Some Sewing and Chicago

Brother....I am still trying to get used to this new way to upload pictures on Blogger.  Things, including me, are out of sorts here.  But.....I will continue to try to learn yet another new trick.  What is it they say about old dogs?????

With Halloween coming up, I am getting into the costume mode.  The little ones always want to decide what they will be at the last moment so I sewed for a dog.  That would be my uncle's dachshund.  I saw this pattern months ago and thought it would be so cute for a doxie dog.  Since he lives in Iowa, I have no picture of the dog in it.  I tried to get my cat to model it for me to no avail.  I think he is still hiding somewhere.  What a fun pattern it was to make.

Emily and I have been exchanging blue and yellow blocks each month and I finally finished hers and got it in the mail.  I can see this block as a full sized quilt.

I finished the binding on two of the quilts that I had Mary longarm for me.  She did a fabulous job, as she always does.  Thank you, Mary.  I wanted to get the doll quilt washed before taking a picture of it for you, but my washing machine decided to stay on vacation even after we returned from ours.  The part needed of course was backordered.

Look at the sweet hearts.

I just loved using the leftover strips in my binding on this one.

The mailman brought me a great package this week from Rhonda.  She has a sense of humor, I think, quite like mine.  I had won some fabulous fabric in a metal basket and a ruler grabber in a giveaway that she just had.  When I opened the box all of these adorable little fogs popped out of it.  Sooooo cute!  The card was also hysterical!  Thank you, Rhonda.  It did give me a great laugh for the day. 

It is always fun to have a "helper" in my studio.  Kids and a box of buttons!!!!  He really liked just scattering them with his hand because they made a great noise.

Now for a bit more of a taste of Chicago. As I mentioned, the weather was perfect so we did a lot of outdoor walking and exploring.

Since we were in Lincoln Park, we visited their zoo.  Can you believe it was actually FREE to get into it?  What a fabulous thing that is for young families.  I won't bore you with all of the animals, but DH liked this one because she was on watch while he was able to get his afternoon rest!!!!!!

Me???  I liked the stately giraffe.  Gorgeous, isn't it?

Now...this guy was "in charge".

We had to take my sister and BIL back to visit The Bean.

This building is called The Wave and is the tallest skyscraper designed by a female architect.  I guess you could say that she was going to have none of the boring square looks to her building.

These are the three oldest skyscrapers in Chicago.  Beautiful, aren't they?

A view of the newer Chicago.  The river was considered the dividing point between "old" Chicago and "new" Chicago.  The division has moved somewhat further away from the river as newer buildings were built to replace some of the older ones.

Well....we were looking for fall colors in the trees!!!!

Buckingham Fountain with a backdrop of the "old" Chicago.

What???  More fall colored trees????

Navy Pier

The elegant Water Tower on Michigan Avenue.

Navy Pier entrance.  A great place to visit.

The harbor with Lake Michigan in the background.

October.....Already????

Oh my, but the months are flying right by me this year.  I cannot believe that it is October already.

I'm sure that some of you read about our incredible heat wave that we had this week.  It is true that September and October can bring some of our warmest temperatures, but they also bring the Santa Ana winds which fan our fires.  This week the temperatures were not accompanied by the winds.  Alas.....I was not here for the heat wave!!!!  My sister, BIL, DH and I had a week's vacation planned for sometime now and we missed all of the heat.

A week ago we flew up to Seattle and spent a day there before boarding the Empire Builder (Amtrak) train to Chicago.  What a fabulous, fun filled trip we had.  Our country has some of the most gorgeous scenery and I always love seeing it with the changing colors.  Although not at their peak quite yet, they were just what I needed to make me realize that fall is here.

The weather was perfect at each place we visited.  One would never imagine the devastating flooding in the Midwest with the weather we experienced, but the extremely high water and flooded residents told a different tale.

I will break this into two posts so as not to bore you with too many pictures.  I am not sure how this new Blogger picture adding thing is going to work, but I'll give it a try.  Why do they keep changing things just after I get it all figured out????

Arriving ferry in the harbor in Seattle.

I could have eaten the whole lot of these oysters!!!!

Gorgeous flowers at Pike's Market. 

Check out all of these different pastas... 

and even more!!!!!!

Is this bouquet gorgeous or what????  I loved the cabbages thrown into it.

Watched a little cheese making.  They had just separated the curds from the whey.

What I would give to have this market close to me!

Sorry about the blurry pics on the train, but they were taken through the windows.

Enjoying a little quiet time in our sleeper car.

Sunrise over Whitefish Lake - just outside of Glacier National Park.

Some changing leaves through Montana.

Loads of farming in North Dakota.

High waters in Minnesota.

Can you see how high these waters of the Mississippi are?

They were just planting the fall flowers on Michigan Avenue in Chicago.

Water Lily garden in Lincoln Park.

We visited the Nature Museum and really enjoyed the butterfly garden.

Isn't this one pretty with the pink flower?

How about this one?

The nursery with all stages of emergence.

A new use for wine corks was discovered at the indoor greenhouse in Lincoln Park.

I loved this place!!!!!

So many pretty plants to look at.  I could have spent hours inside of the greenhouse.

Oops....this belongs at the market, but I can't figure out how to move it up there.

Be sure to come back for the rest of the trip.  Now I need to catch up on a few blogs.

Dealing With the "Ps"

Yep.....it has been a week of dealing with the Ps in my life - peaches, pears, peppers and pieces!!!!!!!!!  I have lots of canned peaches and pears as well as peach pie fillings which are now frozen.  Won't a fresh peach pie taste good in January?

We have an abundant supply of colorful peppers in the garden too.  Again, they are late in coming, but they are here.  I slice and then spread them out onto a cookie sheet.  Then I place them in the freezer until they are frozen.  Freezing them that way before bagging them up allows you to take out just the ones you need for cooking.  They, too, are wonderful all winter. 

In between "putting up" I played with pieces.....

Halloween bags for some of the grandchildren.  I have made them for the others already.  One problem that I had with these was my package of rick rack.  I was not pleased with quality assurance when I opened this package and had to patch it to make it work.  I would have taken it back, but the trip to the fabric store has now become a long trek with the closing of our main road for TWO months!!!!

A few more blocks in the batiks that I have been playing with.  The jury is still out on this one, but I will keep trying more to see if I can help it along.  At this point I hate to have it end up a UFO.

I made a couple more take along chalk boards which have been a big hit and

.... a pacifier leash, in PINK of course!!!

Lastly, a couple of weeks ago I won some metallic threads from Tonya.  Although I am not a fan of sewing with the metallics, I have found that putting them in the bobbin can give great and hassle free results.  I have been making some flower pins with them and I really like the results.  They are great for wearing or attaching to bags. 

A question....how come they did not have this cute item when I had children who at home who loved using my sewing scissors????

My last P is a new phone.  Now I need to spend the next ten years learning to use it!!!!!  For years I have just had a flip up thingy and I now have a phone that assures me that I will never get lost!!!!!  Is that REALLY a good thing?  Ahhh....technology.  There is definitely a love/hate relationship here.

Happy fall y'all.