If I Could Just Stay Awake…

My hip replacement surgery went really well. The doctors and nurses were super attentive. All in all, it was a great day, and the hip no longer bothers me. The incision is healing, and I’m up and around doing stairs - just the few up to the bedroom level, but not the full narrow flight down to try basement studio. I even managed to sew a couple Christmas blocks yesterday. 

I’ve got to make this short and sweet, because the pain meds make me sooooo sleepy. I think I’ll be cutting them back a bit today! 

As promised, here are some glamour shots of the Christmas Stars quilt. DIL Kim and son Ryan came over for dinner on Tuesday evening and picked it up. 

They were totally tickled! 

While Cousin Kim, Ruby and I were out taking pix of my quilt, we added Kim’s House Quilt too. It’s a pattern called Jenny Lane from Missouri Star Quilt Co. 

Back

I managed to get a few columns sewn together on my Thrifty Block quilt top. This was on Wednesday before we hauled up all my sewing stuff to the kitchen.

The rest will have to wait until I’m back downstairs in the studio. But I am sewing some little 16-patch blocks into a table runner!

Finally, when we got home from the hospital on Thursday, the kitties had rearranged some of their foam pieces into this PI sign! Since my birthday is on Pi Day (March 14, or 3.14), we figuring they were sending a message out to me, LOL. 

That’s about it for now. I’m hoping to be able to stay awake and have more to share next week! Talk to you then! Linking up to the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. 

Two Finishes!

The weeks are just flying by, aren’t they? I have so many plates spinning that my head is spinning too. Not in an exorcist sort of way (head spinning around on my torso), not in a vertigo way either, but in a “dazed and confused” manner. But one plate took the off-ramp and is now Officially Done. And that is the Christmas Stars quilt. The quilt shop texted me on Thursday that it was ready, so we rushed right down to get it. I immediately set to trimming it, making the binding and finishing it. I even added a label for my son and daughter-in-law. 

It is almost too heavy for me to lift. I’m hoping that my friend Ruby (perhaps with the aid of our neighbor Jason) can hold it up on Sunday for glamour shots. Truly, an 88x98” quilt with lots of little pieces and a thick batting is heavy! I should weigh it. Anyway, this is just a peek for now. I hope to have some good photos next week. But it’s DONE, and the rest of the Christmas shopping (mostly gift cards) will be a breeze.

We visited our friend Terri up in Bountiful this week. We always love getting together with her! Here she is with one of her two kittens, Clancy. She was showing me this quilt top she recently finished (I love those colors!) and Clancy kept jumping up and attacking the quilt (or was it her hands?). Naturally, he stopped as soon as I whipped out my phone to capture it. Silly kitty!

Our Bradford Pear (ornamental) tree is sporting its fiery autumn colors this week. I’m going to miss this tree when we sell the house…

Back to sewing, here is the second finish this week. It’s the second (of three) quilts from my RSC2022 framed 4-patch blocks. 

Quilted with a simple stipple, it finished at 48x54”. The backing used up some large scraps too!

I didn’t do any string block sewing this week. I’m actually saving them for when I’m less mobile and have to stay upstairs for a period after my hip replacement surgery on Thursday. I’ll also have Zip(per) blocks to sew and maybe some more things. I need to make sure I’ve got plenty to keep me occupied and out of trouble, you know!

One thing I’d like to do before the surgery is finish getting this top together. It was one of my RSC blocks for this year. I called it Four in Nine, but Cathy L tells me its official name is the Thrify Block.

I’m adding the sashing and cornerstones to each block, which you can see on two blocks in the upper left corner. These are the blocks with navy blue as the dark constant. The blocks I made with the gray constant will likely be assembled in December. 

That’s all I have for you this week, folks. I’ll be back next Saturday with a surgery report and some quilt progress as well, come hell or high water. And since there’s no rain in the forecast, that leaves only hell. But I’m more than ready. Meals prepped and frozen - check! Thanksgiving groceries bought- check (except the mushrooms, which Bruce can do). House cleaned (housekeeper comes on Tuesday) and potential tripping hazards removed - check! Sewing area upstairs ready - almost. It’s all packed and just needs to be hauled up on Wednesday. So… bring it on!

Linking up to Scrappy Saturday at Angela’s So Scrappy blog. 

