little things . . .

Yes, I know I haven't finished *all* the projects I had on my plate at the beginning of the week, but that doesn't stop me from plotting planning more!

The Patchwork of the Crosses block has been a very popular one across the blogasphere of late, and I've been watching how different folks put them together.  Gracious, but that is a stunning block! So it only goes to figure that eventually, I'd have to try at least one! (This is NOT my block--but one that definitely caught my eye and interest!)

It took some back and forth questioning with Teresa, over at A Quilt and a Prayer for me to be straight on what I needed. She's completed some simply breath-taking POTCs (like the one above), so she was a natural go-to gal for me!

So far, all I've got is a my overall shape . . . I'm trying to decide if I want to print it out on cardstock and make my templates.

Or if I want to just go ahead and order some.  I'm thinking I'll make one homemade template set, decide if I want to make more, and then if I do, go ahead and purchase them.  I will also then decide if I want to order one of these special little mirrors . . .

To make all my own gorgeous blocks! These are really nifty little things.  There's a tutorial for their use HERE. The next step is figuring out what fabrics I want to put to use for this. Fabric auditioning? Yes please! Linking up to HeLP for Hexi-aholics over at sarah did it!

Before I head out for the weekend (we have a HUGE Father-Son campout this week, so I'm headed out to a ladies' bonfire on the other side of town *grin*), I wanted to share our newest little friend with y'all!

Remember all those eggs that got laid and buried over the summer?  We saw our first hatchling!  Isn't it too cute?  Not much bigger than an acorn.  Those yams tower over him!  We saw about 15-20 eggs being laid ... no telling how many eensy-weensy turtles will see!

:)

september days are here . . .

With summer's best of weather,

And autumn's best of cheer.

                                                                                         --Helen Hunt Jackson

It never fails . . . as one month passes into the next, I'm blown away by the speed of passing time.  Oh how I desperately want to cling to it!  But time is mastered by no man (or woman), so here it is, September already!

I have to admit, I'm kind of excited.  September means the autumn is just around the corner! I do adore decorating in the autumn . . .

Like this darling subway art print!  I found it over On Sutton Place.  She shares lots of lovely ideas and printables.  Definitely worth a visit.

While the calendar may say fall, we're still enjoying summer temps, that's for sure!  When the grandkids come out to the camp, they have different ways of beating the summer heat.  Sawyer and June, for example, are gung ho to be in the creek, splashing the day away . . .

Ellie, on the other hand, prefers to beat the heat by indulging in an indoor tea party . . .

They're all so cute, I can't say no to any of them (just ask Todd)!!  Soon Olivia will be splashing or tea drinking, too ... and Everley is due to arrive any day now!  My heart just bursts with love for them all!

The turtle sanctuary area continues to flourish.  Turtles love the heat and humidity.  They'll pile up on the slate rocks and just soak up sun. Unless one of us comes around with crickets or worms, then the run toward us!

Evidently the water lilies are liking the heat and humidity too:

Three beautiful lilies at one time!  I've really enjoyed seeing these through the summer. The flowers generally don't last but two-to-three days, but there's always at least one. So lovely!

Speaking of water, when I knew we were going to be heading down to the creek the other day, I needed a play skirt.  So I repurposed one of my older, going threadbare skirts.  I cut the bottom out of it (about eight inches), then cut off the hem with about an inch of excess fabric, so I could stitch it back onto the skirt and have an easy finished hem.

There were still a few 'thin' spots, so I covered them with heart patches I made from the excess I'd cut off. I've had this skirt for seven years -- it's worn, but comfortable -- like a favorite pair of jeans! I hope I've made it so I can enjoy it for another five or so years!

With the start of September, I started this great book by Becky Harling, the 30 day praise challenge. It was a Kindle freebie, but I think it's gone back up.

I've read Part One and have gone through the first two days.  It's marvelous!! There's a group on facebook going through it together and anyone is welcome to join! I'll be linking this up to the Bibliophile Files over at sarah did it!

And since yesterday was the first day of September, it seemed fitting to make an apple pie! With apples fresh off my neighbor's tree and a homemade pie crust to boot! 

I enjoyed it for breakfast this morning, too, New England style (with my cup of hot tea, of course)!

Oh yeah, glorious autumn is just waiting around the corner, ready to make her spectacular entrance!!

happy bastille day . . .

How does one make excuses when one has faltered at the blogging wheel, so to speak?  One doesn't (at least this one doesn't) . . . one just marches blithely on and picks up where she left off.  Haha!

