Arty Meme

I like this idea of sharing your work with others, here is where I got it from. http://quiltcontemplation.blogspot.com/
So, if you would like a small fiber creation from me, I will give one to the first five people who ask for it in the comments. But remember, you have to offer the same thing then in your blog/LJ.
I can't say what it will be yet, but probably something seasonal (Christmas, Fall).

More Hats

I made two more crochet hats yesterday while watching old Frankenstein movies on TV. They are pretty good for their age (the movies, not my hats). I think I might have overdone it just a bit, my right arm hurts. :)

Penguins

Speaking of penguins, I got two new additions to my collection. #1 is actually a squeaky toy for dogs that Del got me at the petstore and #2 is a plushy one from the dollar store. :)

Hockey

"My" Penguins won 5 out of 8 games so far and are on top of their group!

Success

Yesterday I finished crochet hat #1. It is actually the first hat I made since elementary school (don't ask about that one ;)). At first I was struggling a bit with the instructions but then I decided to just make it a little bigger on my own and it worked. I got enough yarn for several others.
I also made a shawl from a different yarn and since I have one skein of it left, I will make a matching hat. Taking a picture of it was a bit of a challenge, in case anybody wonders, it is draped over a pillow. :) Somehow I feel more like knitting and crocheting than
sewing at the moment, must be the cold weather.

Christmas

I finally finished the ornaments for the swap. I did not feel like making anything complicated and time consuming and I definitely did not feel like Christmas yet. So I made these little bags, filled them with rice (for weight) and spices and tied a little bell to each one. They smell heavenly and I hope the people in the swap will enjoy them.

Weekend

Friday night we did our usual shopping, extended a bit this time by a trip to Hobby Lobby for more yarn and silk ribbon for my friend Faith. They did not have the yarn I was looking for so we stopped at a Michael's in Winston-Salem on Saturday afternoon where I found what I wanted and on sale too. Me like. :) I bought yarn for another shawl and and for some hats, looks like we will be getting a much colder Winter than we had last year.
Since I don't get out much during the week, I really enjoy being out and about on the weekend. On Saturday we first went to the Farmer's Market, I wanted fresh apples without the wax the ones from the store are always covered with and I wanted to see if I could still get red and green peppers, they still have them and at half the price of the ones in the store. I also got potatoes and onions and pretty green beans.
After the market we went to the Annual Corn Shucking Frolic at Horne Creek Farm in Pinnacle, NC. The farm is a living historical farm owned by the state. It was a perfect Fall day, sunny and warm with a cool breeze. There was a lot going on at the farm, demonstrations on how to make apple butter, molasses and dried apples, making corn shuck dolls and of course corn shucking, everything the way it was done at the farm ca. 150 years ago. The farm house has been lovingly restored and it is beautiful. The Hauser family, who started the farm, came from Colmar in France, they had 12 children - 11 boys and 1 girl. They were successful farmers and at the last turn of the century (19th to 20th) the farm was over 450 acres big. We also went on a ride in a mule drawn wagon to the Southern Heritage Apple Orchard, where they grow over 400 old apple varieties to save them from becoming extinct. In today's paper is an article about the man who actually started doing this after he retired from the Army in 1982 and who gave the trees for the orchard to the Horne Creek Farm, very interesting. People in costumes of the time were doing the demonstrations and also giving tours of the house. There seemed to be an unusual large number of lady bugs in the house and when I mentioned it, the lady who did the tour said that when she opened the house in the morning she swept out about 4 shovels full of them. Yikes, I guess that would be a bit too much country for my taste. ;) We got to taste the molasses they were making and I bought a jar of it, it is delicious and I plan to use it in a shoo fly pie and a molasses cake (they also handed out recipes for cake and cookies). There was also traditional music - Bluegrass, I just love it - and dancing. The food was simple and very good, we had pinto beans and ham biscuits and shared a fried sweet potato pie and homemade icecream. I took over 100 PHOTOS at the event. The countryside up there is gorgeous and the trees have turned nicely, I love all those blazing yellows and reds with the dark green of the pines mixed in.
It is funny, when we first moved here we had planned to move to Randleman, which is south of High Point, but now, since Del got a job in Winston-Salem we are more and more going north on our explorations. The countryside is totally different there as you get closer to the mountains, it is very hilly and wooded with farms in between. I don't really want to move away from High Point anyway, I really like it here, big enough to be a city, small enough not to be disgusting. ;) And now, that the Furniture Market is over for this year, it is nice and quiet again.
On Sunday we went to a Model Railroad Show in Winston-Salem. Del was happy, he found what he was looking for. The weather was totally different from Saturday, cold and raining buckets. After lunch I spent the rest of the day watching three races and two football games - all at the same time :) - and finishing my shawl and starting the first hat.

