Two Minis

Here we are near the end of July, the blueberries and green beans are ripening fast, the tomatoes finally have some small fruit, it's sunny, hot and humid, and all's well with the world (at least in the fantasy world of my mind).

A couple weeks back I was the delighted winner of a wonderful giveaway celebrating Pat Taylor's tenth year of blogging at Thoughts from Taylorsoutback. And a few days ago a little package  arrived in our mailbox.  Isn't this the most adorable mini quilt!

Sorry about the shadow in the upper portion of the photo.  That sweet pincushion accompanied the little quilt on its journey and now resides next to my Singer 201, the machine I generally use for piecing my quilts.   I just love these cute little conversation prints in some of the quilt squares, so diminutive and sweet. Thanks so much Pat!  

Next up is my mini for July.  The hand quilting was finished early in the month and binding recently completed.  

The quilting shows a little better in this photo of the back.

The front was made up of another quilter's excess or rejected triangle squares, still attached to their triangle papers, the border and sashings from small pieces in my stash. The back is part of the excess from a piece of wide backing fabric purchased for the Sherbet Jumble quilt, along with a frankenbatting pieced from several leftover pieces.  Gotta love make-do!

I'll link up with Wendy at The Constant Quilter when she posts her end of the month mini linkup later this week.  Til then, happy quilting and harvesting!   

A Finish For Friday

This week has been one of many things, some exciting, others not so much.  On the exciting front, my sister and I have met through Ancestry and now Facebook a first cousin who we knew of but had lost track of over the years.  My sister had met her personally when they were quite young, however I had moved to the city by then and never met this cousin.  So, we are getting acquainted though separated by around 2,000 miles!  

Then, there is this quilty finish.  The top I'd been calling 'Sherbet Jumble' is now a finished quilt, destined for our quilt ministry to be given to a young woman with a chronic serious health condition.   

This was machine quilted, mostly with the even feed foot echoing the triangles, and free motion leaves and loops in the outer border.  A bit of the back:

This is just a tad smaller than a full queen size, and finished at about 73 x 86 inches.  A very cottage-shabby-chic look.  I hope the recipient will like it.

I had to try a few outside photos, of course!  

On the downside a few days ago I awoke with more visual distortion than usual in my left eye.  I got an appointment with our local eye doctor the same day to rule out retina detachment.  Thankfully it wasn't that, but what I'm currently living with is a piece of the vitreous gel that lies in front of the retina that has separated and is now floating around my eye, along with more stringy 'floaters' than usual.  I can best describe it as trying to look through a constantly moving piece of those clear jellyfish you find washed up on a beach.  Fun, huh.  Threading a needle becomes almost comical.  The doctor said these pieces will typically dissolve/disappear in a few weeks.  Follow-up appointment in mid-August.  Getting old sure isn't for wimps, let me tell ya!  

Off now to try stitching some easy puss-in-the-corner blocks.  What could possibly go wrong?

Happy quilting, camping, just sinking your bare feet into the green grass of summer, or whatever your weekend holds in store for you!

Faith over fear.