Moving from Sow to Sew

I was hostess for a Theme Garden Seed Swap this month.  1,984 packs of seeds made it my way from all over the country.  My job was to divide them according to the 5 themes that each person listed.  Very creative themes and very creative ways to link the seeds to the themes!  It was fun, but since I was trying to get them all in and back out in about 10 days, that's about all I have done lately other than the essentials.

Here was my set-up. Yes, there were so many seeds that I was sorting them into grocery bags.



Here are some of the cute themes and some examples of the kinds of seeds they included:

For Salad Bowl one sender found a variety of lettuce that was Salad Bowl Lettuce!
The Children's Garden included Fairytale Eggplant seeds.
For Little Gems there was a Marigold called 'Lemon Gem.'
Jurassic Park got Sunflower 'Mammoth', Dinosaur Kale, Chile 'Thai Dragon' and  Salvia 'Purple Volcano'
There was The Great Race with Chinese Forget Me Nots, Watermelon 'Congo', Marvel of Venice Beans, Chinese Mantanghong Radish, Chinese Lantern and many more.
It's Not Easy Being Green included Tomato 'Green Velvet', Bells of Ireland, and Giant Lime Green Zinnia

Anyway, you can see it was creative and lots of fun.  With the 23 people who participated we had 115 themes.

Now for the part about "moving from sow to sew" - there are 3 quilt projects that need to be given high priority so that's where my attention will go for the remainder of the week.

Tribute to Sugar

Today is about Sugar.  It wasn't very long ago that we had to say good-bye to our 12-year old dog, Crystal.  We suffered another loss yesterday finding my 33 year old horse Sugar dead in her stall.  Yes, she was old, but we had her for 29 years and she will be missed so much.  As those of you are who are pet lovers know, we can never have them for as long as we like.  Even though 29 years was a long time, it was not enough!
Here is a picture of Sugar from July 2011.  As you can see, she was a lovely looking old girl and stayed lively and strong to the end.

I didn't feel up to doing this yesterday, but this morning I looked to see what might be online as a tribute to a horse after its passing.  I know there are many sites for owners of dogs that pass away.  I found some lovely sites with words the have been penned in memory of horses and this is the one I chose for Sugar.

A Parting Prayer

Dear Lord, please open your gates
and call St. Francis
to come escort this beloved companion
across the Rainbow Bridge.

Assign her to a place of honor,
for she has been a faithful servant
and has always done her best to please me.

Bless the hands that send her to you,
for they are doing so in love and compassion,
freeing her from pain and suffering.

Grant me the strength not to dwell on my loss.
Help me remember the details of her life
with the love she has shown me.
And grant me the courage to honor her
by sharing those memories with others.

Let her remember me as well
and let her know that I will always love her.
And when it's my time to pass over into your paradise,
please allow her to accompany those
who will bring me home.

Thank you, Lord,
for the gift of her companionship
and for the time we've had together.

And thank you, Lord,
for granting me the strength
to give her to you now.

Amen.
- written by Kim Crenshaw

I also found a site when a candle can be lit in memory of your horse.  If anyone else visiting this site has suffered the loss of your horse, it is: http://hoofbeats-in-heaven.com/candlelighting/.

Farewell, Sugar, my long time friend.  Thank you to the veterinarians who cared for you over the years and for the special friends who came over yesterday for your burial and to offer their concern and support.