Looks like Aaron found something to pick too
I loved Aaron's swinging arms as he headed back for his mom and sister
My aunt and uncle used to have huge gardens. Now in their 80's, they've cut back a lot, but there were cherry tomatoes for the kids to pick.
Steph said it was their first experience picking vegetables, and their enjoyment is reason enough for me to plan on enlarging my garden again next year.
Aaron had a great time too. He has tubes in his ears and Steph told me that he shouldn't go under water in the hot tub. I thought that would be easy until he came to the edge and walked right in before I could get there. He sputtered and went on being happy.
Sunday was a very hot and windy day. The following pictures were at my brother Carlton's farm.
Aaron isn't sunburned, he just gets pink very quickly in the heat.
Brother Carlton and niece Ariel. About a year after Ariel was born The Little Mermaid came out and her relatively obscure name was a household word for households with kids.
My mom started this quilt long ago. She died in 1987, so it probably goes back at least twenty-five years. When she died, I took the box of crazy quilt squares, made from neckties that she got at the second-hand store or that people gave her. Some were stitched in blue, but most had gold stitching.
Probably ten years ago I made an attempt at putting the squares together but I lacked the skill and the tools and took them apart again and put them back in the box. On Sunday I was sitting in church with my mind wandering - a common occurrence - and realized that I could probably finish this quilt now.
I did the piecing Sunday afternoon, using a large square plastic ruler to square up each block and the dual feed foot to keep the squares feeding smoothly. I also set my sewing machine for woven heavy since the ties were stithed on a muslin base. All these were options I didn't have on my first try.
The piecing went easily and quickly (the blocks are 9" square) and I put the sashing on last night. The next step will be the quilt sandwich, then stitch in the ditch around the squares.
Then things get a little unsure. I know I can't duplicate my mom's lovely hand stitching so I'm going to try using one of the crazy quilt stitches on my sewing machine to go around the squares. I got some 12-weight gold thread today. I don't know if this will work well or not, but I'm hopeful. If not, I can leave it with just stitch in the ditch quilting and it will still look lovely. I'm hoping for more, though.
Don't worry, Aaron, I haven't forgotten your Noah's Ark quilt.
The gang may not be quite all here, though. I'm thinking of a small 2" red sashing and a wide 6" purple one - same width as the blocks. A couple more pairs of animals may find themselves on the purple sashing. We're missing the elephants and the lambs.
There's still more than a month to go, so timewise it's looking good. Fabrics are a sturdy cotton. I know that somewhere, somewhere, in the studio or office or basement there is an aqua piece that I really wanted instead of the red but I couldn't find it and decided to go with the red.
When we got back to my house, Nora requested a sleepover, and that's what happened. I'm glad she likes to stay at my house, and she was ever so well behaved. 
