Country Quilters Quilt Guild yesterday.........

We couldn't meet at our usual place which is North Arkansas Electric Cooperative so the First Baptist Church let us in....Amazing, Grace!  They have a HUGE room as you can see.  This is Iris who shops for us and gets us great discounts on quilting and sewing supplies.

This is Pat who bought this quilt from an "up and coming" quilt artist but Pat does beautiful work herself.

Here is our BELOVED (and I mean that!) President, Margaret who made this gorgeous Christmas quilt that I did not get a picture of!  DRAT BATWOMAN!  I think she did the ones on that table too.  She was my first (and only) teacher along with our Vice - President, Jenny.....they are great teachers and I learned so much from them and still do.  That's Joann in the chair and she is the head of the other group I attend....Fit n' Sew.

This is Linda...our "Hostess with the Mostest"....she does the best door prizes and drawings and there are her beautiful cockscomb flowers that I have seeds from if anyone wants any.  There's our official insignia too...hanging on the wall.  Have insignia will travel!  I missed pictures of so many great quilts because I was doing the library and the Opportunity Quilt tickets.  I will post our quilt we are raffling off tomorrow.....GORGEOUS!  There's still time to buy your tickets!  $1.00 each or 6 for $5.00.   It goes to replenish our coffers for the guild.

Happy Halloween!!!!! I celebrate the WHOLE month of October........

I got these years ago and I have 2 trees in front and a ghost hanging from each one.  Those are tin cans at the bottom that clang when the wind blows.....ooooooowww......scary!

Okay...so it's daytime and you don't really get the whole effect but I could break my neck in that pumpkin patch if I go out at night!  Plus...it's scary out there....didn't you see those ghosts?

Here's the tiniest pumpkin.....

Here's the medium sized one...but get ready for.....(drum roll please)

THE GREAT PUMPKIN.....just what Charlie Brown has been waiting for!  But will it be ready by Halloween?  Stay tuned!

Here's my ceramic (so much easier to carve..let me tell you!) pumpkin with it's reflection in the window.  Told you it was scary!   Happy Halloween everyone!   Let the frightening begin!

New bedspread and books I'm reading......

This is my new bedspread!  I call it my "happy bed" now...isn't it delightful?  I love chenille bedspreads and this one is brand new and it came with the shams.  It was on my "wishlist" for over a year and then I found out they weren't going to carry it anymore so I HAD to buy it before it was lost forever!  It is a pale yellow with yellow chenille dots.  Oh!  Did I  mention I love dots too!

I found this book at the library tucked away and it is so awesome!  Laura was one wise woman!  These were her articles she used to write for the newspaper in Mansfield, Missouri in the early 1900's.  She could be writing it for today...it is all still very relevant.  I'm going to try and purchase this book if I can find it somewhere.  It is one of those books that makes you feel good and like you are living in that time.  My Mother grew up in that era and it gives me a glimpse of what things were like at that time in history.  Wonderful book...I am savoring each article!

Another book from the library (I'm trying VERY hard not to buy any books and that is really not easy for me since I love owning them).  This book is current and, as it states on the cover, it is the search for the science of spirituality.  It is very well written and very interesting reading.  Science and spirituality are coming closer and closer together.  There are interviews with prominent scientists and spiritualists and religious leaders.  Excellent book! 

I just have to say that I have long been an admirer of Adriana Trigiani.  I bought my first book by her and it was her first book  also, I think, as a remembrance of my vacation through North Carolina and at that time she was a local author,  so I bought it.  It ended up being the best and funniest and some of the most wonderful books I'd ever read....I think it was Cherry Holler or Big Stone Gap...I can't remember now but there is a Trilogy and you should read them in order if you can.  The last one was Milk Glass Moon I think and it was good too.  This book is totally different and not as funny and takes place in New York City.  It is good but I loved the setting and characters in her first 3 books and I have to say.....I miss them!  But I know we need to grow as authoresses and as readers so I am enjoying this book too.  I just seem to be attracted to books with a rural theme as opposed to a city theme.  Either way she a is a fabulous writer!  I'm not sure that she was really a local author in North Carolina at the time or ever but it was written about that area and I think she might have grown up there.   Just don't quote me on anything....

Fall pics with my new camera!!!! Now, about the photographer....

Okay, I haven't read the manual yet but I will!

LOVE the colors of Fall.......

I planted and nurtured heirloom tomatoes all summer and they got tomato hornworm and are no more but the pumpkin that rotted and fell off the porch well looky here!!!!  LESSON?????   I guess I 'll just throw some tomatoes out there next year .....probably have more luck!

Maybe I do need to read the manual...a little blurry

Tell Charlie Brown I've got The Great Pumpkin...it's just not quite ripe yet.

I'm my own "sou" (sp?) chef.............

 

I always get these pictures in backwards....this is the last picture....anyway the pre-prepping worked really slick.  The only drawback is the extra dishes but I have a dishwasher so it's not that big of a deal and even though I was tired when I came in, I had the motivation to throw it together since most of the work was done.  Before this, if I came in and was too tired I would end up snacking instead of eating a decent meal.  So....I will most probably be doing this from now on....problem #564,962 solved...now on to the remaining 564, 961 problems...LOL!

