Pine Tree Progress

Even though I continue to whittle away at deep cleaning the quilting room, I have been sure to throw in some occasional fun stuff.

All through this cleaning process, the Pine Tree quilt that I started with my friend Sharon a few weeks ago has been out on the table. And I am happy to report that progress has been satisfactory.

Here is proof of that progress - 50 pine trees! My forest is growing! I have the makings of about a dozen more read to stitch up. And I only need 64 trees total, so I am in the proverbial home stretch.

Now, all these need to be trimmed. That will be a tedious job. But I tell ya' - the best way for me to do tasks like that is to commit to doing 10 at a time. As I sew the blocks, I pin or clip 10 in a bundle. That helps me keep track of my progress. Then, when I trim I just take a bundle at a time and work through it. If I have an audio book going, it can be easy as can pie.

On another topic, we celebrated the first day of summer this week, and while it's been so cloudy and dreary, I did take a picture from our back yard just as the day ended - the golden hour, I've heard it called.

 

Today we get to spend the afternoon with our granddaughter, and then this evening we will go to see a movie at the Ohio Theater - Goldfinger, a James Bond classic. The Ohio Theater has a 50+-year-long tradition of their Summer Movie Series in which a wide variety of classic films are shown for just $5/person. Cheap entertainment! We've been going to these movies since the early 1980s. Last week we saw Rear Window, an Alfred Hitchcock classic, which neither of us had seen and which we both really enjoyed.

Hope you are making the most of this first week of summer! 

Happy Quilting, Friends!

A Glorious Sunday

Morning coffee.

I am not about to forget to acknowledge this beautiful weather we are having! For late July, we could be sweltering in heat and humidity - and there has been a fair amount of that this month - but yesterday and today are utter perfection! Gentle breeze, temps in the mid-70s, clear, cloudless blue skies - absolutely ideal.

Midday lemonade.

My Saturday was sublime - for all intents and purposes, I had the house to myself all day, so I enjoyed several cups of coffee on our screened porch before deciding to head upstairs to shower and get to sewing. However, after the shower, I really just wanted to sit on the porch some more!! So I made some lemonade, grabbed a book and read - all day! I finished my book around 9pm, the evening had gotten chilly and my toes were cold; the timer lights had flicked on, but I truly did treat myself to a lazy porch day - talk about heaven!

Reading into the late afternoon and evening.

The book is one my book club read nearly a year ago, A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman. Published in 2014, nearly all I've ever heard about it is how wonderful it is, so why I could never find time to read it is beyond me. I knew ahead of time that I would miss the meeting in which this book was discussed, therefore I just laid it aside. I have moved it dozens of times to different tables and even picked it up to read on a few occasions, but for whatever reason, I never got very far.

Maybe I was waiting for a pleasant Saturday in July to sit on the porch with it in my lap?

My Sunday has been just as satisfying, I got up super-early and drove down to Rocky Fork Lake, southeast of Hillsboro (my old stomping grounds) for an 8am church service. The First United Methodist Church of Hillsboro has held weekly church services for campers at the lake for over 40 years - I know this because I used to go when I was in high school. They have a beautiful sanctuary-like spot with rustic benches, an altar, a sound system and quite a few more improvements since I used to go in the 70s. It is called Chapel in the Woods, and gauging by today's crowd, it is quite well-attended. My sister and brother-in-law have been taking my mom each week, and I surprised Mom by showing up today. It opens each spring on Mother's Day and continues through Labor Day.

Now to sewing. I haven't yet shared with you the two little pincushions I made with scraps from the Wishes quilt. I have watched with utter fascination the blog by Amanda Jean - Crazy Mom Quilts - and have seen both her pincushions and Carrie Nelson's, too, on Instagram. OMG! They are works of art, I tell you! So, being the squirrel that I am, I saved those little bits of scraps and knew that as soon as I finished that quilt top, I would for sure be making pincushions. And here are two. I will likely make more.

The top one measures just under 3" - but it isn't truly square. The bottom one is about 3" x 1" and is made like a tube. They are certainly fun, and it is so satisfying to get a little project finished so fast.

For my slow Sunday stitching, I think I will get back to that Lucy Boston block I worked on last week. I have cut quite a few "trial" hexies just to see how things work and I still feel like such a neophyte creating these blocks. I love the look, though, and will continue to hone my skills. Practice makes perfect, I believe I learned a long time ago. Plus, all these audition hexies will have to be used for something.

I'm linking up with that ongoing weekly party, Slow Sunday Stitching at Kathy's Quilts. She's celebrating five years of hosting this party each Sunday! Whoo-hoo!

Hope you are having a glorious day!

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Sharon's Tribute to Summer

Last summer Sharon, Kay and I made a point of welcoming summer with a sew-along day using our Kaffe Fassett fabrics. You can read about that fun in this post and this post. Well, Sharon threw her own '17 summer party last month by stitching another festive KF quilt, and my, is it a beauty!

You can tell by the construction that this is a fast quilt - the only time-consuming part is fussy cutting those 6" squares. Her choices are wonderful and I think she finished this flimsy in just a couple of days. I love it! Once again, I am very tempted to add to my already impossibly long to-do wish-list.

Happy Quilting, Friends!