I won, I won, I won!!!!

How about THIS?????  Many, many, MANY special thanks to Beth at Raggedy Angel for having such a WONDERFUL birthday giveaway!!!  The redware plate is my second piece of redware ... I feel the start of a new collection coming on ... I LOVE the turkey on the plate!  And Thanksgiving is coming FAST.  The lard spoon will go perfectly with my collection on the kitchen soffit!  The spicy wooly punkin is so yummy smelling!  The tarts and room spray ... INCREDIBLE!  Thank you, Beth.  It was just like Christmas!

Old friends ... there just isn't anything better ...

Last weekend I was able to get together with a group of old friends that I haven't seen in awhile ... some longer than others ... and we had a BLAST shopping at our favorite prim shop, Two Sisters in Sandwich, IL ... it was soooooooooooooooo nice to see everyone ... just what this ol' gal needed ... old friends ... there just isn't anything better ... front row starting lower left ... Terri, my partner in crime and all things ROAD TRIP!!!!!! ... next to her is yours truly with my arm around Kitty Cat (Primitive Heart), Emily (Hootin' Annies) ... back row upper left ... Rhonda (Cattywhompus), Donna (Santamaker), and Chris (Walnut Ridge) ... the "original" gathering gals!!!!  Yep, it's been awhile ...

Scarrrrrrrrrrrrrryyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy ...

Chris and her boyfriend, Dan ... it's been a long time since I've seen Chris ... she is as gorgeous and sweet as ever ... and Dan is a keeper!!!  What a guy!!!  Hung right in there with the girls ... he deserves a medal or something ... and not once did he whine ... yep, he's a keeper ...

Lunch with the group ... Rhonda and Cat ... a wonderful way to spend a Sunday afternoon ... gorgeous day, good friends, and prim shopping ... does a girl's heart good!!

I HAD to show you this lil gal ... Ms. Kitty Cat is THE Queen Dollmaker ... her dolls are truly incredible ... museum quality always.  Now Ms. Kitty's true love is miniatures ... this little dolly was MAYBE 6" tall ... unbelieveable details ... every hand stitch perfect ... the little boots were hand molded and painted and I wish you could really see them ... the face ... those EYES!!!!! ... all I can say is WOW!!!!!  Every project of Cat's that I've been lucky enough to see in person has left me awestruck ... and our Ms. Kitty Cat is so humble about her talents ... she really has no clue how extraordinary she is!!!!

 

Sweet little gift from Emily ... she's always so thoughtful ... prim brown repro fabric ... vintage buttons and twill tape ... antique cabinet card ... there was a prim notepad, but I took it to work ... I love having prim notepads to use at work ... what a nice surprise from Emily ... love ya, Em!!!

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A quiet weekend ahead ... tomorrow my Quinn goes for his monthly meeting with his Air Force recruiter ... the days and weeks seem to be flying past and all too soon my last chick will leave the nest and head to Texas for boot camp ... it's becoming all too real now ... I feel it in my chest when I dwell on it ... I try not to spend my time thinking of it ... but every once in a while, it creeps up on me ...

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No major plans ... it's supposed to be COLD and WET ... and I heard the "S" word just yesterday in the weather forecast ... yes, that's right ... the "S" word ... SNOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Our first major overnight frost ... the one that will leave everything looking so sad ... is predicted tomorrow night ... I'll be yanking the last of my gourds tomorrow ... out of the lilac tree (about 12 little punkins all in a row on one vine ... a volunteer from last year) ... out of the birch tree (a birdhouse gourd vine jumped the fence and grabbed a branch and now I have one little gourd about 20' in the air ... I hope I can get it down without it dropping and smashing on the sidewalk) ... and all the big green fatso gourds off the fence.  I grew Tennessee Bombs this year ... I've never seen them before ... they looked like cute little round green gourds on the seed packet ... HA!!!!  Mine are gargantuan!!!!  They must weight a good five or six pounds each!!!!  I'll have to remember to get pictures and to weigh those babies ... I sure hope they'll dry over the winter and not rot ... some gourds do and some don't ... we'll have to see what the Tennessee Bombs do ...

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I've been in a cross stitching mood lately ... cupboard tucks and bowl fillers ... pinkeeps ... needlerolls ... lots of things just waiting to be finished up ... stay tuned ...

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Sunday afternoon I'm watching my beautiful grandbabies, Brick and Piper.  I haven't seen them in two weeks ... can't wait to give them hugs!  We're baking and decorating cupcakes ... fun, fun!!!

It's been awhile ...

and no real reason why ... life just sorta interrupted ...

the Attic gardens have almost been put to rest for the winter ... hoping for just a bit of good weather this week-end (it's supposed to rain and rain) so we can tear out the last bits ...

canning, dehydrating, and freezing this summer has kept me busy and away from my sewing machine!!!!

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I have a few pictures to share ... I took these with my new Olympus 1010 and I'm definitely not used to it ... very different from my old, old, old Sony ...

I won, I won, I won!!!! The gorgeous little prim gal on the right was a giveaway from Betty Dukat at http://primitivebettys.blogspot.com/ ... isn't she great??? Love her to bits!!!! Thanks sooooooooooooo much, Betty! She's a treasure!!!!

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A few weeks ago my road trip buddy, Terri and I hit the road and visited our friend, Jackie in Indiana for four days of crafting and laughing ... not far from Shipshewana (yes, we DID go into Shipshe to visit Yoder's and Lolly's!!) ... but most of our time was spent seriously crafting ...

we made punkins ...

and a spooky Halloween shadowbox ... wish I had gotten pictures of all of our things together when we were there ... every piece distinctly different ... and oh so spooky!!!

and some Halloween spoons ... fun, fun!!!

and some altered bottlecaps in a mini muffin pan that we painted and grubbied up ... it was soooooooo hard to get a picture of this ... the flash kept reflecting in the Diamond Glaze in the bottlecaps and totally obliterating the images ... I really need to read the manual for my new camera ...