Christmas Stars Top Done

It is with great relief that I can announce that the Christmas Stars quilt top assembly is complete! This quilt fought me all the way, but I prevailed in the end. Its working name became Nightmare on Twinkle Street, LOL. This week I needed to finish up the last four sections, and then add the extra 10 stars to the bottom. Or so I thought. It turns out that I needed the stars for the width, not the length, so I had to sew two extra 8” stars and cut some alternating plain red squares and split them into two 8” columns on each side. None of that likely makes any sense, but here are some photos I snapped. I had to move the dinette set out of the way - the kitchen floor was the only place large enough to lay it out.

Naturally, Alfalfa and Darla had to walk all over it to add their artistic touches. Cats will be cats. I finished off with a 2.5” border all around, making it slightly oversized at 98x88”. I figure it will lose an inch or two in the quilting process.  

In this picture (above) the “top” and “bottom” are really the sides. Anyway, I dropped it off at the quilter - a cute little shop called Quilts on the Corner in old historic Sandy, UT, about a 10 minute drive from my house. They’ve quilted for both me and Cousin Kim before and always do a great job. The quilting pattern I selected was cardinals among mistletoe sprays and berries. So cute, and my daughter-in-law Kim loves cardinals. She picked out the colors and fabrics which include some prints with cardinals in them. The quilt is for her and my son Ryan. The quilt shop said the quilt will be ready before Thanksgiving, which is perfect as it’ll give me time to trim and bind it and give it to them before the end of November. 

The only other sewing I did this week - because I spent two and a half days on finishing the last sections of stars and sewing the Christmas Stars top together - was making string blocks. This time, for a change of pace and in keeping with the Rainbow Scrap Challenge October color of the month, I worked on my light neutral strings, because:

Yep, those are neat rolls (and a messy pile) of white, cream, light neutral strings. Think I have my work cut out for me?  hahaha

I did get thirty blocks sewn. For this coming week, I’ll focus on whittling down the pile of neutral strings while it’s still October. I’ve got other plans for November (like finishing some UFO’s and kid quilts). And the multi-colored strings - I will continue with those in November.

In other news, last Saturday, Cousin Kim and I (and her DD and DGD) went to a Zac Brown Band concert at the local Usana Amphitheater. Note to self: Cathy, you are too old to sit outdoors on a quilt on the grass without a chair (the rental were all taken and we weren’t allowed to bring our own). We ended up standing most of the time anyway, but on a grassy incline. With my bad hip (and back and knees by the time we were done, LOL), I was sore the next day or two. So was Kim. But it was loads of rockin’ fun! Never too old for that!

The pictures above and below are of the Jumbotron - the actual performers are shown as little tiny images below the Jumbotron. 

Our kitchen range (oven/stove) died this week. Poor thing worked very hard for us over the last 17 years.  So, we went appliance shopping and bought a new electric range in stainless and black. We figured we’d have to replace a couple things before we got the house sold. I’ve got my eye on our poor old microwave that keeps going like the Energizer bunny, even though the finish is wearing off in several places from being cleaned so much! We’ll replace that before we leave, too. We’re listing the house in November, ready or not.

Today we’ll be out in the yard, pulling up the remaining tomato plants, bringing in the last of the flower pots and finishing the garden cleanup. We found family members who will claim more of the outdoor stuff - our lawn mower and chiminea.  Next week is full of appointments for us, but when we’re not running around we’ll be cleaning out the basement and I’ll be sewing strings (I can work twice as fast as Bruce because I have twice as many arms). 

I think that’s about it for now. Time for another cup of coffee and checking out the links for Scrappy Saturday. 

Goals

I don’t know about you, but without goals in my life, I’d be rudderless. As the saying goes, if you don’t know where you’re going, how will you know when you get there? That’s not only true for our lives in general, but for all the mileposts and events along the way. Now, I’m not going to get into life goals or religion or anything like that, but I am going to mention some of the “interim” goals I’ve set for myself over the last year or two. Are you a goal person? A list person? A fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants person?  

But before that (and in case you’re only here for the sewing and quilting pictures, LOL), I’m going to share what I worked on in the studio this week.

First up, I basted two quilts and actually got one quilted, bound and labeled. It’s a small donation quilt for Quilts for Kids. The top was made from a kit in our last workshop (September), and I haven’t shown this before now.

The pattern, which I’ve seen in an old magazine, on the Missouri Star site and the Fat Quarter site - all named something different - starts with a charm square. To that you sew two random 2.5” scraps along one side and two longer ones across the top. The strips are kept in the same orientation for all blocks, and yields a block that is 9” (8.5” finished). The blocks are then turned around to different positions for the quilt top assembly.

