Man seen lurking in quilt cave...

The man seen lurking in my quilt cave was none other than Mr. Fabric Therapy installing blinds.  I was pretty excited...the sun really beats down on this end of the house in the late afternoons.

I ordered blue because countertops and some fixtures are blue...and I just love blue.

It has been way too long since my last post, but things have busy here.  Two long road trips, a quilt show in Ohio, blueberry season, MOWING season (zeesh!), wind damage, house guests...you name it, we've had it.

I love blue, and these are blue (my favorite color) and TASTY!

The bushes are loaded from all the rain we have had and I patiently pick off the first ripe ones...now they are ripening fast and furious and I am having a hard time keeping up.  My visiting sisters will fix that over the next two weekends.

And then there is the mowing...on this 800-acre treasure forest, we have about 50-60 acres that are cleared and need to be mowed.   The clearings contain blueberry bushes, apple and pear trees, and nut trees.  It is like playing a video game to mow around all the trees.  In last years drought, I mowed every 2 weeks or so...this year it is every week or less.

Then there is wind damage to trees to deal with...this tree snapped off between two outbuildings and somehow managed to miss both structures.  It takes up to five years or so for drought-damaged trees to shed limbs or even die, and they don't really look stressed, but they are weak and come down easily in windy storms.

Riley is home from college and now a junior!  We've been spending some time working puzzles and just hanging out together.  She is off to England for 6 weeks to study at Oxford starting at the end of June.  I am worried about all the stuff happening over in Europe now, and will be having a hard time letting go of her.

There are a few stolen moments to work on projects, but never enough time.  This is another Lori Smith design I am prepping so that I have some "baggie" blocks to take with me to sew while away from home.

I have also been drawing the saxophone family for my continuing Baltimore Rhapsody music project.  I think these were the hardest to draw for some reason.  As I prepare the blocks for applique, I may simplify the designs slightly so that the applique is not so scary!

And I had prepared the freezer paper patterns for another Lori Smith pattern a few years ago.  It was fun to pull those out and start picking fabrics and working on some of the motifs.

See my little numbered freezer paper squares?  I am labeling my bird and flower motifs since I am going to perform some of the applique hand stitching before adding the pieces to the background.

Wow, I really need to spend some time covering my pressing pad...that looks AWFUL...how embarrassing!

All these little applique steps I can do upstairs at night...my husband likes me upstairs with him in the evenings...the little whiner...

I am in the process of adding the final borders to this "Little Treasures" quilt, then it will be ready for basting/hand quilting. That is a downstairs, quilt cave project...Steve needs an evening hobby to that I can be in the quilt cave more often.

Yesterday I spent 4 hours in the early morning picking blueberries and 4 hours later, mowing.  That doesn't leave much goofing off time in the cave.

"Contentment" was just accepted to AQS Grand Rapids in August, so it (and hopefully I) will be making another trip.  Then it may be going to the Fall Paducah show.  That will be a new show...anyone else going??  It is supposed to be different from the spring show.

I hope the beginning of your summer is going well!  There is plenty of things to do this time of year to distract us.  The Alabama summer heat will soon keep me inside except for right after dawn and in the evening.  Time to be in the quilt cave while the "whiner" is busy working!

In stitches,
Teresa   :o)