Penny Sanford Designs

Where to begin?

I'm so behind in sharing stuff with you that I hardly know where to begin.  

If I wanted to blog about something lately, I did not have accompanying pictures to share. Or if I have the pictures to share, I've been too tired to edit them to upload and write anything. 

That is something for which to be thankful because it means I have been more active lately than I have been in many months of that stupid bronchitis. Today Gordon carried the oxygen-making machine back upstairs to the closet where it has been stored. I no longer need supplemental oxygen. YEAH!

We're planning a "freshening" project for the kitchen involving paint and a new floor and some re-organization. We've been moving Unc's wood-working out of the kitchen in preparation.

Yes, you read that right. In the 4 plus months I was sick and in bed most of the time, Unc moved into the kitchen with his carving. The kitchen is the center of the house, and he likes to be around people when he carves. I was unaware of how bad the kitchen was getting, and Gordon was torn between not worrying me and still keeping Unc close by to watch (and be sure he was not cutting off fingers).

I won't tell you how many of his tools and pieces of wood and carving chips and layers of wood dust were actually in the kitchen because I don't think you would believe me! I did not take any pictures of that clutter either!

This is also another step of the journey of turning the kitchen from Mama's kitchen to my kitchen. Those of you who have made such a conversion will understand the heavy baggage of memories, good and bad.  Off to work on the kitchen now...

Oh, the wild turkey (which is a female, Unc says) visited us one morning recently to check out the free fruit under the Mulberry tree! I was surprised how much they walk with a regal gait like a peacock!

Charles Hamer carving a fork.

Charles Hamer, age 83 of Kilmichael, Mississippi, carving a wooden, primitive fork made from trees blown down by Hurricane Katrina in August of 2005.

Does Social Networking make me more sociable?

Remember when it was a big deal just to have a pager number or a cell phone number in addition to one's home or work number? Now this:

Website: www.pennysanford.com
Blog: www.pennysanford.typepad.com
Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/pennysanford/
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/PennySanfordDesigns
Twitter: http://twitter.com/pennysfikes
YouTube: PennySanfordDesigns

We dumped our land lines earlier this year after Mama died. She was the only one who used them any more. Gordon and I conduct more business on our cell phones than on the land lines, and Unc could not hear well enough to talk on the phone if Gordon or I were not around.

Unc was nervous about NOT being able to hear well if we were not around to pick up the phone. That nervousness translated into hearing even less on the land line. If we were around for him to hand the phone to us to interpret what he might not be able to hear, he could hear better.

That probably makes no sense if you've never witnessed the indignity of aging, but I hope you know what I am trying to express.

We just opted to drop the land lines, keep our cell phones charged and with us 24/7, and spend the money saved on some other bills. More and more we are running across folks doing the same.

Anyway, while acquiring my personalized Facebook Internet address (url), I could not help but remember the time when keeping up with someone was just the matter of remembering a pager number.

Mama and Unc used to talk about the many advances in technology in everyday life that they had witnessed. Imagine what Gordon and I will be able to list as technological advances in our lifetime when we hit our 80's!

What is your Social Networking footprint? Does Social Networking make you more sociable?

Happy Flowers and Green Thumb Ladies

Here are some of the pretty flowers that have beautified the farm this spring.

It has been so rainy for so long, and I have had this ongoing bronchitis-like stuff, so Gordon or Unc brought flowers inside to cheer me up.

Some of the rain-drenched flower shots that Gordon snatched between rains are my favorite flower pictures from the first five months of 2009.

Now, looking back at these pictures from the past five months, as I share them with you, I realize how just a photo of flowers can brighten one's day.

For a good while we thought this bronchitis-like stuff might be triggered by allergy, so the only flowers I received from the yard (since I was house-bound by the chronic coughing) were photos of flowers blooming in the yard.

Each of these flowers in these photographs come with memories. Most happy, some bittersweet.

I remember one particular afternoon, about 18 years ago, when Unc, Mama and I went to Kay Emmon's homeplace in Carroll County to buy starts of this antique rose. (first two photos) That was quite an adventure finding her stately 1870-era farmhouse.

She "pegged" rose bushes to make baby plants. That method calls for pulling a rose branch down to the ground and putting a brick on the branch to hold it in contact with the soil so that new roots can form. After about a year, you can sever the branch and transplant the baby rose plant.

Other types of plants she started under quart jars around her yard. There were small battalions of little quart jars stationed at strategic places. It was quite a visual experience of color and little armies of quart jars and bricks.

That was  a magical afternoon, and we bought a number of antique roses and lillac and fragrant violets from her.

What are your memories of special Green Thumb Ladies you have met through the years? I have a cousin in California who sends photos of the roses cut from her yard.  LaNelle Renfroe Johnson must have roses in bloom 12 months of the year!

She sends her rose pictures to various family and friends. Those pictures are really a day brightener!

