Patriotic Wreath

So I was going to make this:

But mine ended up looking like this:

I might like mine better.  

Maybe it is the red door!

Our Veggie Garden

Most mornings, bright and early, I step out into the wee hours of the morning and start pulling grass.  Our garden started out late this year, but it is on track to make a whopper crop.  I thought I would share a few pictures - we have done a lot this year! 

Steve bought hog panels and bent them for the beans and cucumbers:

Tomatoes are just on straight hog panels:

He has set up a watering system which mostly works - until it doesn't:

In the background of the above picture you can see the fruit trees we planted this year; 6 peach. 2 plum and 3 apple!  They are supported by 2x2 stakes until they get going good.

I also bought 2 blueberry bushes which were full of berries this year!  We have not put them out in the fruit 'orchard' yet as we are waiting for the harvest.  I think I am getting taken here though, because I see some berries getting very close to ripe and they suddenly disappear!  Me thinks there are chickens that beat me to them!

All of this is worth it.  Today's harvest was nice:

We are getting more self sufficient every year.  I go to the grocery store less and less, use more from our canning closet and freezers.  What a terrific feeling!

Today, after working in the garden for several hours, a couple of friends and I went for pedicures - their first ever!  I think they are hooked!  It was sure a nice break from the farm grindstone:

And no matter how ugly my feet are, the ladies giving the pedicures can always make them pretty:

Another "Do Nothing" "Turning Twenty" "Crazy Quilt"

Our garden is coming in!  Steve has worked so hard trying to get it back up and running, but we have it!

This is just my first pick because we got started late; my surgery and healing delayed it, then the rain, then the heat.  But it is rolling now!

I finished another quilt top a few days ago.  For this quilt, my friend Sharon gave me a lot of the fabric.  She used to work at a fabric store so she has bucket loads of fabric.  Since she had doubles of the same fabric she shared.  As we were sewing it we laughed about the randomness of it.  It became known to us as the "Crazy Quilt":

I might have added a few of the fabrics myself; like the lizards, the cool cats and the gummy bears...

So our conversations went something like this... 

"What are you going to use for the border of that... ummm... crazy quilt?"

"Gosh, I have been trying to figure that out, too.  I don't know, what are you going to use?"

"Ummm, it is so crazy it is going to have to be unique... you know... crazy!"


We each searched through our stockpiles of fabrics, but of course there was none to match our crazy quilt.  What do you do then?  

We shopped... at multiple fabric stores.  But nothing suited us!

I finally settled on this chevron fabric that was IN a quilt at a quilt store, but the owner did not have any more of the fabric, and didn't know the name of it or who designed it...

So I searched online... 

And searched...

Do YOU know how many CHEVRON fabrics there are??

I kept on searching... page 117 (!) of chevron fabrics...

But on page 192 and days of hitting 'next' - I succeeded!  I found THE fabric, paid WAY more than I wanted to, but I got it.   


And I think this Chevron border turned out just right for the craziness of my quilt!

So now you know the story of my "Do Nothing" (yes, it is a Turning 20 Again pattern) "Crazy Quilt."

I have no one in mind for this to go to, but some day, someone will dig through my stash of quilts and claim it as their own.  

Until then, I will smile at my cool cats and lazy lizards and gummy bear baby - the craziness of this quilt just makes me smile.

"Do Nothing" "Turning 20 Again" "Hear The Music" Quilt

 I am an avid fabric collector.  I love going to fabric stores and collecting fabric to make quilts with.  Sometimes I have a theme, other times, the fabric just intrigues me and I buy it for a project not even on the horizon.

Sometimes I have patterns.  Some are intricate and some are very easy.  I need the very easy ones to go between the ones that take all the thought a person can use - and some friend's input to help out.  One of the quilt patterns I use is called a Turning 20 Again.  You take 20 Fat Quarters and cut them all out and use them to make the quilt.

