Please...no more apples!

I'm done...I can't do it any more. We processed 3 grocery bags full of apples. My husband was very helpful on Sunday by peeling nearly 2 bags worth before noon. The afternoon was spent making sauce. And then again Monday and Tuesday. My collar bone/shoulder connection got very sore!! (Childhood injury, that gets aggravated from repetitive motion.)

I can't even begin to guess how much berry applesauce is in my freezer! Gallons and gallons of it! It's so awesome though...nearly free (cost of lemon juice, berries and electricity for the stove).

I honesty ran out of plastic containers to freeze the sauce in... If I make any more...which I highly doubt...I'll have to can it. And THAT is SO much more work!

Now hopefully I can back to ART!!

Apples!!!!!

We went to help the neighbor pick their apples today.

It took under 3 hours to pick 44 grocery bags of apples!! Crazy huh!?!?

Now comes the processing part. Washing, chopping, cooking, dehydrating, preserving, freezing... you get the picture. Yikes!

UPDATE: I was corrected by the neighbor...It was 48 bags of apples plus a bushel basket.

Completed old projects..starting new

I finally bound some old tip-in and smaller size pages into one book this week.

I'm on a mission to finish all these UFO's (unfinished objects) I've started somewhere along the line.

I was chatting with a neighbor just this evening over the bonfire about memory and lack thereof. Is it Adult-ADD or short-term memory loss but whatever you want to call it...I've got it!!! Geez... I can't walk down the 2 sets of stairs to the basement and remember what the heck it was I went down there for!
OK...I think I'm on a tangent now....

My original point was...I have a ton of projects started or even nearly complete but never seem to tie up all my loose ends. THAT is my new mission.

With that said....haha...I have started a new project or more of a challenge. It's a call for art from Somerset Memories magazine. It can be either a group or an individual using ONE IMAGE to create a multitude of art. Of course since it will be up for submission I won't be showing what I've created until I've heard the news either way... I hope to get my projects in the mail next week for consideration.

Dream

I was compelled to create last night so I started with an old book cover. I layered papers and gesso down. The new gesso I have is quite thin...not happy with that! I just had to call it a night since it wasn't drying very quickly.

This morning I put on the squares. Over them I put down white tissue paper. Then came the paints.

It started to feel very dream-like to me, hence the words. Scattered around the painting are these words: Escape, Imagine, Freedom from reality and Let go.

Ragtime quilt complete!

I finished sewing the quilt yesterday morning. I would have been done on Tuesday night first I put the bobbin in wrong then broke a needle and then put the new needle in backwards so it kept breaking the thread. It was very frustrating. I knew then that it was just time to be done for the day.

After the sewing, I had to clip each seam allowance every half inch then wash it so it would fray after washing. The nylon stocking that serves as my filter on my washing machine outlet had a large fist size ball of frayed denim and flannel in it. Then the dryer lint trap was even more full of fluff. I would have taken it to a laundry mat but we don't have any around here anymore. It's a 20 min drive to the closest one.

There are several things I love about this quilt:

1. All the flannel is from my maternity tops and my boy's flannels from when he was very small.
2. The denim is from both mine and my hubby's old jeans. Together we've lost about 50lbs!!
   
3. The "batting" I used was scraps of polar fleece that I got for free from someones "project gone wrong"
4. This blanket is fairly heavy! This provides good sensory comfort for my boy. He needs/loves heavy blankets to help him sleep through the night.
   

Chunkies and Quilting

I got a couple of chunky books put together finally. I was thinking that all of the pages would fit in one book but my O-wires weren't big enough, hence the two books.



My other current project is my recycled flannel and denim ragtime quilt. Much to my surprise, it's going together quickly. I have all the pieces cut and am assembly line sewing them. With any luck I'll have the whole works finished by the end of the week.

Misc swap book

Over the past few years I've been in a number of chunky book swaps that didn't have enough players to make a truly "chunky" book. My friend Elizabeth came up with a great solution. Put them all together in one book with dividers separating each theme.

Here are the front and back covers for the book I'm putting together. Now I just need to gather my old swaps and figure out how many dividers I'll need to make.

ART!!

It just occurred to me that the last few posts haven't had much to do with art...

I am doing a bit of creating. I am working on an altered book about my dad. I've had this idea for at least a year but haven't done anything with it. I have a book that he had gotten as a young boy. His signature is in the front cover as a kid. I thought it would be an awesome book to pay tribute to him in. Since Dad's stroke a couple weeks ago I had been thinking more and more about this book. I want him to see it. I don't want it to be something that is at his memorial service somewhere down the road. I think a big part of me didn't want to make the book because it seemed as if it was a "memorial". Now I see that it totally isn't!! I want to be able to know those stories in his own words and hold on to them for my children.

Suburban whitetail deer

A little after 5 PM today...after I had put our pizza on the grill to cook...I saw this in my back yard.

This "family" has been sleeping in our backyard all summer. They have killed the grass in a couple of spots and now have created some new beds recently. My kids give me the Poop report most every day. We don't own a dog but I still have to pick up poop, except it's deer poop. Fabulous!

The "family" consists of 2 does and 2 fawns. The fawns have lost their spots but are still cute as a bug. The does scattered quickly when they heard us but the fawns weren't quite as aware. So fun to see them up close.

Remembering 9/11

Today as I awoke my first thoughts were of the chores ahead of me then I remembered the date. I had a moment of pause but then was forced to continue with my morning chores to get everyone out the door on time.

After everyone was gone this morning, I was able to think more about that day 7 years ago....

I was at home, playing with our 19 month old boy, completely oblivious to what was happening until my husband called from work and told me to turn on the TV. I sat and stared and couldn't believe what I was seeing. The horror of the moment, wondering what was next. Would this just keep happening? We lived right in the airport flight path and had planes coming overhead every 2 minutes. Would the next one just fall from the sky? When all the planes were grounded it was eerily quiet.

This afternoon as I was driving through town I saw the flags at half-staff. And just beyond my kids school I could see the ladder truck at the firestation with it's ladder fully extended with Old Glory flying at the top, as if it were reaching for the Heaven's. It brought tears to my eyes and a lump to my throat. Seven years have passed but memories haven't faded.

God bless you and yours!

ART FOR AUTISM NOW

I was notified last week that my items had arrived for the fundraiser. Later that week I heard that the cooperative puzzle art piece I was involved in also arrived. **Mine is the blue piece in the lower left.**

http://www.artnowforautism.com/

This cause is near and dear to my heart...my son has Asperger's Syndrome which is on the autism spectrum.

1 in 150 children are diagnosed with autism. 1 in 97 boys. Autism impairs a person’s ability to communicate and relate to others. It is also associated with rigid routines and repetitive behaviors, such as obsessively arranging objects or following very specific routines. Symptoms can range from very mild to quite severe.

First week of school

We've made it through the first week. The boy started 3rd grade on Tuesday and and my girl began her school journey with Kindergarten on Thursday.

The report from the 1st day of 3rd grade was..."It was AWESOME!" Hope that view holds through the year.

The my little one is loving being a "big kid" riding the bus and getting to make choices such as white or chocolate milk at snack time.

Me...I'm enjoying a bit of freedom. I still have all my same responsibilities such as groceries, cooking, cleaning, etc...but can do them by myself...well, at least until lunch!

Getting back to working out after 2 weeks of the rec center being closed is really nice too! Although I did have some sore muscles!!!

Speaking of working out... I bought Wii Fit today! The whole family has been trying it out. It's a lot of fun!