On the Corner

Our little town's Autumn decorations - on most corners  foddershocks decorated with Indian corn and a scarecrow were placed on the light post.  Some corners even get a couple of bales of straw thrown in for good measure.  A huge pot of yellow chrysanthemums is next to it.  Very festive!

The town is getting ready for the hordes large crowds of people who drive through our town to get to the Pumpkin House.   The Pumpkin House is in the next town, and will be decorated with over 4000 carved and lighted pumpkins.  I love to go by the house often (at least once a day from now until November 1) so I will be blogging about the pumpkins ad nauseum or until someone shouts STOP!

On a fabric-related note, I was sorting out fabric that was at least 18 years old, carefully deciding which pieces I just had to keep.  Eventually, I decided to chuck it all.  Oh, no..not throw it away, but give it away (except for the piles of 2" squares that I had carefully cut at one time, thinking I had the patience to sew them together.  I still don't have that patience, so I did toss them.)
Trying to lighten my load, footprint, whatever one chooses to call it.  Mostly, cutting down the amount of flotsam one can collect over 20 years in one house!  I already feel better mentally about ridding myself of unused and unwanted stuff.  Now to stay in this frame of mind and 'Be Calm and Carry On!' with my Fall list of chores to do.

A few tense hours today, Berkley the  puppy was scheduled to have his surgery today.  The foster parents were expecting to hear from the hospital at noon, and at 2:00 pm still hadn't had a call.  Finally, they got the call that Berkley was doing well, but the surgeons had a problem threading the catheter through to the heart - it broke!  It was removed and the surgery was completed successfully, thank goodness!  He comes home tomorrow, and we can't wait to see him:)

Oops, I've written a blog post.  Sorry about this folks!

Fall Fruit

The ornamental crab apples are beautiful at this time of  year

The branches of this tree hang low,

loaded with these tiny apples


Visit the Stone Gable blog for a wonderful giveaway in honor of her 1 year blog anniversary!
 

Victoria and Berkley

The pink morning glories grow on one side of the alley, the blue ones on the other!  I don't understand why, so I just stop to appreciate their beauty each day. 

Victoria the kitten has her own little personality - she is very vocal and very active at only 5 weeks old!
The Princess has decided to mother the kitten and washes her constantly, doesn't want us touching her and lets her eat all she can hold about 5 times a day.  Kittens are time-consuming, but well worth it!

I made a quilt for a puppy today.  A very special puppy who must have heart surgery on Wednesday.  Our friends are foster parents for the little puppy, and have raised, thru the no-kill animal shelter, enough money to have the surgery done.  Please keep Berkley in your thoughts as he goes through this life-saving procedure.

Saturday

Tropical Hibiscus

One of those days..a little of this, a little of that, plus I 'm working on a crate mat for a very special puppy who is scheduled to have  heart surgery on Tuesday at Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio.  He is one of our friend's foster dogs, but I think he has found his forever home:)   I'm hoping he has a very successful surgery!

Betty's First Quilt!

Today I sewed one side of the binding on and, my mother-in-law, Betty (Mrs. Kitts) is busy handsewing the other side of the binding down. This quilt was 4 1/2" unfinished squares so she could practice sewing 1/4" seams and joining the rows together.  For someone who hadn't even used a sewing machine until a few weeks ago,   I think she did a fantastic job!  She is already planning her next quilt!  Better pictures tomorrow, we didn't want to take it outside and get it dirty:)

Victoria came to live with us today, my elder cats are closely inspecting her crate.  I won't pet the kitten with them around until they become more adjusted to her. She is laying on a huge stuffed animal in her crate, sound asleep.  My husband is doing all the holding and petting...she is a little character!

Accuquilt GO! giveaways on Millie's blog & Jane's Fabrics!!

Millie's  is hosting an  Accuquilt GO! giveaway!
The Accuquilt GO! and 3 dies of your choice are included in this fabulous giveaway!

Click anywhere on the top line to go to her blog for your chance to win!

Here is another blog hosting a GO! giveaway - get those entries in:))
Jane's Fabrics and Quilts

My Sky Friday & The Quilt

My Sky
We have finished machine quilting!  Mostly 'stitching in the ditch' following the patchwork in a grid pattern.
That is the largest quilt I've ever machine quilted, but we didn't make too* many mistakes, and are pretty pleased with it overall.  We took turns at shoving that big old quilt thru the machine, and it didn't take nearly as long as I thought it would.
The binding is cut  and sewn together, so I'll sew it on today and we will get started on the handwork.
Hope there is a good movie on today!
Pictures tomorrow!

