Quilt Show items

Well the quilt show we put on was really good. It looked wonderful when all the quilts were hung and pumpkins carefully guarding the quilt stands so people wouldn;t trip over them. I did, but fortunayely I didn't tip over any of the big hanging racks, just bumped off the pumpkin stem. It was cold and the wind was pretty strong, we were right on the bay, but the threatened rain showers never appeared.
I sold three things at the show, a wonderful surprise for me. I'm going to miss the big Guadaloopy one, but it has found a good home.
I'm pretty sure everyone had a good time and I received lots of compliments, a rare occurance for me because I am kind of a full time professional hermit.
i just received a large box of fabric, silk ties and other goodies from a friend. I'm going to have to thin of something to make out of them, I lean toward crazy wuilt items when I get a little silk in my hands.
Our phone was out for five days, but the phone company guy finally showed up today and fixed it at the outside junction box. He told me I must be doing something weird inside to amake the wire short out. Yeah, you betcha.
We had a few days of heavy rainfall last week, I think that may have played a part in this. Ah well, they are working now so I should just stop complaining.
Sun is out here today, beautiful weather, just the way fall is supposed to be. The leaves are still putting on a pretty great show. Oh, and the first picture is of two of my quilts, the others were made by friends in my group...

I Finally Found It!

This is an apron my grandmother made for me when I was two or three years old. It used to have a companion pillow sham with a big ruffle, but that disappeared years ago. My mother had my apron and she wouldn't give it to me because she was sure i would lose it. After she died I moved into her house and I looked everywhere for it and after eight years I gave up. My cat Tubby decided a cupboard with old quilts in it would make him a nice private pissoir. When I discovered what he was doing I yarded everything out of there to clean it up and lo and behold! at the very bottom of the pile was my tiny panda apron. It has been washed and revived and I am so happy to see it.
Tomorrow I am heading down to the big boathouse to help put the quilt show together. I am missing one of my quilts that I wanted to put in, it is driving me nuts hunting for it. I am an expert at making things disappear but I thought this was such a large item I would find it. Ah well.

A couple weeks ago when i pulled into my driveway and got out of my car a sobbing kitty came bounding up to me. A sleek tuxedo kitty, he looked very healthy, but very skinny. And so friendly. So of course, I being an idiot, I fed him. He was so excited but kept headbutting me and Zan, wanting the snugs most of all. The next day we discovered he has been fixed and has no front claws, and he's healthy so he must be somebody's kitty. I worry that he was dropped here, tomorrow I'm going to call the vets locally and the animal shelter to see if anyone lost a kitty. In the meantime, Pegleg (my daughter named him, always a bad idea) has been enjoying getting fed , and getting lots of affection. I told the kids I would fix up an insulated house for him in the barn if he is still here come winter, but Martin thinks he needs to move inside. OH yeah. Just what we need, and talik about a pissing contest, we have two males in the house (neutered) and they will not be happy, and a few loony Siamese ladies who will also be quite pissed.
A story which will be continued...

Fall Has Arrived

My quilt group, Friendship Sampler Quilters is holding a two day quilt show for two days in mid October. We all had to make two mini quilts for a raffle, and I thought I'd post a few pictures of the little quilts. And I made a doll this week. I like making dolls, she is almost done, she just needs a ruffle on her petticoat and some shoes. I always sew the clothes by hand, I find that very soothing.
The air has turned crisp here, the sun is out, yesterday the wind was howling, and the swamp maples have started to turn. I bought a bag of early apples from a local orchard and they are wonderful. I still have my tomato crop, two large tomatoes, started to turn a bit red. Not much of a garden this year.
My daughter and I went to Farmer;s Market yesterday and bought some wonderful tomatoes, some pears and a bottle of rhubarb chutney, They have nice plants for sale too, organic meat and cheeses, baked goods, etc. That is my idea of a good time...
My two mini quilts are the second and third ones one the right bottom of the first picture. It was great to se al the little quilts laid out. I suspect the raffle will go well.

Summer is making a brief appearance!

