An interesting spot in the road

I was out and about with my trusted camera, after a nice rainy day, and came across this fairly large "hole in the pavement" and thought that I'd just make it a star. So now you see it, and can comment if you'd like to.  I love comments. I wonder will the city EVER repair it. Hmmnnn.

I wonder does any fishes live in there. Of course, not!!

Fool's GOLD or what !!! What would you do??

What would you do if you were to find a lot of GOLD in your back yard?

1. Sell it and donate ALL of the proceeds to a charity? (not hardly)

2. Secretly keep it a secret from your family? (that's a thought)

3. Share measured amounts of the gold with neighbors and family? (yeah,right -well most likely)

4. Call all of the neighbors, friends, family, and co-workers, and lay the gold out on a table, and let them do their pickings. (do I look crazy)

5. Leave the country, and secretly buy a private island, and tell your family that you have a very contagious disease? (now that's a plan)

I found these wonderful rocks in my back yard while clearing area for my garden this past summer. Just got around to photographing them recently. They have such a beautiful and realistic looking gold texture. Oh how I wish.

Tell us what you would do with your GOLD find.

Pink White Yo Yo Flower Zippered Lined Fabric Wristlet Pouch Clutch Cosmetic Bag Purse

Click here or on the purse to see full purse, more photos, and/or to purchase.

Here is another cute handmade wristlet purse that I've just listed in my Etsy shop. It's great for a gift item. Well made and good quality. The yo yo is made with Aunt Grace retro reproduction fabric by Marcus Brothers. The center of the flower is stuffed applique with black french knots.

It's Reindeer Season. Is Rudolph Male or Female ???

Rudolph or just another reindeer

Click on the deer, or the link to go to my Etsy shop to purchase the brooch.

I don't know Rudolphs' gender. Oops. Haven't gone to the search engines to try and find out, and don't know whether the search engines know. Do you know? Take a guess and comment here.

I did hand embroider this cute reindeer brooch that can be worn by male or female humans. Great as a gift, or keep it for yourself.

The HOLE with no bottom - The bottomless pit.

I discovered this hole in my back yard a few months ago. After a while, I decided to test the depthness just out of curiousity. I took the water hose and poured water into the the hole for about five minutes, and the hole never filled. I looked around nearby for a possible exit, but never found one. Therefore, my only conclusion is that the hole is extremely deep. I wonder whether it was dug by a chipmunk or what type wiseguy creature!!

I'm baffled. My grandson, also, tried filling the hole. No luck.  Therefore, it has been deemed "the hole with no bottom".

Speaking of UFO's. I have many to finish

This will be a beautiful clutch. Notice my handstitching in red and green floss.

Here is just a small number of the UnFinished projects that I have lingering around my sewing room.

The pin, needle and thread is still in this one.

If I were to photo them all. I'd be taking and posting pictures for quite a few days.

So take a look at what I plan to bring to fruition in the very near future. I promise. Come hell or high water.

Notice that most of these, have zippers.

The above project is a pretty pink and purple purse that needs the lining, strap and pockets inside.

Did you notice that most clutches have the retro yo yo's that I made.

The above one has some machine embroidery.

I think that this one will be cute once finished.

A beautiful red handknitted purse. Has to be lined and straps added.

WHEW!! I'll be glad to get these finished and listed for your buying pleasure.

So now you see SOME OF what I've been up to. There's plenty more to finish.

Ms. Laetoli is now a new "mom"

Now Ms. Laetoli, the smallest of my six hens have become an egg mom. It happened Oct. 27, 2009, but her mom, me, became addicted to Twitter and didn't update this blog properly.

Laetoli is a South American breed that is known for laying colorful olive, or blue toned eggs. She's Americuana.

When I found the egg in the nest, I knew that it had to be Laetoli's because of its white but blue green tent.

Below she seeks food, worms.

We will always remember that she began laying in the FALL, because of the leaves.

Laetoli and Fancy have a new mom talk here. See, Fancy had laid her first egg the day before.

Hand Applique Needleturn Red Cardinal Bird

This is a block that I needleturn appliqued a few months ago. I'm just not sure of which type project to use it in. I would love to have your VOTE. (see the upper left side of my blog to vote)
Would it look great on the flap of a messenger bag?

Should I make a mini quilt with it?

Should I applique it to a tote bag?

