September

Hard to believe it's here already, but so far fall is being very kind. We're still having beautiful weather, hope it keeps up.
I've actually been doing some sewing, I just completed this quilt top. I've had these blocks for a while, they were from the $5 block class at a local quilt store. I like this one. As usual I'm not thrilled with all the fabrics they chose (a couple of the blocks are much brighter than the rest) but I didn't feel like doing any of the blocks over and I'm happy with the end product. I won't be quilting this for a while, but I feel better at least having it put together.

I sort of got another block done in the Bunny Hill A Tisket A Tasket block of the month, except that I almost completely changed the block. I love Anne's designs, but I just wasn't into the cupcake design, so I decided on a big sunflower. The button is going to change, but it's pretty similar to what I want there. I was really late on this one, I already have a new on to get to work on!

I also finished last month's A Christmas Wish block by Gail Pan Designs. There's only one left and I can start putting this one together, hopefully in time so that it can be a Christmas gift for someone this year.

It looks all wonky, but it's actually just fine! I hate how photos come out that way sometimes.

We had a day in Shipshewana, Indiana this week. They get kind of busy this time of year, but we went on Monday so it wasn't busy & we got to just amble around & enjoy ourselves without all the crowds. Our daughter & grandbaby went along, too.

I don't remember if I've posted a picture of this (below) before. I love this quilt block on the side of one of the major buildings in town (the one that hosts the Lolly's Fabric store, one of my favorites). I've made something similar for our place, except a lot smaller, but we don't have it hung up yet. We haven't quite figured out how to hang ours up, wish I could get up there and see how they did it!

Things are finally slowing down a bit around here so hopefully I'll be posting more. I guess I shouldn't say that, we have several cords of firewood to get cut and stacked and the cold weather will be here soon! I'm really hoping for a nice long, mild fall. I've been told that our cooler summer weather will make for a really colorful fall, can't wait!

Where is August going so fast? -and I won!

I won the coolest bag on the Blackbird Designs blog giveaway! I'm going to link you to their pic since mine didn't turn out nearly as nice as theirs. It's really awesome, and I want to thank them again since it's so nice of them to have great giveaways like this. If you haven't seen their blog you should definitely check it out.


The summer is just flying by. Honesty, it feels like it should be the end of June and it's crazy to think that it's almost fall. The bowl of peaches is to give you an idea of what's been keeping me busy. I haven't made jam or done canning in years, but my daughter wanted to and with the economy the way it is I thought I'd get some things put up, too. Plus, I can teach my daughter a few things that I've learned along the way (and unload a ton of canning jars!).

Then there is the matter of the overly huge garden that my DH planted this year(!). It's done really well and we've had way more veggies than we could eat. We've given away a ton and there's still more growing. Right now we're enjoying the green beans and sweet corn, it's so great to go out to the garden and pick dinner, I wish we could do that all year.

That jar in front is strawberry/peach, SO good, I have to say. I'm about done with the jam, I've made black raspberry, sweet cherry, tart cherry, peach, apple cinnamon, and strawberry peach. The freezer is about full. DH is so happy, he loves having all that jam sitting there waiting for him. I've also frozen beans, squash, corn & some peach pie filling. That will all help keep the grocery bill down this winter. Unfortunately everything didn't turn out, the cool & wet weather caused some weird tomato fungus that's killing off the vines, so I'm not sure what the tomatoes will do. I've tried spraying them, but the stuff you spray for the fungus is so lethal and has to be sprayed weekly, so I'm just not going to keep using it. Next year we'll have to check for more resistant types of tomatoes. I'm trying to find some kind of vegetable garden planner program on-line, but haven't had much luck. The ones I've found want you to pay $20-25 annually, and that's too much for me. Considering that I've bought some very complex games for less that $20, that seems really expensive for something as simple as a garden planner. No big deal, I kind of like planning with good old pencils and paper anyway.

I hope you're all having a happy summer, I haven't been keeping up with my blog reading so I'm in the dark about what's going on elsewhere!

August

Still having great summer weather here in Michigan! We have some hot days in the forecast for this weekend, but I'm just enjoying the days as they come & today is about perfect. This picture is of the daylilies along our driveway, they're so beautiful right now.

I was really late getting my 2 blocks of the month done, just been too busy doing other things. Glad I finally got around to it, though, I don't want to get behind or I may never finish them. I wasn't sure about keeping the sashing this color, but I'm still mulling it over. It's darker than the other sashing I've used, but I may mix up that color in the quilt in other places, it's kind of growing on me. This is Gail Pan's design, A Christmas Wish, just in case you haven't seen it before.

Also completed (well, almost) my Bunny Hill, A Tisket A Tasket block. I'm still digging through my fabrics for a tiny fabric flag for the sheep to hold & am waiting to put buttons on until the quilt is completed. I'm making some changes to the blocks here & there to suit myself, such as not using words on the blocks. I noticed that my pics are all wonky, I must be having a crookedy day.

Our garden is doing really well, except for a problem with something killing a number of plants. I've sprayed, and it doesn't seem to make a difference to I'm wondering if it's moles eating the plants from the bottom or something. Fortunately we have more than we need so it's not hurting production much. We've been eating squash & beans practically every day and my daughter is still taking bag loads of veggies away every day to give away. I think we're feeding half the county, ha! Can't wait for the sweet corn & melons, yummm!


Hard to believe it's August, I wish the summer wouldn't fly by so quickly.

