Still working on my Xmas Solstice Star quilt

Through all that I have been doing around here, I still managed to find little snippets of time to stick in some stitching, even if it is only one seam of a border or piecing parts of the border.

This top that I am still working on is July's American Patchwork & Quilting UFO Challenge quilt.  I am a bit behind, but I am still chugging along.  A little bit here and a little bit there.  During the work on the French trench and reservoir along the side of the house, I would get to sew some in the mornings before a decent hour to start making all the noise.

As you can see, I have all the blocks done, assembled into rows and attached together.  I even have the first black border, the pieced red and black borders, and now I am working on the last 3" black border to complete the quilt top.  

I do find it difficult to work on Christmas quilts in July.  My mood is just not into it.  Though at this early date, it should give me enough time to quilt it and bind it, to put on my bed this Christmas.  That will be nice.

Here is a picture of the work we've been doing.  This is the channel for the French trench on the right.  My daughter is in the process of taking up the small patch of grass so I can plant a small garden path.  As of yesturday, she cleared out all the bricks and rocks on the left and a large portion of the grass.  It is still very hot these days, so she has to takes many water breaks.

The picture below is from the front of the house, which also shows the digging we did for the reservoir.  

Now I have to let this hole settle a bit, before I can put some fresh soil and re-sod the area.  There is still a fair amount of work to be done at the side of the house, but it's getting there.  I'll take some after pictures when I am done.