Vacation 2012

First of all...my prayers are with all of you suffering the damage from Sandy.  It looks just devastating on the news feeds.

Warning......this post will be picture heavy.

I know it has been awhile since I have posted or even checked blogs, but we have been away for the last few weeks.  One of our very favorite things for DH and I to do is to jump in the car and just drive.  Our final destination was to be Iowa where many of my family members live, but we make no plans ahead of time.  We drive until we feel like stopping and just enjoy our beautiful country.  This trip took us across California, across Nevada, through the tip of Arizona, up through Utah and Bryce Canyon.  We continued on through Colorado and headed north through the sandhills of Nebraska (and hurricane force winds), finally crossing the Missouri River and across Iowa.  The trip home took us through the Black Hills and Wyoming when our visit to Yellowstone and the Tetons had to be altered due to heavy snows.  At that point we left our beloved small roads and moved to an Interstate that had snowplows. 

Snow in Bryce Canyon

Lake Powell, Utah

Well disguised Bighorn Sheep

Cows along our newly found favorite road to Cripple Creek, CO.

I hope no cars are coming from the other direction!!!

Still showing some nice fall colors.

Two crops...hay and windmills

Chimney Rock in Nebraska.  Did you ever play Oregon Trail on the computer?  I could hear the music as we visited Chimney Rock.

Sand Hills in Nebraska

My cousin's brand new toy.  It had just been delivered.  What an amazing piece of equipment!

Very fall looking - view from my cousin's patio.

Along a road in Iowa.  Isn't this great?

Loved this car beside the old house.

Entering the Black Hills.

Snow as low as the desert floor in Nevada

Of course returning home after that length of time always leaves much catch up to do.  I had some wonderful mail from friends awaiting when I returned, including lots of birthday cards since I turned another year older while traveling.  It makes getting older so much easier when you have such wonderful friends.

These darling labels were in a card from Maria.  I already have plans for both of them.  Thanks, Maria.

Mug rug and fun goodies from Ida and Irene, our Rugs with Friends "Momma".

A wonderful package from Leona, my mug rug swap partner for Nov/Dec.  Thank you, Leona.

I also received a package from Madame Samm for participating in the Fall Blog Hop party.  Look at all the fun goodies.  Thank you so much.  I will also be participating in the URPriceless hop and my day will soon be here - Nov. 5th.  Please stop back for that.

Lastly.....remember when I showed the fabulous carved pumpkins?  After seeing them we were visiting our grandson's garden.  He had several green pumpkins so we gave it a try.  What do you think?  We just quickly did the name with a scissor blade, but think how much fun it would be with a little Dremel drill.

Harvest Days

It seems like fall signs are appearing everywhere ....cooler temperatures, shorter days, fall colors and LOTS of pumpkins. 

We attended the Savor the Central Coast event that is sponsored by Sunset magazine.  It is an amazing celebration of harvest.  Check out this great idea.

I was told that they go out to the pumpkins in August and carve the names into them.  The pumpkins then scar over and this is the result.  I think that I will be trying this technique next year.

This is another fabulous idea.  Talk about having your salad at your fingertips!!  I have a pallet of strawberries growing here, but mine is just sitting on the ground.  I may have to elevate mine. 

We've been watching little ones lately so there hasn't been much creative sewing going on here, but we have enjoyed the little ones.  Their visit included a trip to the pumpkin patch.

Taking the train to the pumpkin patch.

If my cow had that name, I might be a bit worried about riding in it too.

Even Grandpa fits!!!

The last few days we were in Atlanta for business.  While there we were able to spend a few hours at the incredible Oakland Cemetery.  It is as much a botanical experience as it is a cemetery.  I, unfortunately, forgot to bring my camera so these photos are from my camera.  I just have a couple of pictures, but this cemetery dates back to the mid 1850s.  Among the well known people buried there include Margaret Mitchell (author of Gone With the Wind) and Bobby Jones, the golfer.  The cemetery has sections which include soldiers from the Civil War - both Union and Confederates, buried separately.  As a sign of our history, the plots are also divided into the black section, the Jewish section and the pauper section.  Known for it's statuary, it was an amazing place to visit. 

Granite obelisk from stone obtained from Stone Mountain - the Mt. Rushmore of the South.  This was a tribute to the Civil War soldiers.

