After a month away from my blog, I'm finally taking the time for a little update. Summer just seems to be busier than winter and even yard work takes me away from hobbies and crafts. My limited energy has to be divided and some things just have to be put on the back burner.

My dear sister-in-law, Patti, visited in June. One of our main goals was to make a baby quilt that will be given to her soon-to-be-born grand niece. We had planned on making the entire quilt, from design to quilting, while she was visiting.

Here's Patti sewing the strips together to make the Rail Fence pattern. She found some really sweet pink fabrics for the quilt.


A proud Patti showing off her completed quilt top! She did a wonderful job and took great care to make sure that her seams were nice and straight.

Now at this stage, the plan changed. We discovered that the quilt was taking many days of her visit and it still needed to be quilted and bound. Although Patti could have finished the quilt herself, we decided that we wanted to do a little sight seeing and just get out of the house for the last days of her visit. So.....I finished quilting and binding the quilt after she went back home.

The quilt is on route to Patti and I pray that she will like the finished product. Now all Patti needs is for her grand niece to make her entrance into the world!

One of our sight seeing stops was at the home of Gene Stratton-Porter. We toured the grounds and her home and were thrilled to learn about all of the other talents that Gene mastered. Writing was just a small part of her life. She was far ahead of her time as a naturalist, architect, artist, home decorator, etc., etc. She had to have been quite a force in her day when women were "seen and not heard." I had to snicker as I imagined how she must have been perceived by the men of her era....they had to have been pretty intimidated by her!