July Smalls SAL and lots of family visits

This month has been a whirlwind of activity for us yet it started out fairly quietly. The first week was lovely weather for outdoor stitching with a coffee close by. I didn't even bother to change out of my PJs!

During this quiet time I managed to finish a sweet small designed by Jenny Hoffman of Country Rustic Primitives. It's called Bee Garden Pillow Tuck and yes, it will be eventually finished into a small pillow tuck.

 Then the month started to pick up. My youngest son Chris and his girlfriend Violet returned home from a five week visit to Europe. They visitied Romania, Hungary, Austria, Czech Republic, Poland, Germany, Belgium and Ireland. Their pictures are amazing and for any of you who are my friends on F/B you will have been following along on the journey. I'm so glad they were able to share this experience!

 Cruising on the Danube in Budapest, Hungary

Next my grandchildren and my other two sons arrived for a weekend visit. Lots of silliness and lots of fun!

During this time I managed to finish off another small. This one was given to me during my knee recuperation. It's a Country Sampler Club piece designed by Stacy Nash called Queen of Spring Sewing Roll.

I haven't decided yet which of the above fabrics to finish the roll with. The one on the right came with the kit and I found the one on the left in my stash.

Now it was time to hit the road for a visit with our family in Windsor.

The first visit was to see my sister in Michigan and one of my nephews. Wish I could get over there more often!

  

The next get together was to celebrate my mom's birthday. With the exception of my eldest and his two girls, all of her grandchildren were present for the occasion. We actually celebrated a month early because we were all able to attend at this time.

  

The next day brought the main reason for our visit. It was to attend the wedding of some close friends' daughter. My son Chris and the bride have been friends since nursery school! My husband was the organist for the ceremony and I was the soloist.

Finally we finished off the week by going to hear my BIL's jazz trio perform at one of our favourite high school pizza joints. I don't think I've stepped in there since I graduated high school!

Besides all of this fun we also had a 50th wedding anniversary to attend back home.

Sorry if I've bored you with all of the family pics but there are several friends who don't do F/B and who like to check in here to see what we've been up to.

I did try to get a Christmas small finished for the challege this month but I failed miserably. I have had to frog the same section 3 separate times now and finally I found the mistake. However a lack of time prevented me from continuing with it. 

We're home now for a rest and I've started a lovely new piece which I hope to show you on my next post. Then it's off to our favourite vacation spot, Muskoka! I do hope to spend many hours there stitching on the dock. See you soon!