August…How Can It Be Gone?

 Wow…I know time flies but really…what happened to August?

The weather was gloomy…totally typical for August in our part of the world. 

It was confirmed again this past month…I am primarily a topper when it comes to quilting. More tops finished…no quilting of any tops. I did start quilting a top yesterday that has been loaded on my frame since early July.

I finished three tops that are for my granddaughters. I snagged the fabric and panels on a close out sale at my local quilt shop. Little ballerinas. I’ve ordered cuddle fabric to back all the lap sized tops.

I have enough fabric to make pillow cases for the girls too!

I finished Kara's stocking that will hang at her other grandmother's house. That grandma is an amazing sugar cookie decorator so that's what led me to pick this kit from my stash. This is a kit from 2009, "Santa's Sweet Shop."

I had a fun Christmas print in my stash for the lining.

Instead of putting her name on the stocking, this kit has it on an ormanent that hangs with the stocking.

Some details. Lots of satin stitching but in small bites so I didn't mind it too much. I tacked the gingerbread men and other sweets in the basket so they won't get lost over the years.

My other handwork project for evenings has consistently been a Noah's Ark cross stitch series. 

Two more animal sets finshed. 

Skunks.

Camels.

My grandson was at the house to visit when it dawned on me to check the stash of baby things from when my boys were young and found several smocked coverall sets I had made. Here's Austin wearing one of them. Fits great!

The one thing I did do very well in August was spend time with all of my grandkids.

Kara and Kate are with one of their three chickens. Kate, the oldest, carries that chicken around like she's a baby doll. The other chickens don't really like getting picked up but this little red hen does.

I had a memorable visit with a bull moose.

 I caught sight of him strolling along my garden while sitting at my computer. 

I was standing inside my dog run which has a 6ft tall fence.

Since I was charged by a moose cow earlier this summer...I've been more cautious.

My dogs slept through the entire episode.

It was amazing to get such a close look at the velvet on his antlers.

Heading to the Alaska state fair tomorrow. I went two weeks ago but I was with Kate who is four and she didn't want to spend as much time looking at all the quilts as I needed. I did well, blue ribbons on the three quilts I entered. 

July Recap - Quilts, Bucilla Felt Kits, Cross Stitch, New Granddaughter and a Grizzly

 July has been a busy month. 

Some rain and quilting crept into my summer gardening schedule.

I had a daytime, 3-day retreat at my local quilt shop with my Material Girls group. Several of us really enjoy this type of retreat where we can go home in the evenings and sleep in our own beds but leave all our stuff in the classroom of the quilt shop for the three or four days of our retreat. 

I very often start a retreat by finishing a project...most often adding borders. For this retreat I wanted to work on one new project so before the retreat I finished up two UFOs claiming space on my sewing table. I did mention there was rain...no sun to call me outside.

"I Believe In," probably looks very familiar to you if you have been quilting for the last 15 years. I started this in 2013 while we were living in Paris. It's a design from Nancy Halvorsen and she re-released one of her previous Christmas fabric lines in May.

I used the fusible web method for the applique and machine stitched the edges with a blanket stitch in black thread.

When I was sewing the blocks together I realized I had missed blanket stitching around the inner edge of an "a."

So glad I caught that!

My next finish is so much more eye catching in person. I named it, "Blue Alaska," and it will be for my grandson. The first grandchild has several quilts from me but my other grandkids haven't gotten any! My quilting priority is to fix that dismal fact.

This was a very fun project that is a, 3-Yard quilt from the design team, Fabric Café. They have several books  with eight quilt designs made with one-yard of three different fabrics. This pattern is, "Enchanting," from the book, "The Magic of 3-Yard Quilts." It's a good book with several other designs I would like to make.

With two more tops added to the the "To Be Quilted," pile it was time to start a brand new project! I bought this kit from Shabby Fabrics a couple of years ago which features a digitally printed panel, Dragonfly Dreams.

It was a challenging design with lots of points to match. But I stayed on task and only had the last border to add which I quickly did at home. This is destined for one of my granddaughters. 

Every New Year I start a dimensional kit from Bucilla from my extensive stash. This year it was Santa's Ark. It was super challenging making the ark.

As always...the kits are always so much prettier when done than the kit photo.

My four-year-old granddaughter kept me on task...always checking on my progress when she came to our house.

After finishing that enormous project I picked a quick project. A set of Christmas Cookie ornaments. All the tops are done...just have to add the backing pieces. 

I'm still loving my cross stitch projects. I think it took me a couple of weeks to finish Liberty Sam. As usual...the final finishing is probably the hardest part and I haven't tackled that step. There is a companion piece, "Lady Liberty," I have kitted up and ready to stitch so I will probably wait to finish the two together.

 

Back to the Noah's Ark theme...I have two more sets of animals done for a cross stitch ornament series.

The llamas.

 I just love how the designer has a "fabric design" look to her animals.

A plaid hippo. So cute!

I was blessed with my fourth grandchild just a couple of days ago, Hannah Jane. This is my son Zack's third daughter. I love it so much that he has three girls! 

Zack is a fighter pilot in the Air Force and when I was newly married to my fighter pilot husband there was an article in a science magazine that addressed a statistic that fighter pilots had more daughters than sons and it was believed the pulling of  Gs affected the sperm to create this outcome. We had two boys...didn't happen in our case. And I did have a few little girl dresses smocked in anticipation of having girls. Some friends in the squadron got those dresses for their daughters. 

I had a very brief but big critter visit a couple of weeks ago. I was sewing in my basement studio when I got a text from a neighbor two doors away...grizzly headed my way. I looked up from my sewing machine and there he was...walking quickly through my back yard. Both my dogs were napping in the studio so I quietly opened my basement door...with iPhone in hand and managed to get a photo!!!

The black fencing is the dog run off my sewing room door. The dogs woke up pretty quickly...barking like crazy from the smell but bear had already disappeared into the woods. The neighbor on my backside is new and sits on 22 acres. I need to get their phone number one of these days.

It’s All About the Garden

 June was a very agreeable month for weather. I spent the majority of my time outside. I did manage to finish a quilt and even had a garden location perfect for taking a photo.

The quilt pattern is, "Duet," from Villa Rosa Designs. Finished  size is 55 x 74-inches. Creeping thyme is making it's way up my rock slope. About nine years of growth to get two feet of rock covered.

The rest of this post will be garden photos and will mostly serve as a little journal for my future reference. 

The stars of my perennial beds are the eight Blue Himalayan Poppies that are split between two beds.

The were the third plant to pop into bloom this year.

They've been blooming for a little over two weeks so far.

I have at least two poppy plants that look like they need to be divided! I need to find a good location for those new plants. Not sure if I will get them divided this year.

The next big bloomer in my garden this year was creeping thyme. I've planted a lot of thyme over the years. 

It's such a slow process...

I've got a lot of rocks to cover. Though only two areas in my garden where the thyme is really covering rocks.

Here's a close up of the thyme flowers/

Another good creeping plant is Soapwort. I have had some success starting a new plant from cuttings. Perennial shopping in our area is a little challenging. You find a plant that works and then you never see it again at the local nurseries.

This orange plant, Fire Storm Geum was a risky perennial I bought at Lowes and it has survived for seven years! I had three but one didn't make it through the first winter. 

And a local favorite....irises!

I also have some miniature irises in a tub...they just don't bloom long enough!

I almost didn't plant Blue on the Mountain, below. Beautiful plant but it is ginormous and quickly takes over an area. 

I feel like perennials that do well in my area are mostly purples and blues. Love it when I can find other colors to add to the beds. I bought these yellow and pink columbines at the end of the season a couple of years ago. They are so fun!

I also bought these Coral Bells in the color "Firefly," at the end of last year's planting season. I was so excited to see they made it through the winter and are thriving.

I am most excited this hedge-like shrub looks so great. When I bought it last year it just looked like a stick in a pot. I searched all over the area for this plant, a honeysuckle that will thrive here. This is Arnold Red Honeysuckle. It has pretty berry colored flowers. The shrub is supposed to get 10 x 10 feet! I put it on our property edge to create a little privacy hedge...I planted two of them. 

I suppose that's enough plant photos for one post. 

No recent critter photos, except my three next to me as we spend the day inside.

Much needed rain has arrived.