Certifiably Crazy!

Well, my vacation has come to an end, I'm sad to say, and it's back to work in the morning. I DO enjoy my job, but I enjoy being home and "playing" more! But I have another vacation coming up before too long--Thanksgiving week--so I'll just tough it out between now and then. And that reminds me: I hope all my friends in Canada had a happy Thanksgiving! I know you celebrate your holiday on the same day we celebrate Columbus Day.

And it having been Columbus Day today (Monday), guess what? Goodwill had another 50% off sale! Woo-hoo! I didn't really MEAN to go thrifting today for the sale, but I had my Christmas List class at the quilt shop and since I had to go out anyway, I thought about stopping at a Goodwill store on the way. THEN I remembered the sale, so Hubby and I hopped into his van and went to visit a couple stores.

I'll share a couple photos with you of my "finds." This one probably got me most excited--

This HUGE pot has a lift out rack for canning jars. I used to borrow a friend's canning pot, but she moved away some years back, so I've just made do with what I had on hand. Since I have a freaking BUSHEL of apples to do something with--a large part of which will probably involve canning applesauce--I couldn't have found this at a better time! The $5 price wasn't bad either! It still has part of the label on the side--I'm not sure it's ever even been used!

I found this crocheted lace something or other. I'm not sure what it was originally--maybe a tablecloth--but it appears to have been cut on one side. Still, I think it will make a nice lacy table covering or even a bed covering or throw.

And although I'm not really looking for any more Halloween stuff, I couldn't resist adding these somewhat fierce-looking owls to my collection.

Finally, I bought another candle stand. I lied when I just said I wasn't looking for any Halloween stuff, because I guess this qualifies. I WAS looking for something to hold some pumpkins, and this seemed perfect. These are on our patio table, which is visible from the sliding glass door leading into the kitchen/dining area.

Also decorating our patio pumpkin-wise are these two: A pot man Hubby made--

and a large pumpkin atop a small chair I found at the thrift store some time ago.

And, yes, I'm still obsessed by chickens! First thing when I got up this morning, I stumbled into the kitchen and microwaved a cup of coffee and then headed into the Sweat Shop where I picked out five more fat quarters. I traced another chicken template onto freezer paper and cut five more chicken blocks. The only problem was that once I got them all cut, I realized I had cut the wrong pattern. What I had were chickens with hearts in the centers. ARGH! See, I'm really not at my best in the morning!

So, I pieced one block and decided it would bug me forever if I added "heart chickens" in with my "star chickens," so I started over again but with the RIGHT pattern this time. By the end of the day, I had five more chickens in my "coop"--

(. . . and a Ziploc bag with heart chicken parts--maybe another small quilt one of these days!) I really only needed four blocks, but there was one block I made the first day that I don't think has enough contrast, so I made an extra block today to replace that one.

Some of you asked about the pattern. It's called Barn Chicks and it's in the Buggy Barn book Certifiably Crazy. Their pattern uses country tones of red, blue, brown, and yellow, but I wanted to get a little crazy with mine so I used the black, white, red, and yellow. A couple of you also asked whether the stars are appliqued on. No, they're all part of the piecing. Pretty cool, huh?!

Time for me to go to bed--after all, I have to set my alarm to get up for work in the morning. Oh, and if you didn't stop in yesterday, check out that post and leave me a comment there if you want to be entered into my little giveaway. Thanks for visiting!