SEW IN

Wendell { Caitlin's dog } has been with us all week since she is on a cruise--{ her second  within a year I have noted, I have never been on one in my life}. Anyways, Wendell has been with us and he has kept a sharp eye on all the cat's and squirrels in the yard. Sam and Sadie are grateful for the help too. Wendell sat perfectly still for over 35 minutes in a stand off with a squirrel above him.

Cowl knitted by my sister Mary Margaret using her own alpaca fibers and it is not only beautiful but uber warm!

Last night was the first of hopefully scads more SEW INS. Our first one was held at 

MAMA SAID SEW.

A beautiful shop in lovely downtown Fort Collins.

Six women were invited but only two of us attended last night.

It was a pot luck so Jill and I had loads of good food to eat by ourselves too...yum.

Angela the owner of MAMA SAID SEW was so kind to let us use her shop..

I love doing sew ins in a shop because if I forget anything-- like not buying enough fabric for a backing- I can get it right there, no running around wasting my sewing time.

Not to mention being around so much amazing fabric is inspiring and kept me awake thinking of all the possibilities.

Jill and I had 7 hours of wonderful sewing time and did we sew.

I cut out 3 patterns for my girls and worked on my tumbler block quilt. 

Tumbler blocks are kinda boring to work on...not your " just run it through" the machine quilt, but oh did the time fly sewing this last night in the company of a good friend, and I was amazed how much I got done.

See that clock above me? yes it says 1135pm ! WOWZA I never stay up that late and sew, I make too many mistakes sewing at night, but not last night.

Not sure what the face is about....hehe.

On a sew in I believe in dressing comfortable...

extra large shirt and stretch pants with my slippers.

An over the moon night.

HUDSON RIVER VALLEY

Roosevelt's home in Hyde Park New York.

When I was young family vacations always center around some historical event,

I remember mostly civil war battle fields.

For my sister and I Roosevelt Estate was a natural and so worth the stop.

The ranger did an amazing tour peppered with lots of stories regarding the Roosevelt family..

gotta love some hear say.

The presidential library was wonderful. I have never been in a presidential library before but will now stop in every one I pass by, {even if they are republican, hehe}.

as soon as I get some photos of my yarn buys from Rhinebeck I will share it all with you.

Weekend weather here has been a gorgeous fall days, though things are to change tonight...

perhaps even; dare I say: snow.

RHINEBECK

Rhinebeck was TERRIFIC!

The weather was amazing and the fair over the top.

{ it was hard getting good pics in the vender barns due to the crowds }

Ms Babs was our all time favorite fiber stand, so good I think we waited at least an hour to just pay for the goods.

Wonderful lady and an amazing dyer.

Up state NY was full of trees and color.

Loved all the little villages and we had lunch in the oldest standing hotel in the country.

We drove a lot and got lost A LOT. Nothing is on a grid in up state NY, all the roads twist and turn with the rivers and creek beds.

Very disorientating for us from the west where we only have 2 interstates, up and down the state or across the state.

Yes, that is the trunk of our car after the first day. Sunday was more relaxed, not as many people so we meandered around then found a spot in the golden autumn sun and amongst leaves and people watched.

{ Beth a knitter we met at the hotel-

Mary, Beth, Eileen, Julie }

RHINEBECK NEW YORK

We are in New York for Rhinebeck.

Been up since 2am to get here, yes we are tired !

tomorrow we are off to the Roosevelt home and driving up and down the Hudson River Valley.

this is our home for the next five days....wahoo !

FRIENDS,FAMILY and FALL

Watching clouds come over the mountains is a favorite past time of mine. I remember as a child I would lay in the grass and watch clouds pass over,  dreaming of running and jumping in those huge billows of fluff. If I had a sibling next to me we would call out images we saw in the clouds. It's amazing how often a cloud will look like an elephant-at least in the mid-west clouds of Illinois.

 I was meeting my daughter at her place and I was early.

So relaxing to have some quite alone time to look up and dream,

dream and wonder as I did when young and all  life's possibilities were in front of me.

Caitlin has 2 laying hens and 1 rooster.

A very nice rooster too.

I asked Caitlin how many eggs are they getting a day?

Not one Mom, nada, none! We have looked everywhere for an egg, their hen house, favorite roosting places in the yard and all their hang out spots.

But no eggs...zippo!

Yup, Mr. Rooster

These birds are unique, they run all day on the farm and at night they have a coop that is not really secured, so yes the raccoons have gotten in and stirred the pot with the chickens.

The amazing part is the raccoons have never hurt the chickens.

Caitlin says their is a agreement, a signed contract between the chickens and the coons. 

The coons get all the eggs and the chickens get to keep all their feathers!

Now I call that making concessions,

perhaps I should bring congress out here and let them observe what it means to have a win win situation!

{ sorry just had to toss that in the post }

Eric and I drove out to a unique little town..Ault.

to pick raspberries.

And raspberries did we come home with!

I put up 9 quarts of berries.

Gave most of them to Caitlin for her pies.

We were also given butternut squash and cukes.

I did my weeks shopping on this little plot of land.

I just can never get enough pictures of chickens! 

These girls belong to my sister in law Lezlie.

They have no written, nor verbal agreement with raccoons, but they do have the Conrad Hilton as their residence.

And I got to bring home eggs.

Fall is here and is gorgous. We have been putting up apples for the past 3 weeks. 

I still have some but I think I am appled out. Yesterday Eric found 4 of these guys in the yard finishing off what is left on the tree.

We believe in sharing with our friends, the dogs believe the yard and everything in it belongs to them.

Things can get a little noisy around here but the snow will be flying soon and all will be quite for a season.

I have been knitting and sewing, well machine quilting the biggest quilt I have ever done on my bernina.

What a challenge.

I will try to get pictures posted for you soon.

 also heading to Rhinebeck, New York for the fiber fair.

This is a "bucket list" trip for me and can hardly sleep I am so excited.

All that fiber wonder!

Going to Rhinebeck in peak fall color season

is like Disney World to a 5 year old for me.

Hope to see Roosevelt's Home too,

it is however a National Park

which means it is closed !

Why?

Government Shutdown!

Oh for the love of mike!!!

HELLO SUNSHINE

hello sunshine! that glorious sun shined all day yesterday....i dare say it was balmy hanging out under the bright blue sky.

continuing to finish " putting Up " the end of the summer garden.

making yogurt-  it is delish..

spaghetti sauce in the crock. 

i cook everything non-chopped and after 8 hours use a stick blender and it's done,{ i  put no meat in sauce till the day i use the sauce }. 

package sauce in quart bags and pop into freezer.

finishing up knitting projects so i can cast on a dozen more and have several quilts running through my machines.

for some bizarre inverse reason i get more done when i have less time...

one of those crazy universal truths.

off for some chia tea at me oh my pie and a little knitty time with dear friend.

if you have some time this morning come on over and join us

any hand work will get you in,

as well as good conversation.

hope to see you there

happy and a peaceful sunday to you all !