One Flower Wednesday, OPAM

July was not a very productive month at my house.

I did manage to make a couple more flowers, and I took a break from pink.  These will be showing up in another project soon.

As for OPAM, I think all I finished was a postcard, and I haven’t heard that it was received yet, so I still can’t post the entire thing.

I hope it didn’t get lost in the mail.  I enjoyed making it so much that I’ve committed to making at least two more.  Thanks for the inspiration, Sheila!

Over the weekend, I made a couple of sunshines to add to the apron project from last weekend.

And speaking of sunshine, we have had some awesome summer weather this past week.  Before that we had a brutal heat wave, so the contrast with this nice weather makes it that much more enjoyable.  Now if it would just give me more energy!  I’ve been too tired to do much of anything lately, including blogging.  I’ve been reading your blogs, but not commenting much.  Hope to do more in the near future.

I’ll be joining in FNWF on Friday night, so maybe I’ll accomplish something then?

Be kind to yourself….Sunny

And one makes 58

This flower for One Flower Wednesday brings my total of pink flowers to 58.  Still don’t know what I’ll do with them, but they’re piling up.

I’ve made some, but many of them have come from the Inchy Swap.  I love getting flowers in the mail each month, and always getting unique new fabrics.

Be kind to fellow swappers……Sunny

KP Duty

Since DH retired about a year ago, he has taken on most of the cooking duties.  Lucky for us, he’s a much better cook than I am!  I’ve been offering to cook on Sundays to give him a break, and tonight I tried two new recipes.  We had a wonderful corn pudding and scallop stuffed mushrooms.  I guess I should have taken pictures to prove that I can cook.

KP duty on Sunday includes buying our fresh produce.  Then I have to cut up the melon, husk and cook the corn for the corn pudding, and eat a peach!  I couldn’t resist the peaches this week.

Continuing with KP theme, I made aprons this weekend!

I still have to add the strings to some of them, but I’m really happy with how they’re turning out.  I’m making two identical wall hangings.  Do you recognize the pattern yet?

The heat wave finally broke here, but the humidity is still very high, and it’s uncomfortable to be outdoors.  I did manage to get a few flower pictures today, though, so I’ll share them as I bid you good-night!    Sunny

“Three things in human life are important: the first is to be kind; the second is to be kind; and the third is to be kind.”

Henry James (1843-1916)

FNSI Results

Friday night started out with a nice dinner out with DH, during which we watched a summer storm.  The winds howled, the thunder boomed, and we got nearly an inch of glorious rain!  The end of dinner coincided with the end of the storm, so we hurried home for me to get to stitching.

I began by putting the final touches on these two BOM blocks.  I’m now ready and waiting for the August block.

 

Then I finished the postcard I made for a swap.  It was my first postcard, and I was a little hesitant, but now I can’t wait to make more!

This is all I can show until the recipient receives it.  My partner is a little more efficient than me, and I received my postcard in the mail today.  Isn’t this wonderful?

The flower is awesome – enlarge the picture to see it more closely.  Thanks Linda!

I also did some cross stitching on Santa’s Village.  I couldn’t fall asleep, so I got up and stitched well into the night.  I’m several months behind, and my goal is to be finished by the end of the year.

Earlier this week, I received my June Inchies from a different Linda.

I really must decide what to do with all my pretty pinkness.  Any ideas?

Today brought more storms, so we stayed home, and I stitched some more!  I’m working on a swap item, and I decided to make two of the same thing, so I’ll have one for myself.  Pictures to follow in the near future.

Good night, my kind friends . . . Sunny

Christmas in July–QAL

I had big plans for sewing this weekend, and I did work on my challenge quilt.  Hazel and Joanna are hosting the QAL, and Sue issued a challenge for us to work on.  Hazel even baked cookies for us this month!  And oddly enough, the Hallmark channel is running Christmas in July this weekend, so I watched a couple of Christmas movies last night while stitching.

Here is what I worked on for the challenge.

 

Is this going to be amazing, or what?

I hope to spend more time on it later tonight.

 

I got a late start on Saturday, because DH and I did a little shopping and hit the sidewalk sales in a nearby town.  There may be a new pair of shoes in my closet, and a couple of clearance tops – one for summer and one for winter.

My excuse for today is that we went to the produce stand, which is a few miles out of town, and then stopped for lunch and groceries.  I hate going to the grocery store, what a time waster. 

Fresh produce, however, is another story.  We came home loaded up with several different squashes, corn,  peppers, and tomatoes.We didn’t buy peaches yet, because these were all cling, and I prefer freestone.  We’ll be seeing them soon.

I’m trying a new recipe for Summer Squash Custard for dinner tonight.  I’ll let you know how it turns out. 

As soon as we’re finished with dinner and dishes, I’ll be heading back to the sewing room.  I want to work on my Christmas challenge some more, and I have two swap items to work on.  Did I mention that the shopping yesterday included two fabric stores?  I needed some grass fabric and sky fabric for one of the swaps, and I knew I could find it at one of the stores.  And the other store was just having a big sale.  “Fabric” + “Sale”  How could I not stop. 

