Farewell to August

Another month has slipped away at warp speed.  The sun is starting to take on longer shadows and casting an autumn dappling on the hills in the evenings.  The days are shortening.....sigh.  I will be dragged into the new season kicking and screaming the whole way.  I love the holidays, but I still love summer best.

Bits and pieces of sewing have been happening this week.  There was way too much mending as the school uniforms were in need - need of lengthened skirts, hemmed pants, replacing missing buttons and darning sweater holes - all in an attempt to get a bit more use of them.   Mending cuts into quilting time too.  ;-(

I did get my tree skirt quilted and cut into a circle, but will wait to show it until the binding is finished.   Next week is the reveal of the Shadow Block Mini QAL.  I worked on getting mine finished over the weekend.  A sneak peak.....

Week three of the baby cockatiels.  They are growing into their feet.  The pinfeathers are growing like crazy and they will soon look like real birds.  Several have started climbing to the low perches and are eating seeds now.  I'm sure the parents are glad to have less feeding to do.

Summer nights at the Hollywood Bowl are always amazing.  The music by the L.A. Philharmonic was incredible.

Another fun event in blogland this coming week is the annual Perfectly Pleasing Pincushion Parade.  It's a great show each year and there are some wonderful prizes as well.  Be sure to check it out HERE.

Welcome September!!

Christmas is Coming

July seemed to be all about Christmas - so many great ideas.  For me, every year I tell myself that I am going to make a new tree skirt.  Every year as Christmas approaches the time runs out and I move the idea to next year's list.

Several years ago Connie (Freemotion by the River fame) did a beautiful tree skirt in reds.  She was kind enough to send me her link for it and I got busy on the piecing of it this week.  All it needs now is the quilting, cutting and binding.  I think this is the year my new tree skirt will happen.  It was a great use for the red scraps.

Not only that, but look at all of the fun HSTs I have from it.  Hmmmm.

The baby birds are growing.  They are taking on their "vulture" phase this week.  All but the youngest has eyes opened and the ablility to see the world now.  There was real chaos in the cage this week as the oldest baby managed to escape the nesting box.  There was relief in all when I slipped it back in place.  I don't think it will try that again soon.  The size of their feet crack me up.

Today is tree trimming day before the Santa Ana winds start here.  I never cease to be fascinated seeing these men at the top of the huge eucalyptus trees.  The yard always looks so different when the trees are opened up.

There is a fun looking QAL coming up in a few short days.  I am planning on playing along.....how about you?  Check it out here.

I'm off to mending for today - a necessity of life!!

Linking up this week to Fort Worth Fabric Studio, Finished or not Fridays at Busy Hands Quilts, and Midweek Makers at Quilt Fabrication .

It's Official

Summer is officially over with the children returning to school.  How did that happen?  Where did it go?  I think summer needs a speeding ticket.  It has been one odd summer for us with foggy mornings continuing through August.  That is typically our May and June weather.

The garden has struggled with the weather.  I wish we could help take away some of the flooding waters in the South.  As well, we've been battling with pesky raccoons over the ripe tomatoes.   They seem to be winning.  The one thing they are not interested in is an experimental crop I tried this year - just for fun.  I had a cotton ball with sixteen seeds and tried planting them.  They all came up and have the most beautiful flowers.  The foliage is also so graceful and pretty.  I have no idea what I will do with my cotton balls, but it was fun to grow them.

We had five little ones here while their parents were on vacation.  The week was really busy, but we had a great time.  There was lots of help in everything we did!!!

There was also lots of excitement as a second batch of cockatiel eggs hatched.  Each morning the children would rush out to see if a new egg had hatched.  They are just little balls of fluff - two yellow, two white.  I'm going to link these up with the Pets on Quilts.

This is our grown baby- an only child- from the last eggs that they laid.  He is such a love - so tame and already talking.

Needless to say, there has not been a lot of sewing going on here, but I did get ahead on my September Bee blocks.....fun sewing.

The county fair was last week and the girl's pigs went to market.  They had a great time hanging out for the week in the livestock area with all of the other kids.  I'm guessing they will do the project again next year.

I've been enjoying the Olympics and am sad to see that the end is near for them.  The summer Olympics are always my favorite with the gymnastics, swimming, equestrian and volleyball.  Four more years...............

Decision Made

After leaving my first row of the upcoming Row by Row hanging on the wall all week, I made a decision on the black row that was bothering me.  I did a little unstitching and applied a new spacer row.  I think I like this better.

This was the before.

I may still add the darker rows - depending on what future rows look like.

There hasn't been much stitching going on here this week as we have been away, but I came home to some great mail.  I participated in Sheila's postcard swap again and received my postcard from Lin (in France).  It is just gorgeous with so many terrific techniques.

As well, my mini quilt from Barbara arrived from Ireland.  This was from the ALQS10 that I have participated in for many years.  I have received so many beautiful quilts through this swap and have met so many great blogging friends.  Barbara actually received one of my quilts a number of years ago so it is a thrill to now also have one of hers.  I just love this one and the quilting is beautifully done.  She also included a mug rug and a little book about her area with the quilt.

Recently a dear friend of ours had surgery and complications from kidney stones.  I was blessed to be able to help him a bit and in return he brought me a lovely Breadfruit table runner from Hawaii - his home state.  Although he apologized for it not being "homemade", I will cherish it.  I love the color he chose.

As I said, we were away this week for our annual fishing trip to the Sierras.  Again this year, the fishing was uneventful, but the family time with all the kids, their spouses and all of the grandkids was priceless.  Just a few pics from the trip......

First fish!

This little ones mom used to do the same thing.  Her mom would pull my drawer out, remove all of the towels and climb into the drawer.

These three can make a golf course out of anything!

It will be a quiet blog week for me as our daughter and SIL are off to Hawaii for the week.  We will have the five children AND the dog. Life should be busy here.  I'll be back next week!