Down but not out

I have been missing.  On the internet.  Not intentional--but due to computers around here needing repair.  One is up and running the other is history.  Amazingly I got a lot done or it seems like I got a lot done without the distraction of the internet or spider solitaire.  : )  

Let's see I got DD Amanda's Dresden quilt completely quilted and bound the last week of June.  Hog Man and I delivered it last week one day and it fits her bed.  Happy Dance!

I had the strangest feeling when we got in the car and drove away.  I felt sadness.  I can't explain it.  I was so happy to have it done and for her to have it but at the same time I felt a loss.  Like something significant was no longer a part of my life.  I know -- WEIRD!  I guess when you bond with something for several years you can't help but experience loss when it's gone.  : )

Enough of that!  Onward and upward.  We had some wonderful cooler weather last week.  Cool as in upper  50's and 60's for overnight lows and 80's for highs.  Unheard of around in these parts for June in Texas.  I got outside and worked in the yard.  I weeded my round brick planter that is home to the irises and tulips.  I edged the sidewalks.  I trimmed with the weed eater.  I cleared an area that briars always want to take over.  It was rejuvenating to work in the cool temps.  We have a BIG yard.  And we (Hog Man does because I am a chicken about mowing a slope on the riding mower and working around traffic!) keep the bar ditch mowed outside our fence because the county only mows it maybe twice during the season.  I did chop down the tall Johnson grass that had sprung up with the last rains we have had.  Long story made shorter--it is looking better around here!  If only it would stay that way.  It's kinda like bathing a child or cleaning house--you do it over and over again.  : )

My friend, Priscilla, lives part of the year here and part of the year in Colorado.  They had to evacuate because of fires in her area.  Their cabin is still safe but fires are burning in a national forest near their town.  Her loss our gain kind of thing.  She is missing out on her friends up there and the cooler mountain temps but I have enjoyed having her back.  She and I decided to go sew with the Paradise ladies the last Saturday of June.  There were 13 of us in the fellowship hall sewing away.  So fun.  I took my blocks from Bonnie Hunter's quilt pattern from her book Scraps and Shirttails II and I got four more blocks sewn together.
You can see them here.   I have continued cutting  scraps and sewing this week and now have 29 blocks sewn with two more laid out to sew.  I need a total of 42 blocks and then the sashing and piano key borders.   Everyone I show these blocks to love it.  What is it about small scrappy blocks that make us smile?

It is the season for show pigs to be born for next year's shows.  Hog Man has two litters so far.  One litter of blue butts and one hampshire.  So for the next few months there will be baby pigs making their way into the world.  It is a challenge to keep the mothers cool when the temps are in the 100's like this week.

Happy quilting and blessings,
Catering Quilter