Friday post card

 

This decaying  house out on the North Dakota prairie

may explain the saying by Thomas Wolfe...

"You can't go home again."

 

~b

a fun fall day

I took the day off yesterday to road trip up to a favorite quilt shop of mine.

I was very pleased to see she is in the process of an addition to her shop.

The owner of the shop has the same addiction (fabric) that I have.

 

 

It is very hard to remember that I already have too much fabric.

 

I think a pillowcase for my mother in a nursing home

 with one of the fabrics above would be perfect.

Mom did beautiful quilt making in her day.

 

 

I couldn't  resist a stack of fat quarters in vintage prints.

 

 

We also visited a roadside stand to buy pumpkins, gourds and squash.

 

It was a good day!

 

~b

 

 

 

 

Here a project...there a project

projects everywhere!

 

I caught myself wanting to start another knitting project

before I looked around and saw all my pips (projects in progress).

I decided it was time to try and finish some of these...

most of them being so close to being done.

 

 

This baby afghan only needed 25 rows to complete.

 

I finished it this weekend while watching Outlander...

for the third time.

 

 

The baby hat needed just a few rows and binding off...

it was done in less than an hour.

 

 

A child's owl vest needed the most work to finish.

Sewing shoulders, all the ribbings and blocking.

 

Three down and that many to go.

Today I dug out a shawl and a sock.

I'm on a roll!

Cooler weather always means more knitting time.

 

~b



happy fall

This weekend I learned to make

 Amish folded star pot holders.

 

 

They weren't to difficult but there is a lot of cutting and folding involved.

 

 

Sometimes picking out the fabric I want to use takes the most time.

 

 

This is how I celebrated the first day of fall.

There may have also been a pot of homemade soup involved.

 

~b



Friday post card

 

~b

living Amish

We loved shopping at all the little Amish home shops
  we passed in the country...

We bought jams and jellies, noodles, sauerkraut, sandwich spread,

salsa, pear and apple butter, eggs and butter, fresh vegetables

and two handmade baskets.

 

 

The one thing I have always wanted is an Amish quilt.

And we saw some beautiful ones.

What you can see by my pictures is that I did not come home with one.

Mr. b encouraged me to buy one but my conscience won out here...

They are very expensive...over $800.

A lot of time goes into a quilt not to mention yards and yards of fabric.

 

 

I have been holding onto this pile of fabric for years and years.

Most of these pieces were used in my

variety store windows under my displays.

They are faded and soiled in places.

They are to be used in the Amish quilt I have been dreaming about.

 

Someday...

 

~b



campground ratings

I like to rate the campgrounds we stay in...

clean showers, a cement patio with a nice picnic table,

a level pad for the mr.,

water, electricity and sewer are a must,

and a fair amount of distance between us and the next camper.

 

 

 Don't forget a beautiful view.

This campground in Preston, Mn. came close to being a 10.

Campers were lined up on three tiers in a valley.

It was very peaceful.

 

 

Fog rolled through every morning.

I would probably give this campground an eight

and would definitely go back.

 

~b



trip'n

We will be home at this time tomorrow.

We had a wonderful trip across the state of Minnesota

and into the state of Iowa and Wisconsin.

Mississippi river country is always beautiful.

The leaves were just beginning to turn...

seems like we are always to early for the peak.

It gives us an excuse to go back.

~b

Friday post card

We are in Amish country...

it is like stepping back 100 years.

Mr. b says you can always tell it's an Amish home because

they always have clothes on the line.

~b

dirt poor

"We was right here during the great depression.

 My pappy grew tobacky on this here ground...

yup we sure was dirt poor."

Daughter knit and pearl sent me this picture

and I just had to edit, caption and share it.

~b



travel

We are getting ready to take our camper east.
I'm hoping for a glimpse of the great lakes.
This prairie girl needs a sandy beach from time to time.

We enjoy camping this time of year the best...

the leaves are turning colors, a little heat in the mornings,

 there's a quilt on the bed with the windows open to nature.

 

 

I made this fabric journal to begin documenting our travels.

Mr. b has his laptop set up for me to blog from the road.

We began taking our cat along and discovered she loves it too.

 

~b is for bon voyage



Friday post card

 

"...happier than a kid at an amusement park."

 

~b



September embroidery

I love a pretty hand-embroidered flour sack towel.

And I love that I learned how to embroider from my grandmother.

 

 

How patient she must have been.

 

 

I also love September and how it's beginning to feel like fall.

 

~b



Pink

I cut into my Tula Pink fabric stash last week.

 

 

 

What do you think?

It was hard to give away.

There may be another one in the works soon.

 

~b

 

Guido Van Helten

This elevator is putting Faulkton, SD on everyone's radar.

My first thought was this is one huge modge podge.

 

 

But the internet says...

Australian artist Guido Van Helten painted the murals on the 110-foot structure with a $7,500 grant from the South Dakota Farm Bureau and the Spink/Faulk County Farm Bureau.

 

 

I got my pictures of it in the early morning with the sun coming up on it.

 

 

Nice job Guido!

 

~b