So, this whipped up very quickly, and measures 38.5x46.5”. It’s the first quilt finish of my Fourth Quarter Finishing Frenzy, a personal sewing challenge.

Next I tackled the Christmas Stars quilt. My goal for the week was to sew 4 (of the 8 total) sections together. And I met my goal! Come to think of it, once I get the 8 sections together, there is still a row of single 8” stars (already made) to add to the very bottom edge to lengthen it, so I guess there are 9 sections. But anyway, here is a picture of the four finished sections hanging out and getting to know each other on the design board.

Yes, that right-most section is supposed to be 4” shorter; the section that will go beneath it will make up the difference. One thing you can’t tell unless you look closely (so, of course, you’re going to click on the picture and look closely, aren’t you? I knew it.....) is that although the Kona red background is the same throughout, it did come from two different bolts (read: same color, different dye lot). I’m thinking that even the Quilt Police won’t notice it once it’s quilted. 

And here is the same picture marked up to show the sections. “A” is on the left, “B" is top center, “C" is bottom center and “D" is on the right. My numbering lettering system is to help me retain my sanity. 

Please excuse all the weird lines and text as I learn to work with Markup on my iMac - not as intuitive as on my iPad. 

So, next week my goal is to finish the top; Sections E-H. I’ll get a picture at that time if I can. The above sections, roughly half of the quilt, take up the entire design board, so unless my friend Ruby is back from India and Nepal in time to be a quilt holder (she’s the only one except my neighbor Jason who is tall enough!), we may have to wait until it’s back from the quilter. More on that next week.

Before moving on to show you my string blocks sewn for the week, I want to share this tool with you and see if any of you use it or are familiar with it. It’s called a height compensator, and comes with Bernina machines. Do you have or use something similar? It’s three little plastic wedges held together by a screw that swivels, and you place it behind the needle (see picture) to help your machine get over “humps” in the seamline. You can use one, two or all three plastic pieces for varying thicknesses. With all the star points made of HST’s in this quilt, you can imagine that no matter which way you press the seams in a given block or row, sooner or later you will have to sew over 4 or more layers of fabric. Enter the height compensator.

Without it, the thread breaks or the machine stalls out or the fabric gets pushed into the feed dogs... In other words, this little tool is worth its weight in gold. You just sew up to the edge of the bump, stop, raise the foot and insert the height compensator behind the needle (it lifts the entire foot), and then resume sewing. Works slick as a whistle! You’re welcome!

Ok, here are 75 more string blocks from this week. The 75 from last week are the large pile at the top (back), and the other 5 piles are 15-block batches, as usual. I’ve sewn a few more than these, but since I group them in batches of 15, I just carry the leftovers into the next week. :-) You may remember that my goal for this fourth quarter is to sew 400 string blocks. 

Other goals accomplished this week: I ordered fabric for a quilt I’m planning for a friend who gave me an unbelievably generous gift a few weeks ago. It’s a story for another time. I’m hoping my fabric picks align with some of her favorite colors, because the name of the collection matches her first name. We shall see. Even if I have to select other colors, I already had a layer cake of this line and needed yardage for borders and backings, so I can always use that for another quilt. 

Bruce and I took a huge load of Stuff to the thrift store (in the rain, but hey - there were no lines to unload!). We got the arborist scheduled for our annual yard/tree pruning. And several pieces of furniture we need to unload have been claimed and taken. The Downsizing continues!!

Now, that’s all of the usual stuff; the rest relates to my weight loss and Weight Watchers, so if you’re uninterested in that, you are excused with thanks for visiting!! xo

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It was 1975 (when I was 21 years old) that I joined Weight Watchers with my mom. I had all of 12 whole pounds to lose - and I did, gaining Lifetime Membership pretty easily. I kept it off, mostly. There were the natural ups and downs weight-wise of having three children, LOL. But I lost my lifetime status sometime in the ’90’s from eating too much and not exercising enough; working too hard in an office, feeding teenagers and making sure I got my share of the goodies. The idea of Not Being Invincible or Not Living Forever finally dawned on me around the turn of the century, in my mid-forties. A new prescription or health glitch here and a few pounds there and there..... you know how it goes. All that to say, my mid-life crisis was realizing I had to take care of my health. But diet and exercise/activity were on again, off again priorities.

