The Little Red Hen

Happy Halloween

Today was the long awaited day, the day to wear the fairy wings and go to town and get candy.

When I was growing up we went trick-or-treating AFTER dark. Here, they have special trick-or-treat hours from 4:00 to 6:00 pm. When the weather is nice, like today, everyone sits on their steps or in their yard to give out treats. It is like a big huge block party in town.

Page Turners

A few years ago, the theme at Beaver Island Quilt Retreat was fabric books. I made a few books then and a couple more when P was born.

The one on the left features Dick and Jane fabric.

The other is a book of color and applique  letters.

And now, I have graduated to ink and paper! My latest project is with Lark Books. Two of my quilts will be included in an upcoming book, Pretty Little Mini Quilts. I have never had my work "in print" before and am honored and thrilled. The book will come out in 2010.  Stay tuned and I'll let you know how you can get your own autographed copy!

300 and a Winner

More milestones happening around here. This is my 300th blog post and today we announce the winner of the corn meal give away!

The winner is Tracy of House of Hodgepodge.   Go look at some of her cute stitching. This little garlic tea towel is almost too cute to use!  Congratulations Tracy. I'll have your cornmeal to you in a jiffy!

Just One More

I whipped up one more of these little "use up the scraps" quilts. Now, I think I am ready to move on to something different for a while.

Also, just one more day to enter my contest. Leave your comment here by midnight tonight to enter!

Apple Cores and Fairy Wings

I feel like I got a lot done yesterday. I cut up a big pot of apples and made the last batch of applesauce. While the sauce was cooking, P and I worked on her Halloween costume. When you are dressing as a fairy, it is all about pink.

I found a pink hand-me-down dress-up dress that I temporarily shortened at the waist so that she will not trip on the skirt. The wings are made from coat hangers and a 25 year old pair pastel knee hi hose. (Have I mentioned that I have a hard time getting rid of stuff?) We decorated the wings with some "silk" flower parts to cover up the tops of the knee his and the coat hanger ends. Then, it was time for glitter.
While searching for the glitter I came across this pile of apple cores.

I have had these cut for at least 15 years.  My sister cut one from each of her fabrics too, as this was to be a charm quilt.  At one time, I had them counted and knew the size of the quilt I was going to make.
There are even fabrics that are in this quilt in that pile, along with some great newer prints left from pajamas for D and M when they were little. Of course, I have accumulated much more fabric since I put this stack away. I started laying it out on the floor and decided that would be a very tedious and time consuming project. I think I will sew them together in groups of four and then try laying them out. That will be much more managable.

I will take my cue from this quilt and try not to over think it.

Yes, we did finally find the glitter and finish the fairy wings.
I also made banana bread and canned that last batch of sauce.

But, I guess I am not quite finished with apple cores.

Thoughtful Sunday 10

"I have no time to grow old... I am too busy for that. It is very idle to grow old."

"The Golden Key," Dealings with the Fairies, George MacDonald, 1867

Embroidery on Linen

I got these beautiful embroideries in the mail this week.

They are from an "embroidery on linen" swap and are from some special women I have "met" through flickr.  I like that I can tell who made each one. The artists  personalities show through in their work.  The embroideries are all lovely and each has its own different style. You can see the ones I sent here and here.

Matryoshka Doll by Jessica                                                                             Dress on hanger by Camille                                                                            Fawn by Lori                                                                                              Cupcake by Claire   

Now I need to decide what to make with them.
Do you have any ideas?

Popcorn

When I was growing up we had an electric popcorn popper, you know, the kind with the big plastic dome so you could watch the corn pop.  We loved that thing. I don't remember how we made popcorn before we got that fancy popper.  Never mind that the outer layer of popcorn got soggy because there was no way for the steam to escape. It just built up in there and dripped down the sides of the dome.  We would pop popcorn and take it to the family room and watch The Waltons, The Rockford Files, or the Disney movie of the week on television.

I also have wonderful memories of the neighbor mom who lived across the street.  She was the mother of five boys(!) and seemed to know everything.  The first time my mother left us home alone, my sister stepped on a bee.  Our neighbor knew just what to do. She got something from her kitchen cupboard and put it on my sister's foot.  Meat tenderizer.  Who knew?
Another time I heard an unusual sound coming from her house. I ran over and peeked through her kitchen door. Her table was covered with fancy glasses all with different amounts of water in them. She was making music. I had never seen anything like it.
She was the mom in the neighborhood who always had fun packed birthday parties for her kids. We played games like pin the tail on the donkey and drop a clothespin from your nose into a Mason jar.
One time I visited and she asked if I wanted popcorn. Yes, of course. I love popcorn. We went to her kitchen and she got out a regular pot, put a little oil in the bottom and then the corn. Then she put a wire mesh screen over the top and slid the pan around over the burner. It was like magic. So old fashioned. She didn't need a fancy appliance to pop her popcorn.

I think the saying "It takes a village..." is very true. All of our experiences go together to form the people we become. Every time I pop corn in my big pot on the stove I think of Mrs Baker, my childhood neighbor, and smile.
Share one of your memories here and enter to win a bag of fresh ground cornmeal from our Indian corn.

For the Birds

I just fixed this set of bird cards as a special order for a bird lover.

I love the way these look with their word labels. The artists are Richard Scarry and Marc Brown.

Stories with a Prize Ending

I love hearing stories from the past. I especially like the little tidbits of family history that show how everyday living has changed.
After my milkweed post, I talked with a friend about how memories are lost if they are not shared. A small memory such as walking through vacant fields and gathering milkweed fluff for the "War cause" says a lot about the time in which it happened. One memory often leads to others, especially when there is discussion.
Shortly before my maternal grandmother died, I gave her a set of the Little House on the Prairie books by Laura Ingalls Wilder. She had never read them before.
She told me that she enjoyed reading them because they reminded her of her own mother and the way she did things.
Laura understood that things change over time. Little by little, the way we approach our everyday life does change. She wrote about the daily life of farming, building a home and family, and the routine tasks of providing food and shelter for a family. She shared much about the domestic life of her youth.

Today is the one year anniversary for my blog. In celebration of the event, I am hosting a giveaway.  To enter, you must share a piece of your past. Share a memory of your own or one that was told to you, something that shows how things were different in the past.  The winner will get a small bag of homegrown, fresh ground cornmeal from our Indian corn to use in making his/her own Little Red Hen bread. (That was my first post here.) You have until midnight October 28 to share your story in the comments of this post. I shall announce the winner on October 29.