Homestead Hollow

The first thing I want to do is remind you about my fund raiser for the stray/feral kitties...click here  to read more about it. I only have a little over 2 weeks left on my campaign--if the total isn't met, I'll lose the donations. This is Pumpkin with his best friend, Elvis. Pumpkin wants to be sure Elvis is microchipped so he will never lose him! Elvis doesn't visit inside often, but as you can see, Pumpkin enjoys it when he does. Notice they are holding hands!

I'm spending the next few days pricing and getting everything together for my show. I'm really looking forward to it. If you can make it, stop by and see me. If not, I'll post some pictures after the show. You can check out my NEW website, Full Moon Folk Art, to see some of the new designs I'll be bringing to the show. If you'll be near the Birmingham/Springville area, check out www.homesteadhollow.com for more info about the show and directions.

I just added a new FREE pattern to my site! Go to The Cat's Pyjamas Patterns and click on the "free patterns" category to download it. This is another project to be featured on PBS--I think they'll either be on in October or November....

Help me Help Kitties!

Our city has a new law that will go into effect Oct. 1 of this year.All pets have to be licensed for $3 each. That's not a problem, the problem is keeping a collar on the kitties outside! (I wonder how much money I have spent on collars???) So I am trying to raise enough money for microchips for the outside cats. I'm afraid they may be picked up while I'm out of town or something, so the microchips seem to be the best way to help me find them if they are picked up by animal control.

Here's the link to the fundraiser:

http://www.fundable.com/groupactions/groupaction.2008-09-19.9007263788

Any amount you can give will be appreciated!! Please pass this on to your friends or if you have a blog and would post the link, that would be great. You are welcome to use the picture of Frazier at the top right of my blog to link to it.

Doggie Adventures

I had another doggie adventure a few weeks ago...I volunteered to transport two sweet Beagles! I picked them up in Gadsden and took them to Trenton. One was a puppy and even though I thought I had cleaned up my truck well, she found all kinds of things under my seat and pulled them out. By the time I got to Trenton I had it all piled on the dash so she couldn't eat it and she was in my lap. I believe this is Maggie in this picture, the older and calmer one. She mostly slept during the whole trip.

You know, looks can be deceiving....CJ looks like the sweetest kitty with his big blue eyes, doesn't he? He can't stand for me to pet any other cat or play with them. He even bit and slapped at me tonight. Maybe he was mad that I was playing with another cat? It didn't hurt, but it still wasn't nice! He bullies all the other cats. I thought getting him fixed would make him mellow out a little, but not so far. You'd never guess it by looking at him though!!

And here's my Daddy's pretty cow....we think she looks like a Betsy! ;)

I've been busy working on new designs for my show and for some new patterns this week. I finished about 10 jack-o-lantern make-do's last night! Can't wait for my All Halloween themed booth!! I hope I remember to bring my camera and my media card to this show!! 

TGIF!

I'm glad its Friday! I had gotten into the habit of working every single day so I didn't even look forward to the weekend. For about the past couple of months I've been taking off for the weekend, then I don't do much work on Mondays because I babysit Jackson. Before, Friday was just another day. Now I actually look forward to the weekends again! So TGIF!

I think I've mentioned that someone dropped off a kitten a few weeks ago. Maybe it was longer because he's grown a lot. He's still scared, but he'll play with me and sometimes bat me on the hand, then run away. Or I can pet him, but then he runs (only to be back in a few seconds). Since I already have 13 cats, I'm hoping to get him used to being petted so I can find him (or her?) a home. We have a baby possum too! One night I saw something out of the corner of my eye and thought it was a squirrel because it was so small. I happened to have a flashlight so I saw the little squirt running across the yard. It comes to eat on the porch but its kinda cute and so little that I just let it eat. And I've been trying to get a picture but I can't. I need to hide out one night before he gets big and ugly. ha!

Last Saturday was my sister's bridal shower....we were at Michael's one day and saw this Cinderella pumpkin and I had to try it! They didn't have all the supplies so I had to make do, but I think it turned out pretty cute! I used a white pumpkin and cut out holes for the frames to fit in. (It has one on the back too). I painted the pumpkin with a pearl white paint & sprinkled on iridescent glitter. I put some red tulle inside (one of her colors) with battery operated white lights. For the base I used the top of a papier mache box, papier mache ornaments for the wheels. I put a wood dowel through the box lid and let it stick out on the sides to fit through the ornaments (one layer only) then painted them to match. The pumpkin just sits on top of the box lid and I added some crystal beaded stems around the top. Its pretty easy--I think you could even do something like this for Halloween. Maybe a bunch of little glittery white pumpkins would be cute too.

 

Rusty is on his way to being well....he's still living in my studio and I haven't decided if he'll stay there or not. I think he likes it in there and never acts like he wants to leave and he's always happy to see me. That may be partly because I bring him canned food twice a day! After he eats, he curls up in my lap. It makes me happy to see him looking like himself again. When he came home he was skinny, dehydrated and bleeding from where he has scratched and pulled out fur. Plus he had huge swollen lymph glands on his belly and a UTI so he was in pretty bad shape! Now he's finished his antibiotics, his skin is healed and his fur is growing back. And his eyes are nice & bright so he looks like himself again. He's even getting his plus size figure back!!

Y'all have a fun weekend--my sister & her fiance's engagement party is tomorrow night so we'll be meeting some of her soon to be new family!

Crow Mountain Orchard

  I was so excited to take a picture of my new booth setup to share with ya'll....I got it all set up and didn't try to take a picture until later in the day. Then I realized I didn't have my media card for my camera!! I called my husband to bring it to me, but as I was calling him, he walked up behind me. Maybe next time!!

Anyway, a couple of weeks ago, I went to Crow Mountain Orchards with my sister, Lisa, and Jackson. That was fun--Jackson seemed to have a good time and tried to talk to everyone he saw! Its so pretty there--the picture below is a view from the parking lot! I bought way too much--I thought I'd have more time to put the stuff up, but I just got carried away, I guess! I bought the biggest bag of apples they had and I ended up chopping them up, coating with sugar & cinnamon and baking them with some butter. We ate some and froze some. Last night I put some in a tortilla and fried it in butter like a fried apple pie and it was really good! Those should be good this winter....Then I bought some peaches. I started some peach butter, but I miscalculated and ended up making peach preserves and I made some juice for some jelly when I get a chance. The nectarines were gone pretty quickly and I still have some grapes in the fridge but I had to throw out some pears. (Don't know why I got those--I really don't even like pears that much. ha!)

My next show is Oct. 3 and I've been trying to get some Halloween stuff done. I'm hoping to have Halloween only in my both. Won't that be fun? I just hope I can get a booth full ready in a month!!  My sister's bridal shower is tomorrow so I've been getting ready for that....then I'll concentrate on Halloween tomorrow night. I even ordered some Halloween movies from Netflix to inspire me--nothing too scary, stuff like Edward Scissorhands, Nightmare Before Christmas and I even have Alice in Wonderland here to watch next! And I have this picture of my nephew, Tyler, pulling all our pumpkins at the pumpkin patch last year to get me in the Halloween spirit. I love this photo! We can't wait to go back to Crow Creek again this year!!

And I don't want any of your asking why I didn't post a kitty picture....so here's Sweet Pea. I think he loves to get his picture made!!