Summer Fun

With the arrival of August my thoughts turn to the end of summer.  School will start soon for the children and it seems as though they just got out.  Guess that is the "old" in me coming out.  ;-}

We've been taking advantage of the sunny days with a little family beach time.  The water temperatures are still quite chilly (around 61*) which is giving us our cool and foggy summer this year, but the sun feels great.

I'm still plugging away on my Takes 2 blocks.  I am now ready for today's set to come out.  I finished the one applique that has been nagging at me too.  Gosh, I really hate am not good at needle turn applique?  It's a learning process, but my mind is not processing it very well.

Therefore.....it was fun to turn to my mindless sewing of Great Granny squares.  I finished my 20th block, put the borders on it and it is ready to be finished.  Yeah.  The colors do not show up well, but this is such a soft and pretty quilt.

The fourth star to the Summer Stars QAL also got done.  I love these little things.

If you want to see a fabulous idea for a quilt block you need to go visit Sandi's blog today.   Tell me......does that not make you want to make one for each day of the week?

A Good Sewing Week

It has been a good sewing week for me.  I've had a bit of free time which is always welcome.  Of course I have to bribe myself A LOT these days.  A promise of some quality time in the sewing room IF I will clean this closet or that seems to get the chores done around here.  I surely wish that little cleaning elf would show up at my house.

I managed to get my table topper made with the patriotic fabrics that I won from Inchworm Fabrics.  I  used a pattern that I had seen on the internet and it said it was from Artthreads. 

It went up quickly and I really enjoy the way it turned out.  I would recommend using biased binding with all of the curves.  I did and it worked beautifully.  The red and blue decorative stitching is just one of the stitches on the sewing machine.  Thanks to Cherry for all the wonderful advice about starching the fabric WELL before doing the applique.  It sewed up beautifully.  She is the queen of detailed applique work.

Sunday was a baby shower for our DIL and I always enjoy throwing a few burp cloths in with the baby gifts.  They are constructed with flannel so are soft for the baby's face too.  Can you tell that the sex of the baby is not known? 

Nice shadow of the camera!!!!!

I continue to work on my It Takes 2 blocks.  This series called for two airplane blocks, but I did just one and then did a contrasting Ohio Star pattern instead.

This weekend is a birthday for one of the granddaughters.  She will be two years old so I made her a simple summer dress.  I LOVE this DS fabric and I think it made up really cute as a dress and bloomers.

Today is another granddaughter birthday.  We are invited for dinner tonight and I am bringing the cake so best get myself going and get it made.

Four of the girls will come home with us tonight for a sleepover and we will make bread and more strawberry jam tomorrow.

I know a few of my followers are in the fire area of Colorado and a few more  in the flooding from Debbie.  Please stay safe and know that we are all thinking about you and keeping you in our prayers.

Sew and Such

Although the temperatures are not reflecting the event, spring has arrived.  Both the male and female orioles have returned - the earliest we have ever recorded them doing so.  We had a winter storm blow through over the weekend and I am certain that they must be reconsidering their decision.  We are, however, thrilled to see the bright yellow flashes at the feeders.  I've also noticed a great increase in the number of hummingbirds.  Summer must follow soon.

After the challenges that I encountered with my Feathered Star block last week, I decided to tackle the Mariner's Compass a little differently.  I sewed this one by hand.  I have also hated the hand applique since I never felt that I was any good at it.  I am learning new skills and it is definitely improving the applique look on my blocks. 

I've been a slacker in starting my NY Beauty blocks so I decided to dive into them.  I have chosen batiks for this project since I have quite a few of them.    I still have four more blocks to do before the next set comes out, but I think I can make it. 

We are eagerly awaiting the arrival of our next grandbaby who is due in about a week and a half.  She has gone early with the other two, but this one seems to want to stay put for awhile.  Meanwhile we enjoy  our littlest guy.  He is growing so quickly and is the BEST baby. 

Since it sounds like most places are enjoying unseasonably warm temperatures, I hope you can all get out and enjoy them this week. 

A Few Stitches

I keep wanting to believe that today is Monday after enjoying a three day weekend.  The week will be short and over with before we realize. 

We helped out with little ones over the weekend as the flu season has hit with force in our area, but I did manage to get a little sewing done. 

I am really enjoying the challenge of the It Takes 2 QAL with all of the different techniques being used.  It is certainly not a project for a beginner.  It is giving me some good experience for when I attempt a Dear Jane quilt. ;-)

I also finished my March mug rug and it is packed and ready to mail off to my March partner. 

A squishy package arrived from Samantha loaded with wonderful fat quarters and other great goodies.   I especially enjoyed the darling bracelet that her daughter made and added to the package.  Thanks so much, Samantha.

