I'm Back!

Honestly, was I going to go a whole month without a blog post? I was very worried for a little while that might just happen. So, unfortunately summer is my absolute busiest time for work and even though I still tried to do some crafting for sanity, I really didn't get much done around here other than work. AND I mean WORK! Wow. What a whirlwind. I worked all day and started up again in the evening. A couple of times I actually had to work until 5 or 6 in the morning! Seriously. Ugh.

Well, enough of that. I can't cry about it because I got paid and anyway, I feel much better now that I have a few big projects all packed up and sent away. Yea! So I'm back in blog-land and feeling good. Shall we start?

Ava, my dear, sweet girl with the screech that could rival the tornado siren here in town, turned one on July 12th. It was so much fun and we all had a good time. As always, the baby dolls are invited to the party.


Here is the birthday girl with her proud mama:


Things are finally starting to bloom and flourish around here. June was such a weird month with hardly any sun, cooler days and lots of rain. Which is good, but when it's not followed by some hot sun, the plants go into hibernation. My veggies in pots are doing that now.





And yes, I have been knitting! Alas, it turns out that Debbie and I can no longer see each other. Remember the ill-fated toddler hoodie? Well, that was from this book by Debbie Bliss. I remember being so excited when I swiped it from the Barnes and Noble shelf, lapping up all of the beautiful pictures and planning my knitting for the next two years. Ah, no more.

I really wanted it to work out. Debbie and I seemed like we would get along so well! Remember this dress I was working on? Well, it turns out that when I finally got to the part where you normally just knit the armholes and finish off the straps the pattern directions really got all wonky. Deb had to be difficult. Even the OWNER of my lys couldn't figure the pattern out for me. Sadly, we have to break up. It's time. I found a new pattern for a cute girl's tank top. And this is what is happening to that stupid dress back:



And finally, FINALLY, today I got to do some baking. My sweet hubby is grilling some great burgers tomorrow so I made up some loaves of french bread (my first try) for the sandwiches. Yum! Apparently, I need to use a sharper blade for the slits - oh well.


I also bought these lovelies at the farmer's market. Aren't they pretty?




So often I will buy something at the FM just because it is so pretty and then I'll figure out what to do with it later. I found a fabulous recipe for Red Currant Pie. So good!





I am also trying to finish a quilt as a gift for someone who loves blue. It's almost halfway there...



I ALSO joined the Sassy Apron Swap for fall. I'm very excited - this will be my first swap! I love aprons and the thought of having someone make me one is so exciting. I can only hope that mine will be as good as theirs. Sign up is still open until July 25th so hurry up and get on the list! Maybe you and I will be swap partners?

I ALSO also (tired of the "alsos" yet?) finished off another bean bag for my shop. See my sidebar for details. Whew!

I'm back on the path!