Big finishes

I quilted Pat's niece's quilt.  I really liked the finished top, and I wasn't sure my freehand quilting would do it justice in the pieced birds portion.  But it's done, and on its way to the recipient.

This next quilt, I only did the quilting, and I do think it turned out nicely.  It's a panto, Forest Floor.  It's pretty dense, but really looks nice on the black background of the quilt with variegated King Tut thread.

 

The sweatshop is open!

Pat has been here since Saturday.  She got in before lunch, but we had lots of grocery shopping to do.  Needed to lay in supplies for our week of quilting!

 Before Pat arrived I got a baby quilt done for my friend Cybelle's grandniece.  Baby Carolina was welcomed home by two big brothers.  I used the BQ2 pattern to try it before going ahead with the king size quilt.

 Production is the name of the game, since Pat arrived.  I finished an I Spy quilt for Dr. Kaufman, from a top I pieced while at Bear Cabin Inn.  I was able to get both of these on the same backing.

 I quilted the I Spy while Pat finished the wedding quilt she had started at Bear Cabin.  Got those trimmed and bound, and started quilting on the top put together from the excess anniversary blocks at the AZ retreat.  They will be going to a fundraiser for Yetta's grandson.

I had this post nearly finished when a thunderstorm hit our area.  We turned everything off during the storm.  We got a dumping of two inches of rain!  Woo-hoo!  We really need it, and it's nice to be in this monsoon pattern.  Hope Colorado is getting some of the moisture.
 

Productive weekend

Spent the weekend at Bear Cabin Inn in Show Low, for a quilting retreat.  Got the bulk of my nephew's quilt done.  I'm contemplating adding borders, but the quilt is already 108" square!  I also managed to put together an I spy top for donation. 

 We happened to catch a glimpse of the fox that's in the area on the last morning there.  I was surprised at how warm it was  over the weekend.  It wasn't any cooler at home, and it was 102 at the Rio Grande at 5:30 p.m. on the way home Sunday.  

This time I stopped to snap some pictures of the VLA off Highway 60, which I've been meaning to do for some time.   It's an impressive site.

 Tomorrow Pat arrives for a week, and the "sweatshop" will be open and operating.  We're hoping to get a lot accomplished together!
 

Busy June

I can't believe June is almost over.  It's been busy!  Took a quick trip to Colorado for Father's Day.  It was great to see the boys again, despite  the fact that they were a bit under the weather with colds.  They do share--if only germs!

Made a trip up to IKEA with the kids and got our table base exchanged.  The table is nothing fancy, but solid and serviceable.  I'd like to paint the green chair blue--but painting is my least favorite thing to do, right up there with dusting.  Can't wait to enjoy breakfast out there in the sunshine in winter.  Also made some good scores thrifting.  We got this lamp at 50% off for a whopping $6.50.

Made it home in time to take off again for a weekend quilting retreat. 

Finally quilts...

I haven't gotten much quilting done.  It's been a busy couple of months with company, trips, just a lot of other stuff besides quilting.

  
But I did manage to finish these two from blocks that Sharon gave me at the Phoenix retreat.  I had the perfect backing that accommodated both quilts, and so have two finishes.  

And now when I find my momentum again, we're taking off to see the grandboys.  Just a short trip, but a little longer than my overnight trip to Tucumcari.  It's shaping up to be a busy summer.

Chollas blooming!

 I took a quick trip to Tucumcari to visit friends.  As I headed north on Highway 54 towards Santa Rosa, I was wowed by blooming chollas.

There were huge patches of chollas, all thickly blossoming lighting up the desert with their hot pink/magenta flowers.  My pictures don't do them justice.  It was a bit hazy.

 Like the yuccas around us, I don't think I've seen such an explosion of blossoms all at once. 

I came home with a serger, unfortunately missing a foot pedal, and some bread from Frank's Bakery in Amarillo.  
 

Banner year in the desert!

 
The area immediately around us is all in bloom with yuccas.  It's amazing the variety of softly colored flowers.  I can't remember this many blossoms since we've lived here.
 

 Their roots must be deep or they store water since we haven't had any measurable precipitation since May 11th!

 I'm enjoying the spectacle of blossoms.



 

Sofa bed

We really had no ultimate plans for our sun room other than taking advantage of the solar gain.  Even before completely finishing it, it was functioning to provide just about all of our daytime heat this past winter.  

We started thinking it would be a great place to sleep someone.  Our friend Cybelle's visit from Brazil coincided with my dad's and so she has slept there on a borrowed air mattress.  We shopped for a sofa bed while at the IKEA store in Denver.  Now we have a sofa sleeper.  We're ready for the kids to come visit with the twins now!

This sofa bed is easy to pull out, and even has storage for linens. The other red wall will have a table and chairs, so we can enjoy breakfast in the sunshine in the winter.  Just need to exchange the table base.

The yucca flowers opened and it has gone to seed.  I think it was more spectacular before the flowers actually opened.  The seed pods look like green chiles to me!  The evening primroses continue to bloom without any watering, and scorching winds.  It's warmed to summer now, and we have fires in southern NM blowing smoke our way. 

Waiting and knitting

 We made a trip to Colorado.  It was an opportunity to take my dad to see his great-grandsons.  I scheduled the trip to coincide with the itinerant Brazilian Consulate being in Denver.  Fortunately I had submitted the correct, necessary paperwork so that I could get my American marriage certificate registered with the consulate, and finally get my passport in my married name.  Just waiting for the passport in the mail now!


The itinerant consulate operated much the same as any other bureaucratic entity.  There was a lot of confusion.  A lot of waiting.  We arrived there when they opened at 9 a.m. and left at 2 p.m., the first couple of hours waiting on the person that pulled my already prepared paperwork from a stack, and then moving on to waiting on the only person who was doing marriage and birth certificate registrations.  There were a lot of cranky, tired children waiting in the all too small church as well.  I was glad it was only Dale and I.  I finished the pair of socks I've had on my needles since the beginning of the year, except for the seams with Kitchener stitches, which I did later.  They haven't been washed yet!  

The boys have grown and changed so much, walking and really understanding what you say to them.  They still like my cooking, and were enjoying chicken soup with some creamed spinach.

 

We also took the opportunity to do some shopping for furniture at IKEA in Denver.

The sun room is finished except for a small table glitch.  I picked up the wrong base, bar height instead of table height, and we need to exchange it. 

Roof drip line

When we finished the exterior building of the sun room, Dale laid some flat stones in the roof drip line to prevent splashing in the dirt and mucking up the walls.  It was temporary at best.  With my dad visiting and redoing the stones at the exterior of our front door, I finally got busy and cleaned up the area in front of the sun room.

I used broken, smaller rocks, broken pottery and filled in the same area where the roof drips.  Fortunately our Russian sage, and bird of paradise (bush) survived the construction process.  I added a red yucca (hesperaloe) which I hope will make it, as the hummingbirds like the flowers.  I kept my dad, here for his yearly, month-long visit, from devastating our wild primroses which are thriving this year out front, since he likes to clear all around the house and considers everything a weed.  We tried moving one of the plants--the wilted looking thing in the photo above, only to discover they have very long tap roots.  It's hanging on, so maybe it will make it. 

I also finished the east side flower bed where I had moved all the irises from the front of the house.  They are much happier to have protection from the prevailing winds.  The front of the house is looking much better now.