Christmas

 OMG! I have been so busy that I did not realize how long it had been! And I just got interrupted with an hour long call from a classmate who calls annually to wish us a Merry Christmas.  Truly I am blessed to have friends who stay in touch after nearly 55 years.  Yikes! Has it been that long since high school graduation?  I have been baking.....numerous kinds of goodies and will package them to deliver to neighbors and friends this week.  I started later this year.  Had lunch with 20 plus prior school dist employees from Rawlins who are now residents here, and visited with neighbors for coffee and am working on quilt projects and below my latest project.  I actually had to make a list this morning in order to get everything done today.  Got the dogs bathed, peanut butter buckeyes finished , three loads of laundry, this blog, my daughter called, krautburger filling ready for the bread I have yet to make plus a million other things.  I simply do not have enough time in my day.

So at a cute shop last weekend with a friend who came to spend the weekend, I found this turned piece for $8.00 and had a snapshot of a porch angel I wanted make.  The Mr. immediately set to work on it.  Love him!  The base is from a brass lamp we were scrapping, the wings from a pallet piece and the arms were from two stairway pieces that I have been dragging with me for years. I will try to finish this blog later this week but gotta go and get my bread made.

pig pen

 This again is my collection of pig cutting boards. I was not happy with my previous display, so when my buddy, Pat was here this weekend, we hit some flea markets as well as some retail stores and we got an inspiration for a different display.  I had picked up some fence pickets this summer for a quarter apiece and did not know what I would do with them, but being the cheapskate that I am, I hit upon an idea.  The Mr. got busy and helped with my project and after a little drilling, and screwing and painting, look here!

I have yet to finish with a sign at the top. But it is on it's way.  We decided just to lean it and then it can be moved so anyone who knows me understands that I move things all of the time.

This past couple of weeks has been so busy, and I am not complaining, but it has not afforded me the time to get to some things.  This week my friend was here on Sat and Sun, Mon I caught up a little, Tues I quilted, or sewed really at the library with several friends, Wed I had an applique session, Thursday was lunch with retired school employees and today again is UFO (unfinished objects of the fabric or needlework items) and tomorrow is to shop for Thanksgiving.  Speaking of that, my neighbor invited us to join them and friends so I volunteered to make several things to help out.  It was so very nice of her and she also asked if I knew of anyone else, just to invite them also.  She invited a couple of single neighbors also....what a sweet thing to do.  We are truly blessed with good friends and neighbors.

The library here is a wonderful place for the community to access!  We were able to secure a room every Tuesday to have for the day so that our little group can quilt.  We sign up for 3 months and there are accomodations for our machines and irons, and cutting boards etc.  There also is a coffee shop and sandwich shop in the building so it will give us a place this winter to congregate together.  Hope your Thanksgiving is wonderful!

More chalk paint and stuff

 Oops..forgot to turn the photo! I finished the chair and look at the pumpkin.  It was scarred and looked horrid and since it was a fake one that I've had for years, what the heck.  I like it! There is so much controversy about using Annie Sloan wax over the paint, but I found it easy and like the matte finish, plus no fumes or sticky varnish. Durability?  We will see.

 So I had my pigs on top of my cupboards, but since there are now six, they are quite heavy and I decided that they might be too much weight for the cupboards.  I personally know of two people who had their upper cupboards fall and lose dishes when not enough hardware was used to secure that much weight.  Dishes are heavy actually.  So my little piggies are in their pigpen.

 I have been taking a class to complete a "Gypsy Wife" quilt and I had no idea really that there were so many squares.  I know for sure that I finished 43 squares yesterday and today although they are small...4-3 inches and the other ones which are larger were done during the last month, it feels like a 100 at least.  There are about 10 or so more to complete, using some of the ones below by adding more rounds, but I can see the light at the end of the tunnel on this portion.  Next will be to try to put the sections together with narrow strips (yet to be cut). At least I have been able to use from my stash and put to use some of the smaller pieces of fabric that I could not bring myself to discard.

I have also been working with a friend to organize a group of gals (who want to machine quilt in a group) to find a place to work.  We need a large room with electrical facilities where we can spend several hours a day.  The Laramie County Library has been able to fill that need and we will hope that it works.  I have more than a dozen quilt projects started, so hopefully this will motivate me to finish some.

With daylight savings time ending this weekend and the temperature dropping now, it sure feels like winter is here or close at least.  Not my favorite time of the year and the wind nearly blows me away. How many shopping days until spring?

"Wherever you are it is your own friends who make your world." ~ William James

Chalk Paint and Flea market find

 It has been nearly 2 weeks since I posted, but I have been busy. So first the chalk paint!  I have wanted to try this for quite some time now and spending the weekend with a friend gave me the opportunity.  We had intended to go to the French Nest in Ft. Collins and then on to Lyons and a quilt store there among other things.  However weather predictions and WIND gave us reason to change plans.  We stayed in Brighton on last Saturday and stopped at a shop which sold Annie Sloan Chalk Paint and had many examples of the finished applications.  So far it has not disappointed me!  Although it did take two coats which is recommended, a light first coat followed by a second coat and then a wax coat.  I need to apply a second coat of wax still I feel.

 These pieces did not match each other or anything else and I wanted to make them more alike! The light does make them seem a little different, but they are not and I need to do the chair for the coffee bar and I have ideas about some other garage sale pieces that I have.  Really, you do not need to prime, or sand or prepare the pieces except for cleaning.

 This little piggy went to market and I snatched him up!  He has been cleaned and oiled and will soon join my five other pig cutting boards atop my cupboards.  I want to display them differently and am working on that.  He was at a flea market in Lafayette CO where we frequent and can always spend all afternoon.

So back to being busy.  I have been to 3 quilt meetings, met with the 2 friends with whom I traveled to the Midwest, spent a good amount of time trying to arrange a room at our local library for a quilting and sewing place for the winter, again with 2 friends, spent the weekend in CO where I also had breakfast with my two sisters and a friend. I am blessed with friends, I know.  With winter fast approaching though, I may be staying home for a while.

More trip and treasure

 This little guy is not part of the trip, but one small part of a garage sale box that I paid $1.00 to a woman who was downsizing.  (I should probably be doing that too.) In the box was a butane curling, about 100 clothespins in a ziploc, two rolls of wallpaper border, elastic for sewing, many buttons and pins, a box with sewing machine feet, sewing machine needles (new) and countless other items, some of which I took to a thrift shop.  But this old pincushion, in pristine condition with his "tail" pins was the best treasure.  I have a soft spot for pincushions and have actually been making a few more for our retreat next summer.

 This barn was one of many on our trip which captivated us.  There are several quilt blocks on this one and the barn like so many, was in great condition.  I do not even remember where it was.

At the Yoder Farm, which we toured, I took a snap of this yellow flower which the young Mennonite woman who was our guide on the Amish farm showed us.  She said it was called a popcorn plant because when the leaves were rubbed, it would smell like buttered popcorn.  It did indeed!  I met yesterday with the two gals I was lucky enough to make this trip so much fun and we hope now to be able to quilt on a regular basis.  We are sadly losing one of our two quilt shops so that may involve some more trips together.

I have my fall flowers out, hung my skeleton on my hook, put my fall wreath on the door, but snow is predicted for the first part of the week.  What happened to fall?  Halloween is next now so....

Trick or treat, smell my feet, give me something good to eat!

Trip to Midwest

 I just came back from a trip to the Midwest with two of my friends.  We were 11 days in several states and it was more than I had expected.  So when I found out that we were going to Casey Ohio which was featured on CBS Sunday Morning show a few weeks ago, I was looking forward to all of the LARGE pieces. We made sure to see all of the pieces, had pictures taken with the Shoes, saw the wind chime, the ruler, the pencil, the ear of corn, the minion, and other pieces.  The people were so friendly and the merchants assured us tourism has boosted the economy.  There is a rocking horse which is currently on display elsewhere and will soon be returned to the town.

We took one of three road trips through country where there are quilt blocks displayed on barns, and spent time in Amish country where we visited the Yoder Farm and saw so much more than I have time or thoughts to describe. We toured two Amish homes, the barn, the schoolhouse and rode in a horse drawn buggy like these below.

