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!

:)

multifarious mug rugs . . .

This week has been a bit topsy turvy with a lot of personal stuff I won't go into (you're welcome). But I *did* manage to stitch up two more little acorn mug rugs . . .

I think I learned lessons from the first one and I was most pleased with the construction process the second go'round. These two still need to be quilted, and I'll get to that this weekend (the good Lord willing).

I got my hexie pumpkin mug rug sandwiched and started hand quilting on it . . .

I still have a ways to go, but again, there's this weekend.

Evey had a terrific birthday and enjoyed all of her presents . . .

She's so precious!! She really enjoyed her "Ella" topper. After she opened her gift and thanked me, Ellie sidled over to me and whispered, "Will you make me a special topper?" Bless her heart! Of course I will! :)

I decided that I needed something on which to display our sample mug rugs at next week's guild meeting. I got a blank canvas frame and a cheap price-reduced, flannel backed tablecloth.

Cut and stretched the tablecloth, flannel side up, over the canvas frame and stapled to the back.

It makes the perfect table top display!  I'll do another one (because I've got more mug rugs to display), but I think this will fit the bill perfectly. Yes?  And makes a great personal small quilt design board, to boot!

I got a little happy in the mail . . . but it deserves a post of its own, so I'll just give you a little sneak peek . . . 

Ooooh!  English paper pieces!!  What could it be?!  Hahaha!

The autumn season has finally made it's way to my office space . . .

Up until yesterday, I still had red, white and blue up and about. I celebrated with a pumpkin spice latte. A venti, even. Whoa!

I'm going to let Leia do my goodbyes today . . . 

I love how she drapes herself over the steps. I think she knows precisely what a step hazard she is! Leia the neck-breaker. Linking her up to sarah did it! and Feline Friday! And on that note . . .

Enjoy the week's end!

:)

fall's fluttering in . . .

It's been a fairly productive week . . . I love having a bunch of little handwork projects to work on because I can skip around and work in the evenings and at lunch time without a lot of fuss, and I get things done!

So now, along with the acorn mug rug, I've finished my little harvest stitchery mug rug.  I really love how that turned out! It used a nice, wide variety of embroidery stitches, and I even learned a new one -- the wheatear or wheat stitch. Can you tell which one that is (aside from it being the one that looks like it's the first time I've ever stitched it!)? As for the acorn, I think I'll probably make several more of those.  It's really cute and a very easy stitch-up.

My hexie pumpkin mug rug is all stitched up and ready to be sandwiched, quilted and then bound.

That will make for some good slow stitching today! The template was for a big leaf that gave me an idea for . . .

Another mug rug, of course. I've found, though all of this, that I have no shortage of browns in my stash, which is quite hilarious to me!

I also finished up this sweet little butterfly topper as a little "happy" for Evey, who turns four tomorrow. I was very pleased with this "flying by the seat of my pants" finish.

I say that because I had no plan. I just sewed and added/embellished as I went. The label is a combination of two photos that rather document her experience with "Ella the moth" this past month.

Evey picked up this huge moon moth at the Botanical Gardens (it had already expired).  

She immediately named it, carried it home, and insisted that it sleep with her. 

We celebrated this joie de vivre-filled, spicey girl's birthday as a family last night, so she's already got her commemorative piece; she was thrilled with the photo on the back! She said, matter of factly, Ella's in pieces and mama put her in the trash.  This (referring to the topper) is pretty.  LOL!

I hope to have some more small, fall finishes this week.  Linking up to the Slow Sunday Stitching post at Kathy's Quilts.  If you've come looking for the "Quilter's Meet & Greet" post, click HERE.  I will say I've had a ball hopping around to all the M&G posts and hearing (via comments) from all that are participating ... but I was shocked at how many "no reply" commenters are still out there.

Y'all enjoy this beautiful Sunday!

:)

five day weekends are da bomb . . .

That's right.  I took Thursday and Monday's a holiday, so five day weekend. Bliss!

I've gotten a lot started and finished so far, too! I told you about my idea for an acorn mug rug, right? How that? Concept to actualization! It was a little tricky, but worth the effort. I'll probably make at least one more of these ... maybe two or three!

I was bullied into encouraged to finish the patriotic topper . . .

Really pleased with how this turned out, especially since I did use the pillowcase method to finish it. That's kinda hard to do and maintain your hexie shapes at the same time! I also really like that my stars created a secondary quilted hexie which you can see nicely on the back . . .

Pretty cool! I'll definitely have this out for Veteran's Day. :)  Thank you to those who encouraged! :)

And I continue to work on my pumpkin hexie mug rug . . . 

I wasn't outside, but this was my stitching environ last evening. Watching Saturday football! ROLL TIDE! (They did win, in a rather spectacular way; 51-14. How's that for a season opener?! I'll take it!)

I also started this really sweet embroidery, which I'd also like to use in an autumn mug rug, somehow:

It's from the book, Stitches from the Harvest:  Hand Embroidery Inspired by Autumn. 

Now if that isn't a book from right up my autumn-loving alley, I don't know what is! By the way, that embroidery shot was taken overlooking the *turtle* sanctuary . . . it's a pretty idyllic spot to stitch, with the birdsong and the waterfall! I've got a vague idea of how I'm going to do to incorporate into a mug rug.  Stay tuned.

And what long weekend would be complete without time with grands?

I spent a good portion of Friday hanging with these girls; we had fun playing with the filters in Instagram. Ellie's lost both of her top, front teeth! What a grin! I never seem to get a picture of Edith ... I think it's because I'm too busy holding her to snap photos of her!  ;)

The lovely thing is, I still have today *AND* tomorrow! Yup, bliss.

Linking up with Kathy's Quilts for Slow Stitching Sunday.  Have a great Labor Day!

:)

progress . . .

Finished up the little box, first . . .

Put it to use last night as a candy dish, at the Sunday School table we manned at our MBA's annual meeting!

Finished up my little candle mat, next:

It's the perfect size for the Yankee candle I've been burning for autumn . . .

(Thank you, Cyn!!)

And I mapped out in EQ my plan for my embroidery:

I've been busy!  LOL! Linking up to Esther Aliu's WOW post!

Today I've got lunch, then a hospital visit, shopping for our Lunches of Love, then Todd and I are scheduled to make a ministry presentation this evening. Whew.

It's Wednesday, y'all -- happy "over-the-hump" day!

:)