It's a Knitting Kind of Day--In August!!

Yes, people, it's barely sixty degrees and cloudy out there.  Brrr! I'm thinking of picking up my knitting needles and getting back to a pair of socks I started earlier this year.  It's just that kind of day.  

Dan and I have been saying for the past few years (maybe even ten), that fall seems to arrive in August anymore.  When we were kids the famous words were "hot August nights", but we've burrowed under the covers all month.  And daytime temperatures have been mostly in the eighties.  We're not complaining! Dan grew up in Spokane and remembers many hot, hot days and nights and the little town I grew up in was in a canyon and never cooled off at night after day temperatures in the nineties and hundreds.  I remember laying on top of the covers and having the windows and curtains wide open hoping for cooler air.  No one had air conditioning in those days.  

(And let me drift off, for a moment, and remember shopping for school clothes on 90 plus degree days in unairconditioned stores, trying on wool sweaters and skirts.  And of course, we did this in the nearest "big" town, so my mom, coming from the Seattle area, insisted we had to dress up to go to town and that included wearing nylons.  Yikes!  Of course our car had no air conditioning either, and it was a 45-minute or longer drive to get there.  There was, of course, the ol' "four-sixty air conditioner" -- sixty miles an hour with all four windows rolled down, but that created havoc with our hair. . .)*

Suffice it to say that I'm not the least bit sorry to have a cool day today.  Here's a picture of my finished quilt top on my design wall.  I think I've come up with my quilting plan so hopefully I'll get to that in a few days.

I've been in a baking mood since finishing the top and tried Joanna Gaines recipe for blueberry rolls to great success.  If you have her second cookbook, I can totally recommend her recipe.  Our zucchini have come on and I made a double batch of zucchini bread two days ago. An old standby, but still so delicious!  Just had a mid morning snack (or as the British call it, elevenses) of a piece with my coffee.  

And last, here's a picture of the butte and sky to our south taken a few evenings ago.  Love the light.

And that's the news for now!  ♥

* I realize I've used "of course" three times in a row in this paragraph, but on reflection, they needed to stay. They define the situation.  Of course! 

Continuing On!

It's been my birthday today and it's a number I thought wouldn't arrive for at least a hundred years when I was younger.  (Just try to figure that math out!!)  But, when I woke up and was finally coherent (I'm so not a morning person), I was thankful to arrive at this age. And as I told my brother when he called, I certainly didn't think Dad was old when he was this age, so I must not be, either!  

At any rate, we've had a lovely quiet day here at the resort.  The latest Rhys Bowen "Georgie" book was released today and it was delivered by the UPS man this morning. They're always great fun--the series is called Her Royal Spyness.  

I'm still working away on that Christmas quilt and just have to stitch around the words and join the last two sections to have the top finished.  How to quilt it?  That will definitely take some pondering.  

We had Daniel overnight Sunday night and all day yesterday.  It's become a tradition to have him stay over the night before Ann has to start back to work as a teacher.  It's so much fun to have him.  I gave him choices for breakfast and he picked coffee cake. I was astounded to watch him wolf down three pieces in short order.  Makes a Grammy happy!

He loves boxes and often turns them into all kinds of creations.  We had one for him in the garage and he slipped his legs inside to turn it into an instant desk as he played a game on his tablet.

So blessed to have such a wonderful family! And to have had another wonderful year to spend with them all!  

Time Out for a Little Cooking

I'm almost embarrassed by that title, because for much of this week I've just not been in the mood to cook, but I did have one great success with a new recipe.  

We have friends who have a Christmas Tree farm and a few years ago they began planting blueberries for a summer crop.  Annette texted me last Friday to say the blueberries were finally ripe and I elected to let her pick and deliver vs. driving out and picking myself.  She delivered the berries Sunday and Monday I tried a new recipe I'd printed out recently for Homemade Blueberry Sauce.  It comes from My Baking Addiction's website and can be found here.  It was very simple to make and is very delicious!  

Tuesday morning I made a Dutch Baby and added the sauce to the top after taking it out of the oven.  I usually top it with canned apple pie filling which we love, but Dan was raving about how good this new sauce was.  

