Proof I am Still a Quilter

With all the chaos of planning the set up of a quilt show I really put my own quilting on the back burner. But as evidence that I didn't give it up cold turkey here is what I have been working on in my limited spare time.
I started hand piecing these star block a couple of years ago. If you look closely you will notice that I did a bunch fussy cutting for the corner pieces of the stars.
In the last couple of weeks I have hand stitched these blocks together. I am planning on adding a couple of borders. To keep with the hand-work theme I will be hand quilting this piece as well. I have no concrete time line for getting this done. (Lets hear it for no deadlines!)

Minding the Gap - Fall Update

OK, its been a couple of months. These have been filled by health issues, increased workload at work and of course the planning and layout of the quilt show. The garden suffered some serious neglect this season, but was not a total loss. In fact today I harvested the first pumpkin (that's him in the picture) and a few tomatoes. Harvesting pumpkins and tomatoes on the same day is pretty remarkable but then again the weather was pretty remarkable this year as well. I have 2 more pumpkins still out in the garden which should be ready in another week or 2.

Today was a warmer than average fall day and I went out for a walk before it got dark. It was pretty noisy with all the honking (geese not cars).

Chaos!

I am usually a really organized person. Everything has its spot and it is usually in its spot.
I am in charge of the guild's quilt show registration and set-up committee this year and it seems the paperwork has taken over. The spot for all the paperwork and planning is the entire dining room table. And I am not sure the table is big enough. I am surprised how much this is not bugging me. Perhaps because so much other stuff (laying out the show) needs my attention, I don't have the usual urge to organize everything.

The passing of a Best Friend

Boris left us yesterday. He was probably ready for quite a while, but was patient with me to be ready too. He went so very peacefully in his favorite spot in the backyard.

New Art!

The new artwork is a birthday gift from Damon. He even threw in the the actual hanging of the paintings, which was no small feat - there is only a small ledge with a plant on it to stand on. The 3 panel piece is called "Lemon Trees" by Luiza Vizoli, here is the link to her Etsy Store.

I originally thought about hanging them over the couch in the living room, but as the couch is not centered on the wall I thought it would look off. The benefits of hanging it in the upstairs hall is that it takes up the space of the wall perfectly and as the walls are painted yellow (hard to tell in this photo) it seemed the best place to put art named Lemon Trees. It is also the only art in the hall at this point so its a nice focal point. I love the colors!

Mid-Year Resolutions/Goals

OK, looking back in January I listed 3 goals.
One and a half isn’t bad.
First the success story. I said I would not start a new quilting project until I finished one of the WIPs/UFOs. This I did and I even finished a couple without starting new ones so my list of projects to finish did indeed shrink a little bit.
The half-success was the writing an article goal. I did not write an article but I did present at two professional conferences. So I still managed to add to my list of ‘scholarship’ but not the published variety.
And finally the non-success – the weight losing goal. It was a realistic goal, and I did go the gym twice a week and even joined a Zumba class, but all I managed to do was maintain my weight.

So that was my accounting for the first half of the year.
Now for the resolutions for July – December.
First, in the vein of “try, try again” I will once again attempt the elusive loss of 10 pounds.
Second, attempt to bring more balance and less stress into my life (this should help with the high blood pressure issues) through simplifying, and building positive rituals/habits into my life.
Third, as it looks like we will be having a new garage built next year I will get as much prep work and inquires/estimates done this year as possible.

Holiday Weekend

It was such a wet rainy spring and early summer that this weekend really was the first time I felt I could go out and start staining/sealing the gazebo. I got just over half done this morning and will do the rest tomorrow. I will have to wait till Damon is home before I attempt to climb up on the roof and work on the cupola.

My birthday flowers from mom and dad were delivered on Friday, still a few days to go till B-Day, but as it is a nice long weekend and its nice to have them when I will be most around the house to enjoy them. They are in the dining room and you can smell them as soon as you walk into the house.