what a summer . . .

Wow.  Time really does fly when you're having fun, huh? Last I posted, I was headed to Hawaii!  I had a lovely two weeks seeing all the sights and experiencing the culture.  Really way too much to share; I'm not sure I've even processed all I saw and did—LOL...I don't think I've had time!

There were a couple of stitching-related things I did want to talk about.  One of our stops was the Polynesian Cultural Center.  They had a whole hut dedicated to the beautiful style of hand applique that is linked to the islands . . .

The woman working was such a delight to talk to and gave us tips as to what quilt shops we should look for! One of those was this little delight, which was tucked away on a hop on/off bus tour we did . . .

SOOO glad they shipped to the main land . . . my suitcases couldn't have handled my haul from Kapaia!

I loved catching the sunrises and sunsets from the balcony off our ship, and this one was as lovely as any:

Believe it or not, a sunrise!  One last photo from Hawaii and I'll move on <grin>.  One of my very favorite excursions was a helicopter tour over Hilo.  It was just exquisite! 

It didn't hurt that our pilot was such a darling!  The views were breath-taking!

I was home from Hawaii exactly one day, and my sweet California crew flew to Alabama for a surprise visit!  Well, I was expecting Sawyer, who was coming to stay with me for three weeks, but the whole family decided they wanted a week, too!  

We had a wonderful time together and spent the July 4th holiday on the boat, on the lake.  It was a beautiful, bittersweet day for me.  

At the end of the month, I returned with Sawyer to California and spent a week there.  We had a great time visiting the beach, shopping in downtown Old Temecula, going to Disney's California Adventure Park, and checking out the San Diego Zoo Safari Park!

We had some quiet days too, and it really was a sweet visit.  But between, Yellowstone, Hawaii, and the month of July, let's just say my watch was like ... what's up with this elevated step count???  Haha!

That brings me to August.  Yeah.  One of the first fun things I did was a trip to Nashville with my affirmation sisters to see the quilt exhibit at the Frist Art Museum . . .

It was a really special showing of quilts on loan from the Boston Museum of Fine Arts.  I was most tickled to see so many Gee's Bend quilts in the exhibit!  Anyway, the exhibit is there until October, so if you're in the area, it's definitely worth a stop!

Next up. A little utilitarian stitching. Evey started pointe this year, and needed some help getting her shoes ready!  

I always consider this kind of sewing a privilege.  ♥

Believe it or not, I agreed to be our guild's 2nd VP in charge of programs this year.  What was I thinking?!  LOL!  I'm actually excited . . . I needed something to get me out and back in the thick of things.  Our guild's show is in February, and at our August meeting we unveiled our Opportunity  Quilt (raffle quilt):

Isn't it pretty?!  I've got three tops ready to be quilted by the gal who made/quilted it.  She's so talented!

And guess what . . . Ezra started soccer!

He's so darling—it's hard to believe he'll be four this month!  He's a little go getter on the field; and he was VERY disappointed this morning when they got the call that this morning's game was cancelled because of storms (and it wasn't even raining yet!).  Everley, on the other, was NOT sad.  She was ready to learn embroidery, so she'd spent the night with me and I pulled out the heart sampler I had used to teach Ellie how to embroider. She's just as much a natural as Ellie is!

We had fun stitching and chatting.  She worked on the heart and I worked on a new cross stitch project, Lady Halloween by Jardin Privé.  It's really darling.  I'm stitching it on an ivory 20-count aida.  

Anyway, Evey wanted to finish up a couple of lines of embroidery, and was glad for the cancelled game and the extra time to stitch!  A girl after my own heart!

And speaking of Ellie, she's still very much into handwork!  She just finished this cute little pillow for the season . . . 

And she's working on a cute pineapple cross stitch project right now.  She, Evey and I will all be slow stitching tomorrow! (Linking up with Kathy's Quilts and her Slow Sunday Stitching post!)

In feline news, the girls are glad the summer is over and I was home for thirty days in a row!

They are spoiled rotten and I love them to pieces!  They are so purrsonable!!

And finally, what would a post from me be without a sunset pic?

Aloha! Have a great week ahead!

