Apple Picking?

We went to the apple orchard as planned yesterday, but I don't think you could call what we did apple picking, especially since we came home with no apples. We used to go apple picking every year in Missouri, but we lived in a very rural area, and the orchards near us were not that busy. Also, there were a lot of apple orchards in Missouri. We would pick somewhere between 240 and 300 pounds of apples every year, and I would make all of out apple sauce, apple butter, dried apples and such for the year.

We've lived in Arizona for 10 years now, and although we always say we'll go apple picking, this is the first year we actually got to the orchard. If we had gotten there earlier in the season, we likely would have done fine, but this is the very end of apple season here, and the trees were pretty bare. This one tree had a few apples on it, but several were too green or rotten on the branch. Nevertheless, it was worth the trip so the twins could see that apples really do grow on trees.

Here is DD#2 holding Mr. L while he picks his very first apple. He had gotten the one in his hand from the ground.

Here is Mr. L trying to put that same apple back on the tree, completely confused as to why it wouldn't stick back on ;-)

Mr. L loved riding around in the wagon the orchard had available. Miss S was terrified of the wagon, so she either walked or her Mama carried her.

Miss S did pick a couple of apples though, and she carried them the whole time we were at the orchard.

So what did we do at the orchard since the apples were a bust? We ate apple pie, and had freshly made apple cider donuts, still warm from the fryer! Yummy! The pie was good, but the donuts were amazing, and made the trip worthwhile. Plus, the twins got a good lesson in where apples come from.

On a quilty note, I have the baby quilt pin-basted. I pieced the backing and found some larger pieces of batting so I only needed one seam to piece it. I might have a chance to start quilting the baby quilt on Thursday, but I know I won't before then. I won't start quilting unless I have a chunk of time to work, and Thursday is the earliest possible time that's possible, with Friday being more likely.

I caught most of Bonnie Hunter's marathon 3 hour quiltcam session on Saturday. She is usually on less than 2 hours, so I decided to work only on sewing stripsets  for DD#2's quilt while she was on. I needed more breaks than Bonnie took, plus I had company come over during the broadcast, but I ended up getting 51 colored strips sewn to white strips. I have about half of those pressed so far. I have been working on the comfort quilt any time I have a few minutes to sew, and I am making good progress on it. I think I will have all the blocks done and the borders pieced by the end of next weekend, even with quilting the baby quilt. If too many things come up that may not happen, but it should happen.