I have just one word....No!!!

 

Yesterday, my last day of vacation, (weekends don't count!) Cindy M and I went to IKEA....We had a great day shopping, and came home with much more than what was on our original shopping list.  My list included a sit/stand desk for my sewing room, and I got IKEA's Rodulf desk - I love it!  It's still in the cartons in the garage, putting it together is on my to-do list this afternoon.   I also picked up a present for the cats.  I think it's a hit!

 

And one more kayaking trip for my vacation. Cindy M and I went out yesterday and it was beautiful - the water was flat, and the temp was about 90 at noon (on the lake - a bit warmer in town.)

 

Just when I thought I'd get one more cucumber off the poor plant, one of the dog beat me to it.  I found this in the lawn.....  The heat/lack of water pretty much decimated the Japanese cucumber plant, so I will only have lemon cucumbers to harvest, if they don't get too hot too.

 

I'm on vacation this week, and AJ took Monday off too, so we hit Whiskeytown Lake in the kayaks - my first time out this summer.  It was beautiful - sunny and cool, with just a touch of wind.  We paddled from Whiskey Creek marina out under the 299 Hwy bridge and back - a nice long paddle.  I regretted that a bit yesterday, as I was painting - my arms and shoulders were a bit tired, even more so after painting 4 doors....but I got one small paining project done (finally....)

 

I got all the star blocks done yesterday!  The piecing is done, now I just need to put it all together...

Here's the draft of the quilt - there will be a couple more borders on it, but you can see the beginning of the end from here.

 

And progress on the star quilt....

 

This is what 108 degrees will do to your garden....the poor cucumbers are toast!  The peppers don't look much better, but they will live. I'm not too sure about the cucumbers.

This is the next day, and it's possible the plants will make it....

 

Another new quilt, and it's another "mystery" quilt.  This is a "Summer Block Party" quilt, with different quilt designers designing each block.  The original fabrics used were in shades of red, white, and blue, but I decided to try it in shades of yellow and green.  That sounded great, until I started getting the block patterns.  Really leaning into red, white and blue....I'm adjusting the patterns to use the yellow and green - my "Melon Slices" are cantaloupes instead of watermelon, and I replaced the flag on the Lighthouse block with plain fabric.  We'll see how it goes.....  

Suggested fabrics/colors:

The first three blocks

Here's my Cantaloupe instead of melon slices.  I like how they turned out - better than the pink and red in the original, personally.

 

What I did on my summer vacation....or at least on Juneteenth, since it was a day off from work.  AJ and I cleaned out the garage enough to get the Volvo in it!  It won't stay there, there's still a lot of work to do, but it was a red letter day for us!!

 

We are over-run with little frogs this year - lots of rain this spring. This little guy is protecting my garden.  

 

And I'll be lucky if I can find all the quilt pieces - Jessie decided to keep the warm for me....I just know it's going to be like a jigsaw puzzle - one piece missing when you're through.

And the newest quilt is started!  I love the colors in the fabric!  The top photo doesn't do them justice.  I'll have to retake that one when I have more natural light.

And all the little pieces to put together (actually, not all of them are here either....)

 

And now it's Jessie's turn to "help" when Alli's getting her shower/dressed...

 

And the mystery quilt top is finished!  I like it! It was odd making a quilt without knowing how all the pieces would go together. I do like that it was just a two-color quilt as well. It's very striking (and large!).

 

I picked half of the bean plants for my first true harvest!  There were enough for AJ and I for dinner off of just half the plants, not bad!

 

The beans are getting busy!  It's looking like a good year for them this year.

And I have more cucumbers that have set.....

The tomatoes have finally started to grow a bit.

"I'm sorry, this sink is occupied. Alli will have to brush her teeth later..."  James is the oddest cat is all I can say.  She hangs out in the bathroom sink all the time!

 

I had a huge black bee in my zucchini flowers the other day - he was definitely spreading the pollen around!

 

I was drawing out the quilting lines on this baby quilt and left it out.  The next think I knew, it was all bunched up and moved around on the table. When I went to straighten it up (and put it away) I found a surprise hiding underneath....

 

I got the last set of directions for my "Mystery Quilt" yesterday - now to put it all together!  Here is what I think of as the "rough draft". The empty spot will be white squares, and there are more blocks to the total quilt...I just don't have the room to put them on the design wall.

 

And a finished quilt top!  This is the block a month one that I've been working on for most of a year - 11 months total.  I like how it came out.  Now to find backing for it, and get it quilted!  I say that like there's not much left to do......and I guess after piecing it for a year, the actual quilting won't take that long, right???

And it is officially summer - I got Alli in the pool yesterday,,,,

And mom got her own reward for swimming.....

 

Gardens amaze me - I just posted pictures of the garden, and I go out two days later and you really notice how much everything has grown.  I have a yellow cherry tomato ripe, and the green beans are getting there.

 

And I think summer is officially here…if not today, Wednesday for sure!!!