Hello July!

Here we are firmly established now in July. It hardly seems possible to me, but the calendar is proof enough, I suppose. And if we cannot believe even the calendar, then we must believe nature. Our flower garden currently features the showiest crop of lilies ever. Every morning these past few days we have been greeted by new bursts of color.

DH asked me to take pictures of all the varieties, which I did, and then created a few collages. Here's one that is representative of most of our colors.

When last I left you, we were preparing to celebrate our 44th anniversary. The thoughtful Mr. Right had arranged a surprise evening, and because he's done this for the last few years, I have learned to be patient and keep my questions to a minimum. It's fun to be surprised. 

Our destination was Lindy's in German Village, an up-scale restaurant in a quaint Columbus neighborhood, and our kids were there for the surprise. Son-in-law Jeff reminded us that this is our first anniversary as grandparents, and we sure are happy about that! Little Cate was an absolute angel all through dinner. This photo clearly illustrates how smitten the two of us are with everything about her. I like to think that she's equally taken with us!

My June highlights collage contains several Cate pictures. She changes so much with each visit. Crawling is the latest milestone achievement, but she's also holding her bottle and eating more solid foods.

I'm getting ahead of myself.

Let's take care of the top row rather than jump straight to the middle row. *grin*

TOP ROW: I quilted two blue Kaffe Fassett quilt tops in a burst of long-arm energy. The front porch has a barn quilt hanging above the settee. And we made a trip to Peebles to see my Great Uncle John, my mom's uncle. A peaceful afternoon on the porch gave those two time for shenanigans in addition to lots of visiting and reminiscing.

MIDDLE ROW: Now for Cate's row - She's wearing a little dress I made for her in the first frame; she's cheesing for the staff at daycare in the center frame; and she's "immersed" in her introduction to applesauce in that third frame. She is such a smile-y, happy little girl.

BOTTOM ROW: I definitely wanted to include a reminder that I'd spent a lot of the month cleaning the quilting room, so the display jars of my grandmother's vintage sewing notions represents that major effort. The one and only flimsy finish of the month was Alpine, the pine tree quilt. And to top off everything, here are our two daughters, son-in-law and Cate (hidden in the shadows of Emma's arms) at the anniversary celebration. Just outside the view are Emma's boyfriend and my Mr. Right. The whole evening was just wonderful.

Now I need to think about what my goals will be for this brand new month. I have many from which to choose, if I continue to refer to the list of "found projects" I shared here. At least a couple will be priorities, for sure.

The Tour de France started yesterday, and will allow me lots of time to quilt on Fall Foliage. I will be working to finish Polka Dots and Posies - two "for sure" projects. That Kaffe Fassett panel is really calling to me, so perhaps it will see some action, too.

We have several family functions scheduled for this month, so I will have to be mindful in allocating my time.

Happy Quilting, Friends!