Before I close I have a favor to ask. I have a good friend (Pat) who has had breast cancer that was successfully treated, and now it may be back on the other side. Right now they're doing all the tests to determine what's going on. She's one of the nicest people you would ever meet, if you're a praying person please send up a prayer for her.

More of the same...

I've been enjoying the summer and not taking much time for blogging or sewing. I did get in my sewing room today for a couple of hours, but just worked on projects already started. Our garden is bursting with veggies, we've been overrun with three different kinds of squash for a couple of weeks, and now we have about a million beans that need picking. We had them for the first time tonight and they were sooooo good. I wish we could have the luxury all year of picking food from the garden for our meals.
This picture of my design wall will give you an idea of what I've been working on. I'm still not sure how I'm going to set the star blocks, but I'll probably be going with what's on the wall, on point alternating with blocks in a variety of prints, with an floral applique border of some kind. The Christmas quilt is going to take a long time, but I love how it looks. I'm behind on my blocks of the month, I'd better get to work before the month ends! Hard to believe we're already close to the end of July.
The weather is feeling a little more like summer, but still pretty mild. We're getting a good rain today, much needed. The tiger lilys have been growing outside our back door since we've lived here, I just love them.

Lastly I want to show you the basket I bought recently from folk artist Peggy Gaines. I guess I should have taken a pic from the side, too, so you could see that it's a long basket. I guess it's supposed to be put on the back of the toilet so you can keep a roll hidden in each side and it has room for kleenex in the middle. It's too cute to hide in the bath, so it's on my kitchen counter. If you want to see a couple more awesome items I have from Peggy, just type "Peggy Santa" in the blogger search box in the upper left corner. It's dangerous for me to visit her store because I want to fill my house up with her art. Almost as bad as going to the quilt store!

Berries!

Not much sewing has been going on, but we've been making lots of jam! We have a bumper crop of black raspberries this year & my hubby was sweet enough to bundle up and brave the wilds (and the mosquitoes) to pick them. My daughter & I also visited a local orchard and picked lots of tart & sweet cherries, so we're getting a good start on filling up our freezers with jam. And we still have lots of fruits to go!

Since I haven't any new quilt work to show, I thought I'd show some of my vintage linens, just a couple for today. My mother-in-law was passing on some linens a while back & I ended up with one of these, and my daughter with the other. My daughter was kind enough (I think she got tired of all the weeping and begging) to give me the other.
I'm not sure how these were to be used, but I believe they would sit on top of a pillow when the bed was made up. The look like pillowcases and are the same size, but don't have a back. It seems to be a common design, I've seen it a few times before, but it does seem a bit of an odd sentiment to stitch up for decorating the home, doesn't it?

I should take some pictures of the veggie garden soon (I think we'll have enough veggies to feed the entire county) but in the meantime here's a picture from another garden. I love monarda, especially the red. I bought plants a couple of years in a row that were supposed to be red, and when they bloomed I was disappointed to find they were actually purple. Finally I have red bee balm & plenty of it!


I hope you're all enjoying your summer, or whatever season you happen to be in at the moment. I'm falling behind on my blog reading, but we're supposed to have some rainy days coming so I hope to catch up!

More Quilt Show

Here are more pictures from the quilt show in Shipshewana, Indiana. I tried to be so careful about getting the information on the quilts, but I'm sorry to say I missed the boat on this one. Isn't it a beauty, though?

This is Shades by Marilyn Peters of Kendallville, Illinois. I love the colors she chose for this, lovely.

This is another Barbara Perrin quilt, Empty Nest-Two. I wish I'd measured those squares, they're pretty darn small. I did take a pic with my hand held up for comparison, but the picture looked pretty dorky, so I left that out. Another amazing quilt.

A little closer....

This is a close-up of the border. Wow.

My full sized picture of this one didn't turn out, but my daughter has a picture of it on her blog. I wanted to show you these close-ups, though. It's 9-Patch Strip Tease by Doris Goins of Kendallville, Indiana.

This is another quilt by Barbara Perrin, Sunburst Serenade. Wow again.
This is Paisley Stars by Cheryl Baker of Middlebury, Indiana. Love the colors on this one, and the paisley, of course.

This is Batik A La Zig Zag by Nancy Scott of Berne, Indiana. Batiks are so great.

My daughter showed this one on her blog, but I wanted to post my close-ups of it. It's not at all my kind of colors & I'm not too into modern art, but on closer inspection I was knocked out by this one.

Check out this hand quilting, yowsa! It was made by Michele Shepherd of South Bend, Indiana, a wedding gift for her nephew.

Another close-up of Still Water.

This is a close-up from the quilt Past-Time Ladies by Fay Mack & Debbie Van Kuiken of Villa Park, Illinois. The full quilt is on my daughter's blog. I wish I'd taken picures of every block.

One kind of strange thing that happened was when I looked through my viewfinder at the Boston Commons quilt, the purples were all blue! I've never had that happen before. Weird.

And I'll finish up with a couple of pictures of the vendor's area. Hope you enjoyed the show, I sure did!

The Whole Quilt

Just a quick entry today to post the picture I promised in the previous post, the full sized picture of my favorite quilt from the Shipshewana quilt show. ---Oops! I never posted the name of the quilt artist who made this, her name is Barbara Perrin and she lives in Pullman, Michigan.

And another picture that my daughter also sent along. That is one AMAZING quilt.