I am back from my quilt retreat. I am not as well rested as I hoped I would be but I did get some good creative time. The theme this year was Mixing it Up; we combined piecing and applique. It seems as if I was not as prolific as last year since I was doing more handwork (applique) on my projects. I took a few unfinished items and made good progress on them. I will share more later in the week.
The winner of the pumpkin card give away is Stacey Winters.
In recognition of my 500th blog post I'm hosting a GIVE AWAY!!!
I have made some more of these stitched pumpkin greeting cards for my shop and will give a four card set away here.
To enter just leave a comment here telling me your favorite family fall activity. It's that easy. I'll draw a winner when I return from my quilt retreat! The winner to be announced Monday, September 21.
Since I am doing this give away as part of the Sew Mama Sew December Give Away Day I thought I should choose cards with a sewing theme.
If you are the lucky winner you can either use them yourself or give them as a gift to a friend who sews.
This contest is open to anyone, I am willing to ship internationally. To enter, please share your favorite holiday memory or tradition in a comment. The contest will close at midnight on Friday.
You can see a complete list of give away participants in the Sew Mama Sew give away here.
Just a quick post to let you know that I'll be participating in the Sew,Mama,Sew! Blog Give-Away Day on December 3.
Be sure to check back on December 3 to enter! Also, go to Sew,Mama,Sew and see who else is participating. All give aways will be handmade or can be used to make handmade gifts.
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!
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.
Thank you to all who entered my drawing for note cards. The winning random number is 16, Cassie, of Paper Kitty. Congratulations Cassie. Go read her blog she lives near where I grew up!
We are enjoying our last day of summer vacation before school starts tomorrow. Those blue flowers are some of what is currently blooming in the prairie.
M will run his 500th mile today at a cross country cookout at the lake. He will be happy to take it a bit easier now. He has really been working to meet the 500 mile goal he set for himself.
D is busy doing his summer homework. As usual he has waited until the last day. He assures me this is not a problem.
P is playing with the girlers. She has another week and a half until her school starts.
I started this blog as a way to share creations from my sewing room.
I have also shared socks,
a few recipes from the kitchen,
some of my favorite books,
and some tidbits about life on our little farm.
In honor of this being my 250th post I'll be giving away the five cards shown here. Just leave a comment on this post by midnight Sunday night to enter. I'll post the winner next Monday.
M put his calculator to work and crunched the numbers. 19 was the official random number generated- the winner of the Good News Giveaway is Denice.
Congratulations!
We have been using a dial up connection here to get to the internet. It has been very slow and frustrating. We frequently get disconnected.
It takes so long to upload pictures that I want to scream.
We searched for other options.
Cable is not available here and we did not want to buy a satellite dish. We tried the wireless phone connection but it was expensive and we only got "one bar" reception.
Now, we are celebrating because we have DSL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
We are speeding along now! We can even talk on the phone while being online! Woohoo.
As part of our celebration, I will be giving away the six note cards pictured here. Just leave a comment on this post and I will choose a random winner. The contest will close at 9:pm on Tuesday, May 20.
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