thanks-stitching . . .

Last week was a long week.  My coworker has been out sick for two weeks. She's coming back on Monday, but can only work half days, doctor's orders. Luckily it's a short week—we're closed for Veteran's Day on Thursday, and I'm off to Lifeway's Women's Leadership Forum!  

I'd ordered an assortment of flannel fat quarters from a vendor on Etsy.  She sells under Prairie Grove Peddler, and y'all she was fantastic to work with. I sent her a question about shipping, and she went ahead and bundled the assortment I was looking at into one listing, got it in the mail so fast (I ordered on Tuesday and had it in my hands on Thursday), and she sent me two bonus fat quarters to boot!

Isn't it pretty?  Such rich, yummy fall colors!

Anyway, I'd decided I wanted to do the Thanksgiving bowl fillers in wool on flannel.

It just made sense to me.

I've finished stitching one . . .

Working on the second . . .

This will be my slow stitching for today.  :)

These go together really easily and are fun to blanket stitch.  They will be perfect to share on Thankgsiving dinner day (which we are celebrating on the Friday after), as favors!

Yesterday was game day ... and have mercy ... it was definitely a day of upsets!  Thankfully, Alabama won, but it sure was a contest. I made an apple pie (first of the season!) and Warm Chicken Salad dip, which was super, super good.  (It was so good that we were halfway through it before I remembered to grab a picture, which I decided not to share.  You're welcome. ;)

The recipe for the Warm Chicken Salad dip comes from the Dessert for Two blog, by Christina Lane.  I enjoy her blog a lot, and obviously, over time, she's expanded to include dishes for two beyond desserts! I've tried a lot of her recipes and haven't found one yet we didn't like. It's definitely worth a check out.  Especially if you're an empty-nester like we are. Which is funny, because when she started it, they were newly-weds! It's been fun to watch her family grow. 

And I have two public service announcements to share.  The first is a just in case you've gotten to this point and have managed to miss it . . . 

Of the two time changes, this one is my favorite.  Ha!  The second psa is a little more stress-inducing:

Forty-eight days, y'all.  Forty-eight days. No need to say anything more.

And to apologize for introducing such stressful news, here's a first smile:

Isn't he precious??!  Ezra says, don't worry, be happy!

Linking up to the slow stitching post at Kathy's Quilts.  Happy Sunday!

:)

a plethora of things . . .

Happy weekend!!  I finally took my birthday hours on Thursday and we are closed on Fridays, so I'm enjoying a lovely four day weekend. I'll go back to work for two days before we shut down for Thanksgiving and a lovely five day weekend (for which I'm truly grateful)! I've had some good stitching time (as you might imagine)!  First off, I finished off the three snow buddies hanger . . .

It turned out so cutely!  I'm really pleased with it.  And even more pleased that out of the seven projects I had, I'm finished with four!  So next up I'll be working on this guy . . . 

My instructions?  This picture . . .

It's pretty self-explanatory, so  I shouldn't get too hung up!  It'll keep me busy on my slow stitching Sunday.  :)

I've been playing in fabric, too!  REALLY!  One crafty fabic project and one quilty fabric project . . . both gifts, so I can't show any of the quilt and all I can show of the craft project is this tidbit . . .

It looks fun, right?? Between the two of them and the 1/8th of a yard I used for my NOEL project:

[Which isn't finished (I needed "an ingredient" to finish it up that I can't pick up until Monday), but at least I know where it's going!] I've made a tidy little dent in my fabric stash this week!

Yay!!  I'd like to finish one more project before mid-month, so hopefully there will be an even bigger 'little dent'!

Last weekend Joc and her crew took their annual family trek to the Botanical Garden's Galaxy of Lights walking tour. As always, they finished up with a visit to see Santa Claus. These photos, through the years, have been a wonderful laugh and this year was no exception (and Ellie has proven consistent through all her four visits):

Ellie, 2012

Ellie (with Sawyer), 2013

Ellie (with Evey--and held by Jocelyn), 2014

Evey and Ellie, 2015

Are they not just priceless??  The Santa (who's the same all four years) simply makes the 2015 photo. Oh gracious, I just love them!

In preparation for our church's annual Thanksgiving fellowship tomorrow, I made an apple pie, crust and all . . .

It smells so good, it's all I can do to stay out of it tonight! It's a dry run through for Thanksgiving -- I'll do this all over again (and then some) on Wednesday!

I'll be linking up to Patchwork Times and Kathy's Quilts.  But before I go, I wanted to share one more thing.  I'll be starting this marvelous Bible study on Monday called Quieting Your Heart for the Holidays.  It's being hosted by Darlene Schacht of Time Warp Wife, and it promises to be wonderful.

I know I can't be the only one who struggles with keeping balance between the craziness that can come at this time of the year, wanting things to be just so, with remembering and celebrating what truly is the reason for celebration to begin with. It's a free study (with the exception of the prayer journal, which I purchased, and isn't required for the study) on her site and she provides lots of pretty freebies to make it fun.

And on that note, I'm outta here . . . I've got stitching to do before it gets crazy up in here!!

:)

things november . . .

It's been a dreary, damp, chilly day . . . the kind of day that makes for the perfect backdrop for inside chores and projects!  I finally got around to pulling the few jack-o-lantern and candy corn pieces I had out and replaced them with more seasonally appropriate pieces . . .

Oh, and I baked my first apple pie of the season, too.  It was *quite* yummy -- and hopefully will continue to be for the next several days.  I love apple pie for breakfast -- especially with a slice of melted cheddar cheese on it!  It's my Yankee roots.  :)

Earlier in the week I finished my little pumpkin stitchery.

It's very sweet -- I really enjoyed stitching that particular pumpkin pattern and may stitch it again. But I'm tired of stitching, crafting, and baking pumpkins (I can't believe I just typed that!!!!) for the time being, so my goal was to find something more Christmassy to work on.  I rooted around in the RV's basement space (after going through every storage tub and drawer in the Nook) and finally found the jackpot of wool projects in various stages of completion . . .

Mostly wool, anyway - the project on the far left is a reindeer dish towel.  The rest are wool snowmen!  Yessssss.  I'll be working on several of these over the next few weeks.  I've had 'em for ages (seriously -- since 2007) and it's time to get 'em finished!

But that's not what I'll be working on for my slow Sunday stitching . . . instead, I'll be working on a little stitchery of a doodled Christmas tree I saw on pinterest . . .

But instead of the solid, bold lines making up the right side of the tree, I wanted to put the word, "NOEL".  Not in your face, but a subtle gliding word down the side.

I think I've got it!  I'm stitching the 'doodles' in silver and will stitch "NOEL" in a bright metallic green.  I'm not sure about the stars, but I'm thinking gold.  Or a satin stitched yellow.  And the dots will be in red.  

I'm not sure how I'm going to use it, in fact, I'm not sure that it will finish out on fabric like I saw it in my head. But I wanted to stitch a little Christmas whimsy, and this seemed to fit the bill! Plus something about working with things that sparkle just makes my heart happy. 

My stash report remains unchanged.  Again.  For real.

What can I say?  I'm evening actually thinking of clearing out some of my stash.  I need to do SOMETHING with what I've got sitting there.  Seriously.  It's not stitching itself together.  Where are the cobbler's elves when you need them??!

Linking up to Patchwork Times and Kathy's Quilts!  Enjoy the remainder of the weekend -- you know what I'll be doing!

:)