achy breaky head . . .

So.  This was the first morning in sixteen days (sixteen looooong days) that I've woken up without a nagging headache. Bliss! I was so relieved that I didn't even mind going in to work!  LOL! Happy September!!

It's been a long time since I've had a headache that persistent. No one (by that I mean no doctor), has every been able to figure out why I get them, and short of prescribing something that knocks me flat out, no one (see above note) has ever been able to treat them successfully. So yeah, I was really happy this morning!

They aren't migraines (I get those every once in a while), so while it's unpleasant, I can generally power through a day.  Which I did and got some stuff done . . . 

Yeah ... I made about a million sixty cream cheese mints for a "walk by" baby shower I co-hosted this past weekend.

Joc & the girls are coming by today to enjoy the leftovers!

Ann, of On Sutton Place fame, posted a recipe for an Apple Bundt Cake that sounded SO yummy, I had to give it whirl. I used my fun Nordic Ware mini bundt pan (that's actually a four-in-one). 

When you're just two, making a whole cake is problematic.  Because we either end up eating it all (which neither of us really needs) or it spoils.  And I *could* cut a regular sized cake up and send it along, but this way is so much prettier!

Don't you think?!  Joc will take one of these home, along with the mints!  The glaze for these was particularly good.  The end result was like a sophisticated and easier-to-eat version of a caramel apple.  You won't regret giving it a try!

I've done a little work on my embroidery project . . .

It's not coming along too fast, but it was hard to work those stitches with an achy head.

Ellie, on the other hand, has made terrific progress with her latest stitchery project:

Her stitches are so good!  All she has left is the dark brown outline.  Unless she does a little freehand, which she told me she wanted to do; add a few ladybugs up near the branch.  That's my girl!

I pulled the "T" blocks out of their case to line them up on a design wall for placement.  When I opened the case, my eye caught those lantern blocks (which finish out to an odd 7.25").  They were just. sitting. there.  I had an epiphany to use them for a border to the "T" blocks.  That way I could put a solid border of whatever size needed in-between, that would solve the problem of mis-matched block sizes . . .

I'm thinking of "Tea in the Oriental Gardens" or "Oriental Tea Party" or some name along those lines. But I decided I really liked the funkiness of it! Any thoughts?

The girls had their first day of CC (Classical Conversations) last week . . . 

Aren't they darling?! Edie was SO excited to be going to school! 

Earlier in the 'growing season', we weren't sure if we'd accidentally planted a watermelon or a pumpkin in the middle of our squash and cucumbers.

Now we know for sure! Hip hip HURRAH!  My very own home-grown pumpkin!

And speaking of pumpkins, I got in on the Halloween Hoppin Blog Hop, hosted by Marian of Seams to be Sew.

The main criteria is as follows . . . she'd love to see a project with “Purple” in it, but seriously I’ll be happy also if it doesn’t …What’s Halloween tho without a bit of purple? You are free to make something new, or show a past project you’ve created. Tell us a story, or tell us why you love Halloween. What’s your favorite monster?

Purple?  I can do that. [insert wicked grin here] 

Seriously though, there's a lot of wiggle room (I mean, you can share a past project -- it can't get much easier than that), and she's taking signups through September 11!!

My week is nearly halfway finished. I do enjoy that aspect of working four tens!

:)

fishing and . . . baking?

It's been a good but hectic week . . . we're gearing up for our 179th Annual Meeting at work (it's two weeks out), and one of my primary responsibilities, as clerk for the Association, is to gather, format, and produce the roughly 70 page "Book of Reports" that is given to every attendee (about 250). I've spent the last week printing what I could, emailing/calling those that needed to get me reports that hadn't done so already, and working on the 2017 (??!) calendar for inclusion. Whew!

My evenings were just as busy this past week, so when Friday came, Todd and I were both ready for a slow morning and then to hit the lake! It's hard to see from the photo, but there is definitely a subtle change in the coloring since last week.

We went to the dam, like we did last Friday. I even got my fishing license renewed, because Todd had done so well. We were not disappointed!  Here's the big ol' 'cat' Todd caught . . . 

His 'whiskers" (the fish's, not Todd's) were so big, I thought about linking up to Feline Friday! We'd planned to be in before dark, but the fishing was soooo good!

That's dinner for *several* nights, and about a dozen of those were my contribution! So we stayed out a little longer than we intended. But the plus side to that is the sunset behind the dam . . .

God's handiwork is so incredible to me!

Saturday  the camp hosted a big family reunion, so we stayed close.  I'd seen a cake (Cinnamon-Sugar Doughnut Bundt Cake) in the fall issue of "Bake from Scratch" magazine that looked yummy, so I decided to give it a go.