Well, my daughter borrowed my Turning 20 Again pattern and knowing I was better off buying my own, I set out to find one.  I went to a local quilt store and asked if they had a Turning 20 Again pattern to which the clerk said "no".  As she walked to the back, the owner of the store asked her what I was looking for and she stated, "She wanted a Turning 20 Again pattern." The owner said, "That is a do nothing quilt, I won't even bother to carry that pattern!"

Imagine my surprise...  A 'do nothing quilt' uses HER fabric - fabric she should want to sell and should not give a rats last how it is used or what pattern it is used in!  I was flabbergasted!  A FABRIC STORE OWNER saying this!

Ask me if I will ever walk back into her store again... 


So here is my Do Nothing Turning 20 Again "Hear the Music!" quilt:

Just a fun, easy going, relaxing pattern.  

I think I like it!

Going to work on another Do Nothing Quilt... thankyouverymuch.

Punkin' Is Getting So Big!

She is 13 now!  Look how much she has changed in just a few months!  

Her school picture from fall:

I took this picture sometime earlier this year:

And this one was her 13th Birthday Picture taken the end of May - at our place:

Kids grow too darned fast.

That is all.

Dog Days of Summer

Today is HOT.  The 'feel like' temp is 115!

With heat comes flowers! Here are some blooms from my gardens this morning... 

Well, maybe not all are flowers, but pretty, just the same... lol...

Going to work outside for a bit after it cools down and tend to the veggie garden.

Steve worked outside all day yesterday getting fencing up in the front pasture so our cattle could 'mow' down the shoulder high hay.  I don't know how he works out in the heat all stinkin' day, but he does.  I guess it comes from many years in south Louisiana gulf waters working?  I would croak.  Literally.  I would die.  

I love that man!  He does so much for us.


Stephenie and Todd are heading to south Oklahoma to check out some new goats!  I can't wait to see them - their 'new' babies are getting older, but they were so cute when they were born:

Will they be coming home with new goats?

We shall see!  Stay tuned!

I Got Into My Blog!

I have been locked out!  I could not find a way in because it kept my old address and somehow went back to it.  An e-mail address I had not had in 5 years!  Never mind I have been posting and getting e-mails to my new address in the last 5 years.

Oh well, here I am again.  I will try one more time to get this up and going... now that I am so much better.  It has been a very rough 4 years, but I think we finally got me back on the right track.

So here goes a quick catch up if anyone is still here.  You all know how sick I was.  So very sick we all knew I was dying.  Drs concluded that I did have a serious blood disorder that will never go away.  They put me on antibiotics that nearly killed me and severely inflamed my entire body.  It didn't go away when the antibiotic did.

Long story shorter, I had an sinus infection for many years caused by my blood disorder.  I FINALLY found a sinus Dr who took a chance on me, went in to clean out the infection and lo and behold found a nasty, nasty 'concretey type' of fungus, some weird things the previous Dr had done.  He fixed that Drs mess ups and added drainage windows and I AM FIXED!  No sinus infection that I had had at least 10 years!  AT LEAST 10 years!  The inflammation quickly died down, the numbness went away, the pain died down and I was finally able to hope it was really going to turn around.  It DID!

Very little pain - and I can deal with this amount easily.  So much better!  Yes, I have pain but nothing compared to what I did have!

I can walk.  I can talk.  I don't wobble.  I don't stumble.  I don't look drunk.  Weight is coming off.  I don't whimper with every step and I don't feel like I just want to fall in a deep hole and leave this precious world.

Thank you dear Dr who saved my life.  I honestly know you did.

And yes, I still have that incredibly serious blood disorder.  I still have severe fatigue from it.  It will never go away.  Drs are shocked that we haven't had a serious illness yet.  

I am in awe that God is watching over me.  Still.

I am back.  Hopefully forever now.  I feel like living my boring country life.  I love our place and I hope you will too. 

And this is my new, wonderful hobby.  Quilting.  I will never give it up.  I love the relaxing art of sewing.  My new passion:

More coming!