Long Weekend Adventures

I'm just about to end off a three day long weekend (Happy Canada Day), and I'm slowly preparing myself to head back to work, punch in on the time clock, and get asked, "what'd you do for the long weekend?" I hate questions like that. They're so vague, and really, people don't want to hear about what I did- it's just a conversation starter for them to tell me about how wickedly awesome their weekends were. Well, I have prepared a suitable response to the dreaded question- I spent my long weekend sewing!

Hazel generally naps in the early afternoon for a few hours, and also goes to bed at around 7- leaving plenty of time in a day for us to find some quiet activities to pursue- as noise travels pretty quickly in a small apartment. And we spent these blocks of time crafting- Jackie crocheted up a storm, and I sewed- with only a handful of minor needle injuries.

We recently purchased a little wicker chair from IKEA for Hazel, with the aspiration of attaching a small padding to make it softer to sit on. While we were at Walmart the other day, I found a 2" thick foam square for $2, and figured we could cut it down to size, and sew a pretty cover for it. When I retreated to my bin of fabric, I couldn't find anything big enough to cover the foam in a solid piece. Instead, I sewed scraps together for a patchwork look. After a brief tutorial from Jackie on how to patchwork, or "quilt"- interesting, because I don't think she's ever actually done it herself, she just seems to know these things- I was off! I hand stitched the entire thing, because I appreciate the rawness of the needle and thread without the machine- and, because, everytime I try to use the machine, I somehow ruin it in a way that the troubleshooting manual cannot seem to fix...

This afternoon, I wrapped the top patchwork piece tight around the foam square, pinned it off, and used a scrap piece to sew it all together at the bottom. The square fit perfectly on the chair- we didn't even have to cut it! Hazel squealed with delight when she saw it- which made it all worth it.

And with some of the scraps of fabric, I made Hazel a little chicken- again, totally worth it for that smile!

The chair cushion does look a little sloppy, and perhaps amateur, but I'm convincing myself that it adds to the "patchwork look". All in all, it was great to spend the weekend crafting with my baby, to make some goodies for my other baby. It might not have involved crazy fireworks and crazy drunken parties- but it was memorable, and perfect, just the way it was.