Finally Cooler Weather

Finally, we have the start to a wonderful Autumn.The doors and windows are open. The hum of the upstairs air conditioner is gone to be replaced with the sound of the chainsaw. My husband thought our pepper tree needed a hair cut after this long hot summer. A few more days of this and I might feel almost human.

I finally did get some things finished this week. Here is the picture of my latest rug.

This was a fun rug to make. It was fun learning to dye the oranges and the yellows and the reds. This is a quilt pattern from the magazine Primitive Quilts and Projects. Someday I just have to make the quilt. It was fun doing it in wool.

My next projects come from Nan Lewis. Her blog is called, Threadwork Primitives. I love her patterns and when I can I love to work them up. She is a awesome designer.

This is a needle fob that goes on your scissors to hold your needle so you don't put it in your mouth. Which I am trying to break the habit of so I keep putting these little goodies on my scissors.

This is her Halloween pattern. I just love sewing words I guess.

What was fun about this was I used my wools that I dyed myself for this project. I like mixing the wool and the counted cross stitch.

In spite of what a busy week, I am always glad when I have some kind of finishes to show you. Now that it is cooler I hope I can show you some wood projects soon. I have wood cut but I had no ambition to turn it into anything.

I want to also wish my oldest daughter a very happy birthday today. I can't believe that 31 years ago today you were born and forever changed my life for the better. There has never been a day of your life that I haven't thanked God for blessing my life with you. I hope your day is just as blessed as you continually bless mine.

I hope your Saturday is a wonderful day, Thank you for stopping by and visiting with me today.

~Kim~

A Simple Woman's Daybook

I haven't done a day book in a while. I have found if you put Autumn in the title of anything, I go a bit crazy.
So this is the Simple Woman's Daybook---Autumn Version.

FOR TODAY

Outside my window... We have high heat clouds, and humidity. I know a secret, we have a storm coming and cooler below normal temps next week.

I am thinking... Of all of the good things I forget when I am so wrapped up in my own life. I miss the quiet smiles of my children, I miss the little messages of love I take for granted.

I am thankful... The weather like trials will soon be over. There will be joy because of passing through the fire and though I feel pretty scorched, there will be good things to anticipate.

In the kitchen... I will be baking my husband's birthday cake. He wanted the coconut cream cake I made during the summer.

I am wearing... Shorts and a blue worn out shirt that will be in the rag drawer soon.

I am creating... I am working on my crow and pumpkin rug. I dug out another rug I have drawn on backing. I have some things I have made this week but they are sitting by the sewing machine.

I am going...Out to dinner with my husband for his birthday!!! We haven't gone out in so long, it will be so nice to go do something just us.

I am wondering...How many I will be feeding for dinner tonight. It seems like I have so many extras to feed each night, so I never know how many.

I am reading...The Bible, my stack of devotionals. A Book called Forbidden History. I just started a book on the history of Quantum Physics. It has really great words.

I am hoping...Someday I will read this stuff enough I will be able to understand it.

I am looking forward to...Being free of fear and being a person who so trusts God that no matter what happens I will know without a doubt all things will work for good. I will be able to let go easier of my plans and instinctively  know that God has my back and His plan is always for the best, no matter what.

I am learning God's plans are always better than my own.

Around the house...As  I walked through the house turning on all of the ceiling fans, that soon I won't be running air conditioning or fans.

I am pondering...If we have had such hot weather this summer, does it mean we will have a very cold winter. The weather men have been comparing the weather this summer to the summer of 1975-76, it was so cold that year we had snow. I am hoping for that.

A favorite quote for today... " Endure hardship as a discipline; God is treating you as sons." Hebrews 12:7

One of my favorite things... My rug hook.

A few plans for the rest of the week: Going out to dinner, having a three day weekend, hanging out with my hubby. It being cooler. Just loving life and being happy.

A peek into my day... Take care of the chickens, Do school, cook dinner. Everyone gets home. The best part of the day.

 I just want to say thank you to Peggy for offering these daybooks each month.

