Summer Happenings

We begin at the beginning of my time at home.... sleeping in late, eating breakfast late, and staying around to help with kitchen adventures. (For concerned people, I am now back to getting dressed before noon. No worries.) 

Peach Jam! These little cups are the ones I made. 

Don't they look precious? Sadly, they also look a little runny. Therefore the parable of the peach jam. Thou shalt not be too impatient. My mom and I were worried that the jam wasn't setting right and so we tried to quick-fix it by adding more pectin. However, the one we left sitting out in a bowl of extra eventually turned into the right consistency. I directly related this to my failures in dating. Apparently I'm like peach jam: very difficult to get all the conditions just perfect for it to turn out right. But with a little extra time, it will all turn out right in the end. Amen. 

Peaches from our tree.... the pretty sides of them. :) 

Adding pectin to the second batch of jam. This was my mom's which, of course, turned out perfectly. I just have to say that my peaches had been sugared prior to jamming, which threw off the exact calculations needed. More parable! I'm just too sweet for my own good. ??.... maybe not? 

The mess of my peach jam getting reheated and reconstituted to make it jell together. Lovely process. Like getting over a broken engagement. 

Lovely, huh? 

So instead of being bested by the elusive peach jam success, I tried another project! I've decided I need more hobbies. And I like being productive anyways. So I combined all that with my love of crafts and colors and joined my mom in the ranks of quilt making! 

This is my lovely self cutting strips for my awesome new quilt. 

It's a very precise process. And I'm happy to say my cutting skills were up to par!

All the pretty colors for my quilt. I love bright colors!

Doesn't that pile just make you so happy?

Designing the quilt. This process taught me I'm much more orderly and less random than I thought. And it takes a lot of little strips to get things to the right length. We had to go back and add another section for more length. But designing sure was fun! I may keep that up and design quilts for my mom's new business, Pink Daisy Quilts. 

Time to sew! It's way better on this wonderful new machine than the old one I used before. And it has some little things to help me make a straight line! I must also brag that I made some very excellent corners in the process... not an easy thing for a beginner quilter. 

Are you ready for the final result?? Well good, because this is only the partly final result! I don't think I have a picture of it with the borders on, actually, but this is the main quilt top all pieced together. It took many hours and some un-picking and re-sewing, but I love how it all turned out for the stripes!

Testing out border colors. We decided to put on this nice orange instead of the crazy pink/yellow/orange one we originally chose. 

What I love to do at home: 

Tan by the pool. 

Read.

Read while tanning by the pool!

Caught by the paparzzi!

Posing for the picture. Yes, I am and always will be a picture ham. 

Horizontal stripes.... slimming or not?? 

Sneak peak of another project I worked on... but it's top secret! Sh... don't tell. 

Now, my mom claims that I suggested we paint this shelf. And I thought that she was the one who wanted to paint it. Neither one of us really remembers. Regardless, we now have an ocean breeze blue bookshelf gracing the walls of our basement! It's the first piece I've helped spray paint to repurpose (something I've wanted to try for a while), and it is also the first piece of "office" furniture for my mom's new business, Pink Daisy Quilts! See the pink daisy on top? Yeah, that's intentional. Filling it up is still a work in progress. 

And finally, here are the pillow shams for my new quilt, which shows an abbreviated version of the quilt with stripes, borders, and the channel quilting. Can't wait to see the final product!! 

And that's what I've done so far since being home. Along with other small projects here and there like cinnamon rolls, and movies, and watering flowers, and walking at 6 am most mornings, and shopping..... oh yes. The shopping! Also, can't forget the relatively massive progress made on my cross-stitching project!! 

I also want it to be known that I did, in fact, attend YSA at least once. I even stayed and played a game after the event ended. Duty fulfilled. And I've applied for several jobs in Utah County.