In Berlin Ohio, we stopped at a grocery where the population is mostly Amish and the shoppers had arrived in the buggies you see above.  I think there were 20-30 buggies and the grocery was like nothing I had ever been in.  The food was wonderful and before we arrived here, we spent 3 days in Coschocton Ohio, where our friend was getting genealogy information. More about that in the next post.

"If we ALL did the things we are capable of doing, we would literally ASTOUND ourselves." ~ Thomas Edison

Yard sale table

This is just a quick note to follow up the promise that I would try to post the table and bench and chairs that we purchased for $30.00 last weekend and tomorrow is yard sale day again! Yippee!  Sad that we get so excited about finding some bargains isn't it? (the sheepskin and other stuff on the table were just items for sale that we did not want).  I also look for baskets and pretty cups (for under 25 cents) for a church group.  They take the baskets and fill them with new goodies they receive along with the teacups filled with teabags for cancer patients at the hospital. Sometimes when people realize where these items go, they will actually donate them. We have a very generous community.

Inspiration and scores

 Above is a quilt entirely stitched by hand and I emphasize the words  "by hand".  One of the quilters from the Encampment group pieced each small hexagon by hand, NOT using the English Paper Piecing method, which is most known to modern quilters.  Josie, who has been quilting for decades, completed this quilt in a few months and it is also entirely hand quilted.  A version of "Grandmother's Flower Garden", it is a queen sized quilt and the precision in the stitching is the experience of a seasoned quilter.  It is magnificent!

 Although the Mr. and I spent Saturday morning hitting the garage sales looking for deals, last weekend was a great one and above are some of the treasures. All totaled, we did not spend more than $10.00.  The two small irons for applique pressing and small seams were $.50...that's fifty cents and I got two large irons, both in great shape for $1.00 for both..$1.50 so far.  Below I found an old sewing basket, hooks for my closet for robes, a new splatter screen(the old one was coming apart), the little sewing machine music box, the "potty" planter and above the 3 hole punch.   All for less than $4.00.  Call me cheap ...but I will use all of these.

Yesterday our Saturday was just as successful...We have a friend who has purchased a new home, an older home which needs a lot of work.  Because he is a first time homebuyer, he has a lot to accomplish before he can move in.  He needed a drop-leaf table to serve six and we set out to look for something that would work for him.  The last sale on our trip, which was supposed to start at 10.00 a.m. was on our way home and we drove by early just to locate the address.  Early birds were shopping already so we stopped.  I don't have a picture as I used my phone and will try to get it transferred over to this blog, but there was a drop-leaf, with a bench and two chairs in pretty good condition for $30.00. I sent him a photo and he was pleased with the set so we loaded it up and took it to him.  The other great score was a Brother sewing machine for $20.00, in the original box with a note on it that read--too smart for us! I brought it home and replaced the broken needle and threaded it up and tried all of the stitches and it works great.  It is a basic machine, but it is lightweight so it will allow me to travel with it and leave my little featherweight here for smaller projects.  I have been hauling the embroidery machine to sew, but it is very heavy and not especially designed to travel and it is pretty big too.

"Happiness lies in the joy of achievement and the thrill of creative effort." ~ Franklin D. Roosevelt

Quilt retreat and good friends!

 Last Thursday, I trekked to Encampment for a quilt retreat which has become an annual event. Approximately 30 quilters, experienced and novice participated for the two day retreat.  With quilts displayed and hung from nearly every available space, it can only be described as a truly successful venture again.  We set up Thursday afternoon and returned on Sunday for clean-up. This community of quilters and residents furnished enough food for 3 meals both days and there was an abundance of salads, desserts and meats for all as well as breakfast casseroles and drinks.

 This is a portion of the Green River ladies' quilt inventory, which they transported in a U-Haul truck and it is also the fourth year they have come with their wares and have taught a class.  It is owned by a gal and her mother and they assured us that they love coming here and have already committed to next year, same place, same time.

