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

Thriftin', sewin' & hailin'

 For the sum of one whole dollar, I found this shelf at the Meals on Wheels thrift mart.  I simply cleaned it and sanded a little to distress it and hung it on my sewing wall with some of my other finds and treasures.

 This "Beary Patches" quilt is an Annette Ornelas pattern.  I fell in love with the pattern when first I saw it and was determined to actually finish it after starting the pattern.  (I will never finish everything I start) It is the perfect size for a wall. I'm thinking though that I want eyes on the bears, so I will start looking for something.

Now I have mentioned the thrift and some of the sew, but the hail?.....On Monday eight of us quilters embarked on a shop hop of sorts.  My car with 4 and another car of 4 left a parking lot near here at about 8:30.  When a group of ladies travel together, there is always a "potty stop" first, and this stop allowed some of us to shop also.  Then we arrived in Lyons Co, which is about 70 or so miles south and like all quilt shops, it is eye candy for a quilter.  We spent a good deal of time there and shopped another gift shop and decided to drive to Berthoud for lunch where we ate at the Train Stop,  I think that was the name of the place.  Anyway, before we left we had been aware of impending bad weather..actually severe weather including tornadoes.  The Laughing Ladies quilt Shop was just around the corner from our lunch stop and as we were shopping, the warnings came over the speakers about rain, wind, hail and tornadoes just a few miles from us including our route back to Cheyenne.  We felt that we might miss them and continued to shop although we encountered people who had been in the hail and wind which we apparently had missed.  We decided to wait a bit and headed to Windsor the Quilter's Stash, another great shop.  We passed areas that had been hit with heavy rains, but encountered none and as we continued to shop for fabric there, more warnings came over the speakers.  We left and had heard that there was a great ice cream shop on the way (who doesn't like a treat?) and we stopped at Freddies and all had yummy for the tummy things.  By this time, we could see the storm north and moving that way so onward we drove reaching the parking lot at about 5 I think.  4 of the gals had left their cars parked in the lot.  ALL were damaged..windshields, sun roofs, pitted hoods, tops etc. The Mr. had been shoveling hail...mostly small stuff but he had some golf ball sized pieces in the freezer.  There was damage to homes from tornadoes east of us and lots of vehicle damage here, but in our trek to shop for fabric, we just avoided every bit of bad weather.  I feel so bad for the 4 gals who left their vehicles here. However, it was a great day and a wonderful bunch of ladies to quilt shop hop with me.

" I am not afraid of storms for I am learning how to sail my ship." ~ Louisa May Alcott

More leather

 So, I have to get busy with the camera and start posting something else.....lots of stuff happening here and yet it seems like nothing going on.  I have a table that I need to start painting as I have it sanded and just need to get it done.  The Mr. has had to take a few days to make some repairs here too.  First of all, when the water system was turned on, we had a major leak in a valve box.  That involved digging out 3 large buckets of soil in order to determine where the leak was.  After lots of trouble shooting, and replacing a hose clamp (which meant a trip to the home repair place), the problem became a little more complicated and finally the discovery that a valve had been taken apart and apparently replaced incorrectly solved that issue.  The Mr. is very good at home repair.

Then, I was concerned that we had ghosts.  An unusual noise was occurring periodically from the basement. Mind you, this noise was like nothing I had ever heard and kind of creepy.  In addition, it only lasted a few seconds...not long enough to tell from where it was coming.  Also the Mr. was not hearing it...partly because his hearing is not what it used to be and partly because it was not very loud. So it was on me.  Finally, after a few days, he did hear it.  We have never had a ghost although I did hear of spirits in Rawlins when we lived there and even read a book which was published about the Rawlins ghosts.  Anyway, we have had lots of rain lately, and I finally discovered that it was coming from the furnace room and from the sump pump. It was doing the job for which it was intended to do. We had a sump pump in one home, but I never had occasion to hear it.  Then, he spent most of the afternoon changing out a ceiling fan in the master bedroom.  Try sleeping with a squeaking fan!  We have about 7 fans in the ceilings here and so he decided to take a good one from a very small room (he calls it his hide-y hole).  That meant changing out the light fixture also, so now we need another trip the the home improvement store for a new light fixture.  What next?

Above, the first photo is a piece of the strap with the barbed wire stamp which he decided to use and the second shows the initials on a wider part of the stamp.  All of these pics show the raw state of the leather and eventually, all will be dyed. Hopefully he will be able to get back to the quiver.

"No day is so bad it can't be fixed with a nap." ~ Carrie Snow