It’s been awfully quiet over here.  And that’s because it’s that time of year.  I’m trying to be careful not to ruin any surprises.  But I can share these festive kitchen accessories that have brightened my kitchen:

I started another quilt.  And I haven’t even finished A Breath of Avignon or China Blue.  This is so unlike me.  I usually finish a quilt before I start a new one.  Luckily though, I am at the hand stitching the binding stage for A Breath of Avignon and China Blue, so that makes for a good tv watching activity.

Cool Breezes has lovely blues, lavenders, grays, and sage greens.  It’s very calming and serene.  It is basted, quilted, and the binding is attached to the front of the quilt.

Now onto hand stitching the bindings…

I figured that blue would be an easy color to match.  I have 2 bindings for quilts that are both blue, but different shades.  I took samples of the binding into the quilt shop with me to find thread to match.  I don’t think I’ve ever had such a difficult time matching thread.  There were so many blues, but none that were perfect.  Instead of hunting for the perfect match at multiple quilt shops, I picked those that matched the best.

I seriously never thought finding the right color blue thread would be so hard!

The China Blue quilt is now basted.  Woohoo!!  I’m hoping to get some serious quilting done in the next few days as the hubby will be on a business trip.  I think that’s why my quilting has been in a slump…hubby has been home!!!  As much as I love him being home with us, it will be nice to get some quiet quilting done too!

This is what my dining room table looked like over the weekend.

Now on to quilting.

One of my readers sent me an email asking me about the Breath of Avignon quilt.  I’ve got the quilt top done, and the backing all ready, and now I just need to find the time to pin baste then quilt this baby.

It took me longer than most quilts to actually finish the quilt top, but I’m sure that’s just because I seem to have very little “free” time these days.  Once I got going it was pretty fast…it was the getting go part that always seemed to give me trouble.

Anyway, I’m really liking how it turned out, and I am eager to get it completely finished.

This picture is for you Jane:

I’ve been collecting blue and white fabric for a while with the intentions of making something with it…someday.  But I decided the other night, that I just needed to start something new and different.

This is what I’ve come up with so far:

I think I’ll call it China Blue because it reminds me of fine china…probably because my fine china pattern is blue and white.

I feel like the layout is a constant work in progress, but then again isn’t it always?  Every time I go upstairs I rearrange it just a bit.

I finally finished the Black, White, & Red All Over quilt (well, I actually finished it about a month ago).  This quilt was a wedding gift to my cousin Debbie and her new hubby Mike.  I can’t remember the post wash measurement, but I think it was 53 x 63ish.

My quilting and sewing has been slow going this summer.  I was hoping that once the kiddos were back in school I’d have so much more free time to sew, but that just isn’t the case.  I’ve been working a lot more, and sadly there’s been little sewing going on.  One of these days I’ll get back to it…hopefully very soon.

I feel like it’s been ages since I’ve sewed or quilted.  With the kiddos back in school I thought I’d have so much free time, but it turns out that I’m more busy than before…strange how that works out!

I love to play tennis, but at the end of June I got tennis elbow, and it’s painful.  The real bummer is that sewing and quilting aggravates my tennis elbow, so until my arm starts to feel better, there won’t be much sewing going on.

I did manage to get 2 blocks done on the Breath of Avignon quilt before my arm was screaming at me to stop.  Looking back at the pictures makes me want to get started again, so hopefully I’ll be able to do that soon.

Back from vacation, and while I was away I took the opportunity to bring my sewing machine in for its annual check up and cleaning.  I picked up my  machine today, so it’s back to sewing!

This post is kind of like my to do list for the rest of the year.  Ha!  I hope I can get it all done.  School starts on August 2, and with both of my kiddos in school this year, I foresee a lot of daytime sewing.  That’ll be a nice change from all my burning the midnight oil sewing and quilting.

• I’ve got to finish the binding on this quilt:

• And I really need to start and finish the Breath of Avignon quilt.
• And I really want to take part in Freckled Whimsy’s charm pack quilt along.  I’m using my Wee Play charm packs, but I also ordered some solid fabric today.
• And I have a another quilt to start and finish.  This quilt’s recipient is long overdue for quilt, and since she may read this blog, I won’t divulge who or what the quilt is…yet.
• And a Halloween quilt.
• And a Halloween runner.
• And a quilt using Kate Spain’s 12 Days of Christmas layer cake.
• And I really need to start and finish another quilt by the beginning of December.
• And I’m sure there will be more that come up.

Happy quilting!!!