How About That

We harvested our sweet potatoes over the weekend.

We hadn't really planned on planting any but decided to try it anyway.

This was from five hills.

Our crop weighed 27 pounds!

Not bad for not trying too hard.

The first hill was dug up a couple of weeks ago.

My father-in-law did it because he was curious to see how mine did.

And truthfully, I think he was a little jealous.

Check out the size of that potato!

That one potato is enough for a pie.

We joked with my father-in-law that he should stop tending his potatoes and try the neglecting method instead. (I did weed some, but not as much as he did.)

I think it worked pretty well.

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Nolan found these guys sunning themselves in our lane.

We thought it was mighty late in the season for snakes.

Kind of on the small side.

We think they were common garter snakes.

I certainly wasn't about to house them for the winter,

so we let them go so they could find a place to hibernate.

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Nolan carved a pumpkin at a harvest party.

He did a good job on all those pointy teeth.

So naturally we got one for Connor to do too.

He did the entire thing all by himself.

I didn't have to touch any pumpkin guts!

Such a happy little pumpkin.

Which turned into a shoe eating pumpkin.

Apparently someone borrowed my shoes and kicked them off...

landing the shoe close to its mouth.

Then Connor helped the pumpkin out by shoving it in farther.

Progress

I've made great progress on the Christmas tree skirt.

It's a simple and fast project.

This is the final size with borders.

After it's quilted I will cut the center and access seam.

I'm loving the holly print and red border.

I'm a little short on batting right now.

Being the frugal person I am, I sewed large scraps together.

Who would throw away such large pieces?

I call it Frankenstein batting.

I'm hoping to start quilting soon.

Number Twenty-two

Today was our 22nd wedding anniversary.

I made a homemade yellow cake with duck eggs.

We enjoyed it with some chocolate ice cream.

A photo test shot... with goofy antics.

Connor is glaring at Dwayne.

They were trying to out glare each other.

I think it's safe to say Dwayne won.

Every year, for twenty-two years, we have taken a family picture on our anniversary.

It's been a fun tradition.

I was testing the light again with this photo.

Oh the perils of a breeze and naturally curly hair!

This one's a keeper.

LQS

LQS

Quilt lingo for local quilt shop.

Recently I was able to go to a bittersweet sale at our LQS.

It was awesome to get great fabrics for 60% off.

Unfortunately the store is closing.

So sad as it was the only shop in the area.

I had a plan of attack for buying fabric.

My top priority was backing and binding fabric for Connor's quilt.

Since I was successful with that endeavor, I went back the next day.

I had plan for this trip as well.

My goal was to get flannel backing for another quilt but they didn't have enough.

I tried a couple of different bolts but both fell short of what I needed.

And nothing appealed to me to piece together either.

So I improvised a plan B.

I decided not to shop with a specific quilt in mind but to build my fabric stash instead.

Since I'm relatively new to the quilting world, my stash is quite small.

I have plenty of florals, pastels, and browns.

I chose one yard cuts of solids and low volume prints.

 I also got several novelty prints.

I have been wanting some newsprint fabric and got one yard of it.

The others are half-yard cuts of stamps, barnyard critters, and clocks.

All in all, I think I did pretty well at the sale.

I now have plenty of fabric to keep me busy for a while.

Sewing Mode

Yes, I finally got my sewing machine back!

I immediately went into sewing mode.

My awesome family made it possible for me to have an entire Saturday dedicated to sewing.

They did dishes, laundry, and cleaning while I was at a fabric sale.

(So sad, our local fabric shop is closing.)

When I got home they told me to go quilt.

I didn't need to be told twice!

This week I was able to finish Connor's quilt, A Boy and His Dog II.

It's the companion quilt to Nolan's.

This is what happens when there's a slight breeze.

The quilt top by itself is not heavy enough to stay down.

Several years ago Connor picked all the fabric for the dogs.

He also wanted chickens.

All those chickens and roosters make the border a little busy, yet fun.

I found this egg fabric in town at our soon-to-be-closed local fabric shop.

I got enough of it to do the entire back of the quilt.

I'm thinking of adding a striped binding...

which is why you only see a snippet of that fabric.

I'm trying to visualize what it would look like.

The next step is to piece the backing and buy some batting.

A Stick and a Chick(en)

So we've reached that time of year when not much is happening around here.

Just school and work.

Nothing special to write about.

Is a chicken on a leash considered something "special"?

Well, it is rather silly.

How often do you witness a boy walking his chicken?

Not often.

He didn't like it so he let her go.

I don't think the chicken was too fond of it either.

The other day Nolan found a walking stick in the woods.

I hadn't seen one of these in years.

It was so cool watching him walk around.

God makes such amazing creatures!

I also made a second attempt at a duck egg angel food cake.
It was a great success.