 The flower above is a fractured technique, taught by an instructor on Saturday and although both classes taught were optional, almost everyone took both classes and this gal came from Nebraska, also having taught last year.
Below is the wall hanging, the Green River gals taught on Friday and will hold Christmas cards or pictures etc. and I thoroughly enjoyed learning both techniques.  The camaraderie with all of these ladies is terrific and we all feel like one big family. We have been through some tough times and some great times and in a small ranching community, it is especially necessary. I had been gone for a year and when I arrived, each and everyone of my friends gave me the biggest bear hugs...it brought me to tears and I so miss them.

 Enough of the pity party. The Mr. and I have been hitting garage sales as I have mentioned before and yesterday was an unusually great day. However, the little sewing machine below was scored at a flea market a few weeks ago and it now graces the top of my White Treadle.  Love it!

Next time, more about the garage sale day.

Garden addition and more

 Our small backyard has much potential for gardening and the ugly spot of grass is going to be beautiful when I get finished with it.  The Mr. has been killing the invasive crabgrass-like green growth in the lawn and I decided to eliminate the grass all together in this spot by building a flower bed.  Yes! I have in the past had great success in making great flower beds in questionable soil by lining the area with layers of newspaper and covering with good soil and mulch.  This is left over the fall and winter to compost and in the spring....plant!!!

 We used about 10 bags of garden soil and some dead and decomposing grass clippings (NO SEEDS) .

 Looks pretty good right now and will be even more wonderful next year.  The downside is that I forgot that I have a little grey dog who loves to play in the dirt....so he has been loving it for now.  We have had a good deal of rain in the evenings so this will speed up the decay process.  I also did not take into account of the sprinklers which cannot easily be seen so I had the Mr. turn them on, hoping that I had not covered up one of them.  Luckily I did not and there is one just to the side of my bed which will water the entire area.

 These are not great pictures of the spoon pincushion, but the idea is clear I think.  I found this great large shell-bowled spoon for a dollar at a yard sale and with some of the items my buddy and I had collected, I was able to make this antique look for a little of nothing with fabric and glue!  I am on the hunt now for more!  The Mr. and I have been hitting a lot of garage sales and we have scored some stuff we probably don't need.  However, we meet some nice people!

"Imagination is the highest kite one can fly." ~ Lauren Bacall

Sumer?

 

 Summer has been so busy!  I did not realize it had been so long since I posted anything!  We have had house guests the past two weekends.  It has been great to have family and friends. Of course, Frontier Days, the Daddy of them All, was here for 10 days and that was a huge event and now with Sturgis just north of us, the celebrating continues with the onset of bikes traveling through.  Above is the finished quiver that the Mr. finished and the intended niece and her husband came to pick it up this past weekend.  It fit well as she is a tiny little thing and she seemed to love it.  I moved into this home with no knowledge of the plantings in the back yard and after what seemed like a long winter, this spring brought pleasant surprises.  However, this plant was unknown to me and I waited to see if it was friend or foe. My gardening guru was here last week and correctly identified it as Hollyhock Mallow or miniature hollyhocks.  (I did some research after I had an idea of the name of the plant).  The plants, and they are several, were no doubt planted by the birds as they all are directly below the fence line. My neighbor has them I discovered and I love them!  

 As you can see, they grow quite tall and have tiny blooms which look like Hollyhocks. They will be allowed to grow here in abundance.  Below, the pot, which experienced a disastrous hailstorm, stripping the leaves and blooms early in the summer, now flourishes and the little bunnies which frolic below are all garage sale purchases.

 Also surprising me was this beautiful Clematis.  The blooms are fading now but it has bloomed almost constantly all summer.

We have been hitting a lot of garage sales (and have scored some great deals), walking the dogs through the neighborhood and parks, and spending time in retirement doing what we like.  Life is good!

"Think of the world YOU carry within YOU". ~ Ranier Maria Rilke

Yard repair

 Over the years of posting on this blog I have lived in at least 4 homes and worked on gardens in each, digging ponds, moving dirt and planting, only to leave and see all of my work undone.  I CAN'T HELP IT! Not only is my thumb green, but all of my fingers are various shades of green.  Above, you can see that these areas next to the house were completely covered with two layers of heavy landscape barrier and these rocks.  I was thrilled to see the two snapdragons struggling next to the house trying to grow and they are beautiful.  However when I removed the black barrier fabric, I discovered that most of their roots were between the rocks and the fabric and that they were a perennial variety with large roots at least an inch in diameter.  After exposing the roots in order to remove the rocks, I struggled to try to cover them up and I am not sure they will survive, but I believe they will at least produce seeds and hope to use them.  The rocks in this first bed below were also under the plastic (backfill perhaps) and took me a week to remove them.  I have successfully cleaned the next bed and amended the soil with compost and manure.  YES!  Hope to plant in the fall and next spring.

