I pulled it off . . .

Whew, I'm worn out.  I had a surprise birthday party for my husband last night and was able to keep it a secret.  He was very surprised and had a great time with about 25 friends.  I wanted his 60th birthday to be special.  That's about all I have been working on for the last two weeks.  I did manage to get the quilt for my step daughter all cut out, now to start sewing.  I also have muslin covers cut out for two of the four extra foam pads we use on the bed in the camper, I still have to sew them together, too.  Now that the party is over, I can get back to my regular schedule. 

My step daughter is getting married in a couple of weeks so we will have some house guests staying with us for that.  The house is pretty clean so getting ready for them won't be too big of a job. 

I have the swap blocks ready for July but have not started my June snowman block yet and the next one comes out on July 5th.  I have not sewn any more of Two Piece Puzzle or done any quilting on Patriots Home.  But, now I think I will have some time to sew.

I hope I have more to show on my next blog.

Stay cool and happy quilting!

Cutting, cutting, cutting

I have spent the afternoon cutting fabric.  (Like I need another project to work on right now.)  I have some of the stars on my step daughter's quilt cut out.  Lots more to do though and I am still searching for the background fabric to use with the blue stars.  Then, I cut out 40  5" charm squares for a swap Tara Darr of Sew Unique Creations is doing.  Check out her blog here.  Her rules are simple and easy.  If you like Charm Squares, it might be fun to join in.  Tara is the designer for "Two Piece Puzzle", the red, cream and blue quilt I am working on.  It was in the April 2010 issue of APQ, page 88.
This one:

One of the things she requested in the swap is a cream colored square with the name and city, state of the individuals in the swap.  In return, she will send one with her name and info on it.  I'm planning to use it as part of the label for my quilt when I get it finished.  How cool to have an "autograph" from the pattern designer as part of the label!  I'm very excited about it.

This evening I watered my flowers and veggies that are really growing well.  After that I started trimming the elm hedge in the back yard.  In the spring we did a lot of pruning from the tops.  Now, it is growing like crazy, little branches are hanging out over the backyard.  So I go along, trim the bottoms up evenly and cut back everything hanging out too far.  Everything above my reach still hangs out, but it is above my head so doesn't interfere when I'm walking around the yard.  I'm only 5'2" so I can't reach too high.  My DH is helping, he is 6'3", so he can trim much higher than me. 

Well, time to relax a bit!

Yes, I'm still here . . .

I haven't done any quilting in the last two weeks.  We spent a few days with brothers & sisters-in-law in Arkansas, a few days with my sister and her husband in Missouri and went to my nephews wedding, then to Illinois to see my parents, then home to NM.  Arkansas was hot and humid with a little rain but we had lots of fun.  Missouri was hot the first day then it cooled off but stayed humid.  We had some rain and storms there, too.  A funnel cloud went right over the RV park we were camping at but didn't touch down.  Lucky for us!  We woke up about 3:00 am to a few minutes of heavy rain and the wind shook our trailer pretty good a couple of times, then it was gone.  We actually found out about the funnel cloud the next day at the wedding.  Just thought we had some wind gusts during the night.  We had really nice weather in Illinois.  On the way home we drove in heavy rain from just west of St. Louis for over 100 miles without it letting up.  Visibility was less than a tenth of a mile a lot of the time.  We made it home safe and have been catching up on cleaning and getting things put away.

The wedding was very nice and we had fun with lots of family there.  I haven't heard any comments on the quilt yet but it's only been a week since the wedding.  I'll hear from them once they get settled.  The bride's mother owns a quilt shop and she had made a wedding ring quilt that everyone was asked to sign as they entered the church for the ceremony.  It will be a great remembrance!

I did take a couple of my quilts and some blocks that I have made to show off to my family.  My mom really liked what I had finished.  That made me feel really good.

I am very happy to be back home and out of the high humidity of the Midwest.  It was in the 80 and 90% range there, here it has been as low as 5% since we got back.  That is a HUGE difference.  My little flower garden and my veggies are growing nicely.  Now, I can't wait to get back to doing some sewing! ! !