Show and Tell of a different variety

It's supernatural! It's angelic! And I just wanted to share some more of what I collect.











This one is my newest one

that I received for Christmas.

And of course the piggy ornaments.



Santa appears to be worried about the pigs ability to fly.

Blessings,

Just call me a pig wrangler!

This time it was the litter DH had weaned from their momma on Sunday. Momma and babies got reunited. Momma got their gate open. If you've ever nursed a baby you can sympathize with her; she was probably hurting something awful. ANYWAY, when I went to feed I see all these (make that eight) little pigs running out in our grass field behind their momma. Oh, joy, not again. At least they're not fifty and sixty pounders. More like ten pounders. I got 'em in their pen. Yeah! DH got a phone call though something like--I think we need to talk about these pigs!

And yes, I told the young man who helped me the other day I owe him a home cooked meal. Good thing it wasn't tonight; dinner would have been late, huh?

And yes, I used to make chow-chow with green tomatoes but I still have some that I made last year. And since we don't seem to be great fans of chow-chow I don't see putting in all that work. Especially when I'd rather be quilting ;D ! I'm having a little problem with the quilting machine so I'm tying the disappearing nine patch baby quilt. I am so good at making things harder than what they have to be. Here I am thinking I will tie at each corner of a big square. Sounded like a good idea. 'Cept I didn't separate the embroidery floss and Dixie had suggested I use a combination of purple and green. Looks real good! It's like pulling teeth to get it through those corners though. So my hand is hurting, my knees are hurting (it's on the floor-remember I'm good at making things harder than what they have to be?) and I'm tired. Did I mention that I broke two needle threaders trying to thread the floss through the eye of the needle? Good thing I know someone who sells them, huh?

Goodnight and blessings,

Vintage embroidery patterns and green tomatoes

What a combination?! I had to have the pig embroidery pattern and I loved Jacque Hencell's quilt tops for future great grandchildren (that's planning) she had made using the frogs and balloon girl. I picked the green tomatoes Saturday before our killing frost. I have these two containers, two other buckets, and a cardboard box of tomatoes. The cardboard box I set in the garage to keep cool so all these don't turn red at once and so we have a supply of red tomatoes for several weeks.

DH went deer hunting again this weekend. Remember my previous post with the sew-in ; ). He got him a very nice deer and had a wonderful time. I'm so glad. And I had a wonderful time with my friends, guild meeting, and putterings around the house. BUT big but, (not butt which I know mine seems to keep get larger and larger each year) I didn't enjoy the surprise I got when I went down to feed Saturday afternoon. I am feeding the animals now since daylight savings time ended. DH goes to work in the dark and comes home in the dark. Can't feed animals in the dark. Well, you can but it's not a good practice. You need to observe them in daylight to see how they are doing. ANYWAY, since DH was away deer hunting I was designated feeder. I went down to feed Saturday afternoon and SURPRISE. The young boar pigs had somehow gotten their gate open and four were out of the pen and running around the barn. The other four stayed in the pen. GOOD BOYS! These boys are no longer babies. They weigh probably fifty to sixty pounds, my guess. DH has a young man he works with who is my designated person to call when I encounter such kinds of problems. I called he came--pigs back in pen. Whew! Nothing like a good workout catching fifty to sixty pound pigs. Heehee!

God bless you,

Baby pigs

Here they are! In the upper right photo, do you see the little pigs laying on top of their mother?

Pretty neat, huh?

DV is adjusting pretty well. Thank you for your prayers.

I've been working on the Disappearing 9 Patch baby quilt and will post a picture soon.

Blessings,

Piggy stuff

Thought you might like to see some of my piggy stuff. Two are cookie jars and some are salt shakers and the pink and purple ceramic one--made by DGD Aimee (it has scotch tape--she dropped it before she gave it to Nanaw, bless her heart) and the two pigs wrestling/cuddling I bought for DH. I have more throughout the house but I haven't dusted so you aren't going to see them yet. We are expecting two litters in a little over a week. And then another a week later. It will be the piggy maternity ward around here for awhile.

We had cooler temps yesterday and today. Humidity, yes, but cooler. I picked blackeyed peas this morning and liberated some more okra from the grass. "You are set free little okra; now grow up and make us proud."

