half gone or half full . . .

Rabbit, rabbit!  It's hard to believe it's July 1st and we're halfway through the year already!

June was busy, but good.  We got the very good news that the PET scan images were good, so Todd was cleared for surgery.  That will happen on July 5th ... in four days.  It's a major surgery.  They'll remove the right lobe of his liver, his gallbladder, and ablate any mets they find on the left lobe.  They think there might be one, but they've never been able to get a good look at it, so that's the first thing the surgeon will do.  Todd will be in the STICU for three days post surgery, and then moved to a regular room for another seven.  BUT, if it means he'll come home cancer-free, then hallelujah!

We started June by celebrating Edith's graduation from Kindergarten.  

She's a rock star!

Next, we celebrated Olivia's NINTH birthday (from afar, which I hate, but I'm so glad for technology that allows us to be in on the fun, even if it's from afar)!

The sweet birthday girl enjoying one of our gifts.  She's a rock star, too!

We're both really enjoying the time off from chemo.  He's starting to be back to his old self!  We were able to enjoy a week on the lake, which was really nice!  

We've rented this same home for several years now — in June and then last year we added October.  It's a beautiful location, a simple home, and a terrific boat house.  It's really lovely.

Todd did a lot of fishing . . . 

I did a lot of project prepping (so I have plenty of things to keep my hands busy during surgery and hospital stay) . . .

This is a UFO from 2010 - Jaybird Quilts Hexagon Quilt Along - that I *remembered*.

And some fabric/scissor shopping (would you believe I forgot to pack a pair of scissors????) . . . 

Yes, lots of reds, whites, and blues (but, true to form, also some pumpkins—who am I, right?)!  I saw some really cute patriotic bowl fillers in the Summer 2023 issue of Primitive Quilts and Projects, and I knew I wanted to play around with them.

And so far, so good!  They may not be completely finished by the 4th holiday, but it'll be close!  This will be my Slow Sunday Stitching, for sure!  :)

We also had the grandgirls over one day to play and splash!  

We celebrated our anniversary while we were at the lake ... but no pics.  I was so sick!  It went from a stomach virus to a gastrointestinal virus and I'm still not quite fully recovered!  Yuck!

Things at the camp are going well . . . turtles are out and about (and starting to lay eggs!) and things are blooming! We had a wet June ... things are green and gorgeous!

And I'll leave on this sweet note . . .

Hard to believe this sweet (and saucy) baby boy will be TWO in just a few months!

Happy July!  Happy Slow Stitching Day! Happy Independence Day!  

:)

a birthday and busyness . . .

Todd and I rang in the New Year sick and have pretty much stayed that way the entire first week of 2017.  BLAH! Oh, you know ... not seriously ill, just icky.  I made it to work on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday (my worst day was Monday), and Todd was about two days behind me.  I'll be glad when we're BOTH feeling better!

Our last day at Wears was sweet and I took selfies with all my gals and a few of the fellows . . .

And they did a presentation at the end of the service and gifted us with roses. 

Aren't they just beautiful? I will sure miss that sweet church family.

Ellie celebrated her 5th birthday a little early.  We went over there for a birthday dinner, cake and presents.  She elected to wear her "Cinderella" dress . . .

She's so precious! She wanted a pink cake with flowers . . .

Huntsville has a new bakery (Edgar's) and I'd say they did a marvelous job! Evey was also very excited about the cake . . .

I've never seen her (or Ellie, for that matter) clean her plate so quickly!

Even Leia was sociable. Fancy that!

I managed to complete my little wool project:

I love how this finished! It was a bright, happy spot of color during this cold, grey week!

Speaking of grey, I also started a new project . . .

The hexies are almost finished.  I'll continue whipping them together as part of Sunday's slow stitching. Then it will be on to part two of the project which involves wool and more hand work.

And I've been playing around with bullion knots.  Bullion bunnies.  

For a potential project that involves a line of children's clothing.  Have mercy.

And last but not least, I also stitched up a quick pair of lounge pants for Ellie's bitty baby:

The pattern calls for knit, but I used cotton, hoping it would fit okay.  It does. (Whew!) There's a story here, but I'll share it for a later post.

My stash report was going to have changes, but Todd needed to go out last Saturday afternoon, so I went with him and went into Hobby Lobby.  They had exactly the fabric I needed (for the grey hexies), so I went ahead and got it instead of waiting until Monday (when I was too sick to have gone anyway). But stash had already been reported for 2016 and since 2017 starts a fresh slate, it just goes unreported . . . until I use it!  Bwaaahahaaha!!

