Closing the garden

The last picking of the bell peppers, now to make a huge batch of stuff peppers and get the rest in the dehydrator (36 peppers)
Hubby got the traditional garden tilled and ready for fall, I will add leaves and kitchen scraps until spring to help build up the soil for next year

I pulled the last of the tomatoes to ripen in the kitchen so hubby could get the tomato patch tilled, he might till a new section today if his body will cooperate!! Tilling is hard work when your use to setting at a desk

Tyler's "Cheater Quilt" is sandwiched and pinned ready to move on to the quilting, I also got "Baby Bubba's" quilt sandwiched and pinned yesterday while Karsyn was napping.

Here is a close up of Tyler's quilt, I didn't really want to go with a cheaters quilt but I fell in love with the material. Tyler LOVES elephants but they can't look like "silly" elephants or "baby" elephants, I hope this quilt will meet his criteria!!

This will be a super quick post, we need to get on the road to pick up Karsyn for the day then back for Kara to be dropped off, hubby is looking forward to having the entire day with the little girls (hope he feels the same by nap time) We get to have Kara an extra day this week while her Daddy picks up some overtime, hubby will head out in the morning to steal Tyler from Mom and Dad, he wants to get all the time he can with the grands before heading back north.

I have some last minuet numbers to crunch today before transferring $$ to the savings account. I need to tally up the cost of the hardwood floors we are having installed next week (I hope) along with a few things I need for sewing projects and anything else I can think of that is out of the ordinary budget, once the money is in savings I HATE to have to transfer it back out!!! We for sure meet out goal of saving an entire paycheck for the month of September and a little more to boot but I feel like I might be forgetting something so I need to breath and think!!

I'm excited to have the last 2 quilts for Christmas pinned and ready to quilt I think I might be able to find the time next week to get them both finished!! Then it's on to Christmas cards, I know what I would like to do now I need to get the first one made and figure out a way to streamline the work to create at least 50 of the suckers. I am thinking I will have to dust the cricut off to help out. I may have the time later today to update our budget success but you never know what the day will bring with the little girls around, add hubby to the mix and its a real adventure!!

The Winners are...

Katie B this set of coasters are headed to your house!!
Carla over at http://halfdozendaily.blog.com you win the second set of coasters!! Yaa you

I forgot about the blog candy from last week! Vacation does that to me sometimes, it takes a few days to get back into the swing of things. Ladies I will get you coasters in the mail today!!

It's crunch time around here for the next few days, hubby will be headed back north soon so we need to get a few more things taken care of before he goes. This morning we will have a rented tiller delivered so he can turn under the garden and tomato patch, maybe even a new bed for tomatoes next year. We didn't get very far on the garage yesterday so we are hoping to do a little work on that monster and cut back the ivy that has taken over the front of the house. I'm thinking the garden alone will take up most of the day. Hubby wants to purchase a large tiller this year (ours is just for little area's) but the one he has his eye on is over the top expensive. When he is home next time he can begin the search for a used one $4,000.00 is way out of line for a tiller!!!
I did spend a few hours in the scrap/sewing room yesterday trying to do some organizing and clean up. I have WAY to many projects lined up!!!! Next week is working on the last of the grands Christmas quilts, they need to be done and added to the pile of Christmas gifts already purchased that have taken over one of the spare bedrooms. The Christmas bedroom also needs some TLC. I have been just throwing gifts in there willy nilly, it's time to organize and take stock of what I have found on sale during the year then begin finalizing our Christmas list. My goal this year is to have the shopping all done before Thanksgiving as well as Christmas cards finished by December 1st so I can get them in the mail early.

Update on our monthly spending will be coming up, I need to get my tail in gear and pick up Karsyn for the day!!!

Frugal Fun

Stunning views
Waterfalls around every corner

lots of cool old tunnels

Always something new to see

As promised I will share with you some of the ways we save money on our yearly Anniversary trip. The biggest savings by far is on the cabin, we rent from http://patriotgetaways.com/ when they run a 50% off sale. We have had great luck with this company, the cabins are always clean and well appointed, the staff are over the top customer friendly and at 50% off you can't beat the value. If your looking to take a vacation in the Smokey's you should check them out, by the way I am NOT an advertiser for the company!!! The cost per person/couple for our 4 day stay was $170.00 each, can't beat that price.

