September 4, 2014

Allie's Summertime Visit!


My granddaughter Allie came for the summer so in lieu of staying online, I spent many a day with her as top priority.  I think she spoiled me as much as I spoiled her.  She was very good company for me while hubby worked in the tobacco field.


 I worked on 3 projects over the summer, including one of those being made from Riley Blake gingham check fabric.  I ordered mine from the Fat Quarter Shop, my favorite go to place for fabric.  I love their customer service, the way they pack my fabric, and most of all the way they give back to quilters all across the world by allowing bloggers to host giveaways!

I have been working on a group project all summer trying to finish hand quilting a gift that is going to someone very special.  I was waylaid by carpal tunnel when I was a little over half finished and then I obtained a very bad cut to my middle finger on the right hand. It was a really nasty cut that took almost 4 weeks to heal!  No hand quilting for me during the entire time because it was my right hand on my thimble finger. I had offers to help finish but I was determined to finish what I started and finish I finally did! I was hoping to finish and get it delivered before my day on the hop but it is not delivered so only a small sneek peek will have to do for today. Once the gift is delivered, I will create a new blog post with a full size shot, close ups and a little story behind the gift.  For now, you will just have to imagine the work that has gone in to it.

(I just noticed the 2 pieces of gingham in the cropped photo... How appropriate.)


Allie and I went fabric shopping to make her 3 dresses to wear to church while she was here.  We got dress number one completed before the nasty cut to my finger happened  and then the rest... well, they will have to be made next summer when she comes to the farm.  She looks so pretty in her new dress.

 
 After my finger healed I dabbled in a little bit of crazy quilting and finished this 6 inch block. I really like the way the background colors and the colors of my embellishing and stitching came together.  It was nice to actually get lost for a day in my stitching.  Allie worked on blanket stitching a cowboy boot to a batik background while I worked on my stitching.  She gave orders not to show her work until she can finish her project.  This is the crazy quilt block that I did.


I also did some canning and freezing which are shown in the post below this one.  We make peach ice cream every summer... several times because it is hubby's favorite... not so much mine, so I put away 2 buschel of Big Red peaches.  I also make 3 or 4 peach cobblers in the winter so a few were canned in jars... the ones for ice cream were frozen.  We love strawberry freezer jam and this summer I have tried my hand at some peach freezer jam.  I will let you know how it tastes when we break open the first jar and spread it over warm biscuits.


And now for my Riley Blake gingham project!

Madame Samm designed the Tammy Bag back early on in the blog hops and I have fallen in love with them.  It has been a while since I made the last one so I knew I wanted to make one out of gingham!  You can find the pattern HERE in her Craftsy shop!  But beware, they are like a Lay's potato chip... you cannot stop with just one!


The hand dyed lace flower is from a shoppe on Etsy, RavioleeDreams, owned by my friend Nicki Seavey.  She literally takes a paint brush and paints her laces! They are incredible!  The light teal flower was perfect for this Tammy bag!  Teal beads finished the frame perfectly and the vintage teal button was the icing on the cake!  The heart shaped white lace adorns the front and the back.  If you need laces by the yard for your projects I have it on good authority that you can find plenty with great prices at Crazy Quilting Supplies.


Allie and I are on to more adventures before she has to go back to Bama so I will catch up to you later.

Thank you for stopping by today!

September 1, 2014

Summertime Travels

 I guess you could say I have been on a blogging break.  I had my granddaughter all summer.  I think I have blogged 5 times since she came to the farm.  But that is ok... computers can wait... grandchildren cannot.  We stayed busy having fun and then I got to spend over a week in Alabama visiting the rest of my family when I took her home.

Allie has grown a mile since last summer!

So has Miss Emily!
Her momma is teaching her bad habits!
She should have on a ROLL TIDE shirt!

Ace came for play dates a few times.  
He and Allie hit it off really well!

We have our farm up for sale and are moving to be near my family when it sells.  My first cousin is a realtor and she lined up some available properties to show me just to get us started with an idea of what is out there.  Never did I realize she would have 18 properties on Friday, the first day there after a 2 day trip in.  WOW!!  Talk about total exhaustion!  The next day wasn't as bad but coupled with the exhaustion, it was... 10 properties on Saturday!  

Parker is helping my cousin's hubby show us this place. 
(which I hope we get a chance to buy!)

For the remainder of the visit, it was all about family and getting together with them, which kept me in the truck every day.  My youngest daughter is building a new home with her hubby so I opted to stay in a hotel the duration of our visit.  My friend Libby rode with me and it was always after 9:00pm before we were able to get back to our room.  We basically just got in our nighties and crashed every night. I don't think she will be so eager to go with me again.  I wore her slab dab out!

Sweet Libby

The trip was delightful regardless of how tired I was and it took me 4 days to get over the trip once I got home.  I always put away fresh peaches for homemade ice cream and cobblers and I was about out of time by the time I got home so on Thursday my mother-in-law and I made a trip to the farmers market to get some Big Reds.  Peaches will be gone next week so we cut it close this year!

Here are the fruits of our labour.

diced peaches over chocolate ice cream (don't knock it till you try)
1 large batch of homemade ice cream
19 quarts of canned peaches for cobblers
11 super-quarts of frozen peaches for ice cream
12 pints of peach freezer jam for warm biscuits
Large skillet of fried squash for dinner
12 quarts of squash ready for frying

Thank you Lord for our bounty.