June Happenings and I Like Thursdays

Is it surprising that I am longing for fall? The axis of the excessive heat-causing ridge has been directly over us and will slowly move east starting today to gradually give us a much needed break. Our forecast includes a chance of showers for several days - I like that!  I am joining LeeAnna of Not Afraid of Color and other bloggers for I Like Thursdays!

We have put a lot of water on the back garden and front landscaping plants this past week. I like that so far there is no water restriction, and I like the tomatoes I see on the vines. The viney plants are too thick for me to get in for closeups, but trust me, there are some big ones!

The Littles were here last Monday and then again Friday to Sunday. Although it was too hot to be outside, they seemed to have a good time. We made cookies, picked cherry tomatoes, and talked about something to "sew" next time they visit. I like that they are so well behaved when they visit - Mommy says that is not the case at home!

My husband decided to build his own outdoor kitchen, and he and I both like the result! Now his Blackstone griddle, his grill, and our pizza oven have a new home. He also has an outdoor fridge around the corner of the left side - very convenient to reach out the patio door and grab a cold Coke!

LeeAnna's suggested prompt for today is:

"Do you like to attend State/County Fairs?

Tell us what kinds of things you like to do there."

Big Tex at the Texas State Fair

We visited the Tulsa State Fair when we were young, but I don't recall much about those times. When we moved near Dallas we went to the State Fair of Texas, with the 55ft "Big Tex" at the entrance. This usually coincided with the OU/Texas college football game "Red River Showdown" in October, which was our ultimate destination at the stadium near the fairgrounds. The OK State Fair in Oklahoma City was the last state fair we visited, in 2009.

We like to stroll part of the midway and see what is new, then we mosey to the farm animal exhibits to see the chickens and the pigs, then to the baking competitions, and finally ending up at a midway food booth to try some great fair food!

Do you enjoy state fairs?

When Pigs Fly Blog Hop Final Day

Welcome to the final day of When Pigs Fly blog hop! Joan of Moosestash Quilting has been the host of this fun blog hop to motivate us to dig out our PIGS (Projects In Grocery Sacks), UFOS (UnFinished Objects), and WIPS (Works In Progress). She also created a Pinterest board for the event, and you can access it at this link! For those of you who might be joining us for the first time today, I have included the list of participants from the entire week - there are so many great posts! Thanks so much to Joan for hosting!

Monday June 19

MooseStashQuilting

Quilting Gail

Songbird Designs

Quilt Schmilt

Words & Stitches

Scrapdash

 

Tuesday June 20

Quilted Delights

Ms P Designs USA

Selena Quilts

Just Because Quilts

Stitching Farm Girl

Bumbleberry Stitches

 

Wednesday June 21

BeaQuilter

crazy'boutquilts

Days Filled with Joy

Elizabeth Coughlin Designs

Texas Quilt Gal

 

Thursday June 22

Just Let Me Quilt

Karrin’s Crazy World

Inflorescence

VroomansQuilts

The Quilted Snail

When Pigs Fly Day 3 - Village In The Snowfall Cross Stitch

Welcome to Day 3 of When Pigs Fly. This blog hop is hosted by Joan of Moosestash Quilting and is an opportunity to dig out and finish those PIGS (Projects In Grocery Sacks), UFOS (UnFinished Objects), and WIPS (Works In Progress). I chuckle every time I look at Joan's cute logo. Check out the list of participants below as well as this Pinterest board set up by Joan!

While looking around at UFOs in my closet I happened upon a cross stitch table topper, Village in the Snowfall by Herrschners, that I started in 2020 and only completed about 1/3 of it before I put it away. Why not finish it and actually have a finished project for Christmas!

Instead of the white floss provided with the kit, I used DMC's Etoile Mouline in Blanc to provide a little sparkle (although you really can't see it from the photos).

Herrschner's website photo

My finished piece - see the color difference between the website listing and the actual fabric?

Finishing this UFO, I discovered three things: 

1) as you can see from the two photos above, the fabric on the bottom is not the pretty, dark blue that appears on Herrschners' website in the top photo; instead, it is dark navy.

2) I found that I do not care for stamped cross stitch, as it does not provide the exact finished look of counted cross stitch.

3) I wish I stitched it with a fusible interfacing and a coordinating back. (I might still do this!)

But I am still very happy with it - it will make an awesome table topper for Christmas!

After I finished the table topper, I decided to go ahead and start working a flimsy that I finished last year for Melva's Pieces of the Santa Fe Trail SAL. I had to add a couple borders to bring it up to the lap-size I need. It is now on Longmire the longarm, and I will do a separate post when I am done!

Thank you Joan for providing this excuse opportunity to finish up some of our UFOs! Here is the list of participants for you to visit today and tomorrow:

Wednesday June 21

BeaQuilter

crazy'boutquilts

Days Filled with Joy

Elizabeth Coughlin Designs

Texas Quilt Gal

 

Thursday June 22

Just Let Me Quilt

Karrin’s Crazy World

Inflorescence

VroomansQuilts

The Quilted Snail

When Pigs Fly Day 2

Welcome to Day 2 of When Pigs Fly blog hop, hosted by Joan of MooseStash Quilting! Our challenge is to pull those projects out of the bags, bins, and closets - PIGS (Projects in Grocery Sacks), UFOS (Unfinished Objects), WIPS (Works in Progress). You'll be treated to 3 more days of creative posts, so check out these bloggers today and come back tomorrow for my day! You can also check out the Pinterest board that Joan set up at this link!