We also take along the majority of our food from home, I just dig around in the freezer and pantry to come up with meals and snacks we will all enjoy that won't put a ton of work on me. I do the baking and cooking the day before we leave so all I have to do once we arrive is warm up meals, other than breakfast which is a no brainer I don't spend much time in the kitchen other than to eat of course! We do stop at the grocery store on the way in to pick up milk, eggs, butter and ice, everything else comes from home. Traveling on bikes in the mountains we never know when the urge to get off and take in the sights or stretch our legs might hit so we make sure and have coolers on a few of the bikes, once again I bring drinks from home that I pick up on sale with coupons.

The parks in the Smokey's are all free, some have donation boxes to help cover the costs of preservation which we always donate too but it is not a requirement. There are a ton of museum's and attractions that are also free, this year we hit the "Bushes Beans" factory for a tour, sounds odd but it really was fun. In the past we have taken a few cave tours that were interesting but creepy to me. Heck just hanging out in the cabin is a vacation in itself.

We do have a few junk food joints we like to hit while there, if the "Hot Donuts Now" sign is on hubby can't pass it up so Krispy Kreme is one stop, we both grew up on Krystal hamburgers that we can't get at home (thank goodness) so we are sure to grab a few to quench our youthful cravings and in the past A&W was where we ate our Anniversary dinner, unfortunately it has gone out of business this year so no frosty mug for us :( When we were first married a real treat for us was to meet friends on Tuesday night for the coney dog special, 2 coney dogs for $1.00 and free refills of root beer. We couldn't afford to go each week (yes we were that poor) but we would save up and meet everyone at least once a month.

The cost of our trip was under $300.00 not including the Christmas shopping we did. I'd say that's a pretty good deal that anyone can afford if your willing to cook your own food and put back just a little money during the year. If your a camper the cost would be much lower, they have a ton of free national campgrounds, I AM NOT a tent camper but I'm sure it would be a lovely trip for the woodsy crowd.

Hubby is home for a few more days, we are off for breakfast to meet up with some friends then back home for some garage organization. Hubby won't let me in the garage without close supervision, he is afraid I might pitch some of his little treasures (smart man)

AHHHH Vacation

We started our vacation with a ride on the Smokey Mountain Parkway, the weather was perfect, sunny and cool but not cold thank goodness. I do have a nice pair of leather chaps I picked up a year or so ago on a 50% off sale that would work on a cold day. However they were not selling replacement rumps for ladies that day, chaps just are NOT cute if you are above a size 3!!!

Here are the boys waiting patiently (sorta) for me to take another photo. Hubby is on the left front, can you tell he could care less about the cute scrapbook pages I will be making for him!

Cades Cove is a MUST see if you are ever in the smokey mountains

Sometimes my camera amazes me by the great shots I get. I took pictures of the barns on the back of the bike while in motion, why can't I get good shots of the little girls in motion?
Along with normal farm animals we saw deer, wild turkey's and our FIRST ever black bear cub.

Boys will be boys, we had to make a stop at the knife works place. I decided to hang back and rest my back and rump on a park bench. Hubby did a little Christmas shopping for the grand baby boys, totally inappropriate I might add. The "Grandson's first knifes" will be put up until they are 21 (what the h.. was he thinking) but the trucks they can have!

We miss the mountains already and have only been home a few hours! There is nothing like sitting on the porch wrapped up in a quilt with carmel apple cider watching the fog come in, or sleeping with the windows open to cold mountain air in a bed I needed a step ladder to get into!

After a big country breakfast each morning we headed out with coolers filled for a day of riding the mountains until dinner time when we returned to pre cooked homemade meals with plenty of snacks and of course cold adult beverages for the fella's.

Of all the vacations and pretty cool places we get to travel our yearly Anniversary mountain trip is our favorite of all. Even if we are stuck in the cabin for 4 days it still ranks tops! We started inviting some of our riding buddies a few years back to join in the fun, each year gets better and better the more friends who join us to ride.

Our last evening we hit a few of the shops the boys wanted to go in along with "The Christmas Place" to do a little Christmas shopping for the big girls. We started a Christmas village for each of our big girls when they married that we add to each Christmas, can't wait to see their faces on Christmas morning when they open their new houses. Hubby also has a village "The Christmas Story" based on the movie, one of his favorites, of course we had to add to his collection! Our family village has grown to such an enormous size that unless something knocks my socks off I DON"T need a single new thing, thank goodness I didn't run into anything that struck my fancy, the bill was high enough.

We even got to chat with some real Mountain men, picture 20-30 very hairy fella's dressed in overalls and camo all wearing orange vests on a back country road, and I do mean back road. Hubby thought they were maybe a road crew, no way honey they are hunters. Sure enough when we stopped to talk to them they were hunting "BAAAAR" (bear). You couldn't meet a friendlier bunch of men but I don't think I would want to have them to dinner.

