Christmas is Coming

....the goose is getting fat.  Poor goose!

The blogs are so exciting with all of the Christmas decorating showing up.  I really enjoy seeing all of the creative ideas out there.  Does everyone else too?

I started to put a few things out yesterday.  I hung my Christmas Cactus quilt and I love it.  I think I have shown the completed top last winter, but here it is bound and hanging.   It will be such a nice addition to our future Christmas decorating.

To see more great Christmas quilts check out SewCalGal.

We celebrated our Thanksgiving on Saturday which is our tradition.   I had lots of help from the family - especially my dear hubby who cooked the turkeys, made the gravy, stuffing and potatoes.  It was delicious and I told him I might relinquish the job to him in the future!!!!

Lots of directing going on.

Some of the grandchildren came over and set tables and did prepping of veggies.  Thank goodness for a wonderful gang of help!

Grandpa overseeing the process.

Part of the gang for Thanksgiving.  The rest came later after a soccer playoff game and church.

Our son's new family member.

Not much quilting going on here unless a quilted jigsaw puzzle counts.  Can you tell I am bored?

It will be nice to get this cast off so I can use scissors, knives and rotary cutters again, but I am able to use the fingers more now that the swelling and pain has subsided.  Yeah!  The bad hair days remain!!!!

This was what we enjoyed this morning.  You know it's going to be a great day when it starts like this.

Keep up with all the great Christmas decorating as I am loving it!

A Pause

There is a wonderful 11-11-11 Linky party for mini quilts going on today.   I have always enjoyed doing mini quilts because they offer you a chance to work on a technique that you might not want to attempt in a full sized quilt.  In my dreams I have always thought about doing a red and green Pineapple quilt to display at Christmas.  Years ago I did this little mini (14") and stopped with the top.  This week I did the quilting on it and put the binding on.  It will have to do until I get that big one done.

I had great hopes of a nice post today with lots of fun stuff, but it isn't going to happen because I am celebrating autumn with the fun color of orange...as in a cast.  Boo hoo! 

 That's what happens when one steps off a curb and catches their foot between the curb and a rubber tire all the while trying not to fall and seriously break something!!!!  Do you think I will tire of orange in six weeks?  Maybe I should have gotten red for Christmas.  I apologise in advance that I will not be able to comment as I can only chicken pick at the keys.  Know, however, that I will be reading your blogs.  I must focus on what I am able to do and not what I cannot as we enter the busy season of Thanksgiving and Chritmas.

A million thanks goes out to all of our wonderful veterans today as we celebrate Veteran's Day.  They all do an amazing job of keeping us safe and free.  THANK YOU!!!!

Fall

The days are definitely shorter and darker.  From the weather channel it sounds like it has been an early winter for many across the states.  This morning I was out wandering in the gardens and noticed several plants that are very un-fallish.  I have a couple of iris that are typically spring bloomers showing their pretty colors this autumn.

I am looking forward to next year's bloom as I have added a few more to the plantings.  Alice was digging up some of her plants and asked me if I would like some.  I look forward to seeing them come to life and bring fond thoughts as I remember her each year.

As well the roses are putting out what will probably be their last flush of blooms before I prune them next month. 

The bougainvillea is also gorgeous along the fence right now.  These are definitely great drought plants as the less water they get, the more they bloom.

Halloween was exceptionally quiet this year.  I doubt that we even had ten trick or treaters and half of those were a bit old to be out.  There is just something about handing out candy to kids with beard stubbles that does not make my day!!!  We always have our children and grandchildren over for soup and chili dogs before they head off to a few of the neighbors who know them.  It's tough to get a picture of all of them as everyone is too excited about getting out or eating their stash. 

I received my ALQS6 swap mini quilt in the mail this week.  It came from Misha (no blog) in Washington state.  I absolutely love it.  The colors are fantastic and her work is just spectacular.  The irregular shape is so wonderful.  I wish she had a blog so we could all follow her.

Also in the mail I received a package from Jill of some great novelty prints and some selvages.  Slowly, but surely I am getting enough selvages for a good selvage project.  There are so many wonderful things to be done with them and I am excited about giving them a go.

I had picked up a kit at the last guild meeting and finished it up this week so I can return it this week.  It is all flannel and so soft.  Some little one will love it.

As well I had a Christmas panel from Timeless Treasures that I made into a lap quilt for the Christmas season.  I will donate this one to the grandchildren's school for their auction later this month.

The week has flown by again and it is hard to imagine that we are already into November.  Thanksgiving is just around the corner and Christmas is right behind.  Do we all have a million projects left to finish before then??????

A Few Projects

As October exits here I find myself in awe at the speed this year has gone.  They do seem to be going faster and faster.  We would normally be turning the clocks back this weekend and I must say that I am quite happy that we are not.  It always feels like we are plunged immediately into winter. 

