Over the River........

Progress on a UFO that was started several years ago.......I pieced the two rows of blocks, made the binding and cut all the pieces for the flying geese borders.  Still need to finish stitching the last panel, but when the stitching is complete it will go together very quickly.  Hoping this one will be a flimsy before he end of the year!!

I have also been fitting in working on pillowcases that I will be donating to a local organization that gives them to the Barbara Bush Children's Hospital..........

Hoping to get lots of yard clean up done this weekend so I will be able to enjoy my favorite season.  Also looking forward to spending more time in my sewing room as the days get cooler!

A Better View

A quick post to show the Sturbridge Christmas fabric unrolled..........

I've been busy in my sewing room, will post photos of the two projects that I am currently working on in a few days............

Sewing Time

Yesterday morning my sewing room looked like this............

The pile in the foreground next to the cutting table are the fabrics for a rag quilt and on the cutting table you can see some of the shirts I was cutting for a memory quilt.

A little later in the day I had put together a few of the blocks for the memory quilt to get a feel for how it would look, the pattern is Yellow Brick Road.  I was also pressing and cutting the fabrics for the rag quilt, gotta love multi tasking!









By the end of the day, I had all the blocks for the memory quilt done, made with shirts from my friend's son, I feel honored that she asked me to make it for her.   I also got all the blocks cut for the rag quilt that I am making for another friend.......

The blocks all put together on the design wall, except for the three rows that are on the table......

 

The blocks for the rag quilt, all cut and some are marked for sewing together.












All this prep will give me choices for Saturday when my friend and I spend the day catching up and of course quilting...........

Forgot to mention the little trip to Primitive Quarters Quilt Shop with some quilt friends on Wednesday afternoon, here are the goodies I just couldn't leave without. The roll is Sturbridge Christmas fabric, I think I need to take another with it unrolled so you can really appreciate why I "needed" to bring it home!  The other two pieces are from the Little House line of fabric, there were more pieces but I managed a little self control.

Warmth

I was supposed to go out kayaking on Friday..........but my cousin's daughter was sick so that got cancelled, instead I decided that it was time to start bringing in the wood for winter.  There was still some left from last winter but not nearly enough to keep the house warm for the entire 2016-17 burning season!   For the past 4 days this was my favorite piece of equipment.......

 When I started on Friday this is what the right side of my winter fuel stash looked like, after picture will have to wait for another day........

Yesterday morning in anticipation of some rain.......I reseed the area in front of my house, this area has been such a difficult area to grow grass, I am hoping it will be thick and happy before winter!

Yesterday afternoon I went out kayaking with my neighbors,  a great little treat after spending the past few days stacking wood.  My neighbor snapped this shot of me, still learning how to paddle without getting myself wet!

Late in the day the sun was shining on these yellow flowers making it so bright and beautiful, I just had to snap a photo........

Family and An Early Christmas Gift

Family and friend filled weekend that spilled into Monday.........this past Saturday I hosted a family gathering, a chance for cousins, aunts, uncles, brothers, sisters, mothers, fathers, husbands and wives to gather and have a fun day!  Some hadn't seen each other in  many years, grilled burgers, hot dogs, shared dishes, lemonade and games!  The oldest was 93 and the youngest was 9!

The bean bag toss got a little out of hand.........

Everyone getting a chance to catch up.........















 Sunday some friends that are summering in Maine spent the afternoon.......and we started the week with a visit from my husband's cousin, she and her husband were up for a visit from Florida.

Earlier this summer I finally got a chance to try kayaking and on Saturday I made plans with one of my cousins to go out later in the week, so this morning I got an early Christmas gift............

Making Progress

I haven't been in my sewing room the past few days instead I have been busy outside..........

The first coat of stain on the front porch, the second coat will go on next week, I have no time to get it done before a family gathering this weekend........

I  finished laying the bricks in front of the garden gate, it's not perfect but it fits with the rest of the garden.

 Found the strawberry plants, most have made it through this very dry summer.

Took the weed wacker and cleaned up around the hives, love it when my apiary looks neat and tidy,  next week I need to spend a little time looking in the hives........

 The cutting garden, had to take a moment to enjoy the beautiful zinnias.........

........and the garden along the fence with all the honey and bumble bees buzzing in the anise hyssop.

Hope I have the energy tomorrow to find my carrots.........I thought a before photo would help you appreciate the after photo!

After the family gathering on Saturday I will be able to get back to some sewing, especially since my yard and garden are in good shape.  

Time to Get to Work

The past few days have been spent loafing............

Took these ingredients and made some baklava for a friend...........

All the while, the house smelled of lemon, cinnamon, cloves and honey, then later, when the pastry was baking, it smelled of butter and walnuts.                                        

Thursday, after letting the baklava sit overnight, hubby and I delivered it to our friends and spent the afternoon visiting with them and then out to dinner for a treat........whole bellied fried clams, YUM!                                              









On Friday I picked up the wedding quilt from the quilter, put the binding on and then I spent the afternoon visiting with my quilting friends while I started turning the binding on this very large quilt!  

I hope to finish binding this by next weekend, I have finished one long side (115") and one short side (104") so I am well on my way.........

Today a friend and I went to a cute little quilt shop about 20 minutes from my house.  Grace you would love this place she carries only reproductions, I got a chance to see the precuts of Jo Morton's new line, Gratitude, and thought of you.  I picked up some muslin, and managed to talk myself out of purchasing a beautiful log cabin quilt kit. Planning on challenging myself to get UFOs completed in 2017..........

When I returned I started playing with the label for the wedding quilt, not sure if I like this one yet, but I am making notes and will get it done by the end of the week...........

