Happy Independence Day! And belated OPAM

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This picture is from near my hometown, and I hope to be visiting there in a couple of months!

To my Canadian friends, Happy 150th Birthday!  I've so enjoyed seeing all the quilts that were made in honor of the celebration.  It's nice to see people who are so proud of their country.

We've had a house guest, so the sewing has slowed down a bit, but he left this morning, and I'm planning to tear into more quilting.

I finished this just in the nick of time for OPAM.

It's called "It takes a village" designed by my friend Elizabeth Angus, and was featured in the May/June 2013 issue of McCall's Quilting.  I knew I'd get around to it eventually!  I'm not going to drag DH back outside again for another picture, but there's a big flower that has now been attached to the top of the third vine from the left.  And the outer border contains the best feathers that I've ever   done.  I think there may be hope for me!  LOL!

Here is another finish from Pam Buda's Prairie Women collection.

Pam encourages the use of "make-do" fabrics in these quilts, because prairie women wouldn't have had access to perfectly matched lines of fabric - they made do with what they had on hand.  A couple of the women in our group just can't bring themselves to use the make-do fabrics, but I think it's kind of fun.  

The 13 place mats that I made have already been donated to Meals on Wheels, and I forgot to take pictures.  They were made mostly from donated batting scraps and fabric 'scraps'.  Some people give away very generous "scraps"!  I started a small patriotic wall hanging on Saturday before our guest arrived, and it will get quilted and hung today.  Then I plan to quilt a larger quilt.  Stay tuned - it's a beauty!!

My sil and I took a little road trip on Wednesday, visiting 7 Quilt shops.  I forgot to take a picture of the loot before it was all put away.  Nothing major, but some fat quarters for 3 different projects, a couple of spools of Aurifil thread, a book, and the pattern for the patriotic wall hanging.  I went with a list, and mostly stuck with it.  But I still spent for than I had budgeted!  Isn't that what always happens?

Kayaking and nature photography happened this week.

We found a Lily Pond, and there were so many gorgeous wildflowers that we had to go back a second time.

Have a happy and safe 4th to all my American friends!!       Sunny