The middle of August....

 Still working on outside stuff and sewing.

These fabrics were in a tub together. Never had a plan. Yesterday Karen told me about a pattern from cluck cluck sew. Fat quarter shuffle. I cut all the strips I would need and started sewing blocks.

Hmmmm. Not very impressed. 

I did all of the blocks of this type and started to like it better. 

Today I will sew the other set of blocks and see what I get. 

The hydrant before the new pavers.

The hydrant with the new frame put around it. We were able to just pick it up and move it to where we wanted it. 

The pavers in place. I put locking sand between them the next day. Went with rocks around all the pipe things sticking up. No need to go shopping, all this stuff was piled up in different places here.

The pickets are up. They haven’t seen the light of day in years and years. First in Aunt Meta’s garage and then in a shed here. My mom remembers them from when she was a little girl in the 1940’s. She wasn’t sure when they came out. 

Maddie and Kyle were married on Saturday. We were the only aunt and uncle going to the reception. So before the aunts headed back to Minnesota we stood around and had a visit with them. 

The newlyweds leaving the church. 

We put up a bunch of corn. Mostly freezing it. I’m told that there is a shortage of lids! You can’t find them anywhere around here. I’ve got a small supply of wide mouth, so that’s what I used. We had one last night. Tastes like a can of corn from the grocery store. Nothing spectacular, just the satisfaction of knowing we had put it up ourselves. 

Okay. Back to sewing. 

the big push to finish is upon us.....

My blocks for this month's Block Lotto. I sat down Monday morning and sewed! I had a few done already and finished some more to get my total up to 9. These aren't the big push.

Other stuff is......

RAGBRAI is coming through Titonka next week.

It is the Register's Annual Great Bike Ride Across Iowa.

(as I was typing I misspelled annual, I clicked to see what the correct spelling was and one of the options was "anal"

I nearly used it, but decided not to. I am trying not to be negative about all that goes into getting ready for 10,000 bikers to cycle through a town)

Anyway....

There are the Burma Shave signs used over the years for different things. They were pulled out of storage. Karen and I looked them over. 

See her post [HERE]

We decided which words could be painted over for the new ones.

Like what food is being offered.

I painted them yesterday.

Nice blank signs again. On the bright side, the paint used is standard barn red. I hauled that out of the basement. I poured some into an ice cream bucket. What didn't get put on the signs was put on the shed to cover up peeling spots. Wow. I was really impressed by how much better the building looks! 

Then there is the buffalo on a bike. But why?

Titonka is a Sioux Indian word meaning "Big Black", 

the name given by the Indians to the buffalo.

I started him last week. He still isn't finished. He needs some spokes and a sign that says Titonka and maybe a cloud in the sky. This is a BIG HEAVY piece of plywood. 

It will be tractor joe's job to create a base for it so it will stand up. Then people can stick their heads through the opening and take a picture. 

This morning I plan on sewing for a while. 

Then I will go back to the paint and get these things done.

road trip part three.....

The final leg of our trip home.

There was stalking and a visit to the "old country"

We got on the Blue Ridge Parkway in western Virginia. Just for a little while, at least. 

It was very very scenic and worth it.

There were roads along the way that would take us back to the freeway.

We took one.

It just so happened that when we came down, 

winding slowly back and forth all the way,

and down some more,

we landed in.... 

Vesuvius, Virginia.

Home of of Erin or vesuviusmamablogspot 

She is starting up a fiber art shop in downtown Lexington, VA.
We stopped there too.

Here is the front of the building. It isn't the best of pictures, but it says "I was there!"

It isn't open yet, but very soon it will be. Next time we head east this will be on our list of places to stop. While getting this picture I hear my name being called from the alley.

"come here, I found something"

It was tractor joe. He found this Military Museum and wanted his picture taken

with the Red Coat standing there. The door had a small chain going across it and a sign that said,

"tour in progress"

So this can be added to the list of things to do.

We drove right through Bonnie Hunter country. I didn't realize it at the time.

We could have been stalking Bonnie too.

( quiltville.blogspot )

A picture of me by the mailbox, with mrs. browndirt sitting on top of it,

Now that would have been cool. 

Then "the old country"

or 

the middle of Illinois......

Tractor joe's grandpa moved here, to Iowa, back in the early 1920's

Growing up, tractor joe heard a lot about Illinois and the family still living there.

But he had never been there.We had to make the stop.

This is a picture of a copy of a picture. I think it works.

Grandpa rented a box car, loaded it with his team of horses and a wagon,

and his bride,

and took the train to Woden, Iowa.