This and that

It sure looks like Fall today, it has been raining all night and it still is, the ground is covered with dead leaves and it is rather gloomy. Del is in Hickory until tomorrow night to take SAP classes for work.
I signed up for a Christmas ornament swap a while ago when the deadline seemed so far away, now it is less then two weeks away and I have not made one single ornament. I just don't feel like Christmas yet. I even tried listening to Christmas music, but that did not work either. I made one test ornament yesterday, but then,
instead of making more I baked a batch of applesauce-raisin cookies. ;) And I made two Halloween fabric postcards. I think they are cute. I used felt for the ghost and the bat and glass beads for the eyes and the mouth of the ghost and since I learned in the meantime to not put any batting into the cards, they were a lot easier to make then the first one I tried.
Sometimes I wish I had a dumber cat. I swear my cat thinks and can put two and two together. If she were dumb it would be easier to determine whether she pukes because she is sick or just because her little nose is out of joint. I know that she never really forgave Del for leaving us alone for a week in Vienna before we left for NC. Once we got here, she ignored him for several weeks. I guess watching everything she knew - except me - disappear was quite traumatic for her. And now, every time something happens that is out of the ordinary she gets miffed and I swear she can throw up on demand whenever something does not go the way she wants it to go. Like when she does not get fed the food she wanted or at the time she demanded to be fed. I guess I love her anyway. ;)
I bought some new yarn on Sunday for a shawl. I found the pattern for it on the Michael's website and it looked so cozy and comfy that I want to make it for myself. I also bought more clothes despite the fact that after a recent inventory of all my clothes, I asked Del to shoot me whenever he catches me buying more. ;) Kohl's had a sale on tops by a certain manufacturer, buy one, get one free, oh well, I only wanted the fleece cardigan with the penguins on it but now I also have one with cowboy snowmen. They are so soft and cuddly and a size smaller than what I needed last year.
We went to a quilt show in Greensboro on Sunday, organized by the Piedmont Quilters' Guild. Lots of beautiful quilts. Of course I took a ton of PHOTOS. My new camera takes pretty good pictures.
I am officially broke now. I used up almost all of the money I had brought with me and can spend no more for fun and entertainment. ;) Oh well, I got more crafting materials and fabrics than I will probably ever use in my lifetime so I should be good for a while. And since cooking magazines benefit the whole family, they can be bought with household money. :))

Hockey

My Penguins won against the NY Rangers last night, 6:5. I very much hope that they will have a better season than they did last year. They got a lot of potential, they are motivated and have many young players in the team. Their future is still undecided since the team has been put up for sale but I really hope they will be able to stay in Pittsburgh and that they will finally get their new arena.

WOBQ

This is the block for Lot's Wife, who does not even have a name in the Bible. Her whole story is told in 12 words in Genesis 19:26: "But Lot's wife looked back, and she became a pillar of salt." End of story. The part about looking back was what was significant for me in the story. I have done a lot of looking back recently, but not longingly for sure. There were some things I needed to work out and get over, now I can put them behind and move forward in my new life.

WOBQ

This is the block for Hagar, it took me a long time to finally finish it and it is an exercise in self discipline, I really had to force myself to sit down and finish it today. I did not feel like hand sewing at all. It looks like a candidate for "better finished than perfect" but I am glad it is done and I actually like the way it looks. I am a few blocks behind again, but I do keep up with the study.

Monday

After spending my first night alone since we got here, I woke up to the sad news that Charlie Bradberry had died in a car accident. He was a young race car driver from Alabama and although I have never met him, it makes me sad. He was only 24 and had gotten married recently. RIP Charlie, we won't forget you.

