Christmas Table Topper

 

Another retreat project - nothing special, just mini charm blocks pieced together.  Mini charms are 2 1/2" x 2 1/2".

What I like:  the fabric is a Christmas collection but it doesn't scream Christmas.  With the snowballs and pine trees and tiny glimpses of Christmas flowers and all thoe blues, it can continue on into January before the Valentine decorations come out.

We're in for 90-degree temperatures for the next five days.   Yesterday afternoon there was a surprise thunderstorm that went on and on.  Lots of rain.

Today is college orientation for my granddaughter.  She will be a University of Cincinnati Bearcat.

Baby Girl Quilt

 

At our most recent retreat, I made this baby girl quilt.  I found out after the fact that the mom-to-be wants flowers, not animals, for her little girl, so I was lucky there.

I've been trying to increase my water consumption and have found the perfect, for me, water bottle.  I can load it up with ice and water in the morning and it still has ice in the evening.  And for once, the ice in my ice cube trays is always fresh.

Strange thing - after drinking more water, my beloved Diet Coke just doesn't taste quite as good.

I dreamed of having a new and up-to-date refrigerator when I moved here sixteen years ago.  I quickly learned that the refrigerator of my dreams wouldn't fit in the space.  In the end, I was happy to find a refrigerator with glass, not wire, shelves.  And no ice maker.

Coneflowers

 

I love conflowers, and so do the bees.  

Here we are the end of the first week in July, and I haven't been shopping yet for annuals and sale perennials.  I think it might be time.  It either was too hot or there was an air quality alert or I was too tired or I just was lazy.

So, I've been relying on already-planted perennials from other years, and they have been putting on a good show, phasing in and out.

A few days ago I wasn't paying enough attention and caught my finger and fingernail in the sewing machine needle when it was in thread-cutting mode.  It had been a long time since that happened, if ever.  I'm not even going to blame this one on being old, just on concentrating on sewing too quickly.  My reaction time in getting my finger out of there was pretty impressive.

Design Wall

 

On my design wall these days.  Corey Yoder's Joy Filled pattern.  I'm not crazy about the colors, especially that dark gray, but maybe when it goes together I'll be happier.

And probably it doesn't matter too much.  What I wanted was an exercise in following a pattern and this was a good one to try.

Sightseeing in the City

 

Yesterday the grands and I decided to have lunch at The Gruff in Covington, despite knowing that it might be hard to find parking since Cincinnati was hosting a Taylor Swift concert and the Reds were in town.  Big events at two close-together stadiums.

It turned out that finding metered parking was easy, and even though the restaurant was busy we were able to get a table outside in the shade.  

It was a day for sightseeing.  The restaurant is at the end of the bridge to Cincinnati, and people were making their way over.  There were many pink skirts, sparkles were everywhere, and there were plenty of white cowboy boots and cowboy hats.  Mixed in were Reds tee shirts with jeans or khaki shorts.

The Reds game was moved up a couple of hours to spread things out a little, although the game ended up going into extra innings.  Down to the last out, the Reds won in the eleventh inning.

I'm so glad we took a chance on going to lunch.  Seeing the excitement, especially in middle school girls, was just so fun.