Hoping to get back to quilting

Sharing a garden with a friend this summer has been an eye opener to me.  I grew up on a farm in Missouri and my parents and my siblings and I all worked very hard to grow the vegetables that we would eat all winter.  I remember it being hard work...at least I THOUGHT I remembered.  It really is hard work and I haven't done nearly as much as my friend has.  So this week, I've been picking.  This is one's day's worth and today was my 3rd day this week.

Calista (oldest daughter with new baby) came over again and we canned 10 pints of dill pickles (that makes 100 in all!), 10 pints of salsa (that makes 16 in all) and 5 pints of dill relish.  In addition, I've frozen okra and squash and made fresh spaghetti sauce.

And now I'm ready to get back to what I REALLY love to do...sew.
So... A couple of weeks ago at guild meeting we had a program by a lady who heads up our local chapter of "Quilts of Valor".  People all over this country are working to provide quilts to all our servicemen and women who have been injured in the war.  I've known about it for a while, but haven't done anything about it.  So I decided to make this block and pass it on to some friends of mine to add to it and see what we come up with.  I still have to do the machine applique around the leaves and then I'm handing it off the Emma.  I think she's already thinking about what she's going to add.  So stay tuned on that one.

In between gardening and canning, I've been working on these blocks.  I finished them yesterday (80 total) and am ready to put them together.   So fun, so easy.

Then there's my design wall.  So lonely and so loaded up with projects I've started.  I thought if I hung them up there, it would remind me to work on them.  But no!!! Instead, I just start another (my favorite part about quilting--starting a new project)

So let's see, (in no particular order of importance) at the top is a little x-block wall hanging that I made for a class sample (probably a year ago).  It needs to be quilted, as does the wonky little green one that's below that and on top of the stack. Under that is a wallhanging that needs to have the applique finished and borders added.

Peeking out from under that is a block, which may someday become a little quilt and under that are some strips that were going to be a baby quilt, but I changed my mind and made a different one for that baby.  So maybe the strips will be for some other baby.  Those are just a FEW of my "started" projects. 

The gardening has been fun, but I'm getting tired of it now and want to get back to my sewing.  SOON!
Until next time...have fun with whatever you're doing.