We did really well on our spending plan other than Krispy Kreme "hot donuts now", a few Christmas gifts for the family and some books about the history of the area I can't wait to have the time to devour our spending was right on track!

Tips on a furgal vacation coming up next.....time to finish the laundry :(

More to come

Not my Photo

I forgot to take a picture of the cabin we stayed in this week, grr, but I downloaded a picture of it from the website to share. This was a GREAT cabin with rocking chairs and swings to sit outside and enjoy the PERFECT weather!! We have had 4 fun filled days of riding , eating (too much), football and lots of laughs with the best riding buddies around. I will do a real post later today or in the AM when I get ahead on all of the unpacking!

Slow Down Little Girls

Our little girls are growing up to fast!!!

Daughter #3 stopped by yesterday for a bit so the little girls could play for a few hours. I would love to get some really good photo's of them for their scrapbooks (someday) but they move to fast, even with the camera set on sports mode. We will have both of them today, along with keeping up with them I have a ton of cooking to do for our upcoming trip Saturday morning, thankfully hubby will be around to run defence for me!!
Here is a super quick run down of our spending plan so far this month along with a savings update. We are on track to save an entire paycheck for the month of September, there is still a week left in the month and we will be on vacation for the majority of that time but I don't expect to go over budget (unless the old car gives us trouble) With hubby home and all the to do's he has been working on I was afraid we would fall off the wagon but it looks like I can still pull it off.

We have given away the last of the 10% of hubbies bonus this week, it was split between some for each of our Daughters, another member of our extended family who has been struggling and "Samaritans Purse" an international charity that jives with our belief system. We agreed that we would spend a bit for our wish list but the only thing that was screaming for attention is new flooring for the living room. We have carpet that is getting worn and AJ the beagle spots that seem to reappear every week or two. While hubby would like new carpet for the room, Nanny is gonna win out and have hardwoods installed (sweet hubby doesn't spend time on his hands and knees scrubbing spots) In the past we have installed hardwoods ourselves to save some money. We have completed the hallways up and downstairs, kitchen, breakfast room and family room, the cost to have professionals come in and get the work done in a day (would take us a week and lots of pain reliever) is only $540.00, sounds like a pretty good deal to me!! Just moving everything out of the room to have the work done is more than I am in the mood to do right now but it will be worth it all to have the job complete. The balance of the money is setting in savings for a rainy day (job loss) In my mind the money is not there, I need to continue this journey of living more frugal for a year to reach the goal of saving 35% of our income this year. With the holiday's fast approaching I won't have the opportunity to tuck much back the rest of the year but stopping the stupid spending will continue to make a difference!

If we have Internet service in the Smoky Mt's I will do a few posts otherwise this may be the last of it for several days. We are off in the AM along with a group of friends to celebrate our Anniversary of 36 years in a gorgeous cabin tucked in the mountains (on a frugal budget) We hope to get some good riding in on the Harley, enjoy football games and evening bon fires with a round of smores one night. Hopefully the weather will have cleared up by the time we leave or it will be more hanging out in the cabin than anything else

Where did you get that thing?

I received a few e mails wondering where in the heck did we get the curio cabinet? When hubby was in Indonesia several years ago he ordered this jewel (I use the term loosely) and had it shipped home to me. When the crate arrived and the fellas began opening the container I thought my sweetheart had purchased a double glass coffin for us, this is NOT my style. As with many gifts I have received over the past 36 pretty darn good years we have had together I have to keep reminding myself "It's the thought that counts"!!! The chair setting next to the cabinet was my Great Great Grandfathers and was re-caned (not sure how to spell that) by my Grandmother years before she passed away, I love the fact that a part of our heritage is with us in pieces like this

The tomato patch is finished, at least I think it is. Here is the last of the pickins we have had this week that hubby took into the office to share with the less fortunate (too lazy to have a garden but love the stuff) just kidding. I know some people just don't want to fool with a garden or don't have the space.

Yesterday was our Tyler day, we made a point of scheduling a day this week to have each of the grands alone the entire day. Kara was over Sunday, Tyler yesterday, Karsyn today. We crammed a WHOLE LOT of activities in with him in the AM then hung at the house to play and relax in the afternoon. When he returned home he told Daughter #1 he had "The best day ever in my life" Awww

I need to do a budget update soon!!! Maybe later in the day if things will slow down a bit. We have a large planned expense coming up soon that I am excited to get done, it's been on my wish we could do some day list for a really long time!

