Valerean

I was looking for a pic to kick off the start of the new season today when I came across this pic of our pups during their first month with us. It's hard to believe that these little guys joined our family four years ago now. They've brought us so much happiness -- just like this season. There is no better time of the year than this one, and I hope you enjoy it, too. Happy Summer!

I'm actually writing this post in early June so I can check in with myself on my summer projects, like my thrifted romance reading challenge. So far I've read: a few pages of the first one. I know, I've been busy, but I need to out more effort into this challenge. The first book is not great so I need to set it aside and pick up the next one. My make a quilt out of one pound of fabrics chosen by someone else (how about we call it the one pound challenge from here on out?) is at the design point; I'll show you the fabric selection tomorrow. Finally, my annual summer art quilt project -- this lovely sea-themed tote -- is at this stage of completion: Finished!

Every summer I tackle an art quilt project, which I do try and finish. I had to set aside my second recycled linen quilt for a few months in 2022, but I was able to finish it in 2023. It's probably the last large hand-embroidered quilt I will make. I'm also done with art for art's sake quilts. I enjoy the process, but the time it takes to make them is a bit much for me now. I want to do more things while my fingers still function well enough to hand stitch. For all of those reasons I am simply going to make a slow stitched art tote this summer. It might even be beaded. :) But I think it's time I do downsize a bit, and I can manage a tote and still have fun.

Two more of my minimal bid lots arrived after the eclectic fabric stash landed, and the first was this 7.34 lbs. yarn collection that I'm goi ng to share with a friend who also crochets. There are 31 skeins, 2 balls and 2 unfinished projects in the lot. The yarn is older but clean with no odor, so I'd be okay with pricing it at $3.00 per skein for resale. Add another five bucks for everything else and the lot is worth $98.00. I paid $9.99 for everything. Savings: $88.01. I also thrifted a brand new set of white bamboo sheets for our bed; these linens are very cooling, which we need for summer. Now you can buy the exact same set on eBay for $23.00, while I paid $25.00 for my thrifted set. This time it was the total cost that sold me: ShopGoodwill.com offered it for only one penny for shipping the sheet set with the buy it now option. You'd have to pay $20.50 in shipping for the same item on eBay. By thrifting I saved $20.49.

Summer is my favorite season, and as we enter the last weeks of it I'm usually a little sad. Fall is my least favorite time of the year, and leads into winter, which always ends up being holiday disasterfest in some form or another for me. This year, however, summer has been so filled with fun and joy I think it will carry me through the darker months. Life can be like a garden if you plant enough good ideas, love and kindness. Maria sent me some packets of seeds, one of which grew into this delicious watermelon. I'll never forget the delight of seeing it grow, harvesting it, tasting it and sharing it with our neighbors. This is just one of the happy things that happened this summer. Also, I've come to realize just how very happy I am to be writing without having to worry about marketing, self-promotion, dealing with the disgruntled, etc. No one bothers me and my business partner is fabulous, and to be able to say that after almost ten years since I struck...

Summer has always been my favorite season. As a kid I always looked forward to the long hot months of no school, and being able to read as much as I wanted. I started spending my summers in libraries at the age of ten, and didn't stop until my mom got me a work permit and found my first summer job for me when I was thirteen. After that I had to work every summer at a part-time job until I left home for the military (Mom was divorced by then and needed the money), but I usually got mornings and weekends to myself, and off I'd go to the library. I know my liking summer confuses some people, but you have to see the year the way I do. For me spring has always been about taxes and cleaning, and trying to figure out the year ahead, all of which are exhausting at times. As a kid it was the return to school after the Christmas holidays I hated, and then dealing with all the crap of the remainder of the school year. Fall is when the worst hurricanes hit, so it's a scary sea...