Sweet Tea is my Coffee~

24/7/....365

I always have it handy while hangin' out in my studio.

It even gets taken along out kayaking.

A girls gotta' do, what girls gotta' do !!!

Reflecting on our Summer

I've been very busy...... drove Summer School the entire month of July. Spent the first two weeks of August working in another dist. teaching Traffic Safety Education. Then we headed out for Camp Daly, thank you Tom n' Laura for having us again this year. We packed so much fun into 4 days. The deer were everywhere and of course we fed them.

So many fawns the year... they were adorable !!!

Hubby and Tom working on one of the dirt bikes.

Camp Daly is home of the motorized toys. I'm rather proud of myself, this years I learned how to shift out of first on the quads. Laura n' McKenzie rode along side, helped me figure it out. I can now buzz right along with everyone else.

They Honeymoon Shack and Trailer.

Kayaks loaded and ready to head up to the lake.

Mayfield Lake boat ramp....let the fun begin.

We paddled out of the lake and up the Tilton River.

Here I am try out Laura's newest kayak.

 There were two places that the water was so low, we got out, drag the boats thru. 

At the top of the river, Tiernan, Hubby and Tom went first. It's a tight spot !

We stop and hiked into one of the waterfalls.

 These were randomly stacked around the falls.

We were the only people around it was so peaceful.

We got home and unpacked just in time to go back for In-service. It was 3 very long days !!! I'm not ready to start a new school year yet. On a side note~ my garden did amazingly good this season.

All four varieties of Hubby's peppers did well

Our blueberries had an awesome year too.

They were very flavorful.

This is the second year for these raspberries.

Planted my lettuce in between my tomatoes this year, it worked out well.

One of our six apple trees.

Another of the trees.

My Gravenstein.....yummy !!!

I also found a bit of time in my Studio. Newest project underway~

All forty-two are sewn together.

This is the pattern I chose.

I also finished my August HST for the Birthstone Q.A.

Hoping to find the time to post more often this Fall.

Birthstone Quilt-A-Long Update~

May, June and July are finished !!! It'll be fun to see how this quilt-a-long comes together. It's been a

nice n' easy small project to do monthly.

May~

June~ 

July~

Can't wait to see how everyone else's finished project turns out. 

Scrap Busting.......

I've slowly but surely been going thru bags, boxes n' drawers in my studio. I had so much loose fabric tucked here n' there. Finally decided that I'd give Bonnie Hunter's Scrap System a try.....you can find it here~ https://quiltville.com/scrapusersystem.shtml

After I had every scrap piled up, I started pressing.......that took quite a while. This is just two of the pressed piles.

It was rather overwhelming to start the cutting process. Deciding what and how many, of which sizes to cut was hard for me....... I went piece by piece and began cutting.

In addition I was also cutting up 2 in. x 3 1/2 in. blocks. Someday I want to make this mosaic quilt that caught my eye.

This took me about two weeks total....just did it, whenever I could sneak into my studio. It felt amazing to be finished. Just knowing that I have all of these "ready to go" is awesome.

 These are my 2 1/2 in strips and misc. strings.

Everything is now put away into drawers. So happy with how it all turned out. I have a small basket to hold any scraps that come along.......hoping that will help me stay caught up.

Girl's Night Out will never be the same.......

The first week in April my dear friend Deb boarded a plane to Texas and she not coming back.

I'm still processing these ramifications to my life. She's one of my quilting n' knitting mentors. We've gotten together on Thursday nights for the past 10+ years. Deb is funny, kind, quirky, honest and free spirited.

We've talked about "everything" in our lives. She's been my sounding board, my safe haven, my judge and jury too. She is always up for an adventure !!! I can't even put into words how much I'll miss her and our G.N.O.'s.

As sad as this has been for me......It's such a blessing for Deb. Her parents are in their mid & late 90's. She's going to have more time to spend with them. Her sister Sandra lives right next door to Mom and Dad. Which is a good thing, someone needs to keep Deb in line.
 

 
Thinking that maybe I'll turn G.N.O. nights into Studio Time instead. I'm so going to miss you Girlfriend !!!

Half Square Triangles and the Dragon

Somehow two months have passed since my last post. Life has been crazy busy, in a good way.
Not a lot has been happening in the Studio. I've been going thru cleaning, organizing, donating and tossing. I'm loving the result so far.

I did find a few minutes to keep up with the Birthstone Q.A. These are my March and April HST~

Some of you may know that we have a Bearded Dragon named Toothless. He was a Christmas gift to my Hubby. Somehow I've become his "chosen" human.

We watch TV together at night. He sleeps on my chest, between my jammies and bathrobe. He stays warm and happy.

                                                         Here's what he looked like at Christmas~

                                                       
                                                                        Such a tiny little guy.

                               This is a current photo. They do all the growing in the first year.

Never in a million years would I have guessed I would get so attached to a reptile. He won me over with his sweet funny personality.

Unexpected Gifts

So...... Hubby calls me, tells me a customer brought in a box of goodies just for me. This is what he brings homes.

A sweet elderly lady, long time customer of hubby's shop was asking how our Holidays were. Somehow my new sewing machine came up. "Your wife is a sewer" ? Hubby said she was all smiles. He told her that I mostly quilt these days. So imagine his surprise when she showed up the next day with that box. She said she could no longer quilt due to arm and hand issues. Thought maybe I could put this stuff to good use. Hubby gave her a big hug, thanked her and said I'd be thrilled !!!
I went thru the box and removed what I knew I could use. My quilting buddy Deb came over, did the same.

This is what I kept, 32 yards in total. It's now washed, pressed, wrapped and added to my stash.

 
Now what to do with the rest ? Goodwill or thrift shop ? I wanted to continue this unexpected gift. Thru Facebook I found the "Wednesday Quilter's" at our local Senior Center. They do baby n' lap/wheelchair quilts for charity gifts. They were so excited to be the recipients. They got quite the surprise when I showed up in my school bus to deliver it. They were less than 3 blocks from my last AM stop. I thought it was time saving and cost effective, for me.....the Boss might not think so....Sshhhhhh ;)

They were so thankful and said  "If you ever need to find a home for more fabric..... to please keep them in mind". In the next day or so I'll be sending a very nice "Thank You" card to Hubby's darling customer. Letting her know how amazing her gift is and how it was divided up. Quilter's have amazing hearts !!!