He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not, HE LOVES ME!!!

Today is our 36th Anniversary!! We celebrated by moving the curio cabinet out of the babies room/old dinning room into the living room. I have done my best to keep the little girls barricaded from the curio cabinet but no matter what I do the stink pots figure out a way to get to it.
I started with unloading all the glassware and washed everything from the curio cabinet UGH!! We unloaded a TV amour (where did all that stuff come from) then moved it out of the living room. The amour is headed to Daughter #2 new apartment in October. The curio cabinet is now in the living room where it should be safe from little hands (I hope) While I was at it I down sized the glassware (who keeps hording this crap) Daughter #2 will have lots of nice wine and cocktail glasses in her new place.
I have been trying to decided what to do for some blog candy when an idea struck me (trying to avoid dish washing) I have a program for the embroidery machine called "He Loves me" you know as in he loves me, he loves me not when you pick petals from a flower. Hum... I could whip up a couple of coasters from the program to use as blog candy in celebration of our Anniversary. Brilliant!!

Here is the first set, they are reversible so I am showing both sides, pretty cute don't you think?

And...the second set using fall fabrics, again reversible. Pretty impressive if I do say so myself.

Here's how you can get in on the blog candy.

First leave a comment on which set you would like to have.

Second share with me how many years you have been married.

That's it, I will have Tyler pick a winner on Friday then get them in the mail to you the first part of next week.

I'm off to share a bowl of homemade ice cream with the best guy in the world

Men are Different

Humm, lots of work but I'm not liking it much
The applique and embroidery is cute but incorporating the kitchen towel just seems odd to me

While Hubby was rebuilding the lawn tractor today saving us a BUNDLE of money, I worked on a towel hanger, wish I could say it was worth all of the work but it's just not my cup of tea, maybe I will feel differently about it tomorrow.

So here is one of the many things that men (at least my man) does different than ladies. AJ the Beagle needed a bath and her nails trimmed, so off to the groomer she went for a few hours. As I am slaving away at the sewing machine I realized the dishwasher was going, odd, I already unloaded it in the AM. So I ask my honey hey why is the dishwasher running, maybe he brought dirty dishes home with him, who knows. "I am washing AJ's collar so it will be fresh when she gets home." WHATTTTTT, you did not put a dog collar in the dishwasher where we wash dishes!!!! Yep he did and thought it was a super good idea, yuck, yuck, yuck. I love our little beagle to death but no way no how does her collar belong in the dishwasher. I have run the stupid dishwasher 3 times since then to make sure it is good and cleaned out, hubby thinks I am over the top, hey it's only a collar whats the big deal. I think it is sooo gross I can't believe he thinks it was a good idea, men are just different.

Daughter #1 and #2 along with both baby girls and myself have been recovering from food poisoning the past 24 hours. So much for taking the family out to eat last night. We were the only ones who had steak and cheese hoggies. The little girls had a really bad night and not to great of a day, Daughter #1 was slow to recover (she is prego) Daughter #2 is all better and I think I may live to see another day. I called the restaurant to let them know what we were experiencing not to be fussy but to keep anyone else from having the same problem. They couldn't have been nicer and were happy I called, even offered to refund the money but I passed. It might be a long time before any of us go out to dinner again!!!

Roll Tide

I forgot to take a photo of Kara in her new Miss Alabama tee shirt I made today but my Sister got an OK one of her at dinner tonight. I also did a polo shirt for Tyler for football season but again no picture, I am getting slack!! We took Kara by Mom's salon this afternoon in her stylish tee shirt and had a ton of requests for them. Until things settle down around the house I can't see getting much more done than things I want to do for family and friends but someday soon I will get an Esty store up and running. I'm thinking the Miss Alabama or whatever university will be first on the list. Tomorrow when I get a good night sleep I will do a real blog update, tonight I am so tired I don't think I can even read a book. Having hubby home is so nice but exhausting!!

Sewing sweat shop closed

I think this is the first time in a month I have seen the kitchen table! HA The quilted table runner looks so puny on my table, it's 20x32 however we have a large farm table so regular size runners don't look so hot

My Hubby is on his way home!! Yepeeee. Since I will have him around for a couple of weeks I decided to move the sewing machines back to the scrap/sewing room where they belong. We will now have a table to eat our meals at and no more threads sticking to the bottom of my feet for awhile. I figure I will still get some sewing time in while he is around but certainly not to the extent I have been doing. I have a PILE of hand work and mending setting by my chair to work on at night while I watch him watch TV. This will be the longest stint we will have together in over a year (hope we don't kill each other) I'm looking forward to having someone to share meals with, relax on the deck and make plans for next years garden, what the heck we might even knock out a few to do's around the house but if not who cares!!!

