One thing about living in Maryland that I truly like is the extended growing season for flowers. :) There are still roses blooming and chrysanthemums, too. If you click above, you can find out what other flowers are seasonal in October (commercially, I guess:).
Since I wrote last here, I've driven over 3000 miles, from Maryland to Kansas and back, and helped my brother and niece move here. Takes me three days (I only drive 8 to 10 hours in any given day - ten hours is my utter limit, then I have to stop and stay over night; Hampton Inn is my personal favorite hotel chain to rest along the road) to drive each way. This trip I had Kimmi and her friend Kip along on the way back; we added my brother Kevin for the trip homeward.
We had amazingly good weather for the trip both ways - had a little rain the first night but otherwise the skies were blue and the temperatures mostly mild ... a bit chilly as we left Kansas (where the daily weather swings are even more variable than here in MD) and warming as we traveled eastward. Beautiful autumn weather. :)
Allied Van Lines did an excellent job packing, transporting and unloading our goods between Kansas and Maryland. This is the second time I've retained the company to move Kevin and his things and they've done well by us both times. Total satisfaction as a customer. :)
While I was in Kansas, I got to see beloved family members - Stephanie drove down from Lincoln, NE with Isaiah (my great-nephew) and Amy got to spend quite a bit of time with us. I stayed at her house twice and got to hug and visit with her children (Kennedy and Hunter), her husband (Fred) and my ex-brother in law, Dean (Amy's father). Sooooo good to see family after the Covid isolations!
My sister is alone in the house in Olathe now. She and Stephanie are hunting for a place in Lincoln for her to live ... after that we can sell the house in KS. We did visit with our real estate agent while I was there and got some info on what we need to take care of around the house before we put it on the market - very helpful. He's a good agent and helped us buy the house originally. I've been pleased with his help. :)
One day while we were there, Amy, Kevin and I went to the Overland Park Arboretum and Botanical Garden. It was a delightful day to spend outdoors - temps in the high 60s, blue sunny skies, soft breeze. Just wonderful! :) We walked about a third of the gardens before I got tired, including the trail around Margaret's Pond and the Monet Garden. So many lovely flowers were still in bloom. :) I look forward to visiting again to see the remainder of the arboretum someday.
Before I left to visit Kansas, I spent a weekend on quilting retreat with my Baltimore Modern Guild friends. Great fun!! We stayed at MITAGS in Baltimore (just like last year) which is a great venue and has very comfortable rooms with good food in their cafeteria. Our stay included lunch (for retreat) and breakfast/dinner (with the room) along with yummy snacks all day (things like bagels, trail mix, cookies, brownies, fruit, etc). I thoroughly enjoyed myself. :)
I also sewed quite a lot - got more done than I expected. I took along two 'squirrel' projects to work on: the Strippy Staircase project using Tilda prints and the Improv Birds venture. I got the flimsy completed for the birds improv:
As you can see, I made an improv courthouse steps kind of design with each fussy cut bird print centered in the block. I tried to choose fabric scraps that echoed the colors present in the bird print (of which I only had one fat quarter) and I think that scheme for constructing a palette worked out pretty well.
One small regret - each bird rectangle had the name of the particular kind of bird printed on it ... but the names ended up being hidden in the seam lines due to the sizes of the little rectangles and their placement on the fat quarter. Sigh. Still, that only means my own desire to know and label things was thwarted - made no particular difference to the visual impact of the quilt. :)
I had thought this might end up being a table runner but it is a bit large for that. Might become a bed runner to keep our toes warm ... or I might divide it along the center horizontally and resew it into a wall hanging. shrug. Haven't decided. Not exactly sure how I will quilt it, either. For now I'm just enjoying the pretty. :)
Here are two close up photos so you can see some details:
We played two different kinds of strip poker at the retreat, led by Monica C. 2.5" wide fabric strips - where's your mind? :) The first night we played a fun kind of poker where we divided into teams and sewed blocks with our strips (provided by M. so they would coordinate). I took a photo of my dealt block as I liked it's looks:
My poor dyslexic brain struggled with this block, though. I had to get Monica to show me how all the bits went together to make the final product. :P When all the teams finished (my team did not win - the winning group finished their assignments first), the complete pile of blocks got put together to make a charity quilt. Fun!
The second night we each ante'd up 2.5" fabric strips and played a form of poker that was new to me. I lost miserably and one member of our six person table won a huge pile of strips (most of which she thought were tres ugly). :)
All in all, it was great retreat ... and a successful trip halfway across our continent ... and a good break from social media and my usual daily life. Of course, the very best thing about such a trip is being back at home when it is finally over! Sooooo good to sleep in my own bed again.
:) Linda
PS. At some point during my retreat and trip, my weight fell below the 200 pound point. I am deliriously happy with that milestone ... though I do think I gained about 3 lbs. overall on the journey. Hard to lose weight while eating a steady diet of mostly fast food. :P