Holy cow.....

.....what a summer......and fall!

I can't believe my last post was June 30th!  Cripes!  AND.....the last line on that post said I was gonna post more often!  HA!  Who was I kidding!?!

Truly, the summer got away from me!  We had company most of the summer, and I hardly even stepped into my quilting room!  Crazy, but true!  But I did manage to get to the Maine Quilts show, and I took a 2nd Place ribbon for My Jubilee quilt there!  Woot!  So, a 2nd Place in Vermont, and then Maine.....woohoo!

AND THEN.....I entered it into my NH guild's show, (Cocheco Quilt Guild), which was just this last weekend, and I won BEST OF SHOW!!!!!

HOLY COW!!!!!

I'm in shock, needless to say!  And I still can't wipe the smile off my face!  lol

My hubby was so sweet, too......he had flowers for me when I got home from the show!  :o)

Life is good!

Of course, these last few months haven't been ALL about my quilt.

Our son, Chris, just got married to a lovely girl, Liz, on Columbus Day weekend in Sunapee, NH.

They had the ceremony aboard a dinner cruise boat, and then we sailed the lake for the reception!  It was beautiful!  The fall colors were at peak, and made for a perfect day!  We're so happy for them.....they really are perfect together!

Speaking of fall colors, this is a shot at a local golf course my friend and I played in the last month!  Gorgeous!

And, of course, our beautiful maple tree in our front yard put on a lovely show this year again!

As I said, we had a ton of company over the summer, but I managed to get a pic of the hibiscus a friend gave us while it was putting on its show!  Lovely!

Part of the summer was spent flying kites, and doing 'kite making for kids' events around the state. Always a fun day when the kids make kites!  They decorate them with markers, and minutes later, they are flying them in the field!  Awesome!

Speaking of kites, way back in May (seems like ages ago now! lol), I made a kite quilt for the fundraiser auction at the Wildwood Kite Festival in New Jersey.  My hubby is asked to fly at this event every year, and often gives kites for the auction.  Our good friend, the coordinator, asked if I could make a quilt (which I had no intention of doing!), but then thought about it, and figured "Why not!?!"  Of course, crazy me decided to do a machine applique quilt.....a process I'd NEVER DONE BEFORE!  What was I thinking!?!

But I think it really came out great!  Each of the appliques is of a very recognizable kite to flyers, and the pieced rail fence background sets it off nicely.  (I had seen the rail fence background on a guild member's applique quilt, and really liked the effect.  If I ever do another applique like this, I'd do that again!)  This quilt finished at 60x72.

And last, but not least, of my news is that we are becoming snowbirds this year!!!  Yep.....we are heading south to Florida in 7 days, and we are not returning until May!  Woohoo!

We never thought we would ever do the snowbird thing, but this past winter was so brutally cold, it cost us a small fortune to heat our house, and we just can't do that again!  And then we figured out that we could rent a condo AND play golf 2 times a week for the same amount......why wouldn't we head south!?!  And we're very excited that we found a nice place about 45 minutes from Chris and Liz.....not too close, but close enough!  :o)  And we have cousins galore and one of my sisters in FL, too, so there will be plenty of visiting down there!  Awesome!  We can't wait!

And I've kitted up 10 quilts to take with me!  LOL  Any bets on how many I even touch!?!  LOL

Wow......writing this post felt really good!  I sure missed blogging this summer!  I hardly had the chance to even look on any blogs.  Once in a blue moon I'd have a few minutes, and I checked a few.  I hope to scroll back on blogs and see what the heck everyone has been up to these last few months!  I've really missed keeping up!

And a big hug to the gals that checked on me over the last few months.....making sure I was ok!  You're awesome!  Love ya!

I'm thinking my next post will be from sunny Florida!  Of course, AFTER I've played a round of golf, and had a Krispy Kreme!  LOL

regan