Whatever the monster bug was that took over my body yesterday has let up some so I could finish up some cleaning and organizing around the place. Fresh sheets on the bed and towels in the bathroom are all that's left to do before I hit the sack to prepare for a day of fun with the little girls. Poor Karsyn was here alone today, all morning she would haul butt around corners thinking Kara was hiding from her, she had such a puzzled look on her face when she didn't see her. I love having one on one time with the Grands but Kara and Karsyn are lost without one another.

On a different subject I have been terrible with keeping up the weekly budget for awhile now but I am staying on track weekly, most of the time I have been coming under budget. However I have made some really large purchases (investments) recently on software for the embroidery machine YIKES this stuff is major bucks. We have (3) pay periods in September my goal is to save and entire paycheck. Last pay period I was able to save a nice little bit, this paycheck (tomorrow) I should be able to put back an even bigger chunk, by the last check of the month if all will go well we will make the goal and maybe a little more. As always the key to my savings is to keep my happy butt at home!!!! Unintentionally I have had a fiscal fast this week, not one red cent has been spent and I don't look to do any spending until Sunday when we take the family out to dinner. For some reason every time I plan on a fiscal fast life jumps up and bites me when I'm not looking, maybe going in with no plan works best for me. Hubby and I will be looking over our finances a bit while he is home, we do talk daily and try to keep up with ever thing but it's not the same as being together. He recently received a large bonus from his last project that is tucked away in the bank until we can get together and decide how we want to deal with it, one thing for sure is we always give away 10%. I have in mind where I would like to make some of the donations but I want to get his take on it as well. One of the many GREAT things about living debt free is having the ability to give. Even when we were struggling ourselves in the past we have always been givers, no matter how low you feel like your finances are it's a pretty good bet you are in much better shape than many others!!

I haven't had time to pull anything together for some blog candy but by the first of next week for sure I will come up with something, better figure out how to make a comment by then or you won't get in on the giveaway. If you are too shy to comment feel free to e-mail me to get in.

This is NUTS

Can you tell what this is a photo of? Our deck covered in shells the squirrels have cracked then left the mess for me, this is the reason I am still canning tomatoes. Seems the squirrels would rather have nuts than veggies, just wish they would clean up after themselves!!
Got a great start on "Baby Bubba's" Christmas quilt today

All pieced together now on to the sandwiching and quilting! It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas around our house.

Here is another thing that is nuts around here today, cold chills while the outside thermometer was reading 92 degrees. Not a good sign... my body is aching all over, feel like a dump truck has had its way with me :( I managed to get a few things done around the house in the morning but by the afternoon it felt like I was wearing lead shoes, I was moving really slow. Day's like today are when cooking ahead and using the vacuum sealer are a blessing. I hit the freezer and pulled out some Paula Deen taco soup for lunch along with stuffing for stuffed green peppers for dinner. AJ the beagle and I did a quick run through the garden to get some green peppers, cucumbers and tomatoes for tonight's dinner for myself and my buddy recovering from hip replacement, made the food delivery then sit down with a hot apple cider for desert. It's gonna be a long day with the little girls tomorrow if I can't shake whatever it is that has me in it's grips. Off to bed with a 6 pack of bottled water to drown this bug!!!!

It's Done

Free motion quilting sounds fast, fun, and easy. Well let me tell you its NOT!! Ha But with each quilt I am improving a little
And its DONE......

After working on some domestic endeavors around the house I set my mind to finishing the "In Lieu of flowers" quilt for our dear friend. My original goal was to have it finished the first week of September and on its way. Missed that date :( however it is now done and ready for a tag on the back. I should be able to get it in the mail after lunch tomorrow with happy thoughts of my sweet friend cuddled up under it with a good book. I did standard straight line quilting on the body of the quilt then finished the large border with free motion quilting. My buddy lives in FL so instead for using batting I used flannel diaper fabric, it still has the nice heavy feel of a traditional quilt without the bulk of batting, it should be perfect for sunny FL. I love this fabric!! I have enough leftovers to make a quilt for myself (not by accident) of course its a Moda material from the "Lovely" collection. It would be a big help to my budget if Moda would maybe take a 6 month vacation from putting out any new lines of fabric!!!!

