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.

So Dearly QAL Part #3

Today I am a guest blogger for the So Dearly QAL hosted by Gosia who blogs at Quilts My Way.  This is a mystery quiltalong and the various colors people are using have been fascinating.  For mine I have chosen a more neutral palette with a brick colored background.

After printing the pattern off, sewing commences.

Once all of the sections have been completed, it looked like this.

A little trimming and I can see how the pieces will fit together when sewn.

Section #3 is finished.  It looks like a tree!

It can now be added to Part #1 and #2.

It's not too late to join in on the QAL.  The first three patterns are still available with new ones coming out every few weeks for free.  You can also follow on Instagram at #sodearlyqal as well as on the Facebook group of So Dearly QAL.

Be sure to check out Gosia's post for full details and chances to win prizes from her wonderful sponsors.

Welcome Summer.

While many of you are enjoying the delightful warm days of summer, we are heavy into our June Gloom days - foggy, cool mornings followed by partly sunny afternoons.  It is always a great time to escape and enjoy the warmer temperatures.  So....for the last two weeks we have been away and enjoying ourselves.

We have traveled my many modes of transportation - planes, trains and automobiles, just to start.  We flew to New York and spent time eating our way through by visiting Chinatown, Little Italy and many restaurants in between.  lol

From there we boarded the Queen Mary 2 and cruised for seven days to Southhampton, England.  It is such a great way to bridge the time change as you loose an hour each day.

We left New York Harbor on a cloudy day, but had spectacular views of the city and Lady Liberty as we set sail.

We had an amazing crossing and, again, ate our way across.  Afternoon teas with warm scones, finger sandwiches and delicate desserts is a habit that I could really get used to.

Each evening we enjoyed a cocktail in our lounge and they brought small bites to enjoy.  This was one of my favorites, a small jar with creamed potato and a bite of bacon along with a spoon filled with prosciutto wrapped melon and a rolled anchovy.  It was different each day.

Once in the UK we stayed in London and traveled around by bus, taxi, underground subway and trains.

Love the streets around London as we walked to our underground station.

We visited Cambridge and walked for miles while enjoying the sights of the city on a warm and sunny day.

We also spent time with our friends in Finchingfield.  Their village is just charming with beautiful thatched roof cottages and wonderful walking paths.

Coming home is always fabulous too.  It's great to be around family again.  There was happy mail waiting for me since June is my month for being the Queen in the Gridster Bee.  Marsha sent me these two wonderful heart blocks.

 I am looking forward to reacquainting myself with my sewing machine this weekend. I was able to start the Christmas stocking for the newest grandbaby while on board the ship and I got a good start on it.

 I had the perfect setup in our room where I could stitch and watch the ocean pass.

Blogger, Blogger, Blogger!

I know that I am only one of many complaining about all that is going on with Blogger.  I do hope they can make it easier for us in the end.  Meanwhile, thank you all for your continued comments.  Not only can I not see them without going to my blog, I also cannot access your e-mails by clicking on your links.  I think that is a Microsoft/AOL problem, but it is beyond frustrating.  In the meantime I am starting a separate address book as I accumulate your e-mails.  Wish me luck with that one!

As we say farewell to May, my Heart a Day for May comes to a close.  It was a fun little project and it did keep my restless hands busy during a month where my sewing machine saw very little action.  I know the month has thirty one days, but the last one will go on the back of the quilt.

Another small quilting project for the month was my Minis and More.  This month we were to choose our own project so I decided to use one off of my endless list of "want to dos."  It is a free pattern and can be found HERE.   The Minis and More Parade can be found on June 1st HERE and HERE.   Thanks Michele and Sherri.

For the last few years I have been involved with four gals in a group called Sewing With Friends.  In the past we have done a round robin, a row robin and a year of fabric postcard exchanges.  This year we are exchanging table toppers/runners.  The first is not due until the middle of July, but Ida finished hers and sent it to me already.  It was wonderful because I was able to use it for our big Memorial Day party.  Thank you, Ida, I so enjoyed decorating with it.

We celebrated Memorial Day on Sunday with the whole family.  We fired up the wood burning oven and did pizzas.  It's a great way to feed a large crowd as everyone can prepare their own pizzas.  The older girls rolled out the doughs and took topping orders from the younger ones.

