Here’s the Plan, and a Couple of Questions for You

I hope everyone is enjoying this lovely holiday weekend.  It is Apple Festival time here, and the fair starts next weekend.  The King Apple Parade will be tomorrow afternoon, and we'll be down there again to enjoy this uniquely small town event. You can see my previous posts on this fun weekend with Apple Festival …

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Apple Tablescape

Apple Festival weekend starts today, a four-day, annual, Labor Day weekend event, done like only a small town can do it.  It is the end of summer, and almost time for my favorite season, autumn, but not quite yet.  So, an apple tablescape is in order once again.  I put this one together using only …

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August in the Garden

August in the garden means that the flowering season is winding down.  Most of the perennials have finished, but a few are still going.  The annuals keep going until it gets cold, so all the geraniums are still blooming, most are this vibrant pink. In the planter box, the asters have run wild. The coneflowers …

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Making Handmade Papers

After buying a couple of books and reading about this process, assembling what I thought I needed, waiting for a nice day outside to try this and dilly dallying for a year, I finally got around to a day to attempt making paper. I've been Drying Flowers for months, so I have a lot of …

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Getting Ready for the Fair 2019

One of the benefits of writing a blog is that I have a record of what I did and when.  With the North Carolina Mountain State Fair, all the entries have to be created within the past year, so I have to be able to tell what was made after September 1 of last year.  …

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Dealing with Quilt Issues

You know, I don't ask for much when I agree to do longarm quilting for charity.  All I ask is that the quilt have 8 inches of extra fabric both lengthwise and crosswise on the batting and backing.  Particularly when I am quilting for charity (and by that I mean for free, no matter which …

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Drying Flowers from the Garden

I have a couple of projects that will require some dried flowers, so I've been working on this for a few months.  Drying hydrangea stems is pretty easy, and as you can see, I have a lot to choose from this year.  I cut some while they were still mostly blue, and others after they …

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Tissue Covers and a note about Safelight

When we did the latest Safelight Project, wonderful reader Betty Giacomino sent 70 tissue covers to go with the cases made by readers.  It was delightful to see how many there were that went together well.  It occurred to me that you might want to use extra bits of your matching fabrics for tissue covers …

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Stamping Thank You Cards

Stamping is just so much fun, and even better when I have a challenge.  Did you know that Impression Obsession has a challenge every month?  You can win gift certificates to their store just by showing your cards made with their stamps.  This month the challenge is Moody Blues.   Not the band, LOL, the color.  …

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August Tablescape

Time for a new August tablescape, once again using the placemats I made last year for my Colors of August post.   Since August doesn't have any sort of holiday to build around, I looked to nature for inspiration.  The colors remind me of summer green and sunshine yellow mixed with the beginning harvest of orange …

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