Yesterday i picked a bunch of wildflowers in my back yard. The purple asters are seven feet tall. My mother dug up a little clump of them years ago.
We would drive around with a couple of trowels and buckets with water, liberating a few ditch filling plants that were just going to get clobbered with poison and then the roadboys show up and scrapes the edges clean. I'm just trying to keep some of these old plants from disappearing. I find a lot of my favorite flowers live in ditches, lupines, asters, dame's rocket and my all time favorite, chicory. My god, the color of that plant is so intense and lovely,, and i have never been able to successfully transplant any. I would dig up plants, cut them back, plant them and water them regularly, but the chicory just not want to live in my yard.
The other two bad pictures are a watchband I made, it actually doesn't look too grotty off xcreen, and them a couple of tiny aprons I made out of some antique material a friend gave me...these are the things I do in the middle of the night when sleep eludes me. And then there is the picture my daughter took of me, i look almost ok! so I figured what the hell...

The sun is out, the breeze is ruffling the leaves and the video store called to tell me I have a free rental, so you know what that means, I'll have to go rent something, at least if it stinks I won't have wasted money on it.

Button Madness

I've been enjoying looking at all the old buttons on eBay, the ones I like are inevitably way too much for my purse, but it is fun to run my eyes over the assortments. I especially like the old bakelite and celluloid buttons,k and of course mother of pearl, and plastic has lots to offer as well. Having had this horrid plague bug for almost a month, I resorted all my buttons into jars and lined them up on the windowsill of my sewing studio. It was about all the energy I had available, and of course it is so therapeutic to run your fingers through the buttons.

The sun is out today, the air is almost clear, and I'm not completely exhausted (yet). We have to run into town to buy Dayquil for the lingering coughs and dishwasher soap. What excitement....I'm hoping I haven't missed the union Fair, the fair of my childhood, I like to go see all the animals, the award winning veggies and all the handcrafts. if it is on this weekend, I'm dragging myself there no matter what, i need some visual stimuli.

More Bits and Pieces

My brother is coming to visit this weekend. That will be a treat. I was fiddling around in the studio and found an old painting I'd done about thirty years ago. That was a funny surprise...I'm supposed to be tidying up for company, but I got distracted. A common problem for me, I must need more vitamins. aOr brain cells.

I keep trying to make a few little things for my quilt group's show in October. I think maybe the little orange and ocher anvils might be acceptable . I'm working on a very scrappy little broken dishes pattern, and I made another anvil top but I think it is too big. I kind of love the pattern so perhaps I'll make a couple more. I made a little courthouse step pillow for someone, quilted it by hand, but it is hard to tell, the stiiches disappear in all the dark colors/ Not such a bad thing, since I am no prize winning quilter. I love to hand quilt, and I love the way the quilts feel when they are done, very soft. Well I don't know why I inflicted the Bad
Apples painting on anyone, but I could not resist....
Very muggy and unpleasant here today. My son's asthma is driving him nuts and I'm still prety close to the kleenex and the ricolas......

Cooties!

We've been cut off at the knees this past ten days. A friend of my sonn's came to visit, we'll just call him Typhoid Ross, gave everyone a big hug and then said, "Stay away from me, I've got a horrible bug." Little too much information a little too late. Martin was the first one to start feeling wicked, and coughing and wheezing and sneezing and whining, but it only took a couple more days before Zan and I also fell victim to the evil cooties. It must be some kind of flu bug, we are all aching, exhausted and cranky. Martin''s asthma has kicked in as well. Kleenex bills are going to be outrageous. I suppose sooner or later we'll feel better.

I had fun making a little doll quilt for a little girl, of course I forgot to take a picture of it, but it was pretty cute, mostly thirties repros, you know, all the cuties, with the Mother Goose figures, flowers, Alice in Wonderland. I love making the teeny quilts because I get them done, And I finally made it to the post office just as Bob, the postmaster was taking the flag down, He was very nice and took all my packages. He said the meter was closed down, but he dug out lots of stamps, my favorite a 48 cent polar bear.

I think tonight I'm going to make a little wool felt needle book. I seem to have lost my needle roll and so I don't have the quilting needles I like. I suppose it may turn up spmeday. I've spent a lot of time the last few days sorting buttons, between naps. It is always so soothing. Last night I went through a big tin I had labeled "scummy old buttons", and actually there were a lot of nice ones, after I'd sorted and washed them all. Of course there were a few scummy old ones that I gave the heave ho.

Some red bee balm I planted last year vbelow my ailing lilac bush are doing really well, a nice change from weeds. My daylilies are doing well too, some sild phlox is tall and beautiful and locust trees are popping up all over the yard again. I'll have to get Martin out there to uproot them. I love locust trees, they grow so fast and are very beautiful, nice smelling blossoms too, but they spread like wildfire.

Well enough of this silliness. I feel compelled to post a few pictures . Now go wash your hands a couple times....