It's About Country Boy's Blue Jeans & Blankets

A couple of 'Country Boys' on their way to the shed. 

A moment captured for all time. 

A moment to be shared, remembered and enjoyed in the years to come.

You know, little guys in blue jeans grow up to be big guys who have their favorite, grungy, worn out "don't you dare throw away" blue jeans.  This is a perfect example of HiHoney's frayed, holey, rolled up and 'Forever Wranglers'.  I have a feeling that his grandson will not only follow him to the shed, but also through years of 'Forever Wranglers'.

The same can be said for their Favorite Blankets/Quilts.

New Listing in A Quilt Store And More...HERE

Details in Nana's Blankees...HERE

Linking To

 

ROOSTER RUNNER Crowing In ETSY Shop

NEW LISTING....

Red Work Rooster Fall Runner         $28.00 USD         Only 1 Available

14 x 57 Runner is perfect for a Fall Table Setting with selection of fall fabrics and machine embroidered Roosters in the popular Red Work on light corn yellow background. Each Rooster block is strip bordered in fall colored prints of Indian Corn, roosters and hens, country farm and a solid dark burgundy. It is bordered in an orange on orange paisley print with triangle pointed finished ends. Custom quilted with monofilament thread in a meander stitch with echo stitching around the three roosters.  Fabrics are 100% Quilt Shop Quality with 80/20 cotton batting. Fabrics were NOT prewashed and runner has NOT been washed.

Listed at A Quilt Shop and More ETSY Shop HERE.

Your PayPal and Credit Card preferences accepted through ETSY Shop...also...Shipping information and preferences.  Email  collectintexas@gmail.com  for more information and/or alternate payment method.

 

Combo Blog and Blog Shop...That's The Ticket!!!

I said I was going Fishing, I mean Stitching, but I what I really meant was both...Fishing and Stitching!

And I did!!!  This is what I caught.....

Actually, it's been in my 'Bait Bucket'...I mean 'Stitching Stash'...Oh Okay!!!

BOTH...for quite sometime.

 After FIVE years of CollectInTexas Gal being a Blog about:

Collecting everything from Art to Zippers

My Texas and Georgia Ancestors

Stories from Back In The Day

Knitting with SuKnitWitty

Quilting and QuiltALottie

Sewing and Crafting

My Grandkids

HiHoney

It Is Time For

This Woman's Place In The wwworld

of

UnCollecting (getting rid) of everything from Art To Zippers

Putting Ancestors in their Place...Tracks Blogs

Publishing stories about Back In The Day

Cure my Yarn-A-holic-ism and share Yarn-A-Rama Stash

Re-Open Sue's Quilt Store

Quilt for the Public and Sell Quilt Patterns

Market Sewing and Craft Projects

Whew...I think that ought to be enough for the new

CollectInTexas Gal Combo Blog and Blog Shop

While I'm working on the Blog Shop Pages...YOU can check out....

See Ya There and Back Here on October 1st....maybe sooner!!!

 

PS...I'll be keeping GrandKids and HiHoney for awhile longer.  I'm counting on their value increasing with age.

Gone Stitchin'

 

Gone Fishin' Stitchin'



Wordless Wednesday...Bronc Buster-Fly Boy & Ditch Rider

The Bronc Buster...W.C. Pittman

The Fly Boy...MD Pittman

The Ditch Rider...C.C. Pittman

This recently...September 2013... found photo taken about 1943-44 is one of three existing early photos of my Dad, Uncle and Grandfather.   In November 2011 on Tracks of My Texas Ancestors, I wrote and posted Rattlesnakes, Sidewinder and Flying Contraptions...a story about these three men at the exact time in their lives as when the photo was taken.

CollectInTexas Gal, Family Genealogist and Psychic Ghost Writer 

Mind Messin' Scarecrow Stitchin'

Digging through the 'Embroidery Drawer' turned up some pretty scary stuff in the sense that most of these machine stitched Redwork Blocks have been there for at least eight years....scary what one forgets.

Here I am with THREE blocks...what was I thinking to make with just THREE blocks.  Another scary mind issue with loss of memory tossed in for good measure.

