Summertime - what ever happened to the l*o*n*g summers we had as kids??

My Grandmother once said, "This summer is going so fast!"  I was in elementary school and thought to myself: "You are losing your mind! This summer is never going to end!!"  Fast forward to 2016 - "Sorry, Grandma.  I know what you were saying now!!"

One exciting weekend in June we were celebrating our DS's graduation from Nursing School.  Look at all that honors 'stuff' around his neck!! So proud of him, it takes determination to go back to school when you have preschoolers of your own.  DDIL is a middle school math teacher - not a lot of spare time there either.  Then to graduate Cum Laude!!  WTG!

School of Nursing was the LAST college to walk.  The weather was surprisingly cool for Ashland OR in June!  The boys were very patient and well behaved but we had our work cut out for us to keep the entourage entertained for 3 hours.  

Victory Lap!!

And of course, with every graduation comes a quilt! Found this quilt on Pinterest - a very dangerous place for me to hang out!  It had been in "Easy Quilts" magazine last year.  Great - because I was working last minute - no surprise there!

  

At our quilt show I found these "Nursing charms" Great sayings on them - "It's only poop!"; "Nurses call the shots" and so on!  So I pieced them into the back.

Way back when  my DS loved the back of his kindergarten quilt more than the front.  So every time I told him to make his bed the Kilban Cat sheet backing was up and the log cabin piecing was down! I wonder which way will be up for this quilt!

Two weeks later we were back for babysitting duty with the boys.  DS and DDIL were in Hawaii!  It was very hot.  Saturday morning the little old neighbor lady came to our door and said, "It's going to be really hot today.  Here's some money to take the boys for ice cream!!  I really like the way she thinks!  So we bought Rainbow Sherbet and ice cream cones and enjoyed them all weekend!

We also watched "Charlotte's Web" and then made spider webs. (Another idea from Pinterest!)  Cut slits around the edges of paper plates and weave some yarn around the plate.  D had a really big plastic spider, we wove him into the web and he hung it in his closet!! Glad I knew about it - that would have been a big surprise to someone not quite awake!

When we got back to the cool weather coast from that - we had a sweatshop here at our house.  Three of us sat and worked, worked, worked on languishing projects.  Okay, we took too many breaks out on the deck; and had time for smoothies ... but we did get alot done.

P and I worked on - wait for it - a quilt we loved on Pinterest!!! Vintage Stripes Quilt by RedPepper. Of course, the original idea was a crib quit and we were making it MUCH BIGGER!!!

We'd collected stripes for a couple of years.  Cut 5.5" squares and then made giant checkerboards alternating the direction of the stripes.  They are so 'summer-y' and the tops are done.  I ran into problems with too little backing fabric.  But hope to simply quilt it and get it on our bed yet this summer.  IF it slows down long enough!  Our bed quilt is quite heavy and DH doesn't need it in the summer.  He tends to throw it over on my side.  Now I sleep 'cold' but the quilt doubled is so heavy that I can't turn over without waking up!!  Not good.

Sisters Outdoor Show - July 2015

This weekend is the Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show.  I've been going to it for 17-18? years.  We even came from NE on vacation in July each year so I could go to the show.  This year - so far - the weather forecast is for 80 degree days!  Much better than the 100+ weather in past years.  Looking forward to strolling thru the town with friends and enjoying the quilts.

Our small town has an outdoor swimming pool that is open now.  Every year we hope and pray that the pool will open again.  And we have quite the phone chain about developments.  The very first day it was open for Water Aerobics at 8 am - there were over 30 people in the pool!!  The next week there was a day with 45 people there and 5 of the regulars were missing!!  It has settled down to 25 - 35 each day - just about right!

I love water aerobics - I even drive to Crescent City twice a week during the rest of the year for Water Aerobics at their indoor pool.  (35 minutes each way!!)  But summers, the 5 minute commute; the outdoor air, the camaraderie of meeting everyone at the pool - it's the best.  You feel like "Iron Woman" afterwards! And oh-so-virtuous!  FUN!

We bring Miss P and Mr M back from our trip to Sisters next week.  We'll see how long we can get them to stay this year.  Crossing our fingers for 5 days!!