True Love

At my son's house when the children go to their bedrooms a door is closed between the living area and the bedrooms.  The dog, Abby, wants so badly wants to go with them but if Abby joined them they wouldn't stay in bed.  They'd play and giggle and stay awake for hours.  So poor Abby has to stay out.  But here's how she waits for them.

There's one little sliver of light leading to where the children are.  And so she waits patiently, staying in the light until it goes out.  I think this is the most beautiful demonstration of love that I've ever seen.

Fall has finally arrived here - we have had some cool days and some cooler nights this week.  But the flowers of summer are still holding on.  The rain lily has one last bloom....

Even the geranium is showing some brilliant color....

The tomatoes are still holding on and, to my surprise, some volunteer basil has come up....

Of course it won't live for long - it will be gone with the first frost - but it's such a beautiful bright, crisp green right now.

But autumn is really here and the mums know it....

Inside I'm sitting in my stitching chair with my feet propped up working on a pattern from Notforgotten Farm called Olde Witche Mary.  I love the pattern and I'm getting close to a finish - I hope to show it to you in less than a week - but sadly, I ran out of thread way too soon and am having to substitute.  I think I got close enough that it won't be glaringly obvious but only time will tell.

And later this week my small quilting group will be coming over for dessert and stitching.  There's nothing to compare with long time friends sitting together and stitching.  Happy Fall!

What In The World Happened?

What in the world happened to the last three weeks?  Yesterday I posted on this blog and it was September 20.  Today I looked and it's October 13!  I've had a couple of people - maybe the only two who read this :) - ask me where I was and if I was ok.  Well, I'm here and there and everywhere.  I've been to see my son a couple of times and I spent a week with  my sister and maybe I'll go camping next week.  I'm just doing whatever takes my fancy.  :)  Honestly, do you find that time slips away and somehow you lost it and you didn't even realize it?  Happens to me all the time.

I've finished a couple of small things.....made a valance for my kitchen windows that I absolutely love.  Black and white gingham just always looks so fresh.  Now if I could afford to get my counter top replaced with some gorgeous granite it would be better but for now they look fine with my blue formica.  And I made a little bag with my witch cross stitch piece.

The lining is the fabric I used on the strap and the black cat band was leftover from a halloween quilt I made a couple of years ago.  I love the way this one turned out.

This little pumpkin was so cute -it's a Lizzie Kate pattern - but I find I don't care for stitching on dark colors since my eyes have gotten so old.  Not the rest of me, just my eyes.

I added a little bug button to it for a bit of whimsy.  By the way, is there some sort of trick someone can teach me about twisting thread to make cord?  I found a great tutorial in a Just CrossStitch magazine but somehow mine didn't turn out like theirs.  I only wanted one color on this piece and I wanted it narrow so it worked fine but wasn't really what I was aiming for.

And then Christmas decorations began to appear at Hobby Lobby and other places, which made me decide I might better get started on holiday stuff, so I made these little guys.

I made the straps a little long but I like to hang ornaments so that I can "nestle" them down in the branches and with longer straps they don't fall and are easy to position.

I know we're not supposed to covet things - the Bible tells me so.  But let me just assure you I'm having to ask for forgiveness every time I look at this picture my daughter sent me because I WANT this chair!  Anyone know where I can find it?

Don't ask me why you can see through it to the street behind it - maybe it's a ghost chair.  I don't care.  I still want it.

That's all for me today.  Except to say that I know fall is here but we're in such a drought that the leaves are turning brown and there aren't many pretty colors, there's a burn ban so even if we rake the leaves we can't burn them, and the dust is everywhere.  We're having siding put on the few spots of wood on our house (it's mostly brick) and where they tore out the old facia and soffatt (sp?) the dust and dirt were horrible and have migrated to my window sills.  I'll be glad when they're done so I can get those windows washed and sit out on my deck again.

I'm here and I'll try to be better about posting and right now I'm praying for rain!

Is It Fall Yet?

I decided not to go to church this morning - at the football game Friday night I got too hot and was sick for hours after.  I had cold chills and was nauseated and it left me exhausted.  So I slept in today and then put out some of my fall decorations.  I love doing that!  I also cut up a dozen apples I had, added some sugar (just a tiny bit), a spoon of brown palm sugar, and some apple pie spice.  It's in the slow cooker now simmering and filling the air with a sweet aroma.

I've done a bit of stitching this week.  I completed  Peppermint (Little House pattern) and Joy...

This is a wool banner (pattern by Primitive Gatherings) that I'll use on one of my mantels this Christmas.

And just for fun here's a picture of two of my favorite fall decorations - two small hand stitched wool pumpkin pillows and a hand appliqued Pumpkin quilt.

Not great pictures but we've finally gotten a cloudy day with a hope of a little rain!  It's been a long time since we had rain so we have our fingers crossed.

I started working on a new cross stitch piece last night, a primitive piece, and after getting two rows of the border in realized I used two threads and should have used one.  It would be ok except I think I might not have enough thread (it was a kit).  I guess I'll go back and take it out.  :(  And even though I worked one whole day this week cleaning in my sewing room it's going to take another day to get everything put away.  Guess that will be my project for the next couple of days since I have a meeting and some errands to complete as well.  Have a great week ya'll and blessings to you!

Here and There

I'm still on the road more than I want to be but I think that's coming to a end in the next few days.  We went to visit my older brother for the day and drove home watching this beautiful sunset.

