It's National Pickle Day!

I'm not sure who came up with the idea for a National Pickle Day but I suspect it was someone who was looking to sell pickles. This site on AmericanFoodHolidays will tell you everything you ever wanted to know and more about holidays for food and the fun that goes along with it. And so, in the spirit of the food season, I say "Happy National Pickle Day".
To celebrate the occasion, I am going to share a couple of sketches that I did last fall. It all started when I joined Mark Lipinski's Quilters Home group which he calls his "Pickle Posse". And that's because he lives on Pickle Road. At our house, my husband loves dill pickles and I like sweet pickles. If he orders a burger, he always asks for "double extra pickles". I order mine without the pickles or give them to him. A dear friend who is gone now, shared a great bread and butter pickle recipe with me and it is my favorite. I suppose if I were thinking here, I would share the recipe. I'll look it up and get back to ya. ;-)
Anyway, so I'm a member of the Pickle Posse and I am enjoying the "chatter" that goes back and forth in the group. I "met" Donna Jo and told you about that in my post about the Pickled Pink Pincushion. So, that was last October and at the time, I was having fun unpacking boxes in my new sewing room, working on projects, starting new ones, watching old western movies, listening to a couple of Roy Rogers CD's, and then..............I got this idea for a quilting pickle and started sketching. So right here and now, if any of you have found my posts too serious, well, this one is my "comic relief". Meet "Pickle Pete"...............

And here's his story and he's stickin' to it! Hee, hee.

Howdy, Pardners,
I’m “Pickle Pete” and this is my sidekick Mat (no relation to Mr. Dillon). I am the fastest quilter west of the Mississippi. Born a purebred Gherkin, I was raised and pickled in the valley of the Jolly Green Giant. My tools are at my side – scissors are ready for cutting into the stash of fabric at my feet and my rotary cutter is ready for some strip piecing. With my ruler tucked in my measuring tape belt, I am ready to put Mat to work. And like a magician and his lovely lady who never suffers a cut when he saws her in half, my trusty sidekick, Mat, is “self-healing”! Now it’s time to whip up a quilt for my horse “Jalapeño Pickled Pepper”. My boots are “made for walking” out to the barn where I keep my sewing machine tied up. It runs like a mighty stallion when I start sewing my blocks together. And if I run out of thread, I just unfasten a new spool from my belt and “off to the races” I go. I sew so fast, I leave my neighboring quilter’s in the dust. And when the dust clears, I have a finished quilt top to show for it. I keep it green and lay my quilts out in the grass to pin the batting and backing in place. Then I lasso my neighbor “Sweet Pickle” to help with the machine quilting. She’s my little darlin’ and always comes through when I’m “in a pickle” to get a quilt finished. With one last cloud of dust at the sewing machine, I stitch the binding on the edge of my quilt. I pull the needle from my hat and whip stitch the binding in place. Jalapeño stands ready for the quilt to be tossed on his back and we ride off into the sunset. Ever the faithful sidekick, Mat waits patiently at the barn for me to return to work on my next quilt.
Riding the Trail of Stitches,
Pickle Pete


©Copyright Sandra E. Andersen
October 3, 2007 6:25 p.m.

And now, I'll bet you'd like to meet "Sweet Pickle". She's a bit shy but she tells it like it is. Here she is..................

Hello, Folks,
I’m “Sweet Pickle” and I’m glad to meet y’all. You know, that Pete is quite a talker but I’m the one that gets the quiltin’ done. Without the horsepower that drives my Corral A-1 quilting machine, Pete’s horse would just have a blanket on his back. No clouds of dust for me. I just keep a steady pace ‘til the quiltins’done. Got a bluebird sittin’ on my window sill and my friend, “Thyme” to keep me company so I am one happy pickle. Stop by and visit anytime. Show me your quilts and I’ll show you mine! Hugs and kisses to all you good folks!
Sweet Pickle

©Copyright Sandra E. Andersen
November 14, 2008 1:30 a.m.


Now, folks, I have made you smile and I have made you cry with some of my posts and you may have found some very boring, but I really hope you giggle when you read this post. And if you LOL that would be even better!!

Now on a little more serious note........While I drew the sketches for Pickle Pete and Miss Sweet Pickle on the first two weekends in October last year - and I wrote Pete's story then, too - I had to lay them aside because family life took front and center. By the third weekend in October, my mother was seriously ill and we weren't even sure she would survive. But we were blessed and my dad was relieved that "ma was all right". Both my folks loved old western movies and talked of going to Roy Rogers and other cowboy movies as kids. So, if anything inspired me to draw a pair of quilting pickles, it would be my mom and dad and watching those old flicks, listening to tunes and thinking of them. And my dad would sure think these are funny! I hope you do, too. Have a great National Pickle Day and put on a big pickle grin for the entire day!!!

One last thing, please don't copy my sketches or alter in any way for your use without permission from me the author/illustrator. If you do, the Great Pickle will haunt you. Surely if there is a Great Pumpkin, there must be a Great Pickle. One of these days, I'll sit down and color the sketches and who knows, I might have a "Pick-aso" exhibit. :-)

Sandi