Summer is here

It may not be officially summer but summer is here in Virginia. As I was driving to my shooting lesson yesterday my car thermometer said it was 95. It felt like 95 on the course but it was so nice to be back out there again. I was pretty rusty but I had fun. My car goes in the shop this morning to fix the A/C. It has a temporary patch for now but the compressor needs to be replaced and there  are only 4 weeks left on the warranty. The fix wouldn't be expected to hold very long anyway so it's time to get it taken care of. We'll head to my brother's after that to help with a few remaining moving chores.

Yesterday afternoon I started phase 2 of the annual weed spraying. That always takes a couple of weeks because I can only take so much time in the sun covered head to toe. 

After dinner Chris and I ended the day with a little paddle around the lake. It was really lovely yesterday evening. I saw a deer, egret, green heron, lots of swallows and a flock of geese.

On the sewing front I am almost done with the veterans quilt but I got this far and realized that I was still 6 4-patch blocks short! How could I do so much bad math in one simple quilt?

Hopefully this evening I can get this little quilt wrapped up.

Speaking of wrapping up, I delivered the last of the food pantry checks and some donated items today to finish that project off. There were some tea towels left and I gave those to another friend who will sell them to raise money for the food pantry that her church runs. My next task is to deliver a batch of veterans quilts to the VA hospital contact. Maybe next week I can focus a bit more on my projects!

On the crochet front I was ready to start the next project this week. The next blanket will be for my friend, Laura, from England. Their first grandchild is due at the end of summer. I picked this pattern and made sure to use the exact same yarn and hook size as the pattern. Unfortunately the swatch looks very little like the actual blanket. I'm really disappointed but after several tries it was time to accept that something is wrong with the pattern and I needed to move on.

This Hugs and Kisses blanket is REALLY popular on social media so I decided to try that but in straight rows instead of a ripple. This looks much better! It really does pay to make a swatch.

It will be yellow, gray and white and I think it will look pretty nice. I sent this photo to Laura to show to the new mother. If it doesn't appeal to her I will do something else but I'll still finish this one. There will be other babies!

I'm also planning a really simple project with a thicker yarn to work on in the car. We're heading to the Great Smokies soon for some hiking and our marriage is much stronger when I'm occupied in the car.

​I hope you have a great weekend. I'm hoping for a lot fo quilting and sewing.