Another Week Along...

Wow!  The summer is just zipping past.  I should be used to it by now, but it never ceases to amaze me the rate that time flies.

The Fourth of July in the middle of the week just really played with my mind.  I kept thinking that Friday was Monday since DH took Thursday off and it got worse from that point forward.  I am glad that it is back to a normal Monday today.

I enjoyed the jam and bread making with the grandaughters, followed by some good games of jacks.  Does anyone else remember playing jacks by the hours when you were young?  It's a lot little tougher to get down on the floor in the right position at this age.

We got 6 batches of strawberry and one batch of peach jam made.

This past week we've had birthdays and a wedding - all fun family times filled with happiness. 



Such fancy red boots!



We had a terrific celebration on the 4th with the families all here.  Our crowds are quite large, but everyone pitched in, brought food and helped to clean up afterwards.  Our youngest son and his family were here for a few days so that kept life jumping.

While many of you have had terrible heat, we have been exceptionally cool.  Notice all the sweatshirts at the party on the 4th of July?  This was our forecast for the week and I have to say that we were thrilled to actually see a couple of 70s in the forecast.  Our high on the 4th was 67*!!

The weekend was rather quiet and allowed me time at the sewing machine.  I'm still working to catch up on the Takes 2 blocks.  I have put off the applique long enough and the last two blocks that I needed to catch up were both applique.  One is now finished and one more to go.

Yesterday we went to see the new Coke machine at our son's restaurant.  It is called a Freestyle machine.  Have any of you seen it before?  It is like a smorgasbord of selection for your drinks.  You can get well over 100 drink choices all from this little machine.  It is whatever your mind can imagine.  He was telling us that people are coming in to the restaurant just to try it out and to take pictures of this fancy machine.  Fascinating!

This is a crazy week ahead for us.  Our son and DIL are off for a few days in Hawaii and we are helping out with the ten children.  It will be fun and busy at the same time.  Let's pray for no broken arms this year!!!

I'll leave you with a picture of the baby quail waiting to jump down and devour the garden sprouts.  See what a good daddy the babies have?  He watched until each one had managed to get into the garden.

 

A Good Sewing Week

It has been a good sewing week for me.  I've had a bit of free time which is always welcome.  Of course I have to bribe myself A LOT these days.  A promise of some quality time in the sewing room IF I will clean this closet or that seems to get the chores done around here.  I surely wish that little cleaning elf would show up at my house.

I managed to get my table topper made with the patriotic fabrics that I won from Inchworm Fabrics.  I  used a pattern that I had seen on the internet and it said it was from Artthreads. 

It went up quickly and I really enjoy the way it turned out.  I would recommend using biased binding with all of the curves.  I did and it worked beautifully.  The red and blue decorative stitching is just one of the stitches on the sewing machine.  Thanks to Cherry for all the wonderful advice about starching the fabric WELL before doing the applique.  It sewed up beautifully.  She is the queen of detailed applique work.

Sunday was a baby shower for our DIL and I always enjoy throwing a few burp cloths in with the baby gifts.  They are constructed with flannel so are soft for the baby's face too.  Can you tell that the sex of the baby is not known? 

Nice shadow of the camera!!!!!

I continue to work on my It Takes 2 blocks.  This series called for two airplane blocks, but I did just one and then did a contrasting Ohio Star pattern instead.

This weekend is a birthday for one of the granddaughters.  She will be two years old so I made her a simple summer dress.  I LOVE this DS fabric and I think it made up really cute as a dress and bloomers.

Today is another granddaughter birthday.  We are invited for dinner tonight and I am bringing the cake so best get myself going and get it made.

Four of the girls will come home with us tonight for a sleepover and we will make bread and more strawberry jam tomorrow.

I know a few of my followers are in the fire area of Colorado and a few more  in the flooding from Debbie.  Please stay safe and know that we are all thinking about you and keeping you in our prayers.

The Week in Review

Has summer finally arrived for all of those in the northern hemisphere?  We are still waiting for the heat to hit here, but I am enjoying the longer days.  I am much more motivated with the additional hours of sunlight, but get into a slump when June 21st rolls around and I know that the days are starting to shorten for us.  I will continue to enjoy the warmer summer evenings in the weeks ahead.

The week started off with the celebration of Father's Day around here.  We all had a terrific time, but I regret that I did not get more photos.  Does everyone else get so busy entertaining that they forget to grab the camera?  The weather was lovely for eating dinner outside. 



