Scarecrow time again!

It's that time again! The scarecrows are up at the Huntsville Botanical Gardens, http://www.hsvbg.org/. We attended the Scarecrow Trail grand opening on Labor Day and had a great time. The fishing rodeo was wonderful. K. hooked, and released 8 tiny little fish and had a marvelous time. Even caught a little Bass. Cute little thing.

We've entered a few scarecrows over the years and had a lot of fun. (Not this year, too much going on, but maybe next.) Our first was my favorite, Princess Leaf. Designed by K. when she was in Kindergarten, Leaf was tiny, cute, colorful and easily portable. We brought her in late and missed the judging, but they must have liked her. The year she was entered, Leaf travelled far and wide as part of their advertizing campaigne. She showed up on several news broadcasts and I'm pretty sure she visited local schools as well. Last year she was prominently displayed on their Scarecrow Trail advertizing leaflet and, much to our surprize and delight, showed up in Family Fun Magazine, October 2006.

Leaf still lives in our garage and comes out to play in our yard for fall. She's a bit weathered, but still cute as a bug. Oh, it's almost that time again. I wonder where I put Leaf's head?

Fun with Warhol

Just a bit of fun K and I had. We wanted to make a present for Grammie, but we wanted it to be more than just the usual photo in a frame, which she loves. We just felt like doing something a little different. It was a wild hair day.

Gettin' the right picture was fun. Took a bunch before we got one that worked. Then we just cleaned and cut and cropped and colored and fusselled and fudged till we got what we wanted. Put it in a cheap black "record a message" frame, and Grammie LOVED it! Made a photo cube for Daddy too. Also feelin' the love!

Oh, how I love it when a craft comes together!

My Lil' Sweety.

My favorite sewing machine, of the three hand me down machines I own, is by far, my cute little Singer 221. I call her Sweety. It isn't one of the really old 221's. According to the Singer Serial Number page, http://singerco.com/support/serial_numbers.html, Sweety was manufactured in 1957 in Clydebank, Scotland, bought first hand by my mother, and used continually ever since.

Sweety has been a wonderful machine. I first sewed clean through my right pointer finger when I was about 6 years old, shed a tear, picked out the stitches and kept right on going. My daughter started on Sweety when she was 6 as well, with similar results. She says Sweety is her machine. I predict a bit of a tussle when she heads off to college.

Sweety sews forward, and get this, backward! Yup, I know, she's amazing. She came with a box of attachments that absolutely terrified me as a child, truely the stuff of nightmares, but I have learned to love,... a few of them. Some still make me a bit queasy, andso I just leave them in their box.

I have other machines, one actually zig zags, and another has a button hole attachment, but Sweety is my workhorse. She is, however, after 50 years of abuse by impatient 8 year olds, hormonal teenagers and over worked mothers, a bit testy herself. She runs on oil and grease. She'll let you know when she isn't happy too, in no uncertain terms. Breaks the thread every three inches until you get the message. And she likes her needles sharp and dead straight.

But now, carefully oiled and greased, Sweety is happy again. I'm off to finish K's 1850's Sun bonnet just in time for next weekends Textiles Festival at Burritt on the Mountain, http://www.burrittmuseum.org/. Should be fun. Hotter than heck, but loads of fun.