FALL IS FINALLY HERE!

I simply adore Autumn.  It is my most favorite season of the year.  The colours, the leaves, even the feel of the air makes me happy.  And this year, I'm showing my neighbors how happy it makes me.  I spent last Sunday decorating the front porch for the first time in years!  Those pumpkins would NOT stay stacked so I used my trusty glue gun and voila!  My Goose got his outfit changed and we are set for the autumn!

There are hazards to living in the country.  When wicked weather comes along, you can't just walk to the nearest store for groceries...you have to have prepared for the storm.  Especially ice storms.  One must lay in a supply of batteries, lamp oil, food, fill in the tubs with water in case the electricity goes out and your well pump is non-functioning.  Make sure you have warm clothes and plenty of pet food.  

There are also instances that city-dwellers just don't think of - take last Monday nite for example.  I was working in the studio and heard a thunk, clunk, dragging sound outside the window, just about where the compressor for the air conditioner sits.  John was in the great room so I knew it wasn't him.  I went out and asked him if he had heard that sound....of course, he didn't - he had the TV on and where he was sitting had several walls between him and the noise.  There have been many instances of thieves stealing air conditioners and piping in the last few years and that's where my mind went.  John went outside, in the dark, and looked around...he came back in to get a flashlight and when he went out again, our neighbors across the field were sitting on their porch and yelled at John that there was some kind of thunk, clang, dragging noise that came from near our compressor...when he went over to the compressor, he found out what the noise was.  Not going into details, suffice to say that the compressor fan blades had been stationery and a field mouse was sitting on one when the fan turned itself on.  All I could say was, "EWWWWWWW".  Leave it at that!  

Recently, to promote the new Peanuts movie, there was a website that allowed one to "Peanutize" yourself....I played around with it and here you see my final picture.  

I leave you with this picture from yesterday.  It was an absolutely beautiful day in the Ozarks, sunny, temperate, with clouds skudding across the sky at a cheerful rate.  

Sorry it took me so long between posts...no excuse except blog-laziness! Forgive me!

And, thanks for stopping by.

End of August

John and I spent most of yesterday in the car, driving to Branson to pick up free patterns for the Row by Row Experience.  The program is winding down and the last day to pick up the free patterns is September 8th.  The weather was so beautiful - a lovely pre-autumn day.  Temps were lovely and the air made me feel like fall was on its way.  I decided to make some ginger cookies. 

Several years ago, Silver Dollar City opened their Culinary and Cooking School and my mom and I went to one of the first classes they had.  They taught us how to make their famous Soft ginger Cookies and gave us their recipe.  This is so simple and makes 30 regular sized cookies on 20 jumbo ones.  I was a good girl and made the smaller ones, although I really wanted to make the jumbo ones.  Here they are straight from the over.  

 John and I can both vouch that they are super yummy and soft and once you take a bite, you are instantly thinking of autumn!

I sometimes wonder how I got so lucky...Mr. Wonderful mounted my TV onto the wall of the studio so I can see it better.  It tilts and swivels so I can see wherever I am in the studio.  And I now have more room on the counter. Of course, I must be very careful NOT to put more stuff on the counter, rather, I need to purge so I have even more room on the countertops.

Not much else to tell you at this point.  Weather is beautiful.  John is home for a week, and I have plans to cook and quilt and knit all week.  What more could a girl ask for?

Thanks for stopping by.

Mid - August 2015

Back in mid-July, I took a workshop with a friend at one of the local quilt shops...I'm a personal fan of mystery quilts.  Not knowing exactly what the design of the quilt is takes all the stress out of choosing fabrics.  In this case, one needed 2 yards of a background, 3 yards of a focus fabric, and 2 yards of an accent fabric...Easy peasy.  I decided to work entirely from stash and used fabrics that matched or slightly exceeded the required amounts.  Now, admittedly, this quilt is not exactly my cup of tea - too tame, quite frankly.  But it is pretty and soft and quite feminine.  I know it's hard to see it with all the other 'business' going on behind it...sorry about that.  But I finished the top during the class and immediately sent it off to my quilter to be quilted.  He used a sage green thread that matches the accent fabric, using a stars and loops pattern to quilt it.  I placed a binding using the same sage green fabric as the accent and it's quite lovely.  The 'flowers' resemble fireworks when you get closer so I've names this one "Hanabi" which is Japanese for firework.  

