A collection of odds and ends........

You may wonder what this picture has to do with quilting........
Actually, it has nothing to do with quilting but the items in the picture have a story, just like my quilts and stitcheries so that's why I'm sharing it. We all have things we love no matter our age or stage in life. The toy garage you see in the photo was a Christmas gift that Santa brought to our son, Devlin, a long time ago, probably some time in the early 80's. It got a lot of play time as he collected lots of Hot Wheels and Matchbox cars. Time came when the garage and the cars got packed away in a box. I didn't want to sell it or give it away for I knew one day a grandchild might enjoy playing with it. Sure enough, grandson Jacob loved the garage, in part because it had a "sound panel" and with just a press of the button (battery operated) you could hear the sound of a horn, or an engine trying to start, etc. Whenever he arrived for a visit, the first thing he would do is go to the bedroom where the toys were kept and he'd get out the garage and the cars and begin to line them up, position them just so and have a great time just playing "cars and trucks". He came for a visit this past Sunday because it was Sauerkraut Days here in Henderson. But I had to chuckle because after we returned from watching the parade, he came in the house, went right upstairs and got out the garage and the cars and trucks. :-) He played for a bit and then he was ready to play games on the computer. It struck me how comforting we find certain things......a quilt, a doll, a favorite knick knack, something, anything special. It usually has some connection to a good memory of a time, a place or a person. There will come a day when the garage will no longer be taken from the closet and when that time comes, I'll pack it in a box, along with the cars and trucks. I'll label it so one day it will go to Jacob and he can give it to his children (I like to think there will be great grandchildren one day). And hopefully, he'll share stories of visits to Grandma's house and playing with cars and trucks and doing crafts and other fun stuff. I just had to share these thoughts. There's so much depressing stuff in the news that I had to offer something more comforting. :-)
Now, I mentioned that it was Saurerkraut Days in Henderson this past weekend and it was to be an event-filled weekend. However, Mother Nature had other plans. We got some pretty severe storms on Friday night that cancelled the Classic Car Cruise. Saturday dawned cloudy, hot and humid. You could just feel the weather was going to get "rocky" and sure enough around 5:00 p.m. storms and tornado warnings started to pop up in our area. Saturday night's events were canceled due to the storms. At around 8:00, the sirens went off and I took the dog, some sewing and went to the basement to wait out the wind and rain. Eventually, even my husband decided he should head downstairs. As always, with severe storms, some areas got more hail, wind and rain than others. There were lots of branches down and some very tipsy trees...I think because the wind blew so hard and with the ground saturated, the trees just leaned over. Both our kids had water in basements to contend with at their business places and our daughter's car suffered some hail damage. Everyone was okay, though, so plans were still on to attend the big parade at noon on Main Street. We found our favorite spot for watching the parade and hoped that there would not be rain. Looking to the east, you could see that big thunder clouds were billowing and the storms were heading east. This was just before the parade began at noon..........
I love to take pictures of clouds. :-) There was lots of sun and we were ready for the parade to begin. We were not dissappointed as it was a great parade even though a few rain drops fell on the crowd. And what a crowd! I'm going to share my parade photos with you all but I'm not going to do it today. Instead, I'm going to post them on July 4th. When I was a kid growing up in Iowa, we always went to the town of Gowrie for it's big "4th of July Parade". I miss not seeing a parade on the 4th. So, I will be blogging about the Sauerkraut Days parade and it will be almost like having a parade on the 4th. :-) You just won't be able to hear the music or see the live action of all the queens and princesses as they wave to the crowds! Oh, and you won't be able to gather candy that is tossed to the crowds. LOL! So, if you live nearby and didn't make it to the parade, you can see it here on Sunday. And if you don't have a parade where you live, then you can stop by and "watch" the parade, too. :-)

As my title noted.......this is an "odds and ends" post. That's because I didn't know what else to call it. LOL! I have lots of "odds and ends" that I need to finish up, but here I am at the computer. I find I am at the computer a lot (maybe even too much). Anyway, I might not have much computer time for the next couple of weeks as I'm going to be kind of busy with some family reunions, etc. Don't be surprised if I don't post regularly. Speaking of posts, be sure you go over to visit Nanette's blog as she is the hostess for Sarah's Placemat Party today. I'm guessing it will be something really cute as she finds the best fabrics for her quilting projects! I took the placemat that I made to my daughter and she's going to give it to Jacob. He was at the park with a playgroup so I missed seeing him. She liked the placemat so much she asked if there could be two more...one for her and one for Daryl. So, guess what I am going to do today? I'm going to make two more placemats! And then I'm going to make a table runner for me and I'll be sharing about that on Friday. :-) Time to get off the computer and get to those "odds and ends". Oh, and the July Angel will be posted tomorrow. See you then!
Sandi