Owl!!

This is another Mimi Kirchner pattern.  Remember the fish...here and here?  You can see Mimi's owls here and get the pattern here.  I only used the sewing machine to sew up the body...the rest was done by hand.  And the only cost was the plaid wool skirt that I found at the For Love of Jesus thrift store....$1.  Everything else came from my stash.

I Really Needed This

We live in an 85 year old house with very little storage space....as in no big closets, no pantry, and very little cabinet space.  So the last thing I need is another set of dishes.  But that is exactly what I bought a few weeks ago.  I just couldn't resist.

I stopped by an estate sale with two friends after we finished our morning walk.  These dishes just screamed at me.  Of course I had neither money nor checkbook with me and I seriously told myself that I just couldn't find a place to put them.  I went home.  And I kept thinking about them.

Around noon I went back...checkbook in hand.  I had decided that they couldn't possibly still be there...the price was too good.  And I was going to be okay with that.  But they were still there...and I bought them...along with a book of short stories, a travel guide to Costa Rica, and Bill Clinton & family paper dolls.

They rode around in the back of my car for a few weeks.  I finally unpacked them and I have found a place to put most of them...well, maybe half of them.  I originally thought they were carnival glass...but after researching, I find that they are actually yelllow irridescent depression glass.  They were made by Federal Glass Co. between 1933 and 1939.  The pattern is called Normandie. 

So now I have 78 pieces....and couldn't be happier about it.

Another Fish

I made another fish.  And this one is better than the first.  I only made two mistakes that had to be fixed....and it just looks better...healthier, I might say.

The two fish look great together....but I'm afraid he is just visiting.  I made him as a gift for a friend who turned fifty this week.  I think he will have a good home there.

Music Monday!!!

Brandi Carlile!!!  She was wonderful at Floyd Fest 11!!!!

Floyd Fest 11

Floyd Fest!!!!

Floyd Fest is a family-friendly music festival held near Floyd, VA...just off the Blue Ridge Parkway.  It features roots and progressive music from around the world and it is awesome.  Floyd Fest 11 happened last weekend.  And we were there!!!  Actually we have been there the last 7 years now.

The festival is at an incredible venue and it is clean, eco-friendly,  and well organized (for the most part....glitches do happen). Oh, yeah...they have great food too!  This is a Veggie Thing....so good!!!

 We first attended in 2006 with both college-aged daughters.  In 2007 only one went with us and in 2008 the other and her boyfriend.  In 2009, 2010, and 2011 it was just the two of us (and thousands of friends) and this year sister-in-law and brother-in-law (otherwise known as Maribeth and Chris) traveled from Cleveland to go with us...they will be back.

Camping is available but we are not campers.  We have stayed in a hotel in Christiansburg (45 minutes away), at Fairy Stone State Park ( 35 minutes away), and for the last 4 years we have stayed at the Hotel Floyd in Floyd (25 minutes away)....perfect.

We almost always just do 2 days of the 4+ day festival.  That is enough for us.  We now arrive in Floyd on Friday...and get to enjoy the Friday night music in town.  Last year we were inttroduced to a band from Scotland...The Dirty Beggars...who were touring the US....playing wherever they could find a place.  They were amazing!!

This year the Saturday highlight was Brandi Carlile!

But we also enjoyed Doug & Telisha Williams and Scott Miller...and others. The Sunday lineup was over the top.  Darrell Scott, Steep Canyon Rangers, Ricky Skaggs and Kentucky Thunder, Sam Bush, Bruce Hornsby, and Alison Kraus....the Sunday lineup all made for crazy long lines but it was all worth it.

Floyd Fest...you should go!!

And this is what you see on the way home.

Vintage Handkerchiefs

This is a pile of vintage handkerchiefs.  All of them belonged to my mother or my grandmother.  I have had a few of them for years but I found the rest stored with these things.

My mom always bragged about all her boyfriends.  I always thought her stories were just a little exaggerated, but evidently she had at least one boyfriend in the Navy who sent her these things.  And evidently she thought enough of him to save them.  Or she just thought they were cool.

But back to the handkerchiefs.  They are too pretty to keep stored away in a lingerie bag that my mother's Navy boyfriend gave her.  So when I found this I was inspired to make this.

It was simple!!  I just picked 6 hankies that were the same size, stitched them together on the machine, and it was done.

Now I am thinking about what to do with the others.  A baby quilt?  Burp cloths?