July 2018 Update

It has been a little too long since I wrote a blog post! I had the best of intentions at the start of August, but the month has almost escaped me and it has been a busy, busy one! But alas, first I have to update you on July. 

What a lovely summer we had - it started with a visit from my good friend Beth and her son Evan. Some of you may remember that Beth, my stitching companion and back door neighbor (among many other things!), moved away 2 years ago to pursue new adventures in Orlando. We've visited a few times, but this was their first time back in a long time and we loved having them here over the 4th.  I worked part of the week while they visited with other friends, and then I took off work the latter half of the week and we enjoyed some fun around town.  It was so nice to have one of my besties back in town, even if just for a week! We got in a little stitching time too :) 

Good friends back together again! 

 After that, work and summer camp kept us pretty busy until the end of the month when we headed north to Michigan to spend a weekend with another bestie and her family. We loved our long weekend at Houghton Lake, and the weather was perfect! We had a lot of fun fishing and Mike wound up with 5 catches! Each of the kids had a keeper too. 

Jack's first catch!

To round up the month, the kids started school on July 31 - super early, but we are in a balanced calendar/year-round school schedule and they will have a couple longer breaks during the year.  Most kids in Indiana are back in school by the end of the first week in August! Both kids are doing well in middle school. Jack, a rookie in 6th grade, joined the Tennis team and is learning how to juggle that with homework and Boy Scouts.  Jenna, the veteran 8th grader, will be part of the Art Club, Student Alliance, and continues in Girl Scouts. We are planning a big trip for fall break! 

First day of 6th and 8th!

On the crafty front, July was busy for stitching and slow for sewing.  On the stitching front, I continued to plug away at my Stitch Maynia starts and wound up finishing 5 of them! Now, I mostly have bigger projects to finish for the Stitch Maynia starts, but I am working away on those too. 

Snow Love by Country Cottage Needleworks - my first time stitching on the polka dot fabric.

Spring Smalls bunny by Lizzie Kate

Fourth section of Snowbelles finished while Beth was visiting!

Wooden pendant - freebie from a stitching magazine.

Hip Hop by Lizzie Kate

On the quilting front, it was a bit of a dismal month, with sewing only happening on a few weekends. I did accomplish a few things though.  I pulled one of my UFOs and made a back and then quilted it per Jenna's request. It will become a new bed quilt for her. I made a binding but didn't get it sewn down yet. 

Swirl quilting on the french braid

I did finish my teal rainbow scrap challenge blocks, but didn't even get around to pulling the red scraps for the July blocks (my big plan is to catch up this weekend!). 

Teal blocks for rainbow scrap challenge

Here's the stash report, bolstered by the making of a quilt back: 
Fabric added this month: 0 yards
Fabric used this month: 4 1/4 yards

Fabric added year to date: 20 yards
Fabric used year to date: 33 yards

Net fabric used: 13 yards

And now fot the not-so-good report on sewing time...
Weeks with 3 days sewing this month: 0 
Total days with 15 mins of sewing in July: 6

Onward and upward - more sewing and stitching to tell you about in another week or so! Hope you've had a good summer and enjoyed the update :)