Inching Closer

As we inch closer and closer to Thanksgiving and Christmas I find myself trying to be more organized.  Somehow this year has slipped away from me and I gasp each time I look at the calendar date.  I think of all that I have left to do and then I head off to my sewing studio and spend my time merrily playing around.  I am not sure it is helping the situation any, but I do feel better after stressing about all that I have to do.  SIGH!!!



Have you heard of Thearica’s Pincushion Swap?  If not, you need to check it out and sign up.  Time is running out and it sounds like it will be fun.  A little pincushion is an easy project and can be done up in a hurry.


Last year I saw a beautiful quilt design of a Christmas Cactus done by Sandi at Piecemeal Quilts.  I have always loved the flower and recall my grandmother having a gorgeous pink one in her house.  She would have it moved outside each summer and then placed inside and upstairs in a big bay window for the winter.  Well…this year there is a Quilt Along for the pattern and I just couldn’t help but join in on it.  It has just started and is certainly not too late for anyone to join.  Check it out on my sidebar.  These are my blocks so far….four of each.  I can’t wait to see it all together.








I have added another two blocks to my Thread Head Quilt Along as well.  It, too is growing quickly.  I did change that screaming yellow one out with something a little quieter.







It really looks like that is all that I have done, but it was a busy week.  Our son and DIL were in FL for the weekend and we were busy being surrogate parents,  There were soccer games, volleyball tournaments and doctor appointments that occupied most of the weekend.  Life is never dull with nine children around.


The weather has definitely changed from our warm days into a real fall feeling.  It was only 39* when we got up this morning so I think it will be a colder than normal winter for us.  I am already not liking the darker evenings, but I do love the mornings being lighter. 

What to Do...What to Do....

Oh, the dilemmaa I am in!!!  I am afraid that I know the answer to my question already, but what would you do if you had this in your house?

Halloween in our neighborhood was absolutely dead!!!  We had a total of eight trick or treaters - in three groups - come knocking on the door.  We had a couple of dozen last year and around double that the year before.  Since we get so few, we had purchased the big candy bars for those brave enough to walk up to the front door.  I got two boxes to be on the safe side and now have most of them left.  I did send one off to our grandson who is in college in FL so that helped somewhat.  Now...what to do with the rest is the problem.

We are always blessed with the kids and grandchildren on Halloween.  They all come here for a quick lentil bean soup dinner and then head off for trick or treating.  We so enjoy seeing the little ones in their costumes and our neighbors are thrilled to see the kids as well.

With November here and the holidays quickly coming, I have been trying to get a jump start to stay current on my projects.  I was able to finish the last barn block and now have it sewn together.  I really did enjoy this project and loved all of the blocks.

I have been working on the current two blocks at the Thread Head Quilt Along.  As well, I started auditioning some of the background blocks to see what it will look like.  The yellow one may need to be redone as it looks too yellow to me, but I will wait and see.

Two fall pillows were made with the win of the embroidered blocks.  Best get them finished so I can enjoy them this fall.

Although our temperatures this week have been very un-fall like, one can sense that fall has arrived.  The colors on the hills are taking an autumn hue later in the afternoons and the hours of light are greatly reduced.  Two evenings ago we had the worst commotion of noise in the yard.  Apparently a flock of cackling crows decided to descend upon us.  Oh my!!!  It was like a scene out of the movies.  They were everywhere - on rooftops, in trees, on the lawns and flying in the air.  It was a perfect fall scene.

The lack of heat has apparently sent the heat loving creatures to places they do not normally appear.  This was on my floor on the cold and drizzling Saturday. 

It almost gave me a heart attack because I seriously thought it was a snake.  I don't mind the lizards, but look at the length of this thing.  I did manage with the help of a whisk broom and dustpan to get it caught and released outside.  I am sure he/she lived to enjoy our 90* + temperatures this week.  That should be more to its liking.  The poor old cat is constantly looking for a ray of sunshine this year too.

I also won the Green Fairy Giveaway of Breakfast at Tiffany's fabrics.  I will have to do something really special with this fabric because I was fortunate enough to have actually had Breakfast at Tiffanys in New York a few years ago.  It was a fabulous experience and one I will cherish for my lifetime.

It's another glorious day with high temperatures and I'm putting the top down in the car and running my errands as I enjoy the sunshine.  Have a great week.

Trying Something New

Is everyone being challenged with the way Blogger has once again switched things up on us?  Thanks to Polly, I am going to try to do this post in a different manner.  She downloaded a free Windows Live Writer and said that doing her post was an absolute dream.  So….here goes.

