Sew Much!

Disclaimer:
Everything in the following photos IS organized. There is no clutter. Thank you.

Now then.
I'm pretty sure I have a project started in every corner of this room. But no matter. I love this little part of the house. It's so homey and inviting to me, yes with a Red floor and pink walls! It's very different for me, but I'm entertained with it for now. It's actually quite restful.  And often I sit up there with a cuppa in my favorite china cup and saucer that I got from Grandma Lulu many years ago. I miss her. I wish I knew her in my adult life as she was a woman of no nonsense, hardworking and so capable and would have been such a help to me now living out here on the prairies that she came from with Grandpa Erwin. How did she cope?!

I sip on my tea (made to Auntie Hazy's specifications: "warm cup first with hot water, brew PG Tips in the tea pot, pour out warming water, add a healthy dash of milk and then pour brewed tea") and think about a lot of stuff. Mostly if I'm capable of creating. Anything. And how do I do it? And do I have the ability?! And how much I'd like to have my own gift store someday. (ACK! I admitted it.)

I unpacked all of my fabric the other day. Finally... Up until that point, this room looked quite sweet and unruffled. Well that changed. This is every scrap from my stash and Grandma Hazel's stash without regard to the stash of lace, ribbon and zippers. I'd need another shelf dedicated. I miss her too. And each piece of fabric from her - all polyester of course! makes me want to talk to her over a cup of tea while learning how to embroidery again. She did beautiful embroidery. And quilting. And sewing.

So what we have here is the stairs to upstairs. And the painting was given to me by another Mom named Lovie for my 30th birthday. This painting has a cool story. She was taking a painting class and the instructor told the students to pick out a photo from a huge collection. Love found this one, and it happens to be of our family before my youngest sister was born. I love the painting.

And then there is the Yarn Stash. Made out of old barnwood of 1x12's that I found here on the property discarded. I measured twice, cut once and screwed it all together with my husband's awesome DeWalt's. He came in later to look at it and the only thing he said about it was that it wasn't level. (see post about that several days ago) Go figure. I wasn't surprised he'd say that, but how on earth are you supposed to get "level' out of warped?!!? Since he doesn't need to look at it everyday, it stays and I think it's awesome.

This is the Fabric Stash -why does it look smaller in a photo?!

Thanksgiving

We had a wonderful thanksgiving, and I got a grand total of 3 photos.

I loved this little captured moment though. The men shot trap after a huge feast. And little nephew here decided he needed to color at the table. I set him up and the next thing I know, he has a crayon in one hand coloring away and the salt shaker in the other, giving the 'photo' a good douse of flavor. He decided that coloring was boring and proceeded to 'color' with salt and pepper in each hand. I am so bummed I missed the moment, because grandma took it away from him. But this little face of complete concentration and then being caught, was too adorable to pass up! (minus the bad shadows) :(

So, because I missed thanksgiving photos, I'll share some photos of what I did the other day with my friend Sarah. They just moved into a house which happens to be the old Benjamin Ranch! Pretty awesome place and we had fun taking a brisk walk up beyond the home place.

The Very Creepy Rock was looking like it would topple any moment- it was so ginormous we scooted around it, always being on the uphill side! I love the old glass insulators for the fences and crunching through leaves. The barn is just and old weathered icon of no importance except that it stands the test of time in all manner of weather. It's a picture in itself of endurance.

I liked the blandness and antiqueness of these photos because that's life here. Sometimes it seems you have to search for beauty in the landscape- quite a new thing for me to search for. But you can find it. Sometimes it's in just the way a line of a fence is crawling up a hill. I'd never thought to appreciate that line of beauty, but one looks for all they can out here. Or maybe that's just me! It certainly makes you slow down to search it out.

This view leaves me breathless. Yes for the flatland if you can believe it. The camera really cannot capture how far you can really see. It's incredible. Oh how we would love to be farming that and that it (any farm) be called ours.  :)

Food, Fall, Fab, FUV

When I think of fall, I think of food. Always. Well, I'm always thinking of food, regardless of fall, it's not just because it's the holidays. There are a few things that I really love about fall. Like apples- I have bushels! It's so fun! I've never been able to say that before but apples grow here in E. Montana and the neighbors make good on their hospitality. I also really like squash (really good on hospitality- I currently have 8 on my counter), oranges and a brandied nut bread. The color thing really makes me feel alive though. Red, orange, yellow and various hues of brown. It's so vibrant and interesting that just a month ago, the leaves on the tree were green. Now they're red. It's like a magic trick happened over night.

What isn't awesome of course is that it's getting cold, is windier than normal (they say it's normal- what do they know?! They probably blew in from Minnesota and do not really know they're in Wibaux.) Someday I'll get around to dedicating a post to wind if I learn something about it that is beneficial. I have not learned anything yet, so it's still on pause.

It might be a long pause.

I have been cooking a lot. I have a husband that likes food that runs outside the parameters of hamburger, roast, and steak and I am fortunate that I like to cook. He is fortunate that he'll try anything. Really we're a match made in heaven I think. Still. It's quite amazing!