As for this bronchitis like stuff, the doctor put me on a different course of medicine yesterday, and it seems to be working. As soon as I now, I will share with you a very suprising cause of chronic bronchitis-like cough that has grounded me for well over three months.

What is Jenny B up to these days?

Jenny B came to live with us here on the farm March 21, 2009. She has long since captured our hearts, all three humans. (Heck, she captured my heart in the first five seconds.)

Jenny B is busy being Jenny B these days.

She and Mackie have formed a very close bond. Anywhere Mackie goes, Jenny B is right behind him. Anything Mackie does, Jenny B is his shadow.

Sometimes they look like a tiny team of furry white horses the way they run together, as if they were in invisible traces.

Every morning, Jenny B wakes me up by licking my face, especially my nose. I've GOT to find a resource that tells why a dog wants to lick around a human's nose and mouth.

I don't want to stop her licking, but I do not like the face licking. 

She is so cute when she licks away my tears.  They must taste very different because she stops and studies my face before resuming her self-appointed role as tear-annihilator.

Jenny B is a Mama's girl, but she also flirts and plays with Gordon and Unc. Gordon has discovered that she can't stand for him to lightly blow in her ear...like he might blow over my ear...light and ticklish. Those two have turned it into a game of hide and seek among the pillows on the bed.

Gordon blows across her ear. Jenny B hides among the pillows. Gordon finds her and blows. Jenny B wriggles all over and scurries around on the bed to hide behind me or burrow under another pillow. It is quite a delight to see them play like this.

Jenny B patrols the back yard with Mackie, every time. During all this rain, she has come in soaked and muddy, just like Mackie. She brought in just as many seeds in her fur during those weeks it would not stop raining enough for Gordon and Unc to mow.  I'm sure she wonders why the Westies here get so many baths!

It's past time to give her a little trim, and I am deliberating whether to cut those adorable little tufts of hair around her eyes. They look SOOO cute. We have been brushing her every day and working with her to get her more accustomed to being groomed. We don't want to create any anxiety in her sheltered little life.

Jenny B is so tender and trusting and loving. As I mentioned before, she was hand-raised by a breeder who knows how to prepare the vibrant terrier personality for loving homes. Jenny B would be fabulous around children, and terriers are not always recommended for households with children.

You know there will be more photos and blog posts about Jenny B and all of our Westies! Until then, here are some Jenny B posts you may have missed:

Jenny B Learns to Sew
Jenny B's Perspective
Jenny B's Third Day
Jenny B's Second Day: A Real Beazer with an Adorable Beazer
Jenny B's First Day: Shhhh, The Baby is Sleeping
Jenny Be Still My Heart

The Yellow Dotted Affair

It's raining today. A pretty, gentle, summer rain. I would normally enjoy a rain like the one we had today, but my "acute bronchitis" has been getting worse all week, and we have an appointment with the doctor tomorrow, hoping she can end this three-month saga.

Anyway, I need cheering up, so I have been editing some photos I took last week of pretty yellow fabrics. Here follows some pretty pictures and prattle.

First, I will confess I have a problem with this out-of-print "Sunshine" by April Cornell for Moda. I'm obsessed with it. If a fabric could represent the complexities of a human's existence, THIS fabric is how I would want to be as a human.  Don't ask me to explain that. I cannot.

The fabric was introduced to the consumer in 2007, I think. Of course, I did not discover it until late 2008. I ordered my first yard. I even prattled about it in this blog.

Then I started looking for more of this fabric. I wanted enough for a backing of a king size quilt, 9 to 10 yards. I found the almost-six yard length that I snatched up.

Browsing around the Internet late one night recently, I stumbled across this beautiful eight yard length ON SALE! AND the shop accepted PayPal, meaning I could pay for my "fix" straight from the bank account...forget some little bill that might need to be set aside for a while...I needed a Fabric Fix!

Well, my fabric shopping has been greatly curtailed this year, so I get even more excited when a package with fabric arrives! I've had to do a little fabric shopping for a special commissioned quilt that I'm currently working on. You will see it when it is all finished. *grin*

While sorting and organizing my fabric stash, I decided to take a photo of some of it. This Tower of Happy Yellow represents most of my yellow fabric stash.

Another piece I bought long ago I was delighted to find a similar piece recently. It is the yellow batik pictured in this post.  

While I was enjoying photographing yellow fabrics that day, I shot this favorite yellow print by Sue Penn. I cannot remember the name of the fabric line or the manufacturer.  I had cut off that info from the selvage to look for later. That little piece of selvage will show up. I have a little collection of them since i am always looking for various out of print fabrics.

A previous fabric orgy here

Magnificent Mulberries

The mulberries are coming in.  Have you ever eaten a mulberry right from the tree, warm from the sunshine? It is like a very mild, sweet, soft blackberry without the tart and without the seed.

