Mom has been a hooking machine these last few months. Here is one of her latest projects. This kit was purchased days, weeks, months or years ago...........you guess. It came from a shop that was getting out of rug hooking shops. The funny parts is ....................mom doesn't really like cats but she seems to hook rugs with them in it!!! A little ironic don't you think? 
We decided to go see our daughter, Jennifer for Thanksgiving since she couldn't make it home for the holiday. Our decision was EASY since she is attending school in Florida!! This is a picture of the kids on the beach on Thanksgiving day. It was a beautiful day, we had much to be thankful for and we were all together. A traditional meal was purchased from the local grocery store, Jenny made her first pie..............one with a "floating" crust and one without! :) It doesn't matter what you eat or where you are as long as you are together!! 
For those of you that wonder what happens in my "spare" time this is it!! When the blog posts are far and few between it is usually because I am busy with my kids. This past weekend our high school choral department put on "Suessical the Musical". Many hours were spent practicing, sewing and gathering props. It takes lots of work but worth every minute. Natalie played the part of Gertrude McFuzz and Drew played the part of Wickersham Brothers. The entire cast, crew and directors did a FABULOUS job!! :)
One day I had this hair-brained idea to draw up some rug designs that were easy to do. We all like to work on a project that we know we will complete! We both picked out a design and began hooking...............guess who completed theirs first? Mom is such an over achiever. :) Mom hooked this one and we thought it was a piece of cake. We picked out a wool that we hadn't used yet for the background. It was all hooked and you couldn't see a thing. We both hooked and reverse hooked and still nothing. The background sucked the life out of every color we hooked in. Eventually we hooked bright and light. I am not sure that it is one of our favorites.......due to the background that we chose but it's just a rug and we learned our lesson. 
Well, I imagine that most of you think I died and went to heaven..............actually I just fell of the "blog wagon"!! Life has happened and the days have just rolled right on by. I am currently sewing costumes for the musical that is next weekend! Two of my children are in it and mom and dad have helped on the side. :) This year they are doing "Suessical" it is based on the stories of Dr. Suess. It is very cute and I am hoping to round up the costumes this weekend. I have been working with feather boas and have lots flying around at home!! 
I thought you might be interested in seeing these pictures of Dad's gourds. The vines grew up and around the chicken fence. There were so many vines that it created total shade for the chickens. Dad even had gourds growing inside the fence. This is his harvest and I am anxiously awaiting to see where he is going to dry them. They need to hang in a place where it doesn't freeze? Hmmm.........................................the shop?
Those of you that have been to the shop have probably been out to the garden. Dad planted the seeds and now it's time to harvest the crop. These heirloom seeds came from Seed Savers located near Decorah, Iowa. I don't know how many plants there were but the crop is HUGE! I believe that Dad said one squash weighed 37 lbs!! Oh, these are butternut squash. I am STILL waiting to be offered one to taste!!
We just received these wonderful cards in yesterday. They are blank 5 x 7 note cards with simple yet wonderful primitive pictures. On the back of each card has a simple saying to match the picture. These are just a small sampling of what we received. Many of us are sending emails but how special to receive a hand written note on a wonderful card!! These retail for $1.95 ea.
Humble, yet pleasing
Baa Baa Black Sheep Have Ye Any Wool?......Yes sir, yes sir, three bags full. Bolts of wool at the shop with more on the way. 
"Yuletide" by Brenda Gervais. 3 projects in 1 pattern. On the left hand side is a cross stitched book binding. Mom did this one. I believe that she used an old army blanket when attaching the cross stitch. The pattern also contains directions for a 9 x 29 wool penny rug and a 31/2 x 7 punch needle St. Nick. The pattern retails for $18.00. Good bang for your buck. Think Christmas gifts!! :)
Pattern #2 is also a wool applique pattern and is called "Autumn Blooms". The finished design measures 22x25.5. The pattern retails for $9.00. These look like so much fun I can hardly wait to get started!! Fall is here.
I love Fall! I enjoy the cool nights and the cool mornings. It makes me feel full of energy................well, after a couple cups of coffee that is. I took this photo at the shop. We had a bad wind storm and it blew the apples off of Dad's apple tree. These were sitting in a bucket waiting.................not sure what they were waiting for? I think Mom thought the apples would magically turn into applesauce or something?! Anyway, the raindrops looked awesome on the apples so I took a quick picture. 
Summer is gone and school has officially started. We always take a picture the first day of school. On the left is Natalie, a SENIOR and on the right is Sam, an 8th grader. Now one might wonder where is Drew? Well, he is still in bed.............even though he was called numerous times to get up!! He struggles to get up and go to bed!! Lots of adjusting for him this year. :) Hats off to a great school year!!
