The Lazy?? Days of Summer

Father's Day found us out for a ride through the golden hills . . .

past some crops . . . of windmills?

To the orchards of Brentwood. I'm sure he could think of numerous other ways to spend Father's Day morning, but hey, it's HIS favorite!

2 five gallon buckets (or 52 pounds) of apricots later it looks like I have some work to do. Cherries and strawberries also found their way into the car. So much for having Monday & Tuesday off.

First up, the cherries. See the corner of the bottle in the top left? That would be the special ingredient. Amazing what a little Amaretto does for cherries!

Then lots of apricots - jars of apricot halves, jars of apricot juice and many jars of apricot-pineapple jam. I love that the kids raid the pantry when they stop by but sure hope they save some for us.

This is granddaughter Audrey with her first pie! She washed, pitted and sliced the cherries and then helped mom make the pie for "Crandpa's" special day. We're hoping she will learn the "g" sound in Kindergarden next year.

Now that the fruit is in it's jars it's time for some sewing. June blocks for The Quilt Show block of the month are finished, just in time for the next installment tomorrow. Amazing how time consuming 6" and 4.5" blocks can be.

A quick trip to In Between Stitches last week and look what came home with me. My girls questioned my purchase wondering if I don't already have enough Halloween quilts. But can you really have too many if it's your favorite holiday?

Two blocks are stitched.

Now it's off to pick up the house and then the needle to do some more stitchin'.

Deanna

Kaylee's Big Girl Quilt

Since the original purpose of this space is to document my quilting endeavors I should be more timely in keeping things up to date.

Finished and delivered great-niece Kaylee's "big girl" quilt only a few days late for her 2nd birthday last month. The pattern is from Fon's & Porters "Love of Quilting" May/June 2008 issue.

Some of the leftovers were used to make Kaylee's baby doll one to match.

No pictures, but blocks are complete for 2 upcoming local swap groups and so far I'm staying current with the "Stars for a New Day" block of the month on the The Quilt Show website - lots of 4.5 and 6 inch blocks for that one! I've also been working on Block 6 of Sue Garman's "Night Before Christmas" block of the month.

That should bring me up to date in keeping track of my quilty life :)

Deanna

June Sew Day

Saturday found the 3 D's, Deb, Debbie and Me, along with Pam gathered once again around the table in Livermore for our Sew Day. Holly and Alex were off on adventures of their own this month.

This month Pam was in charge of the munchie/finger foods. For lunch Deb made a fantastic taco salad and Debbie put together a fresh fruit salad. No lunch pictures to share though - apparently we were much to ravenous to stop for photos.

I shared The Pioneer Woman's apple dumplings for dessert and managed to document them before they too became history.

Here's where we get down to business, but it looks like we're probably off eating again.

Pam came prepared to demonstrate machine applique and had a kit for each of us ready to work on. Since I came with hand work and left the machine at home, looks like I have some homework to do.

Here's Deb. I think she's mildly amused at the fact that I can't count. (Note to self - when asked to pick a number between 1-25, 34 probably isn't a good choice)

Debbie is contemplating the possibility of tossing her machine through the window after dealing with some icky tension issues. Nothing we tried was helping and the window was beginning to look like a viable option. Fortunately cooler heads prevailed.

Pam entertained us with stories from Quilt Market and her attempt to create a rose with the Clover template? tool? thing? Whatever it's called I think it's pretty safe to say we probably won't be seeing any of these roses in future projects.

This month I cut fabric and did some prep work for the June installement of "Stars for a New Day" block of of the month offered to members of The Quilt Show and continued the embroidery embellishment on block 6 of Sue Garman's "Night Before Christmas" quilt.

Our Saturday Sew Days have become a welcome break in my schedule, particularly ones like today where it seems there is more talking and eating going on than sewing. It's good to spend time with friends.

Deanna