Avalon Acres Homestead: What a great day for America!

I'm not going to go all political here, but I am really proud of America and really excited for the changes to come. Even if this president can't accomplish everything he'd like to--as long as he moves the direction of the country so those who come after can carry it through---that would be terrific!

Congrats President-elect Obama!

Ok, well I had some detours in the last month that kept me away from my blog and away from my crafting. I spent most of October sick as a dog, I ended up having my gall bladder removed and I had to have some repair work done on my stomach as well. I had a gastric bypass 6 years ago. Appparently, my surgeon had taken my old stomach, wrapped a surgical wire around it and somehow used it to connect it to my abdomen. That wire had come loose and was poking and scratching and prodding me inside---can you say excrutiating pain???? I had the surgery 2 weeks ago, I'm still feeling punky from having my gall bladder out, but the pain is going away and overall I am feeling much better.

One thing I was terribly upset about missing during my illness---the changing of the leaves. I did get to see them at the beginning of the change, on my way to and from the hospital, LOL! DH started a new job, so until he gets his van from his work, he's been taking my van to work and I've been without wheels---so no going to the park or taking drives through my country. I did get some nice pics of our yard, not the bright colors I would have liked to capture, but it's definitely fall! Click on the pics for full size.

My old man, Flounder, greeting me as I come up the walk.

I did make the kids Halloween costumes, pics to come soon. I ended up with 3 kids posing as Link from the Legend of Zelda---although they were all different versions of Link, LOL!

I have not gotten past the first part of my Tobacco Road mystery quilt, I haven't been able to work on that in over a month---but I do have nearly all of my four patches done, here are some pics of the squares and the fabrics I am using for it:

I never got a chance to show you my new sewing room. It isn't done, by any stretch of the imagination, but for now it's a place where I have room to move and work---and DH made me a huge, wonderful sewing table and a bunch of shelves to accommodate my needs and I just have to show them off! He is so good!!!

Above is the sewing table me made me. He loosely based it on the plans sold by Keepsake quilting and I have to say, it is the most wonderful work area I could ever imagine having! Lately, it's been used as a dump space for books, magazines and fabrics---that's going to end REAL SOON, LOL!

Here are all the different shelves he made for all my stuff. He is planning on making me a wall of shelves or cubes for fabric storage, right now most of it is in boxes and stored under my Grace frame.

He found this magazine rack at a job site in the garbage---we are all about recycling!

He made all the shelves with leftover wood he had, or pieces of furniture that was damaged or thrown out. He also made the thread rack, pretty cool, huh?

My Grace Sturdy lite that I have yet to use. SOON!!!!

I'll have pics of the actual room soon, my camera is on the brink of death so I've been using my son's when I remember to get it.

I am starting a new project (while leaving behind another UFO, shoot me!!!)

I am getting ready to make the Yo-Yo Advent Calendar from Sunshine's Creations. I am working on picking fabrics right now, I just may have enough from my stash to not have to buy any more :-( Too bad for me, LOL! I do have tons and tons of Christmas fabrics, though. This will be a good project to start thinning them out.

Onto Homesteading news---the garden wasn't a big or productive as we would have liked, but we got a lot out of it and it fed us through the rough financial times we've gone through this summer and fall. All is picked in the main garden, I still have lettuces up by the house and herbs. They all managed to withstand the hard frost we had a couple of weeks ago, so I can continue to look forward to fresh foods for a little while yet.

I learned a lot from my small garden this summer. I learned a lot about our land as well. I can't wait to plan my next garden, and get my seed catalogs and get my boxes of seed and plants in the mail! I will be ordering chicks in the spring, I can't wait for that AND we hope to look into getting ourselves a cow. Or, at the very least, a goat.

We had our first experiences of cold weather without the use of the furnace. We turned the gas off last spring, after seeing the huge gas bills for this house. So far, we got electric oil furnaces for the bedrooms--and they do a really good job of keeping it warm upstairs. We have a wood burning stove in the dining room. It has a blower on it and does a good job of warming up the dining room, living room, bathroom and my sewing room. We did get another woodstove from someone on Freecycle, this one a regular cast iron stove. We still have to get some of the chimney pipe for it---but we managed to get most of it from another person on Freecycle, thank goodness! It would have cost us nearly $2500 to buy all the chimney pipe new! I love Freecycle! We still have to get some kind of heater for the kitchen, it is behind the stove in the dining room and even though we have the fan on the stove and ceiling fans going, the warm air doesn't seem to go into the kitchen, much. I have found if the upstairs is warm, I can turn on the fan from the old furnace and it'll distribute air around the house. It'll be interesting to see how this all works out in the cold-cold months---but we did go as low as 24 degrees and we were warm enough! The thought of not having to get those $1000+ a month gas bills is enough to keep me warm, LOL!

Ok, I've chatted enough to make up for the missed weeks and months, LOL! I miss talking to my regulars that used to come to the blog, and meeting new people as well so please, take a moment or two to say hi, leave a message for me and I'll reciprocate as well!

God Bless the USA!!!!

Here are our 4 legged babies, and half of our human ones, LOL!