End of July

Have you ever had a sudden realization that time is passing and you have been standing still and not doing what you planned to do?  I had one of those realizations today.  It is the last day of July, the summer is 2/3 over and I have not been out to spend any time in the fresh air and sunshine.  Yes we've had a lot of rain this summer and yes we've had several days with heat warnings and many others with the humidity so bad you can barely breathe which sends me into coughing fits.  But there have been many days like today that was warm, not too humid and not raining or even thinking about raining.  So what have I been doing you ask?  I've been staying home - chair potato-ing  and not doing much.  We took a trip to the Grand Canyon, Arches and Canyonlands in May - but since then - nothing much.

So today I decided to do something about it.  I took my granddaughter and we went stamping - also known as Letterboxing.  I looked up a whole list of boxes we haven't found and we took of for a day of fun in the sun.  We found 5 out of 6 boxes - one was missing - and had a great time.  If we get another nice day before she has to go home, we will go again - we still have a stack of them to find.

Today is the day when another block of my Loyal Union Sampler BOW (Block of the Week) is due.  I've been working on this quilt - a block a week - for nearly 2 years.  It will probably never get put together and quilted - but then again maybe it will.

This is the block titled Nevada.  It has a lot of Y seams but I've learned that practice really does make perfect.  I'm not saying I'm perfect at them - but I'm sure a lot better than I was 2 years ago when I would find any way possible around doing Y seams.

I didn't get a lot of reading done in July - just two books which when you think about it, isn't very much reading for me.  I did acquire a tablet with a Kindle App, so I have a ton of books to read there, plus a lot of  real paper and ink books to read.  I will get around to it all eventually.

The two books I read this month are:

The Shell Game by Janet Evanovich

Murder is a Family Business by Heather Haven

Heather Haven is a new author to me - this is the first book in a series about a family owned Detective Agency.  It was interesting enough for me to read the next one in the series.

Project completed

I while ago I posted about our entry way where the mirror tiles started falling off the wall - the first one at 3 in the morning.  Scared my husband and granddaughter out of 3 years growth.  Anyway - we tore all the tiles off the wall, painted, put in Oak baseboard and framing and ledge.  After that was in we decided that the flooring was a mess sooooo - we replaced the landing and the stairs with Oak Laminate flooring - which meant that all the baseboard had to come up and the door framing had to be trimmed as it was cut for the tile that had been on the floor.

I made a Storm at Sea Quilt - machine pieced and hand quilted to hang on the wall - it is a twelve foot wall so there was plenty of room for a large quilt.

I Completed the Quilt in March but we still needed to figure out how to hang it as the studs in the wall are NEVER where you need them.  

We added an oak 1 x 4 and hung the rod on it and placed it where we wanted it rather than where the studs would let us.  

My daughter gave us a wall plaque to hang in the entrance also and we finally got it hung so except for painting the door and the door trim the entry is completed.

Now our next major project is the guest room which hasn't had a renovation since 1994 when our son moved out.

I know I haven't posted my book lists in quite a while.  Not because I haven't been reading - but because I have simply been lazy about doing it.

So:

May  2015 Book List  

Saints Gate by Carla Neggers

Garment of Shadows by Laurie R King

Murder on the Half Shelf by Lorna Barrett

Mediterranean Caper by Clive Cussler

The Grand Finale by Janet Evanovich

Rock Point by Carla Neggers

All of these Authors are old favorites.  Lourie R King continues her tales of Mary and Sherlock - fun and interesting exploits in the 1920 era.  I've read many of Clive Cussler's books, but never read the early ones - so I'm starting at the beginning - This one is actually book 2.  The Carla Neggers books are Book 1 and the Prelude to a new series which I have been enjoying.  And of course who can miss Janet Evanovich whether she is writing about Stephanie Plum or Nick Fox!!

June  2015 Book List 

The Lost Key by Catherine Coulter

The India Fan by Victoria Holt

Dreaming Spies by Laurie R King

Cats Claws by Susan Albert Wittig

Power Play by Catherine Coulter

Again so Old favorite Authors - Catherine Coulter's New series A Brit in the FBI - this is the second in the series (The Lost Key) but it has all the favorite characters from her FBI Series.  This was the first Victoria Holt I have read in way too many years and it was fun.  I love Susan Albert Wittig and she didn't dissapoint with Cats Claws.

Tuesday Farm Block 1

This month I started a new Block of the Month - but it turned out to be a block of the week as we have to complete 4 blocks each month.  Living in the MidWest in farm country I love the farm theme of this BOM.  It is called Farm Girl Vintage and the book is by Lori Holt.

My favorite farm building is of course the old barn- it is on my most photographed list.

Window of old barn

Red Barn

Run Down old Barn

Abandoned Barn

Another old Barn

I guess you can sort of get the idea.  At any rate the first block I chose to make was the Old Barn Block.  I'm making the 12 inch blocks although there is a 6 inch option.  I am using new fabric for the background - but the rest of the fabric will be mainly from my stash - unless I run into something I can't fill - which is highly unlikely.

At any rate, here is my block for this week.