Still Alive and Kicking

I hope I can still remember how to do a post!  It has been so long since my last one.  There hasn't been a lot to SHOW these last few weeks as my camera messed up on me. My trusty camera got dropped, breaking off the battery/memory card door.  Thus it would not work so I purchased a new one.  I took pictures over the July 4th holiday and all that weekend.  Initially I could view the photos, but then it just showed giant question marks for each photo and then flashed "memory card error".  To make a long story short - the camera was defective and there was no way to recover my photos in spite of their best efforts with different recovery programs.  Such is life.  The party pictures are now etched in my mind - never to be shared.

There has been a bit of sewing done over the last two weeks.  I finished piecing my String of Pearls for Christa's quilt along.  It looks blue, but it is actually a mottled gray color.

I also quilted and bound my Halloween Schnibble that I pieced several years ago.  I needed a finish this month for the monthly tally at A Lovely Year of Finishes.  Slowly, but surely, these tops are getting finished. 

Mary was my swap partner for our mug rugs this time around.  She made me the most delightful mug rug and her work is just glorious.  The card that came with it matched perfectly.  As Mary said ... guess which came first. 

Aren't these such happy flowers?

Extra goodies she also sent are fabulous!

This was the mug rug that I made her for the summer. 

Trying to stay ahead on my Japanese x&= swap blocks, I made my August ones which are now ready to mail off.

As the U.K. (and the rest of the world) is on baby watch, we are also on baby watch here.  Our daughter is due to deliver any day now and we are all waiting to see what sex the baby will be.  I love being surprised - the old fashioned way.  They have two boys and a little girl right now. 

You may remember that a few months ago I got to play around with some Happy Town fabric from Jacquelynne Steves.  She is now having a wonderful giveaway over on her site so be sure to check it out and sign up to win. 

We've had such a delightful summer this year and the garden has been so prolific.  Needless to say there has been a lot of using and sharing going on around here.  It always requires a lot of time, but is so worth the efforts once winter sets in.