Don’t you just love laying out your quilt blocks to see the progress?  It also helps me to see what my quilt needs as far as color and pattern.

I’ll finish this quilt in bits and pieces.  I love setting a goal of how many blocks to make a day.  10 blocks is my goal.  It’s a humble, doable goal-  one I can accomplish with only a minutes a day.

Yes, I know I’ve already shared this more than once.  But it’s finished.  I need to wash, block and frame it now… and I’m daunted by that, as I never was when stitching.   The embroidery and the quilt above will be in the same room… and I love seeing them together in photos.  I loved every stitch and really was heart broken to finish.  If you are interested in the pattern, it’s available from Sarah Jane Studios as a PDF download.  I traced it because I was too impatient to go to the store, but you could be smart and use a printable transfer paper.

For the frame, I feel like I should make something, you know, make it do.  But we’ll see.  I don’t know any old homes or barns being pulled down where I could salvage some window-pane wood, so I may just buy a frame.  The 8″ x 8″ shape may mean a custom mat.

Summer is rolling along at such a fast pace, but at least we are getting in some wonderful reading…

Thanks to a reminder from a reader, I went down to my storage bookshelf and dusted off my old copy of The Secret Garden and am reading it to my girls.  It’s an illustrated copy by Graham Rust, that my mom gave me for my 17th birthday.

The girls love the Secret Garden as much as I hoped they would.  It’s such a lovely read aloud.

The boys are reading Fablehaven by Brandon Mull.  My son tried to read it on his own last summer, but gave up because it starts slowly.  My husband is reading it aloud this summer.  He said it took 50 pages or so to really get going, but now they are totally hooked.  They are already on book two and they can’t get enough.  We read it around the campfire late at night and it was a wonderful campfire book.  He read it on his own for miles while we drove.

My husband and I also started listening to the A Game of Thrones audio book for our long drive to the Tetons and through Yellowstone.  The book was my husband’s choice, and I was SO skeptical since fantasy isn’t really my cup of tea.  Well, I did love Tolkien and C.S. Lewis, so I’m not totally against the category.  But I was skeptical none the less.

But guess what?  I’m hooked.  Weeds in my garden beware, I get so much more weeding done when I have a good book I’m listening too.

I’m also reading Plate to Pixel by Helene Dujardin.  It’s a wonderful read for anyone hoping to improve their food photography skills.  I hope it makes a difference in mine.

It’s time to get serious about school clothes and bags.  I’ve been working on a school bag pattern, which I hope to have ready by next week sometime.  I just need to clone myself.  Instead of working on it today, we’re off to the swimming pool with our cousins…. so patterns and sewing will wait.

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