September Has Arrived

Never one to be mindful of timely posting, I am just now getting around to posting my first-of-the-month missive in which I recap last month and look ahead to all that September promises to offer.

My August collage is short on quilts, isn't it? But gosh we did have a ton of fun with family and friends. Here's the rundown of highlights.

TOP ROW: Even though her birthday is at the end of July, we celebrated Sharon early in August. You see her here admiring a gift of some 3Sisters fabric. Pappaw Kevin gets in a little swimming with granddaughter Cate, who takes to the water like a fish. We had a family gathering one Sunday afternoon, and the final picture in the top row shows 3 little cousins - Boone, Cate, and Archie. Absolutely adorable kiddos!

MIDDLE ROW: At that same family gathering, our older generation posed for a picture. Seated in front is my Great Uncle John, my mother's uncle. He's in his mid 90s. Behind him is his daughter Marilyn, Mom's first cousin, then two of my aunts - Carol and Ann - who are my mom's sisters-in-law. Finally, there's Mom. The center picture shows her again, this time with Cate. What a treat for Mom to spend time with her great-granddaughter! The last picture in the middle row is of the quilt top made with Inverted Fat Quarter Stars. I wrote about it in my last post.

BOTTOM ROW: I attended a quilt retreat with some dear quilty friends and made a super-simple quilt with some remnant yardage I uncovered in the sewing room. On the final day of the retreat, I worked on the stars in the middle, and as the month closed out, I was heavy into taking out the big sewing desk I've used for the last 10 or so years in an effort to make room for the long arm machine to come into this room.

And that consolidation effort continues. I have the aforementioned desk moved out and headed to a yard sale. I have taken everything off the cutting table (shown below, but loaded up with stuff!) and it is ready to be moved out. Once it is out, I will dismantle the long arm machine and move it to this room. That will all be accomplished in - perhaps - another week. I hope!!

This picture shows you the other end of the room. Gosh, I have things piled high! The good news is, though, that this table is now empty and much of what you see here has been sorted and reorganized. And, of course, the work is ongoing. My goal is to put a lot in the yard sale, or make significant donations to Goodwill.

The long arm machine cannot be moved until this quilt is finished and removed from the frame. Tiny Nine-Patch Challenge has been loaded for over a month, sadly. I was having issues (seems like that happens a lot!), but I finally have corrected the problem. Yay! I stitched quite a lot on it yesterday. It will be my goal to finish the quilting today.

The Frankfort girls will be here for sewing tomorrow morning, so I will need to stop the upstairs sewing stuff long enough to tidy a bit downstairs and make some refreshments.

Time waits for no one! I might just now be getting around to welcoming September here on the blog, but I am keenly aware that the month is marching on! My main goal will be to finish quilting this quilt, bind it plus another one waiting in the wings, and - most of all - complete the major portions of the consolidation of 2 sewing rooms into one. That will be quite enough!

Oh, yes. One more thing. We are due to gain a granddaughter in about 3 weeks, too! Yippee!

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Jayne