Happy Halloween:

Did a little bit of decorating so have a little to show you today. The little guy in the third pic is made from a gourd and is actually a lamp. He has an orange bulb insided and looks really good lit up. The little guy in the last pic I call "Does Anyone Love Me"? He look so sweet and forlorn. The Wicked sign and blackbird remind me of 3 Christmases ago when I took the 3 girls down at Christmas to see the play Wicked. Was wonderful. The feather wreath was made by Karla Nathan of Karlas cottage and is really neat. You cannot see it in the pic butit has a black crow and he is wearing a crown made of gold mesh with diamonds on the peaks. It has an old sumptuous orange flower on it and a few other neat things. I saw it on her etsy and thought it was so different - had to have it.

Hope you have lots of little goblins at your houses tonight.

If you have been following the discussion on crazy quilt embellishers you may have read the controversy that started when Gerry Krueger of www.OlderRose@yahoo.com posted a few of her blocks that she made into pictures as opposed to wallhangings, quilts, etc. She said and I agree that we all have blocks that we have done in RR;s or classes that you really don't want to make into a large quilt, etc. She said she has made vests, purses, you name it and I can so agree with her as I have done the same. I now have wallhangings with no walls to hang them on and the kids run when they see me coming with a package. My daughter has a large one in her sunroom, one small one in her sewing room and one in her guest bedroom so she is set for life. The other two sons I have made christmas tree skirts for and I believe they are happy to stop there which is fine with me. I do this because I enjoy and want to do it whatever it turns out to be.

I just finished framing and bringing down a block that I made at Judith Baker Montano's retreat 2 years ago. My suitcases were in transit for 3-4 days and when class started and me with nothing Judith kindly let me use her fabrics to at least piece a block. Well the minute I look at this I see Judith as they certainly are her colors. I really like it but could not see me making a whole quilt or wallhanging out of this. I also felt bad with it just sitting because I think it turned out great. Well it is now sitting on a glass top table as you come in our front door in Florida.

I am in total agreement with Gerry and think whatever we do with our handwork is ours to say.

Please go to Gerry's blog if you don't know of it and look at her beautiful work plus just her lifestyle with animals will make you smile. I don't know how the woman does it all.

Well 24 hrs later and a new blog post. I started yesterday and was going great and almost ready to post a few pics and it up and disapeared on me except for "nd" which I labelled "no dice".

I will start again and tell you we were over at the Mission Inn from thurs. until sun. this is the reunion that Harv was organizing and running and now we are glad that is over. He worked on it for the better part of a year. It went very well and we had 70 some odd people from all over the country. They are all retired execs from their old company. Harv has been retired 17 years and the reunions actually started 24 years ago. they have been held every fall in various parts of the country. With the aging and health of the retirees we posted this one as the "One More Time"
and the "last Hurrah". It will be the last one.

I will post some pics of the Mission Inn in Howey In The Hills, FL
where it was held. It is only 1/2 hour from our house in Mt. Dora but we stayed there so he could be available plus is more fun that way. Mount dora had its annual Craft Fair with over 400 participants and the paper said they had over 250,000 people on Sat. & Sun. We stayed clear of it and found plenty of other things for people to do. Some went over on Friday and shopped and had lunch and some went on the 2 hour boat tour of all the lakes plus the Dora Canal. There was a dinner every night with entertainment of some kind.

It is good to be back home and if I don't lose this post I will put some pics of the Inn on here and hopefully get back to some stitching to have things to show.

On the Friday evening we had a casual night and held it down by the marina where they have a large building they use for entertaining. The young couple in the picture were hired to sing and started at 5 with cocktails and sang until after 9 when dinner was over. They were very good. tTey had been used by another gal and they sent us a cd to listen to and we were impressed because every song on there was their own. Hope they can make it big one day. How do you like his curls? I could use a bit of that hair.

nd

Hello friends and sorry I have not shown any pictures yet but have not found my camera. I bought a new one for myself just a couple of weeks ago and hardly used it. Instead of always taking Harvs I bought one. Well he handed me a small velvet bag to pack and said this is your camera. Okay in it went. Well when we get down here he opens it up and it is a new mouse he bought for his laptop. No camera - so then he says you probably packed it - and I said yes I thought I did too. Ha. Well I have been slowly unpacking this stash that I insist I cannot live without and hoping I might have tucked the little camera in with something else. No luck so far and I am just about unpacked in the sewing room. I will go back to using his until December. Our daughter is coming down by herself (no 3 boys and husband) on Wed. Dec. 2 and staying until Sun. Dec. 6. We will have time to shop, sightsee, lunch out and just enjoy each other.
When they are all here they are running all the time and Sue and I don't have much quality time together. We are not going home for christmas this year for the first time so this will be an early christmas present for me. I am going to have her go over to the house and see if she can spot my new camera and bring it down if she does. Trouble is I have no idea at this point where it would be.