Fast Forward to last year. After a bout of sciatica, I decided to finally get serious with my weight. I hated the idea of tracking what I ate, but it’s so easy now that there’s a phone app to handle it and lots of “free” - zero-point foods with low abuse potential like turkey, chicken, vegetables, fruits, all seafood, and beans.  I only have to track things like breads, dairy and fats that aren’t on the free list. What really changed my outlook about tracking was when our workshop leader Kris asked if we had a family budget to track our finances - money in and expenses out. Well, duh, of course! And then she asked us if our health was at least that important?? Bam! I was sold on tracking.

I’ve now recaptured my Lifetime Membership (free unlimited attendance). And the attendance at weekly workshops is necessary for me personally. It’s like a friend reunion, weight and health coaching workshop and a psychotherapy session with humor - all in one! I love all my WW friends. I still have about a pound to go to reach my original weight loss goal, but the app converted me to Lifetime status at 2 pounds over (because I recaptured it). Anyway, I want to lose another 11.5 pounds to get to a total of -75. That is my goal for this coming winter.  I hope you’ll be here to share in my periodic updates! Thanks for all your sweet support!

Linking to Scrappy Saturday for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.

Wedding, New Car, Sewing Progress

Wow, what a week! It has been almost nonstop go-go-go. But it’s all good!

On Saturday evening of last week, we attended the wedding of Bruce’s younger daughter Stacy to her fiancé Chad. This is the second marriage for both.  Here is Bruce walking the lovely bride down the grass “aisle”. The wedding was held in their backyard, and the weather was perfect! It was very casual and absolutely lovely and fun.

The ceremony was short and sweet, then the music, food and beverages (alcoholic and non) were brought out. There were so many extended family members on our side that we hadn’t seen in years, so it was nice to catch up. And Chad’s (the groom) family were so friendly and warm as well. It was just such a pleasant evening.

The Wedding Party 
Back Row, L-R, Hunter (Stacy’s oldest), Aleisha (Chad’s daughter), Stacy, Chad and Aleisha’s best friend, whom Chad said is like a daughter to him
Front Row (all Stacy’s kids): Evie, Bear, Oakley and Remi in pink

The guys: Hunter, Groom Chad, Bear (who was Ring Bearer)

On Sunday, Cousin Kim and friend Ruby came over as usual, and we sewed the day away. It’s always so fun and relaxing to laugh, sew, listen to music and even squeeze in a bit of puzzle-making with friends. 

Monday saw us working out in the yard All. Day. Well, almost all day. I did come inside about mid-afternoon to finally get a shower and start tackling Mt. Washmore.

Tuesday morning was my Weight Watchers weigh-in as usual. I’m a mere point six (.6) away from my goal. Total weight loss to date: 63.8 pounds. Once I hit that goal, my Lifetime Membership will be restored (no monthly fees!). I plan to lose another 11 pounds after that so I can have a total loss of 75 pounds. That will give me a little leeway in minor weight fluctuations without having to stress about losing that Lifetime status again! 

On Tuesday, Bruce and I began car shopping for me. We’ve been a one-vehicle family for several years. We figured that once we retired and his arm was amputated, one car would be plenty. But now that we’re in the process of getting divorced (very amicable, don’t feel sorry for us), we realized we’d need to get another car. On Wednesday, we purchased this 2021 Nissan Kicks for me. It has low miles, a pristine Carfax history and title, and was very clean. I would’ve preferred a lighter or brighter color, but I’m totally thrilled with my new baby.

   

But you’re probably here to see what was happening in my sewing studio this week, and I’m pleased to say that it was, at least, SOMEthing. 

More 4.5” Christmas Stars were sewn. As well, I decided that where I could, I would replace some of the little stars with squares of red print, low-contrast (with the red background) fabric. I think that will save me from having to make about 16-18 of the 89 small stars I’m working towards. Also, Cousin Kim has volunteered to help me churn out a few stars, so we’re hoping to finish those off by mid-October. 

Here are the three sizes of stars for comparison. Naturally, I’m only showing a few of the 19 large stars and a few of the 50 medium (8”) stars. The quilt will finish at roughly 90x96”, or something like that. I’ll give you more of the details as the top gets closer to a finish. 

Once the stars are all sewn, it should be only a day or two (hopefully) to get the top assembled. Then I can hand it off to the quilter before the end of October so I can have it back by Thanksgiving weekend. I want to be able to give it to son Ryan and daughter-in-law Kim so that they can have it on their bed this Christmas season.

Finally, I did get the aqua strings quilt top sewn together as was my goal this week.

