Oh, what do you do in the summer time, when all the world is green?

Just checking in to say hi. I've been running around thoroughly enjoying the summer with the kids, a new friend and some old friends. Quilt shows, a Lacer's show - have you seen bobbin lacing -, museum, cabin cleaning, sewing for work, sewing for fun, going to the movies, the pool, keeping a lid on the teenagers...you know all of the fun summer activities.

I did manage to pull together a new bath mat. It's really easy when someone hands you a finished quilt top that is just the right size. I stuck a towel on the back, machine quilted it and added a binding. Sara took the picture for me.

One of the bigger summer projects that was looming, was painting my bedroom. You have to understand that originally, I had painted this room 3 -or was it 4- times and finally just settled on the yellow. I found a picture of it and it actually doesn't look that bad, but in real life, that yellow was really bright. Brightening up the room was what I was going for, so I just gave up and lived with the yellow for two years -yikes- now.

After much turmoil, procrastinating and discussion we went with Bleached Driftwood. The swatch is grey but a friend in CA used it in her house and said that it had the slight blue tint that I was wanting. We went on faith. In the can it looked white, on the walls it looked blotchy and grey, but when it dried, it was beautiful. The picture does not do it justice at all. It's a soft grey with a blue tint and is just so peaceful, calming and brightens the room in a subtle way. Oh, and the paint was on clearance, so we went with a flat enamel. Normally we would get something with a little shine to it, but I'm loving the flat. There is also a quilt on the rack downstairs that will be on the bed soon.

With all of that going on, I still found time to harass my brother and post this picture on facebook for his 40th birthday. Love the glasses. Hey, what are little sisters for.

Cha ching!

My first paying quilt job - thanks Emily!

All of the nerves came up again when I pinned this quilt to the rack. Thoughts kept running through my mind - Someone has put all of this time and love into this quilt. What if I mess up? What if she doesn't like it? Then I turned the machine on and started quilting. All of the nervousness went away and the thread just flowed over the quilt in a nice rhythm.

I've so enjoyed working from home and doing what I love on a daily basis. The fact that I can do what I love every day and make a little money doing it is just so amazing and overwhelms me (in a good way) at times.

And speaking of doing what you love, my friend Lauri is doing what she loves for a living. I was so inspired when I read her email, then looked over her website.

Totally unrelated, or at least partially unrelated - I'm giving away free laundry soap samples with every pad order at my etsy shop. Laura over at showertreatshop.esty.com makes wonderful handcrafted vegan soap and laundry detergent. I've tried a sample and it's wonderful. There are a limited number so don't procrastinate too long :)

Flower Girls

Sara has joined me in the Room of Requirement again and at times has been in there by herself working away. Here is a little of what she has been working on.

We made the movie with Windows Movie Maker, which was already on my computer. Who knew? My goal for today - make strawberry jam before my strawberries disappear like they did the last 3 times!

Hello Stranger

It's been some time, how have you been? It seems that I've been swept up in the lazy days of summer. The kids and I have settled into our no rush, no schedule summer routine. Even while sitting here trying to write this post and thinking back on the past couple of weeks, it just all seems a blur...sewing, reading, hanging out...oh, I did work at the quilt show, and I did paint my bedroom this weekend - way over due. Finished a project or two, thought really hard about making strawberry jam and picked up this little beauty at a local thrift shop.

I have been looking for a bread box for some time now and was so excited when I found one like mom always had, plus it was painted a creamy white and already distressed.

This little boy shown here with his grandfather's pictures

Turned into a 15 year old young man who is now eligible for his driving permit.

and this slightly younger and less camera shy young man is apparently trying out a new look - ha! At least he can cook!

So back to those pictures of Aaron and his grandfather...a really amazing thing has happened in the past couple of weeks and now that I think about it, that may be another reason for my absence here. Without getting into a lot very personal details, my husband is originally from Argentina. His father was killed when my husband was just 4 years old and he and his mother ended up moving to the US when he was 8 years old. He has never been back to Argentina and has had virtually no contact with his family there. Over the years, we have tried to find them, but have never had any luck. Enter facebook. One unsuspecting day, he was contacted by two cousins that he didn't know he had. Names, details, and pictures were exchanged and we are now connected to our Argentine family. My Spanish is horrible and their English is broken, but we've all been able to chat a little here and there. Diego was even able to talk to his Aunt and cousins on the phone for a little while. As he heard his aunts voice, memories came flooding back. I can't begin to describe what a blessing it has been to all of us.