We celebrate our 49th anniversary on Thursday.  I have no idea where the years have gone, but it has been a beautiful life.  We are so blessed.

May Days

The worst part of being a random blogger is pulling a post together after so much time has passed.  I do need to get better at this blogging thing.  The days pass so quickly and before I realize it, a month is gone and we are halfway to Christmas again!  Yikes.

There has not been a lot of sewing going on here, but I am managing to stay up to date on my Heart a Day in May and my Temperature quilt.

I try to prep several heart blocks at a time and then stitch them in the evenings.

The temps have been out typical May Gray here for the last few weeks.  I am looking forward to some warmer days ahead so I can see more color in the blocks.  Those greens need to go and stay gone.

The college grandchildren are all home for the summer so we have been enjoying their company.  They have all had the chance to meet their smiling new cousin.  He is such a happy baby.

My mom also met her youngest great grandchild last week when we celebrated Mother's Day.

Baseball season is winding down so many hours have been spent at the various fields.  Playoffs have begun which is always exciting.  Can you believe that these two players are in the same age group???

There is lots to do in the garden at this time of the year too.  We had so much freeze damage when we got that 27* night.  The peach tree took a hard hit just as it was setting fruit so the early peach gave us a total of six peaches this year.  The Plumerias also got a good snap.  Looking closely, you can see the new leaves trying to emerge below the frozen section.

In closing, I will share a photo of a little guest who came to visit while I was at my mom's yesterday.  He/she was not a bit intimidated.  I was standing less than two feet from him and he was perfectly happy to stand at the door as if he was coming to visit.

An Exciting Week

It has been such an exciting week around here and very little of it involved sewing.

Our newest grandchild arrived Friday evening - a little boy who is dearly loved by all.  He evened out the boy/girl ratio in the family.

The week took us north and south in the car as we traveled down to watch our grandson's baseball team, UCSM, play UCSD.  It was a beautiful day.  After the game we took him to dinner and then made the long drive back home. 

Over the weekend we headed north to watch our granddaughter make her First Communion at the Mission in San Luis Obispo.

Many hours in the car provided me time to catch up on the one heart a day project hosted by Happy to be Scrappy.

As well this past week, two of our granddaughters were in their school's musical, The Music Man.  One played Marian and one played the grandmother.  It was such a great show.  

Of course the week can't be all good.  While we were away a compressor broke and did some serious water damage to the wood floors.   I'll have a better idea of just how much damage once someone takes a look at them.  ;-(

We had such a late freeze this year so the stone fruit trees have been late in blooming.  The have finally emerged from their winter sleep and are just gorgeous.  

Donut peach

Cherry

I wonder what this week will bring...........

Elephants and Giraffes, Oh My

Several years ago I participated in the Elephants on Parade QAL and made the cute quilt for our last grandchild.  The quilt was so much fun to make and made me a follower of Sew Fresh Quilts.  Lorna has another really cute pattern called Giraffes in a Row.  With another new grandbaby due any day now, I made the giraffes to go along with the elephants.

Giraffe by giraffe, this quilt came together quickly.  With each new giraffe, I was certain that one was my favorite.

I even added a purple polka dot one to the back because they were so much fun.  I still think my favorite is orange.  Which one is yours?

My giraffes were helped along with fabric from Wendy.  I recently won a flat rate box full of solids from Wendy.  I had been really struggling with finding the "right" green and the perfect one was found in the box she sent.  How much fabric do you think one can fit into a flat rate box?  Just look at this.  I think if I travel again I want Wendy to pack my suitcases for me.

My Temperature Quilt continues to grow.  Sadly, I had to go back to the green this week when our low one night dropped down to 39*.  I thought we were done with that stuff.

Ramona is also doing a Temperature quilt.  Her blocks are a great combination of colors - a mix between my sister in Alaska and mine in California.

We've had several birthdays in the family this week.  It's always fun to join in the celebrations.

This is a special time of the year when the little ones make their First Communions.  We have two grandchildren making theirs in the next few weeks, including this one.  The veil that she will wear is the one that her mom wore, and that I wore, when we made our First Communions.  Like me, it is officially an antique!!  How quickly the years pass!

We've been battling the Influenza B in the family this week.  It has not been fun.  I'm ready for flu season to be over.

Have a great weekend.