The heavy rains earlier this year probably washed the pollen off of the trees, Unc told me, resulting in a very sparse crop of mulberries this year.

We have one large mulberry tree on the west side of the farmhouse. The birds and deer eat most of those mulberries, so there are very few mulberries left for us humans. I also love the tree for its fall foliage also, so we continue to plant baby mulberry trees around the homeplace, knowing the wildlife will feast on the berries.

One year we even had a family of skunks come to visit and gorge themselves on mulberries  every night.

That was back when we used window fans in the bedrooms to pull in cooler air at night. Skunks travel in a cloud of their infamous odor, even if they have not been startled. I can still remember waking up to the pungent, undeniable odor of skunk in my bedroom. It is a rather alarming way to wake up! One does not go back to sleep easily while breathing eau de skunk!

Plus, in those days, our border collies lived outside, so I was always afraid the dogs would wake up and decide to chase away the skunks! Fun memories!

I love Mulberries so much, to eat and for the tree's beautiful fall foliage, that I sculpted an ornament and a brooch of the mulberry leaf. The angel is darting between the mulberry leaves in this sculpture. Her wings and skirt are made of mulberry leaves.

More of Unc's carving talent

Unc caught up with the orders for his wood carving, so here are some new pieces that he has available.

The wood is all from trees that Hurricane Katrina uprooted in August, 2005. It has dried slowly and naturally. That means the wood won't crack in the future.

He oils his primitive kitchen utensils with olive oil, several coats to seal the wood.

These Salad serving sets are new designs for Unc. I remember how many years I searched for something hand-made by a Mississippi or Alabama artisan to add a little drama to serving salad. Why did I not ask Unc to make a pair for me 20 years ago?

The bread board was a special commission for a special friend. The special wood grain, the natural organic shape of the board (following the shape of the original log) and the size make it truly one-of-a-kind!

He has started making little cutting boards again as well.

Here is how we use his little cutting boards. They work marvelously when trying to keep little pieces from scattering all over the counter or table or floor!

Another new primitive kitchen utensil Unc has started making this year are potato mashers!

All of Unc's primitive kitchen pieces are hand carved and hand finished.

Several of these pieces pictured in this blog post are already sold. If you are interested in some of Unc's primitive kitchen items, just let me know, penny(at)pennysanford.com. Unc accepts Paypal or checks.

I prattle about Unc all the time on this blog. For those who are new readers, Unc is my 83 year old uncle Charles K. Hamer. He has lived his entire life and is the fifth generation of this family to live and work on this Historic Centennial Hamer Hills Farm, established 1837.

See more of Unc's carving here.

My Mystery Penny from Australia, c. 1943

I found this little treasure while recently cleaning out a drawer in the house.  

Back when I was a little bitty tyke, like age 4 or 5, I found this little treasure on a playground in Jackson. We lived in Jackson during the week for Mama and Daddy to work, and we came home to the farm every weekend.

I vividly remember opening my grubby little hand and showing my little found treasure to them that afternoon. I'm pretty sure they checked with the other parents to see if another little child had lost it. They taught me ethics like that, so I feel sure they practiced those ethics as well.

All I know is that I was allowed to keep this Australian penny, from 1943. It was a special treasure since my name is Penny.

All these years, I have wanted to have this mounted in a finding that will allow me to wear it as a necklace. There is not enough room to thread a chain through the curled lip of the hat. I've tried numerous times.

You can see there are solder marks on the underside of the little hat that hint this may have been soldered to something...a belt buckle?

Is this a real coin for Australia? It would have been a rather large and thick penny. 

I've seen real U.S. penny coins flattened with the imprint of some tourist destination added. People collect those.  I've never seen anything like this little hat.

Please share any information you might have on this type of coin art. Sharing my little "treasure" with you has been a fun mini trip to Memoryville!

Get this blog in your email inbox

Gordon has fixed the Subscribe by Email feature to this blog!  YEAH, Gordon!

Apparently, Feedburner was bought by Google, and there was an email (that I totally missed) instructing me what to do to tweak things the Google way. I hope the tweaks will restore the email delivery of this blog to those who are subscribed that way.

If you have changed your email address, or if you want to subscribe to this blog for the first time, just look for the subscription thingy over on the right of the page. Enter your email address into the little space, and click on Subscribe.

I just subscribed to my own blog so that I could share with you what steps are involved.

After I hit the "Subscribe" button, a window popped up, and I had to type in the letters of the squiggly non-word.

Then I got this message: "Please check your inbox for a verification message from “FeedBurner Email Subscriptions”, the service that delivers email subscriptions for Penny Sanford Designs. You will need to click a link listed in this message to activate your subscription."

Hope this helps. Some of you have asked lately about subscribing to this blog via email. Even more of you have asked why you were no longer receiving this blog by email anymore. Now you know why...and how.

