Summer Goes Too Fast!

It must be a good thing that one can be enjoying summer so much that taking time to stop and write a blog post seems impossible. When I realized how far into August we already are and then further realized that I'd not posted anything here since the middle of last month - what?! - well, I must be busy enjoying these wonderful summer days.

Hello August! And Wow, do you need to move so fast? Give me time to catch my breath!

The truth is that we've been doing a whole lot of things that keep me out of the sewing room, thus there's very little to write about for a quilting blog when no quilting is happening! For example, this lovely wooded path took us for a peaceful walk in Mansfield, OH, in the gorgeous Kingwood Gardens. We have made several visits to this gem of a place, and always look forward to going again. A day trip like this does wonders for the disposition, but very little for the quilting to-do list!

Since I haven't written in so long, let me share the July highlights collage, and then we can move on to more current sewing and quilting events - and yes, I will have a few! July was a month full of planning and prepping for the Honnold Reunion held annually here at our place. Always so much we want to do to prepare for it - but this year, we had to scale back quite a bit. With my knee recovery (it's doing really well) and DH's gimpy back (it comes and goes), we were forced to minimize our expectations of what we could get done. The reunion went well, and no one really notices all that stuff, anyway, right?

TOP ROW: Since the entire month seemed to hinge on working toward the reunion, I begin with the spread of food we had for said reunion. Certainly plenty for all. And lots of leftovers! Yum! One of the sweetest little girls in the world, Cate, is just growing so fast! Looking so adoringly at her baby sister, in the third picture, we had a wonderful day with them here. My pic of Annie isn't centered as well as it should be, but she is growing and developing all those fun smiling and gurgling milestones that are so adorable at the 3-4-5-month stage.

MIDDLE ROW: My mom gets here hair done over here at my hairdresser's, and it just so happened that our son Adam was home for the reunion, so the two of them got to catch up with one another. At age 89, Mom looks pretty darn good, doesn't she?! My middle pic is of the patriotic table runner I finished just in time for the reunion. (Remember, this IS a sewing/quilting blog, right?) The final pic in this row is of my Frienzies - we all had a fun day of sewing together at Susan's house.

BOTTOM ROW: One of the other sweetest little girls in the world is Reagan who, at 21 months, is really getting to be lots of fun. Her vocabulary is growing and exploring the world at Gramma and Grampa's house is a wonder to her! She was here with her big brother and sister for the July 4th festivities. We attend a multi-generational picnic and fireworks evening at a nearby friend's house. The last pic is of my Trip Around the World. I did so little sewing, that I figured it ought to be included, just to remind me to get back to work at the sewing machine!

With July finally put to bed, let's look to all that is on the books for August! With a quilting retreat in the middle of the month, I have been cutting for some very satisfying sewing time. Two projects are ready to go and I am making one block for each just to get a 'feel' for how speedily I can proceed. Details on those will be forthcoming, to be sure.

 Sometimes, I go to the sewing room with no actual plan in mind. I pick up whatever I find within arms reach and make up something. These 4 little subunits of red, white and blue are such a creation. I had a lot of patriotic colors out when preparing for the 4th and the big 250th celebrations. I put this picture into a photo editing app and came up with a potential future scrap quilt - Jacob's Ladder. It might come to fruition; it might not. We'll see how the wind blows.

I also have a crap-ton of leftover bits from the Trip Around the World quilt I made. Plenty of 2" strips and 2" squares. So I have an idea for using up some of that.

The way I am thinking right now, I am more likely to continue with these 2" strips and squares than I am the patriotic Jacob's Ladder. Given time, perhaps both will see completion.

My ongoing concern is for the long arm. I took it to a repair shop for a total cleaning, oiling and tune-up. I got it back home and DANG!! The thread is still breaking! I will stay in touch with my repairman (by phone and email; he's 3.5 hours away!) and see if I can work through it. I so want to get some quilting done!

Things are looking up for a productive month! I will definitely have two more items to check off my '26 goals! 

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Jayne