I Know You're Gonna' Be Jealous

On the drive to Jefferson City, Missouri to see my sister I got to meet a blogging friend face-to-face! I first met Pat at Bird Nest On The Ground
when I was looking for Arkansas bloggers and quickly found that we had a mutual friend. That's usually the case in such a small state and in the quilting community. Pat does the most beautiful embroidery - her tiny stitches boggle my mind. We had a wonderful visit over lunch and I'm looking forward to other times when we can meet.

Then, after the Great Brake Fiasco when I had my car towed about 175 miles, I arrived at my sister's. Where she proceeded to work me like a dog! We have organized and straightened and decorated until my behind is dragging at the end of the day. I loved every minute of it - you all know that I'm an organizer at heart and how fun it is to decorate a room when you're spending someone else's money! Of course if you're going to redecorate a bedroom and bathroom you must shop. Every day you must shop. But before you can shop you have to go here to order a part for the tractor. I'm not a farm girl, even though my dad sold farm equipment for a living, so I don't exactly feel "at home" on a lot full of tractors, but I waited patiently until that was done so I could go buy this.

Since I have such a hard time finding these I bought all they had - 22. I'm not sure what the girl at the counter thought (I did this in 2 trips thinking she wouldn't think I was totally insane but she recognized me the second time!) but she was very kind. She just smiled. What can I say....addiction is ugly.

Then we were off to one of my favorite places here - a junk/antique shop - where I bought these. Two vintage aprons - you know you would have bought them too, tell the truth.

Here's another thing I love - embroidered pillowcases are reminders of my grandmother, who always had them on her beds.

No, my house isn't primitive. My house is Southern Comfortable. That's my terminology, of course, but appropriate. The black iron star is going in my bathroom to hang a hand towel on. The wooden bowl will go on a shelf in my living room where I have wooden vases. It will be perfect there. But I sure am liking primitive. A lot.

I saw this there but didn't buy it because I can make this in a very short time. But when I looked for these very plain black frames at Hobby Lobby they didn't have any. Where else might I find them - anyone know? I did find this Bittersweet at Hobby Lobby to use in my fall decorations.

Then today we drove over to St. Charles Missouri where I found Homestead - a shop full of primitive stuff! Just look at all this!

I was good and only bought the little round Bittersweet table topper and the Fresh Linen sachet. The rest of this stuff came from Patches, a wonderful quilt shop that has lots of Redwork patterns and lots of buttons. I got the new Quilt Sampler Magazine, a set of red tea towels, a couple of patterns (one is for an old fashioned bonnet that I thought I'd like to make), a yard of fabric to make an apron, a trash catcher (I already have one that I use when doing handwork but I wanted one by my sewing machine and even though I have the pattern, said with a red face, I just don't want to take the time to make it), some needles and a needle threader! What a haul. :) I told you that jealousy was going to rear its' ugly head!

I had planned to go home tomorrow - my car is ready - but the rain between here and there promises to be quite dangerous to drive in. So I'll just stay here another couple of days....and shop some more. What can I do? It's the rain's fault.

I Got Mail

One of the things I love about blogging is that every once in a while you get the nicest things delivered to you by the postman. Or woman. Postperson. The person who brings the mail. Have to be politically correct. I hate that saying, and exactly what does it mean? What's political about whether the person delivering your mail is a man or woman? And why couldn't they just make up a word that means both? After all when you say President it could be a man or a woman and you don't have to worry if you've said the right thing. When you say attorney it could be a man or a woman. When you say doctor...same thing. We need a new name for the mail deliverer - got any suggestions?

Back to my story. I got two packages this week. First, I got this:

My friend, Takako at Quilt In Me, went home to visit her parents and bought gifts for some of her blogging friends. I haven't yet decided what I'm going to do with the fabric, although it will definitely go into a quilt. I'm thinking about a miniature log cabin table runner and these colors would work beautifully with some fabric I already have. Thank you so much Takako for your kindness. She sent a really sweet card that had a picture of a puppy and kitten on it and I would have shown you a picture of it, too, but my camera wouldn't cooperate.

I also got this beautiful vintage French postcard from my friend Becky at Wonders Never Cease. I made a wild guess trying to identify a picture of something on her post and turned out to be correct. This sweet card has writing on the back which is very faint but I think I was able to make out the year as 1950.

Becky also sent a card; in her case it was naturally a French one. This is a picture of Thatched Cottages at Cordeville, Auvers-sur-Oise by Vincent van Gogh. Beautiful, isn't it? Thank you Becky. I have it on my desk so that it brightens my day as I sit blogging.

For those of you who have been so kindly following my posts, Montezuma has left the building! About noon today I started feeling more like myself and even spent the afternoon in the sewing room - the first time since last week. But, sadness, I still haven't been able to drink an Iced Chaie Latte. Just couldn't. And I have no idea why because I hadn't had one when I got sick. I'm sure I'll be better tomorrow and be able to drink one right down. Right? Tell me I'm right....