This was taken the day they left.

We found the home place.

We sat there on the road, wondering, now what do we do?

Tractor joe was on the phone with his mom.

She said to go up and knock on the door. Marjorie lived there.

She would be delighted to see you.

So, we did. She would be my FIL's cousin. She lives in the house now.

Only the house and barn are still standing. 

The hog building, corn crib, the brooder house, the grove of fruit trees are gone.

Marjorie was full of information about the farm.

She also told us who was in the cemetery and where.

That was our next stop.

Some of the graves we found right away, but others were a little harder.

I saw this statue on top of a grave stone. Wow, I thought, it was worth a picture.

The best part was..... these were the graves we were looking for!

It was a very good trip.

It is also good to be home again!

road trip part two.....

Virginia Beach.....

I brought mrs. browndirt along. The one day we were at the beach she came with us for a picture. Poor thing didn't get out much for pictures. 

My niece, Madison, loved her. She wanted to keep her!

I told her I had another orphan doll at home and would send her that one.

We were in charge of Madison during the mornings while her parents were at work.

We did a lot with Madison, which was really fun. 

She went with us fishing and geocaching. She didn't think it was very fun, until we found one.

Then she was all excited and wanted to do more!

I couldn't even find a picture of Jackie or Jesse. Oh well.

My stomach was sucked in from the chill of a wave rushing past us. I appear smaller than I actually am. I like that. We mostly played with the waves. Madison ended up soaking wet from head to toe. 

Here is Madison's first fish EVER. 

She didn't want to touch it, so one of "the mates" helped get it off the line. We were catching croakers. They are a bottom feeders and not very big. We caught 6 lbs worth, 

had them cleaned and ate them that night for supper. Except for all the small bones, they were delicious!

These fish "croak" when you are holding them. Kind of like a frog. It something you feel, rather than hear. I tried putting one up to my ear, but with the engine noise and wind, I couldn't hear anything. 

Madi never did get up the nerve to touch one and feel the joy of that croaking. She did attempt to put the bait on her hooks (squid) only to give up. She was to afraid of stabbing herself with the hook. Between us and "the mates" her line was never without bait on it.

Using the book,

Collage Couture

Techniques for creating Fashionable Art by Julie Nutting

and those tourist magazines with coupons for Virginia Beach...

We ripped, cut and painted.

If we were home, Madi and I were busy on these projects. I thought we would each get one done.

By the end of our visit we had 4. Jackie loved them and wants to do one with all her NYC papers.

Someday.

Madison can show her how.

This is pretty old. I made it years ago for Brianna. (Madison's older sister)

I made a quilt for Madison when she was little too.

It is one of the first quilts that I put words on.

It says....

Are you a princess I said

and she said

I'm much more than a princess

but you don't have a name for it yet here on earth.

I saw the words on a scrapbook page in a magazine so many years ago.

The quilt is a pattern from Judy Martin. I think it's real name is I Have a Dream.

I just call it Madi's quilt.

We could have spent way more time here. But I needed to get back for summer school. 

We just need to go again.

road trip part one.....

We are back from a road trip. We wanted to go to Memphis, TN for a wedding and then out to Virginia Beach, VA to visit my sister. We also wanted...maybe I should say.... "I" wanted to find geocaches in as many states as possible. 

Sometimes we were on the freeway, sometimes state highways.

First stop was a geocache at the house where the painting American Gothic was done.

The house still stands. We found out that you can also put on the costumes for a picture.

We did that. I am holding the GPS for logging this find.

We stopped in Hannibal, MO to see the birthplace of Mark Twain. 

I love Alton Brown. We used to watch his cooking show ALL the time. I had his Feasting on Asphalt book along. We stopped in Chester IL just like he did in the book. It would have been better if we had opened cans of spinach to eat like he did, but we weren't that organized.

Went looking for a cache instead.

The wedding in Memphis was outside, in the woods near a pond, at noon. Yes, it was hot, but not unbearable. Inside where the reception was held, was a quilt. There were a couple more hanging, but this one was my favorite one.

We headed for Beale Street for supper, this is where we ate. We were with tractor joe's brothers and sisters and all the spouses. 10 of us all together.

The food was VERY good. We got a sample platter that had all kinds of different things on it.

Some pork, some chicken, some side dishes. 

Before heading east early Sunday morning, we went by Graceland. We weren't that interested in seeing it....BUT...

They were opening the gate as we went by.

With no one around, it was easy to find parking.

 It didn't cost anything to get up by the house or visit the graves. 

We did a quick tour and then hit the road.

