Some Quilting Time

The last month has been such a blip on my calendar, but I have managed to squeeze in a bit of sewing here and there.

One of the great swaps that I participate in each year is the ALQS.  I shared the mini I made already, but I have to show you the one I received.  It is absolutely beautiful and has so many fun techniques.  The colors are amazing and I really love this little quilt.  I am showing it on its side as the photo appears more detailed that the upright one.

 You can read some of the techniques Joan used by reading her label.

As well, in my package, Joan included a brooch that she made.  Isn't it lovely too?

We took a little road trip up Hwy. 89 through Utah so I had some time to work on my second circle in my EPP project.  The curves were a bit of a challenge for this new EPP quilter, but I am pleased with the way it turned out.  I haven't trimmed them down to their 12" block yet so it looks a little ragged around the edges.

Elizabeth at OPQuilt has created the designs for these circles and the patterns can be found on her blog.

There were so many fabulous QALs this summer.  I would love to join each one, but the Hillside Houses (link on my sidebar) is one that I had to start first.  The little houses remind me of beach huts.  I have nine of the twelve blocks completed.

We spent a few days at the beach with my sister, BIL, brother and SIL.  Although June tends to be foggy most of the day at the beach, we had a great time. 

We had the last of the graduations of the year this week and have been enjoying a lot of time with little ones here too.  It's no wonder the weeks have slipped by so quickly.

Now.....I'm off to clean house after the weekend mess.

Randomness

I suppose if I blogged more frequently I would not need titles like Randomness or Odds and Ends, but such is life right now.  The last month and a half has been a little crazy, but things seem to be getting back to a more normal routine.  Hopefully, that will mean a bit more time spent in my sewing studio. 

As I mentioned in my last post I was working on a Civil War project with eleven other quilters.  We were each assigned a mini quilt from a wonderful book, Civil War Legacies, by Carol Hopkins.

The book is loaded with terrific small quilts that make up easily and quickly.  I thoroughly enjoyed making my quilt, titled Mary Smith's Dishrag.   I used the CW reproduction fabrics, but these quilts would also be gorgeous done in modern fabrics.  I may try that with the next pattern I make from the book.  There will definitely be more as the instructions are well written and easy to follow.  Here is my finished quilt.

I love the visibility of quilting stitches on a solid backing so I used a muslin for mine.  You can find more from the group at the Flickr site. 

We had our youngest son and his family visiting for a few days and I was able to gift the newest little one with a very girlie quilt done in pink and green.  I love that color combination.    We had fun with the kids (and their parents).

A few weeks ago Nedra had posted a picture of a great idea for this fall's election.  They were patterns from the Kansas City Star Newspaper and they looked like fun.  I decided to give them a try and although I changed the design just a bit,  I really think it will be fun to hang this fall. 

I was fortunate to win some wonderful fabrics from Irene's for her 200th Post Giveaway at Hilachas.  I love all the wonderful brown tones in this bundle and I am looking forward to using them.   Why are there endless ideas when there is not endless time????

While our weather has not been great this year for the roses, it has been great for other flowers.  I am especially thrilled with my lilacs.  We live in an area where they do not do well, but we have found a low chill variety that seems to be taking hold.  This is the best bloom I have had over the years.  They do smell fabulous.

The family will all be here on Sunday for our Father's Day celebration.  It is the wives day to cook and wait on the guys and we have a lot to live up to after the royal service we got for Mother's Day.  The menu is still in the works.  I hope that all of you will enjoy a wonderful weekend of celebrating fathers too.

I’m Still Here

It has just been a little busy around here and I haven’t had much of a chance to consider blogging lately.  So sorry.  As well,  everyone seems to be noticing the problems with Blogger of late.  Thanks to Terry(http://terrytreasures.blogspot.com/), I unchecked that little box requesting that I stay logged in and I am now able to leave comments once more.  My apologies to all those posts that I could not leave comments.
Here is a bit of what has been occupying my time of late. 
Our DIL threw a 40th birthday party for our son.  His birthday gift was a dog which he has wanted F-O-R-E-V-E-R.  The dog was not born yet, but was due last weekend, Needless to say,  the gifts were all dog related.  Unfortunately, the mother dog had one puppy that was dead at birth so they are once again in the hunt for the perfect dog.  It will be fun for him to help in the search so that is the positive side of the story.



He even has his dog named already.

Cousins "hangin' out" together.

40 candles in one blow....I kew he was windy.

Monkey see....monkey do????

The following morning we left for Orlando for a business meeting.  I am always amazed when I look out at the terrain and the flatness of it all.  We are so used to having our views interrupted by hills or mountains, but you could see for miles.  It was hot and humid for them and the downtown historic area was packed with the media crews covering the Ca*sey Anth*ony trial going on there.



Isn't there a song about seeing forever?

Returning home, we had a busy Memorial Day weekend with two grandchildren graduating to high school.



Notice the three year old in a stubborn spell???

Mom and Dad with the graduates.

This week has had some wonderful celebrations in our family.  Dh and I celebrated our 42nd wedding anniversary on the 31st and today is our son’s 38th birthday.  In a big family there is always something to celebrate.




