Finally finished my Halloween AG doll swap. Pam H. was my "target". Here's a photo of the outfit I made her. I used a McCalls pattern for the blouse and it wouldn't go over her right hand so I undid the seam about 1" and put in snaps with a button on the outside. It worked out fine. I'd advise measuring your doll's hands and the pattern before cutting and sewing.

Well, here's what I woke up to this morning. It's not the first of the season but that left in a couple of hours. This is still coming down and the radar map shows a few more hours of it. Makes me want to go back to bed and pull the covers up to my chin. I'm long past the age of building snowmen.

FatCat Patterns

I've just added a link to one of my favorite web sites. The patterns on this site are the greatest. Take a look and see if you don't agree with me.

Oh my, our first snow of the season. It didn't last long on the ground but was a hint of things to come. There was still ice covering the goats water trough this evening. I don't like cold!!!!!

Here's a photo of the house and tree blocks for Sharyn in WA. They're all 4.5" unfinished and done by paper piecing. Most of the blocks I make these days are by paper piecing. I just love that method.

Shop Hop

It took me 2 days to complete the 9 shops but it was fun. I went to areas of WI I had never been and the fall leaves were beautiful. I don't dare add up all the receipts or I might feel guilty but mostly I purchased fat quarters, 1/2 yd pieces and 1 panel. I went with 3 swaps in mind but when I've opened up the pieces plus the pieces I purchased on the Neillsville trip they filled a 30 gallon trash bag ready to be laundered. It's not as if I needed another piece of fabric to come into this house but.............................. Anyway, I've promised one of my granddaughters I'd take her on a weekend trip this month and I plan to go to another area of WI that I haven't visited so I'm sure we'll take in a few quilting shops on that trip, too.

Trip to Neillsville

Had to take my Sheltie in to be spayed and since the trip was in another city I had to stay all day. Found a quilt store I hadn't visited and managed to spend way too much. Wanted to find a park to wait out the day so found Highground. It's a Veteran's operated memorial to our troops in all wars. It is lovely and I spent a very restful day doing counted cross stitch and viewing the beautiful scenery. I was very sorry I did not have my camera with me. There were veterans there greeting all the visitors and handing out listening devises to explain all the different areas as you toured the park. It was very impressive. The weather was perfect, not too hot and not chilly. Just lovely. Today at home it's in the 50's and the wind is like ice hitting you. Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. Good day to quilt.

Dot won the July blocks and here's some stars I made for her. The blocks are 4.5" unfinished.

Trip to TN

Granddaughter Charlotte and I made a trip to TN in August. My sister Rosie and her DH, Mavis, were home for summer break from China and we had a reunion at my other sister Charlotte and her DH, Ted's home in Chapel Hill, TN. It was Charlotte;s first time out of WI and she was so excited. Here we are getting ready to return home.

TN is beautiful. I often wish I had retired there instead of WI. TN is my birth state and the older I get the more I miss it. I have more photos and will upload some when I can get them reduced in size. My iPhoto is acting up right now.

Winter

Ouch!! On leaving the small animal auction last Saturday both feet went out from under me and I landed on my head and tail at the same time. Everything went black with red sparkles. The head got better fast but the other spot is taking much longer. Was in bed several days. Sigh. Now I can sit for a little while but have to get up to walk. Thank goodness for Dan. He took over feeding the critters, dishwashing and cooking. I'm up to the dishes and cooking now but Dan's still carrying the water buckets for the animals.

My sister who lives in a nice warmer state asked what the farm looks like right now so here are some photos.

Boy, oh boy, it's cold. Lots of snow piled all over the place from plowing the driveway so many times. I just mainly stay inside and knit, except for feeding the critters. Brrrrrrr!!! I'll try to get some photos and maybe post them tomorrow so my sisters in TN and China can see what we're going through.

Here's some photos of recent socks. The darker ones are the ones I made for me this week and the other 2 are from a Death by Socks game. The orange ones are the ones my assassin, Liz, made for me and the purple ones are the ones I made for my victim, Melody.

Ooops

The photo was cut off on the right so Charlotte is the second one from the right in the photo now.

Harding Academy 50's Reunion

2007-202-002, originally uploaded by jeffmontgomery.

Charlotte and I are both in this photo. Rosie and Mavis were in China and couldn't make it to the reunion. I graduated in 1953 and Charlotte in 1956 (I think). She's the little tiny one one the front row 3rd from the right. I'm right next to her in white.

Busy Summer

It has really been a busy summer. Lots of canning tomatoes, beans and several jams and preserves. One interesting new jelly was garlic jelly to be used on meats. Today I hope to try a new garlic/onion bread. My computer crashed and it took awhile to get it fixed. Was out of warranty so my son did it for me. Thank goodness for having computer literate children. Well, going to go watch Gen. Petraus' speech. Hooray for dedicated military men like him. Boo on people who'd rather have us lose a war for their political reasons.

Marshmallow

I can't believe it's been so long since I posted. Days just seem to fly by. I'm still knitting socks for solciers and in the last few days have made washcloths to go with hand made soap someone else made to go in the socks. I hope to make some goat milk soap soon.

Speaking of goats......... This is what my doe, Marshmallow, gave me yesterday. They are so cute.



That's all for now. Lots more rain coming so back to knitting

Catch Up

Well, I certainly have been lazy about posting, but not lazy about knitting. I work on my SFS every day and then have been making AG sweaters for a swap. I'll post photos of the sweaters. Now that the sweaters are finished I'm making the 2nd glove for one of my granddaughters. They gloves are from "eye lash" and are very think and bright pink. She is a pink type of girly girl so I know she'll love them.

It's cold, cold, cold. A little snow on the ground but not too much at the moment. I just don't know how the animals do it.

Now for the photos.

Saturday, October 28

It's a bright, sunny day, but cold. I have lots to do today but wanted to post the newest pair of leisure sock for SFS.

Will post photos of our newest farm babies as soon as I can get good photos. It's kind of dark in the barn and the photos didn't come out well. There is a buck and a doe and they are so cute.

First snow and doll clothes swap

We had our first snow of the season on the Wed the 11th. It snowed Thurs and Friday, too, but by Saturday it was gone from the ground. It's still cold and windy though. I'm seriously considering giving the rabbits away so I don't have to deal with frozen water bottles any more.

Here's photos of the the clothes I made for the October doll clothes swap. These are for the 18" AG size/type doll. I really enjoy making doll clothes, either sewn on the machine or knitted.

Fall

Yesterday I went to the Pumpkin Fest with some of my grandchildren. It happens every year on the first Saturday in October. The main street through town (which is a highway) is blocks off for several blocks and the streets are lined with booths. Some selling crafty items, some food and some games for children to play. In the middle of the street there are flatbeds filled with flowers, squash, pumpkins and gourds. There's also pony rides, an air filled slide thingy and horse pulled hay wagon rides. Some years it's been so cold I had to buy something to put over my ears. Yesterday it was 73 degrees. Very nice.

Speaking of Fall,here are a couple of photos. First one is one of the maple trees in my yard and the other is a view from across the road. The colorful trees are pretty far away though.