More catching up

 In more news from the last 2 months, Cousins Pam and Susie bought a house in Marshall and moved here from Ashland.  Pam celebrated her birthday here just a short time after the move.  My parents came down to help her celebrate.  I baked a lemon cake.

This is a new thing I've been trying............reverse applique.  This is the sweat shirt I made for Pam.

The photo below was my first attempt.  I didn't do the reverse applique with embroidery floss by hand, but used the sewing machine.  It was faster.

Then I added the arrowhead on the sleeve by hand using the embroidery floss and I really liked that look.

This gray practice shirt was something I picked up at a second hand store.  It was a little tight for me, so I'm donating this to the guild bazaar.  It was thoroughly laundered before I worked on it and again after.

I did finish the 81 blocks for my sister's quilt.  She wanted something really big in very neutral colors for her bed.  It measures about 108" square.  I am working on making the backing and then can hopefully get it on the longarm later this month.  I have a couple of days without piano students (parent teacher conference week) so would like to try to quilt it then.

We also got a new group of pigs in the first week in September.  

Friday didn't really like the pigs when he first arrived last April.  We thought it was just because they were so big and he was just a puppy.

Now he's bigger and they were cute small pigs.  During the unloading, he would only peek in the door at them.  David tried him out with just one little pig, but he sniffed and backed away.  He's an office dog.

My dad came down to help Pam and Susie move.  So did Pam's son, Tom and a friend, Donna.  We had the first meal in their house.............Plowboys BBQ.  

This was prior to the table being moved in.........my Dad was showing off his height.

It was nice to rest on the glider on the patio.

This was the only quilt I totally finished in September.  A baby quilt for our pastor at church...........yes, it's a girl!

I know I mentioned working on baskets, but I'm still waiting on them to dry from staining before I get photos.  Hopefully I can share them and some great stories tomorrow.

Christi

Summer's End

 We were selected as the State Fair Farm Family from Saline County and were recognized at the State Fair in August.  It was a blisteringly hot day and we had to call it a day before the awards were presented that evening.  So, we staged a photo with the plaque.  Of course, we had to move around to get the best corn in the photo.

Labor Day weekend also brought the annual dog plunge (before the pool gets drained for the season).  We didn't go last year because it was so hot.  It was much cooler this year, perhaps a little too cool for David and I, but Willow didn't mind.  Friday had to stay home because he had just had a little "surgery".  So Willow got undivided attention and a McDonalds cheeseburger on the way home.  

Sirius Black and Harry Potter kept growing a LOT!  Growing requires a lot of napping.

And they kept moving into others' territories.  Princess Leia was not impressed with Harry's ability to share her cat house.  Another cat house was purchased as we know that Harry is just going to get bigger and will need more space.

He also very much likes Cici's window seat.  I think it's big enough for the both of them, but sometimes Cici doesn't agree.

Willow never seems to mind sharing her space though.

We experienced the Great Dishwasher Flood of 2025 just before Labor Day.  A hose broke in the middle of the night (when David had set the dishwasher to run) resulting in a lot of water on the kitchen floor and a literal flood in the basement.  Over a truck load of stuff was disposed of.  Most of my basket supplies had gotten wet.  If it hadn't been 4 am, it would have been a great time to weave as everything was wet and pliable.  After days of drying stuff out, I did some sorting and storing and realized just how much basket stuff I had.  I've given myself a year to weave some baskets and then I will reevaluate and decide whether it's time to get rid of stuff.  So expect some basket photos in future blog posts!

Off to weave!

Christi

Quilt finishes!!

This was the block lotto block for September and I only made 1 and I didn't win - Surprise!  

This is the leaf block quilt from last year's block lotto that I made 27 blocks for and didn't win, but was gifted the blocks from the winner.  There were 25 blocks that I hadn't made and I added the pumpkin blocks and then bordered all of them in a churn dash style to make this really large quilt for my bed.  Another UFO in the finished column!

I also finished the farm panel quilt and got it hung up over the piano.  Another UFO!

And Spangled got finished in time for show and tell at the September meeting.  I love this quilt.  I'm really glad I made it even though I really lost interest in it for awhile.

