Summer Time

This is what I love about summer. Summer sewing camps are in full swing. This is a photo of last week's beginning class. In four days they went from not knowing how to even thread a sewing machine to making themselves a sewing bag, a belt and at least one article of clothing to wear. They were all so proud of their accomplishments. I love sharing my love of sewing with others. These week's camp is pile of pillows. This is a photo of what they have done in the first three days.

Monday I had a couple of people drop off projects and Tuesday I had others pick up completed projects. Now I have to find the time to do some sewing which is hard to do when I have camps. Some very interesting projects on my plate so I am looking froward to getting into the workroom. I am so blessed to be able to work at something I love.
Sunday my hubby and I did our first duathlon. It was a 2.3 mile run, followed by a 12 mile bike and then a 5K (3.1 mile) run. We just did it for fun, not too hard since we haven't ever trained for one. We both enjoyed it. We are looking at doing some more sprint distance ones next year with an international distance one in the fall perhaps down in Florida. We would combine it with a vacation stay there also. Sounds like a good goal for us.

Spending time in the yard and vegetable plot. Things are finally starting to grow. We picked over 5 pounds of cherries last night from the tree in our back yard. Still a lot more there to get picked. Slowly getting the house back together after the painters have finished. All the pictures have to go back up on the walls and the books back into the bookcases. Of course I am looking to move things around so that makes it harder.
Here is one more photo from beginning sewing ad now it is time for me to get to work.

Am I Crazy?

Last night my husband and I signed up to do a duathlon on Sunday. My trainer thought it would be fun for us to do. I have never done anything like that plus I am afraid to ride my bike too fast. Should be interesting if nothing else. The following Sunday we do a 5K race. While I was at a meeting last night, hubby joined some others for a bike ride. The only problem was that severe weather moved in and at one point they ducked into a golf course tunnel to escape the wind and rain only to have the lights go out on them in there. He was drenched and covered with grit because part of the ride was on gravel trails. Oh the crazy things we do for exercise.
Sewing camp is going well. The four girls, Kennedy, Emma, Nikki and Els, are all very energetic and excited to be sewing. Today was their third day and they have all finished their sewing bags and their belts. Nikki is almost done with her shorts, while the other girls should be able to finish up tomorrow. With the girl's parents' permission, I will post some photos next week. Otherwise here is a photo of the sewing studio after they left for the day.

I finished a tablecloth for one customer and a baby blanket for another. Not much sewing work getting done with the teaching of camps. Have some pants I need to hem by Friday for another client. Spent time over the weekend figuring out yardage for another client that wants several valances and pillows for her home.
Sunday was Father's Day and the annual Pig Roast in our community. We start eating at around noon on the beach and finish up around six or later when we have eaten our fill and are too tired to do anything else. What a great way to spend the day. The dads all seem to love it also. One year the kids took my hubby to a baseball game instead (as they usually take me on Mother's Day if the Cubs are in town) but he said he would rather hang out on the beach from now on.
I was scheduled to have a stress test today but the doctor still wasn't there 45 minutes into my appointment so I left and rescheduled for another day. What a waste of my time!

Getting Back to Normal

With kudos to Scott Franzen, our basement is fixed. Scott is my go-to painter and since he was already coming to paint several other areas in the house I asked him if he had a guy that could fix the basement. No problem he said, he could do it. And he did! Great job. I had the stairways, both up and down painted and the upstairs hall. He also did the trim work in those areas plus the foyers and the ceilings in there also. Also he painted the sewing studio. John Stringer of Mudd Crete Designs fixed the floor after it was damaged by the people finishing off the area. He finished on Thursday and the painters came on Friday. Now I just have to get the room back together so I can have Beginning Sewing Camp next week. I am looking forward to sharing my love of sewing with 4 more girls.