:)

lo and behold . . .

It's almost August! How did that happen??? July started with a bang ... pun intended ... with our July 4th holiday and a lovely day with the family on the boat!

This crew loves being in the water ... it's hard to get them back out of it when it's time!  Little man thought he was big stuff, hanging out in the Captain's lap. LOL!

Todd's surgery was scheduled for the 5th, so we came in early . . . unfortunately, the surgery ended almost as soon as it had started.  We knew the surgeon was going to use cameras to look around; what he found was additional cancer mets in new locations, so he closed Todd back up and sent him home. 

Then my sweet Scarlet up and died on us.  We've since found out that certain Ford models, including our Escape, have major issues and Ford has a class action lawsuit filed against them.  Well great.  

She's a goner and now we're kind of in limbo, car wise.  She sure was pretty, though!

I've been working with a lot of wool and cross stitch projects.  Here are some finishes . . . 

This Glory, Glory cross stitch from Shakespeare's Peddler was in the Summer 2021 issue of PNPS Magazine, and I just fell in love with it!  I like getting the digital editions of this magazine because I can save them for forever, print the pages I want, and don't have to worry about where I'll stash it in my limited space!

I've had this sunflower piece hanging around for forever.  I cut and fused all the pieces on vacay in June, and finally got down to the stitching process this month.  Very happy with this finish!!

Just in time to switch out my patriotic decor for sunflowers all over the place!  I adore the sunflower print I used to back it.  It makes me regret just getting a fat quarter.  LOL!  By the way, this pattern is Caitlyn's Sunshine, by Karen Yaffe.  

I'd started with the patriotic bowl fillers in my last post, but just got them finished in time for Bastille Day.  LOL!  They'll be ready next year, for sure!  This pattern is also by Karen Yaffe and was found in the Summer 2023 issue of Primitive Quilts & Projects. Again, I do the digital issue; so handy!!  I was really pleased with how these turned out!

Speaking of July 14th, that's the day I took an unexpected trip to the emergency room, and didn't come home for five days.  The diagnosis was ischemic colitis — which was a first for me.  I'll go back in September for a scope to see if they can determine what's going on.  My son made me laugh when he said, "[Mom,] if you are going to get sick.... let's try to be more original.  I feel like colon issues are a bit overplayed in this family atm."  He ain't wrong!  I did get some lovely art work out of it . . .

Gotta love grands!!

I didn't get to fly to California to see my dear Olivia in her ballet performances in Alice in Wonderland, but thanks to technology, we did get to stream it after the fact and enjoy it.

She danced as a teacup, a playing card, and a lobster!  She's not just a great little ballerina, she's so animated—it was such fun to watch!

Todd started chemo back up this week.  Five rounds between now and the end of September.  

They've dropped to one that was taking so much out of him, so hopefully he won't get as sick and fatigued as he was.

We decided to step back in serving as church missionaries, and will return to our home church for the time being.  We said goodbye and thank you to Lakewood Baptist, where we were currently serving, this past Sunday.  

It was pretty emotional for both of us.  Todd will continue to do ministry, but more on a consulting basis.  We're looking forward to some down time in our home church.

Two last things . . . I got a little surprise this past Sunday when I took the cover off the grill to cook some steaks . . .

I screamed.  Good gracious, did I scream.  Mostly because he caught me off guard.  Or at least that's what I'm telling myself. Todd pushed him off the ledge into the leaves below.  I hope he doesn't decided to come back!

And here's what I'm working on now . . .

I've got a set of 12 wool hearts that I want to gift next Valentine's Day!  I'm committed to finishing two per month. One is done and this one makes two.  I need to get moving!

Enjoy the last weekend of July . . . school starts here next month!  Egads!  Before you know it, it'll be Halloween/Thanksgiving/Christmas!!  TTFN!

:)

off day, work day, birthday . . .

Backposted (because how ever many years from now I'd regret not having posted these pictures along with their stories)!

March is off to a great start!  Our first Friday was a lovely, mild day, so Todd and I hit the lake.

It was mild enough to slip my shoes off while I read. Get some sunshine on those toes.

