quilts, kids, and critters . . .

Still slogging away in the new un-normal.  I don't know about anyone else, but it all still feels so surreal. Work is normal (hours), so there's that, but nothing else feels the same.  Strange.

I've been working off and on in the Nook.  Our stitcher's group collaborated on a quilt for one of our ladies who's been diagnosed with breast cancer.  Everyone contributed blocks (á la Lori Holt), one of our very talented ladies (and one of my affirmation group besties -- Sarah) did the layout and made it into a marvelous flimsy, and another of our talented ladies quilted it. Then I got to do the binding on it!  I love doing binding!  The entire process is soothing.

Doesn't everyone stow their 'to be stitched down' binding like this?!  LOL! The quilt itself was scrappy, so I did a scrappy pink binding for it, which I'd never done before. I was really pleased with how it turned out!

And the quilt itself is a stunner.  I just adore this layout . . . 

My SASSY! group (Sweet Affirmation SisterS Yay! -- there are three of us; Sarah, Gail and me) is currently into sheep and lambs.  We share photos and videos of sheep (and all things Welsh & tea) and we're planning a field trip to local 1818 Farms to meet this pretty little thing . . .

Her name is Baby Girl and she was born this year.  So cute!! Anyway, one of us found a quilt advertised with sheep on it . . .

which (along with the heart quilt) prompted me to be inspired to create . . .

Bleating Hearts (EQ concept).  Coming soon to a Nook near me.  ♥

I'm missing my California crew.  They're able to get out and about a little bit.  Kim sent me this sweet shot of the kids berry picking . . .

I think they grow faster because I don't get to see them often enough.  Liv had her first tap recital this week . . .

Holy cow -- when did she turn 16?!?  She's a natural performer and I was able to see video from the show.  She stole it!! ♥

My local crew paid me a visit at work this week.  Since I knew they were coming, I was able to provide a little surprise . . .

Everyone loves petit fours, right?

Right!

Things have stayed very slow at the camp.  The majority of our summer bookings have cancelled, so it's been quiet.  On the human front, at least.  On the critter front, it's been pretty busy--probably because of the lack of humans?!  We've made friends with a grey fox couple (they mate for life), who visit regularly . . .

Aren't they beautiful? I want to pet them so badly.  They're my 'puppies'.  They have a den (or two) nearby, and I've seen kits, but they haven't brought them to the 'feeding station' yet.

We also see the raccoons pretty frequently, but this juvenile has decided to make himself very much at home.

LOL!  Brazen thing.  He spent three hours one afternoon hoovering up all the bird seed. In between rest stops.  Ha!

When he was finished, Mr. Squirrel came in as the clean-up crew.

I don't believe a single bird ate seed I put out that day.  #truth

Lastly, still working on my Peppermint Purple blackwork SAL.  I'm behind about twelve weeks, but still plugging along. 

I love the way the colors move through the designs; it's so pretty!

Keep on stitching!

:)

starting july off right . . .

We enjoyed a terrific long Independence Day weekend! On Thursday, we had 'staff enrichment', which means we went to lunch together at a nice restaurant and then went home afterwards. Hip, hip! On Friday, Todd and I did our usual boating trip where he fished and I mostly read. I never get tired of the scenery!

On Saturday, we hit the lake again, this time with the Merkel crew.  

 

We spent the day swimming and splashing (and eating), and then we headed towards the shoreline at dark to watch fireworks.  It was fabulous!  

All the big shows had coronacancelled, but there were enough private fireworks being set off that we had a 360-degree viewing field! 

Early on Sunday morning, Joc, Ellie, Evey and I loaded up in the car for the five and a half hour trip to Indiana, for a baby shower for my nephew's wife (they live in Alaska, but her family is in Indiana).

It was a fun trip with the "big girls" and I got to see my sister (from Virginia) and both of her daughters (and her oldest daughter came with her husband and family, and I got to see her youngest for the first time). 

It was a sort of mini reunion!

On Monday, before hitting the road seriously, Joc saw an underground river tour she thought would be fun, so we detoured over to Bluespring Caverns. It was amazing! It's the longest stretch of underground river in the United States.  The cavern (cave) is a balmy 54° (air and water), year around, which made it a lovely stop on a 90° day!

