End of August Post and a Finish!!

Hi Everyone,

I wanted to get a post in before August came to a close, so I was cutting it close for sure.  On this day, my brother Bill was born, so I want to wish him a Happy Birthday!!

It was nice to have some visitors this summer, and Bill and Tess were here from Alabama a few weeks ago.  It was nice to see them both and to spend a day with them.

Bernie's sister's, his Dad, his Dad's friend and his daughter all came for a visit at two different times.  Bryan and Jess were here for Bernie's birthday as well, so we've had more company this year than all the other years!  We loved seeing everyone and we love having company!

My garden is all about finished.  I got several cherry tomatoes this year and I enjoyed eating them right off the vine and a few did eventually make it into my dinner salad.  The beans came few and far between, so they went from vine to Macy's mouth each day.  Never did get enough to make a batch of them for dinner.

The blackberries came out in full force after not looking so good early on.  We had more this year for breakfast than we have in several years.  Not enough at one time though to make a blackberry cobbler.

Earlier in the month was the Pymatuning Lake Festival that I do every year.  I wasn't sure I was going to do it this year as last year was pitiful!  I did OK last year, but didn't have much hope for this year.  I didn't decide to do it until the last minute and am I ever glad I did.  This year I did the show with just our lamps and it was a huge success!  I sold more this year than I have in past years.  The display looked very nice, I was told by many people visiting us, with only a few quilted pieces, some Earth Rug Coasters that complemented the lamp shades and the lamps!  Forty-seven business cards were taken, so I'm sure to get some later sales around Christmas time.  Several people told me that we had the best tent with the most unique and useful items in the entire show!  This made me smile.  Will I do this show next year?  Absolutely!!

Our big show is coming up in October which is the Christmas in the Woods show.  Our goal is to have 100 lamps ready for that show.  I'm not sure I need to have that many, but it would ease my mind to have more than I expect to sell.  We have another show in Dec in Erie, which I can always use the leftovers for.

Bernie is making hardwood, Red Oak, lamps this year by popular demand at both the Christmas show and the Erie show last year.  We now also have the scene shades for the smaller size lamps as well.  Last year we only had the plain-laced shades.  I'm sure our customers will be happy to see that!  So many come back each year to purchase another as a gift or even another for themselves.

I've been trying to quilt and finish up some things in between stoning lamps.  I did manage to complete the picnic table quilt that I made from hexagons.  Here are a few photos of that.

Picnic Quilt

Back of Picnic Quilt

Some of the Hexies

We also had quite a few humming birds come to our petunias on the front porch.  Here is one I was able to capture with my iPhone.

Almost forgot about this excitement from the end of last month, I have my first broken bone at age 63.  I tripped up the steps, wearing flip-flops, and smashed my nose and finger into the wooden steps.  After a trip to the ER, I found out that my nose wasn't broken and that my little pinkie finger was.  After about a month of recuperation, I can now bend my finger again after wearing a splint on it for 4 weeks.  I'm back in business!  Not to worry though, I was able to continue to stone lamps even with a splint on!!  No loss of work hours!!  Ha Ha!!

Hope everyone has a nice rest of summer.  Won't be long now until September is upon us and my favorite time of year, Autumn!  Not real excited about what comes after Autumn, but..........................it's inevitable!

Take care everyone.

Hugs!

Debbie