Today I added a good dollop to my homemade yogurt and it, too, was a winner.  Breakfast tomorrow?  Another Dutch Baby!  ♥

Stitching On

I got more done on the Christmas quilt.  The tree stars were added and I machine blanket stitched around all the applique pieces.

Next I cut the pieces for the row of sawtooth stars that will be added just below the house. Here they are, stacked in rows according to the alphabet letter for each piece.

I was able to make one star this afternoon.  I finally remembered to stitch just to the inside of the drawn diagonal line which makes for a much truer sized block. I was very pleased with the end result!

I think there are twenty-one pieces in that 6 1/2" block!  Only four more of them to make.  

I don't think I've talked about that gray mat the star block is shown on.  A year or so ago I noticed that many quilters were talking about a wool mat to be used for pressing that they were very happy with so I ordered one.  I really does help with the pressing process--the blocks don't seem to stretch on it and if you use steam, the wool holds the steam for a bit helping to hold the press.  I think mine is 14" square and it works for most of the blocks I make.  Once I join the blocks, of course, I take it off the ironing board and just use the top of the board for long seam pressing.  I do see some huge mats out there, but I have no place for one and this size works well for me.   ♥

And I'm Back!

Hey, I'm actually back with the scoop on my quilting project.  It's a kit I purchased sometime in the last year from Craftsy/Bluprint. A Christmas quilt, like I need another Christmas quilt; but somehow, I just can't stop myself.  

{Side note:  Craftsy has been around for a while and sometime in the last few years was bought out and the name was changed to Bluprint.  Everything stayed pretty much the same until this spring when it was announced that Bluprint was closing.  The thing that got so many people riled was that part of C/B, a BIG part, was video classes that once purchased were available to view by the purchaser forever.  There was much grumbling and dissatisfaction, especially by those who had just purchased new classes.  I recently received an email that Bluprint has been purchased (rescued?) and will continue.}

But I digress.  Back to my project.  As mentioned yesterday, it has a lot of pieces.  A LOT.  So I backed off from my cutting and began assembly with parts I had.  

The house is the center of the quilt.   Next up were applique trees.  I actually had some Heat and Bond in my stash so I drew out the shapes and ironed them on the fabrics, cut and ironed again.  Voila!  Trees!

Now I'm back to cutting, cutting, cutting.  Here's a picture of the pattern showing the whole quilt.  

See those stars?  The checkerboard?  The flying geese? The appliqued letters?  Yup, lots of cutting coming right up!  ♥

I'm Still Here

Goodness, this month seems to have gotten away from me!  It's been busy with the graduation, Dan's birthday this week, and just general everyday things that the older I get, the longer they seem to take.  

I am working on a new quilt that seems to have quite a few pieces of varying sizes to cut. I've been cutting away and decided yesterday to begin to put some of the pieces together before I burned out on the cutting. I'll try to post again tomorrow with some pictures of this new project.  

Meanwhile, I'm off to do a little light reading and then head for my bed.  Sure glad someone invented mattresses and pillows!  ♥ 

A Real Graduation!

Yes, people, Keaton did get to have a real graduation ceremony!  We kind of held our breaths, but it took place Saturday night with many concessions to the times, and all graduates got their moment and their diplomas.  

Only family members were allowed to attend and had to wear masks. Each family had a separate seating area that was marked out, included plenty of space to spread out, and was in the balcony, so we were well distanced from the students! The students, of course, wore their masks as well as their graduation gowns and caps.  One of the moms found masks featuring fabric that said Class of 2020 and bought masks for the entire class!

Keaton was valedictorian and did a great job giving his speech (he got to take his mask off as there was no one close by).  

All masked up and ready to graduate!

Diploma in hand!

Masked and socially distancing.  Such strange times. . .

The ceremony was video taped and shown live on Facebook and YouTube so friends and far away family could watch and the parents were able to arrange a wonderful outdoor party following that was really fun, complete with tiki torches!! 

And here is one last fun photo--a bunch of neighborhood moms got together and ordered these shirts for their grads to commemorate this crazy graduation year (note the mask on the O in Senior).

And that's the way it is in 2020!! ♥