Chats on the Farmhouse Porch

It is time again to chat with Patrice on her porch. I am enjoying reading about all of you who are having lovely fall days and I enjoy looking at the colors that are just coming on your trees. Patrice has some nice questions this week:


1.    If you could instantly play a musical instrument, which one would it be?

It would be the piano. I would sit and play for hours I think. Maybe. Now I think I like sewing, and hooking and even cooking better than I would to instantly learn the piano. Weird, I didn't even realize that desire to learn after the kids grew up was no longer there.

2.    Do you have a fireplace, wood-stove, or pellet-stove?

We have a wood stove, that I love. It is quiet except for the sound of the wood popping and cracking. I could cook on it if I wanted and I always keep a tea pot on it so tea and hot chocolate are always being made when it is cold.
3.    What's your favorite addition to brownies?

Here is my favorite way to make brownies. I make my brownies from scratch so I take half of the batter and put it in a 13x9 then take 4 large candy bars and put them over the batter in the pan. Pour the rest of the batter over the candy bars and then bake about 40 to 45 minutes until the side pull away a bit. I have used candy bars with caramel in them, Nestles crunch, Cookies and cream. I have thought about using Andes mints this winter. I have even been thinking of putting a layer of peanut butter in there. Just leave it to your imagination but I tell you they become very habit forming.

4.    Do you use much bottled water?

I do buy a case each week when I go to the store. My kids take them to school. I use them over and over again for my water.

 5.   How much did you weight as a newborn?
I was a preemie and weight just a little over three pounds. I was due at the end of June and I was born May 2nd. The doctors told my parents I wouldn't live but afterwards the doctor told my Mom I was such a fighter that is what kept me alive.  My Dad said once, he could hold me in one hand and my head would be in his fingers and my feet would rest on his wrist. It wasn't until my grandsons were born did I understand how small that was or how scary.

Thanks to Patrice for always thinking up nice questions. Thanks for stopping by too. I hope your day has been nice or at least manageable. Be sure to visit Everyday Rurality to link up.

~Kim~

Lovely October

I love October! I love it's promise of the change of seasons and the gold and reds and yellows. I love that the sunlight becomes dappled and even though we can't burn leaves here anymore I remember the haunting smell of watching my grandmother burn leaves in the fall and standing in the  crisp air while she held her shovel and we would talk as we watched them burn. October to me is filled with all things good. Maybe it is that my first baby was born in October and from that first moment I held her in my arms my life changed for the best. It is also my husbands birthday and he is the other part of my life that gives me the joy of life.

I read this selection the other day from my devotional Streams in the Desert. I love it and it always speaks to me and how I percieve life so I would like to share it today.
" Paganini, the great violinist, came out before his audience one day and made the discovery just as they ended their applause that there was something wrong with his violin. He looked at it a second then saw that it was not his famous and valuable one.
He felt paralyzed for a moment, then turned to his audience and told them there had been some mistake and he did not have his own violin. He stepped back behind the curtain thinking that it was still where he had left it, but discovered that someone had stolen his and left that old second hand one in its place He remained back of the curtain a moment, then came out before his audience and said:

" Ladies and Gentlemen: I will show you that the music is not in the instrument, but in the soul." And he played as he had never played before; and out of that second hand instrument the music poured forth until the audience was enraptured with enthusiasm and the applause almost lifted the ceiling off the building, because the man had revealed to them that music was not in the machine but in his own soul."

" It is your mission, tested and tried one, to walk out on the stage of this world and reveal to all earth and heaven that the music is not in the conditions, not in the things, not in externals, but the music of life is in your own soul."

So on this beautiful October day, I am thankful that within my soul sings a melody that no matter what happens, I know that " All things work together for good to those who love God , to those who are the called according to His purpose." (Romans 8:28)

"Faith already knows that everything that happens fits into a pattern for good to those who love God. An inconvenience is always, whether we see it or not, a blessed inconvenience."
(from a Path Through Suffering, p. 59)

My son said the other day that if I had chose  not to have children, I could have lived free of heartache and pain. It was a bit before I could answer because of the lump in my throat. Finally, as the tears rolled down my face I said, " What ever bit of discomfort I may be feeling now, does not ever touch the joy in my life that I have been given, nor the laughter that has filled my days. We all experience hard things but it is those things that give us pain that gives us joy when it is all past." I know that I can look past where I am today into a glorius new beginning that is just around the corner. Because of the music that lives in my soul.

Have a lovely golden October day,
~Kim~