Soaking in the Moments

 My days have been full in the best kind of way!

What a joy this little charmer is!

And yes, I may be a tad biased. 😉

His mama spoiled me with a thoughtful welcome basket

It was hot and humid while I was there, but it didn't stop us from spending much of our time outside

Just add water 

For instant giggles

At 62, Gram's too old for a toddler's water slide, but at L's request, slide she did...many times (Advil for the win)

His reaction was worth it

Soaking up summer

With a cherry on top

His little jeep has a radio and it was playing God Bless the U.S.A. when he jumped out and I snapped this shot...I might have gotten a little teary eyed.

He's already a fishing pro with Dad

This kid doesn't know how good he has it

He's living his best life

And the sky's the limit

Small Town 4th

Our 4th of July celebration was low-key this year. I made a batch of Special K Cookies before loading up and heading out.

 

The little village closest to us (32 miles) celebrates in style.

Small town parades are the best! When the truck dies, it gets propelled down the parade route by friends pushing it with their feet.

Parades are now a family tradition.

And Pap's arms are a pretty good place to share your best candy acquisitions.

Our little flag-waving all-American was ready to celebrate

After the parade we mosied over to the fair grounds to visit with friends and watch the ranch rodeo

It was a fun day, but I was in bed by 8. Socializing wears this hermit out these days.

Under the Needle: June

 DH was away for 2 days at the first of the month and I spent much of it in my sewing room. I dug into my Tend the Earth quilt project and made 462 hsts. 288 went into this quilt top

And the other 174 are trimmed and ready for a 2nd quilt once I settle on a pattern. I love the versatility of hsts.

Later in the month, I spent some time cutting batting scraps and flannel down for a western rag quilt

 and stitched all the pieces together

I made the blocks and pieced it into a quilt and I am currently snipping the fringe...a little each morning before I tie into the day.

Earlier this year I pulled my bin of flannels and comitted to using them up. I posted about that project HERE. The rag quilt is one of the 6.

My favorite sewing assistant spent some time creating and designing one day

And together we got some stitches under her belt

We made a happy pillowcase

I also felt inspired to make a quilt to commemorate America's 250th birthday and it was fun to dig through my stash of old reds and blues and neutrals to make these blocks

I finished this flannel froggy quilt last week

And I put the last stitch into my 2nd camping quilt

I hope ya'll are having as much fun working on projects as I am!

Road Trip

 Wednesday morning DH and I loaded up and headed to Texas. We had a flat about 4 hours in, as we rolled through the little farming town of Tahoka, and pulled into an old school tire shop where they put a boot in the tire. DH has fixed hundreds of tires through the years, but this was awfully convenient and we like supporting these small businesses. 

Then we rolled on to spend a little time with his little brother. He and his wife recently moved and the boys spent some time going over some things.

Early onset Alzheimer's is a heartbreaking disease.

Then on Thursday, DH and I drove 2 hours to exchange our beehive. DH peeked in ours and could not see a queen and the place he bought it from, said they would exchange his for a new hive. Our original hive is thriving. 

Our girl met us there

 and took me back to OK for a few days. She recently took up crochet so I suggested we stop at a yarn shop in McKinney before heading back to her house

It was fun to treat her to an early birthday gift. The yarn shop is also a quilt shop, but I didn't need anything. We stopped and enjoyed a fabulous lunch 

here

And our shared love for books found us perusing pages here.

And then we drove another 90 minutes to get the best hug ever from this little charmer

Signing off for now. We're off on a bug hunt!