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The grands came on Friday night when their mom was out of town. After the obligatory dinner of chicken breast tenders, we went to Schneider's in Bellevue just as it was getting dark. The tables on their patio were almost full with families eating ice cream and ice balls. In some cases both, probably, because you can have ice cream in your ice ball. I haven't told the grands about that.
It was peaceful to sit there and watch the night come in and the cars go by. Who knew that Bellevue was such a busy place on a Friday evening?
Nora mentioned that her ears were hurting from her earrings, and we put on alcohol and Neosporin, then a different pair of earrings. I had a couple of pairs of silver earrings on a card, and she picked out the bling-y ones. That seemed to take care of the ear problems.
The next morning, she said that her socks were getting too small, and I gave her a new pair of Under Armour socks that I had stashed away. She brightened up and said, "I love Under Armour things." Duly noted, Nora. Sometimes she's her mom's girl, but this time she was her dad's girl, he likes Under Armour too.
My friend wanted some microwave potholders for bowls, which are so fun to make. So far this week I've made six (they're doubled in the picture.) I'm planning on making a couple more while I'm in the potholder zone.
If you want to make some, you can find a good tutorial here. I do prefer that the pieced squares be 6 1/2" and the large one 12 1/4". I like the darts to be 1 1/2" from the center at the top, going down 3". This size works well for various sizes of small bowls.
I used to love collecting fat quarters and have lots, plus a lot of scraps. I think that was back in the day when I knew that I wanted to quilt but didn't yet know just what I would quilt. Now I rarely need fabric in that size, would prefer to get 1/2 yard if I see a fabric that I absolutely have to have, and rarely buy fabric just because I like it.
Where I'm going with this - these potholder are fun to make with those pretty fat quarters. And if you just want to practice your walking foot piecing, this is your project.
I taught a class on Saturday, making this bag. Since it had been awhile since I'd made one, I made another before the class. I like to be really prepared. Over-prepared, if the truth were known. It takes awhile to do the embroidery, but then the bag goes super quickly. It's one of my favorite Viking projects (April.)
Thanks to Joanne for her thoughtful comment about bringing the begonia inside. You can see her comment on August 19's post. I would have just brought it in, wondered why it didn't do well, then decided that it really wasn't an indoor plant. Her information is really good, I'm sure she is a great teacher.
The garden is looking a bit dedraggled. The new rhubarb, after a few days of recovery, is now chewed down to the nubs. I have some Russian sage ready to plant today. And the summer squash, which is usually done by now, is producing like crazy.
I have so many projects to start on that I can't seem to decide on one. I need to just start on one, any one, and see where things go.
Early in the summer, I made a wedding gift quilt (throw size) using a pattern and fabric from Craftsy. I used lots of circular walking foot quilting, and I loved it. At first, I didn't take a picture because it was a gift and I didn't want to put it on a blog post. And then, I boxed it up and mailed it and forgot to take a picture.
You'll just have to take my work that it was very pretty and that the circular quilting on the angular design of the quilt was a good choice. The picture above is from the Craftsy website and I hope they will forgive me for using it when I say that the pattern was great, the Robert Kaufman fabric was lovely, and the shipping was fast. Maybe I'll ask the bride to send me a picture.
Yesterday, the day before school started, our first stop was to get Nora's hair cut.
She got a cute little shoulder length cut, just like she wanted. Shoulder length, still long enough for a pony tail, requiring no styling - those were the requirements. It turns up in the front and waves a little in the back, all on its own, perfect.
Then we went to the Levee for one last blast - hampster balls, Aquarium, riding the Duck, lunch at Tom and Chee, ice cream. We did it all.
I have loved this begonia all summer. It sits on the back porch, gets no direct sun, and is happy as can be. As soon as the red flowers fall off, more take their place.
It was on the "reduced" cart at Lowe's early in June, in a black plastic pot with a spider plant and some kind of grass. Still a little pricey, but I really wanted it. I'll definitely be bringing in the spider this fall.
(JoAnn, can I bring the begonia inside too?)
It's been awhile since there's been a quilt here, but the baby quilt group meets tomorrow and I needed to finish my donation quilt. Lavender, yellow, and chick print.
Free motion quilting all over. I got an Amazon gift card for my birthday and had been thinking about how to spend it. I decided on the Queen Size Supreme Slider, which I've been wanting for quite awhile. For some reason, I pictured it as being the same size as the acrylic extension table for my Viking Sapphire, although the description clearly said 11.5" x 17". Quite a bit smaller than the 18" x 24" table.
I was a bit dismayed at the size, but . . . it works great, provides a nice slippery surface just like it's supposed to. I had to pay attention to my moving-the-quilt speed because I could move the quilt so fast that I was almost getting eyelashes on the tiny circles, something that I haven't had to worry about for a long time. The baby quilt got quilted quickly.
