This past weekend we went to my parents' weekend home in Virginia. It was such a wonderful time, as always. My children jet skiied, swam, fished, waterskiied, and wore their Daddy out. We all went for a boatride when the sun was setting, the perfect ending to a perfect day.
Since I don't enjoy being out in the sun, I spent most of my time in the house doing sewing and cross stitch. It felt so good to finish up a few projects. The above project didn't get finished...I ran out of thread. This is the back of Anna's quilt that she made for her new cousin. No...I am not good at embroidery. In fact, this is my first try.

I finished sewing the binding around these two little "quilts." Several years ago, I sold kits on eBay called "Quilt in an Afternoon." These are only 15 inches square, but they were a real hit. I sewed a few of them to take a picture of the finished project, but for some reason I never found the time to finish the binding. Now they are all done. Maybe tomorrow I will show you the others. This pattern is called a Rail Fence.

I also finished this hand towel for a friend. It may look simple, but this pattern was one of the hardest I have ever done. The pinks in the flower were too close or something. Anyhow, this friend found out that I cut up old jeans for quilt patches, so she gave me a few pairs. I enjoy giving these towels as gifts.

This is the picture of a towel I made for another friend this summer. This friend invited our family to a wonderful picnic. If you ever need a pattern for cross stitching, and you live close by, please feel free to come browse through my patterns. I have been collecting patterns at the thrift shop for 20 years now, so I have a great collection. Actually, my collection is 40" high when stacked together!

Today was a beautiful day, so I took three of my children to the park. Afterwards we stopped by the thrift shop. I bought this 1-gallon crock for $1. It was covered in a terrible paint job, so I brought it home, applied turpentine and elbow grease, and now I have this beautiful planter! Ruthie also bought a project. She just loved this covered wagon lamp. All we have to do is add a muslin covering. Ruthie sure has inherited my love of all things western!

Maggie and Anna went with our church youth group to a camp called The Wilds. It is located in Brevard, NC. They are having so much fun, I'm sure. Both of them went a few years ago and loved it. I also went to this camp 8 times during my high school years. My whole high school would take 6 schoolbuses (4 for students, 2 for sleeping bags and suitcases) and travel the 14 hours. On Monday morning, our church vans left at 5:20 am and arrived at 4 pm. Not bad!

Since Maggie and Anna can't have dairy and eggs, they had to take all their own food. The above picture shows Anna and Lizzie making hot pockets with ham and veggie cheese. The Wilds camp is very gracious to campers with food allergies ~ they provide a refrigerator and microwave! The girls also took peanutbutter, jelly and bread, as well as a bunch of Cliffbars. Much better than last year's camp where they ate lettuce and teddy grahams all week!

Tonight, Mike and Allen are in the next county splitting firewood with "the men." So we are having a fast and easy dinner. We softened corn tortillas, added sauteed onions, peppers (red, green, and banana peppers from Maggie's garden), and chopped some cilantro and garlic. Yummy!

I am trying to make the most of each of these last days of summer, as I'm sure you all are as well. This week our evenings have dropped down into the 60s. The pool is quick to reflect that.

Enjoy these leisurely days. Many blessings ~ Kathie