# 3 son with Gipe.  Gipe is a family pet who is constantly on someones shirt for the ride.  This little guy is unbelievably tame.  I think he needs to be in commercials for dry skin!!!


The strawberries are getting towards the end so it was a good time to make jam.  Our daughter came over on Tuesday and we put up six batches of jam.  It is so yummy.

DH and I took a short road trip to Wyoming this week as well.  We both love getting in the car and hitting the back roads, using the Interstates only when necessary for time crunches.  One of our favorite states to drive through has always been Utah.  I love the red rocks, their spectacular canyons and the numerous streams and rivers.  Someday I would love to try the fly fishing that we always see as we drive. 




A lavender farm that we passed along the way.


The morning we left Wyoming it was 28* (at 4:30 a.m.).  We drove straight through that day passing through Las Vegas with temps at 110*+ and arriving home to 68*.  The fluctuations in temperatures are amazing.  The many hours in the car provided me time to work on some cross stitch.  It doesn't look like much yet since I have just begun, but I will share it with you as I progress on it. 

I have to share a picture of the freeway in Las Vegas.  They have been working on it for years and I think it is probably some of the most beautiful designs in roads that I have ever seen.  Unfortunately, the cars kept getting in my way as I was trying to snap pictures, but they have the most spectacular displays of large iron sculptures - wild mustangs, big horn sheep, tortoises, etc.  They are all set in a very desert landscape with rocks and cacti.  One doesn't even mind being in a traffic jam because there is so much to see.

Our quail families have emerged with their babies in tow this week.  The parents are so good.  Unfortunately, they have demolished the cantaloupe and one new corn patch. 

There are two families here - one set of babies is a bit bigger than the other.

One of our yellow orioles here for the summer.  I believe it is a Hooded Oriole.

I've had a bit of time to work on catching up with my Takes 2 blocks this week.  I am still way behind, but I am getting there.

This week I want to make a table topper that I saw with some patriotic fabrics that I won from Inchworm  Fabric's giveaway last week.  They arrived this week and they are just perfect.  Hopefully, I can show it to you in my next post - all finished.

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.

.....and the Beat Goes on....

and on...and on.

I am still around, but there has not been much computer time lately.  I can't believe that it has been nearly a month since my last post.  Lots has happened in the last month so I will only catch up on small bits of it. 

My mom had surgery several weeks ago and her recovery involves two months of bedrest so there have been many hours sitting in hospital rooms.  She had a rough start, but things are looking up and she is doing pretty well.

May is always a crazy month for our family with six birthdays, two anniversaries, Mother's Day, final school year events and the such.  This year we also added several bridal showers and a couple of business trips.



First Communion party



Glass flowers hanging from the ceiling at the hotel we stayed in for business in San Antonio



A side trip visit to Hoover Dam on business in Nevada



The new bridge that was built to avoid any terrorist attacks at the dam itself.



Chocolate wafer cake in a giant "R" shape

Work in the sewing department has been next to nil.  To tell you how bad it got, when I walked into my studio over the weekend I walked into a cobweb!!!

I did manage to finish my May mug rug for the swap and my mini quilt swap.  Both were mailed off and I received word that the mini has arrived at its new home.




Birthday mug rug for a friend

May mug rug swap



Mother's Day postcard for my mom



Mini Swap quilt went to Wendy in Montana

Awhile back I was asked by Jeanne Gwin (at The Learning Curve~Quilts and Such) to participate in a fun quiltalong with eleven other talented quilters.  We are all working out of the same book, but working on different quilts from the book.  This is my completed top.  I will write up a review on the book and show you the completed quilt shortly.

Of course the garden also beckons at this time of the year.  There is lots that needs to be done out there, but there are some wonderful blooms going on as well.




Blooming cactus



Blooming orchid

This final flower is a Streptocarpus from my father.  The freeze got to the plant this year, but I managed to salvage one leaf and got it to root.  I now have the first bloom on it and hope to have many more.

After watching four grandchildren for a weekend a few weeks back I found that my blocks had been rearranged.  I loved this and guess it says it all!

I apologize to all for not being around to visit much.  I will do it more as time allows.  I thank all of you who have e-mailed me to see if I was "okay" while I wasn't posting.  Blogging friends are wonderful!!