Tomorrow is a little more housework then on to cutting out "Baby Bubba's" Christmas quilt. I have a couple of different fabrics to choose from, decided to go with the zoo animals print with 3 colors for the sashing just like the other grands quilts, they are sturdy and quick to put together. Maybe I can lick this one in a week or so.

The scrap/sewing room got a pretty good clean out today and some badly needed organization. I need to prioritize all of the projects I have lined up (hoarded) I hate to feel hurried when I am sewing, the whole idea is to relax and enjoy the entire process, wish finishing projects went as fast as finding fabric to buy!!!!

Real Housewife of Anywhere

Not sure why the color of the walls turned out so funny looking they are really the same shade of light blue/grey that is in the fabric. The important thing is Daughter #1 liked the Roman shade I made for her. I think I would have screamed if it wasn't up to her standard!!!

As much as I would have loved to play today I had to take on the role of a "Real Housewife" At my house it doesn't involve plastic surgery, botox or stiletto heels. Nope it's windex, clorox, comet and lots of elbow grease. I did sit down for a bit this morning to finish a set of window toppers for Daughter #2 friends classroom, my girls need to stop volunteering my time, they keep me busy enough with there own wants, needs and desires!!

I had the little girls for a few hours in the afternoon that broke my concentration so its back at it again tomorrow. If I can stay on task I might have some room to work with the embroidery machine while another batch of tomatoes are working in the canner.

I think after tonight's picking in the tomato patch the season is officially over, we will still get a tomato or two for eating but this should be the last of the canning, it's been a great season but I am sooo over canning it's not funny!! I also need to finish up some small projects setting around before Thursday when I will have the little ones again. Hubby is due home next weekend so I will be moving the sewing machines back to the scrap/sewing room while he is home. I don't expect to have any time for sewing while he is home. I think I am looking forward to having a cleared off kitchen table for a change, what the heck maybe I can even throw a cute table runner on and a vase of flowers from the zinnias that are still hanging on in the garden.

To Do's are done

One of the two scrap table runners I completed over the weekend, this would look much better on the table if I could even find the table!!

On my to do list for the weekend was to finish the scrap Halloween table runners, make a Roman shade for Daughter #1 with matching monogrammed towels for her powder room and can tomatoes. The tomatoes didn't happen but I was able to pawn off lots to the neighbors and some friends. I will still have to can a batch by tomorrow but for now I am done, there isn't an ounce of energy left in the body. The Roman shade turned out great but I forgot to take my camera with me tonight when we hung them :( I have to go back tomorrow and do a little touch up work on some flower arrangements Daughter #1 needs me to finish if I can remember I will get a shot of them. Here is a tip, it is cheaper to purchase window treatments than to custom make them and a heck of a lot less time consuming!!! The kitchen is in total disarray from all the sewing and what not over the weekend but I could care less, tonight I am headed to bed. I would put money on the fact it will all still be there in the morning.
While we are on the sewing creating subject head over to Carla's blog http://halfdozendaily.blog.com/2011/09/11/blog-candy-giveaway/ to try your hand at some blog candy she is offering, everything is super cute, I have my heart set on the Eiffel tower cozie! I am thinking I need to do a little blog giveaway soon, maybe this week. You guys better figure out how to post a comment if you want to get in on the prize, I am thinking something Fallish or Halloween, need to dig around an come up with something.

AJ the Beagle is driving me crazy, I think she is ready for bed as well, she has had a hard day of rabbit hunting and squirrel chasing today.

God Bless the USA

Today I have no project updates, garden happinings or silly stuff that fills my mind.

Ten years ago today our family was spread throughout the state at various colleges, jobs or work projects. I was frantic to get everyone home as fast as we could, the world as we knew it was forever changed. I needed everyone home together. I needed to see them, touch them, smell them and never let them go.

May we never forget the people who were murdered and the heros who died trying to save others on the day our country was attacked.

Garden Goodness

It is hard to believe that the garden is still producing with the jungle of weeds that have taken over. I gave up weeding 2 weeks ago, things had gotten so out of hand while we were on vacation I couldn't get the upper hand again. This weekend I will be canning a second round of tomato's for the week along with filling the dehydrator and doing a little something with the butternut squash. Our tomato plants are basically dead but the green tomatoes that are left are riping everyday so we may still get enough to continue canning into next week, amazing!! Hubby is due home in a week for some BADLY needed time at home, first on our list is to turn the traditional garden under and let it rest over the fall and winter, plow under the tomato patch and begin a new tomato area for next spring. I will continue with the veggies we have planted in the raised beds until winter but compaired to the traditional garden and tomato patch they are a no brainier!! I am blown away by our success this year in the garden. I had very little time to devote to weeding, hoeing and watering in the spring due to having the little girls full time, over the summer the heat became so unbearable little work was done but durn if the plants didn't keep on keeping on.

