Here and There and Back Again

ohmygoodness!  Have I not posted since my first visit to meet my little granddaughter?!  hmmm.  Well, I guess I've been a bit busy.  I was home for one week, before heading back to the mid-West.

During that week, guild met.  I've got a few months left of my Block of the Month commitment.  Par usual, I tossed together this month's block in the days preceding the meeting.  The response to September's Jacob's Ladder was not as enthusiastic as I had hoped.

 Perhaps October's pumpkin will attract more participants.  The applique is easier than it looks, with only 7 pieces, all curves, except for the stem.  I'm not sure I could have made anything easier than that.

 Before we left, quilts were delivered for the Tulare County Fair.  My friend Judie generously took care of both delivery and retrieval of my entries.  "Broken Shell Beach," made by 10 members of Sew Eclectic took top Professional honors with a BOS rosette.

 My quilt, "Shalom" also showed well.  Both of these quilts have been accepted into PIQF, so if you want to see them in person, I suggest you plan a trip to Santa Clara in October.  That's what I'm doing.

My friend Wendy and I traveled to Ohio on Sept 9, to visit our good friend Pat.  She left CA two years ago.  Finally, finally we were able to coordinate a visit to see her in her new environment.

Here we are, at Lake Erie:

 When Pat asked what we wanted to do, I'd asked, "Well, what is there to do?"  This was my first visit to Ohio, so I had no idea.  When she mentioned Lake Erie, well, I've never dipped a toe in a great lake before.  Let's do it!

As a thank you, Wendy and I did a bit of decorating in Pat's house.  It was painted a pale grey and white, that is just not Pat.  When she said, "I wish it was purple, " well, Wendy said, "We can paint it!"

 And so we did.  Isn't this so much better?  If you know Pat, you know that this is now her happy place.

Well, this post is getting a bit long, so I'll pick up with it again  in the morning.

Since I've returned home, I've been trying to get my sewing space under control.  Yesterday, I made enough progress to be able to get some machine quilting done.  I am trying to hit a deadline for entry that comes in October.  I don't have much time, but perhaps I'll hit this one.  Goals are good!

Happy Quilting!!

zoom, zoom!

After a whirlwind weekend trip to meet our newest granddaughter, we are back in the valley.  zoom, zoom!

 Such a precious bundle!  We were more than content to just watch her sleep.  :)

 We weren't there for long, but we were there long enough to catch some local color.  hahaha!  The street signs have accents!

Other than meeting our granddaughter, not much has happened since my last post.  I finished the first collage,

 and started a second.  I have plenty of the same scraps still in the pile, so I'm going to try and do something a bit different with this one.  We'll see what happens.  Notice the little stars?  I found those at the bottom of the box.  I'm not sure what I fussy-cut them for, but they're perfect.

And I guess that's all I have for now.  I've begun the hand-quilting on another project, as well as set a goal to finish machine quilting one that is half done.  Perhaps I'll have one of them done in time to enter the next AQS quilt show.  Goals are good!