More of Sylvia's Sampler

Rows 4 and 5 are complete and the challenges keep coming! I have discovered that as long as I can do a paper pieced block, I no longer worry about the 1/4" seams being exact. However, row 6 is actually completed although not photographed yet. It was all done with templates or written instructions and they were not EASY! But I persevered, even making one block 3 times before I got it finished to the exact measurements. Anyway, I nearly have half of the blocks done...140 here I come.
We had lunch this week with friends from Rawlins. They were actually teachers I worked with at Mt.View Elementary where I spent 14 years as school secretary. For us, we feel like a family of sorts. It is unusual for a group of upwards of 20 employees to continue to stay in touch after retirement, especially since we all have moved on with our lives. But the glue that held us together was our principal. Together we saw each other through joy and tragedy--marriages, divorces, births and deaths. There were good times and bad times and changes, but mostly memories and each of us with a special quality to hold our family together! Some, like us, have moved to Cheyenne as the need to be closer to Dr's and the other amenities a larger city offers, but when we have the opportunity, we still get together. This year, our dear Mt. View Elementary, along with the other old elementary schools will be closing and students will be together in a new school. Our school was built in the middle of the last century. Needless to say, it had been updated several times to accommodate the changes that come with progress but eventually there aren't enough "band aids" to hold it together. Our Mt. View "family" and friends will be gathering next month to remember the Ol' gal and the good times and to say goodbye to an old friend.

"Friends are like stars--you can't always see them, but you know they are there."

Before the migration

The pictures were taken from the patio door so unless you click on them in order to enlarge them, they are a bit fuzzy. My apologies. However, there are several robins slurping and sharing with the sparrows and since I took this pic night before last, I have not seen a robin.
Fall is definitely in the air and I am sure the migration has started. There were doves, blue jays, robins, blackbirds and sparrows all fighting for territory near the water source. This is simply a cement structure, formed over a large rhubarb leaf which my daughter and I made several years ago. It has held up so well and the birds love it!!

Taking a trip today with my buddy, Sal, across the state line gave us a chance to witness the spectacular fall colors. Mother nature graced us this year with the latest Indian Summer I can remember. In the fields the cabbages were still waiting for harvest, the corn is drying yet to be cut for livestock fodder, the sugar beets are being harvested and the trees are brilliant with color!
We spent the day rummaging through antique shops and country shops and flea markets! Usually by this time we are pulling on snow boots, scarves, gloves and heavy coats, but it was a day to remember and spent with a couple of good friends, who could ask for anything more?

"Everything has its beauty, but not everyone sees it." ~ Confucius

My new toy!

I won the bidding on the little Singer featherweight on a Thursday eve, it was shipped on Fri and the UPS delivered it on Monday. In addition, the price was very good...I lost one at a $350.00 plus bid (and this was much less) and it was everything the seller claimed it to be! Above are all of the attachments, a ruffler, a gatherer, a zipper foot, one for lace and other things that are quite frankly a little scary in appearance. In the Green box is an old buttonhole attachment. I am not sure it is for this machine, as it is straight stitch only. The original booklet is here and it all was packed very neatly in the original carrying case. It sews like it was new and as you can see, the spool of thread makes this compact, lightweight jewel appear pretty small.
I have signed up for another class and at only 11 lbs, it will be so nice not to pack my heavier machines. Admittedly my studio, which serves as my craft room, stained glass workshop, houses our treadmill, dog beds and now with 4 sewing machines, looks like a sweat shop for underpaid seamstresses.

There is a bite in the air now which is signaling the onset of winter and the snows that will soon be falling. My garden plot is ready for next spring, and the drip system is nearly finished. I have been gathering seeds and will soon put out the bird feeders. Since providing a water source in our backyard for the birds, we have had an abundance of visitors and all are chowing down on the seeds they somehow scratch from the drying grasses and flower heads. Several pair of doves are regulars, and the robins are arriving and grouping for the flight south. This year we have had some blue jays of sorts, several as a matter of fact. When they are gone, we will have finches to entertain all winter and of course the sparrows. The Mr. calls them "flying rats". I will miss the warm days and don't look forward to donning boots, heavy coats and gloves, or fighting the bitter cold winds, but then, spring does follow winter.

Gardening

470 bricks complete my "yellow" -- make that "red" brick road, Dorothy. With "Toto" in the background and my knees healing from the ordeal, we are quite pleased with the finished final walkway. Not wanting it to look "new", I was determined to lay this the way my grandmother might have done it. No digging down 6" and adding pea gravel or sand to be tamped to perfection. On the left will be a mulched area, shaded by the Aspen grove and on the right, the herb and veggie garden with ground cover between.
3 cubic yards of topsoil with 40% amendment filled the raised garden area and I still have to sift my black gold...compost for you non-gardeners, and add to the mix. In addition, there is a small area for herbs. The drip system is almost completed and hopefully this will look so different next year.
This is the front garden as of Oct. 1st. However, today there is a touch of fall in the air. Woke up to frost on things, but not enough to affect anything. I truly am blessed to have such wonderful friends and neighbors. Next door, I was gifted with a multitude of perennials...Hollyhock seeds from a giant pink plant, so many coral bells(I lost count), a butterfly plant, another hyssop which I divided, a geranium and others I don't even remember at the moment. Then last night, Sal came with what she calls "warm fuzzies". It was a 4 tiered indoor/outdoor plant stand which will be used to start my seedlings next spring. Thank you both!!

"To own a bit of ground, to scratch it with a hoe, to plant seeds and watch their renewal of life---
this is the commonest delight of the race, the most satisfactory thing a man can do.
~ Charles Dudley Warner