Back in a Big Way!!

It has been awhile, hasn't it?? But my busy summer just whizzed on by and left me in the dust. I do have alot to show for it tho. First of all, this 50lb pumpkin!! The variety is Long of Naples and is supposed to be a long necked pumpkin. Although I have also seen it classified as a winter squash. The seed packet stated the fruit would weight between 25-40 lbs. Imagine my suprise, after hauling this up the stairs, that the thing tipped the scales at a bit over 50!! It is taking me several long days of prepping this thing to get a useable end product into the freezer. But this squash is so amazingly sweet and with the yeild I have gotten, I could very well make pumpkin pie for our entire county. For several holidays. And still have plenty left over to try all the new recipes I have bookmarked on Recipezaar.com!!

The girls have gone on home to their mom in N. Carolina in time for school to start. I know they were ready. They had been over 3 months without any real kids their own age around. They were very play hungry!! But we did get alot accomplished by the time they went home. Maddy was well into book 5 of Harry Potter and Katie was ready to start book 5 of her series, which I can not for the life of me, remember the name of.

Then they both did these great little 9 patch projects, which I will be hand quilting for them very soon. They picked the fabric from squares I had already cut for my own personal use. But they did all the sewing, ironing and arranging to make the little top. I signed the very first one they each did with their name, date and location plus ID'ed them as their very first ever quilt blocks.



I had taken the girls up to Knoxville for the AQS quilt show in July. They were enchanted with the quilts in the show and forced me for once, to slow down and actually look at the quilts. I usually run thru, glance at them, and hit the vendors. They were not as excited about the stuff for sale until they got to a booth with all the patterns from Melly&Me. They both really liked this little softie and I agreed to foot the bill for the pattern and a single peice of fabric that they liked. Then back home they could mix and match the other fabrics out of my stash. This project took alot more sewing skills which they mastered very well. They did the trimming around the sewing lines, but I clipped and turned them right side out. They did the stuffing, however, and that was time consuming and tedious. In the end, they loved their little creature, gave them names, and made up stories all about their little stuffy lives!!


My one and only finished knitting project this summer was this beret that Katie wanted. She wanted it to be pink so we solar dyed the yarn with cochineal. Oh yeah, I did do one felted hotpad but that is not exciting enough to even take a picture. Oh, and I also knit those little scarves around the softies necks!!



I am now sailing along with a new sweater project that I will tell you all about soon. It is one of Jared Floods new designs. His first as a grown up professional!! But I am going to save that now for a new post, just to give me a good reason to rush back here and make up for lost time. See ya all very soon, I promise!!