every little thing . . .

I can hardly believe we're already halfway through the month of November.  Where did the first half go?!  Well, actually, I have a pretty good idea . . . I have a lot to show for the last two weeks!

First off, I do enjoy decorating my doorway, so when we moved from October to November, I re-staged my front door accordingly . . .

It makes me smile every time I come home!

Lots of stitching.  Ellie has been working on ornaments for her table at Advent Market next week.  Originally she thought Everley would be able to do half, but Evey is still a new stitcher, and I think it was overwhelming to her.  So I offered.  At first I did the three snowmen . . .

And then I took on the trees, the snowflakes, and candy canes . . . 

I've got one more candy cane to finish.  Phew!  I'll wrap it up with some slow Sunday stitching.  :)  I'll deliver these tomorrow, and then Ellie will do the work to finish them out as ornaments.  She's so clever!

I took a class last weekend for this super cute turkey . . .

Isn't he darling?! The tail feathers (and the body) use the Petal Pop Acrylic Template by Sugar Bee Quilts.  It took about a day to complete and was a fun project to kick off the Thanksgiving month!

Ellie and I decided we liked working on tandem projects, so we picked up a couple of cross stitch patterns to stitch in anticipation of Christmas.  We're going to work on this Primose Cottage Stitches pattern first . . .

It is Merry & Bright! We're working this on 25-count mocha linen, two over two.  

I've also joined along with Mary Corbet's latest SAL, Twinkle,Twinkle. I even got the kit.  It's so pretty!  And the blues—*swoon*!  Plus it has beading.  I've finished the first two steps . . . 

That fishbone stitch was a first for me (and it shows), but it was such fun to work! 

I also got the components cut out for the quilt Sawyer asked me to make for him when he visited in July.  He picked the fabrics, then helped me decide on the pattern.  It's a three-yard quilt, but I'm going to put extra borders on it to make it a little bigger.

I have to still stitch up the strips, and then all the components will be ready for assembly!

Again on the machine front, I got my sweet little wool bowl warmers finished up!

I would have put them in a bowl, but this cornucopia (that you can't see for the pillows) was begging for filler.  Voila.

Every time I get on my machine, Celeste feels the need to come snoopervise my work.  

I finally got out my foot pedal so I could use my hand to shield the needle from her little paws!

And speaking of cats, they had an 'ears' competition yesterday . . .

They're both so stinking cute, I can never declare a winner!  They are such good, sweet, and playful companions.  I'm really grateful for them.

I'll close with some select sunset captures from the last two weeks.  I think I've mentioned that my balcony is west facing, so I see the sun setting in all it's glory, and we've had some interesting ones. I also will include a beautiful shot of the northern lights in our skies!  I had to go to the front of our building to get that one.  Haha.

Have a great week! I'm headed to Las Vegas to meet my James for the F1 Grand Prix next weekend, and then headed back with him to spend Thanksgiving in Temecula.  So Happy Thankgsiving to my 'Merican friends!  Only thirty-nine days until Christmas!!

:)

hop hop hoppin . . .

Hello!! Welcome to my contribution to the Hallowe'en Trick or Treat Mystery Phrase Hop, hosted by Jo at Serendipitous Stitching!  I'll scare...errrr....share some spooky stitching with you, along with a letter, and a link to the next blog!  You collect all the letters and guess the mystery phrase!!  Doesn't that sound like fun?

Fall has definitely found its way to the camp . . . 

I love the changing leaves!  We have such a variety of trees, we get all kinds of color when the season arrives!

I love to decorate seasonally, and this is my favorite time of year for it.  I've gotten to the point where most of my decor is hand made!  And while I'm not really into scary stuff, a tad of Hallowe'en "fright" can be fun . . .

This hexi table topper is spooky enough with the owl and the black cats and spider webs!  But stars and candy corn temper the ring of fire!

Full moon . . . adds to the spookiness of the season!

Tell me though, how spooky can a jack-o-lantern really be, with a great big grin like this one is wearing?!

This was a fun wool felt project that I really enjoyed stitching up!

