Summer Quilting

 This Summer was a busy Summer when it came to making quilts.  Jon's Niece and his Nephew were both getting married and one of my cousin's. I've always made quilts for my family that gets married and I wanted to do something a little more special.  

I made this quilt first.  I have done chevrons before but smaller, but I really liked how the bigger size turned out.

I quilted this one by hand with a little help from my Carly.

I finished just in the nick of time.  I love how it turned out.

The next wedding was Jon's nephew just a month later.  I used the same pattern, just different colors.

I put it on the frames with plans to do a modified version of hand quilting/tying, but soon figured out that I was never going to finish on time.  Jon and I were talking about my options as far as having it machine quilted and just for curiosity looked up machines for sell. 

We happen to see this Mid arm machine with frames for a great price, and before I knew it. we were setting it up in the living room.  It took me some practice, but I final got the hang of it.

I can't do much more than a meandering pattern, but I really like how it turned out.  

I had a little break before I had to do my next quilt, so I took the chance to practice and finished a top I had laying around to leave up at the cabin.

Next up was the quilt for my cousin.  For this I did a trip around the world pattern that is a favorite of mine.  but rather than tying it like I normally would I decided to machine quilt it.

I still had one more wedding quilt to do for the little sister of my bst friend, who I've known since she was little.  For her I also did the trip around the world design, but I had put my machine away for a bit and did the international stitch.  My mom came and helped, and I love how it turned out.  So did the bride. 

Carly also decided to get some quilting done and finished a quilt she had been working on for quite a while.

I'm very proud of my little quilter.

In the past few months I've also done a few baby quilts for friends.  I'm getting better at quilting on my regular machine too.

This last quilt is just a top I did out of random red white and blue scraps I had.  I'm hoping to get my quilt machine out again in a few months and finish it and some other tops I have hanging around.

Moab

 a few weeks ago we had the chance to go to Moab with my family.  my brother and sister-in-law were going to run a half marathon and asked if we would watch their kids while they ran and we were more than happy to do it.

The first day we hiked to Corona Arch.  My sister was coming later that afternoon, so it was just the 4 kids.  They had so much fun on the rail road tracks.

I just liked this picture and that doesn't  happen very often with pictures of me.

It was a beautiful hike with some amazing views along the way.

We had to climb a bit to get there.

Some very crazy people repel from this arch and even swing in it.

The next morning while my brother and sister in law ran, we headed into Arches National Park.

Our first stop was balanced rock, it was very windy and chill here.

Our next stop was the Windows Arch.  the kids had a blast climbing all around.

Grandma and her kids.

Last we hiked to Landscape Arch.

We had so much fun and are so glad and grateful we got to go.
We've got such a good start, I think we will try to visit all the Utah National parks this year.