I know it's been a bit longer than usual between blog entries, but I was on a secret mission. I wanted to surprise both Shannon and Meghan with Halloween quilts, so that is what I was spending my time working on. For a couple of weeks, I spent most free minutes in the sewing room working with these two pieces. The witch wallhanging isn't very big, but I really enjoyed picking the fabrics from my Halloween stash and putting this together. I try some skill that is new to me on each quilt that I do. This one included more freemotion quilting (which you can't see in the picture anyway) than I've done before.
This quilt, named Spiders and Stars, now lives in Daphne with Meghan. Happy Birthday a few weeks early, Meghan. It is abaout 6o" x 84", and that is the biggest quilt I have ever machine quilted. Don't look too closely, because it is anything but perfect. However, it's quilted. I had fun with the fabric and the pattern. The method for putting together the double pinwheels in the middle block was pretty slick.
Fall break is wonderful. After starting school the first week in August, I was more than ready for a break. Last Saturday, the first day of vacation, was a fun day. We went to Shannon's church for their bicentennial celebration. We especially enjoyed the cemetary tour lead by Greg Miller, Nathan's dad. He is a fine storyteller, and he knows his history of the church and the area.
Check out the Huntsville Times article! Then when we got home, Allen and I enjoyed watching the Crimson Tide win. Not a pretty win, but a win. The best part of the vacation has to be seeing our grandsons. Look at Taplin -- he is five and a half months old, and he is almost ready to crawl. This is the perfect age! He smiles all of the time, he wakes up happy, he loves to eat, he grabs for toys and watches everything, and he makes lots of loud (and low) baby babbling. Such a love.
Bridger is great. He's a challenge for his mom and dad these days, but that is what you'd expect from a not quite three year old. Bridger loves books and puzzles, and he knows all of his letters and their sounds. He talks and talks, and he has a stubborn streak. Wonder where he gets that. Hmmm. Tuesday, we drove down to Gulf Shores - in the rain, through some road flooding - to meet Carol and Mike Gaines and see their new, beautiful cottage. Bridger conned Carol into reading a half-dozen books before we headed to the Hangout for lunch. They introduced us to
Billy's Seafood, and Bridger had a wonderful time playing with the piles of oyster shells.
Taplin is ready for Halloween in Bridger's elephant outfit. He is a bundle. We love his big, brown eyes.
Here's Spiderman, the cowyboy. Bridger likes to dress up, but he hasn't decided what to be for trick or treating quite yet. We read Halloween books over and over and over.
No disquising these shrimp. We picked up several pounds at Billy's Seafood and put them on ice to bring home. They are long gone now. We had them for dinner last night with Shannon and Nathan, along with my cornbread. We haven't eaten the snapper fillets yet, but we will today.
Is that you, Louie? This is not much of a stretch, because about half the time, Louie really is the devil-dog. He can get into more trouble in five minutes than one can imagine. He spent several days at the kennel while we were gone, but now he's home and happily hunting trouble.
We had an absolutely perfect October weekend. Friday night, Shannon and Nathan and Allen and I headed up to Nashville in a rented van (so there would be plenty of room for bringing home treasure). After a good night's rest, we were ready to hit the Nashville Flea Market at the state fairgrounds. We bought plenty -- a new quilted Jim Shore Santa for me, an old Coke sign for Nathan and Shannon, some pocket knives for Allen, and assorted other little goodies. Fun day, beautiful weather, lots and lots of walking. After lunch and libation, we hit the square in Franklin so that I could get the backing for the quilt I'm about to finish. Much to our delight, we hit the carver's festival -- wood carvers as well as pumpkin carvers. Allen surprised me by buying a second quilted Santa, this time a hand carved piece. Love it.
Saturday night, we sat in our hotel room and cheered on the Tide. Wow! Eight in a row, and they even showed up the second half to play the entire game. It was kind of fun being in Tennessee to watch Tennessee lose. Roll Tide! Sunday, we had a slow start, but eventually we headed towards Huntsville. We stopped at the Dog Days Flea Market in Ardmore, and look what Shannon found. No, she did not buy one. Nor did we buy one of the tiny pug puppies that were for sale. IF we got another, we would get one from Louie's breeder, but one pug is a lot of pug. We missed him this weekend.
We bought home a huge bowl full of apples with the idea that we will dry them. That's a good project for Halloween week. It's chilly this morning, and it feels like it's almost November. Oh well, back to work today.
