End of August

August 30. It's a busy end to a much-anticipated but somehow less than hoped for summer. I think the relentless hot days have had much to do with that. Not much pleasant outdoor time. Evenings driving home in my un-airconditioned truck. Nights like this one, when it's still in the 80's even though it's 9:00. Too hot for the garden. But, like summer should be, it's been a time of waking up to daylight and of daylight stretching out into the evenings. I love that.

Sunday I hung this church banner after the service so it could be ready for a series starting next Sunday.

Aaron's birthday Raggedy Andy now needs only clothes to be complete for his birthday. With 13 days to go, I'm sure to have it finished. Actually, I'd love to have it finished tomorrow night. It feels just a little strange - for two years the fabric and pattern have decorated my studio and now it's no longer a decoration. That's what I love about creating - ending up with something that wasn't there before.

Here's the almost-three year old birthday guy. He and I had a conversation last night when he was driving this car, driving away after hitting his sister. I told him that we don't hit, and he said, yes we do. I had to amend that to "I don't like it when you hit."

Here's the sister of the conversation, ready to go to kindergarden in a very short time. She has some pretty clothes, some awesome boots, for school. And, notice Aunt Sarah, a helmet on her head. She told me it's about time for her training wheels to come off. She's growing so fast, just like her brother. Every time I see them, I'm amazed.

GABP

Last night was the most perfect night for a baseball game at Great American Ball Park. Cool weather, good-natured crowd. Lots of Cubs fans on the bus over and back.

Some home runs (THREE by Jay Bruce) and fireworks. Fireworks at the end. More fireworks because it was Friday night. Peanuts and beer.

Looking across the river, I always try to puzzle out just where I live. Here's my guess: to the right of the Coca-Cola sign there's a large building that I think is a hospital. I'm just a little to the right of that. Maybe.

The Start of Raggedy Andy

Aaron's 3rd birthday is coming up in September and I still haven't made him his Raggedy Andy. It's time.

I hoped that the face would be available for machine embroidery but it seems that hasn't happened. Probably licensed. Anyway, I'll be making the face and heart the traditional way, which is most likely just as well.

In the meantime, here's a bag made quickly for a Christmas gift.

And here's my co-workier's shower gift for last Tuesday night's shower. I've wanted to make this since I saw it in last year's Quilting Arts Gifts. You can see just the bottom of the circular cut-out that makes this a door hanger. It has Peltex interfacing to make it stiff.

Thinking about Quilting Arts Gifts, I hope this year's issue is out soon. I always find at least a couple of things that I want to try - some time.

Teak

Last night I had plans to visit a restaurant in Mt. Adams with good friends. We realized in the afternoon that the place I chose was closed on Mondays so we made a second choice, Teak, which was around the corner. It is a Thai and sushi restaurant - a good choice.

I had tofu pad thai - I'm always looking for pad thai that's as good as WanPen in Berea. I still haven't found anything better, but this was good and had lots of veggies.

With the hot weather we've had all summer, it didn't seem possible that we could sit outside on the deck, but it was very pleasant, perfect in fact. On a Monday night the restaurant was still busy but not crowded, and it seemed that most people opted to sit outside.

Mt. Adams is ever so charming. This restaurant, also with outside dining although it's hard to see it here, was across a side street

and across the other street was a place with wonderful flower boxes.

I still want to go to Rookwood, the original choice, just not on a Monday. Sarah, Winnie, and I went some time last year and we loved it. It used to be a pottery and there are two kilns still in place, now used for seating. Next time.

Check check check check check

Lots and lots of machine quilting. Check.

Sheer organza ribbons sewn in place. Check.

Binding all around. Check.

Casing at the top for hanging. Check.



Little repair to cover a paint spill. Check.


Church banner ready for hanging.

Heavenly Angels

There are four of these lovely HolleyBerry angels on this banner. I needed it done in a hurry, so I went to my favorite thrift store and was lucky enough to find the red table runner with little embellishments on the corners. All I needed to do was embroider the angels on white linen, tadd a fleece backing to the linen rectangles, and sew around them with dotted ribbon.

At some point I want to use the angels to make something for myself, not sure what just yet. But in the meantime, there's a church banner to finish in a very timely manner, a long-overdue Raggedy Andy to make for Aaron's birthday, a work project or two, a shower gift to finish. And I've just started a third Seeing Double table runner that needs to be quickly finished.

And, there's thinking to do, about balance. It always comes down to that for me. I would have thought that with all the thinking I've put into that subject already, I'd have figured it out. But there's always the hope. Like the Grinch, who "thought and thought 'til his puzzler was sore, then the Grinch thought of something he hadn't before." That's my hope - that I'll think of something I hadn't before.

But in the meantime, the new table runner is looking glorious. On my first and only trip to Cabin Arts, a local quilt shop, I got a set of fat quarters tied with a pretty organza ribbon. In colors I rarely use. I wondered at the time just why I wanted them so much, but I did, and they're perfect for this project. I love how the Universe takes care of me like that.

Leaves

This little wallhanging was made with the Anita Goodesign Leaves collection. The dimensional leaves are embroidered on organza, no stabilizer, then cut around the edges. The tiny bit of remaining organza was burned off with my Creative Textiles heating tool. The outlines were embroidered directly on the quilt.

I'd always wanted to make a little quilt by pulling little pieces of left-over fabric from my basket and stitching them together. My basket is pretty full and it wasn't hard to find some colors I wanted. I just stitched a couple of fabrics together and trimmed them up. Very easy, very fun.

I've enjoyed five days of knowing that my old washer is gone and that there will be no more wet basement floor. Last night, however, my toilet started to gurgle when the bathroom sink drained and now seems to be hopelessly clogged. For no reason. And my camera is acting funny. And my printer has suddenly and mysteriously stopped printing.

And I'm just one person. What if there were multiple persons in my house with multiple plumbing options and multiple electronics? Would everything ever be working at the same time? At least, for my camera, I have a protection plan. I think that normally they're a bad idea, but I have very bad luck with cameras.