Post #81 - A quick catch-up post.

So we didn't post at all in November and now
December is nearly half over and I bet you think 
we've forgotten about the blog. 
Again. 
Au contraire!

It's just that a blog post isn't much without pictures and I haven't been taking many pictures lately. I've been living in the moment more and documenting the moment less.

But here is a glimpse at what I have been doing 
for the past month or so.

 The celery that I started in my window sill back in February?  
I harvested it from the garden just before the first frost. 
Yummy!

 Hubs took me to Amish country to hunt for fabric stores. 
We found them. 
Wow!

 We saw a beautiful sunset on the way home.
Wow again.

 Brutus had his appointment at the Vet's office and 
needed a name tag for his crate. 
He got one.

 We held a wreath-making class at church and had a blast!

 I started a quilt.

 We went to see the light shows in two different towns. 
Pretty! 

 I worked on the quilt.

I wish I could say I finished the quilt and started another one. 
Moving along...

 I made a snowman decoration for my front porch.

Kudos if you spotted Lizzie at the door before I pointed her out to you.

And I decorated.

Now if it would just snow it would feel more like Christmas.

Post #73 - It's the most wonderful time of the year

I went to my favorite Amish produce farm today only to find out that he no longer has the help to keep up the produce stand. He sold me a bushel of Roma tomatoes anyway.  He said most of his 5 brothers and 2 sisters have moved on and he probably won't have a stand next year, either. I'm really going to miss dealing with him. I am more heartbroken about not getting fresh garlic than anything else.

So I stopped at another farm and stocked up on bell peppers, yellow onions, candy onions (sweet), and watermelon.

 While driving home a friend called and offered some fresh-dug potatoes so I drove there and also got some corn and cucumbers.

These four potatoes and three ears of the corn played a big role in supper last night along with a pepper and an onion. Yum, yum.

And while at the grocery store Wednesday I picked up some fresh peaches and fall mums. 

Isn't this a great time of year?

Post #69 - Day off. Or off day. Whichever.

I had big plans for today.

That's nothing new. I have big plans for every day. Sometimes things get done, sometimes life gets in the way.

Today life gets in the way of my plans.

I had a huge stack of newspapers that I'd planned on turning into rolled logs.  We tried that a few years ago by wetting the newspaper and rolling it then letting it dry for weeks. We weren't impressed with the results.  But I recently did some research and some people were claiming to have good results with rolling dry newspaper. So I thought I'd give it a shot. 

Last night I started rolling the paper logs and finished up this morning. I didn't count how many there were.  Quite frankly I am done looking at them.  A short time later I realized that my hands were rebelling. They ache so badly that I am taking the rest of the day off.

So here, enjoy some pictures of sleepy kitties.

Click *HERE to return to the home page.

Post #68 - The week in review

This has been a busy week for our household.  We had one at church camp and two at Boy Scout camp.  And then there was Family Night at Scout camp on Wednesday where we enjoyed a potluck meal with our Troop families.  Then a storm came through and lowered the temperature AND the humidity.  We were all happy to see that happen.

The boys were home on Friday and had wedding rehearsal Friday night. The oldest is the Best Man, the youngest a Groomsman.  

When did the kids that my kids ran around with get old enough to get married, hmm?  

Anyway, Hubs got home from Scout camp today, we ate lunch, then attended the wedding.  And it was a lovely wedding. The bride was beautiful, her dress was fairytale gorgeous. But I couldn't help myself--when the Groom walked out I commented that he's just a baby!  
Kids.

I've taken a short break from the quilt piecing. I ordered a new foot for my sewing machine and it should be here early next week. It will help me keep the seams even and exact.
Exact is important when quilting. So I hear.

Meanwhile I began work on a stuffed animal pattern.  I joined the *Cuddle Club sewing club last month. The first pattern I received was for Buster the dog.  

 (Image taken from *Wendi's website.)

I've used Wendi's Shiny Happy World patterns before and I recommend them. Remember the*Easter Eggs from felt?  Actually, that stitching club set is what reignited my love for doing crafts. I was pretty depressed after my parents died last year and it was good therapy for me.  So Wendi holds a special place in my heart, even though we've never met. 

But I digress.

I joined the Cuddle Club a little late and missed the first two stuffed animals. My kit arrived in the mail while I was in *New York. So here I am, nearly a month later, just now starting work on it. Wendi keeps the pattern a secret until you receive it; I was tickled to see it was for a cute puppy dog. The kit arrives with everything needed to make the stuffy except for the stuffing, sewing machine and thread. She even included a cookie! But after setting in the package for over a week it was inedible. Still, it was very thoughtful of her.

