Faye's Henhouse retreat, October 2015

Some free motion quilting from the back of the room.

This embroidery machine is doing great work

One of the more popular looks at the Retreat.

Roses for one of the participants!

So pretty.

Storage!

More free motion.  This fabric was painted by the artist and now is being quilted

Close up of the quilting and the painting.

reds and purples, Yum!

Working on an applique wallhanging.

Christmas.

Purple up on the design wall.

A zipper bag 

Purple blocks being made.

Storage bag.

Strips ready for sewing.

Close up of the dog.

Tool caddy 

Some very interesting fabric.

Chickens

Here Kitty.

Bags

strips ready for sewing

A Kenny from the late 50's.  Oil it again, Carol

Just for the colors.

Another colorful bag. 

More color.

YUM!

Scrappy!

Some snacks.  It has been neatened up a bit...

Christmas is coming. 

A shadow quilt for a child.

That's all for now.  Back to work!

Words are unnecessary.

My new ironing board cover...

Now if I can only keep the cats off of it...

They like to give it that special touch of hairball smell.  Wonderful when warmed up! Hopefully the plastic tablecloth I keep on it will stop that now.  Grump.

Looks clean doesn't it?

Ready for quilting.

Here is my first project made on the new cover.  Not a lot of ironing, but it all counts.

Super Moon eclipse 9/27/15

Jim and I are having fun watching the eclipse tonight.

An hour before.

More before

At the start

Just about totality!

Coming out the other side

More

Wow.

Almost finished.

Finished and then the clouds came in.  What perfect timing!

Once the moon was in eclipse the stars were bright and the Milky Way was very visible. I tried to take pictures at totality but there was not enough light for my camera to pick up.

Visiting Missoula

Elliot and I received a visitor from North Dakota recently. 

 

The days were filled with treks to the local sites, interspersed with naps.  When you see how much we did, you will understand the naps.
1. 2 estate/yard sales, in which quilts, jars, and really cool Thriftmas presents were bought (remind me to get Neil to tell you about Thriftmas);

2. Two quilt stores, naturally.  Timeless Quilts and Vicki's Quilts Down Under;

3. The neighborhood thrift shop: The Bargain Corner;
4. Clark Fork Market where we did not buy huckleberries but saw many;

5. Missoula Public Library, and dog knows what else.
We also had the honor to be photographers at Neil & Christy's new house. Here they are with The Doogs at the 120-year-old house they now own on Cooper Street:

There was also time for a barbecue which featured Ruby and marshmallows. The marshmallow languished on the end of the stick while she was mesmerized by the flames and heat from the charcoal.

Ooh.  And note the wind chimes hanging above Nancy.  We enjoyed those as long as she was here.  I wonder if she's got them up at home yet? 

Love you, Nancy, and miss you.  Tell everyone how comfy the guest bedroom is, and maybe they'll come visit too.

 

Megan makes a bag.

Today was Megan's second sewing lesson.  She made a bag with the Paris themed material she bought with her.  We had some hot pink for the lining.  Great job Megan!
I gave her homework!

Megan and her bag in the quilt room.

Quilting again, finally

I spent the afternoon and the evening at Faye's Henhouse in Mayville doing a class yesterday.  Dee Dee taught it.  Karen and I had a lot of fun and stayed really late.  Thank dog I don't have to work in the mornings.

Here is what I have done so far.  I only have to choose a background, fuse the cat onto it and send it to the quilter.  Easy Peasy.

No sewing required until I put on the binding.

Keiko the floral Kitty.  With a friend.   Cute eh?

Boy it is great to be back home.

Fatty Tomato Jr.

Hey Mary and Jeni,
I was going to link this post to your post about Fatty Tomato Sr.
But I can't find it.     Here it is. 

The proud gardener.

This year we have 6 tomato plants in the garden. Jim's Early Girl is a non-starter for some reason. Maybe we have had too much rain.  But a new tomato for me, called Pruden's Purple, is causing shock and awe in the garden.  One point five pounds of tomato goodness!

The first tomato in the garden.

The garden is rather full this year.  Rain every three days will do that for a garden.  Now, in late July, we have only watered twice.  We might need to water again on Friday.  Wow, three times this summer!

The garden on July 29. 2014

So anyway Fatty Tomato Jr. was looking so big, fat, juicy and tempting that I was afraid he was going to be plundered by some lawless animal.  I worried over him for two days and then I brought him in yesterday thinking he could ripen on the kitchen counter.  After only one day on the counter he was sacrificed for the first ripe garden tomato sandwich of 2014.

The first sandwich.

My friend Beth Davies taught me her version of the tomato sandwich many years ago and it is still my favorite.  A ripe garden tomato, real Mayo and white bread.  This bread was Sicilian Bread from the Turtle bakery which is covered with sesame seeds.  YUM.  I added fresh lettuce from the garden because I could. I know, I know, white bread! It is a failing of mine.  I have tried to prefer wheat but it just doesn't do it for me and I will NOT apologize! 

After my lunch with big fat slices of tomato (almost 3/4 of an inch thick) in the (noB) LT sandwich we still had enough so we could both have our first BLT's of the season for supper.  And there is a glass jar in the fridge with about a cup of diced tomato in it for tomorrow's breakfast or dinner.  

Mission accomplished for this year.   Heh.  

Maybe next I will talk about the Roma II beans I have blanched and frozen for later.  

Hugs,

Nancy