October Days

Blogger is still misbehaving even after I have reset it several times.  If I do not reply to you, it is because I am not seeing your comments.  I tried comment moderation, but no comments came through so I have reverted back.  We will see how it goes.

Some old business first....I have drawn two names for my Words to Live By blog hop giveaway and have not received a reply to e-mails that I have sent.  Today I drew again and it is Pat from Life in the Scrapatch blog.  I have sent her an e-mail and I hope I finally have a winner.

It has been rather chaotic around the house as we have had painters working on all of the baseboards.  Nothing like having a washer and dryer in the middle of your living room.  Every room has had all the furniture pulled to the middle of the room.  It's an interesting way to live!

But....it has allowed extra time in my creative space.  I needed to keep Toby confined in the room with me so we had some good bonding time.

Fort Worth Fabric Studios had a Boo to You QAL that I joined.  I made a few changes, but really like the way it finally came out.  Of course, Toby had to inspect it too.

The Seeing Stars QAL is also culminating this month.  I was hoping to get it quilted before the reveal day on October 16th, but I don't think that will happen.  I do have the top all pieced.

I was one of the lucky winners in the weekly giveaways during the QAL.  This beautiful Portsmouth layer cake was a donation from https://www.greenfairyquilts.com/.  

My sister is the queen in our Gridster Bee this month and I love her idea for her blocks - black and white NYBeauty blocks with a splash of color.  Won't a quilt of all these blocks look fabulous?

October means another monthly marker for my square in a square (SIS) Temperature quilt.  Our September did not see the exceptionally high temps that we can normally expect, but the nights are cooling off a bit.  Only two more months to go.

  

October is a busy birthday month in our family.  We have ten birthdays, including my own.  There's no time for stale birthday cake!!!

We had one of our sons and his family for dinner Sunday night and we were treated to this night sky display during dessert.  A rocket was launched from Vandenberg AFB.  It created two sonic booms before returning to Vandenberg and landing as planned - a great accomplishment.  

Just to end with some super cuteness, I'll share this picture.  Our daughter's family got a new puppy and their older pooch loves the new companion.  

Minis and More

Coming September 3rd in Blogland and IG is the Minis and More Parade, hosted by Michele and Sherri.  This month was a block that I have wanted to make for sometime.  What better opportunity than to make it for the parade?  The pattern this month was Trip Around The World Mini Quilt from Samantha of Aqua Paisley Studio.

After making the mini, I am thinking that I may need to make the Scrappy Trip quilt that was going around Blogland several years ago.   Be sure to pop over to Michele and Sherri's blogs to see the other versions of this pattern.

This weeks blocks for the Seeing Stars QAL was called Curvy Star.  The curves were gentle curves so went together quickly.

August is quickly coming to a close so thought I'd post a photo of an up to date Temperature Quilt.  The August row is hanging to the right of the quilt as it is not quilt long enough to add to the bottom yet.  It's definitely been a warmer few months, but you can see that the nights are starting to cool down a bit.

While watering the pots this weekend, I noticed this cute little guy tucked into a plumeria plant.  He was well camouflaged. 

 While we are on plumerias, these are two more that are blooming.  The smell is so heavenly.

 We had a lovely evening out this week at the Hollywood Bowl for a Chopin concert.  The Bowl is such a magnificent place to visit.  We arrive early, enjoy dinner there and then hear great music. 

As the garden starts to slow down a bit, we have been harvesting peaches, tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers daily.  Marjorie shared a recipe for mustard pickles with me so I put some up this week.  They are very good. 

The days are definitely shortening.  Fall is coming quickly.  There is a lot of talk about eliminating Daylight Savings Time.  What are your thoughts on it? 

Just Like That

…… July is in the past.  Where has the summer gone?  It's hard to imagine that the grandchildren all head back to colleges next week.  It has been so nice having them home all summer.

There really has not been a lot of sewing going on here the past month.  I just sort of "piddled around", as my mom used to say.  I have tried to stay up on my Temperature Quilt 2018.  The past week has been quite toasty.  Yesterday was 103* so the reds are definitely adding some color to the quilt.  The colors are not really true in these photos, but you can see the reds appearing more frequently.

Lorna from Sew Fresh Quilts posted a cute little free pelican pattern last week.  When I saw it, I immediately thought of Connie from Freemotion By the River blog.  I played around a bit with it and sent it off to Connie.  Many of you will remember her little pelican, Pelly.  Photo is taken from Connie's blog since I forgot to get a picture before mailing it off.  ;-(

I had a couple of little ones wanting to stitch when they were here one day.  I always enjoy their creativity and look forward to the years ahead of stitching with them.