Since I've been hanging out in fabric stores lately, I went ahead and picked up more cuddle fleece to make a second stuffy. 

Because I can, that's why. 

And since I always give away the stuffed animals I make I figured why not make two at once? Wendi had sent me fleece in pretty rust and brown tones. I picked out a cute brown textured fleece to make a whimsical dog.

Several years ago the kids helped me make pattern weights using different size washers and some fabulous nylon strips on a spool that my cousin gave me. I wish I had more of that stuff. Anyway, this was the perfect project to use fabric weights and the rotary cutter.  All the pieces were cut out in no time.

While I'm thinking of it, why haven't I ever heard of Wonder Clips before?  I ordered a set of small ones and have been using them all this week. I LOVE these little clips. 

 I use them instead of pins to hold the cut pattern pieces all together. I'm also using them to keep the quilt blocks and pieces in their piles. When I begin sewing this slippery fleece, I will use them to hold the fabric pieces in place instead of pins. They are turning out to be very useful tools.

After everything was cut out, I got distracted when I noticed that the boys' dress shirts for the wedding still had the creases from being in the package.  So I stopped working on my project to iron them.

While I had the iron out I went ahead 

and pressed the seams on the quilt blocks that I have pieced. Pressing the seams helps the block lie flat.

And then Kate and I stopped to play with 

the kitties who were just waking from a nap.

 Brutus doesn't normally care to be held, 

so this was definitely a photo worthy moment.

 And then things got silly when I put a glow bracelet on Lizzie. 

It lasted about 15 seconds before she took it off. Then we took it away from her so she wouldn't chew on it.

I will work on the stuffies next week and share pictures when they are done.

Click *HERE to return to the home page. 

*This blog program will not allow me to change the link settings. The default setting does not make the link very visible, so I've marked them with an asterisk. 

Post #67 - The kittens have NAMES!

A big thank you to everyone 
who suggested names for the little darlings. 

We didn't use any of them. 
(Although "Bonnie & Clyde" were real contenders.)

But we appreciate your efforts. :-)

I tried to get a nice picture

so I could introduce them to you, 

but they don't stay still long enough to get a 

good picture while they are awake.  

Here, let me show you a few attempts:

  And then they fell asleep. 

So without further ado, 

let me introduce to you

 (Princess) Lizzie

 

and Brutus.

Post #65 - Five on Friday, kitten edition

Five things I've learned this week:

1. Apparently my feet move while I sleep and are irresistible to a waking kitty.
   1.a.  Kitten claws are sharp!
2. "Fresh Scent" kitty litter is a lie.
3. Think you've got the house clean?  Give a kitten a white pompom to play with. I dare you.
4. If you think they are too small to reach or get into something, kittens will prove you wrong every time. They are sooooo curious!
5. Kittens grow right before your eyes, changing day to day. It's like having two hairy pre-teens in the house.

 

I can't imagine life without these two.

Post #64 - Playing catch up

Here are a few things that happened last week while I wasn't blogging.

We roasted marshmallows and watched the fireworks display on the 4th.

The garden is beginning to yield some crops.

I freshened up some of the front porch furniture.

We ate a bowlful of cherries.

 I worked on an quilting project.

And you would think the new pulls for the ceiling fan would be fool proof.

You would think wrong.

Post #57 - catching up Part 2

During my hiatus from the blog, I've been doing other things besides visiting the land of the swaying palm trees and pretending to be a beach bum.  Not very many exciting things, but things all the same. 

I finished embroidering the States map and sewed up a pillow.  Kate asked if I was going to put a zipper in it. The thought had never occurred to me, mainly because I had put a zipper in only one of her homemade dresses so I'm not exactly a zipper pro.  But I liked the idea, so I did it. And I'm tickled pink that it turned out perfect.  

Mainly because I'm a perfectionist. 

But I digress.  

The main body of the pillow is green because it will go in the camper and the camper décor is green and neutrals. I put a bright green border around it because reasons.

I planted flowers.

I missed embroidering, so I stitched this ducky.

We got a load of firewood so we can enjoy campfires this summer.

I planted a garden.

 Actually, this picture shows the day I looked out the back door and saw a man and a backhoe in the backyard. He said we had a gas leak. 

I went fishing.

I went camping and stitched up another ducky.

And then we had Vacation Bible School at our church. Kate was the music teacher and I taught a class for preteens. Seven children were saved during VBS this year.  Praise the Lord!  A couple of VBS kids showed up in my Sunday School class. Even though Sunday School isn't as exciting as VBS, I hope they keep coming back.