ready, set, launch . . .

Backposted (because how ever many years from now I'd regret not having posted these pictures along with their stories)!

I think I mentioned that over the Christmas break, Todd and I pulled the pontoon boat from the marina and took it in for its annual check-up.  We got it back last weekend and the weather was SO nice, we went ahead and launched it back into the water.  And hey, let's just spend the day!

It really was a lovely day.  I mean, it wasn't a bathing suit/swimming kind of day (we weren't wearing heavy coats either—see above!), but the sun was out, the temps were relatively mild, and there was no wind!  

There were tons of birds on the water.  And the pelicans were out!  We have a group that over-winter on the lake.  So fun! 

It was fun to see them all over the place.  It's especially fun to watch them fly!

Todd was happy fishing and I was happy reading. We were prepared for a long day ... he had coffee and I had my afternoon tea!  

Complete with the March/April issue of TeaTime Magazine.  One of my favorites!  For all that the temps were mild, the sun still set at winter time . . . so we soon had to make the trek back in.  

A terrific day.  You know what they say ... any day on the lake is a good day!

:)

lake day . . .

After that burst of creativity . . . I had a really non-productive week.  And when we hit the lake on Friday, I didn't even take a stitching project with me. 

I feel the need for speeeeeed!!! (Name that movie!)

I took my (boat) kindle . . .

And my new TeaTime Magazine (and a thermos of tea . . . with a teacup, of course)!

The forecast for the day had been iffy, with a chance of afternoon thunderstorms, but we made it to sunset without a drop.

I'm always tickled when I can capture a good shot of a blue heron!

Of course, this was on our heels as we bee-lined to the marina . . .

We made it JUST in time! Y'all, we sat on the boat (in our slip, under the cover of the marina) for about 15 minutes, and then it let up just enough for us to make it to the truck. Whew!  Totally worth it!

:)

happy wednesday . . .

I'm going to start with the big news, right off the bat . . .

One.  Hundred.  Days.  

Can you believe it?!?  How much stitching do you have to do in order to be ready for it? That's the million dollar question, isn't it?  LOL!

Late Sunday afternoon I finally sat down to stitch, but got distracted by a new TeaTime Holidays magazine . . .

Yeah, more Christmas! Though the first tea party they share is a Thanksgiving one! It justified having the pumpkin blondie with my mug of pumpkin spice tea.

I combated Monday work blues by 'fallifying" my office space:

Tea service was swapped out first thing!  I love this miss-matched setting! ♥

I made the leaves with laminated paper and die cuts. Both at work and at home, I'm using more and more hand-crafted seasonal decorations. It makes me smile!

I did get around to finishing my cute little squirrels stitchery . . .

Very pleased with how it turned out!  I'm enjoying the simple hoop finish, too.  I'll back it with felt and maybe embellish the edges with cording.  Happy things.

Now ... what to stitch up next?!  Maybe a pumpkin??!

I'm headed out of town (one state over—Georgia) for a church planting staff wives retreat with several of the staff wives from our current church.  Should be a fun couple of days; these kinds of trips always make for the best of stories!  I'm driving, so I'm really hoping the rain from Hurricane Sally doesn't impede us too much.  Then it's home to a camp full of Boy Scouts!  Yay!   Y'all have a good remainder of the week!

:)

books galore . . .

Whenever there's a new month (rabbit, rabbit), a Bibliophile Files post is sure to turn up! Seeing as how the linky party over at sarah did it! is on the first Tuesday of every month, that is!

A New Year generally equals a new reading challenge, but I decided I didn't want to necessarily go there in 2016.  I'm going to go with the book flow and be all loosey-goosey!

That being said (there's always a caveat, isn't there?!), our church is reading through the Bible together in 2016, with a suggested reading plan, and I am taking *that* challenge! In addition to that, this month I've got the following reads on my 'book plate' . . .

Count It All Joy by Dr. David Jeremiah.  Rather appropriate, don't you think? I've been an admirer of Dr. Jeremiah's works for many years. Though this book is based on the book of Philippians, rather than the specific passage from James that admonishes us to, "count it all joy", I'm still positive that it will prove a worthy and challenging book. This read is for a review, so I'll be sharing my thoughts on it later this month. The title releases on February 1.

I shared that Todd had given me Victoria The Essential Tea Companion: Favorite Recipes for Tea Parties and Celebrations by Kim Waller for Christmas. I'll continue to page through it this month as we prepare for a BIG tea party event next month!

In keeping with the *tea* theme, I've got a new kindle read: Relaxing Over Afternoon Tea (Abbey Cooks Entertain) (Volume 3) by Pamela J. Foster of Downton Abbey Cooks (blog) fame! The book is filled with lovely tidbits and recipes and tea necessities! A great book for musing over a cup of tea!! Downton Abbey fans will love this book (and her blog, too).

And finally, for this month, I will faithfully pour over my January/February TeaTime Magazine. This is my all-time favorite magazine! This month features a story about Downton Abbey, a Valentine's tea party, the history of Bigelow tea (which was an interesting read) and many other fascinating items (as well as loads of beautiful tea ware and china pictures). Another afternoon read to pair with a cup of hot tea!

So, that's enough it for me!  What are you reading this month?  Any reading challenges for the New Year? Be sure to stop by Sarah's blog to see what she and everyone else are reading!!

:)

pumpkin month . . .

Y'all.  It's OCTOBER!  You know what that means for me, right? 

All.

Things.

Pumpkin!!

And even though October, for some crazy reason, thinks it's March (coming in like a lion, all blustery and wet), I've got my comfy slippers on and am perched with some favorite things . . . 

