Unicorns and Cactus Oh My

Zoie, the niece of a friend and Rosy SassyPants, my niece love 

Unicorns

New Window at Alter'd State at Crabtree

We watched as they twisted and turned chicken wire

then wrapped it in packing tape

  to form a  'cactus'

New window was to advertise new clothing from Peru.

Final Fiction, Feline, Nature Friday

I recently received this adorable email from my extra ADORABLE Nephew

Dearest Aunty HiC

You know Mom is a retired teacher, and it’s true what they say: Once a teacher, always a teacher.

Today’s lessons included:

Addition:  🐱+ 🐱= 🐱🐱

Reading: The Cat in the Hat by Dr. Seuss

Word of the Day: ailurophile-a cat fancier : a lover of cats.

I just have one question. Isn’t everyone an ailurophile? 😹

Time for recess!!!

Love you!

❤️ Kat Your Feline Nephew 

Initially, I answered the email in a regular

way.  Then a light bulb started flickering

in My Mind's Eye.  I said to myself, self,

I bet you can turn this into a 

Final Fiction, Feline, Nature Friday.   Making (me) nine shades of happy!!

My words/phrases are from 

Tattered and Torn: a quilting cozy

by my friend Carol Dean Jones...who happens to be human Aunty to

Teddy, at One Spoiled Cat.

line 8: certainly possible

line 12: making nine

line 16: flower garden

Dearest Nephew,

What a lucky kitty you are to have such a loving  Mom 

who enjoys teaching you about readin', writin' and 'rithmetic.

It is certainly possible there are some non-ailurophile humans
out there; however, I hope and purr I never EVER no never meet them.

Now that you have had such a thoroughly delightful

education day, it is time for recess in the flower garden!
Remember to always stop and smell the  posies.

Your Loving
Aunty HiC

All three  are blog hops...you may hop over by clicking on the links below

YAM Aunty, Final Fiction Friday

Comedy Plus, Feline Friday

Arty, Jakey and Rosy, Nature Friday

Thankful and Thoroughly Poetic Thursday

Today we join Two  SPOILED CATS 

Angel Sammy and Teddy for their poetic pictorial poem.

First Date
True Story

When I was eight, a boy asked if I like

milkshakes. Yes I replied, he said well its a date!

A What...I said.

No worries he said I have a plan in my head.

I'll have my mom call your mom

What....I said

A plan was made, a time was set.

When we were leaving the house, Daddy asked

where are you going?

I said, I have a date

A What...he said

I replied he is buying  me a 'shake.

Gotta go Daddy

I can't be late.

The Mom's were gonna have coffee at a booth

while we ordered shakes at the fountain.

When you are eight,

you are too short to straddle the stool.

So we sat in the booth while the mom's straddled the stools.

He ordered our shakes, we giggled and slurped trying to make

crazy sounds.

'Cause when you are eight that makes for a fun date.

I only went to this school for one more year.

 I lost track of this boy; however, I'm pretty darn sure he 

continued to charm the girls with offers of dates to get shakes.

**************************

Ashworth's soda fountain and pharmacy is still in business too.
Founded in 1957.

hosted by Brian and Family

I am thankful today for all the wonderful people I met
during my 25 years of working with undergrad students, grad students and
 post docs. I still hear from many at Christmas.

What a lovely time I had at lunch on Thursday July 18th.
The wife and 3 daughters of one of my favorite Physics PhD
candidates, in the late 1996-2002, came thru Raleigh last week.
Their oldest daughter was born here. The last time I saw them
Emily was 4 she is now 17 1/2 and has two younger sisters.
I am thankful for parents who have raised these
beautiful young ladies and that their parents are
teaching them the importance of family, friends
and staying in touch.

Below Rose(front) who will be 10 next year and has the biggest dimples and a contagious giggle.

Back Emily (17 1/2) what a amazing young lady. Very quiet and thoughtful like her Daddy.

Midget me,  Nora only 12.  She is already taller than her mom and Emily who are both about 5'6".  Gorgeous red hair and funny.

Their Mom Sandra and me

Wordless Wednesday:Just for Me

Hosted by Comedy Plus

Staying cool in the Dog Days of a Dixie Summer

A dream come true...this shop just opened at the Mall where we walk every morning.
However, they are not opened at 8 am .  I might have to change my schedule.





