Summertime! and I am a slacker

Is summertime one word? See? I'm too lazy to look it up! Ahhhh, summer.

I got an email from Quilts for Kids reminding me that I need to send in my quilt. I feel bad that I even needed a reminder! 

You can see the front of the quilt below. 

Hubby is holding it. "Will you be able to see my orange shorts?" 

"Why, what's wrong with orange shorts?" 

"Well, they won't match the quilt." 

"Actually, they do match very well."

And below is the back of the quilt. They send the fabrics, the quilter puts the quilt together. This particular grouping of fabrics was very cute! 

They include a special label on which you are supposed to write your first name and a name for the quilt. Well, I don't name quilts. Not that I am against it or anything, I just never have. 

So, I'm looking at the quilt front and see turtles and birds and mice. Hmmm. Well, they all live in the woods, so I called it "Woodland Creatures." Unfortunately I wrote that on the label before including the back of the quilt in my inspiration. So, the back of the quilt has elephants, and monkeys. A lion. Yeah.

I think I'll stick to not naming quilts. I don't seem to be very good at it.

Hey, do you collect selvages? Because, I don't. If you would like these, be the first to ask me in a comment and I will mail them to you. I just couldn't throw them away.

Another "Quilt for Kids"

Look at the adorable fabric for my next Quilt for Kids! Just arrived in my mailbox today. So fun! Robert Kaufman offers this collection, designed by Amy Schimler, specially for Quilts for Kids.

The panel will actually be the backing, so how cute will that be? I'm really excited to get started on it.

In other news -- deadheading is your friend. 

I am always hesitant to be too aggressive in snipping off the spent blossoms from my annuals. 

This year, I put pansies in my window box because they will withstand our Wisconsin frosts that occur this time of year. I love them because you can plant them very early with no worries. 

Just a week or so ago, they were not much more than greenery since I had deadheaded a bunch of expired blossoms. I could see lots of buds coming, but only one or two blooms. 

And now look at them! They are solid blooms and the colors are so very bright! 

I wish I had taken a picture of my window box full of greenery so you could see the progress.

As soon as the danger of frost has passed, 

I will repot the window box with an assortment of other annuals.

Shown above is a viola hanging basket that I bought at the same time. 

They don't seem to need any pruning. 

I plan to plant them directly in the ground eventually, but I'm not sure how long they will continue blooming. They love the cool temps right now, but can't stand the heat. 

Quilts for Kids Ready to Go!

Well, here they are, all ready to mail to Quilts for Kids. This pattern was really fun to make. As always, I learned a few things.

1. I'm very pleased with how the charcoal thread worked with the quilting on the colors and the black. It really blended in nicely. I used light pink thread on the girl's quilt.

2. I wasn't sure how I'd feel about the back-turned-to-front binding (the organization's request) but I like how it turned out.

3. I'm more of a cross-hatch and stitch in the ditch quilter than a meanderer.

4. This was the first time that I used my walking foot from start to finish. Yes, even on the piecing!

Now on to other projects!