A little bit of everything - ideas, a bag, a sign ...

The days seem to just fly by. On Monday, Ray and I worked at the Teacher's Luncheon that our church hosts every year. It's so hard to believe that summer is coming to an end. 

I've been busy kitting a few quilts to take to a retreat in November. 

My idea for using some 2 1/2" squares in a large block

An idea using 2 1/2" squares inspired by Nancy Zieman's column quilts

I know it's early to get the quilts kitted but we are planning a couple of trips in October and November. I want to be sure I'm ready. After all, I have my priorities! We'll be in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan to see the fall colors with a few days in Door County on our way home. About a week later we'll head to North Carolina to visit our oldest son and his family and also some friends. Hopefully we'll see more fall colors. On our way home, we'll spent some time in the Appalachian Mountains in western North Carolina and then in Tennessee visiting Great Smoky Mountains National Park. 

I had a request to make a bag for Grandson G to carry his piano books to/from practice. I didn't have any music or piano/keyboard fabric so I decided to create some. 

As I was designing the bag, it occurred to me that almost all of my projects are prototypes. Maybe someday I'll start using a pattern. 

I decided to label the G key 

This bag is about 12" by 15". It has a pocket on the back. The bag is quilted with a large loop pattern.

The note pocket

The inside is the neat black fabric with the colorful circles.

Inside of bag

Ray and I are binge watching a TV series on Fire TV. We usually watch 2-3 episodes or more of Heartland a day. This is the most TV I've watched in years! 

We were in Madison, Wisconsin last Friday night because Ray had an evening photography shoot. I spent the evening at the motel catching up on my Cricut learning. I finally made my first sign yesterday.

I'm learning...

It is hard to watch the news this week - the area we stayed in Friday had over 15 inches of rain on Monday and lots of flash flooding. It hit many businesses including the camera store, that hosted that Friday outing. People were stranded in motels where we stayed. There is so much damage and most don't have flood insurance.

Today we met Ray's brother and his lady friend for lunch. We had a great time and enjoyed some really good pie. It's been a good day!