Marlon Perkin’s Wildlife Kingdom

Yes, I know, odd name for a quilting post, but bear with me (really no pun intended).

I had decided I was going to post today and I even had a topic in mind, plus one for the next post – I sure hope you were sitting down for that major show of organization – (I’m certainly glad I was!!!!!), but an email I received from Paula at 8:01 this morning changed all that. Let me give you a little intro and then I will give you her email and subsequent ones. She’s working on some new fabric collections, so this email was sent to Faye (the wonderful lady she works with at Marcus Fabrics) and copied to me:

Faye,
For the last week we have had a critter in our attic and this morning it has had me awake for hours so I have been working (playing) with the strike offs. The critter sounds like it’s as big as a horse but more than likely it’s a possum. We have had one hanging out on the top of our brick fence wall for about a month which has set my dogs into a tizzy not to mention the angst it has caused my husband who I caught stalking the back yard yesterday with a BB gun he has had since he was 12 (yes he still has it). I’m sure you are hearing the theme to the Beverly Hillbillies in your head right now with that last image. Well last night JR set a large trap baited with corn in the attic and this morning it has something captured. The beast it is making a loud ruckus over my head (which apparently JR can sleep right through). On the other hand, I’m petrified.

In the rest of the email – 2 lines actually – Paula talks about the fabric. My immediate response was to laugh out loud and call Paula – I, of course, needed details. We laughed and joked and made additional comments. We decided this could be a new reality TV show, “Life with the Barnes”. And the best part, JR is still asleep and has not retrieved the beast!!! She had also heard back from Faye, who recounted her tale of having a squirrel in her kitchen. I told about my mom and the snake she hacked in half with a garden hoe. We ended our conversation and Peter and I went for a walk on the beach. I came home to these emails.

Here is the beast that had me so terrified.

Paula’s attic beast – soon to be relocated!!!

JR says he is getting a “relocation package.” Ha!

And finally, under the subject heading “Correction”: OK JR said he did not get his BB Gun at 12. He was 8. He told me no boy got a BB gun at 12….unless you were a wimp!

You can’t make this stuff up folks!!
Now, on a quilting note: I finished Second Hand Clothes and I have to say it is absolutely gorgeous. I think you are going to agree. I sent it off to be quilted and then it’s on to binding and photography. The kits are actually being cut and assembled, so this will go on the website as soon as we have the picture and we will also have kits at International Quilt Festival in Houston! Yes, that is just around the corner – October 31st (Preview Night) through November 4th.

Second Hand Clothes in blues, navies, browns, blacks – yummy!!!

We also just added our new Antique Star, in Paula’s new Tavern Greens and Tavern Blues collections, to the website. Kits are available now. They will also be available at the Colorado Quilting Council Quilt -A-Fair in Longmont , Colorado, September 21 – 22. If you are in the area, stop by. This is a wonderful show, but it’s not really a quilt show. The focus is vendors. They hang a couple of quilts from the ceiling, but the real reason for the event is to bring in a variety of vendors for shopping.