A TeaTime Magazine (LOL -- the Christmas special publication), a pot of pumpkin spice tea, and a fire in the fireplace!  And I'm all full of Roll Tide Roll happiness, too.  What more could a girl ask for?!

A pumpkin craft, that's what!

I thought it would be fun to share a pumpkin craft that I'm working on each weekend.  Last week I shared a pumpkin coloring page so you could get your adult coloring on.  This week I thought I'd share darling twine pumpkins created from a tutorial my sister found by Simply Sarah, from several years ago.

Aren't they precious?! You may note that one of mine is not made of twine. That is because I had a hard time finding colored twine that I felt was pumpkin-suitable.  I found this roll wandering the aisles at Michael's:

But I like variety (spice of life and all), so I went and wandered in the yarns to see if I could find anything.  I had a skein picked out when I stumbled across this pretty little autumnal-looking skein:

And so I ventured to give it a go.  It was definitely not as stiff as the twine, but I think it worked out fairly nicely.  In retrospect, I could have been heavier handed with the glue on the yarn one.  And been a bit more patient with the drying process, for both of them! When she says in the tutorial that you need to let the twine (or yarn, ahem, as the case may be) DRY COMPLETELY.  Ah well, hindsight it 20/20, right?

Also, being the instruction rebel that I am, I used clear glue instead of white glue.

And I used floral wire to curl (around the end of a meat thermometer) to give me the curly cue vines.

Overall I'm pleased with them and they now occupy a place of honor in my "Ode to Pumpkin" vignette.

And here's a sneak peek at next week's Pumpkin Project . . .

Which will double as this week's Slow Sunday Stitching!

And for my stash report, nothing in and nothing out.

The story of my life this year. I went back and looked at my numbers for this same time last year and found I had a net of -16.25 (36.5 out and 56.75 in).  So I feel like I've been good about NOT buying fabric just for fabric's sake.  (I'm patting myself on the back, here!) Still wish I could push up my usage numbers -- and actually MAKE something quilty!  Ah well, there's always next week, right?

I'm linking up this post with Patchwork Times and Kathy's Quilts. Y'all have a happy Saturday evening and a happier, blessing-filled Sunday!  

:)

end-of-the-month catching up . . .

My 'posts per month' average is leaving a little to be desired. Ugh.  There's really so much I want to say and share and show . . . but once again, the whole hours in a day thing is a driving force of opposition!

Thought I'd pop in a share a couple of fun things I've been working on (or worked on, as the case may actually be) . . .

Another baby bonnet, this one for Miss Everley Jade. Look at that sweet, winsome face.  She's such a baby doll!

It served her well in South Dakota -- our Mt. Rushmore day was bright and sunny, but baby girl had her bonnet on.

I was lucky to get in on a 'hexie birthday club' and have spent the last couple of weeks powering through those, so they're all finished . . . 

It was fun to put together the different requests for all the gals.  There was such a wide variety of fabrics!

It'll be fun to see what comes to me in October -- I asked for scrappy blue/purple/teal.  Another couple of months and I'll have them!  Then it will be a matter of what to DO with them!

Sawyer has started kindergarten . . .

I can hardly believe how grown-up he's become . . . it's so bittersweet!

This shot of the three Panter kids helped.  LOL!  They're such a fun crew and I love spending time with them! In fact, I did just that last night (which is when the above was taken).  They've added to their family since the last time I posted . . .

This is Sebastian!  Isn't he darling?  He's a rescue and a real snuggle-love -- but he's also very much a kitten and loves to play! I admit I got him a little riled up last night, playing with string.  Uh, hence the scratch across my chin.  *grin*  He reminds me very much of my dear Gwenevere.  :)

Ellie Pearl also had a big first day . . . 

Of pre-school!!  She's loving it!

And now thoughts are turning to fall and tea . . .

Well, *my* thoughts are turning there.  There and Christmas . . .

Thanks to one of my sisters, I am so enjoying this Holiday Grand Plan site! So much so, I put together my own Christmas planning notebook--all the printables (including some really cute cover options) are on the website!  It kicks off next week . . . a very well-thought out and organized plan to tackling the upcoming holidays (fall, Thanksgiving, Christmas). I felt like with my work schedule, I couldn't do all the things I wanted to do, and finish the things I wanted to make sure I finished, without a little strategic guidance!

So . . . that's where I am.  I can hardly believe August ends next week.  2015 is just cruising merrily along!

**Edited to add that I've linked up with the Feline Friday post over at Sarah Did It!**

:)

tea for two . . .

I had been looking at the books that Tea Time Magazine reviews and recommends, and this little gem on their site grabbed my attention . . .

Click on the image to see the book on Tea Time.

What a joy to find it, shipping Prime (which means for *free*), on Amazon for a ridiculously low amount! When I first got it, I was a little disappointed to open it and realize it had been marked in.

Then I realized it was the signature of the author (and not personalized), and it was a happy little bonus!! Ha!

There are a number of recipes in this particular cookbook that I find appealing, but two caught my eye right off the bat . . . I knew they'd be perfect tea party fodder for Ellie and me (and since we had a 'date' coming up, it was timely)!

These pretty little Meltaway cookies were divine . . . and so easy!  And then the pound cake in baked in the tea cake molds was fun, too.  Both recipes halved nicely, which was kind of important to me.

What I realized that day was that baking was fun again -- the new RV has lots more counter space, which is so critical when it comes to baking!  LOL!

I may have gotten a little carried away that day.  But the chocolate cupcakes were for Todd.  (wink, wink) They came out of my Cupcakes for Two e-cookbook.

Needless to say, we had a marvelous tea party and Ellie was, of course, a delightful guest . . .

Happy days, indeed!

:)