PLEASE let us know if you have any problems!

Heavenly Sunshine

Today was the third day of beautiful, glorious, blessed sunshine!

Gordon caught these quick photos of the Westies sunbathing this afternoon.

It was so bright that even the appropriate camera adjustments could not adjust. But then, little white Westies are not easy to photograph in bright sunlight.

Unc planted basil and bell pepper seed in the cold frame this afternoon. He has a nice little garden started in spite of the rain. That is for another post with different photos.

Gordon and I are working steadily at our various projects. Plus the dogs. Plus Rosalie (who is missing at the moment...not unusual of her, but it still gives me anxiety until we find her.) Unc is great help with housekeeping and mowing.

Ideas for optimum cutting surface

First, my serendipity from yesterday.

I put my cutting mat on Mama's old rolling hospital bedside table. It turns 360 degrees. It adjusts in height. It worked wonderfully with my new 24 inch cutting ruler. Even the tiny lip of the table helped in my cutting project.

There I was in the lap of cutting luxury, in my padded, rolling office chair, cutting quilt pieces in total comfort. I will designate this little hospital table to be my small cutting surface for ever and ever.

No, we did not lift it from a hospital. We ordered after Mama's stroke in 2004 from a Sears Medical Supply catalog. It makes a great laptop table or hand-sewing surface for when one melts into a recliner and needs a rolling table to roll under one's extended feet.

Now for my questions of you:

I need to designate one of our 6 foot folding tables to be a cutting table for larger stuff. I've seen some pretty large self-healing cutting mats on eBay. If you know of a source with good prices, please let me know.

What are the recommendations for the height of such a cutting table?

I'd like to cover the boring brown fake grain with something pretty and colorful. Oilcloth? Fabric with a top layer of thick clear vinyl? What would be durable? 

Alicia Paulson (Posy Gets Cozy Blog) used concrete blocks to raise the height of her cutting table.

Another question:  Not all self-healing mats are made equal, apparently.  My cutting mat, above, was a bargain from eBay. Maybe I have left it in the hot car to bake...it started life as my cutting mat to take to quilting classes.  It does not "self heal" as well as I expected. Is there a brand of self-healing cutting mat that you would recommend?

My eyes, ears and brain are all open to learn from your experience! Thanks, in advance!

My Three Magnolia Sculptures

Actually, I have sculpted seven magnolia pieces, but the rest were private commissions or are now retired. These are the three magnolia pieces that I will currently make.

That pretty aqua fabric has been flirting with me from its cozy basket in my sewing area.  Before washing it, I put it to service as a backdrop for a few new pictures of these three magnolia designs.

These are available in an ornament ($25 plus shipping) or as a brooch ($20 plus shipping). They come in a gift box with a brochure. The brooches can be worn as a necklace or as a brooch.

I will sign or personalize the piece for free. Orders over $200 get free shipping.

Magnolia Leaf Brooch:

Magnolia Blossom Brooch:

Magnolia Glory Brooch:

The Dreamy Aqua/Turquoise Quilt

Silly Typepad would not let me add to my post, so here is another one.

I forgot to add a picture of what the finished quilt would look like if I finished it like the kit indicates.

Some suggestions from my Facebook friends:
a) add borders to increase this to a king size quilt
b) add six more blocks and a border to make this a king size quilt.

I could find a coordinating aqua batik to make the additional six blocks, and another aqua batik for the border. Maybe a black batik to make a small border between the blocks and the aqua border?  Would you add any more of the tan batik?

Then I need to find 10 yards of an aqua batik for the backing, or I could make the backing in different strips of aqua.

OH HAPPY FABRIC SEARCHING AHEAD!!!!

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Dreamy Aquas and Turquoise

Yesterday was a rough day. So was today. Prayers and rest and turning to some creativity helped last night. Do you recognize the yellow fabric? Hint: It was not curtain fabric, but that is a close guess!

Sitting across the room from me last night was a box I was too distracted to notice. If I had opened it last night, I would have been completely distracted from those pesky distractions! I opened it this afternoon and was dreamily distracted from the aforementioned distractions!

Just look at all the delicious aquas and turquoise batiks in this kit. It is the BQ Turquoise Quilt Kit, using a pattern from Maple Quilts. The pattern is titled just "BQ", and I have not figured out what "BQ" stands for.

The concept for the pattern is using six blocks in multiples to create a quilt of varying sizes.  "Build the Big Quilt in sets of six blocks....", so maybe "BQ" stands for Big Quilt?

At any rate, Stitchin' Heaven put this kit together using dreamy aquas and turquoise.

I like pretty packages. Look at the pretty basket and pretty arrangement of the fabric under the shrink wrap.

