Stitchin’ in the Rain, Just Stitchin’ in the Rain!

I’ve lived many places in my life, but with the first 7 years of my life, and every summer from the time I was 12 being spent in Minnesota, watching for thunderstorms was always part of the magic of summer.

Conditions can turn on a dime, and during our afternoon workshop we were caught watching the weather progression on our phones, checking to see what was coming this way – stopping to sew and stand by the windows to watch the downpours – making guesses how long it would take before it either petered out or moved on…

Summer rain.  The heavy soaking kind that doesn’t cool anything off, but rather steams things up all the more!

Weather like this has a direct effect on conditions within any sewing space.

Get the A/C running!  Something has to dry up the humidity!

And as it goes – we come prepared to layer in sweaters while we sew….

Or even dawn the occasional parka!

As I was editing my phones this morning prior to writing this post, I caught myself giggling over Parka, capris standing next to summer sleevelessness and flipflops.

Everyone has a different internal thermometer, and it was running the gamut yesterday as humidity levels rose, hot flashes combusted, A/C fought to keep up and we found ourselves each in the midst of our own weather storms.

Never leave home without your layers!  You never know when you will need them!

We spent a few hours playing with Carolina Chain blocks from the Addicted to Scraps book.

So simple – yet there are things to learn on the assembly process!

It’s all how you pick up the pieces!

In a short and simple class like this – I love to challenge students to think about the best way to continually piece these units so there are no dead ends in the piecing.  Sometimes it means a second block is in the works, using THOSE pieces as leaders & enders so the 2nd block is finished at the same time that the first one is.

And it may sound tricky – but the process is to start each block with the CENTER ROW…because it has more pieces than the top or bottom rows, and it needs a chance to “get even” with the others.

Yes, it felt like we were patting our heads and rubbing our tummies, but they got it!

Blocks were appearing two at a time!

Pressing stacks of blocks, all ready for group lay out!

We had a short time to sew, but we were mighty!

You’ll find the rest of our day’s scrappy fun un the video below. Click to play:

In between bursts of rain a group of us headed out to Geneva for dinner!

After dinner, the rain “seemed” to be done, so Rachel and I took a walk around downtown Geneva, stopping to walk around the courthouse grounds.

I always love a good old courthouse wander!

Kane County Courthouse, Geneva, IL.

On the way back to the car, we stopped at All Chocolate Kitchen for a poke around – a visit inside just to see the chocolate and sugar sculptures is worth it!

And it’s a good thing that WE weren’t made of sugar…because as we made our way out the door into the evening streets, the sky decided it had one more large dumping to do on Geneva, Illinois – and we were caught without umbrellas.

Hugging the walls, staying under shop awnings, darting from one to the next we made our way toward Rachel’s car.

And it rained harder.

We huddled beneath an awning within a recessed shop doorway, just laughing that there was only about 20 feet to go between where we were standing out of the rain, and her car at the curb – but we couldn’t get there.  Not with it coming down as hard as it was .

So close, but yet so far!

Sometimes rain happens to force us to slow down and appreciate the other things.

We chatted and laughed, talked about future plans.  Rachel is back in school to get her doctorate while she and her hubby deal with the parenting of two precious kids, 5 and 7 years old. 

I talked of this new stage of my own life, what it’s like when my two kids are now 28 and 34 – and what I’m doing with planning for the retreat center.

We likely wouldn’t have had that conversation if the rain hadn’t kept us on the sidewalk, under a shop awning for just a few minutes extra.

As the rain slowed to a sprinkle, we made our mad dash to the awaiting cars, avoiding puddles as we scurried and were off to drop me back at my hotel for the night.

Today – clouds are gray but the pavement is dry, and we’ve got a full day of Smith Mountain Morning from Scraps & Shirttails II ahead.

Let’s get this day started!

Quiltville Quote of the Day!

Vintage hexagon quilt top shared during yesterday's guild meeting.

Sometimes change for the better needs a push in the right direction!

Enjoy your Wednesday, everyone!