July!

June is now only a memory.  July has arrived.  I didn't get one post done in the entire month.  I have contemplated giving up my blog with the changes Blogger made.  I enjoy blogging and I really love the rapport between bloggers.  Many "friends" have followed me for years, and I them.  Without getting notice in my inbox of incoming comments, it has become so time consuming to reply to them.  Maria has sent me e-mails with all sorts of hints for settings, etc.  Nothing I seem to do will change the situation.  I can only see comments if I sign in to my account and may times I cannot retrieve an e-mail address to reply.  I just do not feel it is right to not reply to all of the kind comments that I receive.  Thus, Blogger has been a thorn in my side when life is busy.

I haven't accomplished a lot of sewing for the month.  I have one near finish that I will show when I get done, but my fun quilting this month was receiving the blocks from my bee mates.  June was my month to be queen bee and it was great to see exciting mail arrive along with all the adds.  The block that I selected for my month was a freebie found HERE.  I made out a master plan and mailed it to my beemates.  Although I only expected one block from each, every person did TWO blocks!  Our Gridster Bee has been an amazing group of gals.  My blocks finish at 12" so the quilt went together quickly.  This is where I was earlier this week.

July means there is a new queen and these are her blocks.  I love all the scrappy goodness.

The beginning of June was for family celebrations.  Our children took us out for a day of surprises, end with a lovely dinner for our 50th anniversary.

The same weekend we celebrated the wedding of our eldest granddaughter.   This is a phot of our son and his family.

What would summer be without preserving?  The apricots, nectarines, peaches and plums have produced a massive crop this year.  I have been lucky to have these two delightful helpers to assist with canning.  We have done it together for so many years and I am sure they could do it without any guidance, but we so enjoy our canning days together.  One day we just baked without canning.  Their favorite was a Nectarine Vanilla Bean Scone.

We've also spent many hours at baseball fields and equestrian cross country meets.

There was also Father's Day and a well deserved celebration for the six great fathers in our family.

Finally there was July 4th.  We had around 80 people this year for the festivities - lots of great food and laughs.  I didn't get many pictures so I hope others have some to share.

Blooms All Around

This is always such a busy time of the year for working in the gardens.  Sewing and creativity seem to take a back seat.  It feels good to get "in touch" with the soil, but I must admit to missing my sewing time.  Sewing is also much kinder on the body!

The roses have been gorgeous this year with all of our winter rains.  As I pick the various colors, I keep thinking of which would I choose as my favorite.

Would it be these...

or some Hot Cocoa.....

or faithful long stemmed yellows....
 

or classic pink???

Maybe it is just a mixed vase.....

I missed my last link up with my BlooM blocks for our SAL, but I have continued to work on them.  I'll have three new blocks to link up this weekend.

The completed blocks so far, in no particular order.

With the new month just a few sleeps away, a new Gridster Bee queen has given us her block choice.  It's looking like Christmas sewing in May.

I was the lucky recipient of one of Cindy's beautiful pincushions that she makes with her selvages.  I just LOVE how she personalizes them.  She has a great storage system for her selvages.  You can read more about that and see some of her gorgeous work on her blog.  It looks so pretty in my pincushion basket. 

We had a blessed Easter with a family and friends.  Several of the college grandchildren were not able to make it home, but we managed to get a group shot of the ones who were there.

We had six of the grandchildren over the weekend while their parents were away for a wedding.  The dogs were in their element with all the snuggles.

We are at the start of strawberry season in our area.  The berries have been so juicy and large this year.  It's a shame that we can't enjoy them year round, but we probably wouldn't appreciate them as much.

Until next time....

Inside and Outside

We have been enjoying such lovely spring weather and it has drawn me outside more and more.  The weeds are plentiful after all of our lovely rains this winter.  Sigh!  It seems like an endless job.

The amaryllis that live outside are all blooming now.  I do enjoy bringing them inside when they bloom so I grow them in pots.  These are a few of my favorite.

The Clivia are also in full bloom.

Of course, yard work does not come without heart attack risks when one comes across something like this.

Thankfully, it is a non poisonous gopher snake, but it is the biggest one that I have ever seen and hope to never see it again.

One other garden news is that my big prickly pear cactus has a cochineal infestation on it.  I am so excited about that as I am "dyeing" to try some eco-dyeing using them.  Yesterday I harvested some of the insects and although I have not yet ground them down, the water turned such a pretty color when I boiled them before setting them out to dry. 

There has been a bit of sewing going on too.  The Gridster Bee block for April is a patriotic one for Nancy at Patchwork Breeze.

My turn for being the bee queen is coming up in June so I have been thinking about what to do.  I played around a bit with this block.

Together they form stars in each corner.  It might take some organization, but I do like the way it is growing.  The pattern can be found HERE.

I am late in getting my BLooM block done this time, but done it is.  The next one is due this weekend.  Better get going on it.

Next Monday I will be participating in the Be a Diamond blog hop.  That project is finished and I am excited to see all of the upcoming diamond projects.

Look at these cute carrot cakes.  Wouldn't they be fun (and delicious) for a sewing party?

I hope all who celebrate have a blessed Easter.

Can it be Spring?

We've enjoyed a wee warm up for the last few days and I am actually believing that spring may finally be just around the corner for us.

As well as warmer weather, the Peeps are in the stores.  I don't know what happened to the rest of them.  lol

Spring, as usual, means the grandkid's school auction.  That means it was time to make a new 18" doll uniform.  This year I did the skort version instead of the jumper.  Most of the girls now wear the skorts.

We had four little ones while their parents were out of town so there was lots of creative time going on around here.  This little guy was fascinated with counted cross stitch.  He made a lovely tree ornament which I forgot to photograph before he took it home. 

There was make believe time too.  The sweet face of a princess....

I was hoping to get two flowers done this week for the Bloom SAL, but that did not happen.  One will have to do.  Five down and fifteen to go by September.  You can see more at Cheryll's blog HERE.

These fun bee blocks for our Gridster Bee are flying off to Marsha  (IG quilterinmotion).  I'm looking forward to seeing these come together in a quilt. 

These hanging kitchen towels are off to Arizona for Sara as a part of our Sewing with Friends group.  We are doing the hanging towels for each other this year. 

 I had to capture this picture of Rudy on this cushion as it reminded me of Toby doing the same thing when he was just a pup.