End of Summer

It seems way too soon for the kids to be heading back to school.  It also doesn't sound right to hear about Labor Day sales on the television and radio.  How can the summer be coming to an end so soon? 

The college grandchildren have started to leave for their schools.  They rest will depart throughout the week.  Some of the younger grandchildren have started back to school this week and the remainder will go back next week.  I'll miss having them around and stopping in all the time.  However, it was a great summer. 

I had some fun fall sewing to do before school started.  A friend of mine is a teacher.  To encourage creative writing with her students, she uses a book titled Letters From Felix.  She has used a pathetic looking "Felix" stuffed rabbit that gets to go home with the children.  I promised her that I would make a new one for her before classes started. 

Felix may have overeaten this summer so he may need to go on a diet this fall, but he is definitely an improvement over the one that was being used.  lol

He even has his own backpack for the start of school (and for carrying his notepad and pencil).

One of the granddaughters stopped over this past week because she wanted to "make a dress".  This was her first dressmaking attempt and I think she did a great job on it.  She loved it and can't wait to come home for Thanksgiving so she can sew some more.

I managed to get my Scrappy Radiant Star quilted.  I'm looking forward to getting the binding on it and having it finished.

It was my block choice for my month of the Gridster Bee.  Each of my beemates included an extra block so the construction of the quilt went quickly.  They were all stars in my book and I included their signature blocks in stars on the back.

Lastly, this week has seen excitement with several of our tortoise eggs hatching.  It's always a fun time to watch the progress.  

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.