My long time readers may remember the blog post I wrote when I finished my 2013 North Carolina State Fair project. It was titled “How who you meet in the 3rd grade can change your life.”

The blog post was about how a former classmate of mine from Mrs. Cook’s afternoon 3rd grade class was the inspiration for my 2013 state fair project.

Today, I got to meet up with another one my 3rd grade classmates who was in the area on a business trip (front row on the far right):

We had tried to figure out when we could meet up while she was and after a couple of failed efforts, we were finally able to connect when I picked her up at work and drove her to the airport so she could catch her flight home. We even managed to stop for coffee along the way.

It is hard to imagine looking at the class picture the lives that Mrs. Cook’s afternoon 3rd grade class would grow up to lead. We have, for the most part, gone off in a number of very different directions, but occasionally, like this afternoon, our paths once again cross, and in a strange but palpable way, there is the same camaraderie, only now we drink coffee and can drive.

So my work on the corners-to-be of my 2015 North Carolina State Fair project was especially modest — in part because I was able to squeeze in a visit with my friend from long ago, but mostly because I am working on the decorative edging, and it is very slow going.

My grandmother’s work was composed primarily of a lot of French knots:

Under the best of circumstances, my French knots are about a 50/50 proposition, so I figured that to make the many hundreds of French knots that would be needed to complete all four corners, I would need to spend more time than the universe has been around redoing my work and attempting to undo the failed knots.

So I modified the design and went with something much simpler for me to execute:

Unfortunately for me, in this instance, simpler doesn’t mean quick, it just means not as frustratingly time consuming, so while I made progress, it was more of the tortoise variety: slow and steady.

At some point, however, I needed to generate a little crochet mojo, so I set the embroidery aside and worked on expanding one of the other circles to the new and improved size:

This summer, like all of the years that have passed since I finished the third grade, is going by way too fast, but I will do what I can to enjoy each moment and the possibilities it brings.