Good-bye, July

Here in the States

July is associated with

red, white and blue.

There was no other choice for my small quilt

this month.

Independence Day

19" x 25"

Earlier this year I purchased the

mini quilt .postcard collection

 from Temecula Quilt Co.

I don't think it's available still, but 

I did see they have a new book,

Quirky Little Quilts.

It looks quite fun.

I added an outside border to

the original pattern and tweaked 

the size just a bit.

Nothing like simple machine quilting and 

then maybe a turn of the century print on the back.

Yes, we were around then!

There's still time to join in with Wendy,

Randy, Janet, and Barbara.

If I've missed someone else, 

please let me know.

There's no rules. No pressure.

****

Yesterday was World Embroidery Day.

A good reason to stop doing chores

and get out a needle and thread.

A couple sewing sisters came over to celebrate

and we started a new project.

Sue Spargo's  Heart to Heart 

zippered bag.

This is the beginning of mine.

The wool for the hearts came out of the 

 neglected wool stash.

The lovely orange sherbet background 

was a wool blanket that had seen better days.

I pulled out all of the the beautiful threads 

that I've collected with other Sue Spargo projects

and started stitching.

There's no time restrictions on this.

Just slow and sweet.

Until Next Time-

Kyle

Sweet Summertime

I've been working on some 

pretty sweet things lately.

Nothing finished, but

just been enjoying the process.

Here take a peek.

****

I've been sewing 2" leftover strips

into log cabin blocks.

I've been participating in 

Barb's summer spread sew along.

Check it out, 

if you haven't already.

36 blocks is as many as I'm going to make.

I've got a simple plan for a border.

****

Been working on my July mini

as part of a challenge from Wendy.

I should have it done by the next post!

****

One of my long term project is 

getting closer to becoming a quilt top.

2 applique blocks each month 

starting in February.

12 total.

Now to put it together.

****

I had started something new 

at the beginning of the summer.

Why not!

One of Di Ford's patterns from her book,

Primarily Quilts...2.

Slowly putting together 

the center medallion.

Then added another appliqued border.

What's next?

320 minuscule drunkard's path blocks.

****

Besides all of that

it's been play time!

Until Next Time-

Kyle

Rollin' on the Rhone

The second part of my recent trip

was spending a week on a

 small luxurious ship with only 80 fellow passengers,

gently cruising on the Rhone in southern France, and 

then enjoying extraordinary experiences at different ports.

lavender fields

It had been on my bucket list for a long time, but truthfully,

I was hesitant to even consider this trip because

I had been nervous about feeling seasick,

but I have to say,

it was smooth sailing all the way.

Our itinerary was a wonderful mixture 

of scenery: 

the bridge at Avignon

history:

the Arles Roman amphitheater

 picturesque villages:

Viviers, France

wonderful wine tastings:

 and  gastronomical experiences: 

 tastings at a truffle farm

There was never a moment to get bored. 

This trip, one of Tauck's River Cruises,

gave us cultural experiences

ensuring memories for a life time. 

Happy Travels,

Rollin',rollin' rollin' down the river.

Kyle

Paris, France

I just got back last week from a 

truly incredible trip to France.

Running Man and I were in Paris 

 enjoying the iconic sights.

The Louvre

Notre-Dame

Paris is a huge city with so much to
see, do and taste.

  We were only
able to explore a small portion of what
the City of Light has to offer.

We were on a Tauck Tour called
Savoring France: Paris, Lyon, and Provence
with a 7 night river cruise on the Rhone.

While in Paris we had the extraordinary opportunity
to have a class at Le Cordon Bleu Paris.

We were so excited.

We each had our own cooking station complete
with all the equipment laided out, and an
assistant who would whisk away our
dirty equipment.


What were we making?

Our delicious chocolate macarons

Now I'm a graduate!

Me and Chef Vincent Valton

What did we do with all of our chocolate macarons?

I did say they were delicious!!!

All too quickly we had to leave Paris
and head to Lyon to board our ship,
the MS Emerald.

Many wonderful adventured awaited.
I'll share more on another post.

Wishing you many adventures,

Kyle

A Tiny Garden

A year ago, a friend of mine

gifted me with a small stack of 

vintage 1930's flower garden blocks.

I knew I just couldn't let them

languish another 80 years in this adorable taffy box.

They were sewn perfectly

except the quilter forgot to leave a 

seam allowance on the outside edges.

If I wanted to connect them, I'd have to

unsew a small bit on every seam and secure 

the stitching.

Guess what?

That wasn't going to happen.

Maybe that's why they got  stored away.

Who knows.

 So I toyed with other ideas and 

finally decided to

stitch them to a background

with raw edged machine applique.

I also decided to make the applique stitching

also became the quilting.

It's a wonderful time saver.

I arranged these tiny gardens with

a small spaces between them.  The spacing wasn't always 

the same, nor where the size of the tiny gardens,

but close enough, like pathways

 between beds of flowers in a real garden.

I added a little more stitching on

the hexies.

I didn't even trim the edges before sewing them.

I simple left every thing the way they

were last handled and placed 

in the box.

A Tiny Garden

20" X 24"

Now those wonderful blocks

have found a purpose.

and have become my mini June quilt.

I've never been to Atlantic City and the boardwalk,

but it appears that you can still buy James's De-Luxe

Salt Water Taffy "cut to fit the mouth"!

Until Next Time-

Kyle