New Leaf for Labor Day

 Yes folks, we're trying again to keep the blog going.  I write a lot of posts - in my head - throughout the day, but somehow they never make it to the computer.  So, this morning, Labor Day, I'm making it a priority.  Well, sort of ............. I have already put a batch of banana bread in the oven - it's almost done and smelling sooooooooooo good, put potatoes in the oven to make twice baked potatoes for lunch, put the sun tea pitcher out - I'm sure it will be extra good tea because it was out to catch the sunrise, and I have walked Willow and played with her and fed and watered all the pets.  (Ooops, Cici is watching over my shoulder and is very upset by that last statement since her dishes haven't been checked yet this morning!  I should amend that to say OUTSIDE pets.)  And, I have a load of laundry to transfer to the dryer.  So, what has happened in the last month or so?

Some quilts have been quilted.............

I love how this flag quilt turned out.  This was a quilt-along that I wasn't going to participate in.  Then I saw my friend Mary making hers and it looked so fun and it was a quick sew.  It's quilted and completely finished now.  I used red and blue homespuns (I have been trying to use up that tub of homespuns.) with some muslin scraps for the flags and then purchased the border/sashing fabric.  This was the quilt I had on the longarm when a little storm blew up and my power went out..........almost at the end of a row, with only a couple of rows left to quilt.  So, I LEARNED how to restart, reposition, and get it going again, and I have to say that I'm not sure I can even find the spot where it happened, so GOOD JOB!  I'm planning to put this one in the quilt show in October.

This quilt is also complete now.  It had been hanging in the TBQ closet for at least a year.  I was auditioning thread colors for the quilting here.  I went with the military gold and it turned out nicely.  It will soon be gifted to someone special.

The braided table runner is also finished and is now on the coffee table.  This was fun to make, but I'm not sure I'd want to do a whole braided quilt.  I may put this one in our quilt show in October.

This pillow was also completed and has already been gifted to a cousin.  She already has another pillow this size that I did for Valentine's Day, so she can now just change this out for Chrismas............am I way ahead of the game or what?  Let's please not mention all the holidays that came between Valentine's and Christmas that didn't get pillows made for them.

And Cici has been the ever watchful helper in the sewing room.  Lucey the Longarm makes quite a lot of noise, so Cici usually retreats to the cat tower in Sarah's room where it's a little quieter.

And of course Willow keeps us busy.  She celebrated her birthday at the end of July (there are photos somewhere, but they haven't been downloaded to the computer yet).  

She appreciated the air conditioning this summer.

And, she has discovered corn (like that's a BIG discovery considering it's on all 4 sides of the house).  She rolled in the husks from the sweet corn which precipitated the need for a bath.

Now that the sweet corn is gone, she is harvesting field corn.  I really don't know why we have the big green machine when we have Willow!  She brings in a stalk every night and proceeds to dismantle it on the deck.  We just returned from being at my parents overnight to find the deck looking like a harvested corn field.  Could have used the shovel instead of a broom to get it cleaned.  

That's all for now.  I do have a boatload of photos to get downloaded, so hopefully more posts will come soon.

My day will be spent getting Sarah ready to go back to St. Louis.  She arrived home earlier than expected last week due to the loss of internet at her apartment from a lightning strike last Monday.  It's still not fixed, but they are hoping soon.  She has to be back in St. Lou for some things tomorrow, so may be spending another day in the library at the seminary (courtesy of cousin Jacob) to use their internet to work.

I'm also headed to the grocery store this morning.  I absolutely HATE grocery shopping, so have made an absolutely HUGE list that will hopefully keep us for awhile.  Of course, I'm going to Walmart, so I expect to find empty shelves and some things totally unavailable which is why it is my custom now to purchase multiples of the things on my list that I do find.  Ah well, it's all an adventure!

Christi