Charlie Bradberry
1982 - 2006

Sunday

The weather was even worse than on Saturday, so instead of going for our usual walk in the park we went driving around a bit to look at some houses that are for sale. We are not ready to buy a house yet, but it is very interesting to see what the houses look like in real as compared to the photos. :) For one of them the description said that it needs "some TLC and elbowgrease and the heating system is not functional", well, after seeing it, I think the heating system is the least of it's problems. ;) Images from the movie "The Money Pit" kept coming to mind. It is also way out in the boonies, to be honest, I'd be scared living so far out in the country, I guess I am a city girl at heart after all. ;) The other house we looked at is very sweet and I would buy it immediately if I could. It is right here in High Point, in an old part of town with mature trees and pretty old houses, the price is reasonable and the house in good shape. We saw a lot of other houses for sale in the same are, some of them are huge and come with beautifully landscaped gardens. We are not looking for an investment or a house with a good re-sale value. All we want is a house that fits our needs and that we can afford. And I feel very strongly that I want to stay in High Point.
In the afternoon we watched the Nascar race in Talladega (my favorite race), it was fun to watch but the ending left a bitter taste. I just don't like guys winning a race by brainlessly wrecking others.
Del had to drive to Hickory last night where he is attending a course for work.

Saturday

On Saturday we went to two different festivals, both were very nice. The weather was not quite so nice, it was cool and wet, but at least it stopped raining along the way.
In the morning we drove to King to attend the King Fest, a festival in the Central Park of King that benefits the community. It was great, nice and small, all vendors were locals and the proceeds benefitted different groups and organizations in King. I like that a lot better than professional vendors and their overpriced stuff. We ate hot dogs, price winning cakes (they sure were delicious) and a caramel apple (never had one like that before). There was a car show and music and crafters sold their creations. There was also a youth fishing tournament at the catch and release pond in the park. King is a pretty little town with hard working good people living in it, everybody was very kind and friendly. I enjoyed the whole thing very much. PHOTOS
Around lunchtime we continued on to Lowgap. There we visited the Sonker Festival in the historical Edwards-Franklin House. A Sonker is a deep dish pie made with sweet potatoes or fruits. I tried the sweet potato one and it was delicious, we also sampled some of the fruity ones and they were very good too. The house is very interesting, it is from the late 18th century and has been restored by the Surry County Historical Society. There was good old fashioned music being played on the front porch and the whole event was very enjoyable. PHOTOS
I really enjoy these small events and festivas a lot and prefer them over the big ones with lots of people, overpriced whatnots and unhealthy food. It was a very enjoyable day.
Except - my Penguins lost their game. :(

A little bit of everything

The NHL season has started and my Penguins won their first game last night, 4:0 against the Flyers. Yeah! Good job boys, keep it going. ;)
I bought two pie pumpkins at the Farmer's Market last weekend and finally cooked and mashed them and put them into the freezer, in perfect portions for various projects. Yesterday I made a batch of miniature cheesecakes. They are so easy to make and taste really good, best thing is, they only have 120 calories per portion and are perfect for dessert or snack.
I am still working on the WOBQ block for last week, for some reason I can't get myself to do the hand applique. It is raining and rather gloomy so I don't think I'll be doing much hand sewing today either. I also can not come up with a journal page to make for Psalm 73, I guess I just do that when I feel really inspired and leave the others out. I have to learn to take things easy and to not want to get EVERYTHING done.
I am in a strange mood today, restless, I want to do something but can not decide what. I would like to empty my closets and re-organize my wardrobe for the cooler season but I'd rather do that with Del around to give me a hand and catch me when I fall off the ladder (the closets are just too high for short little me). I know one thing for sure, I do NOT want to clean today. I stripped the bed and have laundry going, that's all I am going to do as far as cleaning goes. :)
I got my social security number yesterday, I better start studying for the driver's license test, yikes! Have I mentioned that the idea of driving scares the out of me?
I guess I'll just mess around on the computer until I come up with something better to do.

