So the Dog Days of Summer are upon us. I was thinking that this morning when I was watching my dog Murphy sleep. It’s just too hot to do anything else. I have turned in another submission to Blank Quilting for my next fabric line.  My latest fabric line for Blank is almost ready, I’ll post pictures as soon as I get them.  And I have started to send in patterns to magazines that showcase my fabrics line…..but when all is said and done, I have just enjoyed sitting on my swing and reading. Did I mention that I have been watching my weeds grow???

So here are some pictures of my gardens….weeds and all. Who can deny the growth of weeds when in the end they bloom into flowers as well?

I had some photos from this Spring when I was working in the beds.  And I just took some new photos so you can see what the beds look like now.  It’s amazing what water and sun can do!

Click on any of the images to see them bigger.

This garden bed is in my front yard.

Front yard this Spring, this is the real me in all my glory!

Front yard garden as it looks now!

Check out the front of the house, this is another “before and after.”

Front of the house in April.

Front of the house now!

And here is the back yard.

Our backyard in all its summer glory.

Isn’t this  rock in the picture below beautiful? That was my Mother’s Day present from Marie and Rich…..I love rocks….and I got another one for my birthday. Rich could hardly lift it!!! Keep them coming kids!!!

My Mother's Day present...a rock! That's MY kind of gift.

Bird Diner

I call the area for my bird feeders the “Diner”.  The deer keep coming up from the woods and cleaning me out of seed….but then again…what am I to do???

This is what my “diner” looked like in the Spring.

My "Bird Diner" in the early Spring

Since then, I have decided the “Diner” needs to be enlarged.  Why?  When the birdseed hits the ground, it tends to sprout.  With a larger paver bed underneath it, I can just pluck the bird-seed-weeds out of the sand.  I LOVE easy maintenance.  Plus I wanted to put flowers there along with a water supply.

Here is the new and improved diner under construction.  Huge thanks to the hubby’s cousin, Barrett, for his help.

Removing the sod.

Adding the sand.

Laying the stones.

Hey birds, come and get it!

Erving checking out the workmanship.

The Diner at Sackel Park is now open for business!  Here’s what the finished Diner looks like.

The Diner at Sackel Park.

Our first customer.

I hope your summer is going well!

I’ve been a little quiet on my blog here recently.  My apologies!  My husband has been traveling for business recently and I like to go with him.  So I have been out on the road.  Traveling is a great time for thinking through this mumble jumble of ideas rolling around in my head.   But I am “burying the lead” here.

The big news in the Sackel household is that we are going to be Grandparents!  Our son Chris and his lovely wife Susan are expecting.  When I first found out, I immediately found a baby quilt I had set aside and sent it off to them.  Here it is.

For my grandbaby

The quilt is my Constellations pattern published by Quiltwoman.com.  Here’s the another of my quilts that is on the cover of the pattern.

It’s a design from my 4-in-1 series.  This series features quilts that have large areas for embellishment.  In this case embroidered designs are the embllishement.

A few weeks ago we got more good news….

Yup, it’s a boy!  The only downside to all this great news is that my son and his wife are living in Korea for a while.  We’ve been doing the webcam thing via Skype, but it is going to be so hard to have a grandson and not be able to hold him for a long while.  But I can tell you one thing, my mind is whirling with my list of necessities that I need to stitch up for this baby!  Korean customs isn’t going to know what hit them!

My latest giveaway was to celebrate the opening of my new on-line store -The Rose Cottage Quilting Shop.

The Rose Cottage Quilting Shop

The winner is Barbara from Columbia, South Carolina!  Barbara is going to receive a fat quarter pack of my new fabric line, And Sew It Goes, and her favorite pattern from my designs for the And Sew It Goes fabric line.

And Sew It Goes for Blank Quilting

Barbara, the goodies will be in the mail to you shortly.

One of the questions that had to be answered to participate to win was “What is the name of my next fabric line for Blank Quilting?”  The answer was Florentine Fancy.  I can’t show you what it looks like yet…but soon!!!

For now it’s back to my sewing room.  I have a new serger to play with AND a new top-of-the-line Bernina.  So many toys, so little time!  Happy sewing!

If  you follow me on Facebook (www.facebook.com/barb.sackel –> shameless plug), you will have seen this post last week

Yup, I bought a coconut.  I got a boat load of suggestions on how to get into it, but finally settled on what my Facebook buddy Jen Eskridge had to say:

The surgical team assembled in the operating room...Grant, Mom & Dad

The final result!

Congratulations go to Penny Lynn Dunn of Wisconsin and Lois Ryan of New York. They were the winners of the $200 baskets give away for November. This was the first time either of them had ever won anything so as you can imagine they were excited.

Next give away will be in January. I will be giving away a fat quarter pack of my entire line “The Ibiza Collection.”

Stay tuned for details.

OK, so Grant had to go to Florida on a business trip….what’s a wife to do….well, tag along of course. We stayed in Orlando and he drove to Melborne about 1 1/2 hours away for the business part of the trip. Two things happened that will be stuck in my memory bank. The first was we saw the shuttle go into space. I actually gasped when I saw it. It was 2:28 pm on Monday. There were only a few scattered clouds in the air. We were standing in a parking lot in Orlanda when all of a sudden, you saw a white dot with a huge ball of flame under it shooting straight up. It was moving so fast. It was so amazing. It just shot straight up, not like a plane moving horizontally. It only took  seconds til it was out of sight. It happened so fast that the winds aloft had not even moved the white plume of smoke left behind until it was gone. I stood there for a while afterwards gazing up just not believing what I saw. Wish I had a phone that took pictures…I have nothing to show you. I won’t be getting my new phone till Feb.

The second thing that was so amazing on our trip was our airboat ride. I did not know what to expect from this except we go about 45 mph. We shot out into a lake. There was 9 of us on the boat. We started skimming over some green algea and then right into the weeds. It was scarey for a moment because it felt like you were riding into a wall. You couldn’t see any water, just weeds. We went back into the marsh and deep into alligator territory. We watched every minute for them. The boat went so fast and turned corners so quick that we skidded sideways for short distances before we were on the straight and narrow again. We saw so many birds, otters, and wild turkeys. Never an alligator…phew….

Did have one mishap. We got stuck in the shallow marsh. First we got caught in “weed islands” that we caught and were carrying with us, then as the open water started to get more narrow and the “weed islands” wouldn’t move we came to a full stop. Five large adults were asked to stand in the front of the boat to try to lift the back up. As the water level was lower than usual, we couldn’t skim across the top as well. The captain reved the motor and we all wiggled. We all wiggled a good 10 minutes. Finally inch by inch the craft started inching ahead ….and….we broke through. The captain had nothing to help get us unstuck. When we got back the captain told us we were stuck in a place where a 12 foot and a 14 foot alligator lives……need I say more?? Ignorance is indeed bliss.

The rest of the trip was uneventful….in comparison. We ate food at Emerils. It was like being on a cooking show. The food was outstanding. I ate duck for the first time. As we ordered the tasting meal, 8 courses, we had a little bit of different things. I passed the duck over to Grant. But gave myself kudo’s for trying it. Afterall, we had just seen all the ducks on the airboat ride…and now the little critter was on my plate. No thanks.

Happiness is being home safe and sound….