Y'all, there are six cups of apple cider in this cake.  But it's boiled for over an hour and reduced to 1-1/2 cups of apple cider syrup. You definitely taste the "apple" in every bite! 

The only problem with cake baking, when you're cooking for two, is that there's a LOT of cake for just two people. Splitting the cake with my mom last week was ideal, but cutting a cake in half leaves you with ... I dunno ... a less pretty finished product, I guess. So I was scouting around on Amazon and look what I found . . . 

Perfect, right??!  Each pan holds 2.5 cups of batter, or generally speaking, one-fourth of a normal sized bundt cake pan. One for my folks, one for Joc's family, one for us and one to gift or freeze! It's now on my birthday wish list. Ha!

My stash report remains unchanged from last week . . .

A sorrowful state of affairs, I admit.

My little wool Santa ornament is also mostly unchanged, though I have managed to get most of him cut out . . .

He's going to end up being a lot of work, but I think he'll be very darling, too. He may have to be for someone VERY special!! LOL! *If* I have time to slow stitch today, this is what I'll focus on. It's supposed to be another very warm day, with highs again in the 90's -- probably the last for a while -- so we'll take advantage and after church, take Ellie and Everley out for a last swim (and their mom and dad too, I suppose!) and grill some dogs and enjoy one last summer fling!

So I'm off . . . linking up today with Patchwork Times and Kathy's Quilts.  Enjoy the day!

:)

slashing stash . . .

Well now . . . I'm rather pleased to have the past week behind me and the present week ahead of me! I guess that's how it's meant to be, eh?  I had some movement in my stash this week, so I wanted to make sure I reported it:

Five yards out!  I donated it to the guild.  They are starting up a Traveling Stash Box for the guild year and I, having experienced the joy of traveling stash on several occasions, wanted to help them to be able to start it off right!  Linking up to the stash report at Patchwork Times.

Speaking of guild, I gave up the newsletter for this year.  Yay!!  Three years may have been one year too long.  LOL!  But I really enjoyed being on the board and so I partnered with another lady and am co-chairing the Library position. That means I'll be in the library books.  A lot.

I've already checked out these two for the next month.  The Halloween one has some *darling* projects in it!  

So . . . design wall . . . I'm working on a little project for Everley. Joc wanted a bigger stuffed animal for Evie's monthly photos.  We found a cute little elephant that she liked, and I drew out a pattern for it:

I had fun sketching him out and getting him (or her??!) just so.  I've also picked out and ordered the fabric for it . . .

Oh yummy, fun, minky, purple fabrics! The print will be the front and the minky will be the back and the ear. Five yards out this week, two yards in next. Hopefully it will go together fast and I'll have it out again! Well, it has to be finished by October 10 -- her one month old birthday! Que sera.

(Editing to add:  Linking up to the design wall post at Patchwork Times!)

Got into the fall baking spirit again little today . . .

Yup, another apple pie!  Makes the whole house smell so good.  

Fall is in the air!

:)

september days are here . . .

With summer's best of weather,

And autumn's best of cheer.

                                                                                         --Helen Hunt Jackson

It never fails . . . as one month passes into the next, I'm blown away by the speed of passing time.  Oh how I desperately want to cling to it!  But time is mastered by no man (or woman), so here it is, September already!

I have to admit, I'm kind of excited.  September means the autumn is just around the corner! I do adore decorating in the autumn . . .

Like this darling subway art print!  I found it over On Sutton Place.  She shares lots of lovely ideas and printables.  Definitely worth a visit.

While the calendar may say fall, we're still enjoying summer temps, that's for sure!  When the grandkids come out to the camp, they have different ways of beating the summer heat.  Sawyer and June, for example, are gung ho to be in the creek, splashing the day away . . .

Ellie, on the other hand, prefers to beat the heat by indulging in an indoor tea party . . .

They're all so cute, I can't say no to any of them (just ask Todd)!!  Soon Olivia will be splashing or tea drinking, too ... and Everley is due to arrive any day now!  My heart just bursts with love for them all!

The turtle sanctuary area continues to flourish.  Turtles love the heat and humidity.  They'll pile up on the slate rocks and just soak up sun. Unless one of us comes around with crickets or worms, then the run toward us!

Evidently the water lilies are liking the heat and humidity too:

Three beautiful lilies at one time!  I've really enjoyed seeing these through the summer. The flowers generally don't last but two-to-three days, but there's always at least one. So lovely!