They enjoy covering Toby while he spends his time in the sewing area with us.  I'll link this photo up with Pets on Quilts.

My BIL saves his old shirts for me for quilting scraps.  Before cutting them up, I like to cut the sleeves off and make wine bottle covers to use as gift wraps.  They are easy to make so thought I would do a quick tutorial to share.

I cut the sleeves at 8.5" below the cuff, but that can be adjusted depending on bottle height.

Turn inside out and stitch a 1/4" seam across the cut edge.

Turn back to right side out.  Cut a 28" piece of ribbon and attach it to the center of the back side of the sleeve - right below the cuff.

Insert wine bottle, fold cuff down and tie ribbon into attractive bow.  This sleeve also has a decorative beaded strand added to dress it up a bit.  The options are endless.

I'll leave you with a picture of my favorite plumeria in bloom.

Linking up with Sew Fresh Quilts, Freemotion by the River,  and Pets on Quilts.

Best Laid Plans

Remember all of that sewing time that I was planning on while our floors were being refinished?  What was I thinking?   The first few days were okay, in spite of all the noise from the sanding machines, etc.  After that they suggested we leave the house because of the fumes and inability to walk on the floors.  I am glad to say that they finished up this morning and now it is cleaning and putting everything back where it belongs.  UGH!

So....what did we do when we had to leave?  We took a spur of the moment road trip.  We headed out to Las Vegas to visit some dear friends who moved there several years ago.  We stayed in Vegas for two days and enjoyed some rather cool and tropical weather.  It was a joy to see thunderstorms and enjoy a bit of rain in the desert.

I would love to know more geology so I could tell you about the different colored layers in the mountains and just how long ago it happened.  It would be so interesting.

From there we drove to Death Valley, stopping in at Ash Meadows Wildlife Refuge along the way.  Ash Meadows is located just a short distance from Death Valley and is an oasis in the middle of the hottest, driest desert in North America.  They had a lovely visitor center about 8 miles down a gravel road.  We were the only visitors at the beautiful facility.  What a shame!  I was amazed to see so much water in the desert.  The colors in the pools of water were gorgeous and they were homes to tiny little puff fish, an endangered species.

Death Valley was toasty warm at 114* when we pulled into the Inn for the evening.   We enjoyed a pretty sunset overlooking the desert.

It was still warm when we left a little after 6 a.m. the next morning.

What sewing did I get done during the mess?  I finished a fall table runner for Sara who is in our Sewing With Friends swap.

I also got all the blocks sewn together for my Sea and Sand quilt.

Lastly, I did some mindless sewing, adding 20 more blocks to my selvage block project.

I also caught up on my Temperature Quilt.  The reds were making an appearance for a few days, but we are back in the low 80s again - back to the rusty reds.

The last of my Gridster Bee blocks arrived from Afton.  She actually made me EIGHT blocks for my month!  I am excited about getting this quilt made with all of the gorgeous hearts that I received in the month of June.

My computer was stored away in a room with no access during the refinishing so it is nice to have it out again.  I have missed following blogs.

This is what my house has looked like.

No cooking!!!!

Even Toby is glad to have things back to a more normal living situation again.

Goodbye June

It's hard to believe that the year is now half way gone and summer is in full swing in many places.  Although our foreseeable future is still forecast to remain cool, I hope to see some summer temperatures appearing here in July.  My Temperature Quilt 2018 is looking quite boring!  Every day is the same color.  We had only two days in the entire month that went over 80* - an 84 and 85.  Our January and February both had warmer days, and more of them.

June has been my month for being the Queen Bee in our Gridster Bee.  I had requested Scrappy Heart blocks.  I am loving the secondary effect that the beautiful hearts are creating.   This is where they are right now, but I see on IG that more are arriving shortly.

Now that July is almost upon us, Leisa is our Queen Bee for that month.  Her request is for the Starry Sky Quilt blocks.  I love this pattern and have wanted to make one myself.  I think it will be gorgeous to see all of the stars together.  

We've had several birthdays this week in the family.  One of the granddaughters loves to cook so I made her a vintage apron as one of her gifts.  

The afternoons have been warm enough to enjoy a little pool time with the grandchildren.  

One of the gals in our quilt guild always shares the cutest cartoons.  This one struck my fancy and I am sure many can relate.