This is the empty pie plate. I was in too big a hurry to take a picture Wednesday before we ate it. The Zucchini Pie was good. I want to tweak it a little. It was a little watery. And it needed some more spices of some kind. The recipe called for cayenne pepper. There was no way that I was going to subject 80 and 90 year old little ladies to cayenne pepper. And no, Jan, no cinnamon. Did I tell you that story? No? At retreat Jan cooked a couple dishes for us. She looked in the cabinet for some spices having forgotten to bring some. And all she found was cinnamon. Yes, sigh, cinnamon. We had some garlic bread left over from the lasagna meal I took and we all got hungry Tuesday evening. Jan and Dixie (they're sisters) went in the kitchen to rummage us up something. They took grated cheese, black olives, some mayo, not sure what else, and you guessed it--cinnamon and spread on the garlic bread and heated it up. It smelled really good. I took my first bite not knowing there was cinnamon in it. What a surprise! And me being me said, "It has cinnamon in it!" Jan said, "That was the only spice in the cabinet." Okay. VERY DIFFERENT! We had some good laughs. That wasn't the end of our "only cinnamon" episode. Sigh, no, it was repeated the next morning at breakfast. Kathleen made us Big Mama's French Toast and yes, it has cinnamon; IT'S SUPPOSED TO. Jan thought we needed some protein to go with all that sweet. She made us a sausage/scrambled egg cheese thingy that was really good. Alas, first bite -- you guessed it. Cinnamon! And me being me said, "It's got cinnamon in it." And Jan said, "It is the only spice in the cabinet." I am going to make sure I take some spices next time.

Oh, by the way, the first batch of Zucchini Jam I made I used peach jello. Okay. The next I used apricot jello. Really good. Last year when I made it-just once last year- used strawberry jello. Again okay. I will be making more with apricot jello. I have some raspberry jello. Hmmmmm. And no, no cinnamon.LOL

If you haven't guessed already; no, there isn't anything quilting going on right now. But I am expecting an order in from a supplier. Mostly books and patterns are coming this time. We talked yesterday at Kraz-z Quilters about getting easily distracted. I think I am going to get easily distracted when that order comes in. "Shhh! blackeyed peas, I will shell you later."

Blessings,

Baby pigs

They were born April 21. In this picture they are not 24 hours old. Patty(mama pig) had ten and now there are eight. This is her first litter. And in the next picture look closely at the little pig by itself. Can you see it's ears? Baby pigs are born with their ears all stuck up and then in a few days they unfurl and come down. They weigh 1 1/2 to 2 pounds each.

There are hundreds of yellow irises. I found some purple ones that weren't too damaged by the wind. And here is my Don Quiote red rose. They are very fragrant but have a problem with black spot. AND I turned on the a/c today. I couldn't stand it any longer. It got to 86 degrees today and high humidity.

Blessings,

Snow then Sunshine

We had rain Sunday night (nearly three inches, Yaah!) then Monday we had snow flurries and just enough snow to show on the grass and picnic table after dark. This morning, Tuesday, all the snow has melted and we have sunshine and it is supposed to be 58 degrees today. Today is primary voting in Texas. Hubby and I will vote a little later.

Last Wednesday we had DH friend's funeral. DH did a good job and it went well. It was a nice day. Thursday, I had an eye exam and ordered new glasses and spent the afternoon doing some ministry work and got the phone call that one of our quilt member's husband passed away. Friday, traveled to DGD's Jump Rope for Heart event.And spent some time with my DD (that's her in the picture above on the right) which was very enjoyable. I drove home in time to feed the animals before dark. Saturday morning we got up at 4:30am and went to a hog show. DH bought three new Hampshire gilts (unbred females). Sunday, rested and cleaned house then started stripping wallpaper in bathroom while DH is castrating pigs (Yuck) and he brought home two just weaned York/cross gilts. Monday (weather horrid-raining, cold, and wind blowing) I attended the funeral of husband of quilt member. I took two of our elderly ladies and then came home and placed an order for Quilt Catering.

This is a picture of our baby pigs. Not a very good one, sorry. I wanted to get one of them nursing but it didn't happen. We have another litter due in April I will get one of them.

We got the good news last night that DH's sister-in-law test came back clear. Phew, what a relief! No more bad stuff for awhile, please. This weekend we will babysit DGS Mason and DH's parents are coming up our direction. Glad I cleaned house; just need to do some dusting.
And here is the Time Travel quilt all laid out on my "design bed". I don't have a design wall. What do you think? I have four more blocks to sew of the Soaring Past Time and then I will begin to sew the rows together.

Blessings to all,

Thursday, December 6, 2007

Good morning to all. I slept a little late this morning. I got woke up around 2am and couldn't go back to sleep right away hence the later wake up. But, I am up and running now. I have to go to the butcher today to pick up our pork. My husband raises hogs so we have pork most of the time. SO we will be having fresh pork chops soon. YAAAAH!

On the quilty front, I have a sew day and Christmas party with the Paradise Piecemakers Saturday. I am thinking of sewing on my 4 Patch Stacked Posie. I mean after all; which project do I choose? I am also sewing strips onto old telephone book pages to make Mary Johnson's Chinese Coins or Bonnie Hunter's String-X quilts. I am also needing to take the borders (that I don't like) off my grandson's quilt and redo. I need to finish the quilt for my oldest son and my daughter's dresden plate started years ago. These last two are definitely UFOs. I have several quilts to machine quilt. But I think I have mentioned this before. LOL!

My husband is going deer hunting this weekend so I will have lots of sewing time. Maybe I can get a lot accomplished. Wish me luck!