I wondered whether the Supreme Slider might slide around on the table, resulting in the needle opening being in the wrong place, but that didn't happen. Great new tool.
If the Bengals are playing a pre-season game tonight, and they are, then fall is truly on its way. Our Friday at the "Downtown Park" will probably be our last visit this summer. I miss summer already, and it's still here. Cooler than usual, but still here.
Yesterday I was admiring the new cucumber vines, and this morning they were chomped. Someone suggested cucumber beetles, but I don't think so. Beetles wouldn't have knocked over the pot of Gerbena daisies nearby. I wish that my neighbors would plant a few goodies so the critters wouldn't always come to my house.
I've been wishing for a little table to put beside my bed, just big enough for my phone and my glasses and Kindle. On my way out of the grocery store a few days ago, I spotted boxes of round glass-topped tables done in flower designs. I put my groceries in the car and went back in and got a turquoise and purple one. Reduced to $10. Perfect, and if I get tired of it I can put it on my porch. It was designed for porches anyway.
A couple of evenings ago Steph and I were having a conversation with friends and we were wondering at what age Aaron started to walk. Yesterday I checked back through my blog and found the answer, around eleven months, same as Nora. That's Aunt Tina with him.
When I started this blog, just before Aaron was born, I didn't consider that down the road it would be a gentle record of family outings and holidays, although I've come to appreciate that. I'm not a scrapbooker, and this serves that purpose for me.
So, for the record, here are pictures at Kings Island in the week before school starts. Nora with her summer freckles, with a few for Aaron too.
So many of the kids around here have already started back to school, and we've learned that these last days before their school starts (a little later) are good times for Kings Island and the zoo. Less crowded. And this year, not really super hot.
Monday night will be meet-the-teacher night, and our summer outings will be almost finished.
Something likes the new rhubarb, and from the black pellets nearby, I'm pretty sure it's a deer. One leaf chewed off every day or two.
The nearby zucchini is apparently of no interest, however. Surely there will soon be blossoms and the plants will spill over their planter.
Yesterday a tiny girl, a neighborhood visitor, rode up on her tricycle and said,"I like your garden."
A little blurry, but here is the Husqvarna Viking free August project. Blackboard fabric, white linen, multi-colored cotton, with a Spanish hemstitch between linen panels and blackboard fabric. Of course I remember now why I like the Spanish Hemstitch foot so much. Whatever foot I have on my machine, it's my favorite.
After our day in Berea and our evening in Georgetown, the kids and I went to the Kentucky Horse Park. The last time I was there, Nora was just little, in a stroller. We were admiring the horses when one showed his teeth. She was done, just done, with horses for that day.
This time, it started to thunder as soon as we got to the park. We hurried into a covered arena just as a competition was about to start. I don't know what it was called, but there were young girls riding horses that jumped over hurdles in timed events. Nora was quite taken by it. Aaron played with my cell phone and clapped from time to time.
Nora would have liked to have riden a horse, but apparently you need to make reservations, or at least get there early. She was content to ride a pony with Aaron. Next year they will both be old enough to ride the horses. There was a wonderful playground close by, and the kids made up obstacle courses and timed themselves until it was time for the park to close, just as the rain came again.
We stopped at a Dairy Queen for ice cream about half way home. I didn't realize how big a "medium" cone was, and I'm sure the kids had ice cream for dinner. They probably had room for nothing else.
Coinciding with their mom's and Bridget's trip to visit Helen, the grands and I took a trip to Berea. It was the same day as Berea's annual quilt show, very tempting, but this was a kid trip.
We stopped in Lexington at Great Harvest Bread Company on the way. Great Harvest bakes wonderful bread and offers a free slice from several choices. The kids chose white, no surprise there since plain whole wheat wasn't one of those featured, and declared it to be the best bread ever. We bought a loaf of that, along with several others.
They admired the Cumberland Foothills from the car and we went to Indian Fort to do some hiking. They made about 20 minutes up and 20 minutes back, which was enough to see a little scenery. There was discussion about how long-ago Indians considered this to be a sacred place.
In Berea, we stopped to hear some dulcimer music and have lunch at the newly-enlarged PapaLeno's. We strolled around the campus and went into a couple of buildings. Nora wanted to see some classrooms and the library, but Aaron quickly tired to the touring. They both loved Seabury Center with its gym, pool, and walking track.
Our hotel stop was in Georgetown. Oh, joy, the pool was open all night, and they made it almost to midnight. Or, I made it almost to midnight, I'm sure they would have stayed longer. There were a couple of families there, and between the water balls and the soakers it got pretty rowdy.
Next door was a Fazoli's restaurant, which was a huge hit for dinner and lunch the next day.
