September

At the rate that I am getting posts created these days, I might as well just title them with the month.  Here we are into the middle of September already.  The grandchildren are all back in school and fall is quickly approaching.

The last few weeks we have had our dear friends from the U.K. visiting us.  The days were packed with activities which included lots of shopping, golf and quilting.

While the guys golf, Irene and I set lofty goals as far as how much quilting we can get done.  We tried for six quilts, but only managed to finish five.  If we hadn't got carried away with the grand opening of the new Home Goods store, I'm sure we would have made our goal.  lol

The first quilt we made was for their daughter and we did the Scrappy Majestic Mountains in gray.  Irene loved it so much that she was afraid that she would not be able to part with it.  So...we did another in blues.

Then we did a couple of twin quilts for the grandsons which I realized too late that we did not  photograph before they were packed away.

We finished the last one yesterday, just in time to pack in the bag for today's departure.  This last one was a beauty - a chain pattern using Kaffe fabric.  All three of these were queen sized quilts so you can imagine how the machines were humming.

I have been out of the loop on what is happening in blogland, IG land and all else so am looking forward to catching up with everyone.

In With the Old

January is suppose to be out with the old and in with the new....right?  I am so tempted by "new" projects being shown on IG and blogs, but I am determined to finish some of my older UFOs.  I have told myself that I can start something new AFTER I finish two old ones.  I don't even want to count how many UFOs are hiding here.

That being said, I did participate in the yearly Mystery Quilt at Quiltville.com.  I changed mine up color wise.

Once I finished it, I decided to make it a bit bigger by adding a paper pieced strip border to it.  What's fifty two more paper pieced strip blocks anyway?  It now measures 84" square which will make a nice sized quilt.

I can honestly say that not one new fabric was purchased for this quilt.  YEAH.  I just don't understand why the stash does not appear to have gone down any.  

Now for the "old" project.  I have had a stack of Scrappy Mountain blocks sitting on my ironing area F-O-R-E-V-E-R!  I refused to remove them for fear they would end up in the dark spot.  I played around with a few layouts and decided on the second, but the first one intrigued me too.

Several years ago Lori Holt had a Bloom Sewalong.  I had all of my templates and a stash of old and new retro fabrics, but never managed to get my blocks sewn.  This year Cheryll is using the same pattern for another SAL.  I dug out my fabrics and templates and then  managed to get the first block sewn.

On the gardening side of life, January means rose pruning here.  Although it cuts into sewing time, it is a great feeling to get them finished.  It won't be long before they are blooming again.   Inside, the amaryllis sent up a second bloom of four more flowers.

To close I will leave a picture of what happens around here when one leaves a quilt on the floor while auditioning borders.  I think I need a design wall!

Springtime

I have been a terrible blogger lately.  Springtime is always busy with family events and this one has been no different.  Trying to squeeze in time for stitching proves difficult.

My BIL is so good about saving his shirts for me when he is finished with them,  As a small token of thanks to him and to my sister I used some of his shirts to create a scrappy quilt for them.  The pattern is a variation of a  Bonnie Hunter freebie, Scrappy Mountain Majesties.

The gals in the family are in charge of a big dinner dance and auction tomorrow night.  They asked if I would make a table runner that reflected a "vintage-y/romantic" feel to go with some dishes they also have.  I added a hint of lace without the real lace by stenciling a lace motif on the linen looking background fabric.

This month for our Spelling Bee Carla requested words that had a knitting theme.  She has just opened up a knitting shop and wanted to reflect her love of quilting and knitting.  These are the words I sent off to her.

A dear friend whom I have known for years came up for a few days visit.  We had such fun reminiscing and visiting the Reagan Library.

The gardens continue to bloom beautifully.  My orchids and Epiphyllum (orchid cactus) are the show this week.

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The other excitement in the garden was the arrival of the tortoise eggs.  She laid them a month earlier than normal, but I assume it is because of the warm winter we had.  This is an all day process.