What Are Quilters Blogging About Today?

 I will warn you, I foresee this being a very long post.  But, there is a lot to opening a business.

The name "Appalachian"...my family is from West Virginia.  If you have been reading my blog for a while, you will remember that my 'real' father committed suicide a month before I turned 3.  My brother was 6 months old.  When he died, Momma didn't have a driver's license nor did she even know what they had in their bank accounts.  It was a hard reality check for her.  As a way to pull some of the ...

Macedonian Neighbor's daughter came over yesterday to see my garden.  She was telling me about the 5 gallons of pickles she did this week and various other harvests.  I felt so incompetent.  My green beans have flowers but no beans.  My tomatoes are not ripe.  There I was, again comparing myself to another gardener.  Just stop.  My garden is fine, just not as far along....

We had a few pretty good storms come through this weekend, so I had to go out and check the damage.

The sunflowers out by the pumpkin patch held up pretty well.

Back in the 90s, I was one of those Craft Mall Vendors.  I also did a lot of craft shows.  I made a lot of wreaths, fabric dolls, fabric bunnies, painted wood items, birdhouses, etc.  I guess I have always been a crafty one.  I remember Nurse Daughter coming home from school one day and finding a bag of my supplies on the kitchen table.  She was upset that I was using eucalyptus.  It would seem that my crafting career was starving the koalas in Australia to death.  Whenever I smell eucalyptus now, I remember her devotion to their habitat ...

I couldn't help myself.  I went through my old e-mails from fabric sales reps until I found the video on how batiks are made.  I'm literally on my 6th batik quilt in a row, so there must be some interest in them.  :)

Last week was the anniversary of my paternal father's suicide.  It also would have been my step-dad's birthday.  It's always a tough week for me and especially my Momma.  When Pops was alive, I would always have to plan his birthday party as Momma just wasn't feeling it.  I never minded.  I'm usually pretty withdrawn, not in sadness but I get wrapped up in memories.  I was blessed to have a step-dad who loved me as much as, if not more than, any paternal father could  Today I again reflected on how happy he would ...

I had to wait to post this one, as it was a gift for my Daughter In-Law "Auntie Mo Mo".

For her wedding Nurse Daughter bought her this banner (in the background):

For about a month (maybe longer) I have been needing to go to Lehman's.  Something has always come up and I haven't gotten to go.  Yesterday Hubs loaded me up and off we went.  We took the back roads up and back for a nice peaceful day.  I guess I should put a bit in here about us....we enjoy quiet.  It's not that we don't enjoy people, it's just that when we go somewhere like Gatlinburg or Amish country, we aren't in to the touristy things.  Gatlinburg finds us on the artisan trail ...

I was patient.  I waited.  I was chomping at the bit to get the garden planted.  I am, however, so glad I waited because of this crazy weather we have had.  I would like to start off by saying how thankful and grateful I am that Hubs built me all these raised beds.  Had he not, we wouldn't be planting until June!  Our yard is still like a wet sponge.  There are still ponds everywhere and we still can't even mow.  It stresses me out to see how tall the grass is....but I digress.

Flats of flowers ...

I would be fibbing if I said we don't think about the grandkids when we consider adding new animals to the farm.  That is why I want some of these:

Thank you Google for the pic

Hubs had been making things to take to all the homesteader gatherings we were going to.  We were vending and in addition to the things I would be taking, he was looking to jumpstart his business.  As an increasing number of them have been getting cancelled, I was feeling a little pressure to get his items listed on the website. 

It's not easy being me - I am webmaster, order filler, buyer, quilter, soapmaker, candle maker, gardener...I wear a lot of hats!  But I wouldn't have it any other way.  

So, I bit the bullet.  I had already ...

We try not to do any 'work' around the farm on Sunday.  My grandparents never let us plant or work in the garden on Sunday.  There were other strange things we weren't allowed to do, and Hubs and I try to keep it as our day of rest.  We were getting ready to watch our online church service yesterday and we kept thinking and talking about all the things we needed to get done.  We are workaholics.  The best option was to get in the car and leave.  We decided we would take a drive.  We loaded up Princess ...

With the crazy weather patterns here in the Midwest, you have to find things to do to resist the temptation of planting too early.  For me, that is usually quilting, soapmaking or making candles.

I decided to finish up another UFO.  I was going to start a new project, but Hubs actually made a remark about me finishing up more.  He doesn't do that much, so we will just chalk it up to him being 'excited' about me knocking down another UFO.

This quilt is called Holiday Stars.  It is made of batiks.  I love how batiks "modern up ...

Friday night we got a call from Army Son.  There was a bee swarm by his pond.  He called to see if the Hubs wanted to try to come and get it.  It was nearly dusk so time was of the essence.  Of course Hubs wanted to give it a try.  We lost both of our swarms during a warm snap in January.  They packed their bags and left.

We rushed to pack up the beekeeping supplies and off he went.  Army Son has a run off culvert from his pond, and of course the swarm was on the tree ...

C'mon.....walk through the garden gate with me.  I'll show you what we have going on.  All the soil has been amended.  These raised beds are just waiting for Mother's Day.  Mother's Day is traditionally when I can start planting without danger of frost.

One of the things I truly enjoy about longarming is watching a quilt flimsy come to life once the quilting has begun.  This quilt was no disappointment.  The more I worked with the fabric, the more I fell in love with it.  Not to be prideful, but I absolutely adore this baby quilt!!!

Most of the women in my family are/were gardeners.  I'm sure it's because Granny raised them that way.  In the winter, my Momma and my Aunt Sis always had a 'puzzle going' on a spare table in the dining room.  There would be that one table where you couldn't sit down to eat.  They would sit down for an hour or so here or there and work on their puzzle.  I'm pretty sure it was an attempt to keep their mind busy while dreaming about gardening.  :)  Hubs and I were talking about it and he ...

Hubs is a blacksmith.  Some of you already know that.  I bought him a T-Shirt last summer similar to this: