Mid - August 2015

Back in mid-July, I took a workshop with a friend at one of the local quilt shops...I'm a personal fan of mystery quilts.  Not knowing exactly what the design of the quilt is takes all the stress out of choosing fabrics.  In this case, one needed 2 yards of a background, 3 yards of a focus fabric, and 2 yards of an accent fabric...Easy peasy.  I decided to work entirely from stash and used fabrics that matched or slightly exceeded the required amounts.  Now, admittedly, this quilt is not exactly my cup of tea - too tame, quite frankly.  But it is pretty and soft and quite feminine.  I know it's hard to see it with all the other 'business' going on behind it...sorry about that.  But I finished the top during the class and immediately sent it off to my quilter to be quilted.  He used a sage green thread that matches the accent fabric, using a stars and loops pattern to quilt it.  I placed a binding using the same sage green fabric as the accent and it's quite lovely.  The 'flowers' resemble fireworks when you get closer so I've names this one "Hanabi" which is Japanese for firework.  

Young John came to visit this past week, a flying visit that lasted less than 48 hours.  We packed in a lot of talking and catching up and traveling through the state of Missouri.  One of his goals in life is to visit the capitol building in each of the 50 United States.  He had completed 24 visits up to his visit with me.  He was able to visit 4 more while he was here, starting with Nebraska, then Kansas, Missouri, and finishing with Oklahoma.  He made arrangements before he flew here to meet up with the Representative for the district where I live.  We left early Tuesday morning and drove to Jefferson City and straight to the capitol...Rep. Tony Dugger met us there and gave us a personal tour of both the House and Senate chambers, introduced us to several Representatives and lobbyists AND took us to meet the Speaker of the House for Missouri.  I was quite impressed.  He offered to pose for a picture - that's me, Rep. Dugger, and Representative John Knotwell III of Utah standing at the Speaker's Podium in the House Chamber.  Then he said he'd email me a copy of the picture and, within 10 minutes I got a ping on my phone that the picture was waiting in the email queue!

We then took the public tour of the capitol - there we got the history and anecdotal info that one gets on any public tour.  Then lunch and finally start our way home, stopping at 4 quilt shops to pick up Row by Row patterns and license plates...Dinner at John's favorite deli - McAllisters - and then home.

Once we got home, we found that the air conditioning unit was on the fritz and the house was really hot!  Opened windows and called for a/c service for the next day...thank goodness the temps were getting lower after the sun went down and we were able to sleep fairly comfortably with the use of ceiling fans and opened windows.  

John left the next day to drive to Oklahoma City and then fly home that afternoon...he even stopped at a quilt shop in Okla. City and then mailed me a pattern, kit, and license plate before he toured the capitol...I'm such a lucky girl!

A/C was repaired easily and efficiently the next morning for very little money (sigh of gratitude!!!) and we are back to normal for southwest Missouri in mid-August - hot and humid! 

Hoping to show more Row by Rows that I've managed to sew up next time...I think I'm going to make up quilts that have a theme - desert, mountains, lakes, seashore....I certainly have a variety of patterns from last year and this year to fit those categories. And any number of folks have given me their word to send patterns from all over the U.S. 

Thanks so much for stopping by.