happy busy . . .

This is going to be another photo-heavy post; I've had lots going on!  We can only carry over 40 hours of vacation time into the new year, and I realized here it was late in October, and I had over 80 hours--I needed to burn some time!  And since we get two weeks over the Christmas holiday, I don't need it for then.  So I took Monday and Tuesday and enjoyed another five day weekend.  Bliss!

I did so much I'm going to have to split it over a couple of posts.  Don't laugh. Sunday was our Fall Festival at church, and the Merkel family joined us for the festivities . . . 

It was a fun afternoon, and thankfully, the rain cleared out (though the grey skies didn't) and we stayed dry!  And speaking of grands, I know the kids get SO much candy this week, but I wanted to do something fun for grandkids near and far, so I made these cute little spooky 'hand' treats!

Aren't those fun?  Just a little bit of trick and a little bit of treat.  And they whipped up real quick! ♥

Sunday evening, checking my facebook before bed, I saw someone had posted a photo of wool acorns that they'd made.  Don't you know that the first thing I did when I woke up on Monday, was to gather acorn caps and get the wool and the hot glue gun out?

These things are so cute and so addictive!  I'll do a tutorial post later, because they're so easy and fun!

I also made two kinds of biscotti on Monday.  

Double Chocolate Biscotti and my ol' standby favorite, Cranberry Pistachio Biscotti. Yummy! And since I was making two different kinds, I only baked half of the dough from each. That means there's prepared dough for another dozen of each in my freezer.  That makes me smile!

I thought I was finished with autumn stitcheries, and even got a winter/Christmas stitchery traced out (more on that one later, too), but realized I'm not ready to be done with Autumn.  So I traced out this sweet Crabapple Hill Studio's design . . .

I love Meg's designs; she's another of my favorites!  But I wasn't happy with the white linen.  It was too . . . bright.  So I decided (of course, after I'd traced the pattern) to tea dye it.

I pulled it out this morning, rinsed it, let it soak in white vinegar (to set the dye) and rinsed it again.  It should be dry when I get home, but from what I saw with it wet, it's a much more fitting color!

Yesterday was originally supposed to be the sunniest, warmest day of the week and Todd and I were going to fun around on the pontoon.  Unfortunately the weather didn't cooperate with its forecast, but we decided to go ahead and go out. It was still foggy at noon!

Since it was a work day, all the barge-shipping industries were busy . . . 

Tug boats coming and going! I love the barge with the coal on it.  Coal is a big industry in Alabama. We were fishing around the banks near them, so we saw lots of activity! And I caught a nice stripe!

We were in new-to-us territory, too.  I spotted this old lighthouse that was fascinating . . .

We also spotted two clipper like ships, scooting down the river.  I mean they were booking!  

Earlier in September two replicas of Columbus's ships (the Nina and the Pinta) were in Guntersville, but I don't think these were them.  They were cool to watch, though.  I wish we could have gotten closer, but as I said, they were moving pretty fast.  It would have been cool to watch them go through the lock at the dam! I went back and looked at the schedule -- it could have been them traveling from Chattanooga to their next destination in Rogersville, Alabama.  That route would make sense.  So would their speed!

As Todd fished (and I read and stitched) our way back to the marina, we spotted some wildlife doing it's own fishing on the banks:

Isn't he cute?!  We saw four or five of these bandits fishing on the banks!

The grey skies made for a glorious setting for geese flying in formation . . . 

And for a colorful setting of the sun . . . 

I love watching the sun set over the water.  It may be my favorite thing!

Who am I kidding?  I have loads of favorites!

:)

time well spent . . .

The association I work for had its 182nd Annual Meeting last Tuesday.  It's a big deal for me and a lot of prep work and a long day . . . but we get the Wednesday and Thursday following the meeting off, giving me a long, five-day weekend.

And I made good use of that time!

Wednesday, I met Joc and the girls at Tate Farms for my annual pilgrimage to the pumpkin patch.  I didn't bring home a single pumpkin (can you believe it?!), but we spent an hour or so hanging out in the corn crib!

Literally. 

We all sat (or lay, as the case may be) in the corn crib for an hour and talked and played (and napped). Needless to say, I did bring home some corn, though not intentionally.  I think we all did! LOL!

