Apples

I am going to town on these Farmer’s Market blocks. Here are my apples. I took my sweet Bullvye to the vet this week. I was really nervous about it as he doesn’t do well with other animals. He becomes aggressive towards them but I think it is more out of fear then meanness. He did so good! We walked right into the office and there were two loose dogs and another sitting with its owner. He sat down as commanded and waited until it was his turn. The trip out of the office wasn’t as easy as there was a little spitfire of a dog yapping at him and it took all I could muster to hold him down and get my check wrote. I am glad that is done for another year. Well we are having a rainy day here today so I think after the daily grind of work I will just go home and relax. Maybe catch up on my MacGyver episodes.

Practice yourself…in little things; and thence proceed to greater. - Epictetus

Grapes

Grapes. Grapes relive so many good memories for me. I am still working on my Farmers Market quilt top provided free at Pat Sloan’s site. When I first saw this top I was reminded not of an actual Farmers Market but my Grandfathers gardens and orchard. I spent so much time at my Grandparent’s West Paris Street home growing up that a good portion of my fondest memories come from there. We were late in life children so my Grandparents were old compared to most children’s grandparents. They were retired the majority of my growing up years so I don’t remember anything but them both being there all the time. Grandpa spent his day in his gardens. They were beautiful gardens all fenced in with a wood picket fence, with pathways through the different areas of the gardens. If you got off the walkways he had concrete paths to let you actually walk through different areas. Outside of the picket fence were his fruit trees. We had cherries, peaches, pears, apples all the major fruits that would grow in our area of the world. Our favorite place was the grape arbor. It was quite large and beneath it was a bricked floor with a hanging swing and the old metal lawn chairs. In the summer this is where we would play as it was so much cooler under the arbor. Grandma would sit out with us drinking her ice tea. When the grapes were ripe we would help pick them as Grandma would make juice and then her famous “grape jell” as she would call it. We would help run the juice through the cheesecloth. I have so many good memories of those days. So this quilt is not so much a Farmers Market quilt for me as a memory of Grandpa. Pat didn’t have grapes on her quilt she had donuts. Grandpa was diabetic and would have never eaten a donut so I had to create my own grape block. It is reminiscent of a hot pad my Grandma had crocheted and always used to sit the hot something or other from the oven on. I wish I still had that hot pad but just by putting the grapes in this quilt I have a little something of both Grandma and Grandpa.

Love is a fruit in season at all times. - Mother Teresa

Corn

I finished up my corn block from the Pat Sloan Farmers Market pattern. This is a freebie on her site. I have been a country girl my whole life until recently. I have always had a cornfield either in front of my home, behind my home or to the left or right of my home. I always complained about it as the corn would block any breeze headed into our non air conditioned homes. Making this block has really made me think about how I am going to not only miss the corn and soybeans but the sitting on the front porch and enjoying the views for miles around. Listening to the corn rustle in the evening breezes. Seeing Bullvye suddenly pop out of the rows of corn; after having been on some mission to chase something down. We now have new sights and sounds around us. The sound of car doors early in the morning as people head off to work. Dogs barking and kids talking loudly as they head off to the school bus stop. I am sure we will adjust and before long the sound of corn rustling in the breeze will be nothing but a distant memory.

“It is not so important where one settles down. The best thing is to follow your instincts without too much reflection.” - Albert Einstein

Pie

I got my pie block all done; this is part of the Pat Sloan Farmer’s Market series. I am definitely a pie person. I love it not warm like the majority of people but after it has came out of the oven and sat a few hours. Put some whip crème on it and that makes it perfect. If I had to choose my favorite I know it would be banana crème pie. My mom makes the best banana crème pie ever. This would be followed closely by peach and cherry. I also love Sugar crème pie. Sugar crème pie is now the official pie of the State of Indiana. Mrs. Wick’s sugar crème pie is made in Indiana and they are sooo good. We always had them at Thanksgiving along with our pumpkin pie. Wow all this pie talk is certainly making me hungry. What is your favorite pie?

“Vegetables are a must on a diet. I suggest carrot cake, zucchini bread, and pumpkin pie.” - Jim Davis

Mr. Pumpkin Head

I finally put a binding on this cute little doll quilt I finished up last year. My friend Sossity knows the love of Halloween that my daughter and I share so she stitched the cute little pumpkin head. I then put the borders on it and handquilted it. The center is crosshatched and the borders are Tonya’s free hand fans. You can still see my markings. I love doing them they are so easy and fun.
Not much going on here. The weather has been unseasonably warm, that has been a nice change from the extreme cold we have been having this winter. Last night a friend and I got out and walked a couple of miles, add that to the mile and half that Bullvye and I had already done and I got quite a bit of exercise in. Our plan is to continue this as the weather allows. It sure felt good to get some exercise in that didn’t include a dog pulling me every which way.
I have been playing some catch up on some of the movies and shows I have taped on my DVR. I am all caught up on the MacGyver series. I saw that is was starting up on the Sleuth channel so I was able to get in on the pilot. It was always one of my favorites. I love Westerns and tape a lot of them, this past weekend I watched “Wrangler” it starred a young Jeff Fahey who now looks old on the tv show LOST. I love almost anything with Jack Lemmon and the movie “How to Murder Your Wife” was no exception. Tonight I work on my taxes, back to reality!

Every time I close the door on reality, it comes in through the windows. -Jennifer Unlimited-