Another week

What has this week been all about?  Lots of different things . . . had coffee with friends one morning, was part of 2 Quilt of Valor awards one afternoon, read a really good book, finished a quilt top, layed out the parts for a new holiday wall hanging, pieced a backing for another UFO quilt, worked on some binding, and sewed a few quilt blocks.

The book - Lessons in Chemistry was a fairly quick read and I thoroughly enjoyed it.  Interesting characters and clever writing.  I'm not at all good at writing a book review, but must thank the bloggers who recommend awesome books.  

One of the UFOs hanging in the closet was this Happy Block quilt top.  It's a nice child sized quilt and destined to be donated.  I dug deep into the leftover backing pieces and found the multi-color batik.  It needed to be pieced to work, but luckily there was enough to do that.  I really need to try quilting this one myself.  

Star of Wonder is the free mystery going on at Fat Quarter Shop.  Week 4 added an "inner" border, which tells me there is one more clue.  I haven't sewn the blocks into rows yet, but this is probably going to be my layout.  

The Quilts of Valor for this week's award were shipped to me by the family members who made the quilts for the recipients - a married couple who are both veterans.  I especially love how this quilt looks - very scrappy and beautiful.  They even sent special patriotic pillowcases for the school age children of this couple.  As always I'm honored to be a part of this program.

Outside of my home office window is a bird feeder, and most of my mornings start with at least one cup of coffee while I watch the birds on that feeder.  But the wild turkeys have also discovered that feeder - or more accurately, the ground under the feeder.  They scratch and dig into the landscaping rocks to get to the seed scattered by the little birds.  So each week when my husband mows, he has to rake the rocks back into place.  

My "garden" is doing pretty well, except for the pot of petunias drowned out by 9" of rain in about 30 hours last month.  I've even harvested a few little tomatoes from the one tomato plant in a pot on  the deck.  This geranium is on my front porch and I love the color.  The one on the back deck is a similar color, but a different variety. 

Well, it's Friday and the first day of Arts in the Park.  I do believe part of my day today will involve checking out the vendors.  It has been 19 years since we had Arts in the Park here, so I've been looking forward to it all summer.  And both sons-in-law arrive today to play golf for 3 days with my husband.  Should be a good weekend!