Over the Tops - First Update

These last couple of weeks have been much busier than I ever expected, but in spite of that I've been able to make some progress on a couple of my challenge projects.


To complicate things, I badly cut my left index finger on Saturday, while preparing for our Football and Food Fest day yesterday, rendering it pretty much useless for at least the next several days. Typing while watching the keys and substituting fingers REALLY slows one down when one is used to not looking at all! This was supposed to be a decidedly less busy week, but I'm now babysitting 3 afternoons and Rachel's algebra is taking us a couple of hours a day...add that to a gimpy left hand and I won't get nearly as much accomplished as I'd hoped, then again, just not having to leave the house except to grocery shop sounds pretty darn good in and of itself.


While the Purple Paper Pieced quilt isn't on my challenge list, I still want it to be finished before putting anything else in the hoop. I was on a roll until I hit the outer border, which is more tedious to quilt than I expected. I'm still going to quilt at least a little bit on it each day and will get back to it full force when my finger is more useful, for now having to do everything altering the position of my hand is really slowing me down.


I've spent a fair amount of time on two of the projects. The first is the Posy and Celtic quilt (which probably needs a new name, while the applique is done in the way celtic applique is done, it turns out that none of the designs are really celtic style designs.) I finished sewing the second side down to all the pieces in the sashing. I was still stumped as to what to do in the outer border.


I thought about and discarded several ideas. I felt like it needed some kind of braid in that outer border to "complete" the sashing braid. Just the braid didn't seem like enough, though. I finally drew out a design and laid it along the edge.

I had planned to put the braid in closer and then a vine and posy border outside of that. When I first planned this quilt, the outer border was to be a vine and posy border, but as I worked on the quilt, that idea changed. I laid this paper pattern up next to the top and it didn't seem to work. The braid alone wasn't enough, the vine seemed superfluous when on the outside.

In moving the top and border pattern around, one time it ended up with the vine border inside and the braid border outside. That was it! It looked complete with that braided border on the outside. I added the border strip and marked it all, and started to sew on the vine.

The other project that got a lot of attention is Radiating Rainbows. I cut 13 sets of blocks, and set up my applique box with all the thread needed, spare needles and a pair of scissors. If I need a takealong project, I can just pick up this box and go.

Each baggie has all the pieces to make 4 blocks as there are 4 of each color combination. This should keep me going for a while and once they are done I can lay them out and see what combinations are needed to balance out the colors in this top. Here is a finished block.

And of course, no post is complete without a Ruthie picture. Drawing is SO exhausting!

So now it's time to get to the quilting. Laundry is going, algebra is done, a bit of kitchen cleaning and picking up will fill in the times when I need to get up and move around a bit. Hopefully I'll et more sewing done than it seemed I would first thing this morning!

Happy Quilting!

Sue

"Over the Tops"....a quilting challenge

I've been able to think of little else but my quilting challenge since my last post and have spent much of that time planning it out.

I decided that it needed several facets. Part of the challenge is the amount of projects I'd like to see completed by the end. My official start date is today, September 8, 2009, and the official ending date is December 31, 2010.

I guess the easiest way to do this is to just list off the projects and include any "why they are included" information in their description. The projects aren't listed in any particular order, and won't be completed in any particular order.

1. This is a very old project. Started for my husband's 40th birthday, this got side-lined for many different reasons. I started thinking about it again when two different things happened. The first was that I found the poem I wrote to go on the back of the quilt. The other was my husband's innocent "you don't have a need for an overhead projector, do you?" Many times over the years, I had wished I had one, when I had a pattern that needed to be enlarged. I told him that most definitely yes, I could use one and he's watching out for one (he works at the local high school and they often throw out equipment when it's been replaced with something better, even if it's still in working order.) This is a hand pieced project, it's a castle with a moat and surrounding grounds. Hanging out one of the "windows" will be the damsel (me) and coming up on a white horse will be a knight in armor (my dh). The plan will be to get this top done, quilted, and bound.

2. Posies and Celtic Quilt.
This is one that I really didn't want to end up as a "UFO." I need to finish the applique in the sashings (this is nearly finished), design and add the borders, and quilt it.

