Summer Arrives and Easton Leaves

Summer has arrived with a vengeance here in the Salt Lake Valley. Yesterday, it got up to 99 degrees F (37.2C), with more of the same expected today and over the next few days. We are  currently in a severe drought. But have the Powers That Be banned fireworks in the county this year? Of course not! At least, not yet. Fingers crossed. I’m petrified about the fire danger here in the mountains surrounding the Salt Lake Valley and in the state in general. We all know what can happen when drought, heat, humans, lightening and other incendiaries combine. But I guess I should just go back to worrying about something else like the pandemic  politics my sewing. 

It was just a regular old week in the sewing room. That is, it was once I linked up on Monday to the Hands2Help final Linky Party. You can see my Hands2Help post here. I finished Tic Tac Toe (formerly “Dog’s Breakfast”) and the yellow and green 9-patch donation quilts before month end. 

Angela, our Rainbow Scrap Challenge leader, has called purple for the month of June. I’m linking up with the other “scrapettes” to Scrappy Saturday, where we are showing off our first week’s efforts. I started off with Spring Stars; one in a blue-purple and one in a reddish-purple.

Next was the purple litter of kittens and their Mom-cat. The mama cat will finish at 12” and the kittens (Sally’s pattern) at 6”.  

Here they are with their other “friends”. Six litters down, three to go; one each in aqua, dark blue and orange. I haven’t decided yet on possible sashing, etc.

And then I finished the flimsy for the Double Disappearing Nine-Patch, which was made from those pink and blue nine-patches that I won back in March.

I sewed the backing for this yesterday and pressed everything well. So now it’s hanging and waiting for another flimsy to be finished. I prefer to baste quilts in pairs. The next donation quilt I’m working on is another string quilt - I figure I could do one string quilt per month for the rest of the year and STILL have strings left over. 

The working string project for June is String Stars. There are one full block and one half block of the 12 needed blocks up on the design board. The huge beach tote is full of strings, and the solid background blocks are cut out in front of the tote. (Angie, did you notice the flamingo?)

I’ve also started cutting out my pieces for The Positivity Quilt-Along being hosted by my friend Preeti. I’ll talk more about that next week.

Last night we attended the Farewell Party for our grandson Easton, who graduated from Utah State University in Logan and is leaving this weekend for New Hampshire, where he will begin his officer training in the US Navy’s Nuclear Engineering program. Here are some pictures of the party.

Easton (extreme right) and some of his friends

My son barbecued hamburgers and hot dogs for everyone. Here is Ryan and his wife Kim, the proud parents.

Granddaughter Lauren and her boyfriend Graham

L-R: Marilyn (great-grandma to Easton and Lauren), Paula and Bill (Kim’s parents)

You may remember that Paula and Bill are the extended family members that I made quilts for last fall (Tyrol and Bear Tracks; see 2020 Quilts tab, above). Bill told me that he loves his quilt and that is was the best quilt he’s ever owned! I was so tickled!

Granddaughter London (son Shane’s daughter). 

London just finished fifth grade and is going into sixth. My ex-husband Scott and his wife Callie were there; Scott says London reminds him of me at her age and of our daughter Megan at her age. 

Scott, Callie, Kim

And a final picture of Bruce and me with grandson Easton. There were so many tears as we all said goodbye. But we all know he will do just fine. The Navy will be lucky to have this fine young man!

P.S. Yes, I’m finally showing a picture of myself with the 20 pandemic pounds I gained. I could only bring myself to do this because I’ve started back on WW (formerly Weight Watchers). 

Have a good week, friends. Life is good.