I'm back!  And I'm tanned, rested and ready.  I pulled into the driveway late yesterday afternoon fresh from quilt camp at June Lake.  Some of you may have already read about camp on Cheri's blog - check out the posts she shared as we sewed and sewed and sewed.
This is my second year and it was just as fun (probably more fun because of the extra day) as last year.  Two car carloads of Quilt Pals made the drive up on Wednesday.  We all bunked in together in a rented three bed/two bath house.  Guess who got a bedroom all to herself? 
Wednesday evening was just for setting up machines and chit chatting around the room with gals that we only get to see at camp.  Then bright and early Thursday morning we eagerly started work on Cheri's project.

 

While it is still a work in progress (lots more applique to go) mine will still be different from Cheri's.  I chose to use all reds for the baskets.  The vine is different because after cutting strips I didn't have enough to close the loop and I was too tired (or sugared up from the free flow of M&M's and the home-made cheese cake that was served after Greek salad with chicken for dinner) to cut more.  I'm planning on adding the year below my initials and then the leaves, lots and lots of leaves, on the vine.

Friday morning started off on another sugar high.  We arrived to the sewing room greeted by the delicious aroma of cinnamon rolls baking in the oven.  Big, gooey cinnamon rolls filled with blueberries, chocolate chips and topped with icing and nuts.  I had my sewing machine working at warp speed on the day's project -

 

which I managed to finish all but the final borders before lunch.  Isn't it darling?  Remember to go look at Cheri's blog - she worked her Cheri magic and made a gorgeous version that we all want to copy.

So what did I do with a whole afternoon?  Well, I worked on the bonus, mystery quilt that Cheri teased us with.  She gave us some cutting instructions on Thursday and an assignment to work on some four-patches when we had the time.  That resulted in this little cutie of a top.

We were offered a little kitty to applique in the corner, but I am going to switch up and stitch a dog instead.  See those two enamel pieces?  Those are the result of some antiquing we did on the drive up to June lake.

I still had a little time to sew on Friday evening.  And I was still sugared up from the ice cream sundae bar that was dessert after a delicious dinner of pork loin, potatoes, salad, and rolls.  So I dug through some bits and bobs of leftover fabrics and came up with this -

 

which I originally had planned to use as the back for the mystery quilt.  But after words of encouragement from the Pals, I'm going to add some applique and turn it into a top of its very own.  It's good to have Pals.

Saturday brought us to Barri's project - a sewing kit stitched from wools.

The learning curve was a little steep on this one for me, but I managed to cypher it out.  I just love it.  And what girl doesn't want to always have the cutest accessories when she's quilting?

There were raffles every day.  I didn't win a single thing, but three of The Pals were winners as well as a couple of friends I made last year.  So that's sort of the same as winning, right?  I wanted this quilt

 

REALLY REALLY badly.  The good news is that it now lives with a Pal.  There may be the possibility of a shared custody arrangement.

All too quickly it seemed like time to clean up and say our good byes came.  I couldn't even bring myself to take on the home-made brownies topped with ice cream for dessert that evening.  I was too full from the taco salad with ALL off the fixin's including the MOST delicious watermelon/pineapple salsa (Kudos to the chef and her helpers for all the hard work and great meals!) 

Sunday morning we packed the vehicles for the long drive home.  Hubby and Daisy were glad to see me.  The stack of mail is high, the laundry basket is over-flowing  . . . . again.  I'm not really tanned and I'm not really rested but I am ready for camp again next year. 

The days are busy.  But it is a good busy and I like it just that way.

Daisy has been a great helper in the painting arena.  This weekend we put the finishing touches on the guest room.

And not a moment too soon as we are expecting our first guest of the summer this weekend.
We also finished putting our own bedroom and bathroom back together again.  One of the things that we did was remove the ginormous mirror over the vanity in the bath.  You know the kind that builders just glue up to the wall to create the illusion of space.  In its place we hung two vintage mirrors that we had in the house already.
One of those was poached from the dining room, creating the need for something to replace it.  We went to Aaron Brothers and picked up a stretched canvas.  Using a dry brush method, I applied some black wall paint and a wood stain.

 

Next we put in some small eye hooks and strung picture hanging wire across the front.  A package of postcards depicting vintage scenes of the town where we live and some mini binder hooks pulled it all together.

 

Voila!  I felt so artistic.  I'd love to eventually change out the postcards for vintage family photos.  But first I want scan and resize them.  It wouldn't be good to subject the originals to just hanging around.

Another thing we are doing - slowly but surely is replacing the window treatments all around the house.  What was here was serviceable but not exactly our cuppa.  As we replace what we don't care for, we have been donating the unwanteds to places like Goodwill.  And then  . . . 

 

I needed to stake up this VERY enthusiastic tomato plant.  Suddenly the curtain rods that just made me crazy in the house became the best tomato stakes  . . . ever!  I do love to repurpose things.

The days are busy.  But it is a good busy and I like it just that way.