Young John came to visit this past week, a flying visit that lasted less than 48 hours.  We packed in a lot of talking and catching up and traveling through the state of Missouri.  One of his goals in life is to visit the capitol building in each of the 50 United States.  He had completed 24 visits up to his visit with me.  He was able to visit 4 more while he was here, starting with Nebraska, then Kansas, Missouri, and finishing with Oklahoma.  He made arrangements before he flew here to meet up with the Representative for the district where I live.  We left early Tuesday morning and drove to Jefferson City and straight to the capitol...Rep. Tony Dugger met us there and gave us a personal tour of both the House and Senate chambers, introduced us to several Representatives and lobbyists AND took us to meet the Speaker of the House for Missouri.  I was quite impressed.  He offered to pose for a picture - that's me, Rep. Dugger, and Representative John Knotwell III of Utah standing at the Speaker's Podium in the House Chamber.  Then he said he'd email me a copy of the picture and, within 10 minutes I got a ping on my phone that the picture was waiting in the email queue!

We then took the public tour of the capitol - there we got the history and anecdotal info that one gets on any public tour.  Then lunch and finally start our way home, stopping at 4 quilt shops to pick up Row by Row patterns and license plates...Dinner at John's favorite deli - McAllisters - and then home.

Once we got home, we found that the air conditioning unit was on the fritz and the house was really hot!  Opened windows and called for a/c service for the next day...thank goodness the temps were getting lower after the sun went down and we were able to sleep fairly comfortably with the use of ceiling fans and opened windows.  

John left the next day to drive to Oklahoma City and then fly home that afternoon...he even stopped at a quilt shop in Okla. City and then mailed me a pattern, kit, and license plate before he toured the capitol...I'm such a lucky girl!

A/C was repaired easily and efficiently the next morning for very little money (sigh of gratitude!!!) and we are back to normal for southwest Missouri in mid-August - hot and humid! 

Hoping to show more Row by Rows that I've managed to sew up next time...I think I'm going to make up quilts that have a theme - desert, mountains, lakes, seashore....I certainly have a variety of patterns from last year and this year to fit those categories. And any number of folks have given me their word to send patterns from all over the U.S. 

Thanks so much for stopping by.

Mid-Summer

I can not believe it's already the middle of summer...it seems the older I get, the faster time flies....And, try as I might, there just isn't any clear way to slow it down.

Mr. Wonderful was in Kansas all last week, thankfully working a job that he likes!  He's learning a lot and seems to be really happy with this company.  They pay decently and treat their people with respect and honor.  That's my kind of company!

While he was gone, I worked on a couple of things that were just hanging around...things that just needed a bit of time and they were done.  Here is one...a small quilt square I've been applique-ing by hand...then I sewed the squares together on the machine.  It measures out at about 30 inches square. I'm not entirely sure how it's going to be quilted yet...but then it will sit nicely on the table during the spring and early summer.  

I think I'll bind it in a pink - I know, pink isn't my normal colour but this just seems to be calling for pink.

John asked me to make up some spaghetti sauce this morning....here it is, bubbling away....we like our sauce thick and meaty and this will be nice for dinner tonight along with some garlic bread.  With plenty to freeze for several meals later in the summer and autumn. 

Nothing much else to tell you, friends.  Enjoy the rest of the summer, I'll post again soon.  In the meantime, thank you for stopping by.

July Fry

 That's what they say in the west...June Gloom, July Fry...and it sure is true for Arizona in July.  I spent a week there last week. It was 113 degrees when I landed in Phoenix.  My beloved desert landscape just made me happy!  I've missed it so!!!

I spent 4 days in Northern Arizona with my mom...hadn't seen her in a couple of years.  I know my brothers are keeping close watch on her but my 'daughter's heart' needed to see for myself.  One of my brothers and his family came for dinner - here is Mom, R, and Me...youngest brother couldn't make it - sigh!

I was also excited to meet up with a cousin I hadn't seen in about 35 years...met Tammy for breakfast and she came over to Mom's to bring us fresh apricots from her tree that afternoon.

