Summer Vacation and Giveaway Winners

I had fully intended to write a few blog posts while Pat and I enjoyed our two-week vacation. Somehow, though, that just didn't happen.

Instead, I spent many hours in and around the pool.

I crafted with my nieces.

One niece was seriously stuck on making slime. So, we made several versions. This was version #2 as she was mixing the ingredients (school glue and laundry detergent) together.

The other niece that stayed with us just wanted to make art. We each grabbed a canvas board and set to work. This was how mine turned out. She went in another direction altogether with acrylic paint, abstract bubbles, and splatters. I won't share without her permission, which I haven't asked for yet.

Pat and I spent lots of time outside doing yard work, working on the garden, and picking the wild grapes growing on the property.

I'm still giddy that those annoying grape vines are actually producing grapes.

Pat bought an old golf cart and got it working. He'll use any excuse to drive around the property on it. Boys!

The majority of the last week of our vacation was spent on one project in particular: QUILTING! I discovered the #BrooklynKnitFolkQAL video playlist when Lorelei Eurto showed off her completed quilt on Facebook. I was smitten! The videos are done by Jaclyn who goes through the steps simply and thoroughly. She made it look so easy! Learning to quilt has been on my bucket list for ages, and I've got loads of fabrics saved for when I learn to quilt. So, I took the break from most everything else to learn and do this. You can watch the videos for all the steps and supplies, but here are a few shots of some of the steps as I went through them.

Drying my fabrics after washing them. I used about three packs of fat quarters for the quilt top.

Cutting the fabric into 6x6 inch squares. This step was by far the longest and most tedious.

Sew the rows. I just loved this glimpse of all my rows stacked one on top of the other.

Pressing (ironing) the backs and attaching the rows to each other.

There were a few more steps in there before the final quilt came together. It's smaller than it looks here and is really just a lap quilt. But, it gave me a good idea of the process, materials, time, and cost it takes to make a quilt. It's much more than I had imagined.

And, while I had the sewing machine out, I made replacement bean bags (rice bags really) for our cornhole game.

Of course, I'm pretty sure I did other things than craft, swim, and garden...but I can't recall any of them at the moment. HA!

I also forgot to do the giveaway for Earrings 81-100. Oops! Before I get to that, I never heard back from the winner of the Earrings 61-80 giveaway. So, I've drawn again and the winner for that one is Kathy L!!! Kathy, I'll be contacting you about getting your prize to you shortly. Congratulations!!

Now for the 81-100 giveaway.
The names were collected

And a random number generated.

The winner is phinner!! Congratulations!! I'll also be emailing you about getting your prize to you.

Thanks to everyone who played along with these giveaways and offered up so much support during The 100 Day Project. I enjoyed stretching my creative muscles, and your encouragement really helped to make it fun as well. Thank You!

Now, here's hoping I can get back into a routine! How's your summer going? Do anything fun on your vacation?