3. This project has two pieces. It's a roman shade and cornice cover. The top of the cornice cover is done, it needs to be quilted.

The shade has these same blocks, in a similar configuration but offset, hard to explain, but you'll see as I go! The individual blocks are all finished, the top needs to be assembled and quilted and then I have to learn how to string it and hang it so it is a working shade.

4. Another roman shade and cornice cover, this one is for our bedroom. The center pattern has been drawn but that is all that is done on this one so far.

I need to finish designing the shade itself (it needs a vine up the sides or something) and the cornice cover, applique them and quilt them, along with hanging them. This is one of the scarier things on my list.

5. I'm really feeling the need to quilt some of the tops that I've made that haven't had a particular reason for their creation.

Even though this top was finished just recently, the blocks were several years in the making. I'm really looking forward to this quilt, and it will be the first in the hoop once Debbie's Christmas quilt is finished.

6. Another I'm feeling the need to finish I call Oriental Roads. This is my version of Bren's Pink and Brown.

We made several tops one year where we used the same pattern, with our fabrics of choice. I couldn't figure out how to quilt this one, but an idea came to me and now I'm ready to get this one finished.

7. Drunkard's Path. This project has no real purpose but to force me to learn to use my curved piecing foot. A few years ago I spent $30 to get this little doodad, but never really took the time to get proficient with it. I've wanted to be able to do patterns with curves for a long time, now is the time to learn. This will probably be set in the traditional way, and I've not made any plans for it, yet, other than it will exist.

8. This is probably the most daunting of the projects for me. It will be called Radiating Rainbows. I haven't hand pieced in a long time and this one will have a lot of small pieces that will need to be carefully pieced. It will be made from Marti Mitchell's templates and will have 110 six inch hand pieced blocks.

The blocks will be 1/4 of a sunburst block, so 1/4 of a circle and will be set to radiate out from the center and then frame the outer edge. I'll be using the fabric I got for my birthday, to which I added a pink and a purple.

I've been looking at this pretty basket full of fabric for a few weeks now, and part of me hates to cut into it...part of me can't wait.

So there it is. Eight projects officially in my challenge, though I know that I also have to finish the purple quilt, quilt Debbie's quilt, make a few other small Christmas gifts, and of course there will be at least one Christmas gift quilt for next year and possibly a wedding quilt. Yikes.

For now, I'm focusing on what's in front of me. The purple one is a big priority, as nothing else will go into the hoop until it's finished. I'm not quite sure how I'll "schedule" the others, at first I'll be picking what I feel like doing each day. At some point, I'll likely settle into a couple at a time to focus on.

It's already late today and after a busy weekend and a much busier day today than I had planned, I still have dishes to do. Once they are done, though, I will have actually accomplished just about everything I needed to in order to make tomorrow a mostly sewing day. I'm looking forward to spending some time on at least a couple of these projects!

Happy Quilting!

Wish me luck!

Sue

Musings, Updates, and Ruthie

I saw the movie "Julie & Julia" yesterday. My husband surprised me the night before, asking what was going on the next day. He often asks, to find out what's up with all of the kids for the weekend, but I could tell there was something different. When I finished the rundown of who would be where, I asked why. He said he wanted to take me to a movie. We haven't been to a movie together since "Sleepless in Seattle" came out. Generally, if we have the time and money to go out, we go out to dinner so we can talk, but he knew I really wanted to see this movie.

It will be on my Christmas list if it's out on video by then, I LOVED it. I also plan to get Julia's first book, "Mastering the Art of French Cooking." I love to cook nearly as much as I love to quilt and was completely mesmerized by some of the dishes made, and some of the exerpts read in the movie.

I was enthralled in the movie theater, I think perhaps because I see some of each Julie and Julia in myself.

Quilting is to me as cooking is to Julia. Julia tried several things before learning to cook, because she needed something to fill her time. I learned to knit at 10 years old, and have done some form or other of needlework since then. I knitted in study halls at school, at home in front of the TV, I added stamped cross stitch, needlepoint, crewel, and counted cross stitch to my repertoire as the years went on. I can remember bringing cross stitch projects to stitch during my break time at work.

