I'm back... did you miss me?

     Mr. SFO and I snuck off to Colorado just for two nights for our nephew's wedding. I'd never been there! Another destination wedding-- this month has been over the top, but we just didn't want to miss it.

     Before we left, I did get a half a week of sewing in, so I'll start with that.

     My two Flag wall hangings are completely finished-- I'm gifting them, but obviously I'll just hold them until next summer. It's time to start planning Christmas sewing, if we all expect to have anything done.

     Next up, I have my not-favorite table runner I made in April-- it's ready to be cut into an oval and bound. I drew the oval in Photoshop on a photo of the quilt to size, then printed out 1/4 of it-- you only need 1/4, thank goodness, because this thing is huge. Cat included for scale. Here is the template all taped together on top of the real piece.

    It's a little too large top to bottom even without the calico cutie on it, but I don't want to make another one and I think I can just cheat it.

     "Mom, just add a pleat here and it will be fine!"

   This is my least favorite thing I've made in awhile-- ironically, I learned the most from it! Partial seams work, if you're tired of the same old 3x4 block layouts. Oval shapes, or even rounded corners are do-able and deserve more use. And if you don't like the way your quilt came out, pick a fabulous backing and use it upside down!

    Proud to say, I'm totally up to date on my Pressed Flowers BOM-- Block 4 is in the can. Makes me realize how fast a year goes by.

    Summer Memories basket blocks are actively being worked on-- I just about have 16 of 64. Trying hard to just get this done, now that I'm committed.

   Then, since I knew I'd be flying, I prepped Prairie Meadow Block 10 of 12... almost there! I handstitched a lot of it on the plane, but there's still more to add. 

     I think Lori's blue flowers are too small, so I'm going to make them a little bigger. It will work if I move the leaves to the longer stalk. Happy to prove to myself this project is still moving ahead. On my bed, by my birthday did not happen.

    So then we were off for the weekend! Driving from the boonies to a big city airport and then flying most of the way across the country to another city to rent a car and drive back out to the boonies took some time.

   I'd never been to Colorado before-- as you can see, we didn't get the best weather! I was afraid I wasn't going to see any mountains at all. The wedding was in Fairplay-- an old mining town. They had a fun historic village which we had half a day to explore. The buildings were all teeny tiny-- we sure have gotten to be big people! Because of the threatening weather, you can see we had it all to ourselves.

I thought that was a gallows up on the hill, but it was mining equipment! Haha-- yes, I've been a little fatalistic lately.

Disney couldn't have done a better job curating this place. The thing I liked best was all the wood and brick textures in the buildings-- I took a lot of pictures of them, hoping I'll be able to Photoshop them as project backdrops!

Wouldn't this cute building make a nice cross stitch, too?

Of course, they had the dressmakers shop!
Look at all the different types of irons-- and I bet they all spit out rusty water, too, when using steam.

I got a picture of these amazing birds-- bright blue, and their tails were so long!

    Later, the wedding was at a really picturesque ranch, but it was outside, and it started to thunder and then rain. The minister had to totally skip his homily and get right to the rings-- then we all made a run for it! 

   I didn't get many pictures, because I was afraid my phone would get wet. My sister-in-law will share some later, I'm sure. I do think they're going to be super dramatic! And I don't think the bride and groom cared about the weather at all-- it was kind of fun. They took a cute picture in the pouring rain, under an umbrella.

    Before we knew it, the weekend was over and during the drive back to Denver, I finally saw my mountains. 

     At the airport, our flight kept getting delayed, delayed, delayed an hour at a time for five hours --then they boarded us on an airplane where the A/C wasn't working...

    An hour after that, we had to get off... a total of about ten hours wasted. They put us up in a hotel for the night, so instead of BEING HOME FOR MY BIRTHDAY, we still had travel ahead of us. We were all so tired.

    The next day, the crew put together this cute card for me-- I'll put it in my scrapbook! I put on my big happy face, but honestly I do feel a bit cheated. We have $400 in flight credits I totally don't feel like using.

     So that was my birthday adventure-- I am ashamed to say I haven't traveled much in life, but this confirms why. I'd rather stay home and sew, sorry.

    In the meantime, our own honeymooners are set to return from the Alps. I'll be so happy to just see their mountain pictures without having to go through an airport. Then, our big first summer at Sugar Meadow will be over--  can you believe it's almost been a year here? The breezes are getting cooler, the flowers are all gone to seed-- the next season is ready to make its debut.

xox

Carol