I think this fellow must have like trees to have his stone as a tree trunk.  Interesting!

I loved this flower, but I have no idea what it is.  It was just gorgeous.

I'm thinking something like this might be nice.  The cemetery was filled with different family ones.

We had our first measurable rain yesterday with some wild thunder and lightening to go along with it.  We even had a rainbow that arched right over our yard.

Pot of gold?????  Looks close.

Finally, the winner of my Leafs Me Happy Blog Hop was Barb of Mountain Quiltworks - selected by Random Number Generator.  Congratulations, Barb.

Leaf's Me Happy

Many, many thanks to Madame Samm and to Cherry for organizing all of us, keeping us on schedule and creating such a fun Blog Hop.

The colors of fall "leaf" me happy so the Leafs Me Happy Blog Hop is right up my alley.  Our instructions were to make fall blocks - not necessarily to finish them up, just make them to share.  So........

I worked on adding some fall colored New York Beauty blocks.

The blue is actually purple!!

They will be added to others that I have been working on to eventually make a quilt.  These are the new ones to which I added a few of the others so you can see where I am going with this.

Our neighborhood is invaded each evening by hundreds of black crows at this time of the year.  They come for the falling acorns that are run over in the street.  The caw-caw calling of the birds is deafening for several hours each night so in honor of the crows I created this.  It is hand quilted and embroidered.

A glimpse of our street with the birds.

What would autumn be without turkeys and the wonderful smells from the kitchen?  This will be my Tom overseeing the cooking of Thanksgiving dinner. 

Lastly, I made a block that Cherry designed.  This is a great paper pieced block in candy corn orange scraps.  One block does not tell the whole story though.  As you add more blocks to this the spinning illusion comes into play.  I'm not sure how big I will eventually make it, but I love it.

Thanks so much for stopping by for a visit today.  As a giveaway for those who have made it down this far, I have a wonderful sponsor for my hop.  Thearica  has generously donated a  $25 gift certificate to her new shop.  By coincidence, her newly remodeled shop will also have its debut during this hop - on Oct. 3rd.   She has all sorts of terrific threads, ribbons, buttons and much, much more.

To enter to win please visit Thearica's shop and come back and tell me what you would buy if you won.  I will draw a name at the end of the hop.  Followers of my blog can have a second chance by leaving a comment that you are following. 

Don't forget to visit the other blogs participating in today's hop.   A full list for each day of the hop can be found at Cherry Blossoms Quilting Studios.

                                                  

                                                    Monday 1

 

Fuzzy Hat Quilter

The Cuddle Quilter

Quilts My Way

Country Cabin Thoughts and Crafts

Dream quilt create

Why-Knot-Kwilt

Needled Mom
Quilter in Motion

Sunshine Girl

Meadowbrook

First Monday of Fall

I am enjoying seeing the photos on different blogs of the fall colors starting to appear.  We don't have much in the way of color changes, but the leaves are starting to fall and the lighting is completely different on the hills.   It won't be long before we are talking about Christmas.  I am sure that everyone is ready for it.....right????

My Christmas tree quilt is finished and ready to hang.  I just LOVE the way it turned out.  As I mentioned in my last post,  it is a design by Cherry from Cherry Blossoms Quilting.  I FMQ-ed  ribbons and bows around the tree and feathers along the outer border - a first for both!
 

Halloween will soon be here and I had a couple of costumes to make for some of the little ones here.  I'm sure most everyone has seen Woody in Toy Story and that was the look I was going for.  One vest has the sheriff badge embroidered onto it.  Why just one???  Well, we all know that "there's room for only one sheriff in this town".   I doubt that the two year old will care that there is only one. 

Mhairi's mug rug for our fall swap arrived from Australia this week.  She included some fancy teas and a wonderful Australian magazine.  The mug rug is so cute and has a handy little pocket on the side for keeping a spoon or a napkin in it.  Thank you so much, Mhairi.  I will enjoy it this season. 

I've had the joy of having little ones several days this week as well as older ones spending the night over the weekend.  Life is busy...life is good!!!



Oh no....I don't have to stay with Grandma...do I????

Here's hoping this posts since I am now being forced to use the new interface!!!!