I love the color I chose for the sewing studio. It looks bright and cheerful. Now to spend some time to find fabric for some window treatments. And of course make them.
Kris just picked up her bathroom cafes. She loves them and can't wait to see them hanging. Now on to a round tablecloth for another customer. Not enough fabric to do a ruffle but I will add a covered cord around the bottom.
Had all sorts of mis-communication this past week. First a client never showed last week, then I had a mixup with emails with another business woman that I was meeting for coffee. I was talking Tuesday, she was talking Monday. When I didn't show on Monday she called and left emails but I was not here because I took my mom to a funeral for one of my dad's aunts. We did manage to get together Tuesday. Very informative meeting. Then yesterday, Kris didn't come by in the afternoon to get her cafes. She called while I was out waiting to meet my web guy who forgot all about our meeting this morning. Meeting with web guy rescheduled and Kris has her cafes, so things are better.
Another race is over. I did the North Shore Half Marathon on Sunday with Jennifer. We had been training to race it at least as fast as Nashville but neither of us felt we were as prepared. I don't know if it was more in our minds because we had already achieved our goal of an under 2 hour half or because we knew how hard it really was to do it that fast. We set out to do our best. At around mile 7.5, Jennifer had to walk because of pains in her side. She told me to go ahead which I did. I was worried about her though. Lauri, our trainer, wanted me to count how many people I passed in the final 2 miles. I think it was her way of getting my mind off the pain and also to show me how strong she felt I was. I passed 27 people. Not bad but I just didn't have anything left to really push across the finish line. My time, 2:00:01. Missed a 2 hour half by 1 second! Jennifer was about 2-3 minutes behind me. John ran the 5K along with our son PJ, his fiancee Kate and her sister Rebecca. It was a beautiful day for a race. We are planning on doing one more half this year, probably some time in October, after PJ and Kate's wedding in September.

What a Mess

Yesterday while teaching sewing class, one of the girls asked for a tissue. With the sewing studio still under construction I went out into the other part of the basement to look for the tissues when I heard a dripping noise. I turned on the lights and there was water dripping from the ceiling with one ceiling tile completely soaked and a bulge in the wall boarded ceiling. I quickly called my husband, ran upstairs to find tissues for the one girl and turn off the dishwasher and then back down and turned off the main water into the house. When my hubby made it home I had already finished teaching and started trying to clean up some of the mess. Our recliners under the leak had gotten wet but since they are vinyl, not a big problem except for the holder in the divider. The well was full of water which was mostly soaked up by a quilt I had in there which was good news since it saved the controller which was also in there from getting soaked. John cut out the ceiling to see if he could figure out what was leaking. It turned out the water filter for the fridge had sprung a leak. There was a lot of water up there, it must have been leaking for a while. Set up the dehumidifier and now it is time to start calling for estimates.

I am sorry to see my afterschool classes ending, the girls have been a lot of fun and I think they enjoyed it also. I do wish I had not been distracted by the water leak but they were real troopers through it all. Lauren and Meghan are almost finished with their ruffle skirts and Katie got a good start on her back slit denim skirt. Sewing camps start on June 20th, and the sewing studio should be finished by then. John from MuddCrete is coming today to repair the floor and Scott will be here Friday to do the painting.

The weather has been exceptionally warm the past few days but I have been enjoying it. A cold front is supposed to come through tonight and drop the temps by about 20-30 degrees. It will be interesting to see what the weather will be like on race day, Sunday. Last weekend a half marathon in the city was cancelled after two hours due to extreme heat. I'm hoping for better temps this weekend. Jennifer and I have one more speed workout tomorrow and then an easy bike and rest day before the race. I am hoping to beat last year's time but not really looking to beat Nashville's time. That was a hard pace to run.

I am almost finished sewing the bathroom tab top cafes for a friend. Probably would have finished them yesterday but with the water leak everything else was put on hold. I even cancelled a meeting for this morning because I wasn't sure how things were going to be in the morning. A client never showed up on Monday for her appointment and she hadn't left me a phone number so I can't call to see what happened. So note to self, ALWAYS get a phone number from a potential client.

Posting one last photo of the recliner set I had to dismantle to drain the water from the armrest. As they say this too shall pass.

Summer Begins

My niece has graduated from high school and I have included some photos of the quilt I made for her. It arrived in the mail yesterday according to my sister so it is safe to post the pictures now. Congrats Brittany on graduating and good luck in culinary school.
Summer weather is here in the Chicago area, at least for a while. Over the holiday weekend, we had cool and overcast on Saturday, which was okay for the 14 mile run I did with my daughter, Sunday was cool and foggy which made for a very interesting Bike the Drive in the morning. It was misty and breezy most of the time while we were biking the 30 miles on Lake Shore Drive. At times you couldn't even see the buildings. Then Monday came and with it came the warm weather. We did a bike ride in the morning and then yard work the rest of the day. The beach in front of the house was packed with people. Today the sky is sunny with a bit of a wind and lower humidity. Nice to be able to open the windows.
Just one more sewing class before we break for the summer. Lauren and Meghan are both sewing ruffle skirts but out of very different fabrics. Katie finished her round neck blouse and Julia didn't show up. Hope she's okay.
Finally working on the bathroom cafes for a friend. They will be tab top ones with two different fabrics with a covered cord between them. The top part will be flat while the bottom part will be pleated. They should look great. I have my CEO lunch today. Always a good time.