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Semi-Annual Doll Quilt

My quilt guild has a doll quilt drive each fall for Christmas gift-giving. I found these squares already sewn into rows on the freebee table.

It was the work of two afternoons. I was so pleased with the way it turned out.

Dress Border

I love this dress... but it's always been a little too short.

I picked out the hem, experimented with embroidery stitches on my machine and made a border.

Yay, new life for an old favorite.

Sunflowers

Summer splendor from the garden.

38th Anniversary

Frank had the day off so we packed a picnic and headed for the coast.

We love Peter's Beach because it's off the beaten path. I can't think of a time we've gone there and found others on the sand.

It's been such a dry season, there weren't the usual flowers blooming, but Frank found these at the base of the bluff where a trickle of water came out of the rock face.

Echevarias

Close up

He takes such great macro shoots, but then I don't know what the plants are. 😏 Does anybody recognize these?

Making Headway

I got to the heel flap(s) and couldn't figure out how to work that while using the magic loop method. A quick search of Ravelry led me to KnitLynn, who has used this pattern many times. She answered my questions and I was able to motor on.

I love the knit community on the Internet. We all need knitting mentors to point the way from time to time.

Fruit Salad

At last! It's done. Quilted, bound, labeled and washed. I still love it! When you spend more than a decade bringing a quilt to completion, that's a good thing.

It's a shame the quilting doesn't show in these pictures. The professional quilter did a rock solid job of using just the right motifs to make it sing. Thank you Betty!

I dropped it off Thursday for the Long Valley Quilt Show. Working against a deadline is a such a great motivator! The week before the submission date, I worked on it daily for hours at a time. It felt creative and productive on the one hand, but a bit like a second part-time job on the other.

But I know from experience the time, effort and frustration that goes into creating some quilts completely fades once it's done.

Blackberries!

I completely missed blackberry season last year while I was visiting my Mom in New England. So you can bet I made a point of picking this year.

I used to go blackberry picking with my sons when they were growing up. Those have become fond memories; filling our individual bowls and then pouring the berries into one great big container. We compared our blue-black finger tips and the scratches we'd gotten in the process, making sure we avoided the poison oak that grew thick among the brambles. I often  got so absorbed in my picking, I'd forget to watch where I was stepping.

This year I picked berries at my neighbor's, by myself in the cool stillness of early morning. There wasn't any calling back and forth - "Hey there's a great, unpicked patch over here!" Just the call of a mourning dove and a quiet that I noticed for some reason. The berries hung in clusters over her fence and there wasn't any poison oak. I picked 13 cups, enough for two pies, in less than a half an hour. It didn't seem right somehow. It was singular and too easy.

But there's nothing that says summer to me like blackberry pie and ice cream.

I recently received an e-mail from my son, who has moved to the Seattle area. He and his wife had gone blackberry picking. He sent me a picture.

It made me smile. I guess the tradition continues.

We Be Jammin'

It's that time again. Fruit is ripe and available and my neighbor is asking me if I want plums.

The tree was laden, so I picked about 13 cups in 20 minutes. I could see why she asked if I want some. I didn't even make a dent.

I simmered them for about 20 minutes and then put them through a sieve to remove the skins and pits. Then I added a half a cup of sugar to every cup of juice and simmered until the spoon test showed it was thickened.

Adding less sugar makes it taste more like cranberry relish than a sweet jam.