Summer Projects

I picked up some peaches at the farmers' market last Saturday. When the peaches are available at the market you have to get there early because the line is long but it doesn't matter because they are worth it. And today I thought I would give peach ice cream a try. 

I love summer so much. There is so much to be grateful for. The vegetable garden is thriving, the flowers are blooming, I can be outside all the time. I appreciate every warm, wonderful day. But when there are rainy days, I have taken the time to enjoy my embroidery machine. 

I'm also having some fun with some of the things we've collected on our antiques and barn sale shopping trips. 

This spring I wanted to paint my garden fence. In the process of scraping off the chipped paint, the boards just broke away. The fence was so rotten we ended up taking it down. I was sure I would miss the look of the white pickets, then Jeff designed a new fence using stuff we had lying around. Some cedar boards and leftover wire fencing made a really nice new fence.

What a nice, fresh look we have in the yard now. 

A Little Embroidery Work

A friend asked me to embroider a baby name onto her vintage quilt. I was very worried about ending up ruining it so I asked a few embroidery experts what I should do. Of course, that turned out to be a mistake. I asked two people and got two different answers. And I didn't like either answer.

So onto Plan B. I decided to just wing it. The worst that could happen is that I would have to rip it out. I can handle that. I offered up a few fonts for the name and thread colors. She made the same choices I would have.

I practiced on a piece of muslin with thin batting. It was the same thickness as the quilt. I likes the results so I loaded the quilt onto the machine.

I think it turned out way better than I expected. I guess I should follow my own instincts more often.