Can you notice the difference in the color of the wing and the birds' body??

I guess I'm full of questions on this one.

Looking back to younger days -and growing older -a chicken story

Now that the girls are all grown up and have become "egg moms", I thought it would be nice to reflect back to their baby days. I felt that my blog followers, and potentially new followers would enjoy these.

They are between 2-3 weeks here below and above.

Queen is grooming herself in this photo.

They are between 12-14 weeks in the photos below.

Having a dirt bath.

Here they are feeding from my garden. They were still on the starter food mix.

This is Princess at about 12-14 weeks old.

They are 12-14 weeks in the photo below.

Fancy lays her first egg.

Well it finally happened. Ms. Fancy decided to become a grown up mom and give her mommy, me, an egg.


She laid it on
Monday Oct. 26, 2009.

She's a proud new mom.

I noticed that she was following the pattern of the others when they were about to lay their first egg; wandering by themselves. I then noticed her sitting on the nest for about an hour or more. By the time the newborn was delivered, it was to dark to photo, but I got a great picture today. These are her first photos after becoming a new "mom".

One of my newest projects -Red white and Blue mini quilt

I got this gem finished a few weeks ago and is just getting around to listing it. It is listed for sale on my website. Click on the quilt to view more photos and /or purchase.

There's no place like homeHand Quilted WallhangingWall Applique LandscapeHouse Art Quilt

~~This quilt is apprx. 24 x 18 inches (60.96 cm x
45.72 cm)~~

This is a pretty and unique, and one of a kind new landscape appliqued wallhanging quilt that I made using my own imagination. I hand appliqued most of the components on this gorgeous gem. Notice the mailbox, near the driveway, at the lower corner; just as in real life.












This is for sale on the handmade site called ETSY. Click here if you would like to view the complete description and/or purchase this lovely landscape quilt.

The golden string of beads.

The golden string of beads will come to life eventually.













I'll make this story short and "antique". LOL. I purchased this container of a continuous string of beads more years ago than I can exactly remember. (at least 20) At that time, of course, I, as most crafters do, had great plans to cut the string of golden beads into various as needed lengths, and use them to embellish many wonderful handcrafted items. Well !!!













I found this container last week while looking through some long lost stacked up crafting boxes.

One point worth mentioning is that the store from where this item was purchased has long, long ago gone out of business. (but I still have THEIR beads and still maintain the strongest intention to use them in some gotta have hot new items)













Mind you, that my family would have long ago thrown them and much of my other crafting supplies out to the curb, were it not for my constant rebelling.













Moral of the story is: Never leave your noncrafting minded family in charge of your long lost crafting items; for one day for sure, you will find those long lost items and make NEW PLANS to bring them to life once again.

Who picks a peck of pickled peppers; and who has bragging rights???

ONLY the first photo here on the plant is a pepper in my garden.

This is a story about how I thought that my garden grown peppers were kinda long until the neighbor brought some over that a co-worker had given her. Just take a look and tell me if I can brag about mine or not !!!

All peppers below were given to me. Dig the unique shapes.

My larger ones are about 3 inches, oh but lookee at what the neighbor brought.

Speaking of Okra - have you ever seen such an odd one ??

This is the oddest that I can remember ever seeing. It's still in the garden-haven't picked it yet. Wonders would it taste different than the other okra ??????? Inquiring minds wanna know. Who would like to do the taste test??? LOL

In re an inquiry about the size of my okra

Lucky me for keeping records of almost everything. After the inquiry about the size of my okra, it wasn't difficult to find the answer to poster, Timeless Beauty's question.

I kept the empty seed packages for all of the vegetables that I planted in my garden this spring. Even though most didn't grow well, I know exactly what I planted and where. I have a map that I didn't post here, showing what went where. Even though when I did the planting, I had never imagined that I would have finally set up my blog, and that someone would inquire about one of my plantings. I love the inquiry, makes me feel like a real gardener. LOL

As shown in the photo, this particular okra grew to about 4 inches. (or 3 inches if you don't count the stem). I pull them before they grow too large and become hard. (Some are smaller when pulled, however, as is shown in the previous post.) The variety is Clemson spineless. I don't know if you are able to read the info on the back of the package, but it says 'best when pods are 4 to 5 inches long. It, also, states that they grow to 7-8 inches long. I would imagine that they would be too hard by then.