Clothes Shopping - well, sort of

This morning I dug out several pairs of pants that did not fit me, to try them on and see if I have lost enough weight to wear them. Well, obviously I did and now I have a lot more pants to choose from. :)
We have taken up our daily walk again and my muscles are protesting a bit (I did not know previously that walking exercises your core muscles), and I also tried a different exercise for the core yesterday and I can feel that too. But other than that I feel good and I have a lot more energy than I did last week. The weather is gorgeous too. We never really experienced a very nice fall season in Vienna, it was very hot and then it got cold and rainy and that was it. Here it is wonderful, sunny, not too warm, not too cool, perfect Fall weather. We have some plans for the coming weekend and I am very much looking forward to it. :)

QtP - Psalm 37

I finally got the journal page for last week's study done. I was struggling a bit with that one because I wanted to keep it simple. Key passages for my interpretation: "Trust in the Lord and do good; dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture.""But the wicked will perish: The Lord's enemies will be like the beauty of the fields, they will vanish - vanish like smoke."

After some mishaps (like cutting into the background fabric) I think I am happy with it.

Halloween Swap

Well, here are the blocks I got from the swap, now what to do with them? I am thinking either wall hanging or table topper. I have kept one of my own blocks and I will probably use the big pumpkin in the center, the three small blocks together with my spider web block as cornerstones and use either a bat or a candy corn fabric for borders, or maybe both. Right now I have other projects I need to work on but maybe I'll finish it before Halloween.
Thanks to all the swappers, it was fun.

Week in review

I had a pretty bad week last week. Sometimes I am just way too emotional and get myself into situations that take ages for me to recover from.
Last Sunday night we found a kitten in our apartment complex. Well, we had kittens roaming around here before but they were always with their mother. This one must have somehow become separated from her and he was constantly heading straight for the middle of the road. Since some people mistake our access road (speed limit 12 mph) for a race track, seeing him smashed in the morning seemed inevitable and that was just an unbearable thought for me. I had seen two people pick him up and put him into a safer place and every time I looked out the window, there he was again, in the middle of the road. So we went out and got him. I did not want to bring him into the apartment, after all that Miss Kitty has been through with the move, she has the right to live here knowing that no other cat will ever threaten her territory. Now what to do? It was a very small kitten, about 4 weeks old, dark grey with a white bib and huge blue eyes, totally trusting. We put him into Kitty's carrier to keep him from running into the street again and he made himself happily at home.
In the meantime I tried to call some place where they could tell me what to do with him. The emergency vet is not set up to receive animals, all they could tell me was that the shelter might have a drop off box. Even if they would I don't think I could have just dropped that tiny little kitten into a dark hole in the middle of the night. Besides the county shelter is not a no-kill shelter. I grew desperate as it was getting later and later. Finally I called my friend Angie and she said she has a co-worker who takes in foster animals, she would come by and pick him up. And so she did, half an hour later they drove up, just as a thunderstorm broke lose. We put the little critter into a box and she took him with her.
The next day I asked her about him and she told me that he is fine, he spent the night in their bed, his name is Stormy and she is keeping him. She had just lost a cat 3 weeks ago which she found last Summer at the recycling center.
And although the whole sad story had a happy ending it threw me completely out of the loop. I felt awful all week long, totally off center. It causes me a lot of stress whenever there is an animal in distress but especially when it is a cat or kitten. I have been crazy about cats ever since I was a kid.
On Wednesday we went to apply for my social security number, it will take about two weeks to get here.
By Friday I was feeling a bit better and we got our usual grocery shopping done. We did not go out for dinner this week, we got BBQ takeout instead.
Saturday morning we went to the Farmer's Market, which I always enjoy and then we headed to Thomasville for a big street fair, called Everybody's Day. That was a bit too much for me, I am no longer used to having so many people in one place. ;) I also called my mother and found out that my brother is in the hospital but they are not yet sure what is wrong with him, he probably needs some serious lifestyle changes (weight loss, quit smoking).
Sunday morning we went for a long walk in the park, we walked and walked, it felt so good, the weather was perfect, a sunny Fall morning, not too warm, not too cool. We walked 4 miles instead of our usual 3 and it felt great. After our walk we stopped at our storage facility to get some stuff out of our boxes. Then we had a very late lunch and watched the race.
I did manage to get my daily bible studies done though, the new study of the Psalms does me good and I learn a lot from it. I did not make either quilt block for last week but I hope to catch up with that this week. I am still on track with the weight loss program but have not been very good at exercising, we'll go back to walking in the evenings this week.
The stressful week ended way better than it had begun.
Today I am feeling pretty good and I have a lot more energy than I had last week and I also have a rather long to-do list, so I better get started on that. ;)