I also spent quite a bit of time cleaning, organizing and making the Nook habitable (again).  It was bad.  I have 'before' pics but I daresn't show it!  However, I'm quite happy to share a couple of 'after' pics:

I work so much better when my space has, well, space!

One of my quilty birthday gifts was Creative Grids 8" hexagon trim tool.  I wanted it specifically to make these fabric trivets . . .

So easy to make and such fun! These will make good hostess gifts over the holiday season!

I also spent a couple of minutes finishing up my little squirrel embroidery--just a simple border and in-the-ditch quilting.  Not a great pic, I know . . . 

I'll get another one (cuz it's really cute) before I gift it.

I spent some $$ on Kathy Schmitz's website and picked up a couple of patterns. I've already finished up one (that's some secret stitching), and am ready to work on this cutie . . .

Isn't that fun?  My whole reason for going there was to get this darling new pattern:

It makes me SMILE!!  And while I was there, I signed up for her monthly One Stitch at a Time monthly embroidery club!  I adore her designs.  ♥

If you're working on new stitcheries, you've also got to have new floss . . .

It's almost as satisfying as new fabric!  And costs way less! 😆😏

And finally, while I was cleaning the Nook, I came across a bag of felt and templates for the poinsettia pins.

So I decided I start working on those, too.  Because they also make a sweet (and easy) hostess gift or "tag-a-long" for gifts. 

So, there I am.  Stitching pretty much daily.  I've still got the bicycle stitchery that needs to be finished, as does the secret stitching project.  I'll share pics of that after the fact!  Have a great week ahead!

:)

heavy laden . . .

This post, that is . . . with pictures.  :)  This past weekend was our guild's biannual quilt show!  I spent the afternoon there on Saturday and have the quilty photos to prove it!

I didn't enter a quilt in this year's show, though I did place my Blue Melody in one of the exhibitions that had been set up . . .

So it was fun to have that around!

We had over 250 quilts on display this year -- the show was amazing.  We have SO many talented quilters in our guild . . . it's very humbling to sit among them! Here are a few of my faves . . . 

I *adore* this one . . .the faces of Santa and the reindeer in the progressive photo frames just CRACK me up!!

I'm a sucker for a patriotic/red, white & blue quilt! 

Yup.

This was my sweet friend's quilt!  Sarah is a Sassy Affirmation Sister (as is Gail)!  ♥ Really, as a trio we are enablers of one another -- of the best kind! *wink*

And these two quilts belong to my darling friend, Kari!  The first was a work of collaboration with Sarah's quilt, above.  And the second? Roll Tide!

This quilt was a beauty up close, but from a distance, the appeal is obvious!!

This was my favorite of the Christmas pieces ... I really felt like it deserved a ribbon.  All hand applique!  It was very beautiful!

This sweet redwork lighthouse quilt, with the reverse applique, was made by the same maker.  Her handwork is just amazing!

This beauty won the Best of Show!  This was pieced by none other than Barbara Black who blogs at My Joyful Journey.  The quilt (and Barbara) even got a nod from The Quilt Show!  That's pretty cool, huh?!?

This is my sweet friend Lois (and me)!  She's a talented long arm quilter and in fact, she's the one who quilted the show winning quilt that Barbara made!  Amazing!

This quilt was another amazing winner.  Pictured here with its creator, Linda (right), and quilter, Robin (left).  It won first place in its category (two makers, extra large, pieced), best machine quilting - track machine, and won the viewer's choice award!  The quilting in this piece really made it, in my opinion . . .

I wish I could have taken a close up of all the blocks!  It was exquisite!

Joc, Ellie and Evey joined me later in the afternoon . . .

The girls felt that since they were going to a Quilt Show, they needed to bring their quilts!  Aren't they cute?!

They also visited our selfie station.  Quick side note, I did a lot of the props for the station! 

One of the reasons they waited so late to come by was because they wanted to attend a demonstration on English Paper Piecing I did that afternoon . . .

My table all set up!  It was a fun 45 minutes; I really love doing things like that.  I've found that I really enjoy teaching adults.

The birthday weekend wrapped up with a celebration at Joc's!  

It was a lot of fun -- she's such a terrific cook and hostess!

Okay.  I'm done ... except for one thing!  I did pick a random winner for the blog hop ... first let me say what a lovely bunch of happy birthday wishes ... thank you!  The winner of the book was:

And it's on its way to her!  Congratulations!

Have a great rest of the week!

:)