The girls mined for gems and fossils and that was fun, too!

I didn't get a lick of stitching done in the last week, but I *did* finish up the 2018-19 HQH mystery quilt a couple of weeks ago!

Really pleased with the quilting on this, which was done by my longarmer friend, Melissa.  She does such beautiful work!

My sweet little helpers enhance the look, too!

I hope y'all are all doing well and staying safe and healthy! 

:)

pandemic pass . . .

Evidently, that's just what I did.  Took a pass on blogging during the height of the pandemic. I have no good excuse for it, either!  Except how you know when you miss something one week ... and it makes it a little easier to miss it the next week ... until the week comes and it's hard to do it because you've missed so much?

Yeah.  That.

I *have* been busy (for the last seven plus weeks).  Lemme 'splain . . .

I made some masks (click here for the tutorial):

I made quilt tops and finished quilts:

(Temecula mini is finished)

(NICU comfy quilt to donate)

(Picnic quilt for Merkel girls)

(My class quilt is FINISHED!)

I baked things (and gained twenty pounds):

(Salted Chocolate Chip Shortbread Cookies)

(Focaccia Bread)

I baked a lot of different and new things ... and you don't want me to eat up your bandwidth with it all.  LOL!

I rearranged my cozy tea corner:

And consequently, I drank a LOT of tea!

I took a LOT of walks around the camp and noted nature:

(the story behind these is so very sweet!)

I read (a LOT) (and on the boat):

(between March and April, I read a solid 30 books)

I did some hand-stitching (and also on the boat):

And we fished (a LOT):

That was just one trip.  Most of our fishing expeditions (and I use the word "our" loosely) have netted a cooler full of fish like that.  So yeah, we'll eat fish for months, which is a good thing for my diet, seeing as I now have an additional twenty pounds to lose.  LOL!

I also worked from home, but we're back in the office full-time, now.  Just not open to the public, yet.  That's coming.

How are YOU??!

:)

interesting times . . .

Has anyone else struggled with what day it is?! LOL! I stayed home sick on Tuesday and the boss shut us down for the remainder of the week, so I worked from home. The days start to run together after a while!

It's been a busy and fairly productive week, though. I have enjoyed some super domestic time ... I made bread and have done a lot of cooking (which I don't typically do during the week). One of our favorite meals is . . .

Italian Loaf Rustica aka Double Crust Pizza! It's so very good, but very time consuming to make. We had this for several meals, actually!

I've gotten in several lovely long walks around the camp this week. Thursday was super warm and look what I found hanging out in the nursery sanctuary . . .

Two toddler turtles! We figure one's a two-year-old and the bigger one is three. They still look sleepy and have dirt on their tiny faces! It's gotten cold again, so they've gone back down under.

Todd and I also watched the sun go down from the back deck that evening.

It was just a lovely day through and through. I love sharing all my camp nature pics, but I hate making these posts so picture laden (not that you could ever tell). I share a lot on Instagram as @daneesey, too! :) There are a number of duplicates, but ah well.

I also got in some quilting/stitching time. First things first, though. My Nook was in desperate need of attention. I'd not taken the time to set things straight after retreat and it had already been in need of tending after I finished my class quilt. So I spent a couple of hours and took care of it. Happy National Quilting Day to me. ♥

It actually wasn't as bad as I thought it was, once I scooped up trash, put fabric and rulers away, and swept! Then I got on to stitching.

I finished up this small quilt kit from Temecula Quilt Co. Then I hand quilted the heck out of it! In honor of the first day of (astronomical) Spring, I quilted a pink dogwood blossom in the center.

It's sort of hard to make out, but I know it's there! I also had gotten the week 10 block finished on my Peppermint Purple stitch along.

I guess block 11 and the binding for my Temecula piece will be my slow stitching for today! I'll link up with Kathy's Quilts for that.

One last thing I want to share before I head to the living room for church (!!!)...

I've seen this in several places and have posted it myself on social media, but I think it bears repeating. It's been comforting to me to re-read this and reset my focus!

Be blessed today!!

:)