It's been awhile...........

I captured this photo of this season's eaglet - he (or she) is now flying around quite a bit and I saw an opportunity and took it! It is not often that I get to see them this close!! I figure he was watching for my sweetie, who was still out fishing - the eagles follow his boat because he feeds them!

It's been awhile since I posted to my blog - oh, where did the summer go? All 3 days of it, that is! I stayed busy and got quite a lot accomplished on my Christmas gift list. Still a long way to go, but I've got a few more months!! The temperatures are getting cooler, a real precursor to winter - I'm not going to utter the "S" word!! Suffice to say that with cooler temps I tend to stay at home more!

All of my groups are getting started again after a couple of months off and everything is in a whirlwind!! I am participating in not 1, but 2 challenges! NO, make that 3!! The 3rd one is a small one, thank goodness!

I'm all packed for a retreat at my friend Koleen's Quilting Oasis - several members of the Maine Machine Quilters are getting together to work on the "Maine" quilt that we agreed to do for 2011 - it needs to be completed by Spring 2010 so we are getting a head start on it this weekend. Hopefully our own challenge will be revealed this weekend, as well. That's the small one I mentioned above!

Another group of gals I sew with are meeting on Wednesday to work on "our" challenges - it's called "September Sun" from Jinny Beyer from back in 2002 - we are all making the same pattern, with completely different fabrics! Mine is in greens and peaches - I love it so far!

Our Tacoma Lake Quilters has had it's first couple of meetings and we have chosen a challenge too! Ours is called "Morningstar" - a free pattern from P&B Textiles - I made one block from oranges and golds but I have since changed my mind and today I cut out all 9 blocks using totally different fabrics! I'm keeping it a secret until we meet again on October 7th. That is out "audition" day for the fabrics we will be using - the challenge is to use only fabrics from our stash. Of course, if we absolutely NEED more fabric, we can go shopping!! LOL And, we have planned a great FART - Fabric Acquisition Road Trip - in the very near future!! What a lot of fun this group and I feel privileged to lead it for one more year!!

I can't leave out another one of my favorite groups - "Casey's Sewing and Knitting Circle" - there are 12 of us who meet twice a month to sit & sew & talk & eat & laugh!, usually at Kay's. Good for the soul! We don't always get anything accomplished but we do have a lot of fun!! We are planning a mini retreat at one of the other member's homes in early October - 2 days, in fact!! Helen is a gracious hostess and she has agreed to do the cooking! What more could you ask for! We have a project all lined up so I need to select and cut my fabrics for that too!

Oh, sometime, I will sleep!