Morning, Glory

The morning glories are still blooming!  The vines and leaves are beginning to look a little ragged, but the blooms continue.
Another busy day for my limited amount of stamina - we finished pinning the quilt in order to start the quilting.
We were able to quilt 1/4 of the quilt today, it is one of the biggest I've ever attempted to quilt on my home machine.  The new machines that have the big areas between the body of the machine and the needle are very tempting (especially the new Horizon by Janome:))  It would make it so much easier to do free motion quilting!
Enough dreaming, time for bed - a long day of machine quilting tomorrow!
I also have to get ready for the new kitten, she will live in our master bath until she is a little larger and my older cats have time to adjust to a 'youngin' in the house!

Meet little Victoria Kitten!

Look at this tiny little kitten!  She is estimated to be about 4 weeks old, and was found in a ditch, and taken to a local kennel, Wigglebutt Farms.  She is so tiny, the owner thought it might need to be bottle-fed, and funny thing, I talked to her at the local pharmacy last night.  She offered me the kitten, and I regretfully declined (at that time!).
Our friends had left their boxer at the kennel for an overnight stay (they went to see Lady GaGa!-another story at another time.)  Anyway, they ended up taking the kitten home with them to foster until a forever family could be found.  He let us know about the kitten, and then brought it by today.

Guess who the kitten will be living with?

Victoria has had a big day today, going to the vet and then coming to visit me.  She is the sweetest little kitten, and is very active to be so small.   My friends named her.  Her name is larger than she is, but it won't be long until she grows into it.  We will bring her into our home on Friday, our friends are keeping her until she is flea-free, isn't that super nice of them?

More pictures of her, I think she will have longish hair, don't you?

Change of Plans!

Change of plans!  My mother-in-law has finished piecing her queen-sized patch quilt and is ready for me to help her pin the backing, batting and top together and quilt it. 
We cut the 4 1/2" squares using the Accuquilt GO! and she enjoyed cutting and sewing the pieces.
She pieced them together in no-time-flat:)
  So, it will be a few days before I can cut out the tumbler pieces for a small throw quilt.  Hopefully it will look like the one in this picture:

Have a great day and do something you enjoy today!

Accuquilt GO! dies received

In the box with the Accuquilt GO!, these three dies and corresponding cutting mats were included!

Tomorrow, I'm going to cut out enough tumbler patches to make a throw quilt. 

I'm just going to go through my totes of 'older' fabrics and mix up the patches!

I also received the beginner die set with the GO!, and have already cut over 1000  4 1/2" squares for my mother-in-law.  My whole family took a turn at cranking the handle, they all enjoyed 'helping'.

There was a bit of a learning curve, only in remembering to align the grain with the edge of the patch, since the material and die move through the accuquilt cutter much easier at a slight angle.

The dies shown are the 2 1/2" strip, the tumbler, and the critter (dragonfly, bee, and butterfly) appliques.  

I think I will add a few 'critter' appliques randomly on the tumbler blocks,  mainly so I can try out the applique die:),  what do you think?

Bald Cypress in the Neighborhood

The cones of  the 100 ft. tall Bald Cypress growing across the street.

The tree is a deciduous conifer, so it loses its needles during the winter.

I've never noticed cones on this tree before, they look like bunches of grapes hanging, and the tree is loaded with them this year.  The squirrels will be fat this winter!

These trees are usually found in the Southeastern states and mostly grow in swamps...the trees with 'knees'.

I don't know how this one came to be growing here, but it is a very regal tree to have in the neighborhood.

What are you doing this weekend?  

Ceredo has its annual town reunion tomorrow and will have lots of good music, lots of people, and lots of good food !  We generally go and listen to the music for an hour or two, and see people we haven't seen for a while.  Its fun!

I long to be by the sea

I long to be by the sea 

sitting on the sand

listening to the waves

crash against the shore

I long to be by the sea

hoping for the renewal

of my soul

The sounds and smells

of the sea reinvigorate me

I long to be by the sea

For the Love of Dogs

P

I'm writing a little post today for the love of dogs.  Write a post, help a dog!  

Did you know that each year, more than 4 million dogs end up in shelters and breed rescue organizations? In response, PEDIGREE® created The PEDIGREE® Adoption Drive to help shine a spotlight on the plight of these homeless dogs.

This year the PEDIGREE® Adoption Drive is raising awareness for homeless dogs by donating a bowl of food to shelter dogs for everyone who becomes a “Fan” or “Likes” The PEDIGREE® Adoption Drive onFacebook. So far, more than 1 million bowls have been donated!! The goal is for PEDIGREE® to be able to give a bowl of food to each and every one of the 4 million dogs in shelters and rescues by the end of the year.