Then they planned for distracted people like me...with an inventory of what is in the package!  LOL

Hey, that is a real concern for me. By the time the daily distractions distract me from happy distractions like this, I forget what was included in the kit! Even though this looks fast and easy to sew together, those distractions can be dastardly distracting, ya know?

This kit is for a queen sized quilt (Yes, I knew that when I ordered the kit).

Now I get to decide whether to hunt for beautiful fabrics to enlarge this to a king size quilt with borders. I still get to look for fabric to make the backing of this quilt. You know me...the hunt for fabric gets my juices going!

I might make another set of six blocks to add width to the quilt. What would you suggest?

Then to top it all off, there was a free fat quarter and a nice little thank you note. Purr.

So to recap: pretty packaging, escape from dastardly distractions, refreshing kits and block of the month quilts, dreamy fabrics, checklist for my overloaded memory, free fat quarter and a thank you note. I'll be back, Stitchin' Heaven!

A nice Mother's Day...except

I've had these photos edited and waiting to be blogged for several months. I don't know why I just could not get in the mood to blog them.

Mama would have been especially proud of the Legislative thing. Many thanks to our State Representative Bobby Howell of Kilmichael, MS. He has been a rare breed of state lawmaker!

The highlight of today:  waking up from a nap to see Unc with a LIVE weed-eater, walking through the den, weed-eater held high, on his way to the front to trim around the flower beds in the front.

All I could think of was the furniture in the hall.  I could see the stately old hall tree and wardrobe-turned glass curio cabinet scarred from a weed-eater's hungry twine.

It seems the grass trimmer is difficult to start, so, rather than walk around the house to the front walk, he decided to take a short-cut through the house.

I'm sorry to admit that I don't take such things in stride as well as I once did. The event erased all thoughts of what I had planned to do Sunday afternoon...like folding clothes and particular sewing tasks and which dog to wash when I took a shower this evening....

So, I've accomplished nothing today. It is almost midnight and I still have not quite relaxed enough to seek sleep. These little "episodes" just don't roll off of me like they once did.

Several folks over on Facebook suggested being thankful it was not a chainsaw! We have several chainsaw stories of similar shock value.

Another suggested being thankful it was not a lawnmower. Yep, we have lawnmower and tractor stories that still haunt my dreams.

There is a book begging to be written from this journey Gordon and I have been traveling the last five plus years! I'm not sure whether it belongs in the humor section or the horror section!!!

Somehow I have the sense that Mama is saying,
"Oh, Penny, I understand!"  Then she turns aside and tries to hide her laughter.

We women all understand, don't we?

Two Months Without Annie; First Mother's Day Without Mama

Oh, dear. The flood gates opened a little while ago.

All day I have been thinking about our rescue Westie Annie who died two months and two days ago.  I miss her so much, and at the same time, it seems like she died years ago.

Little Jenny B has brought so much life into this house.She is indeed my little girl, and she cries when I leave the room without her. Lillibeth is so loving. So is Mackie and Charlotte and the big girls. Annie was just very very special.

Then I realized this was the first Mother's Day spent without my mother, who died January 5th of this year. No red corsage for me this year. I cannot believe it has been four months since she died. It also feels like she died years ago. Why is that?

Does your family still observe that old tradition? If your mother is alive, you wear a red flower or corsage to church? If she is not alive, you wear a white flower or corsage.

I remember feeling sad for Daddy who always wore a white flower in his lapel. (My grandmother Julia Swinney Sanford died when I was six months old.)

Then it was my Grandmother Hamer who wore a white coursage. Then my mother wore a white corsage. Now me.

Time marches on.

Once Grandma grew red and white roses specifically for the families on the farm to all have white or red roses to wear to church on Mother's Day. Years ago, Mama and Unc sat down and talked about the specific rose varieties Grandma grew for that purpose. I took notes frantically while they talked and shared family stories.  Those notes are somewhere. 

I'm a little glad I cannot find those notes tonight. It would be too sad to realize how far things have changed here....from growing roses to give all the people relying on this farm for sustenance...to today when just three people live on the family farm.

And there will be no family members to follow us.

Many of you have told me these "I miss Mama" moments will hit out of the blue...for years to come, maybe for the rest of my life.

Brooches you may not have seen before

Four and 6/10 of glorious rain this weekend! Apparently it was enough to wash away the pollen that has been causing my chronic coughing this past month.

Quickly tonight I finished the few pieces we needed to ship before Mother's Day, and the weather is allowing us to fire the kiln tonight! Yeah!

Here is a quick look at a couple of brooches you may not have seen before.

The Stages of Cotton brooch shows the various stages of cotton from the beautiful bloom to the fluffy boll to the burr.

The Magnolia Blossom Brooch is a small version of the Magnolia Blossom Ornament.

As you probably know, all of our porcelain comes with a gift box and a brochure explaining the artwork and the historic farm and the story of Penny Sanford Porcelain Studio.

