Lazy, Hazy, Crazy Days of Summer—WHERE ARE THEY????

Gosh, June is GONE! Not much sewing or blogging got done this month. Between the weddings, the showers, the high school grad parties, two weekends of houseguests, an out of town funeral, visiting relatives from Colorado in another town, attempting to keep the weeds away from my herbs---whew!

Oh…and this vice

…nose firmly stuck in books. Dating back to the bookmobile days of my childhood, it just seems right to read away any spare time in the summer. I loved Julie and Julia. Back in the infancy of blogging Julie Powell decides to learn to cook by cooking all 524 recipes in 365 days found in Julia Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking---and to blog about the adventure!!! Gosh, I wish I had been reading blogs back then (2002ish—2003ish).

Of course, the story is about so much more than cooking—although it is fun to read of the successes and hilarious failures. It is a tale of a Texan transplanted to New York, her zany friends and supportive husband, her “career” which she despises, her family relationships, her life in general and even some snippets of Julia Child’s life. Great read. Can’t wait for the movie.

The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane was a bit of a stretch for me. A good stretch. The premise is what if there really were true witches in 1690s Salem. Very supernatural, very intriguing.

Oh, forlorn sewing machine…where art thou mistress? I am at least THINKING about sewing. Here’s Block 6 of the KC Star BOM (photo from the newspaper):

I do at least have the parts ready to fuse. Maybe after the Fourth…

This block honors Elizabeth Cady Stanton who helped officially start the struggle for women’s right to vote.

As Independence Day creeps up, I am preparing for a family gathering at my house. Recipe-digging-out, grocery shopping and more grocery shopping, cooking and the dreaded housecleaning will consume the rest of the week. Can’t wait!!!

The Things We Leave Behind

My MIL passed away one year ago on June 14th, Flag day. She was 96 years young. DH and his siblings have been going through her things in preparation for a sale later this summer. The treasures of old family photos and letters and greeting cards, bibles, newspaper notices of deaths, births and wedding announcements have been pored over. The woman saved EVERYTHING! One of the interesting things SIL found was a list of every gift she’d ever given! And of special interest to me, she kept a list of every quilt she’d ever made and to whom it was gifted. I don’t recall ever seeing one of her hand-pieced, hand-quilted beauties on any of her own beds. We proudly own these—and they have each graced a bed in our home at one time or another.

They were not labeled so I am hoping her list will help me remedy that! I know approximately when each was made but would love to have better dating info.

This experience of digging through another’s belongings and wondering why items were saved has certainly made me think of the day when my loved ones will be faced with the same task. I really believe that DH and I must start culling through “stuff” to lighten the chore of our sons from those decisions of what to keep and what to donate, what is valuable and what is trinket-y. It is a daunting task, no matter who does it.

On a lighter note here’s Block 6 of Tisket, Tasket.

This looks orange-y on my screen but in “real life” the basket is a softer peachy coraly color. I adore those coneflowers!!!!

And on the decorating front, I love to put some patriotic touches out (then leave them out!) from Memorial Day through D-Day, Flag Day, Independence Day and Labor Day.

Isn’t that a little on the lazy side????

Not I, Said the Duck

I can’t imagine having a hubby who a) CAN cook and b) WILL cook. But Sista’s DH does both! A few days ago he sent me a bag of mushy stuff:

Doesn’t look much like bread, does it? It was the beginning of Amish Friendship Bread. Years ago I kept a Sour Dough Starter going for a lo-o-ong time. When it became a hassle to “babysit”, I finally threw it out. But if memory serves, it did make delicious bread. So I decided to play along with this new starter stuff. After ten days of mushing and adding ingredients, the day came to bake it off:

Two loaves! One to eat today and one to freeze!!!

Very tasty! A lot like cinnamon bread. Now, what to do with the new baggies of starter it created! Much like the Little Red Hen, I think it will be hard to find “takers” who will want to mess with it. Think I’ll start with a couple of unsuspecting neighbors…

Baby shower gifties are DONE DONE—and a bit early! Since I can’t attend the shower due to a prior commitment, I’ll get them delivered tomorrow to the granny-to-be and she’ll take them to the shower for me.

And from the “I’m Just Sayin’” department, could anyone greet the morning with these beauties looking back and not feel a smile creep around the lips?

Even after being beaten down by a huge rainstorm we had yesterday, they just keep going!

June Is Busting Out All Over!

The colors of early June inspire.

And…drum roll please…a quilt is DONE DONE!

Thanks to Carrie of Cricketwood Prims and Gardens for her suggestion of a limey-green flange between the quilt and border! And thanks to the other Blogpals who weighed in with other suggestions. It really helps to get another eye. I put four plain blue cornersquares in so that baby’s “stats” could be embroidered after he makes his appearance. This photo could have been better—the holderperson isn’t home!!! So the quilt is laying over the sewing table and some odd features occured LOL! Today I’ll get a label made for the backside.

The weekend brought some reconnecting with longtime friends—always a pleasure. As our talk turned to travel, I had to laugh at DH as he told everyone that he had been in quilt shops in Alaska, California, Colorado, Arizona, New York, Tennessee, Georgia—and on and on and on!!!! Can anyone relate?