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!

:)

tea for two . . .

I had been looking at the books that Tea Time Magazine reviews and recommends, and this little gem on their site grabbed my attention . . .

Click on the image to see the book on Tea Time.

What a joy to find it, shipping Prime (which means for *free*), on Amazon for a ridiculously low amount! When I first got it, I was a little disappointed to open it and realize it had been marked in.

Then I realized it was the signature of the author (and not personalized), and it was a happy little bonus!! Ha!

There are a number of recipes in this particular cookbook that I find appealing, but two caught my eye right off the bat . . . I knew they'd be perfect tea party fodder for Ellie and me (and since we had a 'date' coming up, it was timely)!

These pretty little Meltaway cookies were divine . . . and so easy!  And then the pound cake in baked in the tea cake molds was fun, too.  Both recipes halved nicely, which was kind of important to me.

What I realized that day was that baking was fun again -- the new RV has lots more counter space, which is so critical when it comes to baking!  LOL!

I may have gotten a little carried away that day.  But the chocolate cupcakes were for Todd.  (wink, wink) They came out of my Cupcakes for Two e-cookbook.

Needless to say, we had a marvelous tea party and Ellie was, of course, a delightful guest . . .

Happy days, indeed!

:)

birthday mash-up . . .

Birthday week (the kickoff of birthday quarter) hit the same week as Fanfare 2013 -- our guild's bi-annual quilt show!  So it was a BUSY week!

It started with me spending Tuesday with Ellie.  We had such a fun day!  We made pumpkin spice cookies and walked the neighborhood . . . and in honor of it being Fire Safety Month, Leia shared an important public service message about stop, drop and roll:

If you get the feeling that Leia was less than enthusiastic about her message, you'd be correct!  She is, however, very happy to be linking up to Feline Friday (only a couple of days late) at Sarah Did It! 

I had volunteered, among other things, to help with the judging part, pre-show--that was Wednesday and Thursday.  Our judge was none other than AQS's Bonnie Browning!

I learned more about what judges look for and what *I* should be doing if I ever decide to put a *serious* quilt in a quilt show.  Listening to her commentary as she worked was fascinating!

She's quite a riot, too -- she shared lots of great stories and was very personable and down-to-earth.  Quite a lot of fun!  I was anxious about being in the room when she judged my quilts, but luckily, I wasn't in there when she did the one and she only had good things to say about the other (even though it didn't ribbon -- at least it didn't tank, either)!  And *several* quilts that I'd helped piece *did* make it at least to "hold" and were considered!  All told, I had a hand in seven quilts at the show!  One in a non-judged exhibit, two of my own and four that I'd contributed blocks to!

After judging was finished and ribbons were hung, I headed home for a birthday celebration!  All the families came up to the camp and helped me celebrate.

Todd got my cake from Peggy Ann's bakery.  It's pretty, isn't it??  But SO MUCH cake--even with Sawyer and Ellie having seconds!  I cut the remainder of cake into single slices, wrapped each slice in wax paper, and put it in the freezer to enjoy for many days to come.  Sawyer enjoyed helping me remove the candles from the cake (and licking the ends).  Such a big helper!!  ;)

And then it was present time.  Todd got me two really lovely sweaters, just perfect for fall.  Joc, Jason and Ellie gifted me with this darling acorn mini-cake pan and a tin of Royal Wedding Tea from Harney & Sons. Ellie and I will do something with the acorn pan this week!

And James, Kim, Sawyer and June got me this darling Origami Owl necklace!!  The packaging is so cute, with the Chinese box and the fortune cookie case.  I've wanted one of these charm lockets for a while.

\

The charms in the locket are a little heart that says, "changed" a sewing machine, and my birthstone! Precious!!

In addition to everything else he did, Todd got me two petit fours from Peggy Ann's . . . 

My sweet husband--he knows they're my favorites.  I had them with my afternoon tea the next day!  I had to try out the new Royal Wedding Tea -- it was quite lovely and light!

After presents, we tried to get a pic of me and the grands, but waiting until after cake and ice cream was probably not the best of ideas.

This was the BEST of the ten shots that were taken!  I love how everyone is motion-fuzzy!!  My sweet little grandbabies -- I do love them!!!

I also had a sweet little birthday squishy arrive in the mail . . .

Isn't it darling?!  Just so pumpkin-y perfectly me!  Thank you, Janet!!!  :)

Then it was back to the quilt show . . . time to work the admittance tables and get in there and do some shopping!  Thanks to my folks, I had a little birthday change to do some shopping.  And let me just say, we had some great vendors! I kept it relatively simple. I found a darling scissor sitters pin:

And some beautiful wool felt . . .

And a bag of crushed walnut shells (which was really a timely purchase because I've got some pattern weights I'm finishing up for a project) . . .

And I grabbed a couple of fat quarters to make a girlie superhero cape for Ellie.  All-in-all, I didn't go too overboard!

In the middle of all of that, I also managed to get out my fall things and finish up my October piece for my mini-stand . . .

Yay for pumpkins!!  That particular pattern was cute and very easy!  I pulled the pumpkin out of the "Spooky Hallows" BOM (Block 3 - Spooky Pumpkins) that was done by Marjorie of Peck's Pieces last year. I suppose perhaps a turkey is in order for November.  Or, I dunno . . . how about this crazy idea?!? Nothing says there can only be one per month, right?  Maybe I'll do something a little patriotic for Veteran's Day, first!

Finally, I'll leave you with a shot of this . . . the base for my next nature project!

What could it be, what could it be?!?  Let's just say I've talked about this before!

I finished up birthday/quilt show week with a touch of something . . . a 24 virus thingie, I'm guessing.  So I laid low today, but I think the worst is behind me now!

:)