These brooches are $20 each. The ornaments are $25 each.

In the firing process, porcelain will shrink about 15 percent. Right now, these pieces, and a few others, are warming up to 2300 degrees Fahrenheit.

Every time I fire porcelain, I think about God's refiner's fire. He sure has been putting us through some painful and hot refining the last few years, and there is sure to be more to come.

There is not a Stages of Cotton Ornament, but I do have a very limited edition series of three ornaments depicting the stages of cotton. I'll show those to you another time.

Rain, rain

Beautiful rain.
Steady rain.
Sleeping rain.
Nourishing rain.
Happy wet Westies.

Help us identify this antique rose. One planted area here on the farm has grown over 15 feet tall. The thorns are wicked. It blooms profusely once a year and provides a haven for hundreds of birds the rest of the year.

The deer don't seem to care for it. We have naturalized it in numerous places, and we will continue to use this hardy antique rose in even more places around the farm.

What a Week!

Just prattle tonight, folks!

We finished a pesky project that has been lurking around for 14 months. It was not fun, but it is over. I'm so thankful for that!

So tonight, we celebrated with some of that delicious pizza from our local Independent grocery store. I drooled about it here. It is the first time we have savored this pizza in months!

We've been enjoying some wonderful food from the freezers as we try to eat all the home grown vegetables and such before gardening season hits full tilt. We are also trying to cut down on our grocery expenses.

I doubt I will ever get tired of yellow squash and corn on the cob. SO delicious. The beautiful corn we froze in the shuck and put it in two pillowcases late last summer. We did cut off the ends of each ear of corn.

We had never before frozen corn on the cob like this, but our friend Dot Ward recommended it, and it is the only way we will ever freeze sweet corn again! 

Regardless of the delicious food we have been eating from the freezers this year, there was no fresh pizza among the frozen treasure.

That simple pizza was such a boost to our spirits that together, the three of us have washed dogs, cleaned floors, washed and folded clothes...several very productive hours. There is a sense of peace from seeing routine household jobs completed. 

Tomorrow is a new day. A clean slate. I will choose to face it with expectation that God will sprinkle the day with blessings as large as bringing a big project to a close, or as small as a piece of pizza or a piece of home-grown corn, still fresh after months in the freezer.

Considering all the suffering in this world, we have so much for which to be thankful!

I'm on Local News in Paducah, KY!

This is good for a giggle, so just follow me with this little report...

Could not sleep, so I was catching up on my Twitter Tweets. Imagine my surprise when I read this:

Now Brenda Groelz in Utah is former editor-in-chief of Quiltmaker and current Dir. of Marketing and Education for Handi Quilter

I've been following Brenda on Twitter for...I don't know how long...at least a couple of weeks, I think.

So when she tweeted that she had been interviewed by NBC news about the American Quilters Society 25th Anniversary Quilt Show in Paducah, KY, I tweeted back my congrats and an off-hand comment about being her assistant.

Whodathunkit that little tweet would hit the local WPSD Channel 6 television station?  Well, I have not seen the local news coverage, but I believe Brenda. (See photo 1)

I'm so jealous of myself! There I am on the local television news in Paducah, and I did not even let myself go along to enjoy seeing all the beautiful quilts!

Now before I close this post, I do want to share something new: A Twibe for Quilters.

Yes, only on Twitter would you have a Twibe for Tweeters of like minds. Birds of a feather flock together, you know.

AND as a guide for future big announcements, Tweeple: Twitter is where I Tweet my Twopics. Facebook and this Blog are for elaboration and photos. Gordon tells me I must now learn to BubbleTweet.

There will be a vocabulary pop quiz shortly!

I'll see you around...somewhere... *wink*

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Just some prattle: my Thangles BOM quilt

I've missed blogging!  The days get crazy, and it is after midnight before I know it, and I've missed another day's opportunity to blog. 

So here is a disjointed round up of little bits and bobs that I never made into a complete blog post.  

Today started with some reorganization and clean up in the sewing area. I pinned the blocks of my Thangles quilt to the store-bought quilt that is serving as a curtain over that double window. 

This was to have been my patchwork practice block of the month quilt through Golden Triangle Fabric Center in Starkville for 2008. Please don't tell anyone that I am just getting started with this quilt this month.  I've not found all the blocks either, but I have made progress in locating about six months' blocks. 

Besides, by using a third fabric (the daisy on blue gingham design), I can get two blocks from each month's little fabric pack. Even if I don't find all 12 blocks, I will have enough to make a big quilt. 

I feel like I need to pick up the red from the daisy fabric to surround these blocks, along with more blue and more yellow. A white with red polka dot? A red/white gingham? (I really don't like the thin weave of traditional gingham. Is there a good alternative gingham print?)

If you have not joined Facebook, you really, really should. We are seeing a controlled explosion of quilting enthusiasts gathering on Facebook.

