So what's up with the pretty pink and white althea I planted last summer?   I think it forgot what color it was supposed to be.  Makes me wonder if the color changes with the soil condition like hydrangeas.



But good old Kansas sunflowers always know what color they are supposed to bloom.

Today a lot of ladies came together to help me test my machine embroidery for the barns quilt.  Jane has worked like a madman (woman) to try to get them correct.  But there are still some changes that need to be done.  I'm going to try to learn digitizing, but it's going to take me a lot of trial and error before I'll even begin to learn enough to make things work.

On a good/bad note, my quilting machine is dead in the water.  It needs a new encoding board which I've sent for.  But in the meantime, I will get to play with my new embroidery machine.  Baby steps with at least doing some embroidery before I know enough to start digitizing.

 Work, work, work.  Four of us "had" to go to Branson in order to get some sewing done. That's our excuse and we are sticking to it.   Then a friend from Springfield joined us to sew.   Norma worked on a quilt she had on a closet shelf for a FEW years.



 Roxane finished her purse and started a wallet. 





Joan finished several hot pads for friends and Shirley did some hand work and then worked on paper piecing blocks. 

Lots of fun, laughs and eating way too much!  

An image from our town in Osage County, Kansas.  Don't Overlook Overbrook.

A town of just near 1000 people.   A nice place to live.  But we don't live in town.  We have a farm south of town.  Big news in the community is that we now have a new Dollar General.  Saves a trip to Topeka or Lawrence (each about 35 miles away) for things like shoe laces, shower gifts, etc.  We have a great quilt shop... Overbrook Quilt Connection , a nice grocery store, a farmer co-op and lots of other businesses.

The Santa Fe Trail traveled on what is now 4th Street.    

Holiday weekend
It has been a nice holiday weekend. Pretty great weather for early September in Kansas.  

Yesterday we had dinner at a friend's house and grilled and ate well.  These people have been friends since school.  Of the six, five were schoolmates and of those three of us rode the same bus.  Now as we age, three of us have become quilting friends as well.  Unfortunately we were missing another couple who rode my bus and my husband's and also a quilting friend.  The Ozarks were calling to them.

It's great to have such long time friends as these.

The shop hop is over.  This was a slower year than in the past.  I had time to quilt on my machine off and on during the day and that has never happened before. 

For me it was good.  I'm way behind on my quilting in my quilting as my machine was down for over 5 weeks in January and February. 

Now the bus tour is over.  It was two days of bus tours.  We fed breakfast on Friday to our bus before they left.  Then lunch to a bus on Friday.  Saturday we fed lunch and supper to two more buses.  Everyone on our bus was very complimentary except one woman who had trouble at most places.  The other said the food got better and better at each stop.  The Hampton Inn was newly remodeled and was a good choice.  Maybe some day, I'll go on one of these tours instead of staying home and working.  haha  As if I needed more fabric.

Hint of the week:  If you are having trouble threading your hand sewing needle, do two different things.  Cut your thread on a slant rather than blunt.  If it still doesn't want to go through turn your needle a half turn and try again.  Needles are manufactured by pushing the hole in the needle.  The top side is smoother than the bottom and so it will go through the top side easier.