It's been a month and more . . . .

I am not much of a blogger not having posted in over a month. My only excuse is Summer!!! I love the summer and being outside which means I just don't hang around my computer as much. There has been a lot of complaining and belly aching going on around our area this summer. We have had rain, and more rain and still lots more rain. The temperatures have been cooler too than normal so that adds to the constant question by people of when will summer get here? Because of that the garden is growing slowly and not so well as other summers and my flowers have not done as well. But still I love the summer, and time spent with family. I love watching mama bluebird fly in and out of the house feeding her new babies that make quite a lot of noise when they are hungry. I love looking at the the lake and mountains in the early morning when there is hardly a ripple on the lake and it is all reflected. I love watching the black clouds rush across the sky as a thunder storm approaches and then marveling at the enormous bolts of lightning that are soon to appear. It's 80 degrees today which seems just right to me and the sun is shining so I am having a hard time completing this without looking out the window. Summer is indeed here, and I hope everyone is finding time for rest and rejuvenation.




Here is the garden a month ago, looking pretty sad, not growing much.














Here it is a month later, so it is growing! The tomatoes are smaller than they should be but there is still time.

July 4th was fun in Northville, it has such a small town atmosphere with so many old victorian and farm style houses, lots of history here. We saw a parade, and a jazz band and ate fried dough and kettle corn and watched a fabulous firework show! It was amazing to part of something that felt like it could only be found in America!
We've had quite a few visitors but I am guilty of not getting all the photos I would like, but that just means that we were having fun.Courtney and Annabelle check out the tiniest frog.
Newest granddaughter Grace gave me a smile and then stuck out her tongue, so cute.
Niece Molly's baby Joe Joe (they told me they call him that) came for his first visit. I am so disappointed to don't have pictures of his sisters, they were very busy playing outside. I did get to chat with big sisters Sara and Anna more than usual when all the cousins are there together so that was really special.Molly's hubby Matt takes a turn with Baby Grace, he was very focused on something he was reading and is such a pro with baby holding.
We are blessed to have Leanora and her Mom and Dad close by so she has been quite the beach bunny this summer, what a sweetie she is!
Jason, Jr. and his Mom Holly. Holly is busy with Grace these days but always has time for Jason too! Jason was already to kayak with his Dad.
My husband, my son Jason and his son Jason, what were they looking at?
Grace took some good naps out under the beach umbrella, here she kicks those feet! So amazing, only two months old!
And my friend Michael and his wife Kate came to visit with their sweet little girl Lily, she and Annabelle got along great! Sorry I didn't get a picture of Kate too. I think I am nervous using my camera around the water, I need to get over that.

And somewhere in all of this I squeezed in some sewing. This little outfit is called Adoree and is from Australian Smocking and Embroidery magazine.


This was my first attempt at shadow embroidery and scalloping the edges of the garment. Once again I just love my Aurora sewing machine for those scallops, it is fun to keep learning something new.

Changes old and new . . .

A new quilt for Grace.


Almost a month has gone by since I last wrote anything on here. I feel like I have been so busy. In that time I have done a little sewing, making this quilt as a gift for our newest granddaughter Grace. I used the pinks and blues from Moda's Snippets line and also added some Aunt Grace's reproduction prints from the 1930's. I had bought those in San Diego on our trip at Rosie's Calico Cupboard, an extremely large and well stocked quilt shop. I was just waiting for the baby to be born so I could decide how to use them. I used the directions from Moda Bakeshop and it was really fun to make. My daughter Courtney and daughter-in-law Katie both mentioned that they thought Grace would enjoy playing with the prairie points once she was old enough. I thought the prairie points were cute and that is the first time I have used them on a quilt, didn't even think about the play factor. I am getting a little better with the free motion quilting the more I do it, just love the crinkled look of the quilt after it is washed. I mistakenly ordered a layer cake when the directions called for a charm pack so I just cut the squares and really didn't have any waste so that was fine. Plus I still have lots of layer cake squares waiting for my next project, I am sure there will be one before long. Of course I need to get smocking a little dress for my new granddaughter.

I spent most of a week out at Jason and Holly's house and enjoyed my time with Jason, Jr. and Baby Grace.
Don't know that she will be a finger sucker, just asked my son to snap this pic because she looked so cute.
Nothing like snuggling with a newborn is there?


This was a visit with Jason to a nursery school sort of program he takes part in once a week, he loves it. Of course we also spent a morning at the Children's Discovery Museum once again.

In the midst of all this busyness I took a job at a diner waiting tables and counter for two days a week. The owner is a friend and she needed help so I decided to give it a try and if two weeks is a try that was what it was and then I told her it wasn't working out. I need to be able to go to see the kids and garden and SEW!! I felt badly leaving so quickly but this restaurant was so busy that I went home just exhausted, never mind the stress factor!! Thank you Jackie for the opportunity, sorry I couldn't keep up!

Just 18 days after Grace was born my niece Katie gave birth to a sweet baby girl, Amelia. This is her fourth daughter, she is following in the footsteps of her Mom and Dad, Audrey and John who also had four daughters. Here is a picture of the happy family. Following her labor through e-mails is so exciting, we find out the news so quickly and we hear wherever we live. We were so thankful for the safe delivery of this little one.


