Someone has some binding to do!

      I have settled into a beautiful summer routine of veggie gardening, chicken tending, and sewing, not particularly in that order. So one day just flows gently into the next. Blog writing has not been in my rotation and neither has picture taking! But if I get off my blog schedule of one a week, you may never hear from me again, so I'll attempt to fill in the blank and give a late accounting of myself last week.

     

     Biggest news-- my two Sew Sampler throws are back from the quilter. It's always such a thrill to see something this close to completion, isn't it? Here is my brick house quilt, made from the March Sew Sampler Box:

    

     The quilting pattern is called Sticky Buns-- I wanted something swirly overall. This is perfect for me since I'm such a sweet tooth. I think that blobby area is most likely icing dripping off my bun!

     Here is John and Emily's Sweetheart quilt, made from the Fat Quarter Shop Cupid Box:

     The quilting is swirly hearts.

    

      I embroidered their names on. This is the greatest and best reason to have and use an embroidery machine. People LOVE to get personalized items. It really makes a handmade gift that more special. So I you have embroidery capabilities and are not using them, you need to reconsider!

    So perfect for them. So it's a bit Valentine-y, but would look great on the couch in winter. I hope they love and use it.

     I am SO GLAD I challenged myself to keep up with these boxes this year. For those of you who don't know-- if that's even a thing-- it's the Fat Quarter Shop's Sew Sampler Box monthly subscription. It really has boosted my count of finishes. Last Christmas I had absolutely nothing to gift-- this year, I have a ton of finishes I really love-- and trust me, that Brick House quilt is going to really have problems leaving this house!

     In the box, there is an additional BOM pattern that you get-- the current series. "Pressed Flowers" is in Month 2, and I'm all up to date on that.

    

      For the current box, I did not manage to get any fruits stitched up-- part of it is, I have to draft my own pattern, and part of it is, I need extra Fig Tree cream fabrics for a background. This really needs to get solved TODAY-- the Liberty box has already mailed and then the June box will be here before I know it. I do have the center section pretty much there--  I need twenty fruits for a large border.

       

     For San Francisco Stitch Co., I have July Bowl Fillers, Fourth of July Bowl Fillers, Summer Bowl Fillers, Patriotic ABCs, and Christmas Tree Farm Mug Rug all in the works. That's quite a bowl full-- or to paraphrase the movie "Jaws," we're gonna need a bigger bowl!

     When I am not machine embroidering, I am hand embroidering. I joined the Fat Quarter Shop Red, White, and June Stitch Along-- all that means is that you share your patriotic cross stitch on Instagram-- LOL. I did buy their Star Spangled Ornaments book-- it is quite cute. I thought I would only get three done this month, but they work up fast, so I think I will  have double. 

     On the last page of the book, look what they printed up!

    Make your own ornament! I am not going to leave that page blank, and you can be sure my #6 will be of my own creation and I will share it with you as well. I already have it sketched! If you have graph paper and any creative spirit no matter how small, I would totally encourage you to try your hand-- it is not hard, once pencil meets paper, to make you own little design. In this case, just start by drawing the circle and see what happens from there!

     The meadow has sprung to life. Someone here was a gardener, and there is a little "arroyo" passing through will a little bridge. It's a wet in there after a big rain, but never turns into the babbling brook I had hoped for. We were thinking of adding stones to make it a nice feature. That could easily be accomplished by the rocks I just pulled out of the garden!

     I was trying to clean up some of these feature areas, but we focused on a HUGE vegetable garden. I'm still hoping to get to this gradually over the summer. We are looking totally weedy at this point-- let's call them Native North American wildflowers, shall we?

     We bought a hive! I am a bit sad-- you are supposed to crack it open every two weeks to check on things-- everything seemed to be going well until yesterday, when we notice no new eggs and couldn't find our queen. My DD is the only one who can find the queen-- she's not that much bigger than a regular size bee, and even though she has a RED DOT on  her, I still can't see her. I think we need to get a new queen right away, because without her, the hive has no future. I'll let you know what happens. 

     So that was my week. In lieu of excitement up here in the boonies, and I have constant little joyous moments-- a turtle, a blueberry for the chickens, going to bed really tired and knowing you will have a great sleep. I could live like this for a very long time.

xox

Carol