I haven't done a lot of stitching this fall . . . my Nook is a mess (and needs a dedicated week of tending), and what with Todd's treatments and retiring, life has been crazy!!  I did get over to visit the grands last week for a paint day . . .

We had a hauntingly good time painting spooky little touches on pre-printed pictures!!  Of course, any day with the grands is going to be the best!

Okay, okay . . . enough of all that and let's get to the alphabet!

My letter was "G" (just in case it was hard to tell).   Now be off with you and hurry on over to Beth's Needlework Stash for your next clue!  And be sure to stop by Jo's blog — she's such a fantastic hostess!!

I'll be back soon with a proper update!  Happy Hallowe'en!!

:)

finally caught up . . .

What a weekend! Friday afternoon we headed out to make things ready for the 5th annual Pastor & Wife Appreciation banquet and retreat.We had about 36 pastors and their wives.  It was a great evening with fabulous food, worship and fellowship—not to mention a terrific speaker who spoke great words of encouragement.  We had about nine couples who were able to spend the night.  There was a fabulous breakfast that morning, and then we broke out into groups, for some more encouragement.  I think it was a success!

But I was itching to get home, because I knew what I wanted to get done . . .

Jack-o-lantern placemats! Yay! They aren't quilted and the faces are just arranged, not permanent, so there's still work to be done. But they're so cute ... I'll finish them up this week so the girls can enjoy them over Halloween weekend!

I also got my little pumpkin & sheep piece finished.  I think I forgot to share.  I also forgot to put it on display!  I rectified that . . .

It makes me feel all happy and fallish.  Todd doesn't think sheep and pumpkins go together.  I'm not listening.

And of course it's a football Saturday!  Todd challenged me to up my football snacking game, so here's what we enjoyed . . .

I adore this cool charcuterie/cheese board! Isn't it so fancy?! James gave it to me for Mother's Day, and this is the first time I've used it! ♥ Needless to say, I think I rose to the challenge.  Alabama also rose to the challenge and beat Tennessee.  Roll Tide!

The weather was looking fine for Sunday, so Todd and I decided to go ahead and go from church to the lake.  As we drove to church, I noted that the future quilt fabric was looking good!

They're harvesting it now ... so I was happy to get a nice shot of a field ready to be picked!

It was a tad windy, but still a beautiful day on the water.

We're stylin! In the live version of this photo, Todd's beard is just a'blowing in the wind!  There was enough of a breeze that a number of sailboats were on the water.

I counted seven that I could see (though they wouldn't all fit in one photo).  I've never seen that many out at one time!

We fished a couple of coves and around the boathouses.  Fall is *finally* starting to make an appearance in the trees.  

The seasonal color has really come in a lot later than is typical!

We stayed out until after sunset (and it was a glorious sunset . . .

. . . don't you think?) and then headed in.  It was a cool ride back!  But it was totally worth it!

Have a happy week ... this might help get it off to a good start!!

:)

october's here . . .

Got an update on June this week; she saw her shadow . . .

. . . four more weeks in the cast. But this time she got a pretty bright blue one!  And a side trip to the San Diego zoo!  Sweet girl.  She's handling it all very well.  She is getting a little antsy.  She misses her gymnastics!

Also got an update on this sweet kiddo . . . 

Pictured here celebrating getting two parts in The Nutcracker! One is a solo dance (one of the gift toys in the early scene of the Christmas party) and the second is a group dance as one of the 'children'!  She's absolutely thrilled!  We're waiting to hear where the venue will be so a date can be pegged down!

Joc sent me a couple of happy photos, too . . .

The girls are enjoying their morning story time snuggled in with mama and brother.  Speaking of brother, he's growing so well!  

In just over two weeks, he's gained almost two pounds!  

Grow baby, grow! (And seriously.  I could just gaze at this picture for hours.)

Friday, we were able to get out on the lake.  The spring and summer were so rainy, we were hardly able to get consecutive Fridays out.  This fall is shaping out to be a weather joy!

Todd's fishing pole was haaaawt . . .

He got quite a few like this one. They'll eat well!  I can marinate and grill 'em when they're that big.

I ended up finishing my acorn piece on the boat, so Saturday seemed like the perfect time to swap out decor.