Today is Fat Tuesday.  I've always wondered what it would be like to be in New Orleans or Rio for the celebrations.  Have any of you ever been there for the parties?  Just curious!!  I'm not sure I could handle the crowds myself.

February.....Really?

It's a good thing that February has one extra day this year because it has arrived much too quickly for my likes.  How about yours?

Of course a new month also means that the new BOMs and swaps are out and the fun begins all over again.  Surprisingly, the It Takes 2 blocks are only two blocks this time.  I did finish my second set of blocks and look forward to a lighter load this round.  Building the house was a tad challenging with the set in Y seams. 

I mailed off my Valentines mug rug to my secret partner so I can show it to you.  If anyone wants to jump in for this swap, you can still join.  It's one mug rug a month for the months with holidays and lasts one year.

Then I made another for a friend who loves cats.

As well, Judy (no Blog) and I swapped accessory bags.  She sent me the most gorgeous beg and it was packed full of fabulous goodies for sewing.  I love everything about the beautifully made bag and Judy spoiled me with all of the fin things inside.  I don't know if she follows my blog, but if so, thank you soooo much.

This is the bag I sent Judy.

 I finally finished the December Birdie Stitches block.  Thank you, Terry, for the great tree design.  These are the last three blocks and now I can assemble the quilt. 

We've had lots of fun grandbaby time this week as well.  One little one celebrated his first birthday.



A little fun balloon time.

 Is there a better way to show a picture of a quilt than this?

Well....tomorrow is Groundhog Day.  Will the groundhog see his shadow in your neck of the woods?  He will be seeing it here.  I wonder what the percentage is of his being correct?  I'm sure we could "google" the answer.

A Reason to Celebrate

What a wonderful week it has been around our house!!  We have been blessed once more with a beautiful little grandson.  All are doing well and he was welcomed home today by his big brother and sister.  The week can't be much better than that.

It also started off in a fabulous manner.  For Christmas our children gifted us a dinner prepared by a chef (and friend of our SIL) for all of us at our home.  The menu was amazing and consisted of seven courses.  We had so much fun and it was such a thrill to watch all of this happening in our kitchen.  Sadly, we were missing one DIL who was ill and one son who was away skiing.  Guess that just meant more food for all of us.  ;-)

A few of the courses.....

Seared Nantucket Scallops with avocado risotto,  mango lime coulis, chipolte oil and crispy plantains.

Merlot poached pears stuffed with gorgonzola dolce and served with peppered balsamic syrup, arugula sprouts and honey port aioli.

Mascarpone and apricot Napoleon - pistachio and thyme twill, Mascarpone Mouse, Muscatel soaked apricots and basil honey.

Does anyone know how to deal with Blogger's problems in commenting?  Several of the blogs I follow are not allowing the page for comments.  Instead it simply comes up as a blank page.  I have read where others are having the same issues, but have not heard how to resolve them yet.

The sewing studio has been a little quiet as we have been busy with little ones and houseguests, but I did have to finish up a quilt for the newest baby.  Our children absolutely loved the book Goodnight Moon.  I was so thrilled to see the line of fabrics with the same title.  In wanting to highlight the fabric prints, I chose the wave pattern.  I also put Minky fabric on the back of it so it is super soft.  I was a bit apprehensive about the stretch of the backing, but it quilted BEAUTIFULLY.  If you haven't tried it on the back of a quilt, I highly recommend giving it a go.  I'll be linking this quilt up as a January finish with A Stitch in Time.

I also decided to join in the It Takes 2 quilt along.  You can check out the link on my sidebar.  Instead of the red and white, I have chosen a chocolate brown and a light aqua.  The first blocks are done and the patterns are now out for the second series. 

There seem to be many Dresden Plate quilt designs showing up on blogs this year.  I am thinking that one may be in my future as I have always loved them.  I may have to use the line of fabric,  Montecito,  from Connecting Threads that I won a few weeks ago from Stephanie's giveaway.    Stephanie always has such an inspiring blog and I love the wonderful, bright colors that she uses.  If you are not familiar with her, please be sure to check her out her blog, Loft Creations.

We are waiting for the arrival of our first storm of the new year.  I doubt that it will give us much rain, but we are hoping for at least some snow in the mountains.  Our winter has been so warm lately that my sweet peas have started to bloom already.  They smell as heavenly as they look.

I think that areas like Portland and Seattle should run a nice pipeline down our way and give us all of their excess.  Wouldn't it be wonderful if there was a way to do that?  Anyway....I am hoping to get into some good sewing projects while I watch the rain come down this weekend.  I hope it is a great weekend for all of you too.