Birthday boy.

I received the most wonderful surprise squishy in the mail.  It came from Linda (http://straystitches1.blogspot.com/), a fellow blogger and friend.  If you do not know Linda you must check her blog out.  She is an amazing daily blogger and you will find yourself educated, inspired and uplifted each day by reading her posts.   She accomplishes more in one day than anyone I know!!!   She is my morning wakeup and I feel as though I learn something with each cup of morning coffee and her reads.    I do hope to someday meet her as she lives just a few hours away from me.  But…look at this wonderful pincushion she made.  I LOVED it from the moment I saw it on her blog.  Thank you, Linda.

Although I haven’t had a lot of machine time lately, I have been doing a lot of hand sewing while we were away or spending time in the car.  I finished my Lil’ Twister table runner and love how it turned out.

I also got the binding on my Raggedy Ann quilt that Mary quilted for me.  She did such an amazing job on this quilt.  I tried to get some details of the quilting, but my pictures do not do it justice.  Please go to Mary’s (http://quilthollow.blogspot.com/)  blog (if you are one of the few who do not follow her incredible work) and see the pictures of the quilting that she did on it.  Thank you so much, Mary.  I just love the work you do.

We have a darling couple with three children who live next door.  They are wonderful neighbors and Monique has always admired the Christmas stockings that I make for my grandchildren.  She wanted me to teach her how to do them since she does not sew.  That was about 12 years ago!!!  She got the kits, started one and gave up.  Each year I ask her if this is the year she will finish them.  Well…I finally talked to her DH and asked him if he would be able to find the kits without her knowing.  He did!!!  I completed the stitching on the first one in FL and am working on the second one now.  I think she will be pleasantly surprised when Christmas rolls around.



Christmas in May?

Whew!!!!  Are your eyes glazed over by now?  I’ll try to do a better job of posting so it isn’t all in one loooooooong post next time.  I’ll leave you with this since I am having some oral surgery next week.



Brush, floss, brush!!!!!

P.S. I see that I cannot add the links using blogger.  I did my post with Windows LiveWriter, but the photos are blurry when enlarged on Blogger so what is....is!  Sorry.

Schnibbles and Good Bye June

Wow!  Has June flown by as quickly for you as it has for me?  It is amazing.

Let's start off with my June Schnibbles.  It is the pattern State Fair and I really enjoyed doing this one.  Not only did I love the fabric in this charm pack (Wrapped in Paisley), but it went up quickly and I think turned out beautifully.

Also this month I completed my barn quilt block which was done in the Pineapple pattern.  Pineapple has always been one of my favorite quilt patterns so I was pleased to see it as this month's selection.

Another project that was in the works for this month was my Snowballs.  These were blocks that I received last year when we did a novelty print 5" swap.  I think that I may sash them with a black and white fabric.  I also think that this will make a fabulous I Spy quilt. 

Family life has been busy as well for June.  We had a wonderful Father's Day brunch with most all of the kids and grandchildren.  The food was delicious, but the company was so much better!!!

One always has to admire little boy's attraction to water - a puddle or a fountain makes no difference.

We celebrated the wedding of our nephew and his new bride.  It was a lovely wedding with a lot of Hawaiian traditions as the bride's family has some Hawaiian blood in them.

As well, I attended my 45th (gulp) high school reunion.  We had a very small class of about 70 girls.  It was an all girl's school and it was fun to reconnect with the ones that made it to this one.  It's funny how your teachers always seemed SO OLD when we were in high school.  Now we are all in the same age "group".  I mean....they were in their early 20s and that was OLD!!!

Momma tortoise was busy laying not one, but two batches of eggs again this year.  This is the third year in a row that she has laid two batches.  It never ceases to amaze me when I look at the size of those eggs and then look at her.  Guess it is much like having a human baby. 

Speaking of babies, our daughter and SIL are expecting at any moment now.  We are all on baby alert, but I am fairly sure that the doctor will not let her go past her due date which is Thursday.  She really wants to make it to the 4th of July party here.  We will see.

The garden has been busy providing me with lots of extra chores like making jams and pie fillings.  As you can see, boysenberry season is in full swing around here.

Yesterday was another granddaughters birthday.  Ms B turned nine and requested skirts made by Grandma.  I gladly obliged her request.

Is it ever too early to get a granddaughter interested in sewing?  This one seems to love my selvage edges that a friend gave to me.

One question.....did anyone else get teary eyed when they saw Toy Story 3?  It was sooo good and I will not ruin the story for anyone going to see it.  We took a few of the kiddos and saw it in 3 D.  Excellent!!!

I have enjoyed entertaining the Flat Princess for the last few weeks and will do a complete post about her later this week.  I put all of the names in a pot and chose one out to see where she would be off to next.  She has packed her bags and is now winging her way to Canada to spend a few weeks at Peas Corner.  Please be sure to check her out there and put your name in if you would like to entertain her next.  I just wish that I could have gone with her as she continues on this fabulous journey.