Christmas in July

Christmas is my most favorite holiday.  I buy and make Christmas presents year around.  At this point I have over half of my shopping done for this Christmas.  By doing my shopping early I can actually enjoy the holiday season and not be stressed out by shopping.  I am also in the "less is more" frame of mind.  I bought this fabric last year to  make a Christmas quilt and have decided that I am never going to make it.  There are 6 yards of coordinating Christmas fabric, some of the fabric features cats.  I am not a cat lover so I have no idea why I bought this. This falls into the category of it is on sale so I must buy it.   I am doing a Christmas in July give away with this bundle of fabric.  All you have to do is leave a message telling one thing that you only bought because it was on sale.  The lucky winner will be chosen on July 25.  Good Luck!  me a

Arts Council Quilt Show

 Each year the Blue Ridge Arts Council sponsors a quilt show during the summer.   This year the show happened to fall over the Fourth of July weekend.  I convinced DH that we just had to go.  There were some wonderful quilts.  (I plan on having some of my quilts in the show next year).  It is a small show but there are some wonderful quilts.  I always enjoy going to this show, however, the lighting leaves a lot to be desired.  The quilts really aren't show to their best advantage.

Wordless Wednesday

I'm back

 It seems like forever since I have sat down to do a post on my blog, it has been a couple of weeks.  We were out of town for the fourth.  We went up to the cabin to relax a little.  Had a great time, even went out on the lake on Sunday morning.  It has been a long time since we have done that and we had a great time.  On Tuesday after coming back from the mountains, I headed to Mississippi to spend some time with my mom.  This was my first trip over there this summer.  We had a really good visit.  It was also time for her annual doctor's appointments, and those went great.  This is her second year of being cancer free. 

My  mom keeps busy with her flowers.

More of mom's flowers.

After coming back on Monday, I have been busy catching up on "stuff".  I had my annual checkup today, that was good.  I have also been making pickles.  I feel like I am going to turn into a pickle.  I want to get back to sewing!!!!

Design Wall Monday on Tuesday

I always think that during the summer I will have plenty of time to do everything that I want to, and I usually don't.  This summer is turning out to be no exception.  I have been helping my brother, who is moving here next month, find a place to live.  We finally found a place yesterday.  I didn't realize just how tight the rental market was in Atlanta.  That is why I am behind on my Huckleberry Pie.  I had hoped by now that it would be finished but no it isn't.  I have also decided to make it bigger than the pattern so that means that I am going to have to make a trip to Little Quilts to get some more fabric.  I have plenty of the light purples, but need more of the dark ones.  I guess I will also have to get more of the backing fabric.  I love the way it is turning out.  I am off to my friend Becky's tomorrow for a sewing day, I need to  decide what to  take there.  Something that I have started or something new?  What will it be?  

What next????

Bad things usually come in threes, well we have two down and one to go.  Last Wednesday after coming home from a day out doing quilting things we had a tree come down in our back yard.  It was the last dogwood tree in our backyard and luckily it wasn't too big and didn't do a lot of damage.  It was just a lot of working getting it cut up and off of the deck.  Mishap number two was a little bit harder to take care of.  On Wednesday I went down in the part of our basement that isn't finished and found that one of our pipes was leaking.  Without thinking I starting moving things so they wouldn't get wet.  I called DH down and he informed me that is was one of the pipes that carries sewage out to the septic tank, Oh Joy, and here I had been walking all in it with no shoes on.  Ick!!!!!!  Needless to say I took a hot shower immediately.  The plumber came today to take care of it, and found another leak, so he will be back next week.  Our house was build in the early 1960's and we still have the original pipes.   More money, more money.  I can't wait to see what the next catastrophe is going to be.

Two UFO's finished

So far I am on track with my UFO list for the year.  I am really trying hard to work with what I have on hand and not buy new kits or fabric, although sometimes you just can't help yourself.  The pineapple quilt here is a kit that I bought in 2005 or 2006, can't remember which one, but a long time ago.  It had been so long ago that I was pleasantly surprised when I pulled it out and found that I had finished 7 of the 9 blocks that were needed. I also discovered that I didn't have enough of the fabric to finish the other two blocks. Luckily, Pat had some that she gave me.  This is the project that I worked on at Thimbles last weekend.  I finished the outer border yesterday.  This one isn't on my "official" list, but it is a UFO that is finished and waiting to go to the quilters.
 

My official UFO finish for June is the Bonnie Hunter trade that we did last winter, Patches and Pinwheels.  I would have been finished with it long ago, but I put together some of the pinwheels the wrong way and it bothered me so I too them apart.  I really like this quilt and can't wait to see it quilted, which will be  while.  Thanks to Kiristie, Pat, and Becky for helping me pick out the border fabric.