Why I feel compelled to post *today* . . . with the first night of VBS just hours away . . . I have NO idea! Haha!  It's how I roll.  I'm so excited about our VBS (Vacation Bible School), though.  We've got a great week of fun and songs and food and good teaching ahead! We spent yesterday evening decorating up the church for this year's theme:

AgencyD3:  Discover! Decide! Defend!

We'll be picking up Sawyer each night to go with us -- and even Ellie will stop by on Thursday night -- which will all make for an even funner week!

I've had a little time to get my quilting on, too.  Got this festive little banner finished just in time for the 4th:

And whipped this cheery little mug rug up for a dear one:

Sawyer's been over to go creekin'.  We had a marvelous day and made some fabulous memories.  Let me share one:

We had brought the minnow net and a bucket, but Sawyer was having no luck "fishing", so he passed the net to me and asked if I'd catch some fish for him. It just so happened that I had spied some tiny minnows, so I swooped the net down, brought it back up, and lo, there were about three 1-1/2" long 'fish' in the net. I exclaimed to Sawyer that I'd caught some, and he was so excited! "I love fish!" he kept saying. So I brought the net over to him and pushed it up from the bottom so he could get a good look. He again exclaimed how much he 'loved' fish and reached down into the net. I was really pleased to see he wasn't squeamish about touching them or handling them as he picked one up. Then, before I could say a word, he popped the little minnow into his mouth! AAaaaAAhh!! No Sawyer, we only eat *cooked* fish!!!!! I think he spit it out then, but I'm not quite positive. Oh well.  Boys will be boys and Sawyer will be Sawyer!

Just so you know, in the top left pic he's eating blackberries we picked . . . NOT fish.

I spent several days with Ellie, as well, while her mommy and daddy celebrated their fifth anniversary in Mexico! We had a fun time, as always!

She's such a dear little dolly!

And we've been tooling around the camp, working on the sanctuary and playing with turtles (I call Todd the 'turtle whisperer' now -- see the turtle coming up to inspect the cricket cage?!).

The bottom left are pumpkin plants -- volunteers from last year's pumpkins! 

And of course the Panter family makes frequent trips up here to visit and play!

Bringing with them the newest Panter ... Olivia Mae!

Isn't she precious?! Already going on six weeks old! 

Better get off here and get busy making "wanted" posters. For VBS, of course!

:)

turtle, turtle . . .

Generally, box turtles dig in and hibernate when the cooler temps arrive . . . but down here in the "Deep South", hibernation time happens a little later.  We're still having temps in the 70's (and sometimes close to the 80's) so we're still seeing turtles out and about in the sanctuary!  Wednesday was a gorgeous warm and sunny day and at one point there were sixteen (out of about twenty-something) walking around!  Thursday morning it was cooler and misty/rainy, but still we had turtles out!

Here's a panographic photo of the sanctuary . . .

Clicking on the photo will enlarge this one -- it's a really beautiful space.  We love to sit out in the screened room (on the left hand side) and have coffee and watch our turtle friends and just relax!

That Thursday morning we had one super-athlete turtle out and about.  When we first spotted him, he was doing laps in the pond . . .

When he climbed out, he climbed up the "beach" and headed straight up the rock waterfall.

You can do it!

BAM!

One of the things that I really love about the turtles is their ability to hide in plain sight.  Let me demonstrate:

Sometimes they're under ferns.

Sometimes their buried in leaves with their heads sticking up (watching me -- always watching me)!

Running the metal track.  Again . . . watching me.  Their necks are super long!

Under a log.  This is one their (and my) favorite spots!!

Under a limb . . . but if you look closely, you'll see he's really not *that* far in!

On *top* of a pile of leaves!  Really, I walked by this guy two or three times before I realized he was there!

Aren't they fun??  Daytime temps are supposed to stay mild through the next week, so I imagine we'll continue to see them out and about.  

Maybe they've got one more story in 'em before hibernation time!  This is one of our sweet little females -- she likes to be petted!  The males' eyes are strikingly red (go back up and look at our athlete turtle), while the females tend to have browner or duller eye color.  There was a lot of *activity* out in the sanctuary before things got really chilly, so maybe we'll have baby turtles next spring/summer??!!  And just so everyone knows, these are turtles, not tortoises.  The difference between the two is the turtle is a water critter and tortoises are land critters.  Box turtles are actually related to the water critters (hence our swimmer at the beginning of the post)!

Fear the Turtle!  (Reference??)

:)