11,111

This morning when I logged on the counter on my blog showed 11,111 visitors. I thought this needs to be celebrated.
If you would like to receive a surprise gift from me, leave a comment on this post before December 1.

Monday, Monday

The sun is shining, the cats are happy and three loads of laundry are fluttering merrily in the breeze.
Our stash enhancement trip to W-S on Saturday was not as successful as I hoped it would be. Neither one of the two fabric stores had what I was looking for. I did find a very nice Winter themed fabric at our HobbyLobby, the other fabric is for a special project.

I did get some yarn for ongoing and future projects and I also bought some books at the book sale for the library.


It was a rather warm day and I came home exhausted and with a headache.
I hope the weather will stay nice this week and I can get all the laundry done and maybe work a little in the garden.

My Latest Project

I am currently knitting the Lacy Prairie Shawl from Folk Shawls. I got a lot of it done during the bazaar.

The storm is still on here, it is cold, windy and raining buckets. Our telephone line got knocked out sometime yesterday and it is still not working and the internet connection comes and goes. Del has a job interview today in Greensboro, he applied for a supervisor position within the DMV.
Brownie and Mamacat have been staying in the mudroom and basement since yesterday morning and neither one of them is inclined to go outside. I feed the two boys in the dry part of the carport and they are obviously staying in the shed together. There is a big box with blankets in the potting shed.

Last night something weird happened. Around 8.30 pm somebody knocked on our front door and after checking carefully who was outside Del opened it to a police officer standing on the front porch. He said they received a 911 hang up from this location and asked if everything was okay and if he could come in just to make sure. He came in and looked around, using his little flashlight apologized for the disturbance and left. I wonder what happened, maybe it was a glitch in the telephone line due to the weather.

I think I must bake some more brownies today. ;-)

Stormy Weather

We are getting hit by the remnants of storm Ida and it is way too nasty to go out if you don't have to. So we postponed our stash enhancement trip to Saturday, after the visit to the book sale of the library. Our power went out for about half an hour this morning and it showed us how much we depend on electricity. It was too dark in the house to read or knit, the sump pump was getting ready to overflow and if it would have lasted for a long time our turkey would have thawed and gone bad because we can't cook without power either. Yikes.
I was in an experimenting mood last night and this was our dinner. Baked acorn squash stuffed with onions and peppers, mashed potatoes, orange chocolate brownies, pomegranate seeds and a little leftover cream. Yum, yum.

Rainy Day

Outside - cold and wet.

Inside - warm and cozy, bread dough rising and brownies cooling.

Church Bazaar

Well, it was an interesting experience. ;) I did not expect to sell much and I did not, if I had a dollar for each time someone told me how cute the baby booties are and how talented I am, I would have a lot of money. But as it is I do have a bit more money than I had before. The times being what they are a lot of people were looking but not many were buying. At least the pancake breakfast and the hotdog lunch were successful fundraisers for the church.
This was my table (Del said it looked like a humble cottage amidst skyscrapers).

And I bought these two items. A quilt block pin, made by the same lady as the one I bought a while ago at a yard sale (they are both signed and dated on the back, one was made in 1993 the other one in 1994) and a vintage, hand pieced pillow cover, made by a lady's Aunt Mary. She died in 1980 in her early 80s so I guess the 30s fabrics in this piece are actually from the 30s. When I bought the pin she asked me if I liked quilty things and when I said that I am a quilter she offered me the pillow cover, she wanted it to go to someone who would appreciate it.


Now that my cold is finally over I am busy reclaiming my household and catching up on things. I did however read more in the past 3 weeks than I did all year long. :) Del has Wednesday off and we will be going to Winston Salem to do some stash enhancement (mostly yarn and a little bit of fabric for a special project).

I am off to hang the first load of laundry then it is cleaning and tidying time.

Have a great week y'all!

Happy Birthday Del!

His gift and his cake.



Pattern for the hat.
Recipe for the cake.

Catching Up

I caught Del's cold and it knocked me out good. First it visited my sinuses making my head feel like it is going to explode, then it settled in my chest, stayed there for two weeks and some bits and pieces of it are still there, I have a lingering nasty cough.
So instead of doing all the usual things I spent the last two weeks with a lot of reading, a little bit of knitting (Del's birthday present) and very little housework and cooking.
Del is on vacation this week and we plan to get the garden cleaned up and I need to catch up on laundry (provided it won't be raining again).
I got everything ready for the church bazaar on Saturday, we will be setting up on Friday and then go in early on Saturday because Del will be helping with the pancake breakfast. I missed church for 4 weeks in a row (first Del was sick, then me and we are not in the habit of sharing our germs with everybody) and I really miss it.

Here are a few pictures I took recently.

Summer's last hurrah.

Fall colors.

A sleeping cat (Mr. Scarface) in my garden.

A birthday card for my mother.

And Miss Kitty helping me make it.