We stopped at the Corinth Civil War Battle Field Interpretive Center in Mississippi.

After going by the U.S. Space and Rocket Center and seeing what we could see from the road....

we wished we had made time for it. Don't know if we will ever make it back to Huntsville AL.

But if we do, we will definitely be stopping.

We drove into the corner of Georgia just to get a geocache there. 

Then back up into Tennessee where we stopped.

On Monday...

We drove through North Carolina.

Beautiful

 Then along the bottom of Virginia.

We arrived at my sister's in time for supper on Monday night.

Next time...Virginia Beach stuff.

auction things...

There were 2 auctions in town this weekend. We went to both of them. At the Saturday one, we bought this wood wheel barrow...it was still in the box, it had never been opened.

Tractor joe has been buying old metal coolers. He thinks they are better than the plastic ones.

But to get the cooler on Saturday, they bundled it with an old high chair.

It is just like the one my Mom used, when my sisters and I were little babies, a long time ago.

We really didn't want it but we took it home.

Then we started calling it the Hope Chair.

As in....we hope to have grandchildren some day.

Maybe our children need a visual hint.

Something to remind them that it is their duty to have children.

Tractor joe stuck the latest doll, Mrs. Red Dirt in the chair. Will this get their attention?

She is out in the garage, maybe I could set her in the kitchen. 

They might be less likely to walk on by and not notice her.

I can even put a few cheerios on the tray and pretend.

On Sunday, at the other auction we bought this wagon/trailer.

Tractor joe was excited by the wagon/trailer. I was excited by the wood.

He saw fire wood.

What! Surely there are things to be made with all this wood!

And so, it became my job to start sorting it.

I worked on it for awhile last night until it got dark.

Went out this morning and took a so-far picture. 

There are two things I want to do today. Clean out the rest of the wood,

and finish sewing cushion covers for the patio chairs.

Better go get busy.

block lotto and the boomerang

I finally took out all the plaid blocks I won at block lotto. I laid them out this morning. This isn't all of them, but a good number of them. I never marked them with names. 

I am thinking that I will add narrow sashing and white corner stones,

and the setting triangles will be white and some dark.

Picture snow topped mountains.

Or maybe not, it is all just rolling around in my head yet. 

Yesterday, I hung up my super secret project to take pictures of it. While I was out there Crispy came along with his brand new boomerang. He was throwing it around, trying to get the hang of it.

I did duck for cover at one point.

He was rather close to me. I could hear it cut through the wind.

Then I heard him say, "oh God"

and his foot steps were running towards ME.

It was coming back, with me as it's target.

I covered my head and closed my eyes waiting for impact!

I escaped being hit. When I felt safe to look, it had landed several feet away from me.

All was well. Crispy adjusted his throws and continued to practice. 

Next thing I know, Crispy is out walking in the corn field. 

This corn belongs to Farmer T. Our acreage is surrounded on three sides by his farm ground. The fourth side is the edge of town. It is a good combination of town/country.

Anyway, the boomerang landed in the corn but he couldn't find it. Years ago he lost a boomerang to the corn field. We never found that one back. He wasn't losing this one. 

I went out to help look.

 So did the cat and dog. But all they did was fight and chase each other. They were really no help.

It took a good 20 minutes of walking up and down the rows.

We had to change our search tactics. We started looking at the corn and not the ground.

That worked. There it was, hanging on a baby corn plant.

Back to throwing.

More block lotto stuff.....

The June block is a SCHOOL HOUSE block. So cute.

I made two, but they are wrong.

The chimney reds are the same color as the roof. They should be the same red that is used on the door side. Plus they could use more contrast with the reds. So I pulled out some more reds and laid them out. I leave for camping this week, but I am hoping to dive into these and sew a bunch of blocks. 

the mystery flowers....

...this spring, tractor joe picked out some perennials....

including these black-eyed susans. This was the first time he had done something like that. He even built a whole new raised-bed garden just for his stuff.....(I have been saying for years that we needed another garden out front to match the one that was there. I had turned the sandbox into flowers and it seemed rather lonely out there. If I knew he would build something that fast, I would have hauled him around garden centers a lot sooner)


anyway.....

the mystery...

A row of green started growing this spring, along one of the sheds.

I hadn't planted anything, so what was it????

I watched it and questioned different people.

Was it a weed? maybe...probably

Was it a flower? maybe....I don't think it is a weed.

I just let it grow.

I walked over to see if any of the flowers had opened yet...

Shock. That looks like the black-eyed susan.

How weird.

How did it get there?

I know they weren't there last year.

I guess I will just enjoy them.