Speaking of water, when I knew we were going to be heading down to the creek the other day, I needed a play skirt.  So I repurposed one of my older, going threadbare skirts.  I cut the bottom out of it (about eight inches), then cut off the hem with about an inch of excess fabric, so I could stitch it back onto the skirt and have an easy finished hem.

There were still a few 'thin' spots, so I covered them with heart patches I made from the excess I'd cut off. I've had this skirt for seven years -- it's worn, but comfortable -- like a favorite pair of jeans! I hope I've made it so I can enjoy it for another five or so years!

With the start of September, I started this great book by Becky Harling, the 30 day praise challenge. It was a Kindle freebie, but I think it's gone back up.

I've read Part One and have gone through the first two days.  It's marvelous!! There's a group on facebook going through it together and anyone is welcome to join! I'll be linking this up to the Bibliophile Files over at sarah did it!

And since yesterday was the first day of September, it seemed fitting to make an apple pie! With apples fresh off my neighbor's tree and a homemade pie crust to boot! 

I enjoyed it for breakfast this morning, too, New England style (with my cup of hot tea, of course)!

Oh yeah, glorious autumn is just waiting around the corner, ready to make her spectacular entrance!!

a finish, a start, and a ufo-no-mo . . .

Well, a UFO no more, almost.  Well, not even that.  Random blocks no more. Actually, a completed, pieced top in the making and almost finished.  But that doesn't work as well in the title!

I can't believe it's been almost TWO year since I received these Journey Steps blocks from a block swap my Stitcher's Group had . . .

I blogged about it here.  And I took the blocks off my wall and didn't fool with them again.  I didn't particularly want to make any more blocks.  And then there was the dilemma I had with a couple of them being too small.  *But* we'd agreed to share our finished tops as a group at this month's guild meeting. Which is Thursday.  And I was feeling the pressure to participate.  So I pulled them out . . . 

. . . and started playing around in EQ to see if I could find a setting I liked and could work with, without having to make more blocks. These are some options I came up with:

A six-by-six block placement allowed me to square up the setting and use all the blocks .... by using the smaller blocks as cornerstones in the border.  

Then I decided I wanted the corner blocks to be inset in the border:

The center is now pieced!  I like this *SO* much better than the original placement.

I'm headed out to one of my LQSs to pick out a Civil War print for the border and one for the binding.  I do believe I'll have show and tell for Thursday!  (Although when it will actually be quilted, bound, and completely finished, who knows???) Linking up to Judy Laquidara's Patchwork Times and Design Wall Monday!

I also finished up my little September apple block:

What fun it was!  I even bit the bullet and FMQ'd little leaves all over the plaid. I'm particularly pleased with the result.  And now I'm all ready for a new month in my little quilt stand!

Finally, I started a new project . . . 

This is from Edyta Sitar's Seasonal Silhouettes collection -- the October block (surprise, surprise)!  I purchased three sets of the laser cut kits.  AWESOME!  I'll frame it out and then quilt it.  It's too big to go in my quilt stand, but I want to leave them as stand-alones.  (I have two more kits -- November's and December's!)

And I also 'dabbled' in cream cheese mints last weekend ... for a friend's daughter's wedding reception. Three hundred eighty cream cheese mints.  

Whew!  Her colors were sunflower yellow and azure blue.  And sunflowers decorated everything -- my kind of decor! The wedding was beautiful and the mints were a hit. I'm just glad they're not in my house any more!

I'm off to get into my Monday groove!  Y'all have a *great* week!!

:)

some bits and pieces . . .

Just a quickie post . . . I still have a LOT to catch up on, but I wanted to share a couple of fun things.  First off, I headed out to stitch with our Stitchers' Group last night and look what my friend Jackie had for me:

WHOOHOO!!  I'm in Miniature Quilts magazine heaven!!  And these are ALL new from the ones I scored here.  I sure wish they still published this little gem!

I liked my summer sunflower so much, I decided I wanted to do something for September.  That month just screams apples to me so I searched my hard drive for an appropriate design.  Here's what I came up with...

Fun, no?  I still have to do some stitching and then put it onto a back ground and quilt it, but I think I'll be in good shape when September rolls around!  In fact, I'm already thinking pumpkins! (Bahaha!)

I spent a nice day with Joc and Ellie, in my digs.  I broke my toe this week and damaged the tendons connected to it, so they came here!

Ellie had a ball looking out the window at the birds and squirrels and chipmunks.  She even took a nap up in the big bed -- a first!

And since it *is* Feline Friday and I've been *so* lax about that for most of this year (I'm sorry Sarah!!!), I figured I'd share Leia in her new digs . . .

Yup.  Nothing's changed for her!! 

Happy weekend!!!

:)