September is nearly over and it's 80 degrees outside. I am thrilled. I was already worried about the cold weather we'd had earlier and whether I'd  survive another winter if it started a month earlier. This little bit of extra sun and warmth gives me hope.

All that said, September has flown by. I taught mitered corner baby blankets at Home Ec Workshop and had a great group of students:

Our friends John and Dianne visited with their Great Danes Bella and Cobalt:

I kept working away at my Lowbrow cowl—a knitting fiasco that has finally been righted:

I attended the opening of Common Thread, an exhibition organized by artist, teacher, and professor Greta Songe (my friend and soon-to-be mom). Here we are with Vanessa Christensen and Astrid Bennett (we're standing in front of one of Astrid's quilts). Greta invited me to participate, but I just couldn't envision myself as an "ARTIST." Time to disabuse myself of that sort of thought, right? Next time, Linzee, be bold.

Attended the opening of Erick Wolfmeyer's exhibition in Davenport. His already amazing quilts looked even more so in the lovely gallery setting at St. Ambrose:

Finished an Everyday Skirt with Cotton and Steel on the outside and a touch of Carolyn Friedlander in the pockets. Fun to sew, cute pattern, totally comfy, but challenging to wear if you're no longer of the tucking-your-shirt-in generation. Trying to figure out the right top to go with it.

Spent a day with the Cake Bible, making Paul a couple of cakes in celebration of his significant birthday. My favorite part—he actually id'd the instrument as a Les Paul Gibson. Total guitar-nerd.

How was your September? What have you been sewing...or baking...or seeing?

Vacation: Stitching, Reading, Relaxing

Spent a couple of weeks at our family cabin in late August, and though we didn't have swimming weather and our guests weren't able to come, we still had the most relaxing time. Though we did a lot of kayaking we never did any real swimming, but we couldn't leave without our traditional inner tube-and-a-brew float.

Because the weather was so crummy, I didn't feel too guilty about staying indoors, reading and sewing. I read three books and managed to finish my string-pieced top, cut out and sew a new quilt (Mod Nine-Patch from the Moda Bake Shop made with Zen Chic Spheres and a few stray fabrics), and bind the hexagon quilt I started in 2012...finally!!! (Don't have a photo of this finish.)

We also went fishing one day, way up in the Boundary Waters, with Don Beans, a guide of 32 years. He definitely knew where the fish were hiding and where to put the fish guts at lunchtime so that an eagle would come and visit. It was a fantastic day that included a shore lunch, cooked by Don over a wood fire. Such a treat, and we're still eating fish we brought home with us.

Our great guide Don Beans

We paddled across the lake and did a little blueberry picking—despite the late-summer date we still managed to pick two cups. And my sister Marcia and her husband Gary picked a gallon of berries and left them in the freezer. They'd been up in July, when the berries were more plentiful. So I baked blueberry coffee cake and we had blueberry pancakes twice.

Returning to reality hasn't been much fun, I'll admit. While I hate leaving Iowa City in the summer, and especially this summer, with its moderate temperatures, I never relax at home in the same way that I do at the cabin...PJs til noon; cheese and crackers and grapes for dinner if we feel like it, along with an extra glass of wine; and reading til all hours. It's definitely the good life!