It is like going to the grocery store. You get to see lots of people you know, but you don't slow down for a long conversation.

Facebook does not usurp blogs or Flickr or Twitter. It rather combines some of the good features from many of the social networking sites.  

Speaking of which, let me share these links with you:

Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/pennysanford/
Twitter: http://twitter.com/pennysfikes
YouTube: PennySanfordDesigns
Website: http://pennysanford.com

This blog post has had more direction than I expected. Another prattle, another day.

Gotta run for now. Need to finish some porcelain before midnight.

Let me hear how you are doing!

Jenny B Update

I have not blogged much this week. Not by choice. Just busy. This is part of the reason:  That little Jenny B is an angel in a fur suit! She is in season, so we are following her around inside and outside like her own private militia!

As soon as she is out of this enforced quarantine, we will be taking her to Dr. Duncan for a snip snip.

More soon, I promise!

Another video from Penny's archives : WJTV 1998 with former MS First Lady Pat Fordice

Another video from Penny's archives. This is a feature from WJTV 12 in Jackson, MS. that aired on April 1998. It features Penny signing her ornaments and the late Pat Fordice, Mississippi's First Lady for eight years. Also discussed was the "Versailles Sunflower", the special commissioned sculpture of the world famous splendors of Versailles museum exhibit that originated in Jackson, MS.

Show & Tell: West Alabama Quilters Guild

First, look up to the navigation bar under the banner. See "Program Notes"?  That is the new page I compiled with notes, links, resources and a partial bibliography from my program on Historic Quilts.  I'll continue to add Program Notes for future multi-media programs or speeches that Gordon and I put on. 

I also plan to have a page listing the programs that we have prepared to give to any group that needs a program.

Here are photos from the Show & Tell portion of the West Alabama Quilters Guild meeting in Tuscaloosa, AL, Saturday, April 11, 2009. Hopefully someone will come behind and leave comments identifying the quilters and the pattern names. I'll number the photos so that you can refer to a specific photo number.

Photo 1

Photo 2

Photo 3 (OH, how I love an interesting quilt back.)

Photo 4

Photo 5

Photo 6

Photo 7

Photo 8

Photo 9

Photo 10

Vintage and Antique quilts from the Guild meeting to share with you next time.

Home from Super Day Trip!

Saturday was a wonderful day! Gordon and I zipped over to Tuscaloosa, AL, to give a program on Historic Quilts to the West Alabama Quilters Guild!

We met some truly marvelous people who also happen to be quilters. Beautiful quilt pictures to share with you. 

We took pictures along the trip home. That was a treat, even if Gordon did drive around Tuscaloosa like he was in Bad Boys II with me hanging out the passenger window trying to snag some shots with the camera (not gun)! Oodles of pictures to share with you.

Program notes, links and bibliography will be posted ASAP here on the blog.

It was exciting to see how many of the quilters are already on Facebook. Friend me on facebook here.

I finished sewing on the final quilt sleeve on the trip to Tuscaloosa, and I appliqued on the way home. My definition of utopia.

The welcome home from the fur children was a miracle balm to two tired travelers! Fur baby stories and pictures are also backlogged, waiting to be shared with you.

It was the first time we had been separated from our new fur child Jenny B...since we fetched her from Arkansas March 21, 2009. You try taking a picture of a whirling dervish! (That would be Jenny B!)

I did good to get the picture of Mackie singing ONLY because he sat for one nanosecond!

Has it already been 21 days? Jenny B settled into our pack that first day, so it seems like she has been with us forever!

Gordon and I have had very little sleep this past week. Only two hours max the last two nights. Many small deadlines this week.

After some more sleep, (I crashed when we got home), I'll start sharing photos and some fascinating quilt stories with you!

Thank you, West Alabama Quilters Guild, for giving us a fabulous day out!

More video from the Penny Sanford archives.

This is a television commercial from 1997 or 1998 featuring Penny's Natures Angels porcelain designs. Most of the ornaments shown in the commercial are still available except for the versailles sunflower. We hope you are enjoying these as there are more to come.

Unc is carving primitive kitchen utensils from Katrina felled wood!

The fireplace may have started it.

All those hours sitting in front of the fireplace in the den these three months since Mama died, poking and prodding and feeding the wood fire, has stirred Unc's carving urges.

He first started carving primitive wood toys, Whirleygigs. There is a charming Depression Era story behind them that I will share along with photos at another time.

Then he started carving wooden Butter Paddles. As a 14 year old boy in 1940, he carved a butter paddle for my grandmother. She made butter every day with that butter paddle from 1940 well into the 1960's. That paddle squished its way though thousands of pounds of butter over the years. (You can see Unc's first butter paddle in the picture above.