Tuesday June 20

Quilted Delights

Ms P Designs USA

Selena Quilts

Just Because Quilts

Stitching Farm Girl

Bumbleberry Stitches

 

Wednesday June 21

BeaQuilter

crazy'boutquilts

Days Filled with Joy

Elizabeth Coughlin Designs

Texas Quilt Gal

 

Thursday June 22

Just Let Me Quilt

Karrin’s Crazy World

Inflorescence

VroomansQuilts

The Quilted Snail

 

When Pigs Fly Day 1

Welcome to Day 1 of When Pigs Fly blog hop, hosted by Joan of MooseStash Quilting! The challenge? To get those projects out of the bags, bins and closets - PIGS - Projects in Grocery Sacks, UFOS - Unfinished Objects, WIPS - Works in Progress. You'll be treated to four days of creative goodness, so jump right in and see the posts for today (and be sure to check here on Wednesday for my day)! Joan has also set up a Pinterest board which you can access at this link!

Monday June 19

MooseStashQuilting

Quilting Gail

Songbird Designs

Quilt Schmilt

Words & Stitches

Scrapdash

 

Tuesday June 20

Quilted Delights

Ms P Designs USA

Selena Quilts

Just Because Quilts

Stitching Farm Girl

Bumbleberry Stitches

 

Wednesday June 21

BeaQuilter

crazy'boutquilts

Days Filled with Joy

Elizabeth Coughlin Designs

Texas Quilt Gal

 

Thursday June 22

Just Let Me Quilt

Karrin’s Crazy World

Inflorescence

VroomansQuilts

The Quilted Snail

 

How I Spent My Vacation From Blogging

Storms south of us on June 11!

Sometimes you just need to sit back and enjoy the view, right? In my case, I felt a sewing mojo burnout coming on, so I decided to go with it and take a break. It was a good decision! So what did I do?

I did some laptop work.

I deleted folders and files and made sure everything is backed up, then got sidetracked by looking at old photos that I have scattered in various folders on my laptop and in DropBox. Organizing those and weeding out duplicates will be a future undertaking!

We watched a LOT of college women's softball.

We have always been fans of OU Sooners football, and during the past few years we've become big fans of the women's softball team. This past month we watched them wintheir third straight title as Women's College World Series champions, breaking the record for consecutive wins and currently at 53 games in a row! These talented and lovely young women have a powerful testimony of their faith in this clip right here.

I scored this IKEA table on Facebook Marketplace for only $40!

Not only did the lady give us a discount from her listed price, she also thanked us for taking it off her hands - lol! It has metal legs, has a dropleaf on both ends, and is slightly larger than my former cutting table. I love it!

My former cutting table went to live outside in Man World to make a space for our new pizza oven!

We bought a pizza oven!

My husband researched different pizza ovens, and we decided on one that has a rotating stone to brown more evenly without having to turn the pizza stone manually. We are learning as we go. I make my own dough, and it makes it taste even better!

The Missouri Star Jenny!

I bought a new iron.

My 5 year old Oliso started having issues, and of course my warranty had expired. After contacting Oliso customer support and receiving nothing more than troubleshooting tips and an offer for a discount on a new one, I briefly looked for something different before ultimately ending up back at Oliso, because it has the features I want most in an iron:

1) Ample heat - 1800W

2) Stays on 30 minutes without shutting off

3) Long cord - this one is 12 feet

4) Auto-lift - this feature has really spoiled me!

I found the "Jenny" Oliso on sale at Missouri Star for 20% off with free shipping and sold my old Oliso on Marketplace to another quilter who was happy to have it at a great price, issues and all!

I cut 2+ inches off my hair!

My hairdresser will be horrified, but she will highlight and properly cut it at the end of the month. In this photo you can "kind of " see the healing skin graft on the side of my nose. I still hide it with a Band-Aid when we go out of the house!

I did some gardening.

Our little garden faces east, and it has turned out to be a good space for growing things. I allowed one volunteer Grandpa Ott morning glory to grow, and it has overwhelmed the trellis! The tomatoes and bell peppers are doing great, and there are a few green bean plants here and there, as well as some basil, cilantro, and zinnias. I've already started expanding for next year.by laying down cardboard.

I pulled out all my needlework and have it a little more organized.

I organized floss and patterns and UFOs, and now I am working on a Christmas UFO!

I read books on the Kindle app on my iPad.

I read the four books of the Sewing, Crafts, and Quilting  romance series by De-Ann Black and thoroughly enjoyed the light-hearted, drama-less stories set in the Scottish Highlands.

I have been working on projects for upcoming posts.

June 21 is my day for When Pigs Fly blog hop, hosted by Joan at MooseStash Quilting, and July 20 is my day for Picnic Party blog hop, hosted by Carol at Just Let Me Quilt.

I celebrated my 75th birthday!

My husband and I both turn 75 this month, and it just seems amazing that to us we are that old. I celebrated quietly (my preferred way to celebrate!) and enjoyed an old fashioned butter cake with chocolate frosting - my favorite since I was 5 years old!

I will resume posting but not on any set schedule - at least that is the plan for now, and our plans can always change, right? 😉

How is your summer going?

UPDATE: I am belatedly linking this post to Kate's Stitching Stuff over at Life In Pieces!