Note the ugly grass also.  The Mr. is fond of chemicals.  Actually, the soil in the back yard is not very good and we had a lot of crabgrass so die, die, die!  He has already re-planted some of these areas and we are confident that we will have another beautiful yard in time.

So another bright spot in my day today, actually two, was a text from an old friend from many years ago who discovered that I was back in the city.  I was so pleased to hear from her (I should have reached out earlier..my bad) and since we are both quilters, we had much in common with which to communicate.  In other words, the conversation was wonderful and lengthy and so glad to share news of the "kids" and "grandkids".  The other bright spot was that the Mr. sold his flatbed trailer which had taken up half of our garage since we arrived here.  We really do not have a need for it here and now we will have a work space.

3 of my quilting buddies and I trekked to Ft. Collins Tuesday and we had breakfast at the Silver Grill (our favorite place to eat there), checked out the Cupboard and other shops and hit two quilt stores.  I now have several projects to keep me occupied when the weather starts to turn white, as well as many UFO's to complete.  It was a great day!
Thanks gals!

"One of the wonderful things about women is that we are bonded by shared experiences." ~ Anita Roddick

More quiver and bear

 I have gotten behind again! Last Friday I had 3 of my favorite people come to visit and we had lunch, shopped and hit the quilt shops of course.  I miss the quilters from Encampment and my other friends from over that way so very much.  It was a great day.  They took my bear quilt back with them for a quilt display which is taking place in the library.  So I hurried and got eyes on them.  The Mr. drilled a couple of holes and removed the shanks on the back of the eyes as I did not want to mount them permanently on my quilt.

 He has been diligently working on the quiver for his niece and although the design has been revised a couple of times, it is slowly coming along.  It takes so very much time as every seam is hand stitched with two needles---one on top and one underneath.  It will be so very nice.

We had a quiet but hot 4th of July and were able to watch the fireworks from our neighborhood. Today, it approaches the 90's and some places in our state are expected to reach 100.  This is so unusual for us and for once I am thankful for air conditioning.

More thriftin' and good times

 Last weekend I crossed the border (state line between WY and CO), to meet with my good buddy for a trip to the French Nest in the heart of FT. Collins, now referred to as FOCO? The French Nest is an outdoor market with two blocks dedicated to crafter, antique, and other venders as well as a block of fresh produce venders. It is such a variety of eye candy and the shoppers bring their dogs.  We really did enjoy the morning.  We did other shopping and had lunch and went to a quilt show in Berthoud and on Sunday we went to another large flea market in Lafayette.  Such fun!! I spent the weekend with her and above, I came home with an old sled which she let me take.  She told me she had no room for it and I will always keep it (unless she needs it back at some future date).  I love, love, love, it and I put a quilt on it and my cat, Coalette promptly decided it was her perch.

 Yesterday, being Saturday, we hit some garage sales.  I have a fondness for old windows and we stumbled across a shed where there were probably at least 20 windows of all sizes and numbers of panes which the young man had inherited when he bought the home.  They ranged in price from $1 to $10.  This one above was $1.  I simply don't have room for storing them or I would have grabbed more.  Sorry girls!  And below, the large bowl and the vase below cost all of 50 cents.  With a tube of silicone, I now have a bird bath for the back yard. Did I tell you that I love garage sales?

We did get some more good stuff, practical things like new garden gloves, garden edging, storage bins, etc. We have to limit ourselves though and not bring home everything we see.  I also got 8 yards of flannel on a bolt for $2.00.  It has a woodsy print with trees and little bears so I am sure I will find it perfect for a quilt. I am thrifty--not cheap!

"You would be surprised how much it costs to look this cheap." ` Dolly Parton