Then one day, I got an advertisement in the mail for a quilting book. I was intrigued. I was intimidated. I WANTED that book. Eventually I bought a quilting book. Little by little, I read my way through, studying it, learning the steps, daring myself to try it. Pregnant with Rachel, baby number 3, I decided it was time to try. What better trial project than a baby quilt? I bought supplies, carefully made my templates, and spent afternoons hand sewing those attic window blocks with the fussy cut inset squares. I made a baby quilt and changing table pad, hand pieced and hand quilted, in just 3 weeks. I WAS HOOKED and I was off and running. Much like Julia was with her cooking.

Julie, on the other hand, was trying to find her way. She took on a big project, something to keep her busy, something to focus on, and something to finish. She was obssessed.

I understand that obssession. I feel that way often because quilting is so much more to me than just making a blanket. Along with being a creative outlet, time spent quilting is also spent praying, meditating on God, and thinking through problems. I reminisce and daydream, plot and plan, all the while the machine humming while I piece, or the needle gently gliding in and out while hand quilting or appliquing. It brings me peace and it's such a gift.

I'm planning a "Julie" project. I haven't decided what it is, yet. Maybe it will be multiple things, a list of techniques I want to try, and projects I want to finish, a list that hold me accountable for the rambling "someday" things that run through my mind.

In the meantime, I've got quite a few projects in the works!

Debbie's quilt remains on my design board.The main reason is that I got on a roll with the purple paper pieced quilt and decided I wanted to finish it before moving on. Often in the past, I've needed to set aside quilts to take on deadline projects, or have put projects aside because they were tedious to work on, only to have them sit for a very long time before getting picked up again. I'm attempting to break that habit.

I've also learned how to play mind games with myself to make less enjoyable parts of things more palatable. I decided to quilt all the purple blocks first, because those were more difficult. I had two different motifs in the alternating blocks, and one of those was much easier than the other.

The little heart wreath is adorable, but there is LOTS of turning the hoop involved. I decided all these needed to be finished first. I then moved onto the other motif and those worked up quite quickly. I'm now doing the white border (also being quilted in purple thread) and it won't be long at all now until this quilt is finished. Though I really wanted to finish it before moving on, in the back of my mind I was pretty sure it would get set aside yet again. The fact that I've plowed through the most difficult part and now find myself just a week or so away from finishing this has given my motivation a big push. I've been more diligent about using my time wisely, and hope that I'm setting myself up for good habits come fall.

I also spent some time on the triangle paper project.

I still have quite a few sheets of triangle paper left to find fabric for, and I may work on this some tomorrow. The 1/2 square triangle units in the box are all sewn together and waiting for pressing, which will be done a few at a time. Quite a few of these will be made into Pinwheel blocks, the rest are left as 1/2 square triangle units.

Soon to be in the forefront is the posies and celtic quilt. I spent a couple of days last week making more bias tape for the outer border.

I still haven't decided for sure what will go into that outer border. I'm pretty sure there will be a vine, leaves and posies. I might also need to do a smaller braid type thing between the blocks and the vine border to finish it out properly since there is so much applique in the sashing. I plan to concentrate on this more as soon as the purple quilt is finished.

I'm pretty sure I've decided on a project for the fabric I got for my birthday, and it might be part of my Julie project. While typing this post, I already thought of a few things I'd LOVE to finish as part of this challenge. I guess part of the challenge will be naming it!

And now for Miss Ruthie. She's been in rare form of late. Because of her limited vocabulary, it's easy to forget how much she really understands. She still catches us off guard sometimes when she answers questions. Today, Rachel was asking her a bunch of questions, all to which she said "no." Rachel asked if no was her favorite word and Ruthie paused and looked at her and said "Yes!" Rachel was quite amused, "most little kids would say 'no' again!" she said.

She was playing in the kitchen one day and called me to take her picture.

She had some rearranging to do.

She then smiled big and said "picture" in her own inimitable way.
I can't get away with pretending anymore, she demands to see the picture in the back of the camera once it's taken.