It's not a great picture since I took it with my cell phone but isn't that stunning!

We also drove down to Monroe, LA and picked up my youngest brother who was in the hospital there getting two more heart stents - he's up to over 30 now.  We took him home and sat on his front porch with he and his wife watching the rain.

My sister and aunt came to visit for a few days and after our aunt went to visit a cousin, my sister and I spent lots of hours sitting on the deck watching the lake and talking about getting older.  Do you remember when you were younger saying you weren't ever going to be one of those old women who sat around talking about what was wrong with them?  We've turned into those old women anyway.  :)

I found this picture on Google images and even though it's not my sister and I, it made me think of us and smile.  :)

And now we're at our son's for a couple of days.  He's a high school football coach so we went to the football game last night. Today we met my cousin and her husband for lunch and then went to visit her mother (who is my ex-aunt...is that really a real relationship?...) who I had not seen in over 50 years and even though she didn't know we were coming she recognized me!  She was amazing!

Andrew, our grandson who is 6 and in kindergarten, was enthralled with the tiny little mouse our son caught in the mousetrap last night - he'd been spied the night before scampering in our granddaughter's closet.  So he announced in class today that he "had good news and bad news....the good news is we caught a RAT last night and the bad news is there was blood EVERYWHERE!"  That was just a bit exaggerated.  :)

Andrew and his best friend have played until they can't play any more!

Tomorrow we'll head home and I hope I'll be staying for a while!  I'm doing some cross stitching, finishing up some quilt UFOs, going to a quilt group meeting and doing what my older friend says - "every woman needs to sit in her house sometimes and just look at her stuff."

Home Again, Home Again

I love being what I call a "part-time missionary" but sometimes that service seems long and home seems so far away.  I was at the mission this last time for two months and my husband didn't get to go with me (though he did get to visit one weekend and I came home one weekend) so when it was time to come home last week I could hardly wait.  I've been busy, but it's a good kind of busy.  When I've been away for a while I want to "nest" when I come home.  I've cleaned out drawers and closets and pantries.  I've shopped and replenished canned goods and done some dehydrating.  Dehydrating is one of the easiest ways to store food and takes little effort.  This week I've dehydrated 18 bags of soup vegetables and some squash.

You can dehydrate frozen vegetables so I buy them when they're on sale - in this case Kroger had them $1.00 a bag.  The soup vegetables have onions, celery, carrots, peas, green beans, potatoes.  I can throw some of these in the crock pot this winter, along with some chicken broth and canned chicken and have a wonderful soup.  Or I can add beef broth and cooked hamburger and tomatoes.  The squash can be added to soup, rehydrated and then simmered with a little butter and onion or made into a squash casserole.

I want to do some canning but that will happen later when I'm not so tired from the time away from home.  Soup is my husband's favorite thing to be canned because when I'm not home he can just open up a jar and have a home cooked meal.  Since he hunts venison is our meat of choice for soup so next time I make venison soup we'll have one meal and I'll can the rest.

In the evenings I've been stitching.  I'm not fast but doing a little every day makes for some progress - I'm like the tortoise I suppose, slow but steady.  I finished this one I showed last time I posted...

I think I'll make this into a small bag to hang on a doorknob somewhere.  And then I started some Christmas, to make me think cool in the awful heat!

These are destined to be ornaments.....and hopefully before it's time to hang them on the tree.  :)

Today I'm off to see two of my siblings to celebrate Mother's birthday.  She would have been 91 today and I baked her favorite cake - Coca Cola Cake, with lots of pecans.  Our 4th sibling, who planned to come, made an unexpected trip to the hospital last night and this morning had his 30 something stent inserted.  Prayers for him would be appreciated.

Bits and Pieces....

Last night I was really tired but I didn't want to miss the meteor shower that I had read about 573 times that I saw a post about it on Facebook.  Well, maybe not that many posts but a lot.  :)  I went outside about 10:00...here at the mission there are lots of lights but I found a couple of dark places where I could stand and peer upwards.  Beautiful night; hot, but beautiful.  Lots of stars.  No meteors.  So I got up at 5:15 this morning and went out again because I read that there would be a better chance just before dawn.  I even walked, in the dark, alone, down the path to a "pasture" that is between my apartment and the warehouse.  It was a little cooler and there was a nice breeze and there were lots of stars.  No meteors.  If I had seen some meteors it would have looked something like this.

Obviously, since I didn't see a meteor I did the next best thing and found a picture on the internet.  :)

It's hot here.  It's even hotter at home.  I try to walk in the early mornings but even then when I step outside it feels like a blanket lays over me and it's hard to catch my breath.  I'm working on a cross stitch piece from Little House called Hands To Work - a really sweet pattern - but I'm thinking maybe I should find a Halloween or Thanksgiving pattern to start in an attempt to fool myself into believing cooler temperatures are just around the corner.  What can I say...I'm gullible.  I could probably fool myself.  :)

This is what I'm working on but I've just finished the house and the fence and the grass.  I've decided to leave the sheep off and probably the bird too.  This is obviously summer....right?

But what if I did this one?  Would I be thinking cooler thoughts?

Are you thinking this is a rambling post?  It is.  I can't seem to focus these hot summer days.  But if you'd like to have a good laugh....to take your mind off the heat....check out this guy.  He has a bunch of short videos on YouTube and he makes me laugh!