Summer is Over...

and the fun continues! Usually I lament over the end of summer...we homeschool and fall is a return to schooling which usually means much more work for me. This year, though, Lucas is reading pretty well and Ruthie is really good at keeping herself busy so I'm anticipating one of the easiest school years we've had in some time.

To the right are 4 of our kids playing in the yard. It was getting dark and we were squeezing the last bits out of a relaxing (but too hot!) day.

To the left is Ruthie, in her sundress and one winter boot.

Yesterday, in addition to food prep and cleanup, I was able to spend a pretty good amount of time quilting. I hand quilted for a while in the morning, the frame quilt is coming along now, and then I took my applique outside and finished a couple of blocks out there. I finished my day with more hand quilting.

Today will be a mix of things. I need to do some laundry and cleaning, but hope to squeeze in quite a bit of sewing time. I want to at least spend a little time on the frame quilt, but I'm wanting to try out those two new patterns I bought.

First up will be a pair of slippers for Ruthie. I found this cute flannel fabric in my stash. I don't have any jiffy grip at the moment so am making the bottoms with corduroy which I hope will be less slippery than just using regular cotton.

I've made slippers before, I did them for all my nieces and nephews one year, but this pattern is much easier and I should have no problem getting them done in short order.

Also on the agenda for today is one of the Humbug bags. Digging through my stuff, I found a handful of zippers in various colors so there is my jumping off point. I also have a nice piece of fabric left from my carpet bag so will make my first little bag with that. Unfortunately all my zippers are small except one so I can make a bunch of small bags and one large one...but I can get the pattern down and make any adjustments without having to buy anything, which I'm excited about.

I don't expect either of these projects to take too terribly long, so I'm hoping for some hand quilting and/or applique time, too. There is a Cubs game on tonight, so handwork is likely during that time.

So I'm off...to make myself a list of things I'd like to accomplish for the day. This works well for me as it keeps me on task and keeps me from forgetting anything that I wanted to accomplish.

Hopefully tomorrow's blog will bring pictures of the finished product! Happy quilting!