I smiled as I passed the egg section while shopping yesterday.

Yes, with my babies giving me the freshest eggs on the planet, I can say goodbye to store eggs for a while. Two of the six are laying steadily. A third is laying soft shelled; will be glad when she learns the trick of the trade and hardens up.
(The white egg is the last of my store bought eggs)

The beads have no connection to the eggs; just thought they looked cute together.















And this is all that I collected from my FARM/garden today. The egg was laid about 2 hours ago from this posting. I pulled the okra about an hour ago. This is as fresh as you can get.

Have you ever eaten RAW OKRA ???

(I will be showing other goodies from my garden in my next post)

Well, I never had until last night. Somehow the thought occurred in my mind to sample it, so I did. The flavor is surprisingly sweet and not bad at all. A little slimy, but that's the makeup of okra. Take a look at my okra photos.















I grew a row in my garden, and have been enjoying the few that did produce. Last night I made black eyed peas, and used the ones in the photos in the peas. I've always loved peas with okra. Some of my family doesn't like it that way because the slimminess is more pronounced than when okra is fried.















Can you spot the okra in the photo below ??















What's the red in the photo? Try taking a guess.















Whole okra, and headless/tail-less okra. My family always cuts the heads and tips before cooking. You've probably noticed that the store packs usually contain the heads and tails (well the packs that I've purchased does).

Chaka lays her first egg

Chaka stands near my okra in the garden.

Chaka is no longer into terrifying bags, she is now the mom of her first egg. I noticed that she constantly strayed away from the rest of her crew that day, 9-29-09; and was seemingly in her own world, and was looking for a nest. Well, by about 4:30 pm, Chaka decided to just quietly sit and release her first egg in front of the house.

I sat, watched, and waited, then picked the egg up while it was still warm. Being that she is of the Black Giant breed, I was surprised that her egg was quite smaller than Queens'.

...And this is QUEEN

Queen is a Golden Comet breed. She is the first of my six hens to lay me an egg. I purchased these six girls in April 2009, when they were about 1 1/2 weeks old, from a local pet and feed store; and have loved and cared for them every since. They are about 6 months old at this writting. I am the only mom that they know. I have realized that because, they were born in incubators, they will never know what it's like to have a real momma chicken mommie. I love these little ladies very much. I, however, do wish that they would be a bit more obedient, and stop ruining my landscape.








She's busy digging for worms below.

My first three eggs from Queen

Black Bag Terrorizes Beautiful Black Giant Chicken Chaka

Well, you might say that I just happened to be in the right place at the right time, in the southeast U.S.A., along with my trusted camera. It happened on a nice cool day in late August 2009. As I was photoing my new line of lunch bags in the FRONT yard, all hell broke loose in the BACK yard.




My six teenagers (chickens) emitted the familar loud warning sound that I hear when a suspect (dog, cat or whatever they feel unsafe around) enters their territory. Upon hearing the panicky distressed sounds, I immediately picked up a stick (I keep several in strategic places for times like this so to always be prepared to fight off the enemy, a dog or cat) and ran to the back yelling, without seeing a single thing, "get away, get away". -For I just knew that the biggest dog in town had encringed upon the territory of my precious little angels . (They do have a secure area, but when they come out to graze, I constantly monitor them.)



Well, when I finally reached the back yard (it seemed to have taken half an eternity) all that I could make of the scene was that my lovely Black Giant teenager, Chaka, as in Chaka Khan, had somehow gotten one of her legs caught in a black plastic bag, and was fluttering about, and running in every direction, with the entire team of six squaking to the top of their gizzards, and more frightened than a chicken should ever have to experience. How the bag got into the yard, I will leave for Kojak to figure out.




Now, of course, she would not stand still and allow me to remove the bag; but I did manage to capture several photos of the event. Any attempts to approach her, and she would take off again with "her" bag trailing. Upon realizing that I would not be able to rescue her, I returned to my photo session. About 5 minutes later, I returned to the back to attempt another rescue of her from the bag, and was pleased to find her just fine and grazing with her flock again. I will never know for sure exactly how she managed to remove the bag. A day or two later, I did find the bag in the lower yard, mostly shredded and caught on a small stump. My guess is that the bag somehow, during her running session, became caught on the stump and WALA, Chaka became free.







Might I add that I borrowed my story from our Quilts and Heirlooms Team blog.