See how smooth the water is?  Just the perfect day for fishing! I'm not sure what he was pulling in, but it was big enough that he got out the net. At one point we were sitting in a spot with a ton of birds, and another pontoon came barreling through . . .

I didn't catch the aftermath, but it was kind of like a bowling ball into the pins! Knucklehead.  

It was a lovely day and they're starting to get a little longer.  Still too short for my liking.  But we change to daylight savings time next weekend, and we'll get another hour of lake time on the back end (which is where I prefer it)!

Thankful we had a restful day on Friday, because Saturday was a Camp MACOBA work day!

Disaster Relief uses our work days to train for the chainsaw team.  It works out well for both of us!  I think they stocked up enough firewood for the upcoming camping season.

It was a full day (for them).  I limit my working to the kitchen and helping serve lunch!

For all the racket that chainsaws and tractors and log splitters made, it didn't take the deer long to come out of hiding once the crews cleared out . . .

And then Sunday we celebrated my Jocelyn's birthday (which was actually on Monday).  We celebrated, but somehow the only pictures I managed to take were of . . .

My baby.  Who thinks I make a good teething object.

And a good sleeping pillow. ♥

:)

whirlwind . . .

Well, all I can think of to say is that it's been a wild ride, this past week or so (and I'm not talking about the tornado watch we're currently under)!

We had a lovely Christmas . . . but there were some sad things, too.  Most notably, my dad went to the hospital by ambulance on Monday, December 20, with an exacerbated COPD episode. We (and the doctors) had hoped he would be home by Christmas, but complications arose and that was not to be.  He came home late this afternoon, by the same method he went.  Hospice has been called in, but as my dad stresses, it's for comfort care, not end-of-life care.  ♥

It's an odd thing to balance all these emotions. On the one hand, I spent the week before Christmas meeting with stitching friends, baking, wrapping, and watching Christmas movies. 

Our traditional Buche de Noel dessert!

I got a sweet photo of ballerina Olivia with the congratulatory bouquet we sent her for her performance in The Nutcracker:

We spent a lovely Christmas Eve with the local grandgirls—Oh! and grandson!—and their parents. 

This was the first year we departed from tradition and allowed the girls to open their gifts from us on Christmas Eve.  It was actually lovely!  

Santa Baby!

Edith spotting Santa from the top of the fire truck ... a tradition in their neighborhood!

Then Todd and I enjoyed a sweet Christmas morning together exchanging gifts and celebrating the birth of our Savior!

But in the back of my mind, through it all, was my dad and mom, if I wasn't at the hospital with him/them. I'm so glad he's finally home today and am looking forward to the opportunity to celebrate with him when he's home (he didn't want to do so while in the hospital) and settled!

I also feel the distance of my son and his family all the more keenly over the holidays.

Luckily, this Christmas, all the kiddos got iPads, with the ability to text and FaceTime certain key family members (like ME!!), when they want to ... which is so lovely!! I chatted back and forth with all three of them on Christmas day, and on Sunday, June, Olivia and I had a FT tea party!

It was such fun.  Olivia used the tea set we had gotten her for Christmas.  What a lovely way to 'break it in'.  Cheers!

I did receive a very lovely assortment of quilty/stitchy gifts from family and friends . . . 

I also got a digital subscription to Punch Needle & Primitive Stitcher.  What fun! The nice thing is that it (1) allows you to download and print the quarterly issues and (2) you have access to the past year's issues!  Then, as if all that wasn't enough (and not including all the lovely non-stitching gifts I got), Todd got me this wonderful sign for my nook:

Isn't that just perfect??!! It made me cry, I was so touched by this very unexpected gift. ♥

We have had temps in the 70's this past week.  One day we spent outside, touring around the camp.

It was so nice, I even put my feet in the creek ... can you imagine?!  We also went down to the marina and pulled the pontoon out of the water, for its annual service/maintenance.  

We drove it around for just a bit before putting it on the trailer.  I mean, if you can, you do!

So, like I said ... full of activity and fun ... but also hard times.  Life is like that, isn't it?  Looking forward to a new year filled with laughter, love, family and friends.  Wishing that for YOU, too!

:)