Where has summer gone?

 I saw this on a blog the other day (withstringsattached.blogspot.com)

 and asked if I could share.  

It was posted at the ALA conference.  Its a great quote!  I have moved away from my days as a librarian, for now, but libraries are still my most favorite places!

I feel like my summer is just getting started as most people are making plans to return to school, as early as one and a half weeks from now...

I feel very blessed to not be looking at returning this year.  

My family has all suffered through Covid, my poor daughter had it twice since March.  We are all pretty much healthy now with some lingering coughs that seem to, maybe, be dwindling... finally.  Prayers to any one who is experiencing it.  It was not fun and lasted much longer than the regular flu would, though that is pretty much how all of us felt, like a really bad flue with a great deal more tiredness.  

I have finally felt good enough to return to church and that includes providing the arranging of the altar flowers every week.  Such lovely, bright colors made me want to share...

These lovelies were at the zoo, this past weekend, where my husband and I spent our 27th anniversary.  It is one of our most favorite places and an incredible zoo for our small city.  

There is a new baby orangutan which if you look very closely at the next picture, you can glimpse, attached to mom's right side...

Our zoo is currently under a lot of construction.  Seems like it will be double the size when they are done and we already have an incredible zoo, so it is exciting!  

I have done some sewing.  My UFOs are about to take over the house.  Pulled this one out instead of organizing the sewing room a couple of days ago.  All cut and ready to go but I made no notes about what I meant to do with it so I made it up as I went along.  

It is now this...

and the back is done as well.  

So, as soon as I get some quilting time, it will battle with the others in line for some attention.  It will be a great little baby quilt when I get it done.  

Unfortunately, there was no noticeable dent made in the UFO mess.  

Today, I made a beach bag out of some outdoor fabric I have had for a few years and a pineapple embroidery design from Urban Threads.  Pictured here is the front side before I sewed it together.  I am happy with it but will be trying a different pattern for the flamingo fabric I have waiting.  

My husband and I will be going on a long, beach vacation in the near future- kinda like a 3rd honeymoon/looking for a retirement beach to dream of...So, we will need these big bags!

The first honeymoon was Disney World- 27 years ago.  Second was Hawaii- 14 years ago.  This year will be Florida again, hitting many beaches, Harry Potter World (yes, we will do 2 of the Universal Studios parks but HP is why we are going there at all), and the oldest city in the US!  

Now that the kids are back in the nest, we have built in house/pet sitters!  

I visited a friend a few days ago who pulled out her mom's old sewing machine.  She said it was from the 50's or 60's so when she revealed this 1910 patented machine, I just about fell out of my chair.  Once I gushed about it, she wouldn't let me bring it home with me.  Guess I should have played it cool...

The paint was almost immaculate and the cord was in pristine shape.  I hope I get to sew on it one day...She was gonna take it for service.  

I have been doing a lot of sewing but nothing much more to show yet.  I have also been trying to do some cleaning and organizing but not much progress made there either.  So, I will leave you with the picture of the happily married couple at the zoo- in front of the flamingos that did not photograph well.  We wore our 25th anniversary shirts.  Across our backs it says "together since 1995".  

I love this man more every day and realize I would never have made it through raising kids and putting up with work for all these years without him!  I hope you are all as blessed to have a best friend you can count on for any and everything!  

January Wrap Up

 I had 23 days in January that I did some crochet or sewing or both.  To me that is a major win since it seems I haven't been finding much time to do those things in the last few months.  

Yesterday I finished a baby quilt that will make its way in the mail today for my daughter to give to a friend.  

This is actually the second one I made since the quilting came out awful on the first one.  I wasn't paying attention to the back since my long arm has been doing well with many previous quilts and it ended up loopy.  Not so bad that I can't finish the edge and donate it but too bad too make a gift of it.  I am much happier with this one overall- liking the random placement of blocks better than the original diagonals.  

My other finish for January was the quilt inspired by the Ron Weasley knitted blanket.  I have been enjoying its warmth in the evenings as I crochet or watch TV.  My kitty likes it too.  One night, when I couldn't sleep, I came down to find her cuddled up on it on the sofa.  She is enjoying cuddling with me in the evenings on it as well.  

Here is the pretty girl, enjoying another favorite spot.  

She is having lots of freedom this week because our puppy is away at boarding school.  I see him this afternoon and he will be done and come home on Saturday.  We have had our first lesson with him a few days ago and it is amazing the things he has learned!  I hope that, upon his return, we can convince the kitty that he is a nice boy and she can come near without him chasing.  She is not very trusting though...

I hope to get some time with this project this week but there are so many that need attention.  AND, my two tubs of scraps are getting out of hand and really calling for a coin quilt to be made and some more spider web blocks to be built.  

We are also trying to get our kiddy cottage on the market.  So, there are many projects that need doing that will prevent the sewing.  Then there is that thing that most of us are required to do, called WORK.  Ugh!  It really gets in the way of my crafting.