The PEDIGREE® BlogPaws bloggers will host a Blog Hop from Thursday, September 16 through Sunday, September 19 to help raise awareness for the “Write a post, help a dog” effort. They will be hosting a blog hop where you can add the url (that's the direct link) to your Write A Post Help a Dog so that they are all in one place and we can see just how big of an impact we all can have in the lives of shelter dogs. 

For each blog that posts about the PEDIGREE® Adoption Drive through September 19th, PEDIGREE® will donate a bag of their new Healthy Longevity Food for Dogs to shelters nationwide. So please set aside a few moments to write a post.  AND, if you know bloggers in other categories that might be interested, please share this post with them and ask them to write a post as well!

Together, we can all make a difference!

Post courtesy of "Cottage by the Sea"

My Sky Friday

From my porch

A Rose is - part two

Another rose...hoping this pic is a little better!

I'm tired...I helped my mother-in-law apply the binding to the quilt.  

It's finished, all but the label.  Yeah!  

She did such a great job on her first real quilt!

Pictures tomorrow

A Rose is-

Over exposed here, I think? 

The roses planted earlier this Summer by my neighbor are blooming their silly little heads off! 

We quilted the small throw quilt today.  Tomorrow the binding and done!

First Signs of Autumn

With a full week of Summer remaining, I was surprised to find these leaves had already fallen, and a Blue Jay had lost a feather. 

It looks like an important feather..hope he isn't flying around half naked!  

Today was a crisp windy day...it seems Autumn really is just around the corner.

Monday

too tired

Rose of Sharon and Sewing

The Rose of Sharon plants are blooming like crazy! 

Today was busy, I helped my dear mother-in-law make a simple twin-sized quilt top.  

It is a pretty floral fabric that we simply bordered with a contrasting fabric.

She learned how to use a rotary cutter to cut the border strips.

Tomorrow, we will pin the layers together and quilt it, then start the binding. 

I'm so proud of her, she is doing so well with her sewing!

We used the Accuquilt GO! to cut enough 4 1/2" squares to make a queen-sized quilt top, and she has over half of them sewn together now.

The smell of Fall is in the air, and I'm ready to start sewing again! Yeah!

Maggie and Marshall University

I graduated from Marshall, so naturally I was rooting for the football team to win its game against WVU.  

Maggie, the dog, was forced to wear a WVU  jersey. 

My oldest son bought the jersey and made poor Maggie wear it every day this week. 

Well, I'm sorry to say, HER team won. 

In overtime, 24-21. 

Computer Issues!

Just an update- have had my wonderful computer in the 'shop', it had a virus!  Now it has a NEW keyboard (yeah!), a new fan and various other bits and pieces.   As soon as I get everything re-installed, I'll be back to my blog. 

 It's funny how we become so attached to an inanimate object:)) 

 My tether to the world is back!

In the Sunlight

In the sunlight

Labor Day morning,  50 degrees, and bright sunshine!

Autumn is just around the corner-

note:  Blogger is not co-operating this evening, my header picture just disappeared! If anyone can help, I would really appreciate any and all help!

Labor Day 5K

On this glorious sunny 50 degree morning, I watched a 5K marathon from my porch.

I just finished watching, and I'm exhausted:)

What are you doing today?

Happy Labor Day!

An important part of my sky!

MDA Boot Drive Kenova WV

Kenova Volunteer Fire Department Muscular Dystrophy Boot Drive

For Jerry's Kids!

My oldest son is the safety officer on this department

Dusk Sky and Sewing

Mentally and physically exhausted here-

More about the GO! fabric cutter tomorrow- my dear mother-in-law bought a sewing machine today.  She is learning so fast and is already sewing! 

We used the GO! to cut out squares for her to sew together.  It is so accurate, its amazing!

I so enjoyed spending time with her and teaching her the basics of her machine and sewing seams.

A good day!

Sign of the times?

The Accuquilt GO! is here! part 1

Thanks to Jacqueline Kunkel and Accuquilt the Accuquilt GO! arrived today!  Wow, that was fast!

I am so excited,  but I did take pictures of how great the packaging was and of all the goodies that were in the box!

It arrived in a huge box that was quite heavy!

When the box was opened, these air filled bags popped out, just like a jack-in-the-box:)

The box after removing the packaging materials:

The cutter, dies and mats!

Tomorrow I will have more pictures and a complete list of the goodies in the box!

I'm going now to cut some fabric with it...hmmm...which die should I use first?

Summer Lettuce

The basket of lettuce I planted in late June..the lettuce has no flavor! 

Time to plant more for fall..

Wednesday

Catlettsburg Kentucky Train Depot Museum

disclaimer:  This blog contains no substance or anything even remotely interesting or educational