Short Story Long

Without further delay, the give-away winner is lucky #3, Mimi!  Congratulations! (Please contact me, Mimi, so that I can send your prize!) As for the rest of you, i f you've EVER commented on my blog, thank you from the bottom of my heart.  I really enjoy blogging, both writing and sharing my own personal projects, as well as reading and being inspired by so many of you.  Now, what have I been doing since August 18th?  I really had no intention of not posting for so long, but I just wasn't in the mood.  It started out with having too much going on, and then I added a terrible rash which got so itchy I could hardly sleep.  Then, we had back-to-school stuff going on.  I also shot a wedding, a birthday party, and some portraits,  and have over 700 pictures to go through!  On top of it all, I knew I needed to pick a winner and I hadn't gotten to that yet.  So, you know, life stuff.   I was ...

Thank you for all your comments, I am enjoying them immensely.  It looks like all topics are appreciated, which is nice to know.  I need to get some more quilting up here!  I'll have to actually finish some to do that, I guess.  In the meantime, here is our first ear of homegrown, big-enough-to-eat corn on the cob!  I'm thrilled that it's done so well, and it tasted great, too!  I was hoping we'd have enough for two meals, and it looks like we will.  Maybe next year we'll grow more.    This year, the pumpkins have really taken over the garden.  I don't remember ever having this problem before.  I don't know if it is the new, sunnier location, or if it is this variety, which I've never grown before, but it is pretty agressive as you can kind of see in the below picture.  It's hard to get a good shot, I should try going up on the roof but I don't think I will!   I was surprised how many...

I can hardly keep from posting pictures every day from my garden, I just find it so amazing.  I don't know if this wonder will last me all the rest of my life but it seems like I have more every year I garden.  BFJ has finally gotten the gardening bug this year, maybe it is because he built the fence and is more invested than he has previously been.  Last night he told me, "This vine was here yesterday, and now it's here .  It's grown at least a foot!!" One plant that I've been watching daily is this sunflower.  I planted several sunflower seeds, from at least two different packets, and I have three.  (Why don't they all grow?)  I knew this one was going to be red because the spines on all the leaves are purplish instead of green.  It's finally blooming!    And here are two nuts.  Okay, not actually nuts, but acorn squash.  When I was selecting squash plants for the garden, this was BFJ's request.  Thes...

Winners first: the first three bloggers to comment were Judy , Candace , and Audrey . Remember to pay it forward! Cheryl was the first non-blogger to comment. Thank you for playing along, ladies! Cheryl, please leave me your email so I can contact you! Now, what will I make for them? Hmmm... So many fun choices. I'm going to have to think about it awhile. So here's how I came to make socks: I have this friend, Marly, I've taken pictures for, and she wanted to repay the favor. She said she'd teach me to knit socks. I had a couple of projects going and I was not in a hurry to learn socks; they just didn't grab me. Finally, she caught me between projects and gave me this beautiful yarn; she knows my favorite color is red! Sitting around the table at the yarn shop, she got me started on my first pair of socks. I was talking to one of the other knitters about who we were going to give socks to, and Marly said, "I hope you are making these for yourself!" I wou...

Did you notice I've been absent? We've had some technical difficulties here, and were without technology for a week. My, it was nice; the phone did not ring in the middle of dinner - for eight days! And now, my first ever give-away, yet not in the traditional sense... I got this from a recently-made friend, Dawn. {The Rules} 1. Be one of the first THREE (3) bloggers to leave a comment on this post, which then entitles you to a handmade item from me - something crafty or yummy, who knows?! 2. Winners must post this challenge on their blog, meaning that they will Pay It Forward, creating a handmade gift -anything!- for the first 3 bloggers who leave a comment on YOUR post about this giveaway! 3. The gift that you send to your 3 friends can be from any price range and you have 365 days to make/ship your item. This means you should be willing to maintain your blog at least until you receive your gift and have shipped your gifts. And remember: It’s the Spirit and the Thought that Co...