7/18/16

In the Shade of the Old Apple Tree


It was such a nice evening yesterday. We spent it with Erik, Mae, Matthew, Valerie, and some of Erik and Mae's closest friends in their lovely backyard. They bought their place a couple of years ago, and they've worked hard to make it a very inviting home. I loved the little seating area they set up for themselves under an old established apple tree.


From a distance, I could see the little OSU birdhouse we picked up in Rockaway last month. (That pup belongs to one of Erik's friends.)


No Ducks allowed...that's a reference to the Oregon State Beavers' nemesis, the University of Oregon Ducks, in case you didn't know.


And that tree is loaded with apples. I offered to take some off their hands. These look like applesauce to me.


They've worked hard putting in raised beds for their vegetables.


And they have quite a crop of tomatoes coming on. This is the Indigo Rose variety.



As you might guess, I took pictures of every blooming thing.


This is a very unusual oak-leaf hydrangea.



You might recall that Mae and I trekked to the farmer's market last month to pick up plants as a birthday gift to her. She was looking for shade lovers to decorate that same seating area under the apple tree. It's going to be very nice when things grow up a little bit.


This is a pink lemonade blueberry. Fun, huh?


And it was my first chance to meet my grandkittens face to paw. This is Cricket. Doesn't she look thrilled to see me?



The orange one is Clementine. They were so stinking cute.


Clementine was a little more camera shy.


How many men does it take to barbecue some shish-kebobs?


These were mighty tasty. We had chicken, beef, and lamb, and then there were lots of vegetables as well.


Mae whomped up this gorgeous plum upside-down cake from plums off their tree.


That wasn't the only thing I did yesterday, however. I had the whole day to sew, and that's what I did. First, I committed the latest free motion quilting lesson on ruler work to my sampler.


For the ruler work, I needed a perfect 6 x 6-inch square, and I realized that the top row is off by half an inch. No problem, I just moved it off to the side there.


Then I got to work quilting the sand for Seating for Two. I didn't expect to finish it in one day, but there you go.


Hard to see the stitching from the back, but I'm showing it anyway.


All that's left now is to stitch the blue areas at the top and bottom, and then the borders. I got started on the blue above yesterday, but I wasn't happy with what I'd done, and so I'm taking it out. Fortunately, I didn't get very far before making that decision.

This morning I finished stitching the latest hooping of the Gingerbread Square block.


It's pretty darned close to being finished now.


I can't quite fit the last of it into my hoop, but pretty close.


I'll be setting it aside for a day or two while I work on the next block for the Bee-utiful Quilt-A-Long. I'll say more about that in my next post. For now, I have to type fast because I'm having breakfast with Erik, who is on vacation this week.

Oh yes, but I need to choose a winner for my 6th Blogiversary Giveaway. Thanks to all of you who left such lovely congratulatory comments. It was so nice hearing from you. Mr. Random Number Generator has spoken, and the winner is:

#9--Quilting Tangent!

Congratulations, Quilting Tangent! I've written you an email, so check your inbox.

10 comments:

Vroomans' Quilts said...

Congratulations to the winner and thank you for hosting. Oh, love the poem with the photo of their tree setting - what a fabulous place to relax. Ah, we get to meet the grandkits in person! Looks like a wonderful meal and time with family.

DeeDee said...

Congratulations to the winner! And how cute are those kittens? I don't need another cat - I have to tell myself that every time I see a cute kitty. Our two are quite content.

Quilting Babcia said...

Congrats to Quilting Tangent! Those grandkittens are totally adorable, Cricket has such beautiful markings. I really love the border fabric you've chosen for Seating for Two. Perfectly beachy!

CathieJ said...

You've been quite busy and all of your projects look beautiful. Those kitties are adorable. I wanted to reach in the computer and snuggle them.....and then take an allergy pill. Oh, I love snuggling kitties, but I suffer afterward.

gpc said...

What a sweet home. It is so good to see your kids doing well, nothing makes me happier. :)

Dana Gaffney said...

I'm so glad you finally got to meet the grandkitties, they are adorable. They didn't have a problem with the dog being there? That yard looks wonderful, I remember when they bought the house and all of the plans they had.

Teresa in Music City said...

Sounds like a wonderful day! You trained that boy well :*). As for the grandkitties - wowzers they are cute!!!!!

Janarama said...

Erik and Mae have a lovely yard. Cricket and Clementine are adorable. I see a few more Pawtraits in your future. What are you planning to do with your free-motion sampler when you fill in all of the squares? It's looking fantastic with the multi-colored thread you're using.

Congratulations to Quilting Tangent.

quiltzyx said...

Congrats to Quilting Tangent! Lucky pup!
Lovely backyard at Erik & Mae's home. Looks like they take after you in the vegetable gardening way too. :)
You have some very cute grandkittens there Barbara! What fun!!

Brown Family said...

I would love to have a place to sit and read. Our problem is that it is too hot. Cute babies!