Tis the Season - Of Color!

We've had fun news about the Honeymoon Baby. Jade sent several pics. All were exciting! but these two Lil BOY Feet lined up so perfectly tickled me !

The one thing about being down here in MO, is the seasons still change... but at a slower pace. Fall has just started , on our rides we watch for the colors changing on the bluffs around Jeff City. Last year I was doing the chiro several times a week , each drive was full of admiration of all the many colors of fall. With that palette to play with I rounded up the colors for this quilt. I got it Finished this month!

Over the past couple weeks we have been getting the yard and garden cleaned up. Using the last bits of produce in soups, stirfry & Mex dishes. Yumm !

The front of the house got some action too. Tim found 'TheEyes' they fit perfect in the front windows. We are Watching YOU !

and I BAKED a cake.!.. then ate the candy corn !

I'm now counting down till Christmas ... with 78 day till Christmas.

or less than that to get the HolidayStar'09 DONE ~

~ I better get busy~

TheGreatCrazyIowaWomenBikeTrip

• 
  ~We recently did a 6 day bike ride. We toured thru Mo. Along the ride we stopped for lunch in Monroe City , MO seeing flames shooting thru a window. curtains in flames blowing in the wind,,, the AC in the up stairs window on fire ! Tim stopped, a Truck of construction guys stopped,, they called 911, while I ran thru the house, and Tim found the garden hose to shoot it as far up as it could reach. It took the In Town Fire Dept 20 min to arrive ! when they got there they walked to their positions.. NOT RUN ?? .............. crazy.......

• ~ From there we cruised across to Nauvoo, Ill Mormon settlement. We did an afternoon of tours there,seeing the village with gun smith shop, school.. garden plots, Then the very fancy big Temple. We were not allowed inside as you need a special permission slip from your local church to get in.... (odd to me).

• ~ We did a hotel with in room hot tub that nite, old sore bones from the ride, (ooooooo Nice.) In the morning it was north to Lin & Teds. We stayed there a nite.. grilled out, got to visit with Gramma Jackie. Also went trailer shopping with Lin and boys. we found at Least ONE for each family.. we have good ideas! LOL ( thought I had bike pic from there.. maybe Lins camera?)

• ~ Down the road to Cedar Falls next. With a nice ride thru Iowa cornfields, pretty farms, admiring gardens along the way, fussing at the places where they mow 10 acres worth... nutz! We found Loris work. a Banquet party place... wonderful building. Sat down had a drink there before going across the road to hotel. later we did pizza with her girls and played in the pool. It made for a good nite.

• ~ Fri Lori had off so we rode out to her farm to view the many changes since tornado Blew it away last summer. WOW nice new red buildings and sheds. The horses have a good set up, the house and garage are situated on the hill with a view. Major progress there in the past year!

• ~Our trip to Eldora was sidetracked by a tornado there ! Nancy's house left standing but OH what a mess with siding & roof trashed! We did supper out at Huhot Chinese joint with Nancy, Mark, and Lori, sans kids. We all gathered afterwards at our hotel room for Much More Chatter ~ ( you expect anything else? from TheGreatCrazyIowaWomen)

• ~Saturday the sun was shining, it was back south we rode. It was cool so we did Jackets till state line. While we did many stops along the way, we still had numb butts by 4 pm when we arrived back at Camp David.

• ~And a Good Time Was Had By All ~~~

• ~Since arriving back home: bunches of canning from the garden. Possible study and work to do up a fall season garden. For Good Deeds I recvd a 110yard roll of batting finally.... so will be basting and quilting to keep active on the Good Deed quilts. Seven more in progress this week.
  
  

BUSY !

wow busy summer ! so far

Since Jakes wedding, we have played in the Garden a bunch. I will be canning tomatoes tomorrow.. I see maybe 6 qts, plus couple supper items using the goods. I have a couple large jars of refrigerator pickles in the back of frig. Hope the green beans start soon. We have herbys, Fresh garlic, red onions, red swiss chard variety of tomatoes yet in the garden.

We went north for Aarons Bday had a great time cooking out at Jakes place. Jade has that dolled up nice. We spent the day about town with Aaron and Natalie... Following Gramma Junes tradition of shopping a school outfit for Raelle,,, Girl shopping is great ! also a pizza nite in the pool, was a good trip.

We stopped at Frank & Karen's while there and with Beulla S stopping by carrying a truck load of peaches ! Tim got a crate full and came home to can them.,, yumm

We have done several nice bike rides over the summer. One to a smoke house place... neat history, crazy prices!... To an Amish market with yummy goodies S of Jeff City. To Osage beach with TOOO MANY tourists. To check out couple state parks in case we ever get an RV.

