mike is downstairs watching Formula One...a favorite weekend activity for him. As for Smitty, he's looking glum about another rainy day in paradise.

What's on your agenda for Saturday and Sunday?