Our weather at this time of the year is often quite warm with the blowing of the Santa Ana winds.  Of course this also means fire season for us.  With the little rain that we received a few weeks back I have noticed a carpet of green grasses sprouting on the hillsides.  Hopefully, that will help keep the fire hazard down. 

I recall one Halloween when we had a terrible fire - from the hills to the ocean.  We were living in our previous home which happened to be the first house coming out of the hills.  There was nothing but hills in front of us.  The winds were blowing something dreadful.  I looked out the front window and saw a tiny "puff" of smoke at the top of the third ridge of mountains.  My husband was away camping with the boys and due back momentarily.  Our home had a wood shake roof - very bad in a high fire risk area.  I climbed up on the roof with a water hose and started to water it down.  Neighbors laughed because the fire seemed so far away.  In actuality it was perhaps 35 miles away.  That little "puff" grew into a raging fire swept at an incredible speed and we were given the mandatory evacuation order within two hours.  The television networks were filming in our front yard. 

My husband had arrived home by that time and he took over manning the hose while the children and I packed the car.  I had told them to just pack things we could not replace while I grabbed the photos and a few other special things.  We left for my in laws who lived about ten minutes away from us.  It was most interesting to see what was in the car that the children found irreplaceable - the American flag, the Bible, a snake, tortoise and the bowl of Halloween candy!!!!!!  We still chuckle about that.  Our home was spared, but many others lost theirs.  The fire burned through Malibu and finally stopped at the ocean. 

Halloween happened on November 1st that year amidst the ashes and putrid smell.  Of course that was when we had lots of trick or treaters.  These days we may see a dozen or so at the door.

In my attempt to catch up on some sewing that was on the back burner for the past month, I have made some good headway.  I finished the Christmas stocking and will need a couple more next Christmas with two new grandbabies due in 2012.

I worked on my Civil War blocks.  I think she saved the most challenging ones for when I was away.  I am still playing with the Confederate Rose.  I have made it twice already and it still is not the correct size.  I enlarged it as she said, but grrr....it is not coming out right.  I think I will just sketch it out and use my own templates.

My September Birdie Stitches block is done and the October one will be finished shortly.

Don't ask me what this mask is suppose to be as I have no clue.  My grandson asked for it and I obliged.  I had never heard of the guy before so I can't remember the name.   But......it's done!!!!

Lastly, I made another mug rug for a friend's birthday.

That was my week.  How about yours?

Randomness

Random thoughts and movements - that's all that is happening around here.  I feel like it is a constant game of catch up after a delightful month away from real life.  I am not complaining about it, but it is amazing how long it takes to get back to being "in the groove" of life.  Of course it would help if I didn't have to spend hours on the phone with customer support figuring out printer problems and figuring out why I have had nothing other than a blue screen on the television since we got home.  All is settled now and we are now able to watch more than DVDs!!!  Great news! 

Speaking of DVDs....is everyone out there enjoying Down*ton Abbey?  We are loving it.  Surprisingly, we only heard about it when we visited Ireland.  We have since caught up on Season One.  It is similar to Up*stairs, Downstairs, but a bit more modern.

I am hopelessly behind in my Civil War blocks.  I think I need to make five to catch up.  I am finishing my September Birdie Stitches block and it is almost time for November's to come out.  Sigh!!  But......I have been doing some sewing since returning.  Halloween is approaching and I have finished a couple of costume for the little ones.  This family consists of a flower and a watering can.  The parents will someday have to take the wrath for coming up with this idea.

A couple of mug rugs also made their way into my sewing machine.  I loved the witches undies fabric.

My quiet time stitching has been a cross stitch Christmas stocking.  I started it on our trip and have the backstitching left to do.  I love to see the features come alive with the backstitching. 



 While our British guests were here we did spend a lot of time in the studio.  The guys were golfing so the gals kept busy piecing and quilting.  We managed to complete four quilts (except for hand sewing the binding down), but somehow I only managed to photograph three of them.  We put them all in a Space*Saver bag, sucked all the air out and she managed to carry them on board with her. 

We took four little ones to the pumpkin patch this week.  It is an amazing place on a farm near us.  The children had as much fun as we did.



A pumpkin house!!!


We then picked up lunch and went to the park to eat, play and feed the ducks.  I hope they slept well for their parents afterwards.

This week while watering my pots I noticed two seed pods on my plumeria.  I have raised these for years and have never had even one seed pod.  Needless to say I was thrilled to see it.  This is a plant that was my father's so it is even more special to see it.

They look like little helicopter blades.

I wanted to share a couple of fun pictures from San Diego.  We were on the 25th floor and each morning the fog would roll in.  We loved looking down on it.

The morning we left - looking the opposite direction with the moon shining on the bay.

The last random photo is one I snapped after church last Sunday.  The children were fascinated by this dead snake that was in the parking lot.