One of my semi-finished projects from the weekend - the Surf's Up Mystery quilt.  I was chatting with the people at Hokema's (that ran the mystery) and said something about having fabric in the kit that I didn't use.  She pointed out that I was missing two borders and the unused fabric was the outside border.  Sigh....read ALL the instructions....I was so distracted by the options to put it together that I didn't really finished it.  I added the last two borders to the quilt and picked up the backing fabric, so this one is ready to get quilted. 

I spent last weekend "finishing" things - though I didn't actually "finish" them, I just moved them to the next step.  For me, that's a win!  I added a border to the 2026 Riley Blake Designs (RBD) Challenge quilt and have it on the frame to quilt.  Did I start quilting it?  Not a chance, but I'm ready!

I did get some stuff done in the yard and around the house, since I didn't get all my quilting done.  I'm having a low-key birthday party next weekend (cake, ice cream and some friends) so I spent some time out in the yard in the mornings.  The summer was hard on my yard this year.  We are expecting cooler weather this week, and I am ready for Fall!! 

 

Finally!  I'm back to three eggs a day (from 4 chickens).  My two Easter Eggers have been laying green eggs faithfully, but my Sapphire Gem went broody, so wasn't laying.  Either she's back to laying again (after three weeks - the normal time it takes for eggs to hatch) or my older Welsummer is laying again.  Since the Welsummer is just 18 months old, she should be laying too, but both of them lay brown eggs and I haven't had any brown eggs for 3 weeks.  They are both looking healthy, so I'm blaming the heat for one and being broody for the other.  But, at least I'm back to 3 eggs now. 

AJ got a new toy, and the first thing he made was something for me!  He got a 3D printer, and his first printing test was to make ruler holders for me.  I honestly had been thinking about getting another one (don't judge - a quilter needs LOTS of rulers, just sayin'), so it worked out for me - a simple test for him and something for me.  The first test failed - the "ink" he got jammed up the printer.  As usual, when he placed his order, the printer came Saturday, but his "ink" wasn't scheduled to be delivered until Monday.  He ran into Best Buy and got some Sunday morning, but evidently it wasn't compatible with his printer.  Poor guy - a new toy and he broke it first thing. He spent most of Sunday tearing the printer down and putting it back together.  Luckily, the correct ink came Sunday afternoon, so he was able to play with his new toy (and Mom got a present!).  

       

 

 

Thursday night Cindy M and I took the paddle boards out again, and, once again, I didn't go involuntarily swimming!!  I did have to take a break from standing, but not because my legs were tired,  my feet were!  I found myself gripping the board with my toes/feet so much (to keep from involuntarily swimming!)  that they were needing a break.  We've been paddling in the cove by the dock - the boats go out to the lake so it very calm - and each time we've seen wildlife, which just makes the lake trip that much better. This trip we saw a blue heron that we startled so it flew up into a tree (sorry to ruin your possible dinner, guy!) and deer.  We aren't sure if we saw one or two deer - there was one by the blue heron when we went by, and on our way back there was one a bit further down the lake shore.  Same one??  Hard to tell, no name tags were visible.  I do find I have a harder time taking pictures on the paddle board.  I'm not able to adjust the camera lens or twist around for a better shot (let's face it, I'm not able to do much more than look straight ahead!) so my photos fro the moment aren't as good as they could be.  Something to practice on!

 

For once, I'm ahead!  The Liberty Lady quilt is a "block a month" quilt, and I get the fabric for each block monthly.  I finished my August block and realized I had enough scraps left from other months to finish September's block too!  October's fabric is the border fabric, so I will have to wait on that, but I'm caught up until then, at least on the blocks.  It needs to be sewn together, but this is all the blocks up on the design board. 

The Frog baby quilt is done - just in time for the baby shower on Sunday! 

 

I made the final decision on how to put the Surf's Up quilt together, and sewed it together before I could change my mind again.  

 

I took the opportunity to sit out by the pool Sunday morning to do my puzzles, drink my coffee, and enjoy the cool start to the day (first load of laundry in the washer) and I had a companion. She looked like she was chilling too!

Why yes, I do!!!!  

I'm looking forward to retirement - no long living by the alarms that I have set on my phone for meetings and making sure I get myself to work on time, get Alli picked up on time, etc. (though I'll probably leave the last alarm on....)  I think that is what I'm looking forward to the most right now.  Middle management is pretty much nothing but meetings, I think.

What's a poor girl to do when the cat steals your bed????  And isn't even sorry about it?

I think I found the way I'm going to put the last Mystery Quilt together.  Someone else posted a picture of theirs that they rearranged the blocks a bit, and I really like how it looks with my blocks. 

For comparison, here are the other two mock-ups I did: 

I found a super quick and cute coaster pattern - it makes up in minutes and takes just five 5" square pieces of fabric - definitely a scrap-buster!  The pattern is here: Coasters and it's super easy!  A quick little project for when I have the sewing equivalent of writer's block. For me, it's often more of a "decisions, decisions" thing - when I finish up a project, which one do I jump into next?   

 I had offered to quilt a quilt top for a friend's mom, and I had to make myself do it before I quilted anything for me, or it would have sat there forever!  I could never be a professional quilter.  I'd rather work on my stuff!  But, once I finished it and before I jumped into the next project, I tried this little pattern out.  Now, on to the next project - quilting the baby frog quilt - the baby shower is less than 2 weeks away!!