She likes to dress up. She will often find a hat, then find me and ask for a picture. Really, though, who wouldn't want to capture this for posterity?

Or this? This is her current "shopping" getup, she'll put on shoes, the hat, and the purse and push her little cart around the house. The other day, she stopped, reached into the purse, pretended to put something in her mouth, grinned and said "gum!"
And now, believe it or not, my update is finished. I hope to post more often now that we're starting our school work and, in general, things are less busy here. In the meantime, I'll be thinking about the currently nameless self challenge and what it will entail.

Until then,

Happy Quilting!

Sue

Summer is Winding Down

Our first day of school is the day after Labor Day. Our local schools start today, but we home school so can pick our start date. We enjoy these last couple of weeks of summer very much and this year it's much cooler than usual for the middle/end of August and that is just adding to the pleasure of these days.

I have even surprised myself with how much quilting/sewing I've done this summer. Usually I'm more than ready for Fall to arrive so I can ramp up the quilting, and in spite of what I've accomplished, I actually could do more if the computer didn't call my name so often.

The table runner went far faster than I thought possible and the quilting and binding were finished just 3 days after I started.

The completed table runner gave me a boost to finish the last of the blocks for Debbie's quilt. I assembled this one as each row was finished as there is applique where the blocks connect and that would be easier without so much bulk. I'm looking forward to beginning the quilting on this one. I plan to mark it in the next couple of days and baste in the next week or so. We had a few warm and muggy days, today isn't so warm but is very damp because of rain, so hand quilting isn't appealing today. It's to be in the lower 70s by the end of the week, though, which is very cool for this time of year here, so if the basting isn't done the purple paper pieced quilt may get some more attention. Here is Debbie's top.

I trimmed down the triangle paper I printed off so I may ready and sew a few pieces of that to get the next scrap quilt started. I also need to mark and trim the blocks for the next strip pieced quilt, which is good muggy weather work.

I couldn't resist this pose. Sometimes Ruthie will ham it up for the camera, other times I try to catch something she's doing and she'll move before I can get it. She got passed down a bunch of princess dress up, she loves it. Yesterday she spent most of the day running around in this dress. Princess Ruthie had finally worn herself out. Hopefully my next post will find Debbie's quilt well under way and a couple of new projects under way as well. Remember this one? I LOVE this top and came across it straightening up the growing pile of quilts in my sewing room. I've promised myself I'd finish the purple paper pieced top before moving onto the flying geese top, I'm hoping that will be the incentive I need to forge ahead with the purple one. I love it, but the blocks are tedious to quilt and it's sucking the fun out of it some. I know that I'll be very glad to have it finished, so it stays out where I can see it. I'm going to try to quilt at least a block a day on it (not a huge feat, the blocks are only 6 inches) and hopefully quilting one will lead to another. If not, one a day will eventually get it done!

I've also pulled out the Posies and Celtic top. I finished sewing one side of all the sashing pieces down some time ago, that's the most tedious part because it's where the placement and trimming of pieces happens, so now I just have to sew down the second side of it all. I spent a good part of the last couple of days doing that and am now getting to where there isn't much left. The big problem is I still haven't figured out what to do with the outer border. I haven't even sewn it on, yet, because I didn't want to limit what I could do there. I want to put another celtic design but decided using the same green as the sashing would be way too much green. I had hoped to find a floral that incorporated a similar green and at least a few of the other colors, but so far no luck.

I have a book of celtic borders and I figure if I peruse it enough, and keep checking out my stash that something might come to me. This one will have a huge amount of quilting on it, it's being quilted like the table toppers I made last year and will also have all the celtic that needs to be quilted around. I'm looking forward to this one, but know it will probably be a long term quilting project as it will be quite tedious to do.

In the meantime, it can't be quilted until it's done, and nothing will get done with me sitting here! So off I go, to sew down some celtic, pin a few triangle paper fabrics for sewing and to do a bit of quilting on the purple quilt. My inlaws are here for the day tomorrow, so a bit of straightening needs to be done as well. That will happen later in the day as, with all the coming and going here, anything done this early will surely be undone by later!

Happy quilting!

