New Crumb blocks

Good morning friends. I hope this finds you doing well, in a good mood and well staying warm. Our house is a little on the cool side today. I have been trying to get the sewing area cleaned off a little so when I get home from work I am able to get some sewing done. So while I was cleaning I found the crumb blocks that have not been shared her on the blog. I am really behind in making crumb blocks as I have been working, having car problems and well sometimes life is just to busy to get the fun things done! So the plan today is to get some things sewn when I get home.

Ok so here we go....

So now that I looked at them again I remember I was into doing some 4 patches. I guess I got carried away with them. LOL  I had not done a lot of squares and they were fun to do but I have to say I really am ready to make the stars and the hearts. They are what I am planning for today!

 

 

 

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Pattern of Wounds by J. Mark Bertrand

Here is a Book Review for all those that are looking for a good read. I would suggest curling up with this book and a cup of coffee and enjoy!

I found Pattern of Wounds a great detective book. After being called to a scene of a woman that is murdered March has a rough road ahead of him. He realizes that the scene looks very familiar, it is staged to look like a case he had previously worked on. The case takes many twists and turns as March tries to find out what really happened to this woman. In the course of working the case he finds out who his friends are, who he can trust, plus goes through some challenging times in his marriage. He uses all that he has learned through the years to solve this case, sometimes that is done by playing pretty close to the line of being a good cop or a rogue cop. 

Detective Roland March is a very believable character that you feel sorry for at times, thinking that he is a little too misunderstood by the people he works with. A person does have to respect him being he really tells it like it is and doesn't let others opinions sidetrack him from his course of action. March is a complex person that does struggle with dealing with the horrors that he investigates as a Detective and the struggles of not bringing all the work home to his wife. I was impressed that even though he has seen and gone through a lot he is still very human. I would strongly recommend reading this book.. I received this book free from Bethany House. All they ask for is my honest opinion and for me to post a review of the book. 

I hope you enjoy the book as much as I did. Happy reading!

Windy,windy,windy

Hello there friends. What are you doing on this fall Sunday? Come on in and chat with me a moment. If I had you over we would have some tea and chat about some projects we are working on or ones we would like to start.. What are you doing in your craft room? Do yo have a pattern to talk about?  On days like today when the wind is whipping like 90 mph what do you do but stay in and get cozy with a book, some knitting, maybe some quilting.

I went to the www.fabshophop.com site and did some research on the different quilt shops that are out there on-line. There are quite a few. I went through this site as I can get information for the sites, I can save the sites that I like and go back to them later for my shopping convenience. Also when you participate in finding the bunny on each retail website you get entered for different things that the shop hop are giving away. There are some fabulous prizes!!! Go check them out. Also some of the shops have a free block that will show up after you register, visit their site, and then enter the contest. I never know when those free block patterns will show up but it is fun when they do! They are lovely.

So that is about it here today. A cool fall day with lots of wind.

Its my mothers birthday today. I was lucky enough to send our gift with my brother who went to see her. She liked her mug rug.I am a little bummed as I did not get a picture of it before it left my house. The camera has dead batteries. Soooo no new  pics for you guys. =(

Mikhaila is under the weather so I am going to go get some knitting out and snuggle with her as I work all day tomorrow.

Until the next time we talk remember each of you is so very special.

Hugs! (Also remember yo can hit the bunny button on the side of my blog.)

Crumbs..a couple more.

Hello there friends. I am going to make just a short entry and post the crumb blocks that I have made and then they are going to be lovingly put in the block box! LOL  I got these done on Friday and being I worked all weekend I did not get them posted on here. As soon as I post I can then go and  make the blocks for today which are ......log cabins. I have never made a log cabin block so I am really excited to do these. I am having alot of fun doing this quilt and I am so happy that Jo decided to have a crumb-a-long. Remember you can still join with us to make this fun crib quilt or you can make it larger, Jo has the details on her blog www.joscountryjunction.com. Come crumb with us!

This is one of my favorite blocks! Love the colors!

This is a crumb block for Mikhaila's quilt. She likes the brights.

Here is a four patch. I will be making some nine patches and hmm maybe a 16 patch. I  have not made these anything bigger than a four patch before.

Why is the sewing area the choice place to sit? Or the big bag of fabric so fun to sit on? Just because it all soft and squishy! I always have to move a cat off the ironing board too! Just think... if they could sew, I could get a lot more done!

I also got some awesome mail today!

Here is one of the blocks I received from my Autumn leaves block swap. Very pretty and I love the colors! Toni did a great job!

This was also in the envelope from Toni... what a nice card and a hand written letter! Can you believe it? I really feel like hand written letters are becoming extinct. I think they are so nice to receive. What can I say about the fabric? The fabric is wonderful! I am so grateful! You really  brightened my day!

 

 Wow what a fantastic mail day! I like to get good mail. I love to just receive mail, any mail- well I suppose I draw the line at bills. My daughter really thinks its funny as I want the mail as soon as it comes. Hmmm maybe I should host a pattern swap or something? LOL Then I would get more fun mail. Ok here is the other good mail. Another block from the Autumn leaves block swap, this one from Tanya. She did a great job- the picture is not really good as the batteries were dieing.

 Are you in a block swap? What patterns are you working on? Please let me know as I am putting a list together of patterns I would like to do in the future. How about doing a really nice thing today...take some fabric and surprise someone you know that sews. Either take it over and give it in person, or  put it on their doorstep or in their mailbox- if you want to be anonymous0- maybe mail it to them.
                                                           Have  a great fall day!

Surpise visitor.......

