My day...

Sunday night I got a call from my brother. Seems he found "the" table set that he's been searching for all his life, in my neck of the woods. Nevermind that he lives almost 1000 miles from me...


(this is the best pic I have)

I can see how it would be hard to resist. It isn't really my style, unless, of course, I had the whole 50s kitchen thing goin' on, but cute nonetheless. The 80+-year-old couple who owned the table set had it since it was new. I called yesterday morning and it was still available so I made arrangements to pick it up early today. Aaron had also sent a link from the same seller for some quilts. I asked about them when we were finished loading up and the owner of the table said the seller was working with her things on consignment so the quilts didn't belong to her. However, she wanted to show me one she did have(but not for sale!). Her mother-in-law made this one probably back in the 50s or so. The hexagons are in between the size of a nickel and a quarter, in other words, TINY! It is just gorgeous! It came to her unfinished so she and her sister sewed a few stitches and hand-quilted it. I was positively drooling and politely asked if I could take a few pictures of it. She obliged...

(click to enlarge)








Oh, and an emu runs the woods behind their property...

Carpetless...

And loving it!! There are small pieces from 3 closets left but the rest is gone, gone, gone! Mark took up the tack boards in the living room but they're still down in the hallway, our bedroom and the girls' room. We are still not sure if we want paint or stain. There are some major dark chocolate stains in the living room, probably from woodwork my dad did when building the house. If it doesn't come up we'll just have to prime over and paint. We are also trying to decide if we want to take up the linoleum in the kitchen/dining/utility rooms and entry hall. It makes more sense to do it all at once but it is a lot of work! It would be nice to have this all done by Thanksgiving but I'm not holding my breath. With Mark working an hour away our evenings are kinda short, weekends are pretty busy too. Furniture will have to be moved out, the entire area will need swept, mopped, vacuumed, and the concrete will need prepped with chemicals. I'll try and get pictures from each step and post our mishaps as well.


In other news...

My brother has been learning to kayak over the past few months and has bought a camera to film his adventures. Here's part of his latest trek.



It is raining like crazy here, expecting up to 2 inches, more in some areas. I'll be willing to bet we've already had our 2 inches here! I can't recall a wetter autumn that didn't include a hurricane or two. Our front yard is a lake and was yesterday too!

I'm working on a new crochet project, another afghan! Just plain half-double stitches but in gorgeous fallish colors from I Love This Yarn put out by Hobby Lobby. Pix later. I'm also working on basting a quilt so I can get started hand quilting it in November.

Caturday and the OkraFest...

Started out as a normal Saturday. Took the cats outside for their morning playtime...

(click to biggify)








Then we headed north to the tiny town of Pritchett, Texas for their First Annual Okra Festival. We had a BLAST!!!

This family was serving up free samples of fried okra(3 ways) and a delicious gumbo. My favorite way was whole, dipped in Louisiana Fish Fry batter and deep fried til golden. He had homemade ranch dressing to squeeze on them too. HEAVEN. What was missing(but most assuredly NOT missed) from this festival, which was put together hastily, were the typical food vendors with funnel cakes and overpriced crappy carnival food. I know they would have made money from vendor fees but it was nice not having to smell that cooking oil smell.


(check out his hat)

My friend Tricia(in my blogroll) shared a booth with a jelly lady. Tricia sells soaps and knitted hand towels and such.







She took us around the corner to see her family's new horses. They are just gorgeous!! We got Gypsy and Jasper from her, she's also a cat person.*G*



It was hot when we got back to the festival grounds so we headed inside for more FREE food, what was left from the cooking contest. They had run out of hamburgers and hotdogs(which weren't on the free menu) so we got gumbo, a large assortment of desserts(including a delicious blackberry cobbler and sour cream bundt cake), homemade ice cream and iced tea. They took donations too so we didn't feel guilty about the free food.


(love this)


(my lunch, I was too busy stuffing my face with dessert to take its picture)


(they had the quilting put aside to keep it clean, wish I'd taken a close-up or three of the flowers in between the blocks, they are 3-dementional)


(cooking burgers when we first arrived)

They had an animal rescue petting zoo with donkeys and a goat. Horse and pony rides too but the girls didn't want to.



Proceeds and donations will benefit the community center and the fire department. Unfortunately the farmers ran out of okra for sale so I came home empty-handed except for my soap and jellies.



I'll tell ya about THIS place tomorrow!!!...

Ack, I forgot the title!!...