After 3 days of loafing I need to get outside tomorrow, the grass needs cutting, winter wood needs to be brought inside (winter will be here before we know it), the garden needs weeding and the list goes on..........but I do not regret one moment of the past 3 days, the work will always be there, time spent with family and friends is much more important!

More Catching Up.........

More updating.........

Some of the blocks from a BOM program at a local quilt shop using Lori Holt's book 'Farm Girl Vintage', I have finished the blocks now I have to put them together into a quilt.

Earlier this year I was one of the winners of Riley Blake Designs' ~ 60 Days of Giveaways.

I also won the drawing for this fun bundle on National Quilt Day............both of my winnings have been added to my stash.

I also went out for the first time in a kayak, certainly not going to be my
last time, I really enjoyed myself.

I made a little more progress today on my wool project, this one will go on my table when it is complete, still lots of little details as well as two more bees to add to this one.

Catching Up

I haven't been the best blogger, no new posts in almost a year...........instead of trying to "catch up" in one post I will share a little at a time.

 Recently finished the wedding quilt for my youngest son and his new wife, it is at the quilter's right now, the binding is all made and waiting for it's return.  The quilt is called River Rock by Marcus Brothers using Primo Batiks.

A walk through the sewing room to see a few things I am working on during the hot humid days this summer and when we are blessed to have rain!

The bundle of fabric in the bottom right hand corner is going to be a rag quilt for a friend, it should make up quickly.  At the machine is a wool applique project that I am currently working on and to the left on the table are the shirts that are for a memory quilt.

A close up of the wool project, "Just A Buzz'n" by Crane Design.

.........in case those projects aren't enough to keep me busy I can work on one of these hiding under the cutting table
 

Time to work on a bit more of the wool project, hoping to add one of the bees soon.........

Harvest Time

As mentioned in my last post I had some canning to get to, I also had some honey to extract.  I spent most of Sunday extracting honey and cleaning the sticky, sweet mess.

The extractor all ready for some frames!

A river of honey from the extractor.

This is a frame of honey before uncapping and putting into the extractor.

Some of the honey jars, there are many more..........
















Monday was spent making two batches of hot pepper jelly and making juice from grapes to be ready to make jelly today.  Grape juice is such a beautiful rich color.........

The honey is in the back, the first batch of grape jelly is to the left, the relish in the center (both made today)  and the hot pepper relish to the right, only planning on making one more batch of grape jelly then the canning is done for this year.  I still have some honey to bottle probably another 10 or more pounds, so far I have over 70 pounds, thanks to my very productive honey bees!



Hoping to get everything put away tomorrow and plan on spending a little time relaxing in my sewing room before getting some outside fall prep work done!

Catching Up

This weekend a friend came for a visit we spent the weekend in my sewing room "catching up" on our lives and sewing.  It was just the boost I needed to dig out some of the projects that were ohhhhh so close to being complete.

I got the backing for the flannel shirt quilt finished, it is now ready for quilting, I just need to work on a pieced binding.  I finished piecing the backing of another quilt that has been a UFO for several years, will make the binding for that one this week. 

I also dug out the Marcus Sew Along, I had stopped working on it because I was not happy with the second light fabric that I chose, it was a mystery quilt and I wasn't clever enough to realize it was for the setting blocks, with the help of my friend I decided to use cheddar instead.......it looks better.  I will probably tea stain this one to darken the light fabric but I am still not "in love" with this one.  I will shop my stash for a backing and make the binding soon.  This year I challenged myself to use more of my stash, this quilt is 97% from my stash!

I am also finishing up the Mastering Miniatures BOM that I started a few years ago.  I had some of the setting blocks to finish, they are now complete and there were 14 blocks that needed to be pieced, yesterday I did nine of them I am hoping to finish up the last five today.

 Off to the sewing room to work on today's goals and later I have zucchini relish, grape jelly, tomato sauce and hot pepper jelly to keep me busy for the days that follow!  

Summer Fun

The weather here the past few weeks has been beautiful, great for getting outside work done.

After putting up the greenhouse we seeded the lawn around it and in the back of the house.

Also spent some time working in the garage, we put up some sheetrock allowing us to hang quite a few things, it was great getting them up on the wall, it looks so clean and fresh on that wall, only 2 more walls to go!

Found some treasures at the transfer station aka "the dump", one 7' long 12" wide board and one water jug that is great for catching water from the greenhouse gutters! 

Finally stained and polyed two interior doors I replaced over a year ago, the house smells a little strong right now but at least the windows are open and hopefully it will get better soon. 

One of the doors was in my sewing room.....things were pushed aside to keep them from a possible spill, everything is back in place just in time for the second pattern of the Kim Diehl What Not Club #3 to arrive via email.  I will also be able to pick up the first month of a BOM offered by my local quilt shop, they have made it up using  'Farm Girl Vintage' by Lori Holt, this one should be quick since all the pieces are pre-cut!

 I have also been working on a quilt for a friend's SIL, it is made using pieces of her father's plaid shirt.  I have one more row to sew on then I will be adding two borders, I will share a photo when I complete the top.

Also need to get ready to do some canning.....the tomatoes and zucchini are going crazy, not so happy with the cukes, they didn't like the dry spell.  Corn should be ready for picking soon, a few new chickens were added to the coop and I have harvested a few more frames of honey that I look forward to extracting soon.  The flower gardens are still looking good, I guess being late starting my zinnias was a not so bad, it makes for some beautiful flowers in late Summer!

 

My husband just finished building a potting table for me using scrap wood, the frame was from leftover PT and the top and shelves were from an old shed, the old boards give it an instant "primitive" look!

 

Until next time...........