Sue

Flying Along

Much to my surprise, Emma's quilt is done! I really didn't expect it to go quite this quickly, though I did get an inkling early on. I'm really happy with the results and hope she will be, too.Debbie's is not anymore ready for the hoop than it was last time I mentioned it as I've been solely working on Emma's quilt. I hope to rectify this in short order but first I have one more project that needs to be finished.

It's a sobering thought when your children's friends start getting married. Our daughters went to a bridal shower yesterday and only had a week notice so I pitched in for the gift. Our 4 older kids will all be going to the wedding and are all chipping in and buying them something off of their registry. I told them I would add a table runner to the gift if they wanted me to, and they did.

Interestingly, I had pulled this project so I had something to quilt on between Emma's and Debbie's, if need be, and we decided last week it would make a perfect gift for their friends. As it turns out, the dishes they got are brown and green, so this should be a really nice compliment to them. This pattern was designed by my friend, Tyanne, you can find this pattern and many others on her website. This is also quilting up much more quickly than I thought, I started last night and everything to the right of the hoop (except the border) is already quilted. The printed section at right edge of the hoop is the center point, so I'm more than half done. I expect to be working on the border this evening and hopefully binding (it's already made) in the next couple of days.

Keeping to my promise to myself to have something in the hoop at all times, I pulled out another basted, unfinished quilt. These blocks were made as part of an internet swap several years back. A few of the blocks are quilted, but at the time I started the quilting it seemed really tedious and I probably had to set it aside for a gift project. On this one, I'm quilting in the ditch on the paper pieced blocks to give the blocks texture. Since with paper piecing the pieces are often small (these are 6 inch blocks) this seemed the best way to quilt this one. The alternating blocks have continuous line motifs in them, which are fast and fun to quilt. I'm not sure how much of this will get done before Debbie's top is finished. I suspect that knowing this is what it is in the hoop will have me appliquing more, LOL, but we'll see. I really love to hand quilt and I'm more determined than ever to finish up some of the tops I have waiting around here. With the hangers of made binding on them, I have a visual reminder of the work that is waiting for me. I'll feel much better about working on new things if those hangers start to empty out a bit.

I have a few projects that are really starting to call my name, but I'm trying to not get too involved in anything else until these "must do" projects are finished.

Of course, any time the camera is out, Miss Ruthie insists that her picture be taken, too. And now it's time to wrap this up and get to work.

Happy Quilting!

Sue

Lucas' Day and, of course, Some Quilting

Lucas turned 9 yesterday. He's been looking forward to his birthday for weeks now, as he knew he would ge to go to his favorite Chinese buffet for lunch and choose his dinner. He likes to eat! My husband was able to take the evening off, so once he finished his morning work, we headed out for lunch, just the 3 of us.

After lunch, we took him shopping for his gifts. This became the birthday tradition for the girls a while ago because they usually wanted clothing and it was more practical, and more fun, to take them out and let them pick what they want and try it on so they weren't disappointed with ill-fitting clothing.

Lucas had a few specific things in mind, so off we went. He had money from us, some from his grandma and some that he had saved from his allowance. His brothers and sisters gave him the PS2 memory card that he wanted and he was able to find the video game, the board game, and the nerf gun he wanted.

He had enough left to get a small wall mount CD player for his room, and an inexpensive CD. He thought he'd be saving for a long time for that, so was quite happy with his treasures as we arrived back home.

His chosen dinner was deep fried calzones. I got a deep fryer a couple of Christmases ago and it's the hit of all the kids' friends. Last fall, Rachel's boyfriend wanted to try making calzones in it and they came out great. Shortly after that, Lucas decided that he'd found his birthday dinner choice.

They are a LOT of work! Only a couple at a time fit in the fryer, thankfully Rachel's boyfriend manned the fryer while I made the calzones and we were able to keep it moving pretty well, but couldn't really all sit together and eat. No matter, though, they had fun playing video games while eating with occasional ambushes from the nerf gun and a good time was had by all. Rebekah and her boyfriend found a couple of video games for him as well, so he has a lot to keep him occupied on gloomy days.