(nap session, from top left, Tallulah, Tibert, Gypsy and Jasper)


(Jasper isn't the only one who takes care of Tibert, now its Gypsy's turn)


(they stayed this way over an hour)


(Tallulah and Tibert gassed out on my computer chair after a hard play session)


(she loves having a younger playmate since Jasper and Gypsy, at 19 months old, are outgrowing that energetic stage)

In other news...

I found one of my rotary cutters so now I can work on my 9-patch!!! It isn't one of my good ones so I'm hoping to limp along and get at least a few blocks worth cut out.





And, it is raining!!! YAYYYY!!! I dragged my planters of Wandering Jew out to get a good soaking. My friend Sharon gave them to me a few years ago when she moved and I thought they'd died(or were nearly dead). Last week I gave them a whole two quarts of water and they leapt back to life! They are soooo beautiful!! Wow, it is really coming down now. Good.

Because I'm missing the gene....

That allows me to follow rules I will be doing the One a Day 9-patch-along one day a week and not every day. Tomorrow is my day and since I'm going to try and do two quilts(I think), I'll be making 14 9-patches! That's a LOT for me in one day. Hope I can handle it. I will probably also use a different setting than the sashing she has but I'm not sure yet.

In other news...










We went here yesterday and had a blast! It was chilly and the wind was fierce but the kids didn't seem to mind at all. They bounced back and forth from the spray pad to the playground thing and wore themselves out. We arrived at 10:30 and stayed til 3:30!! I forgot to take pictures of the water until everyone had left!



If anyone is considering getting a pet, a cat specifically, please get two(littermates if possible). Several years ago we adopted sisters Ruby and Rosie together from our cousins and they are perfect together. I can't imagine how either of them would have gotten along without the other! Rosie is the most hateful animal I've ever known, we all would have been miserable with her alone. Ruby came with her because she'd had an accident and lost part of her tail. I felt bad for her and wanted to help her heal. She is the sweetest, most loving cat we've ever had and has bonded deeply with Sarah. However, if she'd been the only one we took I think she'd be very neurotic and a pain to deal with. Bringing both of them home has given them the best of both worlds, they have us and they have each other.



We adopted Jasper and Gypsy last January and again, I couldn't imagine either one of them without the other. Jasper is a scaredy cat and would have hidden under the furniture for months if he'd been here without Gypsy. She is the more loving of the two but he can be very affectionate at times. They, like Ruby and Rosie, spend hours sleeping side by side and grooming each other. Jasper has taken up the role of "mama" to Tallulah and now to Tibert(not Buster, sigh). Neither of them had siblings to come with so it is wonderful that Jasper has stepped up to nurture them.

And last but not least...

I found THIS in the cabinet above the microwave! I think it is a sweet potato.



And for Pit...

Something family and something quilty....

They are my mom's parents, Edgar and Thelma, we grandkids called them Daddy and Mama Mammer. He was born in 1904, she in 1907. My mom is the baby and her sisters were starting their families when she was just 5 years old. More than half of my 11 cousins are now in their 50s and 60s. In fact, many of my cousins started their families when *I* was in grade school. I've got 17 1st cousins once removed who range in age from 16 to their early 40s, and at least 35 1st cousins twice removed!! There are 5 cousins who are childless. I haven't seen some of them in well over 20 years, we're flung from San Diego to New York State, Texas to Virginia. Wish that wasn't the case, it would be nice to catch up with them!


(Mama Mammer with her sisters and her dad, she's closest to him)


(Mama and Daddy Mammer-top, Mama Mammer with assorted aunts, uncles and cousins, probably mid 1960s)

Sometime before I was born, Mama Mammer made this beautiful quilt. I love the geometric fabrics and the sunny sashing. She made many quilts but none for my children, I think she stopped being able to make quilts and crochet when I was just a small child, I don't remember her ever working on anything during our visits.



Yesterday I came across a 9-patch quilt-a-long at crazy mom quilts, and new immediately that I was going to play along! If you are a quilter, please consider joining in! I plan to do my sewing once a week because I have no place to leave my machine up but I will probably cut and plan each day, seriously I NEED more distractions to keep me from the housework!

Last summer my mom generously shared her floral fabrics with me. I had wanted to make a framed square quilt from a 5.5-inch block with 2.5-inch borders but it never got underway. Now I have a new and improved purpose for all these wonderful strips!



I'll pair them with some more solid fabrics from my stash, wish I had a large enough solid piece to work with but I don't and this is STRICTLY a stashbuster quilt. It is so nice to be quilting again, it has been a loooong time!