Tim is planning a week long ride around thru parts of IA soon. He is planning a trip thru Quad Cities, Cedar Falls, Eldora, sister and girlfreinds! TheGreatCrazyIowaWomenRoadTrip.

He had other stop planned but fell thru, a bonus, now we can spend lil more time cruisin.

See more sites, shop, visit, take our time... I sure hope the sun shines while out there.

I have a peeve and rant going about Dumb Women Dense Unobservant on the phones while driving ! ooooooo.!

Last week in the middle of a large jar of pickles I sliced a finger...... eeek.... Tim had to finish that mess.

This week we took the Red bike in for tune up.. He was talking to the service dept while I was talking to the sales guy!! and came home with a pretty retro Pearly White & Silver one..... snazzzzzy!

We tested that out today with a ride over thru Hanibal . LONGGGGGggggggg ride, numb butt style. WE went all out and did~ fancy~ gormet~$5 lunch at Subway! LOLL, We sure have a good time with each other.

Diva got her hair done Monday,, she was a baglady.... she is much more sporty now for her fave job of minding the garden or sitting near the pool with Us.

Im doing a mini marathon of sewing this weekend to get a comission job done to Tx lady... 7 blue feathered stars. I'm in desperate need of bulk batting when we get back from IA trip. I found aplace that sells 2 fat rolls at a time. a good deal.

My Good Deeds are on slow with all our playing this summer. last count was 18 donated.. and about 15 on hangers waiting.

Ulmer quilt frame

ta daaaaaa....... its new.... its compact... its pretty sturdy... its light weight.. Its on the straight of grain... it has an arm reach of stitching space.. I can move it myself... its easy!... it fits my lil house...........................................................................................................................................................

and TheDiva got a lesson from MOM.. The lil twerp likes to digg/ fluff the batting.. tear it and scatter it around the room........... NOT Cool.... she is NOT in the pic because she is sitting in MR's chair........ away.... pouting

Plans !

I'm on a misssion to clean / tidy a few things , run the vac ! ,,, swish a broom.

I have fabric on the dining room table for borders to 2 tops started last week...

Next project: is to pack up a large set of Willow china for the new bride and groom.. We gifted them a new china hutch for wedding.... now On a mission to FILL IT !...... so news paper and boxes are on my horizon this week.

While blogging around this week. I saw THE PERFECT quilt frame. called The ULmer Quilt Frame..... has square corners and ,, smaller size,,, folds up,,,,,, Not bulky like my round one........ not wobbly like my spindle saw horse one...... perfect... MR said GET IT......... so I did !

So That idea led to makeing some space and clearing out special place to set it... Im thinking moving a desk that is full of junk.... pitch the junk,,, toss the desk..., really only need a spot for keys and sun glasses.... a basket for the odd drawer of pictures..... I have a plan,,,,,,, see if it works !

Im tired of JUNK.... PITCH ~~~

Navy and Purple Good Deeds

Ive been sewing for a couple days with my own mini marathon. Here is Two tops done so far !

This is a navy pansy print from Nancy's donation box. She had many yards in there !

I think some is a Hoffman, it has lines of gold in the print.

The purples are a variety of batiks sorted out of the bundles from the red and blue quilts.

The borders are just 'add till it gets to 42" size'

Included in the use of her yardage, I cut the back side from the pansy print too.

I still have several rectangles.. and just found couple more purple strips so Im thinking ONE MORE... I still have 3 to 5 yds of the Navy prints to use up also.....

Then I found some green strips..... another? with hmmmmm large florals?? see what the day brings !! Im sewing till 8 pm.

keep the machines humming ~~K

jelly roll quilts

Since its been hot, very HOT, I stayed indoors AC and was 'productive' !

After finishing a commission job for Tx lady of 7 feathered stars. I had this bundle of batiks saved from trip to Hot Springs, Ark early spring. I love batiks. A pattern in the Jelly Roll Quilt book called for these strips.. I had so much fun with one. why not make TWO ?!... so I did.

We are busy cruisin the hills around here on the bike . Admiring the wild flower colors along the sides of the roads. We marvel at the farms that have SO MUCH mowing. endless circles.... why dont they put giant gardens in that space... be usefull...it cant take that much more time than sitting in circles....

Our garden is watched over carefully by the Diva.. she loves it out there. Tomatoes & beans soon !

We are amazed at the dumb women on phones and how VERY riskey they are to US.

( PLEASE, put the phones AWAY people)

A recent trip to town the 9 quilts in last blog were donated to Linus. Bring the total Good Deeds so far this year to about 16. with several more on hangers yet to be finished.