Good morning. Talk about having an Indian summer. We have had really fabulous weather the last couple days! I LOVE this kind of weather. I just wish the leaves were not falling so fast off the trees, seems like we only had the  beautiful colors for a very short time.

Yesterday we found a new friend in our yard. One that I have never seen walking around in nature, although we have seen them before in captivity.

Mikhaila spotted our new friend on one of the feed buckets.

Of course she had  to pick him up. He was pretty long, and he was pretty- different shades of brown on his  body and green on his legs. I a sure he blends in well in our yard.

Can you say "Wow he can move?" He ran right across her!

She wasn't totally into holding and having him on her! LOL

A close-up of him on his bucket. Anyway it was fun to see "cool" nature friends up close and personal. But I wonder how many I have stepped on while doing chores! I have never seen them in our yard before yesterday! Sorry little stick bug if I stepped on your friends!

Here are some pictures of the animals as people have been asking for them. I figured I would share them enjoying a lovely fall day. 

Poppy eating some pumpkin.

Wilbur having some pumpkin too.

Our naked- neck chicken. Yes he is suppose to look this way!

The runner ducks and you can just barely see the he call duck right behind brown runner.

Topher, eating some treat from his mama. He is spoiled!

 I have 4 runner and a male and female call duck. I love to hear them talking out in the yard. Plus they like to sit by me when I am working in the garden. Such personality!

Celeste (the brown African goose) and Doinkie the Chinese Goose. Yes they have decided to be a pair. We also have 3 other characters that did not want to be on the blog. These two are the hams of the farm.

Cream a stray that decided to make us her humans. She is one of the best cats we have ever shared a house with.

I hope this makes some of the animal lovers out there happy. We love to share pictures and stories about our animals don't we? I hope you have a favorite fuzzy or feathered friend that lives with you and makes you happy. Until next time...enjoy the awesome weather, watch out for stick bugs and one more thing......

Dahlia says hi to her brother Preacher which lives with my mom and her dad Chewlie which lives with my aunt. She would like to also say she is too cute too be in trouble for shredding the toilet paper!

Some finished projects..

Hello there dear friend.... are you enjoying the weather we are having?.... I really do have to say that fall is my favorite time of the year, I love the smell, the colors, the crunchiness, harvest time, the foods. The list is along one.

Here are some pictures to get you feeling a little fallish.

 These pictures were all taken this last weekend out at Crex Meadows. If you have never been out to see Crex Meadows I would highly suggest going. It is a very lovely place, lots of different floral, fauna, animals and all kinds of other things.I am still looking to get some more pictures of some red leafed trees those are my favorites, especially when there are pine and white birch in there with them.

Some finished projects that I can post are...

 These are three of the different Autumn Fall leaves that I made for the block swap I was in. When I get them all back from the people I was in the swap with I will post a group picture so you see what the others made as well.

A mug rug that I made for someone.

This is how I pieced the back of the mug rug.

I hand sewed  the flower on...

added some cool buttons... they are cooler than the picture shows!

Dish drainer towel.... you put it on the counter and put the clean dishes on top of it to dry. These are pretty compared to the old towels we used on the counter as kids!

I was into buttons during this time.. so I had to add these rust and mustard ones on here. I also put some white ones in the corners on the green fabric.

The back I did with a chocolate brown fabric, batting in between the layers.

A closeup of the fabric and the button. These make dish drainers make really nice gifts. Remember the holidays are right around the corner.


Remember I am working on the crumb blocks over on www.joscountryjunction.com
are you working on them as well? You can check my progress in some of my other posts. I hope you are crumbing along- they are sooo fun.Go to Jo's site and check them out. 


Until next time.... enjoy the weather.

Espresso Cabin closed.

Good afternoon... I am hoping you are out enjoying the sun being out. It is not overly warm but as long  as the sun is out that is what matters. =)
Today I am going to touch on a somewhat touchy subject.... supporting your local businesses. Some people will agree with me some people will not. I just want to bring it up so that people have something to think about being I keep hear feedback about small towns fading away or businesses going out of business. The economy has something to do with this- I totally agree. But so do the the people that live in that area- the customers of that business.

This was the sign of the local coffee shop.

The now empty parking lot.  Espresso would have had cars in it today as many people were coming across the MN line to go to their cabins and local folks were running errands. But here it sits empty and a little sad looking.

This is what the lot looked like on September 23, 2011, their last day of business.

On Sept. 23rd the local coffee shop had their last day in business here in Grantsburg. There were a lot of people there to say their goodbyes to the staff as well as have their last cup of really good java! This coffee shop will be missed as it was not just about coffee but about seeing old friends, meeting new ones and having a local place to be able to meet at. The town as well as the town folks will be at a loss without this business!


Mikhaila and I went there to thank the staff and to say our goodbyes.

Some of the smiling staff that was working that day. We wish them good fortune in whatever they do from here on out.

One of the customers made these cakes, they looked like little coffee cups! Too cute!!!

Cindy, an employee and her husband Larry having a yummy drink.

The decor in the Espresso was so cute, a fireplace, armchairs. It was a very warm and inviting place to sit and chat or read the paper.

 

 

So what I would say is really think of where you are spending your money. We all know  that you can get a cup of coffee at the gas station. However will that gas station close without you buying that cup of coffee? Most likely not. Will the local coffee shop still exist if most people choose to get their coffee at the gas station? Most likely not. Remember to buy local, support the mom and pop business- they do not have the big company backings that stores like a grocery or a  convenience store does. Money is tight for everyone, so lets really think before we spend those hard earned dollars.
To all the employees that were at the Espresso Cabin thank you for your service and your smiles.
Best of luck in everything you do in the future.