A typical summer time lunch....it is sure to make one healthy and cool you down
Navel orange, blueberries, blackberries, strawberries, pink lady apples, walnuts and bananas.

thank you all very much for your kind comments on my quilts yesterday.

Happy Tuesday Quilt #3, #4, #5 and 6

Hosted by Comedy Plus

#3
I made this quilt for our Friends, Sally and Gary.

As I told them, I have a new passion/obsession and my friends
and family are benefiting from it

Front

back

This is my largest one to date.  It kinda took on a life of it's own.

I finally finished hand stitching 160" 😝 around the binding.
If you are interesting in being my hand stitching sidekick, I'm accepting applications.

The entire quilt

on the back side of the binding.  38"x 45".

This one is for us
4th

Long story short  (really) during all this hot weather my neighbor had missing seeing us
out and about (we go out very early for our walk).  She emailed to check on me asking what I was up to in the heat.  I told her I was teaching myself to quilt, sent her the photos above.
After a few minutes, she wrote back.  Would you consider making 2 simple memory throw quilts
for my sister and I?  Their mom passed earlier this year.  They saved their Mom's blouses in the hopes
of finding someone to make the quilts.  I told her it would be my honor to do this. 
 After getting the parts and pieces off each blouse,
I cut ~130/5" squares out of about 25 blouses/tee shirts.
Front of first quilt:  I had forgotten how much tee shirt material crawled and puckered when
sewing on it. I didn't cut many tee shirt squares.
I was able to use at least one sq.of fabric from each blouse.

5th after squares were sewn

Alas each quilt offers me a new lesson.  This one is tee shirt material and
various other fabrics including seersucker were not user friendly.
Buttons were not originally a part of the plan; however,
due to many seams not matching I 'hid' the imperfection
with buttons at the corners.

As it turns out it looked a bit odd with just scattered buttons so I decided to
put buttons at all corners.

I'd like to give a proper SHOUT out to HER aka Tobi at
Daisy Downunder for suggesting iron on interfacing to help with the
stretchy fabric on the tee shirt fabric.  In a perfect world,
I probably should have used interfacing on any square that had a variety of
fabric types.
Number 6#

When my neighbor saw all the buttons on #5 she loved them and
asked me to put them on #6.
Below was taken before I added 30 buttons.

This pretty blue fabric has become my favorite and my neighbor liked it too.
I used it on both memory quilts

The sisters had 2 requests:
1. that I use fabric from each blouse and tee shirt
2. that I some how incorporate the appliques, lighthouse and palm tree and sailboats
into each quilt. I cut them off the navy tee shirt, then cut a 5" sqs. from the tee shirt
and appliqued them onto the navy 5"square.  Lighthouse was too tall so it
became leaning lighthouse.
I will be the first to admit there are several 'humility squares**'.
This caused me some anxiety, but as my biggest supporter aka Dad of Madi, said
"you have done as they requested."

** "Humility Square" is the one quilt square that Puritans or Amish quilters purposely created imperfectly in their quilts.  

I cannot honestly say I created them on purpose but
that is my Tuesday Tale and I'm sticking to it.  


My neighbor picked up both quilts on Friday July 19.  She got a wee misty eyed.
I am honored to have done this for them.
She recalls seeing Mom in all of these blouses...and that is what this was about
preserving Memories


Reminder Friday, July 26 is!!!


click here for the rules

Awww Monday Kat is not amused!!

Hosted by Comedy Plus

Mom played a trick on me! 😹

She said you were calling me on my nanaphone.

I was so excited, I jumped right up

to only hear a robocall informing me they could reduce my student loan credit card debt.

Not funny, Mom. 

Good grief, reduce my student loan!?!

I’m not amused, Mom...

❤️ Kat Your Feline Nephew

Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh No Nephew!!!

Yikes they called here too, then the next call was to talk about our Medicare...WHAT in the world first we are students then we are senior citizens.

  You know what I did?

We have 2 huge whistles we got back in 1999 when we rode the

Duck Rides in Branson, Missouri.  

I blew it in their ears.

Lovingly your Aunty HiC

Serene Summer Sunday

First 4 PHOTOS TAKEN AT SHELDON VINEYARDS

The heron offered to pose for a Sunday Selfie

 Do you see the heron just under the small Maple on the right

This beautiful carved plaque following the shape of North Carolina with the
actual shape of NC and the  counties inlaid was in the Visitor Center at Hanging Rock State Park
I'm 100% prejudiced but I LOVE THE SHAPE of NORTH CAROLINA.