If you have ever thought about trying your hand at a back yard garden now is the time to plan for next spring, do yourself a favor and go with raised beds unless you don't mind spending hours on end working a traditional garden. I don't think we will ever do away with our traditional garden because no matter how much work it is to keep up I love the way it looks, there is something that takes me back in time when we were growing up with our Grandmother working in her garden each day that feeds my soul as well as our belly!

After the little girls left today I planned to work on the Halloween table runners but the weather was so nice I instead opened the back door turned the fan on high and hit the couch. Maybe over the weekend I can get back to some sewing but it is really hard to stay in the house when we are having such beautiful weather!!!!

Leftovers Remade

I figured out how to make labels for the back of quilts using my embroidery machine today along with some leftover canvas fabric. For now I adhered them on to the quilt backs with double sided fusible interfacing, I will hand sew them on in the evenings when I set down to relax (pretty rare)
This photo didn't load very nice now did it :( The happy Halloween piece was leftovers from the panels I cut up last weekend to do the table runners

Cutting up leftover fabric from last weekends table runners

Whats up with the uploading on photo's tonight! Here is one of the 2 table runners I have pieced together using leftovers from our girls getaway weekend. Tomorrow it is on to the quilting of the runners

I have used up every little bitty piece of leftover fabric I had, now to figure out what to use for the binding and a little embellishing. I am thinking the blinged out netting might be cute.

Daughter #3 had the day off today so I only had Karsyn, that means when its nap time it really is Nanny time. I can't always get both girls down at the same time but with just one I am home free.
As soon as Karsyn was out cold I headed to the scrap/sewing room to start putting away things from my weekend getaway and a general clean up in the room. (badly needed!) I hadn't gotten far when I ran into the bag of leftovers from the table runners I finished over the weekend. Should I find a place and hang on to the fabric for another project at some point? Na, that's just something else to store in the space I want to keep for new fabric. It was too much fabric to throw out and didn't seem like enough to send to goodwill so I played around a bit thinking I would make a couple of pillows with the leftovers. As I was moving the fabric around trying to decided how to go about a pieced pillow I realized I don't have any pillow forms so I'm not sure what size to make the pillow cover besides the fact I would have to spend money buying a couple of pillows. On to plan B, what if I cut everything up and pieced together another table runner...hummm. I dug around in my fabric stash and came up with some black and purple fabric I could use to help finish it off. I ended up with not 1 but 2 table runners all from leftovers!! Ya me!!
I wanted to dress them up a bit with some bling so I headed back to my room of sin and found a roll of purple glitter tulle leftover from something way back when. Tomorrow when the little girls go home I should be able to finish them both off with $0 spending!!!. Problem solved, no extras to store away and a couple of freebie table runners I can pass on to a buddy or two. The unpacking and organizing in the room didn't happen but tomorrow is another day

Another Quilt is in the books

I used a blanket stitch for the binding on this quilt, it doesn't show up well in the photo but turned out really cute.

My Brother in law is a retired fire chief with the Miami/Dade fire department, when I saw this material I knew it would be perfect for his first Grandson who is now 5 months old. Our BIL retired from station #6, the fabric has designs that say ladder #6, perfect!!

This afternoon my Sister and BIL came by to hook up hubbies travel TV for me, our monster of a TV in the family room made a huge POP noise Sunday night (sounded expensive). I don't watch much TV but I do like to keep up with the weather and news, having the itty bitty TV working now feels like a luxury! HA Unlike many families we have only one TV by choice, even when we had all the kiddo's home it was one TV for us. Now that our girls are on their own I wouldn't venture to guess how many they have in their own homes :(, it just seems like such a waste of time to me.
The rest of the week will be filled with the little girls and maybe squeeze in a little catch up sewing until the weekend when I hope to do some butt kicking work on a pile of projects that await my attention. I also have an ever growing pile of tomatoes that need to be worked up and canned into something, maybe tomorrow night I can knock that dreaded job out. As well as some MAJOR organizing the the scrap/sewing room, what a durn mess that is turning into!!!

It's Always Something

Daughter #2 receiving MVP for USSA Softball Nationals
A dozen jackets are now embroidered and the threads are trimed along with each team members number on the back. The team received the jackets for winning the USSA National Championship.

