Forecasting a Finish

Good morning, my friends. It was another rainy day yesterday...good sewing weather. I had a lot on my day's to-do list, and so I didn't get as much done in the sewing room as I'd hoped. Still, it was a good day all around. The weather is forecast to be cloudy today, but I think the rain might have moved on. We're expecting a hot weekend ahead with record-breaking temperatures. Mike and I will be camping. I'll say more about that in a minute. For now, let's talk about sweet things.

When I headed for home after spending Monday with Matthew (Monday with Matthew...sounds like a book title), I made a stop at our local Whole Foods. I'd seen apricots and cherries there a week earlier, and I found them again. I had what I needed to make these Apricot-Cherry Upside-Down Mini Cakes. Thus, this year's perennial favorite can be crossed off the list of things that must be made once per year.

We had those with a dollop of whipped cream last night, and there are two more for tonight. Mmm, mmm, mmm.

While those were baking, I had some time to work on my quilt binding. I've turned the fourth corner now.

This is how much I have left to stitch. I might have finished it yesterday, but I'm still resting my hand. The hand is feeling much better today, and so I should have no problem finishing this off today.

The kitties were helping in their dreams only.

Sadie was snuggled up right beside me.

Knowing I'll be ready to quilt another from my pile, I readied the Seasons quilt. I've started ironing the backs of these quilts before I start quilting. It's hard to get them nicely smooth when I'm sandwiching them on my large expanse of plywood tables. I figured out that if I spread them across my ironing board, I can get them much smoother. Ironing helps make them flexible and easy to smooth out, and I'm less likely to get any pleats quilted into the back. Now, it awaits its turn under my quilting needle.

It was late in the day by then, but I still had time to finish June's "pastel" Inverted Star. I settled on lavender for mine.

Here are the six inverted stars I have so far.

So I'll have plenty of time for sewing today, but we have a weekend outing planned with our truck camper. As I think I've mentioned, we're attending a "Star Party" this weekend in Prineville, Oregon. It's an event put on by the Rose City Astronomy Club. We'll be taking our telescope and setting up at the 4,000 foot elevation level. As I understand it, it's someone's private property and a dark sky area. 

Tomorrow, we'll do a little grocery shopping, and then I'll need to start packing food for our weekend trip. It shouldn't take too long. We won't leave until noon on Friday since we can't arrive sooner than 3:00 p.m. That will give me some time to pack my personal belongings Friday morning. So...it's not such a bad packing job (the worst part of camping), but it's still a job that requires planning and attention. I'm determined to finish the quilt binding today, and I should have some time to work on my new project, the Yoder Sisters. After that, it's anyone's guess how much time there will be for sewing.

For now, I'll keep blogging through Friday morning, but I'll be taking the weekend off. Hopefully, I'll have some pictures to show you on Monday. Mike has a new (to him) astronomy camera, and we're hoping he'll be able to get some good pictures of the night sky with that. It'll be an experiment since we've never tried it before.

That's all I have for you today. Be looking for a finish tomorrow.