The outside is Inside?

We're having new windows put in our house today. The old ones are the original ones put in when the house was built in 1975. We're expecting lower utility bulls, less noise and better security. But for right now there are these huge holes in my walls...the outside is inside! Wonder how many bugs will come in unnoticed until later? :(




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RV'ing - Not For The Faint Of Heart

My husband and I had reservations last week in Estes Park, Colorado.  Those poor folks, as I'm sure you know, have experienced the wrath of Mother Nature.  The floods caused such horrible devastation that I'm sure it will be months, if not years, before they have recovered.  When I say we had reservations I mean at a local campground.  I've talked before about our Fifth Wheel camper and some of our travels.  Oh we don't travel a lot but almost always we spend part of September in Colorado.  This year we changed directions and went east to the Gatlinburg, Tennessee area.  We met my sister and my aunt there; they stayed in a cabin near our camper.  My aunt, who has been blind for many years, loves to travel and "see" the beautiful scenery.  She has such a vivid imagination that when we describe it she can visualize it in her mind and tells everyone she talks to how beautiful it is.

We had great fun describing this to her!

This young female bear waddled across the road right in front of us and stayed a long time on the side of the parking lot there eating everything she could find - berries, acorns, crumbs left behind by tourists.  Some very stupid people got out of their cars and tried to approach her "to get a good picture."  That would not be me.  Despite the park ranger, who appeared very quickly, they just got closer and closer until the ranger had to give them a stiff warning.  You don't get close to a foraging bear!  She's getting ready for winter and she's not in the best of moods.

In Sevierville I found a couple of great quilt shops.  The name of one was Red Barn Custom Quilts (a new shop) and the other was The Cherry Pit, a shop that has been featured in the Quilt Sampler.  Both were very nice but except for a couple of necessities I refrained from buying.  Almost.   Just the pattern for this...and who could resist it?

I hope I have enough white wool to make this because I think it would be gorgeous with wool.  They used cottons and it was nice but wool...

I did a little hand stitching while I was away and I'll be back in a couple of days to show you that.

Oh and about the title of my post today?  We had a flat on the camper on the interstate in the middle of Memphis.  Yep, Memphis.  It couldn't have been a nice flat stretch of road with hardly any traffic, it had to be Memphis.  That's okay, we were able to get off and pull into the parking lot of a very nice Cracker Barrel restaurant.  We had to wait three hours for the tire guy to get there but we pulled out our lawn chairs, sat in the shade and stitched.  Well, I stitched.  My husband, he fretted.  That put us way behind getting home so we drove in the dark and got here about 10:30 p.m.  When we got out of the truck in our driveway we discovered we had another tire that had literally shredded and disappeared.  Only the rim left.  Luckily it was in the middle and the other tires kept the rim off the road and we never even knew it was gone.  If you know me at all you know I have given God all the glory - we were safe and He gave us a Cracker Barrel!  A clean bathroom, a place to eat and shop, and nice folks to welcome us.  He just gave us the perfect place to wait.  :)

I hope you're checking out the Batik Bloghop over at Sew We Quilt.....oh my goodness, there's some cute stuff to see!  And soon it will be time for the Wicked Bloghop.  I'm participating in that one and I've got a cute, easy project to show you as well as a giveaway.  I can hardly wait!

Fall is in the Air!

It was 59F when I got up today...I opened windows and just breathed the cool air. We had planned a camping trip to Estes Park, Colorado but that whole area is flooded and we have, naturally, cancelled. We are praying for all those affected!

I finished this little squirrel last week. I think he's as ready for fall as me. :)





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Almost Done!

They're almost done with my floors - just a little thing here and there to be done - so I was able to move most everything back in.  I love the way they turned out.  Having carpet out of the bedroom will be so helpful for my allergies!

But the best part of all is my sewing room - no more carpet!

This room probably looks a bit chaotic to you but trust me, it's calm compared to where it sometimes is!  And organized...I know where almost everything is.  :)  Notice I said almost.  Maybe I won't spend hours looking for something since I just took it all out and put it all back...maybe I'll remember where I put things in such an organized manner.  Do you ever put something in a safe place so you'll know where it is?  And then forget where you put it?  That happens in my sewing room....a lot!

Hope Springs Eternal

The church we attend is downtown. I mean really downtown. In that old part of the city there are some pretty rundown houses and some that are abandoned. One house that is next door to one of our parking lots is abandoned and has curtains that are literally shredded at the windows. Shredded. Just like you might imagine in a horror movie. We are creatures of habit and every week we park facing that house. Today when I stepped out of the car this is what I saw.



We have as our ongoing mission project a journey into the neighborhood. We want to feed the hungry there, bring in the unchurched to worship with us, love them the way we've been loved. Doesn't this flower, flourishing there in that dirty concrete parking lot next door to an abandoned house, just speak volumes and give hope to us all!

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Great Labor Day Fabric Sale

With a little help from a friend I found a wonderful new fabric designer this week - where has she been all my life?  Her name is J. Wecker Frisch and oh my goodness she designs the cutest stuff!  Here's a link to her bio on Quilting Treasures.  Just scroll to the bottom and you'll find her there.  And here's the best part...she's having a sale in her Etsy shop this weekend on some of her cute, cute fabric.  Not only is the fabric on sale but there's a coupon for even more savings!  Use this coupon code LDSALE2013 that I found on her blog here.  Here's a picture of one of my favorites...

I'm not getting paid for this opinion ya'll - I just loved her stuff and thought you might too.  :)

Another Great Discovery!

Do you have any of these?

I think I must have gotten some of these when I got married  nearly 49 years ago!  But this particular one I brought home when my mother-in-love died and it's my favorite size.  Every other day or so I cut up two or three apples throw in some Splenda and cinnamon, spritz on a little spray margerine (I know, I know, but it's zero calories!), put the lid on and microwave it for 6 minutes.  It's a "recipe" I got in Weight Watchers years ago and still continue to use because I love it.  Of course, it's much better if you use real sugar and real butter but when you're counting calories....

Anyway, over time it has stained badly.  I don't know if it's the apple peelings or the cinnamon but it was sure ugly.  This morning I got the brilliant idea to try this:

And you know what?  It came clean, bright and shiny again in just a jiffy!  Just thought you might want to know.  :)