I got up this morning thinking I had the day to work on leftover projects from our girls weekend, maybe a little canning and a nice nap. I was so wrong, Daughter #2 called to see f I could embroiderer jackets her team received for winning the USSA Nationals, sure thing bring them over anytime. Seems Daughter #2 needed them by tonight so they would be ready to give to the team before they leave on Thursday for the ASA Softball Nationals in Panama City, FL Thursday.

OK, time to change gears and get the design ready for jackets she was bringing over after school around 4:00, of course I didn't have the correct stabilizer for the jackets and couldn't find them at our local stores so off to the quilting store an hour away. Did I mention we are still in the after effects of tropical storm Lee as in torrential rains, flooding, tornado's and such?
What a fun drive that was, while at the store I went over the design with one of the super ladies working to make sure I was on the right track(you never know). Hubby called, the tag for his truck has expired, could I check the desk and find the new one then overnight it to the hotel in MI? But of course my dear, anything for you. Back in the pouring down rain to mail the stupid tag, however he is so far out in the sticks they can't guarantee it will arrive overnight, could be a few days but still cost $18.95. Poor hubby may be calling for bail money next if he gets pulled over for an expired tag, hey I did the best I could!

Now we are on a roll, the jackets are coming along nicely but we have had no supper and the kitchen has been taken over by softball apparel. I send Daughter #2 out to pick up carryout,hey we gotta eat. As I was plating up my meal I ask her if they forgot to put the Italian bread in the order, she gives me a sweet but sheepish grin and hands me a slice of bread with a bite out of it. Seems my darling Daughter was so hungry she ate the entire loaf except of course for the one slice she passed on the me with a bite out of it, nice.

Sometimes I feel like they are all still at home remembering just as we tucked them into bed that they forgot to tell me I was the cupcake lady for class in the morning and could I please do the really cute ones all decorated. Well Scarlett tomorrow is another day, maybe I will get back on track and maybe not, such is a life of a Mom no matter how old your kids are I am thinking.

Exhausted!!!!

Humm, didn't do a very good job lining up the photo on this one but he is still pretty cute. This was my first try at applique and embroidery, this is way cool.
LOVE THIS!!! once I cut away the stabilizer and rinsed it off it is a Christmas ornament. Can't believe a little machine can do all of this!!!! I am thinking maybe Christmas cards this year

I was able to knock out two Halloween table runners, Tyler loves decorating for the holiday's

Lots of piecing and quilting on the runners but I really like how they turned out.

Our girls weekend was a huge success!! We got so many projects done (of course have lots more to do) I let may friend loose with the embroidery machine, she was able to get a dozen maybe more Christmas gifts made and ready to wrap, monogrammed towels, stadium blanket, dish towels, baby bibs, and some spirit wear for her upcoming first grand!! I made a good dent in my to do basket I took along, however we hit a local quilting/sewing shop so I added more wanta gotta do's to my pile. We had so much fun and were so productive we have scheduled another get r done weekend at the end of September. This round I will be hosting at our home (better get busy cleaning the house soon) I really should have blogged while I was away to show off all the cute but practical gifts my buddy made but I am no good at the all nighters! We hit the sack at 2:00AM and bellied up to our machines by 7:00AM. Even as sleep deprived as I was the laughs just kept on coming, I was sooo in need of some girl time.

For lunch yesterday we had an all time southern favorite, fried balogna sandwiches. So my friend is in the kitchen fixing our sandwiches and she yells in "Do you like you balogna just warmed a little or fried up crisp?" A little on the well side is good for me. "Do you like your balogna cupped up or do you like it split so it lays flat?" Flat is the way we do ours. "Would you like your bread toasted or plain?" Lets go for toasted. "Dukes mayo, or mustard?" Just dry please. I started laughing and couldn't stop (sleep deprived remember) Hell we are talking a fried balogna sandwich here not a Filet Mignon, but my buddy wanted our special treat to be perfect and it was!!!
Tomorrow will be a day of unpacking and organizing. I refuse to return any of the unfinished projects I brought back home to the scrapbook/sewing room. I am going to line it all up on the counter until it is finished. It looks like we will have a week of ran from tropical storm Lee so I should be able to get caught up on some things and of course I was welcomed home by a counter full of tomatoes. I need to check the stock on the canning shelves to see if it will be salsa or tomatoes headed to the canner this week. I will do my best to get back to regular posting, things have been crazy busy lately, by the end of the day I just want to fall in bed. Half the time I couldn't even tell you which end is up by 9:00PM