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!

Leap Frog Flannel Quilt

Earlier this spring I dug into my flannel bin, determined to clean it out and get the 15-30 year old fabric into quilts. I posted about the project HERE.

This is the first of those quilts...Leap Frog

The tan, speckled fabric isn't flannel, it's cotton, but it was perfect so I just threw it in.

Such a simple design - no pattern - I just tried to make the best use out of what I had. It finishes at 56" x 68".

I DID buy the Minky for the back though

Those frogs are absolutely delighted to have escaped into the wild after so many years and I'm fairly certain that it will accompany a particular little grandson on many adventures although June is not the best time of the year to cuddle with flannel. I'll save it for his birthday in November.

A Peek into Monday

 Soccer camp was a huge success

This little tike loved it!

She was super focused

At 8 in the morning, the mountain air is cool and crisp and perfect for learning the fundamentals

(I edited people and a big 18-wheeler out of these pictures so that's why these photos have a watermark about being AI generated. Not a fan of AI.)

I think someone is going to be disappointed when the week ends, but for now she is soaking it in

Well done little all-star!

My sister-in-law and I made a good team for the rest of the day. Someone is bound to ask about all the pie birds. My MIL has collected them for years and what you see is only half of them...there are just as many on the other side of the kitchen. They are cute, but get sticky.   We were tuckered out and practically melted, but my in-laws' house is now in pretty good shape. We tackled everything from windows to baseboards and bathrooms to pie birds and we managed to do it without being pruned from the family tree. 😉

The rest of the week promises to be filled with adventure so I'm going to channel my inner spring chicken and forage for the special moments that lie ahead. 

Father's Day Fish Fry

 We did this last year so I guess it's now a family tradition. So greatful each and every day for these amazing dads in our lives.

It warms my heart to have a house full of family. Fried fish, hush puppies, corn on the cob, okra, and cole slaw were on the menu

I had good help in the kitchen

Not the healthiest menu so I put out broccoli and carrots to tip the scale a bit. 😄 And radishes from the garden

Cherry Cheesecake Lush for the win.

I wish I had taken more pictures, but I got busy. Today I'm off to watch our granddaughter play soccer. She's 5. This should be interesting. 😁And then I'll go to my inlaws' and help my sister-in-law clean their house. They keep it 88-90 degrees inside so we're preparing to melt and we may fight over who gets to clean the outside of the windows just to escape the stiffling air inside. Wish us luck. 😉

Found in My Sewing Room

 

The sneaky artist strikes again. 😂🥰 

Wild Spaces

 The other day I popped online to look at a quilt pattern. This was not it, but this cute one popped up

I instantly felt claustrophobic and like I was on the verge of hyperventilating. 😂

What a great scrappy quilt, but if you've been a long- time visitor at the end of the dirt road, you know that I am somewhat of a hermit. We live in the middle of nowhere for a reason. I regularly avoid town and I function best in wild spaces.

But my instant reaction to a photo of a quilt made me chuckle. I'm eager to make this one though.

I didn't order the kit, but I did order the pattern. I'm pretty sure that I will discover a variety of treasures in my quilt pantry that will be perfect for this.

And this one is still calling my name.