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!

:)

a repeat stitcher . . .

What a great weekend I enjoyed in Hendersonville, TN!  We went up early Thursday morning for a Lifeway Women's Leadership event.  Three days packed full of fabulous speakers, great teaching, encouragement, fellowship and fun.  But whew!  I was worn out.  Hence my slow stitching post didn't get written for yesterday, and that's a shame, because I have some fun stitchy stuff to share!  So Monday it is.  ;)

Ellie (oldest granddaughter) had shown some interest in embroidery.  For Christmas two years ago I gifted her with a sampler kit that I put together for her.  Once we started working on it, she finished it in record time! I asked if she wanted another stitchery, and she said yes -- she wanted a monkey.  So I found a cute monkey coloring page for her, kitted it up, and handed it over.  I've blogged about all of this, but I don't think I ever shared a finished picture of her monkey stitchery . . .

She was very proud of her finish.  She did a great job!

We put it in a wood hoop and made it ready to hang on the wall over her bed. So cute!

I told her when she finished that she should let me know when she was ready and I'd prep another project for her.  I didn't press . . . I didn't want her to feel obligated . . . so I was thrilled when she approached me two weeks ago and said she was ready for another stitchery project! I asked what she wanted to work on and suggested something seasonal, and she decided on a snowman.  She even drew out a concept drawing!

I love how she included the hoop! She had a vision ... so I put it together . . .

And kitted it out for her.  I even got a spool of metallic light blue by Au Ver à Soie from The French Needle, which is perfect for snowflakes -- the asterisk snowflakes ... not the french knot snowflakes! If it were just me, for such a small piece, I'll probably be okay using a DMC metallic—but I wanted Ellie to be able to use a super easy to work with metallic floss!

Within a couple of days of receiving the kit, Ellie sent me this picture her mama had taken:

The girl really loves to stitch!  She still had the french knots to stitch, but she needed some hands-on tutoring for those! I did ask if she'd like to finish it out in a patchwork setting, instead of just in the hoop, like her prior two finishes. She was really excited about that idea!

I decided I needed to test the whole thing before I put it in her lap, so I stitched up the design for myself (taking a few liberties, like satin stitching his nose, and using metallic floss for the holly and berries, as well as the snowflakes):

Y'all, I'm so glad I tested this out, first. Yikes! But I worked through the design issues and it turned out okay. I stitched-in-the-ditch quilted it, and then quilted simple snowflakes in the corners. 

Super cute! Well, I think so, anyway.  :)

Ellie's picked out the prints she would like to use to frame her stitchery:

The blue (Fairy Frost) print will be the star, the snowflakes will be the background, and the dark, starry night will be for the backing/binding. All of them have a little bling. Not only can the girl stitch, she can pick fabrics, too! I gave her the option of hand-stitching the patchwork or machine stitching it.  She's still contemplating!  If I can publish this in time, I'll go ahead and link up to the slow stitching linky party at Kathy's Quilts!

Sawyer had his last soccer game of the season.  I love this action shot . . .

He's kicking the winning goal ... Go Sawyer!  He was voted MVP for this game!  What a great way to finish the season!!  (All the exclamation points!!!)

From oldest grandson to youngest . . .

Isn't this precious?!  Such a sweet baby boy!  He's growing, growing!! ♥

Have a fabulous week!

:)

one, two, three . . .

What a splendid weekend! Friday, Jason had to go to work to handle an emergency, so I told Jocelyn I'd fill the gap.  (I mean ... three active girls and a four-day-old!)  With Joc's permission blessing gratitude, I loaded up the three girls in Joc's mini-van and headed off to the Botanical Gardens!

We packed a picnic, grabbed the Picnic Quilt for its first real test, and scouted the grounds for the perfect picnicking spot. What do you think . . . 

I think it's a perfect fit!  Did you know there's actually a formula to determine the best size for a picnic quilt (or blanket)?  I think I definitely got it right with this one.  

We had such a blast walking the Scarecrow Trail ... it's truly one of my favorite fall things to do!

The girls enjoyed the day and the sunshine, running the paths and climbing and exploring.  It was a nice treat for all of us!

And of course, I got a little *extra* reward from it myself . . .

Oh yeah, that's what I'm talking about!

Saturday was game day.  I really enjoy doing handwork during games.  It keeps me from getting (dare I admit this?) too agitated during the play.  Well, mostly.

I saw this great tutorial for making embroidery acorns and giving them a little depth/dimension, by satin stitching the little caps, and split stitching the bodies. So I drew a handful out on my favorite Crackle, linen, and went to work in an assortment of colors (and notably, some Cosmos variegated) flosses.

I'm really pleased with how this is turning out.  And it'll be time to rotate my decor into fall (which definitely includes acorns) very soon!  I will say, if I ever do this again, I'll satin stitch the bodies and split stitch the caps. Hind sight is 20/20.

James sent me a dozen fabulous action shots of Sawyer playing soccer.  I'll limit what I share to these two . . .

Check out that steal! I'm not sure whether I'm more wowed by Sawyer's athleticism, or James's photography skills!

And since I gifted my Friday to Joc and the gang, Todd and I took advantage of a lovely Sunday afternoon and spent as much of it on the lake as was possible . . . 

A very good weekend.

:)

event hopping . . .

It was a fun ... but busy ... week-to-the-end!  

Sunday, we celebrated Evey's SEVENTH birthday!  Good gravy, where has time gone??!

She is feeling very grown (she's seven, after all), but still a huge fan of Piglet, so she was very pleased with the Piglet scrunchy, necklace, and earrings we gifted her! 

This little girl has larger than life feels ... you can definitely see it in her sweet face!

Mid-week, I got a call from James ... they'd taken June to the ER.  She'd tripped and fallen, breaking and dislocating her elbow (because one or the other wasn't enough).  

June seemed to handle it all in stride (especially once they gave her something for the pain). Something about that age ... your limbs are a force to be reckoned with as they grow and grow!

She got a lovely green cast for her troubles.  She's got this ... it's hard to keep June down!!

My last event with Essential was on Saturday.  We hosted the Essential Women re-Connect Retreat at the camp (and I was on the planning committee)!

The decorating team did a terrific job of making the pavilion look pretty.

I had a lovely group of ladies at my table.  Smile!

One of our favorite activities was making "jar-cuteries"!  Isn't that just clever?? They were super easy to put together, and were very yummy, too!  We had a lot of fun with these.  I'm happy to share the instructions with anyone that might have interest.  Good way to enjoy a personal charcuterie!

I did a little talk on hospitality and thank yous ... to that end, I whipped up one of my little pineapple mugrugs/candle mats as a door prize (mind you -- I did that Friday night)!  

Saturday was a full day ... but evidently not just for me! I love getting photos from the Panter crew!  Sawyer battled it out on the soccer field . . .

Look at that fierce concentration and focus . . . his typical 100%!

And Olivia ... 

She tried out for her local ballet company's production of The Nutcracker!!  James told me she practiced and practiced her audition dance for weeks.  Now for the patience to hear back!  It might mean a December weekend trip to the west coast!

Tonight I'll head to Huntsville to spend a couple days with the local grandgirls.  And soon I will be sharing BABY EZRA pics!!

:)