Head Exam badly needed!

We are home and the yards are a mess and I did what any normal person would do.  Instead of getting everything unpacked and picked up, and the weeds pulled, I unloaded everything out of my longarm room and replaced the old cabinets and shelves with some new to me cabinets that I had picked up at Habitat for Humanity.  They can be stacked and Bill added some additional shelving.

So now I have standard cabinets along one wall and I am working on putting it all back up.  My grandkids helped me unload and they thought that was fun.  I can only carry small loads from the living room back to the sewing room and I sure needed them to get all the books and stuff back in the room.  I still have one more box, a basket and a table full of "stuff" to find a home for in the room.  What makes a person so crazy as to get home from a trip knowing they have a week full of appointments and other chores that need to be completed, start a huge project like this.  I need my head examined...no wonder I have headaches.

When I get a chance, I will send pictures of the new dog, Bella, and the new organized room...might be a while so don't hold your breath.  Until we meet again....

On the road again....

It has been really pretty here and I am sad to leave but so glad to see the shining smiles of my kids and grandkids and friends.  Somehow time seems to really fly...every day gets shorter and goes faster.  This trip has been one of the most social I think we have had.  We have seen a lot of some friends and sadly not as much as we would have liked with other friends.  Since we have been gone, I finished 3 quilt tops and I complete a baby quilt and completed a  Christmas quilt...Yet, it seems that I have not been very productive at all.  I also made 2 Strata Star table toppers...still have to quilt them and worked furiously on the polka dot quilt.  My friend Evie and I have been collecting polka dots for about 3-4 years and even though we have enough dotted fabrics to make 6-7 quilts, we seem to still gravitate towards those little dots.

Today, Maxine, from A Stitch in Time Quilt Store demoed the cutest little baby shoes.  They were so precious and all I need is a new baby to make a set.  Maxine always comes up with the cutest ideas and patterns for her Tuesday techniques.  She is a very talented lady.  I will miss my Tuesday techniques and lunch with the girls afterwards.  I had lunch with my friend Evie today and we invited my friend Elva to have dinner with us.  My last visits with both for awhile.

I sure do hope I will be posting a new little member of our family soon....no not one to wear the little shoes...this one is 4 legged.  We shall see.  I did not get my bulbs planted but I guess I will take them home and see if they will grow south.  It will be good to see my friends back home too.  I have a lot of work ahead of me in getting my cabinets in the longarm room and all organized prior to the beginning of the holidays.  That should keep me busy for a week or so and the yard full of weeds could probably keep me busy until next year.

My friend sent me a picture of one of my rose bushes.  They all start to be so happy when the weather starts to cool.  Blooms will be plentiful and large from now until really cold weather if it gets that cold.  I love my roses.  This is one that I bought for $3.00 at Aldi's and it really has been a great addition considering it is really a cheap rose.  The color changes on these roses every day..from dark to light and back to dark as they fade.  How do you like that ground cover....yep that is those WEEDSSSSSSSSSSSS I was mentioning.  Oh well, I am sure between now and spring I will get them pulled out or NOT!!  Hopefully, it won't be long until we meet again.........

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flowers and new project

Our time seems to be winding down here and between the bears, flowers, and just the beauty of the fall leaves, it really has been eye candy.  I bought a pot of mums to enjoy while we were here.  It is huge and I have really enjoyed having it.  I think I will just sit it in the yard to see if it will come back next year.  I thought I might share it with you.  It is the biggest pot of mums (or at least I think they are mums) I have ever seen and the colors are so bright and pretty...looked good with all the red and gold leaves.

I absolutely was not going to start a new project, but I saw this at "A Stitch in Time" quilt store and just could not resist.  I gathered fabrics that I thought would work and put this together with one of my friends  up here.  She was a big help in cutting the strips for me and getting me started.  I still have to quilt and bind it before it is completely done.  I think it is a wonderful table topper and it would be beautiful to build a quilt around it for a bed or even for the dining table.  We shall see.

I took the picture at night so it is not real clear to see but you can get the gist of it.  I wanted to do a practice topper before I sewed with my friend Evie and Sharon yesterday.  We had all bought Christmas kits offered at "A Stitch in Time".  I got the top of it partially sewn with them.  We had those little featherweight machines just a buzzing.  I hope to finish the Christmas one before the holidays too.  It was not a hard pattern although it sure looks difficult.  The pattern is called Strata Star but I would have to get up to get the name of the lady who designed it.  She gave very good instructions and that made it rather simple to do.  I am sure I will be doing more of these.  Gotta finish both of these before I start another one.

My intention is to plant bulbs for spring if it is warm enough in the next day or so.  I will have to dig left handed but I want to get them in the dirt for spring.  Bill is going to a gun show tomorrow so that leaves me plenty of time to sew and maybe get a few more UFO's completed...unless I get distracted with something else. :)   That is all for now until we meet again......

Bears and more Bears

We have seen  more bears this trip than I have ever seen in all the years combined of visiting NC.  It appears there is not sufficient acorns in the higher elevations and they have come down to feed.  The smaller ones are so cute but of course, they do have Mamas.

We don't feed them nor do we get out of the car because that Mama bear might be just behind the tree.  They are fun to look at though.  This one was downtown in a tree.  There was a picture of this same bear in the newspaper on the front page..yes, it was a much better picture. :)

My friend from Ala has been here all week and we have hit just about every thrift store and antique store in  town.  Bought a few treasures but not many.  I had not seen her since early summer and it was a really nice hanging out together.  She met most of my friends here and went to the sewing demo with me at A Stitch in Time.  It sure is quiet here since she left.  She doesn't read the blog so I am safe in saying that.

My friend Evie and I have been collecting polka dot fabric for about 3-4 years and have finally started our polka dot quilts.  I will post some of the pieces soon.  Oh my, there are only 9 blocks and there are over 800 pieces just in those 9 blocks...makes us sound kind of like sick puppies for wanting to sew that many little pieces together.  It actually might be years in the finishing.

My Christmas quilt is totally finished except for the label.  It really is a Holly Jolly Christmas quilt.  I wish I could get a good picture of it.  It will be hanging above my couch at Christmas if I can get Bill to mount the hanger.

The temperature was about 29 last night and the frost on the car was as thick as snow...feels good to me.  Bill and I have swapped places...he sits around in a jacket and I have short sleeves on and still hot...don't know what happened.

The changing of the leaves has been breathtaking.  I suspect if it rains again, it will be pretty much over.  Most of ours has dropped off but in other locations, there are still lots to see.  One of these days, I will get the picures downloaded and share with you.  Until we meet again....