Here's the recipe and picture of the black bean soup I was making.

Ok...I have a problem having the  motivation and energy to cook supper after working outside all day so I decided I would take a tip from the chefs and cooking shows and prep everything BEFORE I started cooking....in fact, before I went outside and started working.  That way, when I came in and was too tired to "start" something...all I had to do was mindlessly throw it together.  Mindless is good for me! Here are my prepared ingredients.

Block #5 of my Folk Art quilt done.....this one took awhile

This was a "killer" block and I was glad when I finished it....I have a new camera but I had problems with getting pictures uploaded to the blog but got that figured out finally so that's why I didn't blog for a few days.  On to block #6 of 12  not counting borders, I think.

A REAL old cotton gin...really!

This cotton gin is about 6 miles from my house and I have wanted to get pictures of it but you have to do it in the winter otherwise there is too much overgrowth and you can't see it plus it is hard to "pull over" on many Arkansas roads. 

When my son was visiting I  mentioned it and he grabbed the camera and didn't just take a picture...he went inside and took pictures which I would have never gotten had it not been for his "gutziness" (is that a word?)...I have wanted these pictures for years.  He took them last March I think but then I couldn't find them but the other day I ran across them so I can finally share them!  I can't tell if this year is 1888, 1882, or 1880 but regardless it is older than me which means it's an "antique"!  Actually...things my age are also considered "antiques"...hmmm...what does that say about me?  Don't answer that!

This says Franklin, Arkansas Cotton Gin and something else I can't read...when the leaves fall I'll have to go back and see what that says...I'm thinking "built by"? 

It isn't "restored" but it looks like someone took the time to paint the outside and put the dates on it.  There are several historic places around here that are still in the hands of the original family that owned it.

This is the inside and I have no idea what these pieces of equipment are but there are still pieces of cotton stuck in them.

There is an Historic Society around here and I should contact them  and see if I can learn any more.  There are things down here that should be restored and maintained before they are lost but it all takes money I guess and Arkansas has never been a wealthy state but it has to start with someone caring and maybe that's me except I don't have any money either!  I hate to see any of this history fall apart and be lost and I'm not even from here.  There is still cotton raised in Arkansas but not as much as years ago and maybe they still have gins like this in use.  I have no idea.  If anyone knows anymore about this please email me.  I'll have to do some research so I can identify those items and learn how they took the raw cotton and made material out of it.

My best "before and after" yet? You be the judge!

This is my fireplace in my family room....but there's something missing...there's no mantel!  I wanted a mantel but couldn't afford to hire a carpenter and didn't really want to try myself and mess up the brick trying to drill holes etc.  So, I spent my Saturday night building a mantel without any nails!   See the results below.....

Fall is REALLY here this time....and it only gets better from here!

Now that the wood is in it was time to bake up some Fall flavors!  How about some Pumpkin Pecan Cake with Whipped Cream Cheese Frosting????  Yeah....that's what I'm talkin' about!

Ready to go in the oven....can't wait!

It's done....but I have to wait until it cools before I can frost it so use your imagination in case I don't get a picture of it after it's frosted....I may just "dig in" and forget the blogging!

This is a phenominal cookbook!  The recipes are not only healthier but they taste the same!  You would NEVER know they weren't made with the high calorie, fat and sugar ingredients and trust me...I'm picky!  I have made several meals from this cookbook and they have all been scrumptious!  Check out her website  www.marlenekoch.com 

This is her second cookbook and highly rated just like her first which I am going to have to get!

Let it snow!!!

The wood was delivered yesterday.  I need another tarp but I am ready for winter!  I still need to replenish my emergency supplies of food, water, dog and cat food and various other things.  After the ice storm here 2 years ago and having to go 8 days without electricity I have gotten even more savvy....I hope!

Fall cleaning.....ok, so it's year long around here just to keep up.

I REALLY should have taken a "before" picture here....I cannot believe I got it clean.....but I must admit I spent a lot of time on this little section!  Who would put white carpeting right up to the front door?????  Who would have white carpeting????   Who would have carpeting?

After all that cleaning I had to put my feet up and do a little stitching on my #5 block of 12 not counting the border.

A few things from the thrift store.....

I think this is a photo but either way...I love it!  It's so ME!   My cabin...ahhhh.

This was practically free and I have a few of these in different colors now....does that make me a collector?

This is a signed bulb pot for bulbs that I will plant this Fall and they will bloom in the middle of the winter!

I think this was a bell but it has lost it's "clapper"...not unlike many of us but there is still something to love!  A wee little bird perches on the very top of it....sorry for the blurrs....new camera is on the way!

Perfect colors of Fall...not sure what they smell like...I haven't lit them yet.

Where does the time go?

I can't believe I haven't blogged, emailed, facebooked or been on the phone!  I have been cleaning....I clean best when I am upset and I am upset because I thought Fall was coming and it was here for 2 days and then BAM!   It is hot again....in the 90's!  I went to Fit and Sew last week and there was a table of "FREE" stuff and of course I couldn't resist!

 

Fall is HERE!!!! Ya! That's what I'm talkin' about!

I spent the day outside yesterday cleaning the windows, the garage and the front porch.  Here's my little "Fallscape".