What's Been in the Works

I have been busy doing a little cutting for one Quilts of Valor Mystery – the clues will be offered on Aug 12^th.  And I have been following the clues for a second QOV Mystery – clue 1 has been posted so far:

I have quilted two of the tops I brought back with me from my fun quilting retreat in Omaha:

Floral Wave

Butterfly Enchantment

And I did a little yardwork – not too much since it has been oppressively hot and humid here.

This is our typical forecast – the lightning chases me out of the sewing room each day:

mon	tue	wed	thu	fri	sat	sun
jul 17 Scattered Thunderstorms 90° 78°	jul 18 Thunderstorms 88° 77°	jul 19 Scattered Thunderstorms 91° 78°	jul 20 Scattered Thunderstorms 91° 78°	jul 21 Scattered Thunderstorms 90° 78°	jul 22 PM Thunderstorms 91° 79°	jul 23 AM Thunderstorms 91° 78°

And this is my latest kitchen gadget purchase.  So far, I love, love, love it.  I’ve made lots of chicken, beef roasts, and these pork chops:

Several things I really like about it are that it keeps the kitchen cooler since I am not using the hot oven and it makes putting an entire meal on the table much quicker.  The roast took 40 minutes rather than 3 hours.  That’s a win!

Happy Fourth of July!

Stay safe this Holiday and remember

why we are celebrating ...

Let Freedom Ring!

Sunday Summary

After attending a quilting Retreat in Omaha, I brought home 13 quilt tops to quilt and bind.  Oh my!  I had to quickly finish up a few bindings that I had left from quilting the same groups' lotto tops and fill a box for Quilts Beyond Borders.  Just one more to bind and that box will be on its way and I can load up those Omaha tops.

Here's the recent finishes in the box.  These were assembled by Tammy S from blocks sent to her by members of the Sunshine On-line Quilt Group:

Panto is called Cotton Candy

Panto is called Cotton Candy

Panto is called Cotton Candy

This was  panel sent to me a while back from Ann D, a Regional Coordinator of Quilts Beyond Borders.  It's just too cute!  And it's in the box, ready to go out:

Panto is called Cotton Candy

And this is the preview of the one that still needs binding.  The crumb blocks were sent to me by another member of the group, Lois.  Hope to show the finished quilt tomorrow and get that box in the mail ...

Panto is called Delight

Quilts of Valor Meeting

Posting some photos of quilts turned in quilted and/or bound at the June meeting of the CT Quilters QOV Group in Tampa, FL so I can link up with Alycia's blog.  A big "thank you" goes out to our great longarm quilters.

The little cards pinned to the quilts are the tracking system we use so we now where the quilts are in each stage of the process.  Some awards pictures to follow soon - we have made 44 awards so far this year!

This Day in History

Celebrate Flag Day today!

 

According to The History Channel, on June 14, 1877, the first Flag Day observance was held on the 100th anniversary of the adoption of the Stars and Stripes. As instructed by Congress, the U.S. flag was flown from all public buildings across the country. In the years after the first Flag Day, several states continued to observe the anniversary, and in 1949 Congress officially designated June 14 as Flag Day, a national day of observance.

Recap of the Busy Times

I am s-o-o-o-o not used to being busy.  I live a pretty nice, dull and sedate life with an occasional outing.  But I ran into a spate of things that each took up a little time and blogging fell by the wayside.  One more big occasion (for me) and I’ll get back to my regularly scheduled programming … sewing and snoozing ...

Here’s a synopsis of the last few months:

Out of town visitors

Got to meet and greet and shop a little

Yardwork

Planted some new annual sacrifices (and no, the delphiniums aren’t going to last thru the heat) – lots of mushrooms are growing because we’ve had tons of rain (that we really needed)

Golf

I get to substitute when the boys aren’t available to play with my husband ...

My "caddy" retrieving my ball - lol

this ibis tried to get the cranes to adopt him - his tribe soon came to gather him up

Travel

Had a wonderful trip to Indiana to visit my cousins/spouses/children/grandchildren/aunt

unset on the river from my cousin's front lanai

Sewed and quilted

Got a box off to Wrap-a-Smile and almost have one ready to go to Quilts Beyond Borders

Tammy assembled these quilt tops and I quilted and put the bindings on

Bought a new car

I love my smaller SUV – a stripped down Jeep Cherokee with almost no bells and whistles (but had to keep my Sirius radio – love that)

stock photo - mine has no chrome

Lots of Vet visits

The dog rules in my house – she’s almost healthy now - had a paw infection - lots of pills and creams and cream cheese

One more bit of traveling on the schedule and then it’s back to normal !!

Not Used to Being This Busy!

Sure wish I could just do this:

I'll be catching up soon ...

Two More Elephants

Still working on making a few elephants each month for the monthly Rainbow Scrap Color Challenge:

The one on the left is the last one from April's multi-color challenge and the one on the right is for May's green challenge.  The green one is feeling lucky because she has lots of lucky ladybugs!

I have quilted a few more for Sunshine On-line Quilters, but I need to have a Binding Blitz day to finish these up and get a box out.  Maybe this weekend ...

Panto is Arrowhead

Panto is Celtic Scroll

Panto is Mod Hearts