June Desktop Calendar

I don't know if anyone else has noticed this, and I hate to be the one to tell you: 2014 is half over! Have you made half the progress on your UFO's that you thought you would? Well, I have! I learned early on to set very modest goals. Then, when you meet them (or even exceed them!) it's a pleasant surprise! And that's exactly what I did this year! I aimed for 4 personal quilts done and I'm halfway there! (No, Carla, I'm NOT lying!)
Ok, I'm almost there...but legally I have til the end of June, so if you're going to get technical, I may have jumped the gun on the bragging aspect...

I've had an awesome May, though, with lots of traveling. I drove up to Lubbock with Stephen to pack up Jill and bring her home from Texas Tech for the summer. Smart girl made the Dean's List again, so our homeschooling career has been officially vindicated!

Laura, Holly, Morgan and my JillyBean

Then, a week later, Jill and I flew to South Carolina to A) see Megan, Alex and the grandkiddos, and B) pick up my new Mini Cooper! This is how I spent my time on the flight:

Those are ultra-tiny 1/4" hexies that I'm English paper-piecing, and as you can see, they've already driven me to drink. The entire (mini)quilt will be the size of a piece of printer paper, and I'm hoping to have it done by the guild's 2016 quilt show. But since I only seem to work on it on the plane, I may have to schedule monthly trips to SC - in the interest of my art, of course!

While my girls spent one afternoon shopping, I got to babysit the kiddos. That's Jack, Sofie & Owen. Had all three of them happy and smiling at the same time.  Short-lived though. After the requisite four bedtime stories, as I was tucking Sofie into the bottom bunk in Jack's room (we were all going to camp out), Jack leaned over the top bunk to make sure I was doing it right, and thunk-thunk-thunk - scream!

Head met ceiling fan. Just like his uncle Merritt did about 16 years ago. To the day.

Then Jack wanted to sleep on the bottom and Sofie wouldn't sleep on the top, so she ran out crying, and when I took Jack down to find his Mr. Bump coldpack, I found Jill at her wits end with Owen, who wouldn't stop crying cuz Mommy wasn't there to put him to bed. All 3 hysterical at once. Haven't hit that trifecta since my own kids were little. My work here is finished.

The saving grace for me was my new car! Alex is the Sales Manager at Century Mini in Greenville, SC, and he ordered me my new 2014 Clubman. Got it all decked out for me, too. He's the best son-in-law ever!

 CabinQuilter!

Runs like a dream, handles like a sports car, and hits 90 with no effort whatsoever!

(Not that I have any actual personal knowledge of that.)

Which brings me to the point of this post: the June calendar! Unfortunately for you, it doesn't bring us to the point just yet. First, I have to tell you how I came up with this month's quilt calendar. A few weeks ago I took a workshop with Elsie Campbell who taught us the meaning of "precision piecing."

The little 24" project took me almost 4 weeks to finish. Well, not finished exactly, but it's all in one piece, anyway, waiting for 2 more borders to bring it up to about 32" sq. Anyway - I do like how it's turning out. And I won't mention anything about mis-cutting the mitered bordered sections six (6) times. Don't ask. 

Really. 

Don't ask.

Anyway - I brought the photo into EQ7/Stitch and played with some borders and while I was doing that, I thought, "Shoot - I'm halfway to a calendar! I can kill two birds with one stone!" So here's the calendar, as well as the soon-to-be-finished wallhanging. Assuming I can find a Jinny Beyer border print that'll work with it...

Click to expand the image to full size, right-click and choose Set as Wallpaper or Background.

To really make the calendar "pop" right-click on your background and choose black. Your family and co-workers will be jealous of your awesome wallpaper! Be sure to tell them where you found it!