When I got home, I had a lovely little package from Simone in Australia!

 

The flowers are beautiful, and look at that gorgeous card!!

 

 

Off to dinner now, and then more sewing. 

Spread kindness this week……Sunny

Hexies, Squishies, and Hexie Squishies

When I received my partner assignment for The Inchy Swap this month, I immediately searched by stash for some dots.  As it turns out, I don’t have many dots.  I need to rectify that problem.  But I found some to make two hexie flowers, and I also made one for myself with fabric I bought on my shopping expedition with Irene last weekend.  For more hexie inspiration, visit our hostess Karen for links to more flowers.

I received my May flowers from the swap this week too, so I’ve been surrounded by hexie goodness.  Thanks to Maggie for these pretty pinks.

And the same day the hexies arrived, I received this beautiful mug rug from Wendi!

A sunny flower for Sunny!  I’ve made my mug rug for Wendi, but she hasn’t received it yet, so I won’t show it until later.

 

 

 

This weekend, I’ll be joining Hazel and the Christmas gang for the monthly Christmas Quilt Along. 

It’s not to late to join in, and Quilt Sue has issued a very interesting challenge.  You know you want to check it out.  And Christmas is almost here!

Be kind to those on your Christmas list…..Sunny

The Journey Home

Today was HOT!  Fortunately for us, the kayaks were already loaded on the car, and our destination was not far from the hotel, so we were able to get an early start. 

Pocomoke River State Park is the first place I ever kayaked.  I was terrified and exhilarated at the same time.  And I was hooked.  That was nine years ago this summer, and we have had so much fun with our kayaks since then.  This trail is a creek through a bald cypress swamp, and it’s so peaceful and quiet.

The creek empties into the Pocomoke River, so we paddled on the river for a little while before returning to our car.  Then it was time to begin the journey home.  There were a few spot where traffic was horrendous, but I’m sure that returning on Saturday was much better than waiting until Sunday!  If you’re not familiar with the geography of Maryland, there is only one bridge across the central Chesapeake Bay, so thousands and thousands of cars are all funneling onto the same road and the same bridge going to the Eastern shore and beach, and then returning a few days later.  But there are also perks to driving home from the Eastern Shore – the produce stands!

Eastern shore cantaloupes are the best, although I don’t think any of these were local today.  But we bought some anyway, so we can enjoy more of summer.  And many of the stands advertised Smith Island Cakes!  But we didn’t buy any.  Sigh.

So now we’re home, unpacked, and looking forward to a day of rest (sewing, that is!) before returning to work on Monday.  I don’t think there are any more travel plans for awhile, so maybe I’ll get some sewing projects done.  I’ve recently joined two swaps, so I need to get the creative juices flowing.

Kindness matters . . . Sunny

Live with Egrets, not Regrets!

What a perfect quote for today. 

The hotel breakfast did not appeal to us in the least, so we drove down to Chincoteague Island, where we planned to kayak later in the day.  I’m only including breakfast in the story, because as we were leaving the restaurant, I saw a brochure for . . . . . “Quilts By The Sea”!!  And their Grand Opening was yesterday!!!!!!!  “Look Honey, there’s a quilt shop in town!!”  Being the well-trained hubby that he is, he says “we’ll go there first, and then start our planned day”.  It has taken a very long time, but I finally have him trained properly.

Books were on sale today, and I received a Guild discount, so I thought I did quite well.  I know exactly where I’m going to use this cat fabric.  It’s a tiny little shop, but they have great potential.

Then we headed across to the National Seashore,  which is at the Virginia end of the island we visited yesterday in Maryland.  Unfortunately, it was also packed, and we had to park too far away to carry the kayaks to water.  So, we carried our beach towels, and joined the throngs on the beach.

I walked for about an hour, while DH read and snoozed.  When I returned, the people next to us were just finishing this sculpture. 

 

Later, this was our dining room for lunch.

 

 

 

 

 

And our dining companion!

 

 

The only wild ponies we saw today were in the distance, so we didn’t get any pictures. 

As a child in the US, you may have read the top book in this picture.  I, however, have never read it, and decided it was time!  So I now have my very own   copy.  Anyone out there surprised that I bought books on vacation??

 

 

We drove around the Wildlife Loop, and took a few egret pictures.  There was not a lot of wildlife to be seen in the heat of the day.

These are not easy shots to get, because the black flies and the mosquitos are as big as the egrets, and apparently I’m quite tasty!!

Because I don’t want to have regrets after this trip, we had to return to the restaurant where we had dinner last night for this:

It’s called Smith Island Cake, and we saw it when we were leaving last night.  I thought about it all day today, and decided I MUST have a piece.  O.M.G.  It was heavenly!  I do not regret it at all.  It is the lightest, tastiest cake I’ve ever had.  I’d never heard of it before, and I now know that it’s the official state desert of Maryland!

So there you have it.  A new quilt store, walking on the beach, and Smith Island cake.  Does it get any better than that?

Be kind to YOURSELF…..Sunny