Catching Up

So many things have happened in the nearly three four (!) weeks time since I last posted.  Good things for sure.  But lots of things.  *Please note that I did not do all these things in one day.  I wrote this post over a period of several weeks.*

Natalie officially started Kindergarten.  She absolutely loves it that the bus comes to her house every day and picks her up.  It seems to be her favorite part of school.  She is getting the hang of the classroom, and is warming up to her teachers.  She prefers cold lunch to hot lunch because she can eat right away, and not wait in line.  She has recess before lunch, so she's very hungry by lunch time.  This girl is no fool..

It is full on harvest time. Last week, we picked corn, broccoli, green and yellow beans.  This was way more than we could eat fresh, so most of it got blanched and frozen.  Apples have been coming in and there is a good crop this year.  The past three Mondays I have spent part of the day canning applesauce.  This weekend, we switched gears as my friends Maria and Randy gave us a pile of concord (I think) grapes.  They make the sweetest jelly.  And jelly they have made. About 17 pints worth.

Nights are colder now, so I tackled a project that has been on my list all summer and started to mend one of my favorite quilts.  It is a wonderful cotton quilt that my friend Erin gave me for Christmas about ten years ago and it is showing its age.  Two of its corners are completely shredded, thanks to my dear husband's whiskers and his habit of sleeping with blankets up around his face.  So, today I cut and pressed some cotton twill fabric to reconstruct the two damaged corners, then pressed two yards of some pretty yellow and cream colored cotton into new binding for the edges.  Wouldn't you know that two yards was just a little short?! Grr.  Lucky for me, nobody else noticed this cute fabric that was marked down to $1 a yard and I went back the next day and bought the rest of it.  I am happy to report that it is all finished, two weekends later, but that is beside the point.  I will not be winning any prizes for straight stitching, but there's enough thread on that thing now that the middle will fall apart before the edges do.

Yesterday, on our way home from church, Natalie and I stopped at this little shop called The Kindred House that happens to be right on our way.  I went in to buy a few fat quarters of homespun fabric, since my other fabric option in town, WalMart doesn't carry it anymore.  Natalie found this cute little stuffed cat (naturally) that she just had to have (naturally).  It was pretty darn cute, but it was also $22.  This also happens to be a shop that specializes in primitives.  We looked this cat over, and I told her that I wouldn't buy her that one, but she could pick out some cloth and I'd make her one.  You know she held me to that right?  The minute we got home, I had to start on it.  Thank goodness it was an easy shape.  The longest part was putting the face on.  It took me about an hour start to finish and cost me about $1.25 to make.  And my girl has a new favorite toy.

And now, one more quick sewing project, a little pillowcase, and then its back to the apple harvest.  I think I'm going to do some pie filling today.  And a few more quarts of applesauce.