Unc remembers that a churn full of milk, about three gallons, would make roughly a pound of butter. One churns the milk until the butter comes to the top, roughly 30 minutes of constant motion.  Skim butter off the top, then work it with one of these Butter Paddles to work out the milk and whey. The paddle is convex (curved) on one side and flat on the other side.

I've not made butter personally, but I plan to. If I have to drag my menfolk kicking and screaming, we WILL have a milk cow, hopefully this year. Raw milk can prevent and even reverse osteoporosis, plus oodles of other good stuff according to what I am reading.

Anyway, back to Unc. From the butter paddles, he began making scoops. The Canister Scoop pictured here is mine....MINE! (One has to speak up fast and decisively around Unc's carved work. Otherwise, we would have none of his work for our own collection!)

I like these little Canister Scoops. He has made some of them with cute little curved handles and some with flat handles. Gordon or I will take some more pictures tomorrow. The Canister Scoop will hold about a teaspoon of dry ingredient, a level measure. I promise more photos tomorrow of the ones that did not sell tonight just from this picture of MY Canister Spoon!

Realize, these measurements are all approximate. Unc does not follow a pattern of any kind. He just starts carving on a piece of wood, and the wood grain and dimensions in part determine the finished shape.

THEN, Unc made this Flat Scoop. It is about 9 inches long, and will hold approximately 1/4 of a cup of dry ingredients, level measure (not heaped).

The Flat Scoop is $22.50 with shipping and insurance of $6.50 for a total of $29.00. (Shipping costs are combined for multiple purchases.)

This particular flat scoop sold within minutes after I posted the picture on Facebook. The one he is working on at the moment also sold. That is ok, because he has lots of Katrina wood to use for carving and thanks to the gracious ladies who responded so quickly from those Facebook pictures, he has lots of encouragement to keep carving. Unc will have more Flat Scoops for sale very soon!

When Hurricane Katrina passed over our farm in 2005, she was still a Category 1 Hurricane. She was so big that those powerful 75 mph winds rocked huge trees back and forth like a child playing with a loose tooth.

Before she left us, Katrina had popped many venerable oak and cherry and hickory and walnut and cedar and other trees out of the ground.  Tree by tree, Unc has cut up the trees deep in the woods here on the farm and has dragged logs up to the barn for cover and good drainage.

Some of the wood he had cut into lumber. Some of the wood he set aside to continue aging naturally and slowly. Wood that is allowed to dry out slowly, with the bark still on the log, will not crack as easily or split while one is carving or working with the wood. 

Some of the wood has developed spalding, or unique discoloration in the grain because of the aging process. The spalded wood is reserved for very special projects.

Some of the Katrina felled wood he saved has interesting burl, or design in the grain.

More photos and prattle to come, later today, on this topic. The clock has just clicked past midnight, and I was trying to get this posted yesterday! 

From the archives: WCBI feature "Southern Expressions" 1998

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=58-j0uYwUqE

Gordon dug this out of the archives today.  In 1998, Don Culpepper of WCBI in Columbus, MS. came and interviewed me here at the farm and featured my various porcelain designs for their "Southern Expressions" program. 

Some folks have already asked on Facebook and via email about where to see more of my designs. Look to the right of this column, and you will see the new Paypal widget for my porcelain designs that Gordon setup here on my blog.

In this widgit, you can see my designs that are stil available. You can order them through the widget or visit the porcelain website: www.pennysanford.com. (Gordon says one does not need a Paypal account to make a one-time payment with your credit card when purchasing through Paypal.

Hope you enjoy this almost 10 year old video feature. Where does the time go?

A Quirky Day

So, twice today I have put the TV on Law and Order: Criminal Intent, gotten into the program (same episode), and one or more of my fellas has invaded my sewing nook to ask me something, show me something, etc.  Before I knew it, Gordon had changed the channel to something else and then hid the controls.

No, he really HIDES the controls. I am convinced of that!

Tonight I thought i was home free. Gordon was deep in thought in his computer nest, and Unc was in a cloud of flying carving curls and Dremel dust in the kitchen. Yes, I said kitchen. That is where he likes to carve and leave the proof of his labor on the floor.

Seeing Unc and Gordon happily involved, I sneaked the television remote to my sewing nest tonight and found Law and Order again. The episode I missed earlier this afternoon had surprisingly started to run again. Yeah! I was going to find out "who done what"!

About the time the show reached the part of the program that I had not been able to see earlier in the day...my nest was invaded again...by the same tresspassers, accompanied by some four legged invaders.

Ahh, such is life, and I am thankful my two fellas WANT to show me things and ask questions, etc.

Life would be very empty if they were not around to get in my hair! So I am thankful for the different sound made by every foot or paw that patters in search of me.

It has been a quirky day. It still is being a quirky day, so I'm going to post this short post with these two pictures and call it a day. 

My Big Boy Mackie is crawling on top of my hand sewing, wanting to snuggle. That is the priority.