It's on the Way - Autumn, Motorcycles and Quilts.

On Sunday I mentioned to Darryl that there was the smell of Fall in the air. "You can SMELL Autumn?" he asked. Yes, and on Tuesday evening while visiting with a lady at church she said to me. "It's been a beautiful summer, but I can smell the change of the seasons". I guess we were right. Thursday morning I looked out the window and saw this.....

the leaves are falling in my yard and that means autumn is on the way.

 

In other family news.....Back in the Spring Cody bought an old Honda motorcycle that was beat up pretty bad, wouldn't start and had no working electrical parts. He spent the Spring and part of the Summer learning how to re-wire the electrical and helped do the bodywork on the tank and fenders and re-upholstered the seat.

He finished all his hard work and on Thursday took it for a ride. He will soon list it to sell on Craigslist and use the money for school.

And Finally.... I am officially caught up on quilts for my grandchildren.

This is Tyree's quilt.  I try to give each of my grandchildren a crib quilt for their first birthday. Sometimes they get them on time, sometimes they don't. Gage got his shortly after his first birthday, but I was too busy to finishTyree and Reagan's.

I finished Reagan's quilt in May and today I finished Tyree's quilt. It has the same fabrics as Reagan's Quilt but the borders are different. You can see Reagan's quilt by clicking here and scrolling down to the end of the post.

So for the first time in two years I am current on the baby quilts.....

But only until Sept. 21st. That is Micah's first birthday and I can guarantee that his quilt won't be finished by then, probably not even started..

Hiking the Limhi Summit at Meadow Lake

On Saturday Darryl and I went with Cali and the kids and Ed and Arlene Williams up to Meadow Lake for the day and for a hike. I didn't hike, but Darryl, Cali, Ed and our friends Boyd & Ena Taylor and Merlyn and Donnett Ringle hiked up to the Limhi Divide at 10,200+ ft. 

It was beautiful up at the lake but a little cool, the temperature was in the 60's, so it definitely had the feeling of Fall. 

Gideon and Parker had great fun throwing rocks and sticks into the water. Luckily it was cool enough they weren't tempted to go into the water.

Even Cali got in on the Rock Throwing. 

Darryl, Boyd and Ena.

Boyd is all ready for the hike.

Parker and I started on the hike but she was too tired and my foot was hurting so we went back to the lake, but the others hiked on up the mountain. 

Grandpa and his hiking buddy...

The whole group at the summit.

All in all it was a pleasant day.

Only 6 yrs. Late - Another Wedding Quilt

Jesse and Kelly were married on July 21, 2007. Now, exactly 6 yrs. and 1 month later I have finally finished their wedding quilt. (Yes, I finished it yesterday). 

Currently this is the most intricate quilt I have ever tried to do. 

The pattern is called STARS FROM HEAVEN.

Jesse picked out the pattern before they were married and I made her help me choose the fabrics, about 15 different prints and styles. 

There was a total of 69 pieces in each block that needed to be assembled.

I put stipling between the blocks, stars at the little junction squares and an apple boarder around the whole quilt.

I started this quilt in 2007. After cutting out all the pieces Darryl helped me group them into coordinating / contrasting colors for the different blocks. Each group of block pieces were put into Plastic Ziploc bags where they sat for a couple of years while I traveled with work. While in Mexico in 2010 I finished piecing Jesse and Skye's quilts. I started to hand quilt Jesse's quilt but after bending 4 or 5 needles in 2 blocks decided it would need to be machine quilted. So the quilts sat for 3 more years.

This spring I bought a long arm Handi-Quilter and I love it. I finished Skye's quilt in around 8 hours and I was able to quilt this quilt in around 16 hours with a lot more complex stitching than it would have had if I quilted it by hand. I love it! 

Now that Skye and Jesse's wedding quilts are done I will endeavor to finish Hillary's (only 5 yrs. late) and try to get Cody's quilted before his wedding. Both of their tops have been done for years just sitting and waiting to be quilted.

Oh Happy Day!

Summer days are happy days, especially when I get to spend them with my 3 favorite little people here in Idaho. Generally, once a week I get to spend the day with my grandchildren Gideon and Parker. Sometimes at their home sometimes at our house. I love my grandkids and the time I get to spend with them. 

Our days go something like this:

 We play... sometimes in the yard, sometimes at the local park. 

This is Parker's favorite horse.

Gideon is such a good big brother. They often play Dora the Explorer or Go Diego Go on the playground.

"Look Mom! No hands!

Sometimes when we leave the park we will walk to the store for some treats. Then we go home for the rest of the afternoon until mom gets home from work. 

After lunch Gideon goes out to play with the neighbor children....

..while Parker takes a nap.

On really good days I get to spend the day with this little one along with Gideon and Parker. Little miss Tyree loves to spend the day playing with her cousins Gideon and Parker and we have so much fun together.

Last week the 4 of us went to the zoo. I believe the Zebras and the Ducks are her favorite animals while Parker likes the Monkeys and Gideon just likes the whole zoo!

And finally, our little Sugar has lost the blonde out of her coat and is quite the cute little pup. She loves to play tug of war and fetch and will probably lick you to death if you stand still long enough. 

 I am finishing up quilts, packing and unpacking the storage rooms and getting ready for the next job. 

Until the next time......