His "cake" choice was an ice cream cake. When the kids were small, they liked the boxed cakes because they could pick the cake flavor and icing flavor quite easily, but several years ago now we started making all different things for birthday desserts. Trifles are one of the favorites, and we've done cheesecake, various homebaked cakes, giant frosted cookies and a myriad of other things as birthday cakes.

This is the second time that Lucas has chosen ice cream cake. The bottom layer is crushed chocolate filled chocolate sandwich cookies, then vanilla ice cream with chocolate swirl, followed by a drizzle of both caramel and chocolate syrup, a layer of whipped topping, and another drizzle of caramel and chocolate sauces. It really looked good! And tasted even better.

What a busy day it was! Rachel's boyfriend left at about 11 and everyone went to bed but me. I settled down in my quiet house for a while to just relax.

After a jam packed day of activity here yesterday, today is remarkably quiet. Joshua left a while ago to help out with "Family Faith Night." It's a yearly event here tied to our city's Fiesta Days where they get a Christian artist to come perform in the park for a reasonable entry fee. There is a lot of set up and tear down work, done mostly by volunteers from local churches. He won't likely be home until it's all over, late tonight.

Rachel is babysitting all day and into the evening, and Rebekah is working and then going with her boyfriend, it's his birthday today, to his parents' house for their second birthday dinner in two days. Rachel's boyfriend had promised Lucas they would roam the small woods near his house and make dinner in the woods. Jonathan and a couple of other guys were going as well. They've already left and are going food shopping, then preparing what they need to for their forage in the woods and will cap their day by cooking chili over a fire. Lucas has been looking forward to this for weeks.

I don't expect any of them back until later this evening, which leaves me and Ruthie here alone for the moment. My husband is out working but should be home soon. I'll spend my day mostly sewing, I hope, and taking my time with dinner (chicken wings) and kitchen clean up.

Emma's quilt is moving along, I'm on block 24 of 80 (6 inch blocks.) I will spend a good part of my day working on it.

I've also started the next block of Debbie's quilt, and will alternate hand quilting and applique as time and motivation allow. Ruthie is hanging out in my sewing room with me. My husband will probably spend some time out in the yard and I'm sure she'll take that chance to go outside. For now, she's happy in the big chair, with her newly painted pink toes, playing with whatever odds and ends happen to be within her reach.

Sundays tend to be quiet here as well, the kids usually have activities planned for after church, though there is a bit of coming and going and friends popping in to meet up with them, which is fun, too.

Of course, since I started writing, things have already changed a bit, Joshua is back and will probably be here all afternoon, though that could change if one of his friend's shows up. What that means is my nice quiet quilting and Cubs game afternoon has gone out the window as my husband, who just got home, and Joshua will chatter through the whole thing! They'll be happy, and that's what important, and I can always sit in another room :)

For now, I'm going to sign off and get to my quilting. I should be able to get a lot done today. With several new project waiting for me, and the hope of quilting the flying geese this year after all, I'm feeling pretty motivated to get these Christmas quilts done as soon as possible!

Happy Quilting!

Sue

Some Quilting and Some Ruthie

Our cooler-than-normal-for-northeastern-Illinois summer has been GREAT for quilting. There have been very few days that are too warm to hand quilt, and on those I was able to applique.

This week, I finished Katie's quilt. Simple and warm, I hope that she likes it and it keeps her cozy through their Montana winter.

Here is a picture of the border, the design is more easily seen since since I haven't washed out the marking, yet. I've been really enjoying these all over type designs in my borders lately. As much as I love fancy motifs, these all over ones fill the space and frame out the quilt nicely.

I now have 3 rows of Debbie's assembled, with 8 more blocks (2 more rows) to make. This one made me nervous at first, I wasn't sure of the colors but I'm really happy with how it's coming out, so far. It's a pretty simple design and I'm trying to decide how to quilt it. I think that I'll be outlining the applique (as I do on all of my applique) and then freehanding stippling in the spaces.

Just minutes after putting the last stitch in the binding of Katie's quilt, I was clearing my table to baste Emma's. Thinking ahead, I pieced the back of hers when I sewed the binding to the front of Katie's quilt so as soon as the binding was done I could begin the basting process. Emma's is now in the hoop and progressing nicely.

