Just because

AppleJack loves to grocery shop!  He selects excellent fresh produce, checks expiration dates, and does price comparisons.  He mostly shops from a list.

Almost always there are some surprises.  Today the surprise was roses!  Not just one dozen long stemmed red roses but two!

He knows a good bargain.  The manager had over purchased and the roses were $2.00/dozen!  Callie Mae thinks the roses makes the house smell heavenly, I think the roses are beautiful and AppleJack is even more special.

Canning Tomato Juice

One of my fondest memories of Grandmother Bessie was canning in the summer time.  Grandmother had a h u g e vegetable garden.  Planting the vegetable garden began in early spring with the peas, onions and potatoes.  Tending the garden was done in the early morning hours.  As a child, I never understood why Grandmother wanted to get out of bed at the crack of dawn with the chickens and pull weeds!  Now that I am older and wiser, I understand pulling weeds in the early morning while it is still cool is much easier than pulling weeds in the hot baking sun.  Grandmother was a wonderful gardener and her vegetable garden yielded many bushels and pounds of produce.  The old blue Ball jars were used many, many years.

AppleJack went to Farmers Market this morning and brought home tomatoes.  We spent part of our day canning tomato juice.  Summers bounty from the vegetable gardens is on its way.  Green beans, corn, peaches, apple butter, okra are all on their way from the farmers gardens to our freezer and pantry!

Joey's

AppleJack has a high sense of adventure!  It is one of his most endearing qualities.  He often comes home and says "I was out and about today and I found this neat place I think you would like."

His latest discovery is Joey's House of Pizza.    Joey is a transplant from Brooklyn and has been in the pizza business for 35 years. 



Each day Joey and his family make all of their dishes with ingredients fresh from scratch.



Joey's is open for lunch only and the place is always packed.



Crescenza,  Joey's wife, is very efficient and very colorful.  She keeps the place lively and the food moving.  When AppleJack asks "where would you like to have dinner?"  The response is Joey's. 

When you are in Music City dine in with Joey.  Your tastebuds and tummy will thank you. 

It's beginning to look. . .

 Work continues on the Hollyberry farmhouse.  Chimneys to add and windowpanes to be back stitched.  Happily, I have completed page one of the four page design (and this was the most dense stitching one).

On to the alphabet and more holly leaves.  Dare I set a goal of the end of July for completion?

The Good Ole Summertime

25th Anniversary of the Southern Festival of Books

Ninety one days and counting until the Southern Festival of Books!  Yipee!  Earlier this week Humanities Tennessee announced its list of authors set to headline the twenty-fifth annual festival.  The roster includes Bill Bryson (A Walk in the Woods), Jon Meacham (Thomas Jefferson:  The Art of Power), Alan Weisman (Countdown: Our Last, Best Hope for a Future on Earth), Ayana Mathis (The Twelve Tribes of Hattie).  Cookbook author, TV host and chair of the Charleston Food and Wine Festival Nathalie Dupree (Mastering the Art of Southern Cooking) will also be in attendance.  Don't like any of these authors or book titles?  No worries, there are more than one hundred invited authors.

The Southern Festival of Books is a free, three-day celebration of the written word that annually attracts about 20,000 people to meet their favorite authors and experience an abundance of books, food, entertainment and culture.  Held each year at Legislative Plaza in downtown Nashville, the festival features a diverse collection of authors to discuss and sign their books. 

And just like needlework, so many books so little time to read.

(Almost) Mehitable Wright

Mehitable Wright by Pineberry Lane

Mystery Stash linen  (I think it is a Weeks)

Lancaster Red by Weeks

I call this piece (Almost) Mehitable Wright because she is missing one of her initials.  Am going to change the initial to reflect Great Grandmother Sarah Miranda's name.  Will also be changing the date to 1885--the year Grandmother moved from North Carolina to Tennessee.

A fun stitch--it is always nice to have small, simple pieces to stitch--makes me think I am accomplishing something.  Now back to the Christmas sampler.

and the winner is. . .

With the help of my assistants (Miss Callie Mae Calico and AppleJack) they drew the winning name for the Carriage House Friendship chart.  (Miss Callie Mae was more interested in playing with the keys than drawing names, so AppleJack drew)

The winner is.     .     .     .  Gayle!

Please email me your address and the Friendship Chart will be on its way to you.

Restocking the Stash

Since I have been drawing heavily from the fabric stash and there have been some great sales, I thought I would do my part to help stimulate the economy and restock my stash.

Pictured are The Sampler House and December Word Play by Country Stitches.  (Not pictured is February Word Play and Home Sweet Home Sampler by Pineberry Lane)

This is Springology by the Triology.  Shepherds Bush has a great sheep stitched from this leaflet.  Also pictured is Blackbirds Loose Feathers Spring 2013 with the Agnes Platt Strawberry sampler.


The sheep from Shepherds Bush

Amaryllis Artworks is a new to me designer, the Quaker ball  has twelve different Quaker motifs and is finished in a most interesting way. 

A dear friend gifted me with The Hart Lives Where it Loves by the Scarlet-Letter.  If you haven't seen Margaret's beautifully stitched  Hart anniversary sampler, pop over to her blog.  Her sampler is exquisite and that sneaky rabbit is over the top!



35 ct Confederate Gray by Weeks


30 Ct Old Salem Linen by The Primitive Hare

What's a great design without a great piece of linen?  Confederate Gray by Weeks and 30 ct Old Salem by The Primitive Hare.

A girl can never have to many scissors and with these on sale at 40% it was the perfect time to add to the Gingher series.  The other scissors in the drawer were getting lonely.

With the making of the Patriotic red, white and blue quilt, I have greatly reduced my fabric stash.  These fabrics are from Minnick and Simpson's line called Indigo Crossing.

A visit to the quilt shop does not seem complete without the addition of some Jo Morton fabric.

Charm Packs are so useful with quilting and finishing to add interest and variety.  The tiny tumbler will be used to make a miniature patriotic quilt from the Rogue quilter.  Whozer that template is tiny.

As I was restocking my stash, I noticed I have some duplicate charts.  Gulp!  Yes, there are some designs and designs I like so much I have been known to purchase duplicate charts.  In the spirit of sharing, it seems a fitting time for a drawing.  If you  would like to be entered for the drawing to win the Carriage House Samplings Friendship Sampler chart, please leave a comment.  (If you want your name entered twice, become a follower of my blog).  AppleJack and Miss Callie Mae will draw the winner on Monday.

Christmas in July? ? ?

I woke up Monday morning and realized it was July 1st.  July 1st!!!!!   With that thought, I had a mild panic attack.  Why the panic attack?  One half of the year is gone and Christmas is in five months!  One of my goals for 2013 is to have a Christmas sampler.  I started stitching Stacy Nash's Christmas at Hollyberry Farm in Febuary  thinking I was giving myself plenty of time.  (The secret to completing a sampler is stitching).  Pulling weeds, transplanting perennials, and reducing my quilting stash have been consuming my time.  So. . . I went looking for Hollyberry Farm and each day I have been putting fiber to linen.

Mother Nature is raining on someones Fourth of July parade today.  For me, the rain just means more stitch time (and making weeding easier).  With the rain and the arrival of a needed fiber, I plan to direct my attention to finishing the windows and raising the roof on the farm house.

Hope no one is allowing the rain on the Fourth to spoil their parade.  Miss Liberty and I wish all a Happy Fourth of July!