October is here... We got racing, Jerry, quilts and flowers oh my

 

Did you see this movie?             Hocus Pocus            "I smell children"

One of my former bosses, Gloria and I would always laugh. And I'd say "I smell Children"  Go figure since she was the assistant prinicipal and I was the AP secretary.  Children were everywhere in the building or in our office.  She is a fall enthusiast.. I have another friend Linda from Linda's Life Journal who loves her some fall décor. I think she has Gloria beat.

The photographer at the Little River racetrack caught David doing a burnout at the start line. Then he caught him at the finish line going 80mph when he saw the win light go on for the guy he was racing. The photographer, whose name I don't know, titled the picture "Look Ma No Hands"   But hey David was runner up.

Isn't this a cute house quilt top.  Carolyn from Bee put windows on her house and once it's quilted she's going to put a small button on the door as a door knob. The second picture is a panel and she's trying to decide what borders to put on it to complete it.

So excited my red passion vine flowers are blooming. I get two or three here and there and then I have 5 at one time. The vine itself is going crazy and the hummingbirds love it. 

And the zinnias are still growing and blooming.  Their about to the end.

They're so pretty and bright.

The one crimson red crepe I love has really been looking good this year.  Hasn't gotten very tall yet but the blooms have been hanging in there for a much longer time than our big white ones at the entrance to the house.

The wind stopped blowing long enough and David was able to kill the yellow jacket nest in one of the rose bushes along the rail fence. These things are mean and now gone!

It was time for our quarterly wine club pickup at the Rising Sun Winery on 9/21. Kelli and John were supposed to join us but Kelli wasn't feeling well so we arranged it so we could pick up their wine too. They missed a tasty lunch. Hatch chili chicken spaghetti, meatball spaghetti and salad plus our free glass of wine.  Met some nice folks while eating and listening to music.

 

After exercise class Tuesday I ran on over to Kelli's just down the road to drop off her & John's wine. When I pulled up I saw something moving really really slow and it was a opossum. He was pretty beat up and the way he moved I thought very old.  Kelli told me that he got a drink of water while she sat right next to him. Didn't faze him at all. Unfortunately he only lasted another day So she couldn't get a mutual friend to help nurse it back to healthy. Life in the country.

My friend Donna Lynn aka Donna Lavender(it's her favorite color) came to stay at the farm for a couple nights so she could attend a Day only retreat Friday and Saturday in Rosebud put on by The Fabric Barn.   

Donna Lynn came Thursday so we could get up and get going Friday.  It's about a 45 minute drive and it started at 9am each day.  Thursday after dinner we went out and she got charmed by Jerry. Of course he saw carrots so he had to be nice. They became best buddies.  Of course Bruno and Sadie had to be right there. Jerry hated every bit of the attention. NOT!

      

 

After they were done being friends we grabbed David and went out on the front patio for a happy hour and talked away.

We got Friday and headed to Rosebud. We unloaded and got to work. I started with some hand sewing on the quilt I made for David to donate to the Breast Cancer Awareness auction at one of the motorcycle races. I need to get some pictures than to share.  Then I did the first step of putting binding on two other quilts. It seemed to take me for ever.

Ms Tiffany the owner of Fabric Barn and the organizer of this retreat was busy in the kitchen making some 30 of us ladies lunch.  Lunch was a chicken gnocchi soup and salad. So very good. I don't think she hardly finished cleaning up before starting dinner. Which was wrap - chicken, bacon and steak with fixings and chips. Of course there was all kinds of snacks, cookies, dips and fruit out on the tables if we needed something to get us through till dinner. We sewed till 9pm Friday and went home. 

Some Friday finishes. Some ladies I know their names and others I don't.

Thelma my newest retreater for my October retreat in a couple of weeks finished her pumpkin fall quilt top. Love all the colors.  And she made adorable Christmas present blocks. This is only one of them. 

Long time friend and a former co-worker Ellen brought her daughter Krista. She's learning the art of quilting and she's doing great. This is Krista's finish. Love all the colors. Sew pretty. 

I think Ellen snapped this picture of me and Donna Lynn working away.

Ellen and her daughter

 

Ellen's finish for her grandson

Donna won a fat quarter bundle. Lucky girl. She shared this quilt with us that she finished and had quilted with a dandelion quilting theme. Too cute

  

These ladies are pinning (meaning for those non-quilters- pinning the top, batting and back together) this top to get it ready for quilting.

The Lady in the middle is Tiffany. The organizer of this 2 day retreat, chief cook and bottle washer and owner of the Fabric Barn Quilt shop there in Rosebud. Thank you Tiffany for an awesome retreat. And yummy food. I can't remember the name of the lady on the left but one in the dark outfit is Judy. She comes to the bee I go to in Cameron and she runs the bee I believe that's there in Rosebud. Super nice ladies!

Colleen from the Cameron Bee finished her Wonky Star quilt top. It was a block exchange/challenge that several of us participated in. Turned out great.


While my friend Jane didn't get to come to this retreat she did swing by and dropped on this top to Donna to quilt. Jane's grand-daughter made it. I love all the grands.. learning to sew and quilt. The grand-daughter did a great job.

Well I have probably put you into a photo overload coma so I'll stop for now. While I was quilting our town of Gause was having their Founder's Day parade and festival.  More on that in the next post.

Until then..Hello, my name is Carla and I am a quiltaholic! 

Babies to Bee and Quilts

Squeezing in one more blog post before September ends.On September 6th I rode to Houston for my nephew Kevin and Niece Alyssa's baby shower. David wasn't going so I rode down with Kaleb and Pamela. The shower was at St Arnold's Brewery so there was beer and wine for those that could partake in the adult drinks. Kaleb was the photographer for the cousins and aunts present.                                             Shelby, Aunt Lynn, Mom & Dad to Bee, Granny to be, Pamela and Me

The Guest Me, Aunt Lynn, Shelby, Glenda and Pamela                     of Honor    Alyssa and Kevin

The grandma's Sarah and Glenda with Alyssa.

Kaleb got in the next picture here. 

The theme was woodland creatures.  I had to have the kids open their baby gift before we left because..... I finished the quilt top but I didn't have time to get it quilted and bound so yep I'm an Indian giver. Of course the bag was filled with other items that Pamela shopped for. 

The pattern for the quilt was Dancing bears and the quilting theme will be woodland creatures but you'll have to wait for the finished quilt in a later blog post. The colors Pamela helped me pick out for the quilt go with the new nursery.  I think they liked the quilt top.  At this writing I got the quilt back from the quilter and I'm working on the binding.  It was a very nice shower.

After the shower we headed to Huntsville to pick up the twins.  They stayed the night with their grandparents. When we got there they were in the pool playing.  We had a nice visit with Tori (Kaleb's mom) and we decided to me Kevin (Kaleb's dad) for dinner before heading back to Bryan with the boys. I can't remember the name (it had changed recently) of the restaurant but it was good.  It was late when we got back to Bryan and I stayed the night because David was coming Sunday to help move furniture.

I had picked up our grand floof Bri on Friday the 5th when I went to PT to babysit her while Kaleb and Pamela have some painting and repairs done in the house. I got her early so she wouldn't be in the way that Sunday when we moved the furniture around.  I'm pretty sure she enjoys hanging out at the farm and playing with her cousins Bruno and Sadie.

I spent two days housesitting while the painters were there while Kaleb and Pamela worked. Thursday (9/11) morning as I drove down the road from our house to go to Bryan I saw this lump in the middle of the road. It was a dead feral pig.  Someone must of hit it earlier in the morning.  Someone's car might be hurting if so. 

The painters messed up at the end of the day when putting the weather stripping back on the back door frame they repaired so I couldn't leave early enough to get to my book club meeting that night. Oh well at least their back door looks great but they'll be back tomorrow to finish the fix.

The G3 gals did at least take a few pictures for me  at the meeting while discussing our latest book The Woman in Cabin 10 by  Ruth Ware, Thanks to Jamie.   Not exactly a group picture but I'll take it.  Love this group.  The group gave the book a 7 rating. It was a pretty good read. Since I couldn't make I sent Kelli my side kick an agenda of stuff that needed to be covered and discussion questions. We work well together.  Good thing.  I hate that I missed the meeting but it is what it was.

Friday (12th) I had a PT appointment.  The original thought was that I'd take Bri home but sadly Kaleb and Pamela had to attend the visitation and funeral of Kaleb's co-worker and friend and it would be really late when they go home so we kept Bri until grooming on Tuesday (16th) and my nail appointment.  Bri was exhausted from 10 days with her cousins of running and playing and grooming wears her out too. 

Once my nails were done so was Bri's spa visit. LOL  I don't think she thinks the spa visit is fun.

I get Bri settled back at her home and I headed to Giddings for the Creative Memories Guild Quilt Show.   

I couldn't wait to see the quilts. I'm going to share a few of my favorites.

  

 

Of close an Aggie quilt is amongst my favorites

The Christmas Tree and Presents is my friend Bekki's quilt. She entered it into the county fair and got a ribbon.

 The next two pictures are some close ups of the work on this quilt.

 

My friend Bekki

 

David went racing at Little River Academy Saturday (9/13) so I went down to help Kaleb the best I could move their furniture back in place now that the painting has been completed for now.  We did what we could and I took off to run a couple of errands and stop at this garden on Hwy 21 that David had told me about and took me there to take pictures of a quilt last year so I stopped there again to take pictures of another quilt but first I took some pictures of the area. Love all the plants and how they're just clumped together.
 

This quilt is for a nurse friend of Pamela's. At least this time I didn't post the pictures of Haley's quilt for baby Stetson who is due to arrive soon before she got the actual quilt. I love the Dancing bear quilt pattern.

You can see the cowboy boots, spurs and hats quilting pattern if you look close at the close ups.

 

So I better stop for now. You're probably on photo overload by now.

Until next blog post........The Love of Sewing is our Common Thread