I will probably not be posting again until early next week as we leave Thurs. for The Mission Inn where Harv is holding the HFC retiree's reunion. This will be the 24th. reunion and we are billng it as the last hurrah as we think it will be the last. People are passing away and getting too old to travel in some cases.
Maybe one of the younger retirees may decide to keep it on but this is the last for our group. We will be there from Thurs. until Sun. evening. There will be golf, tennis, etc. for those who care to play and sightseeing for the rest. The Mission Inn is only about 30 minutes from Mount Dora and our house but we will be staying at the Inn. We have festivities planned for each night and is always fun to see people you don't see all the time. They come from all over the US, Canada and sometimes England. Harv has worked very hard and long on this so hope the weather holds and all goes well.

It just happens to be the weekend of the large Fall craft show in Mt. Dora. Over 300 crafters with quality work that come from all over to be in it. This is one of the things Mt. Dora is known for. It has the Fall craft show, a very large Arts Festival that attracts 200 -300,000 people in two days to this little town.
Also they have a large antique show where they close all the streets and the antiquers set up. That is usually in March. There is always something going on around here. See you next week.

Just a little nostalgia - we were at a reunion 10 years ago at the Mission Inn and that is how we found Mount Dora. We rented in the Country Club the following Feb. & Mar. decided we really liked the area and made plans to have a house built. Best decision we could have made. Love the area and have the world's greatest neighbours.

Here I am still alive. Were you wondering? We left Chicago last Sat. 7 am and it was 33 degrees and by the time we arrived in Florida sun. afternoon it was 99. Quite a change. Apparently they had over 100 a couple of days the previous week which is unusual for Oct. in Fl. I emptied what I had to out of the van then waited until early Mon and went out and emptied the rest from the trunk. It was funny because with our van being a handicapped van with a ramp for Harv. they completely refigure the bottome of the van and the tire goes into a recess in the trunk. Well I figured out a long time ago that if we had a flat I did not want to have to unload a whole van to get at the spare tire. I came up with the idea of putting it into the middle section where his chair goes and bunging cording it down. Works great and I can use the space to fill up with shoes, books, etc. Well this time I think I am all unpacked then I kept thinking I had forget to bring a lot of things, like all our shoes, etc. Well what I had forgot was to empty the tire space under the back trunk section. All was well once my memory kicked in. I have spent the week cleaning, shopping, because we pretty well empty everything out when we leave so I have food shopped 3 times this week and spent hundreds so think we can survive now for awhile other then fresh fruits, etc. which I usually get at the flea market.

I did treat myself to a morning at the flea market today and really lucked onto something. I have a very old set of the Olde English Castles china dating back from the early 1900's. I had 2 sugar bowls but neither had a lid and they were both different and the cream jug was missing. Well at the market a fella had a table with odds and ends on it and some pieces of the old red & white china. My heart almost stopped when I saw the creamer and picked it up and it was marked 2/10.00. I said does this mean any 2 pieces for 10.00 and he said yes. I was so excited and picked up the lid and thought well even if it doesn't fit I will have the creamer that matches. Well he said make it $9.00 in case it doesn't fit. When I got home I tried it on the one on display and it didn't fit. went to the cupboard and took out the other and it was the correct size. I have been so happy all day to have made this find at that price. If you have ever gone to Replacements for pieces you will understand when you see their prices if they even have what you want.

I also found some other goodies and will take some pics tomorrow and show you. Just wanted to say "Jack is back" and hopefully will post more regularly.

Hugs

FredaB

Sorry to be absent all week but Florida calls and we are leaving tomorrow morning. I have been busy closing up the garden, packing, trying to decide what I will do this winter and what I need to take. I keep saying I am not taking much and then it grows and grows. If all goes well we will arrive either sunday evening or Monday early afternoon. Depends on weather and road conditions.

Will post a Florida pic of our pond when we arrive.

Hugs
FredaB

Yesterday was my final visit to the eye doctor who did my cataract surgery. He examined my eyes again as I still have a fuzzy feeling in my left eye. He said it looked clear and there was nothing there that should be causing me problems. Time will probably help as it is hard getting used to this mono vision - right eye for distance and left eye for up close. I did this so I wouldn't have to wear glasses and now would be a joke if I felt better with glasses on for closeup. He did give me a prescrip. and I will have them made once we are in Florida and see what time brings. As long as it doesn't stop me from my embroidering, etc. The funny part is I mentioned the bad headache and the nausea and he said it could have been from the mono vision cataracts. It has stopped this week so hopefully I am getting used to them.

I did sew the center to the tree skirt today and now have the hardest part to do. I have to line it by sewing all the way around, up the slit, around the centre and so far in the other slit but have to leave a space large enough to pull it inside out when finished. First it would have to be trimmed, clipped and pressed then turned.

On Dave & Kims that I made 2 years ago I put a black tassel on each point but Jeana has cats so no tassels. I will have to be extra careful on the points. If I have a pic of Dave & Kims on here I will post it today. I just found a pic of D & K skirt and it looks so nice with the tassels. If it looks like the newest one is larger it is. Jeana asked me to make it larger and I just enlarged each section. I also found a pic of my original family one that is going to my daughter Sue when I no longer use it. Christmas a little early this year - maybe get you started on the Christmas gifts, ornies, etc.