Oh my...finally getting back over here and I can't believe it's been more than a year since I've last posted! Time flies...no matter if you're having fun or not. :~O

This summer has been horrendous as far as weather...we are now into WEEKS of temperatures over 100 degrees and little to no rain. There was no wheat crop to harvest because of drought and it looks like no corn either. Even the corn that has been irrigated didn't make it because of the heat.

Summer is more least favorite season and I think I hate it worse every year. I've been trying to stay indoors as much as possible and have even missed some of Will's baseball games that were scheduled in the afternoon. Baseball season is now over and I think even the kids are happy not to have to play in this heat. Unfortunately football practice will be starting in about 3 weeks...hopefully they won't have to practice in the triple digits.

I have not done any sewing lately, but I have been doing some counted cross stitch. I finished a very old (several years) project and started a new kit. It's nice to just park myself in the recliner in the basement (nice and cool there) and stitch while watching TV.

I've been thinking about starting a new quilting/sewing project. The trouble is that I change my mind about once a week on what project to start. My latest thought is this Christmas wallhanging pictured. Maybe working on a Christmas project might make me feel cooler, haha.

Etsy has put out a survey and if you take just a few minutes to answer some questions you have a chance to win one of five iPads. It's for anyone, even if you are not an Etsy buyer or seller. You can find the survey link on the Etsy blog . I would love to have one of those iPads and a handmade case would be icing on the cake!

Wow...I cannot believe that it's been so long since I've been here to post. My last post says "Happy Fall" and here it is summer already! Since my last post we have moved to town, moved my dad from the nursing home to an apartment and moved my daughter and grandson into our old home. Add in Christmas, me taking a CNA course, babysitting for my grandson and the usual sports activities for my youngest son....time has really flown for me! I promise to try and do better...as well as try and get back into my sewing more.

I like living in town, though Tom, my husband does not. He is just a good 'ole country boy through and through and is having trouble adjusting to all the noise. We may be having a serious conversation in the future about moving back to the country, but we'll be here for at least until Will is finished with High School.

I still don't have a real room of my own for sewing here in the new house, but I'm planning on moving the sewing machine to a permanent spot either in the extra bedroom upstairs or in the basement. I just need to get busy and decide exactly where, although I am leaning towards the bedroom.

I FINALLY finished the binding on the Bonnet Girls quilt and I think it turned out quite well for never having done the scalloped bias binding before. It feels great to have that finished!! I do have to make a label yet for it...still thinking on it, as I want it to be special, but not too labor intensive.



I'm still pondering on what my next project will be. I do know it will be one of my many UFOs, probably either a Kansas Troubles quilt that will fit in with the colors in my living room or a small quilt from the alphabet block swap I did awhile back.

Gotta run for now...time for some errands. Hope you are all having a great summer so far!

HAPPY FALL!!

Wow, I can't believe that today is the first day of fall already! Hooray...my most favorite season (probably because it comes right after my least favorite). But I really can't complain about summer and the heat this year, as we didn't have much hot weather at all this summer. And the last couple of weeks it's been fairly cool with not much sun. We've even had a lot of fog, which is pretty unusual.

I also can't believe it's been so long since I posted here. The baseball team ended up going to the state championship and took 4th (no trophy). Football practice was scheduled to start a week or so after baseball ended, so all we got for a vacation was a quick trip to Table Rock Lake at Branson. It was really nice there, too...not too hot and not very humid and we had a great time.

I haven't had any time to do any sewing the past couple months..I really need to get into my sewing room and get my table cleaned off so that I CAN sew if I get the chance. I've been putting off getting the Bonnet Girl's binding on....possibly because I've never done a bias binding on a scalloped quilt. Maybe tonight I can get some research done on that and get busy. While in front of the TV, of course!

Run, run, run....

I've been running here and running there and everywhere! And have not been getting any sewing done. :~(

Today we are going to Plainville ( more than an hour and a half one way) for the sub-regional baseball tournament. The boys play 2 games today and at least one tomorrow, depending how well they do, so we are packing an overnight bag and may stay the night. If they make it to the top 5, we may be in Goodland next weekend.

The Bonnet Girl Quilt has been quilted and I have it now to do the binding....not sure when I'm going to be able to start that, but I don't think I have a deadline. The quilting is nice, but not exactly what I would've chosen. They outlined the girls and then all the rest is lines and angles...I think I would've used some ropes or braids in some of the borders, but they didn't ask me. Ha! I will try and post pictures of some of the quilting when I get a chance.

What a week....and not a very good one, unfortunately. We had a sudden, senseless death in our family last Friday night. The funeral was Wednesday and I got really behind with everything around here.

Today I'm going to work on the second set of blocks for the pink and Brown Swap. I'm anxious to get these two sets of blocks finished and out of here!

MORE pink and brown blocks.....

Here are two more fabric variations of my basket block. I'm not sure about the brown background in the first picture...might be a bit dark. But I didn't have any lighter medium toned browns, so it'll have to do. Although I hate to say it, I think I like the feathered pink background a little better than the paisley pink (yesterday's post).

But anyhow, all 12 basket blocks for the swap are finished!! I was going to make a set of 4 for myself, but I got tired of paper piecing. Next I'm moving on to a set of brown and pink pinwheel blocks for the same swap. They should go more quickly as they are not paper pieced.

I'm going to trim up the basket blocks and then tear the paper off while I'm watching The Mentalist.