FYI: Great graphics

Just a quick post to recommend a very good etsy shop., wilson graphics, it is the first link in my list of links. I received some beautiful decals of moths, dragonflies and butterflies in a giveaway from this site. They are really lovely, and then I spent some time browsing the site, which is filled with all kinds of fantastic images, and they do custom work. Definitely worth your time to check through all these offerings....

Finished Something...

I have spent the last week or so cranking out a small quilt, an example to be used in a book being published by a woman in my quilting group. I finally finished quilting it at five thirty this morning. I hope that tomorrow I will feel like starting in on a few holiday gifts. Today I am seriously overtired and slightly giddy. Could be worse. Zan and I paid a couple more visits to a local graveyard to capture the last of the leaves. They are gone now. It is always such a shock to my system. Of course we have lots of evergreens everywhere, but brown is definitely covering most of the landscape. Now I look forward to the first real snowfall, but not to the unending visits by the snowplow guy to make my driveway clear. And of course I have to hunt up the snow tires, etc.

Of course the real item at the top of my list is putting plastic on the windows. Most of the storm windows have fallen off my house, so it is time to provide extra insulation. I'm not going for the shrink to fit kind, I figure the cats will make short work of that, I'm thinking more of something a serial killer uses to package cadavers....

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.