And work on the last UFO - the potato chip quilt -  happened.  It's called potato chip because supposedly you can't make just one block.  Maybe I'm not that much on potato chips, because I was getting really tired of this one.  I finally laid out the blocks I had to see if I was close to "the end of the bag" and "could just toss the crumbs".  I only needed one more block to make this layout.

Tah Dah!  The blocks are sewn together and it is hanging in the TBQ closed with it's backing and batting.  So, I'm thinking I'll get that UFO list zeroed out by the November meeting.  If you think that means there won't be a UFO list next year, you haven't seen all the things I've started this year.

And I made myself another purse...............KC Chiefs!  This is the smaller version of the one I made last year.  I love it.

Mabel had surgery in August.  You can see her shaved belly in this photo.

A box of potato chip "crumbs" made a nice place to sleep.

Willow gave her support during her time of recuperation.  She was also down to just 2 kittens to watch over.

Harry Potter and Sirius Black gave her something to take care of for awhile.  Willow helped of course.

Christi

 

Birthday Girl

 My baby turned 28 in August!  She and Aaron came to our house one weekend to go to the state fair, and we went to St. Peters to go to the zoo with her for her birthday.  We have done several "zoo" birthdays over the years.

The best thing at the zoo that morning was a tiger with a watermelon!  He played and played with it trying to get it open.

It was fun to watch and to see just how long those claws were when he tried to palm a watermelon!  

We also helped her get the greenhouse wall hanging on her dining room wall.  I think it looks great there and I really don't think she can kill these plants!

August also brought another round of peaches...........buckets and buckets!

And they were LARGE!  We weighed one and it was a whole pound!

I peeled and peeled.  I froze bunches of containers and bags of them (it got really dangerous to open the freezer...........think avalanche of produce).  We also got a juicer attachment for the kitchen aid and I made lots of peach syrup.

LOTS!  This doesn't even begin to show how much.  And there was also peach jam.

I also made blackberry syrup and my mom had lots of plums, so there was plum syrup.  We made pancakes and I tried each syrup.

The plum was the best looking and best consistency, but I loved the peach and blackberry flavors.  I have been making lemonade and adding peach syrup.  Delicious!

The tomatoes did their best to keep me busy in August.  No photos of the buckets of them, but I put many many bags of tomato sauce and pasta sauce in the freezer.  Fortunately I gifted frozen peaches and corn and syrup to family members at the annual Labor Day gathering, so now the freezer is just FULL, not at AVALANCHE setting.  

Friday is definitely a fruit dog.  He loved the watermelon rinds, peach peels and pits, and tomatoes we tried to throw in the field - our natural composte -  and I wonder just what will be growing in my yard next summer!

Christi

Sleeping on the Job

 

It has been so long since I have blogged that it would appear more than just Willow has been sleeping on the job.  The summer just flew by and was so busy I didn't even realize just how long it had been since I posted.  So, expect some frequent blogging to try and catch everyone up.

David and I made a quick trip to Marshall Dry Goods in Batesville, Arkansas in July to replenish my batting.  We truly did load the car.  You'll notice some bolts of fabric in there below the batting.  This doesn't show the other fabrics I purchased.  I also shopped for 3 other people as well.  We were loaded going back.  We drove through Cave City just north of Batesville which is home of the watermelon festival and Sugar Melons!  We stopped at one of the many roadside stands to make this purchase.

It was truly delicious and was well protected riding home in all the batting and fabric.

Mabel and her kittens were probably the highlite of the summer.  Willow got in on the action and helped keep the herd in check.

Four of the five have been rehomed to wonderful homes and Harry Potter remains with us.

Mabel and Willow were both exhausted by all their efforts to corral the kittens.

I did make this really cute Sesame Street wall hanging in August.  Bert and Ernie were my favorites.  This is the only photo I have of it.  It has been quilted and mailed to my cousin Brian in Duluth for his 60th birthday.  I told him that you will never be old as long as you can still remember "How to get to Sesame Street."

I think he was going to hang it in his office.

And we mustn't forget Friday!  He has grown a lot since this picture.  And he is in the doghouse for eating my pumpkins!  More on that later.

Well, that's the first installment of catching up.  Hopefully I can keep blogging at a regular pace.

Christi