A Lavender Tale & Some Pretties.

Oh Little Baby Fox Squirrel, you are so cute to watch when you are running around the trunks of the trees chasing your brother, and even when you are sitting on this old feeder in the way back yard nibbling on corn and seeds..

But when you come up on the porch and start digging.. searching for who knows what in my precious baby lavender plants.. this means WAR.

There are only three out of the eleven little plants left that were growing along so nicely from seeds. I think I can salvage them. Mr Attic reminded me about the old bicycle basket that I used to keep the bunnies from eating my crocus this spring..

So even though it doesn't look so nice.. it's here. I imagined them getting too wet, too hot, too cold, too dry.. but never this!

Nothing bothers the geraniums. They must not taste very good because even the earwigs, slugs and sow bugs leave them alone.

I'm still working on a special doll outfit.. and when it is all finished I can tell the story about that.

But I did open up some of my half yards from the quilt show... dreaming of them in a quilt.. maybe something Material Obsession-ish. I am absolutely smitten with their stuff.

Or maybe some more bags. They are so quick and fun.

NQA in Columbus Ohio

This past Friday I went here:

...and spent the morning browsing up and down the rows of gorgeous quilts and terrific vendor's booths with some other very like-minded folk that I just happened to meet.

Here we are... from left to right... Stephanie of Loft Creations, T of Purple&Paisley, me, and Rumi of Lucky Frog.

Also, T's mom Cheri was there...

And I was so surprised because she brought me this.. a dish towel that she had embroidered using a vintage transfer. With orange Ric-Rac!.. so totally me. I could hardly believe it.. the sweetness of that. I wanted to tie it around my waist and wear it the rest of the day so everyone could see.

I felt like I've known this bunch of gals my whole life.. And we had so much fun. I only wish the morning didn't end!

Anyways.. I should have taken more pictures of the quilts.. but everything was moving so quickly, and I only had that morning. Here is a gorgeous hand appliquéd and hand quilted piece.. I could have looked at it forever. It is a vintage quilt that someone decided to finish.. I really love the thought of that.
And this one had a "First Place"ribbon. It is called Bohemian Fireworks. You can read more about it here. (I thought about you Jackie) This was truly an amazing piece of work.. totally unbelievable.

The sales booths were wonderful. Here is one with Kaffe Fassett and Amy Butler fabrics...

I found Stephanie shopping here for some of her polka dots. ☺

And here is Superior Thread's booth.. (I was looking for you Nedra)...

Most of the things were not my usual thrift shop finds.. but I did come across a wonderful booth where the fabric was $2.50 a half yard.. I could not pass that up and came home with a little stack..

I'm sure the others there will have even more and better pictures.. so make sure you check out their blogs today too.

Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day to all you dad's out there. Especially to my own. ☺

I always thought my dad was fairly tech savvy.. and he was. This was in 1958, and I am sure that is probably a transistor radio in his shirt pocket with a headset. He listens to classical music. I still have this little mint green dress. It doesn't fit me anymore.
I talk to my dad every morning on the cell phone. He lives about eleven hundred miles from me in a nice warm climate where he can go outside every day and work in his yard or take a zip around the place on his scooter. Isn't he cute? And he would like to take your picture too. ☺

And oh! Happy-First-Day-of-Summer too. It is gorgeous here today, not too hot, but sunny and breezy. The past few days have looked like this:

I've been working all week on a special doll clothes order that I really can't blog about. But I did do one fun quilty thing on Friday.. I'll tell you about it tomorrow. ☺ Can't wait!

Finished for Friday ~Raggedy~

Not many words today...

But maybe none needed.

Join in over at Lit & Laundry!

Going Mobile

Just what I need. More distractions. Mr Attic and daughter thought that since I was the only one in the family that didn't have some kind of mobile device with Internet access that I needed an IPod Touch. Didn't take much arm twisting.. except when it came to the size. I really didn't think I needed 32, or even 16gig of memory.. so I got the 8gig. It really seems big enough because all I really want it for is keeping up with blogs and emails and Facebook when I'm outside enjoying the lovely summertime.

But what I also discovered I needed was something to put it in! Pockets just won't do. I had bought a yard of this Sandy Klopp American Jane fabric a few weeks ago.. from the Apple Pie collection, and it was the perfect thing to use for the pockets of my new cobbler's apron.

