Tom Jones Pumpkins

Tom Jones is a wonderful potter in Fairhope, AL. We have been visiting his studio for several years. My dear Step-Mom lives near Fairhope and while visiting her , we found Tom and his pottery. Each year he makes a series of collectible pumpkins. The very plain one in the back was one of his first. Each year he chooses a different glaze. My favorite is the red glaze(back far left). I haven't gotten my pumpkin this year as I think I ordered too late. The pumpkins are highly collectible. I tried to order in early Sept. and they had already sold out. He makes several hundred each year. Maybe I'll try in July next year!!!! This years glaze was light blue and he called it Alabama Skies. I think I would have put it upstairs. I don't think the light blue would have gone with all these earth tones. If you want to see more of Tom's work go to his web site at www.tomjonespottery.net. But don't expect to buy this years pumpkin!!

Tom says he can't make a scary pumpkin. They just don't turn out well!

As the years went by, I noticed that he put in more details.

This is a later pumpkin-sort of a brown glaze.

I do like this mottled green guy. Probably a bit earlier than the detailed ones.

He has three sizes. This is a small one.

Very early in the pumpkin making time.

A happy guy with a matte brown glaze.

In the back, my favorite red.

I put the pumpkins on one of my favorite antiques. This is a blanket chest from the very late 1700's or early 1800's. I use orange lights and a black and orange garland.

This antique mirror from Kentucky is over the chest.
The only pumpkin missing from this picture is my white one. That was on an earlier blog and it sits on my desk. That's another of my favorites.
Thanks for taking a look. Only a few short days till the BIG day!!

Cross Stitch, Gourds, and Darth Vader

I was able to find two wonderful shops while traveling. I always enjoy Patches and Stitches in Huntsville. The ladies there are very helpful. I got several things ready to stitch. When I saw "Thankful Quaker" by Bent Creek, I knew I wanted to stitch it. At the present, I have no Thanksgiving pieces finished. I do enjoy stitching a Quaker design and the colors in this one are great. My camera doesn't do the best job with color. It makes things look drab. In this design the threads are very rich fall colors. Plus, I love the Thanksgiving hymn, "Come Ye Thankful People, Come."

I'll start this one next.

I got the fabric and thread to stitch this one. It's a good thing the colors are simple as the whole pattern is written in French!! I don't speak French! My Grandson saw this and said, " Grandma are you doing this one for me?" I think I'll turn to the Thanksgiving pieces and finish this one later for him. I'm not sure the color of the fabric. It was in a basket of small pieces so the lady didn't know the color. The threads I'm using are WDW Kohl and DMC white.

I picked up these two magazines. I love a few samplers in the,"Sampler and Antique Needlework Quarterly.

Last but not least, I went to a wonderful shop called Keepsakes. I had e-mailed Ellen Chester of " With My Needle" blog and she suggested this shop. Thanks Ellen, I loved the shop!!! This will be a project for next Halloween!

The Halloween lover that I am could not resist these scissors!!

In the post yesterday, I had pictures from the pumpkin farm. Here are some of the amazing pumpkins and gourds that I saw.

I love the warty ones.

I think people make bird houses from these when they are dry.

Just love the colors!

More warts!

I'm ending the post with two photos of Caleb and his friend. He plans to be Darth Vader for Halloween.

And of course, Darth Vader does not smile!!!!!!

Thanks for taking a look!

Back with two favorites-My Grandson and a Pumpkin Farm

Well, I'm finally back to a reliable computer. The one I had on the trip ate some photos so I decided not to risk any of the other pictures we had taken. It was a fun trip visiting my Grandson, Son,and Daughter-in-law, and then on to visit my sister and her family. Caleb had a four day fall vacation from kindergarten so we made the most of the time and did fun things each day. Today's post includes 2 of my favorite things as my title says! Tomorrow's post will include my cross stitch shopping but for today , it will be Caleb and the Pumpkin farm. It was a great farm with lots to do for the whole family. I will also show some of the incredible pumpkins and gourds they had for sale. I told the SBA that it was a good thing they would spoil in the mail or I would have been so tempted!! I have never seen so many varieties-well that's for another post!

Grandma- do I really have to sit on this pumpkin and have my picture taken???!!!

Jumping on this huge blown up pumpkin is so much more fun!

Or maybe the giant slide!

An old fashioned pump-interesting for a group of computer age kids.

Now for the hayride out to the fields. It was very warm and dusty but of course , we had to sit right behind the tractor.

This was the corn ride. I was afraid he might be bored with this . However, the tractor driver really got the little cars going. He was at the end and got whipped around enough to make it fun!

I loved this little pumpkin house. The kids could move around the little pumpkins.

Caleb, the SBA, and a giant hay spider!

Another pumpkin sitting photo!

He loved pretending to drive this real tractor! Gears and all!

What the SBA will do for his Grandson!

The end of a great day!!!!

Thanks for joining me , tomorrow I'll be showing some of the pumpkins and cross stitch adventures!