What to do?  Go digging in the UFO Drawer!!!

What luck, good planning, and foresightedness...'Mind/Memory' Redeemed.  Here's a bag of half-square triangles, log cabin pieced half square blocks and plenty of yardage for borders and backing.

Genius!!!

Moron!!!

Echo Quilted Rooster Runner

Cock-a-doodle-do-do-do-do-do!!!

Get it?  It's the Rooster Echo....quilting that is!

 

 As promised...here is the FINISHED!!! Rooster Table Runner...emphasis on Finished...Yay!!!!

Some Stitchin' To 'Crow' About

Way back in January, I set goals for 2013...not resolutions, but two goals...'Use It or Lose It' and 'Finish It or Forget It'. 

I even went so far as to join a like minded group 'The 2013 Finish Along with LeAnn'.  Yes, I was sure I could do a whole year of Finishes with all the WIP's, Scrap Starts, UFO's and Project Baskets I've had stacked, stored and stuffed around my Sewing Studio.  So I signed up for the first quarter...January thru April. 

Let me tell you, I was OnFire and Awesome for.....the month of January!  You can check out January's Archives HERE .

Then, I guess my Fire Went Out or I Got Sidetracked or Both!

Here I am nine months later digging around in the UFO Embroidery Drawer.

Do you have one of those? 

Mine is not exactly overflowing, but it has enough sample blocks that if I 'Set My Pants OnFire'

I could spend the rest of September, October and November in a Hot Seat!

Today I have reason to 'Crow' a bit as three embroidered Rooster Blocks are now pieced into a

Fall Table Runner!

I will Crow even louder when I get it quilted....so listen for that Cock-a-doodle-do in a day or two!

Thimble Thumbs Up for me!!

Look what I found at the Thrift Store!

Cock-a-doodle-do!!!!!

SEPTEMBER Calendar Coincidence

I Collect Calendars, but I don't belong to the 'Calendar Collectors Society'.

Seriously...there is such a thing...I checked on it.

Website, too, although no activity on there since May 2011...I have a feeling there's not

a big market or much interest in outdated calendars, and whoever started the site was hoping to start a new wave/boom on 'Who, What, Where were YOU Back In The Day/Month/Year'.

 

Funny thing is, the last few days, weeks, month, I've been kind of out of sync with what to blog about. That Out-Of-Sync-ness led to this coincidental September Calendar Event. 

While perusing my photo archives I came across 'The Original Cowpokes' 1985 Calendar file.  I started looking at January...mostly because it's my Birthday Month...in 1985 it was on Sunday the 20th which was also Inauguration Day.  That led to a list of questions....

....Who was inaugurated?  Did I vote for him?  How old was I?  Where did we live?  How old was my kid?  Good grief, that was 28 years ago...and I didn't write a single note on the calendar.

With all that cluttering up my brain, I skipped February, March, April, May, June, July, August 1985 and landed in September....just because it's September 28 years later, and I didn't think I could handle trying to recall if there were any significant events through those skipped months.  Then the 'Been There Done That' feeling hit me.  There was something very familiar  about September 1985.  Yeeessssss......I'm one of those 'Protein Plus Aging Seniors'....you know the ones they have been talking about in AARP and the News.

We 'Protein Plusers' have better than average memory recall for our age. 

That has to be why Friday, September 6th rings a bell and flashes red in my

'Protein Plus Head'.

I swear I've seen a similar West Texas Landscape Scene recently, but without the Cowpokes.

 

~Sunday, January 20, 1985, the Second Inauguration of Ronad Reagan as the 40th President of the United States was held privately and publicly on Monday, January 21st.
~I, CollectInTexas Gal, do solemnly swear I was Thirty-eight years old and I did vote for Ronald Reagan....again!
~We lived in Monahans, Ward County, Texas.  
~I was a Teacher/Coach.
~My Kid was 13 years old.
~January 1st was the First Day of the New Year!

Thank-goodness for 'Protein Plus Vitamins' and an Out of Sync month of September.