This past week my husband and I have been moving out of our home of 26 years as we moving to our home on the lake. The commute will be longer for my husband to the work so that is our only drawback but we are ready to live in one place and are looking for more rest and relaxation as the care of the two houses was getting to be just too much. My son and his father-in-law helped us and now most of our stuff is in the garage at the lake waiting to be sorted through. And it will wait as I go through it box by box at my pace. I want to enjoy our summer, they are pretty short here in upstate New York. Plus the grandchildren are growing so fast, we need time to enjoy them. Leanora is sitting up and so close to crawling, what a dear she is.
Leanora is just so happy and inquisitive at this age.

The good news is that my daughter Courtney, husband Adam and dear little Annabelle are moving into our family home. Her daughter will have the bedroom she had as a child. May God bless their family as he has blessed ours in this house. We had trials and tribulations as do all families but we do have so many wonderful, special times too. Courtney certainly knows how to make a house a home so before long they will be settled and enjoying their new home.
Annabelle and Mickey were watching Dora the Explorer together.

As I sit here looking out the window here at the lake I just saw a baby deer running after its' mother, possibly the smallest deer I have ever seen. They saw me and would not stick around long enough for a photo. As I continue to enjoy the bluebird nesting on our tree, the view of the lake and the mountains I once again realize how very thankful I am for all that God has given to my husband and I over the years, how he has protected each of my children and now my grandchildren, thanks be to God.

A whirlwind of a couple weeks, but life is very special . . .

May continued to be a busy month especially in the last two weeks. We held our garage sale. It was a lot of fun, met a lot of great people, unloaded lots of "stuff" and just plain enjoyed the day. My daughter-in-law Katie made three kinds of cookies and I made one kind and some muffins and we sold most of them (people get hungry when they go garage saleing). Katie also made two pies, the first one was a strawberry rhubarb and it sold in seconds and the other apple crumb went later in the day, so we didn't get to eat any of it, hehe. I sold some of my tote bags and burp cloths but all in all people were not looking to buy handmade things.

My son Patrick exhibited his Adirondack furniture that he has been building with his father-in-law Joe, and people would pause and tell him how much they loved it, but once again they were looking for the 25 cent deal.

The weekend after the garage sale we traveled to Maryland to celebrate the dedication of our granddaughter Trinity.
What a sweetie she is!
I think my daughter Megan, her Mommy and she look so much alike.
She was happy to have her shoes off afterward to wiggle her toes in the grass. Trinity Rose will be 1 year old in June and she is getting ready to walk.
Big sisters Tessa and Joy loved running around the putting green. I was suprised they didn't mind at the golf course but the owners just smiled. What is it about kids and wide open spaces, they loved it. Jeff wore his pink tie for his special day with all his girls.
Our daughter made the trip to Maryland with us, her husband Adam had to work so it was nice Annabelle and she could travel with us.
Dad and his beautiful daughters!

We took advantage of the beautiful though windy day to get some pictures out on the putting green. We enjoyed a lovely lunch at a golf course.

My husband and son-in-law Jeff spent Saturday building a great swingset for the three girls Joy, Tessa and Trinity and on Sunday we celebrated Trinity and Mother's Day. It was a wonderful weekend!
The swingset was a big hit as is obvious by this picture.
Courtney's daughter Annabelle also loved the swingset, just love how cute she looks in her popsicle dress.

No sooner were we back home and not quite settled in when we got the call that Holly was in labor and Jason and she were on their way to the hospital. We are praising God for a much easier delivery than her first for Holly (not that any is easy) and a brand new granddaughter Grace Elizabeth. What a sweetie she is and the first meeting between big brother Jason,Jr. and Grace was beautiful. It was so neat the way Jason wanted to hold the baby so much. My daughter Courtney was also there to visit with us and her daughter Annabelle who is not even two years old loved her chances at holding the baby.
First picture of Mom, Dad and Grace Elizabeth after she was born.
Jason, Jr. came to meet his baby sister.Jason giggled when asked if he'd like to kiss her. He is very serious about holding her that's for sure. I got a kick out of how still he was because this is one busy guy, but when it came to holding his sister and sat very still.

We think she is quite the beauty.
Courtney and Annabelle came along, I think Aunt Courtney is smitten.
Annabelle decided she too loved her baby cousin although she did not let go of a balloon that she was clutching, so funny.


















Nana and Papa couldn't wait to get their hands on sweet sleepy Grace Elizabeth.
So now we are back home for awhile and the list is a mile long of things I would like to accomplish. My garden for one is waiting to be planted, I know that might sound crazy to you girls who live down south but it is only safe to plant things like tomatoes at the end of May.

In the meantime I am trying to finish some UFO's. The first is a stacked coins quilt, that was pinned and waiting for me for at least a month or more.


It was fun to make and I think the white sashing really shows off the other colors. The teddy bear fabric is from Timeless Treasures and is just adorable. I was a little undecided about the binding, and went back and forth between the blue and the polka dot but the polka dots won out because I loved how it looked with the backing.