 Mom and I visited with Aunt B and then went quilt shop hopping...2015 Row by Row Experience started the day I arrived. This was Arizona's first time participating.  Some really, really cute patterns -  will show them when I get them done.

On Thursday, I took the shuttle down to Phoenix and my friend Meredith picked me up.  I hadn't seen Mer since 2006 when I last went to Camp Watch-a-Patcher.  Our mutual friend, Shelly, drove over from California and the  3 Quiltateers were together again for a few days.  Mer and I went to 7 quilt shops to pick up free Row by Row patterns and once Shelly got there, we spent the rest of the time going thru the 7 bins of fabrics Shelly had brought over for us to pilfer thru....I was a good girl and only took what I could fit in my suitcase without going over the weight limit. 

 This is what the living room looked like the day after Shelly arrived.  Meredith had set up some sewing lessons for me and Shel so we spent a lot of time discussing sewing v. quilting.

Our granddaughter, C, turned 10 in mid-June...she still plays with her American Girl doll (thank goodness!) so I made an outfit for her doll to go with the gift card we gave her.  I'm quite proud of this one!.

 I took the red eye flight home on Saturday...was so exhausted by the time John picked me up at the airport on Sunday morning.  Still needed to do the laundry but that was just about the only 'chores' I got done.  On Monday, I looked out the back deck and saw this...so close and all alone.  I didn't see any of the other herdmembers but I'm sure they were near.  Part of the joy of living in the country.

John got a new shirt.  And the saying tickled me.  It's so true. "Mowing. It's what I do. It's so much mower!"

Hope this makes you smile as well.

Thanks for stopping by!

June - New Growth

A couple of years ago, the gardeners at the library cleaned out the front gardens...they took out a whole bunch of what the locals call FireCracker bushes.  One of the girls at the library rescued them all and split them up amongst the employees.  I got 2 of them and John planted them along the east side of the garage.  They bloomed last year but this year, they took off!  A very short blooming cycle but amazing when they DO.

Several years ago, I bought John a bread maker for Christmas...due to circumstances and time, he never got around to using it, till this last weekend.  Not one to do things by half, he set the machine for extra-large and let 'er rip!  The bread that came out was amazing!  Light and fluffy and just about perfect, albeit huge!   

I'm getting excited about my vacation to Arizona in less than 2 weeks.  Haven't seen Mom in almost 2 years and I miss her tons.  And I'm really getting homesick for Arizona...even though I'm going in the middle of summer with the heat being so high in June.  Doesn't matter, I'm going anyway!  Hoping to take pictures while I'm there and will share them when I get home.

Thanks for  stopping by...

Mother's Day 2015

To all the Mothers who are reading this, I am wishing you a most amazing day.  Our job is a 24 hour endeavor, one that does not end when our children reach their majority.  They are our babies till the day we pass from this earth and beyond!  We worry about them, rejoicing in their triumphs and weeping in their failures.  If we are fortunate, they love us and keep us in their lives throughout.  I am one of the fortunates.  My son, along with his amazing wife and their 5 children, are forever a part of our lives and we couldn't be more proud of them! 

Young John is in the UK this week and he tried to send me some flowers for Mother's Day...evidently it is harder than he expected to send flowers from the UK to the USA...so he took a beautiful picture of a flower cart there in London and sent it to me....imaging getting a flower cart full of beautiful flowers.....I was so touched!  Honestly, he is so imaginative....and those flowers will never die off!  Along with the picture, he sent a note - which made me cry - I won't share it, but I will cherish it forever!  

See what I got from my own Mr. Wonderful?  2 knock-out rose bushes for the front area under my studio window.  Pink and yellow....so beautiful.  Along with a beautiful card and breakfast of waffles and home-grown sausage, I'm one happy girl!

Major storms today....we sure can use the water!  John is hoping it will clear up enough later this week that he can get the raised gardens cleared and ready to plant this year's vegetables by the weekend.  Tomatoes need to go into the ground really, really soon.  As well as cucumbers, peppers, zucchinis and jalapenos.  We want to do come canning this fall and the vegetables need to be ready.  

Short and sweet this time.  Wishing you all very productive weeks ahead.  And loving family and friends.  

Oh, and Jennifer in Australia, sorry I forgot your birthday...Hope it was wonderful!

Thanks for stopping by.