Byrne Memorial

Every August, the local camp of the Sons of Union Veterans gather to rededicate the grave of General Byrne, a New York General from the Civil War who died here in Texas in 1880 (killed by Apache renegades) while on a stagecoach in Quitman, Texas.

It was a small, but nice service...

Words were said, prayers were said, Taps was played and it wasn't unbearably hot (for a change).

And afterwards, we all went out for lunch...

Nice way to spend a Saturday morning!

Summer Fun

Is this what they mean by dog days of Summer?

Mid-July I moved downstairs to, once again, sew scraps together...earlier this year I bought a Hello Kitty machine to take to workshops since it's lightweight and wasn't very expensive and I thought I would test it out...

And I have plenty of scraps to test it out on!

So far, so good - it does have some idiosyncrasies, but I'm learning to recognize the signs and I've only had to open it up once to clear out thread that became wrapped around a gear.

And progress is being made:

It was with great surprise and joy when a long-forgotten alcove was discovered!

Wait....is that a floor????

Hmmmm

....how do I tell the prepared-for-dying (PFD) fabric from white/off-white regular fabric?  

Guess it will all just have to go in the TBD (to-be-dyed) stack! If dye doesn't work, I'll just move it to the TBP (to-be-painted) stack!