Thursday review, knitting and spinning.

Fall Festival demonstrations:

Ms. Kaitlyn, professional spinner, working with hand-dyed roving.

Ummm, yummy colors. (Good Fibrations)

Future socks. (Good Fibrations)

Knitters' candy. (Wauka Valley Farm)

Good Fibrations: Yarn, roving, mohair locks, and wearable art.

To order from Wauka Valley Farm for yarn and roving go to:

http://www.lovetospin.com/

http://www.wauka.com/

Until then, keept stitchin' . . .

Acrobats for hire!

I discovered that the trick to getting my house painted was finding the right group of acrobats.

It takes great balance and nerves of steel, especially when the peak stands near 30 feet!

There are shallow angles with slippery slopes, which only a contortunist can manage.

Somehow they juggle buckets and brushes while keeping their balance. (I got dizzy just taking the pictures.)

Naturally, they have to work in tandem to create perfect choreography.

Dolly kept trying to join the act, but I wouldn't let her climb a ladder. No sirreee, my pup is better on the pumpkin toss to be sure.

In 2 days, this crew had the house done. Mother nature provided the great weather and I provided the veggie ham soup with cornbread muffins and plenty of lemonade.

Great teamwork all around!

Until then, keep stitchin' . . .

I went, I saw, AND I took pictures!

You may recall that the John C. Campbell Fall Festival is always held the first weekend in October. Despite the crisp chilly weather yesterday, they had a very large crowd.

Knowing that, I like to go very early on Sunday morning when there is space in the booths to take pictures.

I visit with various friends who are vendors, enjoy viewing the lovely workmanship which seems to get better each year . . .

And head home.
This year I made a new friend, but don't think Dolly would appreciate the competition, so I left her there.

I'll share more pictures throughout the week.

Until then, keep stitchin' . . .

Actually no, I've not been quilting . .

While the colors of Fall are slowly encroaching along with cooler temperatures,

I've been diligently checking off the pre-winter tasks which should have been done in 2010. And once again, I'm almost out of time.

However, hope abounds! Today Mr. Fixit finally showed up to work on the faulty siding.

And Ms. Painter will be here on Friday with her crew to begin the final process of pressure washing and painting the rest of the house; alas, the part I could not reach.

After that all I'll need to do is pull all of the windows in order to sand and seal their exterior side.

As you can imagine, Ms. Dolly is taking it all in stride, catching catnaps and in between following Mr. Fixit around to inspect all work being done.

It's a tough job, but somebody has to do it.

Until then, keep stitchin' . . .

To market, to market . . .

. . . early Saturday morn.

This time, I took Dolly through the winding roads of Eastern Tennessee. We got to the Mennonite market in time to rescue the remaining tomatoes, 3 small baskets of peppers, onions, potatoes, zuchini, sweet potatoes, cantalope, lettuce, bread, and of course sticky buns.
Here is one of the delivery wagons parked by the receiving dock.
On our way home through the gorge there weren't nearly as many rafters and the water looked chilly. We stopped for a brief walk at Lake Ocoee Inn.

By midnight I had canned 16 pints and 9 quarts of tomato medley. This time I ran all of peppers and onions through my hand crank grinder, just like dad and I did years ago when we made relish.

On Sunday, I gathered the remaining cucumbers from my garden and sliced them up along with several onions. They are waiting in the fridge for me to make more pickles tonight.

Presently, the only thing left to can is applesauce. I'm on the lookout for the right tree. If you spot an unsprayed, "hurry before the possums get 'em" apple tree, do send me a shout won't you!

Until then, keep stitchin' . . . .