If I continue at this pace, I could be just about done with my Christmas quilting by the time we hit Labor Day, which would be thrilling! With other projects waiting in the wings, the thought of finishing early and working on other projects, projects that can be put aside to do various other small Christmas gifts, is almost hard for me to comprehend as I usually spend from September or October through December working like a madwoman to finish for Christmas.

Waiting for "time" are several projects. One is the shade and cornice box cover for my sewing room window. The blocks are finished and need to be assembled. I may assemble and baste the cornice box cover soon as I have scraps of batting that should be just the right size.

Also waiting are two new paper foundation projects. One is a strip quilt for the couch by the sewing room window, this one has two different sized strips and more background for nice quilting spaces. The blocks are also a bit smaller. These are printed and ready for me, I need to draw on the sewing lines and trim them before I begin. I also need to cut up some more scraps. I have a lot of various light background scraps that are hard to use up, so I should be able to use up quite a bit of that as well.

The other paper foundation project is being made with triangle paper. This one has 3 different sizes of half square triangles and will be another great scrap quilt. One nice thing about these quilts is I can sew for as little or long a time as I feel like on my machine and make some progress. While our weather has been wonderful, I imagine a hot spell will come at some point and machine sewing is a really good activity for hot weather. I can sit still with a fan blowing on me and still be productive!

There is also the shade for our bedroom, that for sure will be waiting until after the holidays, it will take quite a bit of concentration and planning and winter will be a great time for that.

Of course, there is also the posy and celtic quilt, which has been calling me of late. I still have to sew down the second side of some of the appliqued braid. I'm also searching for just the right fabric to make a celtic design in the outer border, and am hoping to find one that incorporates most, if not all, of the colors in the quilt.

There are not really enough hours in the day to do all I want to do. I've often said I wish that I didn't have to sleep, but my family did because that would mean many uninterrupted hours every night!

And now for Ruthie. She is doing just great. Her language skills and vocabulary seem to be improving daily. She used to be more quiet when other people were around, but has gotten more used to some of the kids' friends and will engage them by showing them her toys or one of her new skills. Here she is with Lucas, who will be 9 tomorrow, on the swing in our backyard. Unfortunately, poor Lucas has the same trouble with brightness as I do, and all the pictures I took of him out with Ruthie that day he has the same scrunched up face.Here she is eating ice cream. She LOVES ice cream and we have to make sure she's finished her meal before we mention the word or she's DONE and ready for ice cream!

Ruthie has been wearing this scarf around her neck quite often these days, it makes me hot to just look at her. This day, she wanted Jonathan to put it on her like a hat.

When I know she's tired, settling her in on my little couch will usually mean she'll sleep pretty quickly. She will often ask for a "pilolow" and a "banket."

And finally, whenever Rebekah is cutting anyone's hair, Ruthie wants hers done, too. Usually we trim bangs or a bit off of the back, but last time I told Rebekah she could do whatever she wanted and to think about it. It was getting quite long and really needed something, whether just some taken off the bottom, or a "style." Here is what she did.

She had about 7 inches cut off of it, I nearly cried! I love the ponytails and will miss them, but this cut sure is cute on her. It's stacked a bit in the back and the bit of curl is because Rebekah curled Rachel's hair that day, so she had to have some curls, too. I'm hoping she'll start to let me use a blow dryer and curling iron on her occasionally.

That same day, we took her to Olive Garden with a gift card we'd gotten a few months ago. The other kids were all busy, so she got to go on a date with us. She was the hit of the wait staff, the cheese girl especially was just enamored with her. When our dinner came, she came back to ask if we wanted cheese on our entrees. I hadn't even put food on Ruthie's plate, yet, but the girl asked her if she wanted cheese and she smiled really big and said "yes!" and the girl happily obliged, making a little pile of grated cheese on her plate.

All in all, it's been a busy summer, but mostly the kind of busy I enjoy. Keeping it all together here, with lots of time for quilting. I hope that you all are having the same!

Happy Quilting!

Sue