We're off to see the wizard

It's Dorothy of Oz!  And Glinda the Good Witch of the North!  Follow the Yellow Brick Road ... 

Happy Halloween!

The Apple Harvest Festival

This was our third year heading out to the Apple Harvest Festival at Graves Mountain Lodge.  It's such a good time, and it seems it's becoming a bit of a fall family tradition.  This year, friends Milo and Shari rode along with us, and it worked out nicely because there were some things that we wanted to do all together, and some other "big boy" things that Milo was interested in, so we also had a nice balance of fun with our friends and family time.  

Almost immediately, we headed to the hay pile.  There is a $2 charge, and it's $2 well spent because oh! how the kids love it!  It's just a giant pile of hay, but you can climb and jump and slide all over it (and then you have to pick the hay out of your pants!)

We wandered over to the pumpkin area to decide what kind we wanted to bring home later.  

Kaia says, "These pumpkins are all mine!  Back away." 

There's a little stream down behind the festival area, and we went down there to find Milo and Shari.  Milo was trying to figure a way across the stream without using the bridge.  Later, as one might expect, Milo ended up in the stream and then spent the rest of the day wearing his mother's sweater.  All in the name of adventure!

Milo was still working on his stream crossing endeavor at the time, so we went up to find a snack.  Fist up: apple butter donuts!  Yum!

But why stop at just one snack?  Funnel cake is good, too!  We were certainly a little over-sugared by the time we left, but I think it's not a real festival unless one leaves being slightly over-sugared, amiright?

Back out on the grounds, there were some people making apple butter in a giant kettle.  This man told us that it has to be stirred for 15 hours straight!!  (or was it 9 hours, I can't remember, but that's a lot of stirring!)  Sierra got to have a go.  (Also, love the way Kaia is looking at that guy!)

I bought a 1/2 bushel of apples, which is really not much, but I"m going to try my hand at apple butter myself.  Not the stir-for-15-hours kind, though.  My mom suggests the crock pot kind, so I'll give that a go.

By this time, Milo had already fallen in the stream, and Shari found us to let us know they were in the bounce toys area.  They wanted to join us at the farm across from the festival area, so we wander the craft booths for a bit before heading over to see the animals.  

The farm has goats to feed, and some other animals to look at and/or pet.  There were calves and chickens, quails, pheasants, and peacocks.  I love the peacocks.  I always forget just how vibrant their colors are until I see one in person again.

In the hen house, Sierra measures her wingspan against some predator birds.  She doesn't even reach the span of a great horned owl.  We'll have to try again next year.

Before heading home, it was back to the pumpkins, where Sierra decided that it was a bumpy one that needed to come home with us!

Happy Fall!

The busiest of Sundays

We had an action packed day today.

I woke up (way too early) with Kaia and Jason got to sleep in (I'm only a tiny bit bitter).  We went to brunch and then went to Liberty Mills Farm where we proceeded to get wet Virginia red clay from our toes to our armpits and gather several pumpkins to bring home with us.  The girls had a grand time in the kid area after our pumpkin gathering quest.  Until Sierra clotheslined herself and we left in tears.

At home, Jason and Sierra carved two jack-o-lanterns.  Kaia took a nap.  And I cut up a pumpkin, then cooked and skinned it, made applesauce, made toasted pumpkin seeds, cooked all the ingredients for chili and put that in the crock-pot, mixed up some corn muffins and set the table.

We went to the Woodberry kids Halloween party, had a lot of fun, then Jason left for a hockey game.  I walked home with the girls and was greeted by all of our advisees already in our living room.  We had dinner with them, then sent them on their merry way.  I gave both girls a bath, then we watched a video and read some stories and I just barely drug myself out of bed before falling asleep with them.  I straightened up my sewing room/closet (which I'm rearranging right now) then started cleaning the disaster area of a kitchen.

Now, to sleep.  Maybe.

(photos of pumpkin patch and Halloween party later)

Meet me at Yoder's

We love Yoder's.  It's a great place to go, and less than 15 minutes from our house.  There are the animals that the kids can feed, a little playground, and of course the store itself, which is a playground for grown-ups with all kinds of good stuff to eat, baking ingredients, bulk items, organic snacks, etc.  

When trying to arrange a playdate with my friend Katie, we decided on Yoder's a meeting place.  It's located between our homes, and there were plenty of fun for our kids-of-various ages.  

Sierra feeds a grateful goat.

Kaia checks out the chickens with the feathers on their feet.

Here's our happy crew: Sierra, "big" Kyia, "little" Kaia, Grace, and Gabe.  Baby Latham was asleep in the car. 

Grace gives Kaia a helping hand.

Latham woke up and has a ride on the swings with big brother Gabe.  Sierra spins on her swing. 

Blogger's Quilt Festival: Serendipitous Sewing

This quilt was going to be a surprise, but I just finished it, just in time for the Blogger's Quilt Festival, so I feel like I should post it.  (even though I'm pretty sure its intended recipient, who you will meet in a moment, reads this blog so I'm spoiling my own surprise)

The fact that I finished it just in time and I didn't think it would be done yet just adds to the serendipity.  So, to the recipient: surprise!  This will be in the mail soon.

There are many parts to this story, which is why I feel like this little quilt was meant to be, but it also makes it difficult to determine where to begin this quilt's story.

Let's start with Suzanne.  I met Suzanne 12 years ago, my sophomore year in college (has it really been that long?!) when she and I ran on the cross country team together.  Our junior year, we were roommates; our senior year, we lived in the same house.  I admire Suzanne for a lot of reasons, and just one of them is her superior creativity and craftiness.  She is a creative inspiration for me.  She always has a good ideas in terms of design, decorating, crafting and creating.

One of the crafting ideas she once shared on her blog was a quilt designed by Denyse Schmidt.  Denyse is an artist/quilter/fabric designer whose studio is in Connecticut, only about 90 minutes from where we used to live (but I didn't know of her then).  I first learned of Denyse from the post on Suzanne's blog, but have since seen her and her creativity around the quilting/sewing/crafting/blogging world.  Recently, she has designed a couple fabric collections for JoAnn Fabrics.

I was in JoAnn Fabrics one day and found the Denyse Schmit prints on sale.  They were pretty, and so I picked up a few, not yet having a project in mind.

Meanwhile, I wanted to learn how to quilt and how to do free motion quilting on my machine.  I practiced on some scrap fabric and then attempted my table runner.  The next logical project was a baby quilt.  I have a few friends who have recently had babies, and I wish I could make a baby quilt for all of them, but sadly, I just don't have that kind of time.  However, I had recently finished a mei tai for Suzanne and I realized that the fabric she chose for her baby carrier fit right in with the Denyse Schmidt fabrics I had picked up from JoAnn's.

The back is a part of sheet that I dyes using a low water immersion dye technique, giving a mottled, water-y quality.

I'm thrilled to be able to thank Suzanne for her creative inspiration by gifting her something that was born of my creativity, made with materials designed by someone I was introduced to through Suzanne.

{this moment}

{this moment} - A Friday ritual inspired by Soule Mama. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.