Slow Sunday Stitching

It has been a busy two weeks.  My brother Bill and SIL Char arrived June 30th for an overnight stay on their way to Oregon.  They plan to retire in Oregon in a couple of years.  It was a really quick visit.  We all left first thing in the morning on July 1.  They left for Oregon, and I left for Santa Cruz with my older daughter Kristen's family.  It was son-in-law Jeff's 49th birthday and he requested going to Santa Cruz to spend the day.  We left at 7 a.m.  It is about a 3 hour drive from here.  Jeff really loves going on all the rides, particularly the roller coaster type rides.  

Grandson Keaton brought his girlfriend Addie.  

Daughter Kristen and I

Granddaughter Kyleigh and boyfriend Andrew

We had a great day, and left around 9 p.m. that night.  Unfortunately, going back home, heading up Highway 17 was very slow, stopping almost at times.  We didn't get home till 1:30 a.m. on Sunday morning.  

The Fourth was spent at Kristen and Jeff's house.   It was a smaller gathering than we usually have.  Daughter Katie and children were in Arizona visiting her in-laws.  Granddaughter Kyleigh was working.  I fixed some potato salad, cole slaw.  Kristen made meatballs and we had meatball sandwiches.  I also fixed this trifle.  My star made out of blueberries wasn't as great as the picture in this recipe.   It tasted delicious though.  

Brother Bill and Char came back and stopped off overnight again on Friday, and I planned a family dinner as they were leaving the next day.  Daughter Katie was back from Arizona.  Grandson Jaeger had to work late but was finally able to come and have a meal.

This week I got the Winter Blues back from the longarm quilter.  She is a member of my guild, and lives a couple of blocks from me.  I got the binding sewn on and sewn down.  I still need to get the label put on.   Since I had two tall guys to hold it up for me, I got a picture in before the sun went down.  This is a pattern by Bonnie Hunter and can be found here.  

Brother Bill also gifted me with a few more of his wooden creations.  He gets all sorts of exotic woods and each of his creations are works of art.  I particularly like the ones with uneven sides.  These are what he brought me this time.

This gnome likes to sit in one of them.  

I am working on a couple of secret projects.  The Picnic Party Challenge is coming up in about 9 days.  Also the Christmas in July Blog Hop is coming up, hosted by Sarah at Confessions of a Fabric Addict.    She was still looking for bloggers last week, I am not sure if she is still looking for bloggers, but I told her I would put the word out.  

For Slow Stitching this week, I will be continuing to work on the Blessings Quilt.  This is the next to last embroidery I need to do.  

I will be linking up with Kathy's Quilts for Slow Sunday Stitching.  Head on over and check out what everyone is up to.  Thanks for stopping by!