Hello  followers.  It seems that the post from last Thur was blocked for most of you so I am reposing it.   My thanks go out to Patti my Computer Guru who  save this project for me.

Carol

Hello-
Fall is really making it’s self know here. On the walk today I noted that the trees with smaller leaves are changing color and dropping them. So our path is now strewn with Box Elder, Walnut, and Black Locus leaves. The sidewalk is also stained with stains from the wall nut husks, the chock cherries and the crab apples as the trees give up their fruits. The Maples are picking up color and dropping a few leaves but they are mostly full of foliage at this point. We did have one day when the smoke did effect the color of our morning sun and it was a bit eerie.

The Artists Stitch Club new teacher is Vinny Stapley. She is having us work with transparencies. I selected Polk Weed for my subject and this is the work so far. There is still a lot to do on this piece.

 

 

 

The Pixies are now meeting regularly on Tues. We did and Exquisite Corps piece last week and this it the final result. We are going to do it again this week and all of us will include words. I have not even started mine yet.

 

 

I did finish the crow assignment form the week before however. Crows in the Clouds is 18″ X 16″. The clouds are silk paper made with silk batting. The crows are black felt that is free motion added on top.

 

I also started a new crow piece for this week. I am using a bit of fabric that I hand stenciled and dyed the week before as the base. The crows are added on top. There is still work to do on this one.

Progress Report: Turtle Dancer- Mayan Series. The process is a very calming one for me and I am enjoying the bright colors too.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Deer Dancer- Mayan Series I am working away at the pinning up of this project. This step always takes me longer then I think it will. I am getting a large supply of fused backed fabric along the way.

 

 

 

Sweet Peas This little wall hanging is complete now.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bunk Bed Quilt II      This is a scrap happy as the many different fabrics used around the central blocks attests.    I finished this second   bunk bed  quilt this week. These will become part of the Christmas for the twins.

 

 

 

 

 

Fern Forest This work is now all quilted with stitch in the ditch and ready for binding and completion. I like the colors here.

 

 

 

 

 

Blue Ferns This  is a top that grew out of Fern Forest.    The dark blue ferns just did not work in the other piece. I am just getting started at the lay out for this project and think I will use it to be a part of the new window quilt for the master bedroom. The challenge will be to build the 3-D part that covers the air conditioner.

 

 

Squares a Dancing I made great progress on this project this week .   I did 14 squares so there are two sets  of seven.

 

 

 

 I now have 189 squares done. The “To Do” pile is shrinking too.

 

 

 

 

 

Childhood Memories- Last of the Bran Yard.

In the far right hand corner of Barn Yard and on the far right side of the barn was a Dutch door that lead to the cow stalls. Grandfather only had four milk cows for as long as I could remember. There were stalls for seven and last three were used for storage and Shookie slept there. It was also were she had her pups. Grandfather always gave away the puppies except for one the last litter. From that one he kept a male named Sport. Snookie was fixed after that. She was a better farm dog than Sport as he never really got the hang of herding animals very well. They often rode in the back of the pickup with Gene and I . They would accompany us when we played in the pastures too. Grandpa milked the cows morning and evening. He would set on a T stool made from a 2″X 4 and pull until the big buckets were full of foaming milk. The cats would always show up and sit patiently until he would call them, at which time he would squirt a pull of fresh milk into each waiting open mouth. The cows had a small pasture that they grazed in during most days. Grandfather could easily give them grain in the winter in there stalls. After milking Grandfather would carry the big buckets to the house. There were far too heavy for me. The buckets then went down to the basement were Grandmother would run the milk through the pasteurizing machine before pouring it into the big 10 gallon milk cans. The cans then went into the root cellar at the back of the basement to stay cool until they were taken to town. The milk along with the eggs of the week went to the Locker in Morning Sun and were traded for cash or locker rental. We had fresh milk at every meal.         There was land across the road from the house too. The first field on the left of the lane was 80 Acres and the field to the right was 180 Acres. My memory was of how black the soil was there. I especially recall running behind the plow wheel in the flat feral left on the far left side of the plowed ground. My feet were always quite black when that was over. I had to do a per-wash at the pump before I came in to do the job seriously. One time when Dad and Grandpa were mowing the small field the accidentally killed and opossum. They saved the two babies and brought them back to the house. We put them in an wooden box and took them home. We fed of course and I remember lots of hissing and being bitten when I tried to pick them up. Never saw any “playing dead”. When Mom determined that they could make it on their own we took them out to Heart Lake and released them into that wild area.
There was a second 80 Acer field beyond the first and farther west. The lane turned south and ran to a pasture that was mostly created by erosion with several gullies. There was a small barn there. In the late 50’s and early 60’s digging farm ponds was all the rage, Hoit who owned the farm just north of Grandfather’s dug one, and I remember visiting a dam built across a gully on the Bell farm before it had filled with water. It was quite deep. Grandpa Merit also dammed up the biggest gully in that pasture to create a pond. It filled up quite well in the spring. The fresh water supply meant that Grandfather could house live stock there. He had always dreamed of having a herd of registered Black Angus. The pond meant that dream could be fulfilled. He started out with a heard of 25 and it grew from there. I remember going out to that pasture one day after a very bad thunder storm. Dad and Grandfather pointed out two cotes and a calf that had been stuck by lighting. The cows both lived, but the calf dies two day later.
Gene loved to fish and when Grandfather stocked the pond with Blue Gills he was delighted. We would walk across the road and down the lane, climb the fence and walk to the pond where he would spend the afternoon fishing. I just fooled around climbing trees and such. When he had caught a few fish  and the afternoon was drawing to a close,  we would go back to the house were Grandmother would clean the fish and fix them as a part of our suppers. I saw my life as the best- a city kid during the school year and a farm kid in the summers.

Please stay safe and keep Creating,

Carol