Belated Happy Independence Day

I know it's the 6th of July, but I was lazy this weekend and did not post anything. I took the kids to the beach on the 3rd and 4th. They love playing in the sand and water. It's a bit of a chore getting them cleaned/showered off so I opted not to go another day this weekend. The boys start swim lessons again in another week so hopefully they'll be swimming by the time we go on vacation this August. No plans are firm yet, but we're looking into a week on Lake Champlain in upstate VT. Is anybody familiar with that area? Will the water be freezing cold??

Scenes from Friday's beach trip...
Little sister was content to just play in the sand and try to pop the seaweed. I certainly fetched enough bucket fulls of water for her though.
I'm not sure if this is the "finished" piece, but in honor of the 4th, here's one of my more patriotic blocks. It's for the bday block swap. Anne's birthday is actually August, but I'm trying to get ahead, and was a bit intimidated by doing this block so I tried to get a head start. The darn thing took me near 5-6 hours, and albeit is not perfect either. I may remake it if I find time.

One of the other more mundane things I have done is complete the yellow scrappy borders on the scrappy blue heart blocks. I kind of lost steam on this project. I'm not sure that I really "love" the overall finished look enough to complete it for the person I was initially doing it for. I am leaning towards making the 12 blocks into 2 Project Linus quilts instead - just add a wide blue print border and quilt them. They'll be ~55" x 75" which is a good size for a teenager. Because I have felt lackadaisical (spelling???) about this project, I have allowed my mind to wander (ie., I have fallen off that proverbial "use your stash" wagon).

The first thing I got, mainly because I just LOVE the fabrics, are these from Lakehouse Dry Goods - Cherry Baby collection. I will save them until I make Sophie's twin bed quilt next year. They will coordinate with her room and curtains that will not be replaced, as well as several other fabrics I am hoarding for that special day. I love sewing for little girls! All things are Sooooo cute :-)

Anyhow, this is just a 7" alphabet panel that I will use on her quilt or a wall hanging of her name, or something like that.
I had to have a little bit of the sweet cherries too...
And these panels also...They may get used as blocks on her quilt top or on the back, or even as little pillows. I'm not sure yet; I just love it and know that if I wait until I know what it is for, I won't find it anywhere.

The other thing I have done is reconcile with myself that I will make one Christmas present. It has to be done by October so that I can get it to the quilter in time. I bit the bullet and ordered several of these charm packs which I found onsale for about $6 each at http://www.thequiltedcastle.com/. I thought that was quite a steal, and I don't have to cut the material. Win-win for me! I'll probably do a disappearing 9-patch pattern in blocks with three of the fabrics (which I had to order elsewhere) as block sashings and quilt borders. This is a project I am psyched about. I need to get it done realistically before I go back to work in September too.