We Have a Winner

This past weekend was our County Fair. I had totally forgotten about it's arrival until the day before. Fortunately, I had enough time to ready a couple of entries. I entered a pair of the socks I knit for Sock Madness 3. "Tokena", designed by Tricia Weatherston is a variation on the basketweave pattern. I used two different colours of bamboo yarn and made them fraternal twins. That pair took 1st place in its division!


I also entered Storybook Farm in the quilt division. Silly me, I entered it in the applique division instead of the wallhanging division. I think it probably would have gotten a blue ribbon if I'd done that. Instead, I won a 2nd place ribbon for Storybook Farm.
Not too shabby!

I went on a quilters' Shop Hop this past weekend with 2 of John's sisters. There were 4 stores in the Hop and they held it on a Sunday from noon to 7:00 p.m. We drove to the farthest one first and worked our way back closer to home. At the second shop, I was waiting for the sisters to finish checking out and decided to go outside to wait - turned around and started walking and hit my pinkie toe on a table leg -broke the toe! Once I got home from the Hop, John straightened it out and taped it for me. My hero! As to the Hop? We had a ton of fun! I bought way more fabric than I intended - isn't that the way it always is? - and have several projects in mind for my purchases.

Tuesday was our 36th wedding anniversary. I simply do not know how the time has passed. John had a class that night and I was laid low with an aching jaw from a crown prep that morning so we will probably do something this weekend to celebrate.

I'm not sure how, but I'm still alive in Sock Wars IV. I understand that my death socks are on their way but so far have not shown themselves in the mailbox. I made my 4th kill last week so I'm pretty jazzed at the progress I made this year compared to last year. I think the end is near for me...I hear the tick tock of the death clock!

Thanks for stopping by...I don't know how many of you actually come to the blog or read it in email. However you do, thanks!

HAT BOY

John would be the first one to tell you that he just doesn't DO hats. He doesn't have a head that was designed for hats. For 30 years he wore hats in the Navy and I must say, except for the hat that went with his Choker Whites, most others did nothing for him. Our son recently posted a picture taken when he and his family were on vacation and he was wearing a cool hat. John saw it and said he really liked it and would wear one like that. I mentioned this to our son and, dutiful son that he is, he bought a hat for his dad for Father's Day. I must admit, he looks dashing in that hat! Don't you agree?



John got up this morning and was sad to see that it was raining. He had planned to sit on his grasshopper and mow - and wear his hat while doing so. Hopefully, it will not be raining tomorrow - then he can wear his new hat and mow!

Garnet still hasn't had her calf. That's her in the background...very miffed cause she's been separated from the rest of the 'herd' (Ruby, Jack , and Dolly) till she produces that calf. I keep telling her it's all up to her- drop the calf and get back to the herd. Simple. She ignores me and just keeps bellowing. Whiner!

I'm off to knit some more death socks....more next time. Thanks for stopping by.

4th of July Weekend

We had some of John's sisters' families over for a barbecue for the 4th of July. This was the first time I didn't tell anyone what to bring. I told them that we were bbq-ing (not sure what we would cook but it was coming from the freezer since we are trying to clean out the freezer - more on that later). I told them we would eat whatever they brought. EVERYONE brought salads - including me! We had pasta salad, cucumber salad, and two kinds of fruit salad. With the barbecued steaks John cooked, it was a scrumptious feast! One of John's sisters, Kay, brought me this lovely bouquet of flowers from her yard..a simple canning jar with flowers, tied with a red bandanna bow! Perfect!

On Sunday, John decided that, since there was no wind, he would light the burn pile behind the barn. He'd been saving a bunch of the leftover panel pieces from when we built the house - he finally decided he wasn't going to need/use them so it was time to light 'em up! Being a former 'firefighter' in the Navy, he spent most of 2 hours just standing out there, watching the blaze to make sure it didn't spread. The fire didn't seem to bother any of the cows...they even stopped to watch for a short while.

I spent the rest of the weekend sewing...Jill had asked me to make her another apron like the one I'd recently sent her....here they both are.

This pattern is a cinch to sew up. I might adapt it to Miss Emily...and maybe one for Miss Charlotte. Will have to see.

I'm still alive in Sock Wars IV! I have no idea how this happened. But I keep on knitting and killing and I'm still kicking it! I made my 3rd kill last week and my then-assassin was killed off the same day. She mailed my death socks to North Carolina but that person was killed off last week. Once she gets those death socks, she has to mail them to another lady in England. But she is expecting her own death socks anytime and will probably be dead by the time she gets mine. And then they were supposed to go to New York but New York was killed today, too. So who knows where my still-unfinished death socks will land? I'm just knitting away and killing away till mine show up! I started another pair of death socks today - these will be done by the end of the weekend, I hope, and then will wing their way to Washington state! Will keep you posted!

Ok, I know you are all jonesing to know why we are cooking everything from the freezer in such a frenzy. Well, John took our Huevo to the butcher on Monday and we need the space in the freezer in about 10 days! We told Huevo he was going for a ride to be re-purposed and since cows don't understand really big words like that, he didn't get stressed about the trip and the meat won't be stressed, either. Anyway, Huevo weighed in at 1175 pounds - live weight. Hanging weight turned out to be 664 pounds. I'm told by the butcher that this comes out to 57% and that's great for home-grown meat. But now we need to find space in the big freezer and the smaller freezer for 664 pounds of prime home-grown beef!

Ok...enough of an update for us. I'll update soon. Thanks for stopping by.

HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY

John and I want to wish everyone a safe and happy 4th of July. While this is a time for family, barbecues, and fireworks, let us not forget what we're really celebrating here - Independence. A free and independent country that celebrates the uniqueness of its citizens. And the men and women who fought so valiently to guarantee all our freedoms.

Today is the anniversary of Picket's Charge in Gettysburg. I grabbed this picture from another blog...if you ever get a chance to go to Gettysburg, do it! I've been a number of times and it never fails to move me! The atmosphere of that place is still filled with the feeling of fear and hate and revenge and death and more fear. You can almost smell the smoke and blood.

Enough, about blood and death!

John and I are having his family over for barbecue tomorrow. We are not sure what we're serving - the only thing I'm sure of is that it's from the freezer! I don't say the work butcher around the animals - makes 'em stressed! And you don't want stressed meat! I say re-purposed cause they don't understand that word - haha! Anyway, Huevo is taking a little trip on Monday morning and we need room in the freezer for his return. Since he is over 1000 pounds, that means we need a lot of room in the freezer!

Happy 4th of July, everyone!