I've been so busy these last few years crafting my seasonal decor, there's very little I get out of the tub of my fall things.  On the one hand, it makes me a little sad ... on the other, I really enjoy seeing my handiwork all over the RV living room! Mind you, this isn't all that's out ... I didn't even show hardly any of my wall hangings!

So, speaking of autumn-themed quiltiness . . .

Let's hear about it!

:)

slipping away . . .

This is the last slow stitching Sunday in October . . . and there are only nine left in 2020.  How's that for an opening line?!

Between the birthday weekend and getting ready for the Blog Hop, by this past week I was ready to just chill.  LOL! But I pretty much had something every night last week, so not a lot to show. I will share this darling photo of my niece, Liesl . . .

October is Down Syndrome month and the colors of solidarity are blue and yellow.  My sister had the yard signs made this year. So sweet!  If you're familiar with the Stitch Pink BOD that Moda is doing right now, I'm thinking I'd like to work that out in blue and yellow for Liesl!

I spent Thursday evening with the grandgirls.  They'd had a busy week, too, and Edith was a little grumpy. Of course, even in her grumpiness, she's pretty darling.  I tried to capture a shot of the three of them . . .

Yes, that was about the best.  Here's Edith in the prior shot . . .

It only got worse going backwards!  The shot after the first photo found her laughing, but there was also a lot of movement (aka blurriness) in that photo!

Friday we ran a lot of errands and got things ready in the camp for the group that came in. We've had a bit of a cool snap and colors are finally starting to change here.  It's most noticeable around the pond:

There's a lot of sumac down there, and its leaves go red. It's so pretty, especially since it reflects in the pond. 

Saturday was a rainy, football kind of day.  I made a pot of stew and cookies to bag for the "Cookie Walk" booth a our church's fall festival. I thought about the Hospital Sketches project I started in wool last year. Then I realized that I'd tossed all the freezer paper tracings I'd done for the remainder of the blocks. (I've done three of the nine.) UGH!

So I went back and spent the Alabama game retracing all those pieces and kitted it all up so I didn't make that mistake again!

I let the random generator pick a winner from my blog hop post.  It selected Gail, who blogs at Shedding the Wolf.  I've been in contact with her!  Congrats, Gail!!

I've made slight progress on my Give Thanks stitchery.  But it's progress, nonetheless!

This will be my quiet time stitching for this afternoon/evening.  I'm already looking forward to it! I'm also linking up to Kathy's Quilts and her Slow Stitching post. 

Enjoy your Sunday!!

:)

happy october . . .

Hello October, I'm so happy that you're here!  It's *birthday* month and it's blog hop month, too!  :)

I finished stitching up Mr. Jack O'Lantern!  

He's such fun.  But I felt he needed something a little more than a hoop or mug rug finish. I think I found (or rather, made) the perfect solution . . .

Yay!  It's a slipcover for a Christmas pillow I've had for ages. I may go back and quilt the face of it later.  Maybe.  Right now, I'm liking is just as it is, where it is!

I got some other stitching finished up and some started this week . . . 

The hexi pumpkin pins are always fun!

This Kathy Schmitz heart has been unfinished for a while ... since March, I think.  Which would be about right.  That's when the world went topsy-turvy, right?

Anyway, it's finished now and ready to display come February!

I stitched up the first of these in May (Mother's Day, to be precise), so it was about time that I worked on a second . . .

There are a total of six. At my current pace, I should have the complete set done by May 2022.  Hahahaha!!!  :)

Today I spent the majority of the day "falling" up the place . . .

While I watched a little SEC football.  There were (are) some good games on today!  Roll Tide!

I'll settle in tomorrow afternoon and pull out some "slow Sunday stitching" . . . 

I've got four of the nine floss colors needed for it.  I'll pick up the rest next week.  This will probably be my last autumn stitchery of the season.  I've got a wool project in the wings! Then I truly do want to get those mittens finished up for this Christmas.  LOL...really!

Linking up with Kathy's Quilts and her Slow Stitching post.  Y'all have a terrific rest of the weekend!! Oh, and you'll notice ... I'm being sweet ... no Christmas countdown reminder!! 

:)