How can it be possible that September is over already?

 

~b

coffee

I poured fall scented candles this week.

Pouring candles is on the top of my favorite things to do list.

We picked up these vintage coffee cups at an antique shop

and they are perfect for my coffee candles.

100% soy wax and cotton wicks...

I am fussy about my candles.

I think fall has finally set in at our house.

~b



lakeside

 

Mr. b has finished another paint-by-number.

Isn't it a beauty?

 

I could grab a quilt and book

and spend some time in one of those chairs.

 

~b



fallish

I am having trouble getting into fall...

it's hard when our days are still getting into the 80's.

 

Today I turned on some autumn music and dug out my fall fabrics.

 

 

These coasters are so easy and fun to make.

Five 5-inch squares plus a piece of batting...

line up and sew around. Turn and walla -

a cute seasonal coaster.

 

~b



autumn farm bag

This is the project I have been working on the last few days...

a Finch Bucket.

 

 

I used all six quilt blocks in it.

(see last weeks blog posts)

 

 

It is a large project bag with lots of pockets on the inside.

 

 

I used my favorite lining in it.

 

 

It will be a fun bag to store a knitting project in

 to take a long with me.

 

~b



Friday post card

 

~b

can it

Three blocks done and I'm ready to put them together.

 

sunflower

 

scrappy maple leaf

 

canning season

 

Can you tell I am dreaming about an

 autumn farm during canning season?

I learned to can at an early age

 and was really offended to have to learn it in home ec.

You can bet I let the instructor know I knew how to can

and it wasn't going to be her way.

 

~b



fresh

 

Besides freezing fresh vegetables

that we picked up at our local Hudderite colony

I've been making squares for a project that I am planning.

 

corn and tomatoes block

 haystack block

 

milking day block

 

I have three more blocks to piece before I can begin sewing them together.

They are 6-inch squares with some ridiculously small pieces.

Almost all of these fabrics have been rescued from my scrap pile.

 

~b



retirement

 

Today Mr. b and I drove 45 miles

to the nearest fitness center and swam for an hour.

I loved it!

Life is good.

 

~b



Friday post card

 

Wherever you go,

no matter what the weather,

always bring your own sunshine.

        -Anthony D'Angelo

 

~b



carrots

Today I was inspired to get my box of recycled denim down

from the top shelf in my little sewing sweatshop and make hot mitts.

 

 

I like that these are a little smaller than a store-bought mitt.

(I hope they fit Mr. b though.)

 

 

 

They will work perfect with my new multi-cooker pot.

Tonight I am cooking fresh garden carrots in it.

Can you spell h e a l t h y!

 

~b



fall-ish

I am finally catching a few small glimpses of fall here

and they feel so good.

I picked this quilt up from the quilter.

It took her a long time but regardless...

I love all of it in it's scrappiness.

If you remember me telling you that my mother had 21 of these squares

 in her stash when I got it. I made 35 more and sent it to the quilter.

So now it's on to the next one...

I have 5 unfinished tops.

There is just something about piecing quilts.

~b



in the kitchen with barb

I drug my feet for quite awhile before I finally bought a multi-cooker this summer.

Daughter knit and pearl has one that she loves.

 

 

My thinking was why would I want to pressure cook food fast

when we were talked into cooking food low and slow in our crock pots?

Add to that the horror stories I heard as a young girl about pressure cookers exploding?

 

 

Todays vegetable beef soup is the fifth meal I have made in it...

chicken burrito bowls, Spanish rice, white chicken chili, pulled pork and today's soup.

I cooked dry navy beans in it to add to the chili.

 

 

I'm telling you...I love this pot.

Now I think I need to make some bread in my bread machine to go with this soup.

Grandma never had it this good in her kitchen.

 

 

This weekend I started journaling our summer trips.

It's a fun process but very time consuming.

 

~b



Friday post card

The historic Occidental Hotel in Buffalo, Wyoming

 

 

As far back as 1880, in the rip-roaring days of early Wyoming,

the hotel was already known as the place to stay in northern Wyoming.

 

In the early days, many of the most famous people in the Old West stopped by the Occidental. They included "Buffalo Bill" Cody; a young Teddy Roosevelt; Tom Horn; Butch Cassidy,

the Sundance Kid and Calamity Jane.

Owen Wister, author of "The Virginian," also stayed at the Occidental.

Some of the cowboys and gunslingers Wister observed here found their way into the most famous Western novel ever written. People were sure the famous shoot-out in the novel

 occurred in front of the Occidental Hotel.

 

Mr. b was kind enough to backtrack to take this photo for me.

Of course we immediately went back to our camper

and watched the movie, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.

 

~b

a frog went a courtin'

 

I did get a little knitting and embroidery done while we were in Montana.

We visited a woolen mill in Buffalo

where I splurged on some beautiful green wool yarn.

I am knitting a scarf with it.

 

 

 

Our youngest granddaughters caught frogs this summer

 and took care of them for a few weeks before they released them.

 

 

Last night I opened a window to hear a frog outside our bedroom.

We have had a lot of rain this summer to hear them here.

It was harmonizing with the crickets and cicadas.

 

"A frog went a-courtin' and he did ride, M-hm, M-hm"

 

Can you remember that song from grade school?

 

~b



August memories...

 

 

~b