I have the perfect piece of aqua fabric with bright dots on it for the backing. Perhaps I can get this basted this week, along with a scrappy quilt top I made a couple weeks ago at the Quilts for Kids workshop. Come to think of it, I’ve never shown that top, but I will soon enough. 

That’s about it for now. Has fall arrived where you are? Our temps dipped on Friday, and it was positively frigid here. The furnace even kicked on. But it’s supposed to warm up to the high seventies for next week. I believe that is an early Indian Summer for us, and I hope it lasts. It just feels to me as though this is going to be another long, cold, snowy winter. We’re busy “gathering our nuts and acorns” - which means harvesting the remaining tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers and potatoes. It sure has been good eating (and sharing) from the garden this year.

Linking up to Scrappy Saturday for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. 

Little Stars

The stars I’m making now for the Christmas Stars quilt are 4.5”, and finish at 4” in the quilt. I need 89 of this size, which I consider an obscene amount. Fun fact: it is no easier or faster to cut, sew and trim 4.5” stars than it is to sew 8.5” or 12.5” stars. I may be hovering on the brink of insanity before these are all done, but then I’m getting ahead of myself because I only have 19 out of 89 finished. There are seventy, 7-0, left to go. My friend Ruby is cracking the whip and says I need to have 25 done per week. Oh well, Roobs, it didn’t happen.

They look just the same as all the other stars; boring, I know. Maybe next week I can include some of the other sizes for scale. 

To break the monotony and fiddliness of sewing tiny stars, I pieced string blocks in aqua and teal, the Rainbow Scrap Challenge color for September. Yeah, that’s me - replacing one monotonous sewing task with another monotonous sewing task. The difference is that I really LOVE sewing string blocks. Call me crazy. You’d be right.....

My scraps yielded 46 string blocks at 6.5”. When I added in the 5 that I had left over from last year, they totaled 51. It was not enough to make a quilt (at least, of the size I wanted), so I added in this last bit of rainbow batik I had that was left over from the backing of my bright Jelly Roll Race quilt finished in April (see this post). 

The blocks are pinned up there haphazardly, mostly because they haven’t had their papers removed yet. I’ll be doing that in the evenings as time allows. I hope to get it sewn into a top by next week. And other than that, there will probably be nothing else in my immediate sewing future except for sewing some more d%#@ little stars. At least the music in my studio is good, LOL!!

This afternoon we’re heading up to Bruce’s daughter Stacy’s house in Syracuse (Utah, not NY), where she and her fiancé will be tying the knot. It’s marriage #2 for both of them, and we’re very excited. Bruce will be walking Stacy down the aisle!

Linking up to Scrappy Saturday at the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. 

More Donation Quilt Finishes

This week I was able to finish up two more donation quilts by quilting and binding them. The tops  were donated by Jo Kramer and her Community Quilt program and will be given as finished kid quilts to the Salt Lake chapter of Quilts for Kids.

Here is a cute basic transportation-themed quilt, perfect for a little boy. The interior squares received a crosshatch treatment and the outer red border was done with a stipple (meander). 

This little cutie finished at 38.5 x 43”.

The next quilt I call Picnic Kisses because of the red picnic check and the lips. :-) I just did some basic loop quilting.

Picnic Kisses finished at 42x48”.  These two little quilts, along with the three donation quilts I finished last week will be donated at our next QFK workshop in September. 

Once those were done and dusted, I got to work on making a dent in my yellow scrap bucket. Yellow is the color of the month for August in the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. First this week were three Four in Nine blocks.  They will finish at 9”.

And then one of my favorites to sew, the Chaser blocks. I’m using black with white as my constant in these blocks instead of a light background. I think it’s going to look really sharp when all the colors come together for a quilt top party!  

The Chaser block is a Cynthia Brunz pattern, as is the Color Stix block, below. I plan to do Color Stix  for RSC24, and this is just my first - a prototype, if you will. It is Cynthia’s block for the current block drive for her Compassion Quilt program. Although she will have moved on to new blocks and a new drive long before I begin sewing these next year, I do plan to make the quilt(s) from these blocks and donate them to her when they are done. In other words, these will be dedicated to Compassion Quilts instead of Quilts for Kids. I don’t think the timing of the blocks really matters as the need for such quilts is always great, right?

In the coming week, I’ll be tackling my yellow strings. I hope to get at least 45 of them (6.5”, unfinished) made; I have plans for 15 of them this month and will donate the other 30 blocks to QFK for their quilt kit making. 

I also finished cutting out and began sewing the first (of 40) of this next size of star blocks for the Christmas Stars quilt. My goal is to have all 40 of this size done by the end of the month, so I’m 20% of the way there. 