BTW....If you have a 1985 Calendar....you too, can 'Recycle It' for 2013 and again in 2017.  I plan to....the only change in red will be Jackson's age...that will double.  I must remember to make my chiropractor appointment and take my PPVitamins.

Hooked On TwoAttaTime

I know you have heard the old proverb
 "Measure Twice and Cut Once"!

Proverbs are short expressions of popular wisdom. The wisdom is in the form of a general observation about the world or a bit of advice, sometimes more nearly an attitude toward a situation. Wikiquote

Over the years I have learned to not only Measure Twice and Cut Once, but to go ahead and Cut TwoAttaTime Once and often times several more than two, depending on the project.

TwoAttaTime works great when you are doing a mini-production line.  Especially if you are developing a new idea or trying out a new pattern...like the two Crochet Hook Clutches I've just finished.



These used up the last of the Vintage Star Blocks and will be a nice match to the Zipper Bags.

As with the Zipper Bags, I was able to use up some more lace, rickrack and vintage buttons...Yay!

The Crochet Hook Clutch Pattern is from a SewSheCan contributor Little Birdie Secrets.
Give it a try and remember to Measure Twice and Cut TwoAttaTime Once!
Oh!  I almost forgot....Stitch TwoAttaTime, too!

Fruits of Labor Day Labor

It's hardly been what one could call 'Labor'...making these zipper bags from vintage scraps, lace, buttons and notions. But since it's Labor Day....I'll call it a Labor of Love and Celebration.

Love in that I love using these pieces from the past and celebration in that I am actually getting some things made from them after years of collecting. 

I have plans to make more in different sizes and some for specific uses like crochet hook holders.  I've been looking at ideas over at SewCanShe's Tutorial Archives Crafty Little Things To Sew.   Visit her home page HERE.  If you are thinking about starting your Christmas Gift Sewing, like me, you will be soooo inspired with a visit to this website.  Like SewCanShe on Facebook and get all of her great projects, tutorials and giveaways. 

I did do a bit of 'Organizing/Straightening Labor in my Sewing/Quilting Studio on this Labor Day!

After dragging out the Vintage Scraps, Thirty's Reproduction Stash, Buttons, Lace and all, I had to stop production and make room for the next wave of Pouches and Zipper Bags.  I always enjoy seeing how other Quilter/Sewists organize their Studios, so I thought you might like to see mine.

 

I can make the biggest mess while sewing on scrappy projects. Every bin, basket and button jar I own has to be open and within reach.  From start to finish I have it spread all over the sewing room from cutting table to sewing machine to ironing board. 

I leave a trail of thread and snippits of fabric from the sewing room through the kitchen and into my office where the computer is....sometimes I have to take a break for a snack and more inspiration.  If you do what I do....then you know what I'm talking about.

No matter how big a mess I make....I have to Start in a Clean and Organized space.  So after filling a basket with Zipper Bags and Quilty HotPads it was time for Labor Day Labor.

That's how I spent my Labor Day!

Happy Labor Day, Ya'll

Augusts 'Lovely Tokens' for Autum Cheer

September

by Helen Hunt Jackson

1830-1885

"By all these lovely tokens

September days are here,

With summer's best of weather

And autumn's best of cheer."

 

Look at the 'Lovely Tokens' our pomegranate tree has produced this summer.  I've been watching them for weeks now, and thinking how perfect they would be for a Fall Wreath.  I've noticed the birds have been watching them as well.

 

So with today being the first day of September and the opening of 'Dove Season', it seemed the perfect time to clip a few branches that were bending low from the weight of the red-orange fruit.  It is a fruit, ya know, and the Dove are nowhere to be seen today, so it is all mine.

 

Texas Mother Nature still thinks it's summer and I guess she's right since it is not officially FALL until around September 21st, but I'm ready for fall and I've been waiting not so patiently to get out the fall flowers and grapevine wreath/basket.  Most of my fall decorating stuff has seen better Falls, but it is going to have to make one more September, October and part of November....that's when I'll be ready to drag out the Poinsettias. 



TaDa....Not too bad for 'Old Fall Foliage' and 'Texas Drought Pomegranates'.

Welcome September!