Odds and Ends (posted by Lorri)

There is no real theme for this post, just some odds and ends from my camera.

Falling leaves turn into............

 

Snowmen.

Caedmon eating a cheeseburger at McDonalds. He sure does like cheeseburgers. Mark and I got to keep all three grandkids one evening and night.  We all had a good time.

Stephanie (due May 13), me (aka Grandma Lorri), Kelli (due Feb 25)

Family Christmas Photos by Sherry

This good looking bunch of young people are our mom and dad's grandchildren.  Some Christmas's when we could actually all get together, (before jobs, marriages, moves across the country, etc.)  we would try to remember to take a picture of all the kids.  I'm not sure what year this was, maybe 1998?  Its the oldest one I could find. I'm sure we have some of when they were younger, but not that I could find.  This year was a very rare occasion where we had most of the grandkids and all the great grandkids  at Grandma and Grandpa's for Christmas.  So we had to take a picture, right?  Well its a whole lot easier to take a picture of 7 young people ages 9-21 that it is to take one of 7 children ages 6 and under.  I ended up taking 18 different shots, trying to get the best one,  Yes, the first one or two was the best, it all went down hill after that.  But its pretty darn entertaining to see the others.  First let me introduce you to the beautiful children.  My grandchildren include Spencer, age 6, Caroline, age 5, Kendall, age 4, and Gavin, age 20 months.  Lorri's grandchildren are Adelaide, 5, Atticus, 3, and Caedmon, 15 months.  Here they are: Picture #1, and picture # 15. 

Back row:  Carolin, Adelaide Spencer; Front Row:  Atticus, Gavin, Kendall, and Caedmon

I think they're done.  :)

Pinhead - the Sherry version (as told by Lorri)

One of the fun things about having crafty sisters is getting gifts from them at the holidays.  This year, Sherry made us a new kind of pincushion.  It reminds of a dress form - in non-sewing talk, a manikin to try on clothing you are making. 
Here is a picture:

I think Sherry is missing an opportunity here.  She could photoshop the faces of certain politicians and put it on the head of the pin cushion.  Then, every time that politician does something stupid, you could stick a pin in the torso.  Not just any pin, one of the big, honkin' quilt pins. Cut school funding - stick in a pin.  Cut funding to the arts - stick in a pin.  Cut agricultural funding - stick in a pin. Cut services to the disabled - stick in two pins.  You get the idea. 
Might not get much sewing done, but our blood pressures would probably be wonderful. 
Of course, these would be called - Pinheads.

Family Fun posted by Sherry

My dad taught me how to shoot a gun.  One of my most memorable Christmas presents growing up was a 4-10 shotgun. We used to go squirrel hunting whenever he would take me. I don't remember ever actually getting a squirrel or rabbit but surely i did, or else why did I want to keep going?  Maybe to spend a little time with my Dad?  Little did I know how all this would prepare me for my life as a mother of die hard hunters. It started with b.b. guns, then it was shotguns, compound bows and deer rifles.  They have guns to shoot turkeys, coyotes, quail, geese, ducks, deer, and apparently pumpkins and beer cans.  Yes, my family's necks are a little red. 

My oldest son Jeremy decided to fly home from North Carolina this year for firearm deer season the end of November.  He has come in the past, but most recently just at Thanksgiving and has bow hunted.  This year he was determined to get a nice buck.  It just so happened that my second son, Josh, was coming through here that week too on his way to a conference in Iowa and had a couple of days to spend with his brother.  My youngest son was finishing up his last semester of college so he was around a couple of days too.  And so the killing began.  If you're the least bit squeamish, this is where you should stop reading.  Jeremy had not been in Kansas 12 hours and he had killed his buck.  He was so happy! He took lots of pictures of himself with his deer..

Daddy and his projects - posted by Lorri

This is our daddy.

He is a semi-retired farmer.  I don't think that farmers ever totally retire; they just farm on a smaller level.  He has a wonderful garden. He has a great workshop where he makes cool stuff.  Having lived on a farm for his entire life, he has access to a variety of raw materials, including barn wood.  I thought I'd share some of the things he has made.

Sewing cabinet for Kay.

Kay found this screen door in her garage.  It is highly likely that it was on her house at some point in the past.  She wanted a cabinet for her fabric and quilt books, so Daddy and I made this for her.  

Barn wood quilt rack

This quilt rack hangs in my office.

Karon, Gail and Marcia

Fortunately, he likes to share his handiwork, so many of my friends now have quilt racks, also.

Barnwood picture frame

I especially like the red barnwood that he used in this frame.

This is a DVD holder. 

I had an antique tool caddy that held DVDs.  So, Daddy used it as a pattern to make this one out of barnwood. 

Window frame with box .  This sits on top of my kitchen cabinets.

Another frame made with the red barnwood.

This was framed for granddaughter Stephanie.  She will be hanging it in her nursery for great-grandchild #9 (coming in May of 2012).

After all, who wouldn't want something made by their Grandpa?

Scrap Quilts cont. posted by Sherry

Rainbow String Quilt;  Oct. 2011

Here is a better picture of the Scrappy Stars Quilt #1.  It looks better from a distance.  If you want to know what the #2 quilt looks like, just look at this picture again.  Different placement of the same scraps but same borders.  

Resolutions 2012; by Sherry

I know, i've been very remiss about blogging. I'm sorry.  I have lots of posts running around in my head, they just haven't gotten out of there and into blogland yet.  I promise to do a better job.  Guess that's resolution #1 for 2012
I'm going to start with the present and work my way back through the last couple of months.  Are you confused yet? Well, you will be if you're not yet.

Bourbon County Fair;  Scrappy Stars is the one in the middle.

In January 2010 I decided to make a scrap quilt every year in an effort to use up some of those scraps i have accumulated.That year i made a scrappy rainbow string quilt.  I really liked how it turned out. If you want to see it, check older posts,  Its the one I ripped off my poor husband's cold body and donated to Extreme Home Makeover project in Joplin.  So this year I made a queen size scrappy star quilt.  it turned out so well, that since I had some squares left, I decided to make another one.  I also started another scrap quilt, this one a surprise for my husband someday.  Figured I owed him one. Anyway, I managed to finish the second one right before Christmas.   Did you ever notice that when you tell people you're  making a scrap quilt, they feel compelled to give you more scraps?  Like I might run out? I don't see that every happening.  But i don't want to hurt their feelings so i took them. I'm like the cat lady who adopts all the stray cats that come around, only i take in unwanted fabric scraps. I also started a scrappy snowball quilt.  I have the top finished but am working on the backing.  I decided to make it scrappy too.  So after  4 queen sized scrap quilts, I should have a lot less scraps and fabric, Right?  Apparently it doesn't work that way.  So I give up, the scraps win.  So I have decided to give myself a different challenge this year.  I can't start a new project until I finish two unfinished projects.  I tend to have several projects going at the same time, which means I have a few unfinished projects lying around.  When I cleaned up my sewing room, i noticed those UFO"s are taking up valuable fabric space.  This will be a hard challenge for me, because I have lots of projects I want to do, new ones.  But I'm going to try.  First up, finish the backing for the scrappy snowball and get it to the quilter.  Second, finish the Guild's Block of the Month blocks and put them together.Then who knows !   Wish me luck, I'm going to need it.