Needless to say, my report is unchanged. -wink, wink-

Linking up with Patchwork Times and Kathy's Quilts and the Feline Friday post at Sarah Did It!

Happy Sunday -- this is the day that the Lord has made!  Rejoice and be GLAD in it!!

:)

happy - busy - happy . . .

It was a busy work week (and just busy in general, work notwithstanding), but there were definitely some sweet highlights!  First, I had a mid-week office visit with *all* the grands and their mommies!

It was a wild, wonderful hour, to be sure!  I love it when they come visit me!

We also celebrated Todd's birthday on Friday . . .

Whoohoo!  He's older than me again!  Haha -- it only lasts for six months.  ;)

And I won a sweet stack of wool fat quarters at guild . . . 

Isn't it yummy?

I'm so glad I don't report my wool stash. That's a horse of a completely different color!

And I finished my center for the Chevron with a Twist piece . . .

I love that method for faux ruched flowers -- it was so much FUN!! The blue bird is ready to be appliqued down, but I think he'll actually go on the half square triangles.

And, tah dah!

I finished piecing Lil' Charmer and got the black borders put on! The lighting this morning does not do it any justice at all.  I so love this!  My Slow Sunday Stitching will be sandwiching it together and getting started on the quilting!  I can't wait to see the effect of the rainbow variegated thread on the black border!

Which brings me to my Stash Report . . .

I'm counting in the yard I purchased for Lil' Charmer, but counting out the 2.5 yards (front and back) I put into it!  Yay!

Linking up to Patchwork Times and Kathy's Quilts this morning.  Y'all have a marvelous Sunday!!

:)

today's wow . . .

Let me just say that I'm totally and completely in love with these faux ruched flowers.  Head-over-heels in love -- I see SO much potential for future projects. And I'm one step closer to finishing up this mini Chevron with a Twist piece!

Linking up to Ester Aliu's blog for WOW = WIPs On Wednesdays!

catching up -- again . . .

Working forty hours in four days (not to mention the getting ready and commute times of a combined twelve hours) is pretty much kicking my tail!  Don't get me wrong . . . I do love my job.  I love the people that I'm working with and *especially* the association of churches I'm working for!  But it's a very . . . social . . . job and that means for this introvert (not extreme, but definitely more intro- than extro-, it's pretty much exhausting!!

It also makes the balance of my week . . . forty-five hours, give or take, pretty precious. Know what I mean?  With a husband I adore, children and grandchildren who I adore, and chores and church and quilting (those last three are not necessarily in order), I've got a LOT to pack in those three days I'm off!

You may or may not have noticed that blogging doesn't make it high on the list. Wink, wink.

BUT . . . I have had some good grandkid time . . .

And some good quilting time . . .

Finished putting the insides of Lil' Charmer together.  Went to put the 6" black borders on and realized I had no more black. I used it all of my yardage for the pineapple quilt!  Ugh.  I hate the thought of purchasing fabric (really?  has it come to that??!), but I hate *more* the thought of leaving it unfinished.  So . . . on my list for the coming week, purchase a half yard of black! I do know how I'm going to back it . . . 

At first I thought I was being silly, using this flannel pastel piece for the back of the brights.  But I really like that the colors are so similar.  It's a good pairing!

I got a pattern for a Valentine card . . . it was a fabric appliqued tea cup on card stock. I modified it for a mug rug . . .

Isn't that fun?  I wish I could tell you where to go to get the pattern for yourself. It's from © Quilter's Connection Magazine 2015, but I couldn't find it on their webpage or facebook page anywhere. The template is straightforward enough, though.  Or holler at me.

And finally, quilting-wise, I saw this darling little quilt from Karen's Quilts, Cardinals and Crows (with a full tutorial over on the Moda site) that I just absolutely love.  There are several 'twists' on the patterns, but this is the one of Karen's that just catches my eye every time:

And you know me . . . I had to put my own 'twist' on it.  So I made it smaller.  I had to mock it up in EQ to get my proportions correct, but then that's half the fun, for me!

Her HST's are 6.5" . . . mine are 1.875".  Teehee!  And I used solids . . . Fairy Frosts!

Now I'm working on the applique. Which will make for some Slow Sunday Stitching!

All in all, my stash report hasn't changed all that much, just enough for the little tea mug rug . . .

And know that there *will* be black yardage added next week!

Linking up to Patchwork Times and Kathy's Quilts.  Y'all have a grand Sunday!

:)