I think I have taken a significant vacation from my blog. What do you think?

I'm sure you weren't holding your breath for the last 5 months...if you were, lets take a deep one now and get caught up.

Ahhhh....May.  The month of Mother's Day, planting all of my flowers, walking in the Susan G. Komen Race for a Cure and the celebration of our wedding anniversary.  21 yrs. of bliss and laughter which isn't only from drinking wine, but also from my fun husband.  We always take a trip the week of our anniversary and this year we went to Englewood, Florida to visit our dear friends, the Hemenways (no relation to Ernest Hemingway, which they get asked).  It was a very hot time to visit Florida, but what made it all so special, besides being with great friends, was this dolphin who swam up to our boat as sweet as could be just after I announced to all on board that I wanted to see a dolphin.

June brought the completion of our patio renovation, our grandson, Luke's first birthday, friends coming to stay for the annual National Quilt Show http://nqaquilts.org/2010show/ and Knitters' Connection and a new roof.

Friends Linda Henderson and Paula Meiler

 My personal favorite at the NQA Show....thistles aren't normally this cute!

Incredible use of color and quilting in this dragon quilt!

 This butterfly quilt won Viewer's Choice and was made by a man...sorry I can't remember his name.

 The quilt above is mostly colored by thread.  All of the gold, blue, green and red you see is thread!

 Luke sitting on his dolphin quilt I made him....he loves it, not that it shows in this photo!

This is my friend, Linda Hendersons, quilt that won her some 1st place ribbons and it is incredible.  All of the gold you see in the background is thread.  She's an awesome quilter, all done on her little Janome machine, not a long-arm.

July brought our Biennial Family Vacation....this year we went to Lake Cumberland, KY. 

 The beautiful Cumberland Falls...the 2nd largest falls in North America (right after Niagara Falls).

 Our six youngest grandchildren.

Luke's first time swimming.

August brought very hot weather, a family reunion, friends staying at our house, and Austin and Maya came while their mom and dad went to NYC to celebrate their anniversary.

Here we are with our friends, Brian and Theresa Linder at Hayden Falls near Dublin, Ohio....unfortunately, we didn't have enough rain this summer to see the falls, but were assured that we should come back in the fall and winter to check them out again.

 Maya and I spent all day in my sewing room as she requested.  She made a stuffed cat for her brother, Austin, and then designed this fleece stuffed creature after I had bought her an Ugly Doll at Learning Express.  She chose all the fabrics from my stash, but I did the sewing since I machine appliqued all the face parts down....she did the stuffing and was very happy with her creation....and Austin got to play Wii all day, so both kids were in heaven.

I don't know why, but she named it Octopoctie and here it is unstuffed.

Now, here we are in September, so we're all caught up.  We are into football season, which means 'Knitting Season' to me.  Nothing like knitting away while hubby watches the game & I pretend to be following it.  I finished this Leaf Yoke Top and have to say I really like how it turned out.  Sometimes you knit something and end up with a project you aren't happy with, not the case here.



I also made this little dress for my great niece, Grace, called Sommerlin on Ravelry.  http://www.ravelry.com/

It has a knitted top and fabric bottom.

...and this quilted purse for my daughter's birthday gift.

Mark and I went to the Renaissance Festival in Harveysburg, Ohio  Really kind of fun to go back in time or at least think of what it was like in the 16th century complete with jousting.

http://www.renfestival.com/

That was quite a bit of info and I hope not to wait that long again.  Let's enjoy this fall season coming upon us and hope the leaves are beautiful again this year.  Happy crafting!