I can’t believe that Halloween is this weekend.  Of course we all know that with the coming of Halloween Christmas will be here before we know it.  Are we stressing yet?  Are we thinking that we should have been getting ready all year long?  Are we longing to be those people who have everything finished by the first of October?
The projects on the sewing table have been a little different than my normal creations with the making of Halloween costumes.  One of my requests was for a banana costume.  Okay….that sounds like a fun challenge.  Here is the result….
 
I even managed to scan a sticker from a real banana, blow it up and print it off onto fabric to apply to the front.  I can’t wait to see the hole filled with a sweet face.
As well, I have been working on some blocks for the Quilt Along.  I think these blocks will work well with the great pattern that is being done in the quilt along.  It’s not too late to join if anyone is interested.

Have you seen the microwave potato bags?  I have a few people who exchange small gifts at Christmas and I thought they would be the perfect solution.  These have also been on the sewing table this week.  The embroidery was a free download and I thought it worked out well.

I was the lucky winner of Betsy’s Fall into Fall Giveaway and I received some beautiful fall machine embroidery pieces.  I am excited about working these into projects.  As well as receiving these, I have found a new site for downloading patterns from her sight.  Thank you Betsy.

Another great win was from Vickie.  I have followed Vickie for some time now and her work is always just fabulous.  Thanks so much, Vickie.

We’ve celebrated lots of birthdays in our family this month which means lots of happy faces and lots of yummy cake.


Isn’t this neat?  The lettering was done in chocolate when my mom and sister took me to lunch.
We have finally seen the sunshine after several weeks of gloom, cool temperatures, lightening, thunder, hail and rain.  It surely is pretty when the sun shines again and everything is sparkling clean.  At one point the rain was coming down so hard that our weather station was recording it as “raining cats and dogs”.  Gotta love the idea, but I was glad they didn’t land at my house.  I really don’t like the smell of wet animals!!!!

Atlanta Continued

My all time favorite book and movie has to be Gone With the Wind.  I am one of those "Windies" apparently.  What better place than Atlanta to revisit the wonderful memories of the book. 

Our walk started off when we asked the doorman at the hotel how far away the Botanical Gardens were.  He told us it was "just over a mile".  I had looked at the map and it looked further than that, but off we went.  After we had walked the first mile we stopped for lunch at the Georgian Terrace Hotel where the cast of GWTW stayed when they held the premiere of the movie.  It was delightful.  We asked there how much further the Margaret Mitchell museum house was.  ( I had figured we could stop there as it looked about halfway to the gardens.)  We were told it was "about a mile."  Hmm...interesting.

We walked the ten blocks and took a break while we toured the museum and Margaret Mitchell's apartment.  I really refrained myself from buying a mug.  How many mugs can I really use?

As we were leaving, we again asked how far it was to the gardens.  Again...."about a mile"!!!!!  I am now beginning to think that it must be the standard line in Atlanta.  So we walked, and walked, and walked.  According to the GPS on our phone we arrived at the Atlanta Botanical Gardens 4.2 miles from the hotel.  Mind you, if we had good walking shoes on it would have been no problem, but we did not.  We then WALKED for another hour through the gardens.  They were absolutely breathtaking and worth every moment.

Gorgeous hand blown glass light fixture in the entry.

I wanted to bring this guy home for my own garden.  LOVED him.

Lily pad pond.

What was interesting about this pot was......

this little guy sitting quietly on the leaf.

This was the vegetable garden. Notice the glass tomatoes hanging around the top.

What a wonderful pumpkin patch!

Beautiful glass pumpkins spilling out of a huge cornucopia.

I mean REALLY big!!!!  It was the size of my kitchen.

A wall of herb garden.

I love seeing the apple tree trellised like this.

An orchid inside the greenhouse.

Tree roots hanging down in the rain forest.

Hand blown glass in the fountain.  Isn't it pretty?

I thought this glass apple tree would look good in my yard too.

There was a Scarecrow in the Garden event going on which included over 100 scarecrows handcrafted by different businesses, individuals, schools and organizations in the Atlanta area.  Some of them were so clever, but I have included just a few of them.

On the way out there was a gift shop where they had the glass fruits and vegetables for sale.  I was thinking about how cute it would be to have a few in the garden.  When I saw the price of one pumpkin I thought better.  It was $1200!!!!  That cornucopia was suddenly much more impressive.  Since my glass gazing ball was just used as a throwing ball by one very cute grandson, I could picture what could happen to a very expensive pumpkin or apple.  No thanks.

Needless to say....we did not walk back.  We called a cab and it was worth every penny.