A Whirl Wind Weekend

We never thought we would be this happy to start the work week.

Dan and I both had a hell of a weekend thanks to separate, but equally stressful and extensive emergency situations at work. The short story is Dan didn't go 20 minutes from Friday night to Sunday night without answering or making a phone call- and more often than not to field one disaster after another. (He had the "emergency phone" for work for the first time and experienced the worst case scenario apparently.) My company had this listed as a 3 day weekend, but I worked Saturday, Sunday, and Monday. We both felt quite robbed and definitely drained. So I'm keeping it short and sweet once again- focusing on the awesome things that happened this weekend.


#1 - The Cushion Cover Miracle
I cut the material the weekend before, knowing that we would have a photographer in our midst. That was the best move ever. I feel sewing is equal parts cutting and stitching. When all the pieces are cut, I feel halfway there. Friday night I got home and, with the deadline of 12pm the next day lighting a fire under my arse like nothing else, I started churning out the good stuff. I started by making the pillows and gauging my energy after that. The work week had been stressful, long days, and go go go from punch in to punch out. 

Well, let's just say the cushions were like fuel injections. I saw that first, $4 thrift store pillow come out looking like something brand new and on main display at the {insert specialty Home Decor store}. I was like, "Oh heck yes! I'm going till I drop now!"

I ran out of juice at about 1030pm. I had managed to complete both pillows, hem the overlap panels for each cushion, and stitch together the 4 side panels for each cushion.  That left pinning and stitching together the top and bottom panels to the side panels. 

I woke up at 630 Saturday morning and immediately got to work. I only stopped briefly to take a few photos with something handy- sorry it ended up being the cell phone- I was in turbo sewing mode. Forget my pictures! A pro was coming soon enough! I finished the covers just one hour before, Nat Rea, the photographer for RI Monthly Magazine, arrived. WHEEW.

I stood back and marveled at what I had just managed to accomplish. I hammered out about 9 solid hours of sewing work over the course of 19 hours. At my normal rate of sewing projects, it would have taken till Summer! Some of the cushions could use a little more stuffing and fluffing, but I'll get there and for now it still looks pretty dang fabulous. The colors look great, the patterns are so eye popping, and it completely transformed that wall of the house. Instead of a frumpy bland eye sore, we now have a captivating centerpiece for an entire wall! 

I would also like to add that my math was pretty dang close for this project. By the time I was done cutting what I needed, I could clutch inside my hands what was left over. I even had to make a last minute improvisation. I ran out of the coral/red material, but still needed the short side panels. I happened to "by out" the remaining material on the roll for the pillow material and decided to use that to make the ends. I feel like it gives a whole new layer of interest to the eye- and completely unplanned! 

TAA DAAAAAAA!

Awesome Thing #2 - Photo Shoot.
We had a great time meeting and working with Nat. He brought a lot of equipment which I drooled over and probably took way too many pictures of--is that weird? taking pictures of camera equipment?
Ha! Oh well. Nat brought a great lense that no one else has used so far. He showed us a few of the shots and we were amazed at how wide an angle was caught and held in view.  Needless to say, we cannot wait to see the finished images and the spot in the March issue of RI Monthly Magazine! 

Awesome Thing #3 - Interview 
On Sunday, we had our interview with Jamie. It was a good thing that Nat came Saturday, as Sunday proved to be over cast and dreary. We both had a great conversation with Jamie and thought it was interesting to speak on the topics and the perspective she was going for with this piece. We spoke about space, money, and earth saving habits that everyone can apply to their lives- you don't have to live in a tiny house to make a difference! 

Awesome Thing #4 - I have skates once again!
I grew up on a lake, and some of my fondest memories of the winter are skating and listening to music until well after dark. The flicker of the porch light was my signal to come in for the night. More than once this past week, I've looked out at the frozen pond, right in front of The Pod, and wished I could get in some time on blades. I know it would do wonders to unwind me. We had a warm couple days, so I've got to wait for the surface to harden up again, but I'll be out there soon! Yahoo!

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