My only other non-quilting news to share is that the vegetable garden continues to go gangbusters! Here is one bed’s-worth of carrots. This variety is short and stubby but good. It was all we could get at the time. But we have another half bed planted of the regular Nantes-type carrots we favor, and those are still a ways out.

The blackberries are almost done, the cucumbers have started producing, and the peppers and tomatoes are keeping me busy. I did roast a lot of Roma tomatoes this week (about 12 pounds worth), along with some garlic, onion (from the garden) and basil (also from the garden) to make some marinara. I’ll continue to do that as I collect the Romas in 12-pound batches. The slicing tomatoes and cherry tomatoes are being shared and/or eaten by us on a daily basis. And of course, we have to have our weekly Bacon (Costco turkey bacon), lettuce and tomato sandwiches on a weekly basis! Yum!

Have a great week!

Red Scraps and Green Beans

What a fun and hectic week!  The vegetable harvest is in full swing, which means too much time in the kitchen for me getting things processed. The weather has been hot, hot, hot. As usual, lots of errands this week. But Bruce passed his physical driving test to have his full drivers license issued with all the new adaptive equipment in the car as well as the requirement that he (naturally) wear his prosthetic arm. That’s been a huge relief for both of us. He is independent once again, and I’m not needed to be his chauffeur. Win-win. 

Bruce took this picture of the large basket of beans (wish there was something there to indicate scale) that he picked yesterday. This is the second basketful this week. He thinks we’re probably over half done. 

So, I’ve been sharing them with neighbors and my Weight Watcher friends. And I’ve been blanching, vacuum sealing and freezing them by the bagful for us. We’ve been getting peppers, too, but they’re easy to use and save. The Next Big Crop will be the blackberries, and I’m hoping they’ll wait their turn until after the beans are done!

There was a lot of red scrap sewing in the studio this week. First there were 6 Four in Nine blocks, all made this month with a navy constant and Kona White. 

And then six red Chaser blocks. 

As well, I finished up the last of the 19 large (12” finished) stars for the Christmas Stars quilt that will be sewed steadily over the next three months. 

That star center on the block second-from-left on the bottom row will be replaced. I lost a major point there. But I’ll wait until the end when I see what kind of scraps I have left over before I worry about it. Next up are the 40 stars in the 8” finished size. Those will be sewn using the 4-at-a-time method for making the flying geese star points. I’ll get all those cut out - and hopefully begin sewing them this week. Green beans willing….

All of these blocks fit neatly into the Rainbow Scrap Challenge’s color of the month. I’m linking up at our usual fun Scrappy Saturday party. 

Also on my sewing schedule this week is to finish the Red Ribbons top. I started this in August of 2021, and here is a reference photo from the blog from January 2022 when I finished the interior portion of the top. 

This past week I sewed the Seminole-pieced borders. Unfortunately I made the side borders all the same size, when the two sides should contain 9 red squares instead of the 7 that the top and bottom have. I don’t know how or if that will affect the assembly, but I’ve got plenty of fabric to use if I need to fix it. And a seam ripper. Blessed be Jack the Ripper, right?

The inner 2” border is shown in the picture, and after the Seminole border will be a final red outer border. I’m thinking this will be a good project for my Sunday Sewing. 

This morning - Saturday - is a Quilts for Kids workshop from 10-1:00. I’ll be sewing 6.5” red string blocks. 

Oh! I finished the International Sisters Quilt, but I’ll have to wait until next week for the unveiling. I haven’t been able to find a quilt holder or a good time or place to take some decent photos. I’m crossing my fingers that Ruby can help me with it on Sunday. 

And I’ll leave you with some garden pictures. In high summer, it’s difficult to get outdoor pictures that aren’t glaring, even in the early morning or the evening. 

Backyard corner: pink hollyhocks. They are biennial, and this is their “off” year. Last year there were three times the blooms and many more colors. But as long as they continue reseeding, we’ll enjoy what comes up. 

The echinacea on the side yard is blooming.

The flower pots on the front walkway are looking amazing!

And new flushes of blooming perennials have stepped up to take their turns as stars.

The only sad note of the week was when I accidentally knocked and broke my grandparents‘ old Delft vase. 😢😢  It happened in slow motion, as these things often seem to, accompanied by my cry of  “Noooooooooo!” But the universe isn’t giving me a do-over.

I think that wraps it up for now. See you back here next week, OK? Have a good one!