Has It Really Been a Month?!

 Yup, it's been a month since I last posted. Summer busyness. So, let me show you some of said busyness...

CRAFTS

This finish became a birthday gift to the daughter who spent some time serving refugees in Ukraine where they grow a lot of sunflowers for the world. She is now temporarily staying in my sewing room as she and DD5 look for an affordable apartment nearby. There's precious little space in that room now filled with bedroom furniture also. 😑😊

So, it's a challenge to get at the sewing machine to get the binding put on this Autumn Jubilee quilt which I finally got back from the quilter who was delayed by serious health difficulties of her own as well as her husband's. 

As usual, she did a beautiful job.

I've been making steady progress on catching up on my Everyday Embroidery which I started in 2022 but didn't actually do every day.

Another finish was the #MyShepherdSAL where we were challenged to stitch something having to do with shepherds, sheep, or anything Christian. I chose this Bible verse and cobbled some patterns together, including a tiny sheep, and glued it all to my dad's former desk sign from his days as a missionary pastor in the Philippines. Don't you just love the beautiful carving?!

HOMESTEADING

The flower gardens did quite well even though I realized about halfway through the season that I needed to be watering everything a lot more.

My repurposed rusty swingset frame pole bean trellis did marvelously and is still producing well. The cucumber production wasn't all that great nor was my tomato harvest from a separate area.

The quails have started laying and I had an 11 egg spinach scramble, only 7 of which are already stirred in in this picture.

Here are 3 quail eggs next to 5 chicken eggs.

The rabbits are doing well though I had far too many at one time to deal with (24), so I'm happy to be back down to 4 breeders and only 12 babies. I plan to sell one of the does so as to not have to deal with so many at once. 

Adventures

Having a daughter now working at a local attraction and major wedding venue brings the privilege of a free tour with our own private tour guide.

I took far too many pictures, as is my way, which I won't bore you with, but here a few beauties:

Being a family of history nerds we were very interested in the history of the place which she was able to tell us.

Of course I had to take pictures of the quilts, at least the second of which was made by the current owner of the castle.

The next adventure was a little more melancholy as my brother, sis-in-law, Lovey, and I travelled to the Cleveland area to pack up my mom to move her to live with brother. The plus is that she's closer to me and safer not living alone anymore at 89 yo, but it was hard for her to leave where she's lived for over 20 years and the church with which she's been associated since middle school days.

Along the way of our travels, we discovered a cute diner in which were a bazillion signs on the walls, some of which were:

Another adventure involved getting to stay a night on the east coast of Michigan and therefore getting to see a gorgeous sunrise over Lake Huron as well as discover a cute coffee shop.

So, this week's plan to be awesome includes:

CRAFTS

* Continue to make good progress on Everyday Embroidery.

* At least cut off the extra batting and backing from Autumn Jubilee even if I can't get to my machine

* Kit up the "Word of the Year" medallions I want to embroider.

Homesteading

* Can the beans I picked today

* Transplant strawberries

* Root some willow bush branches for rabbit feed

* Incubate more quail eggs

* Help put firewood into newly revamped woodroom in basement

Adventures

* Get Mom from my brother's and bring here for a two-week stay

* Annual church picnic and cornhole tournament

* Maybe take Mom to Castle Farms

Let me leave you with these words of wisdom from Kyle Idleman's book, Don't Give Up: