vacation! (and some projects, too)

Oh man, it's August 9th already. We had such a cold, rainy, long spring and then got super baked for several weeks and I feel we've hardly had any "real" summer. I hope we get some nice days of high 70s with sun and a breeze before school starts.

School, wow, already?!? The time, it flies. Daughter will start first grade after labor day. It's coming up quickly...we've already purchased her supplies (except the markers, because I haven't seen them for $1 yet). I'm watching for juice box coupons and stocking up on snacks for the lunchbox. The light outside is shifting, just a bit, telling me that autumn is indeed on its way.

We were away last week, the kids and I, visiting my sister and her baby boy in the midwest. Her husband was out of town on business so we descended upon their home for a whole week. It saddens me that the cousins in our family will all grow up far away from each other, so it's nice to put them together and let them become acquainted. That way the holidays aren't a visit with people who feel like strangers. Also, holy cow did I need a change of scenery. It was amazing to get out of town for awhile and look at something other than our four walls! Even shopping at Target in a different place feels somehow fresh and new. We played, walked, swam, shopped, cooked, ate, baked, and played some more. My sister's house has central air - glorious! - and our moods were all greatly improved by the comfort we experienced.

I took along a bit of knitting but didn't get a whole lot done.

These socks were started in January. January! I cast them on to take to the hospital for AJ's surgery, which ended up postponed until mid-February anyway, and besides, I never actually knit in the surgical waiting room. Taking knitting along is just wishful thinking. So these rode around in the bottom of my purse until recently when I got sick of seeing them in there and I started working on them in earnest. One down, one started.

And before we left, when I was doing vacation pre-cleaning so we wouldn't come home to a gross house, I picked this quilt up off the dining room table and finished the stinking thing:

This is, I guess, broken dishes (?) but was supposed to be a pinwheel quilt separated by sashing. It went from a planned queen size to maybe a twin to a wallhanging as I got tired of making the blocks. Ha! Some quilter I am.

I based this on a quilt pattern in Nickel Quilts. Unfortunately somewhere between making the first batch of blocks years ago and finishing it up last winter, I accidentally changed the size of the individual components, so some of the blocks got chopped down in the final assembly. If you enlarge the photo you might be able to see where several of the pinwheels don't actually have points on them. Whoops!

Anyway, I don't care and I think it looks pretty good to hang on my living room wall! We need color desperately, and this roughly 56"X64" quilt will bring it.

I've been swayed lately by all the fresh fabric collections quilters are using in the online quilting world...lots of juicy oranges, pinks, lime greens, browns, bright blues...and I was even thinking I might splurge on some of the newer fabrics, despite my reservations that these colors might seem really dated in a few years (remember country blue and rose? how about peach and seafoam green? yeah), but then I finished this quilt and I realized where my heart lies. I love these tiny prints and semi-solids. I love traditional quilts.

And now that I've finished one, I can start another. Or maybe two. Those are the rules. Right?