I used this adorable vintage pattern, only cut it down a bit so it wouldn't be as ruffled. The body of the apron is a recycled khaki skirt that was way too long, (I just cut the bottom off and had plenty!) But the fabric was a little heavy to do much gathering.
Wow. Love the hostess with the perfect makeup, teased hair, and dangling earrings. I can even slouch my shoulders like that too.. in fact I do, and it's not good for one's posture! But she is obviously hosting a fancy Christmas party.

Anyway.. the one I made myself is for EVERY DAY. I can tie it on and stuff the pockets with things to take out and work on while I sit on the deck watching the birds.. and now listening to podcasts or music if I want. ☺

The new little Raggedy is getting her hair. I still have the whole back of the head to do. And hopefully her clothes will be finished this evening. ☺

I do want to thank everyone for all the great comments. I'm really gonna try and answer them all. It does help too if you at least give me your email address.. especially if you don't have a blog that I can return the visit. I'll be around to see you soon..

A Little Nature Walk

A few weeks ago we discovered a very pretty place to go for a walk about three miles from where we live. It is some sort of wildlife conservation park, with 2 miles of mulched trails in the fields and woods. Pets are welcome as long as they are on a leash and cleaned up after. Our nine year old pooch loves going!

He's a pretty big dog, sometimes very naughty, and my baby. The family thinks he totally takes advantage of me.. but that's silly.

Anyway.. today I welcome you to come along with us. First we'll follow this trail through the open fields, where usually we see rabbits, groundhogs, birds of all sorts including wild turkeys and pheasants. But not today.. because I had my camera, and we really were making a lot of racket.

These Multifloral Roses are just starting to bloom here, and smell wonderful. I could never figure out why they were called roses, because they look more like apple blossoms to me. The bees love 'em.

This is the first entrance into the woods..

Today the sun was shining so pretty through the trees..

May Apples grow thick in places. All the blossoms are gone now, and if you look underneath you can see the little fruit. I could never figure out why they were called apples, because they look more like umbrellas to me.

Along the trails someone has made lovely signs identifying the different trees. Here is the King of the Woods.. a Red Oak..

..and the Queen.. a Wild Black Cherry.

There are a lot of wild grapevines growing everywhere..

I remember as a kid my older brothers used to play Tarzan on these, and swing from trees. One time I took a ride, and it was so much fun.. but very scary!

Here are some that have new little red shoots growing out on them. I thought this looked so pretty!

Terrifying! No wonder people make up frightening stories about huge monsters lurking in the forest...

Ahhh.. a nice safe Sugar Maple..

..and some more May Apples..

All along the way there are benches to stop and rest.. and even a place to bring a picnic basket..

if you're not afraid of the wolf..
Ha. Fooled ya.

"We know there are little critters living over there under that bridge.. can we go see Mommy?"

Awe drat. I can never catch them when I'm tied on this leash.

On the other side.. a Black Walnut. Love the bark on this. But the fruit is very messy.. and it stains.

A Woodland Folk pretends to be a Beech tree..

And in this climate we learn the saying when we're very little children.."Leaves of three, Leave them be". Poison Ivy. But I can pull it with bare hands and it never bothers me.

Here is a small deer hoofprint. Looks like a "V"

..and one more little foot bridge takes us back into the field on the other side..

Here are some Indian Paintbrushes.. the yellow kind. I really love the orange ones, but didn't see any here. They have a warm thick smell when the sun shines on a whole field of them..

And here was a plant I have no idea what it is. The leaves are gorgeous, and there is some sort of flower beginning in them. I can't wait to go back and see how they look next time. The little white flowers are something else.. but I forget the name now. Help me out Ulla or Melanie. ☺

Some very pretty tall grasses..

And some purple and white flowers.. again I don't know what they are, but they are everywhere along the highways..

Back at the car, these daisies were flourishing right in the gravel driveway. Maybe I need to get some of this gravel and dump it around mine!

I know this was a long walk, and thank you for going along with us. We've been going almost every day that it's nice enough out, because we're afraid by next month the heat and humidity will fill the woods with mosquitoes and the fields with horseflies that bite. Then I'll stay home in the air conditioning and sew. ☺

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Here is that little project I was using the vintage fabrics for last week. They were for a dear friend.. and now she has them. ☺