fall-ing . . .

It's funny . . . after a long, hot, humid summer, Alabamians (and maybe Southerners in general), are ready to declare it's fall when September 1 hits the deck.  Even though there's no change in temperature (or humidity) for some time to come!  I've always been a hard core proponent for waiting until meteorological fall begins (September 22 ... precisely at 9:21 a.m.), but this year I've given into the peer pressure and declared it Autumn! (As if my declaring it makes it so . . . feel free to laugh; I am!)

But as last night kicked off the Alabama Crimson Tide season:

(In a big way, I'm happy to add -- ROLL TIDE!) And since all things pumpkin have been assaulting me from every direction . . . 

(Source.)

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And since my sister (a Virginian, no less) texted me after my last post and said, "Denise, your blog did not mention pumpkins or Alabama football.  How can that be?  It's September isn't it?" (Although it's not really autumn that she's anxious for ... she's really trying to get us into the Christmas season.)

I decided I'd just embrace it. So after I finished up an ornament (only seven to go to be on target for the month):

I decided to give the last project pictured--a hexi-pumpkin-candle mat--a go! With my own twist, of course. (Of course!)

I need to quilt the hexies and join them together, then add the wool leaves. This project will be my slow stitching today . . . as Ellie colors (I personalized a couple of coloring pages for her . . . 

And we watch How the Grinch Stole Christmas (because she watches it year-round, and she knows I'll let her, and she's evidently her great-aunt's niece), and as we have tea and snacks . . .

And I know I mentioned this in Friday's post, but for posterity's sake, here's my unchanged melody of a stash report.

All those zeroes.  Better here that in the Alabama score!

Linking up for the first time in AGES with Patchwork Times and Kathy's Quilts. Enjoy a loverly sloooooow September Sunday!

:)

blasting through the weekend . . .

First things first . . .

Whether your babies are little or grown and have babies of their own or are fur babies, Happy Mother's Day to you!  I pray your day is filled with laughter and love!

I got a little stitching done this week.  I finished a second quadrant of Evey's quilt and realized I'd better find something to put in all of those white squares!  After a quick search online, I found this darling alphabet by Sublime Stitching . . . 

Aren't they fun??  The letters were way too small for the 5" blocks, so I enlarged them (by about 250%) and made them singles (and laminated them to keep them safe - haha!)--

I'll start sketching tracing these out in the next week or so and get busy stitching, stitching!

I stitched up my two ornaments for May at my Tuesday evening Stitcher's Group. One was a yo-yo wreath, that still needs a bow and a cord for hanging.

The second was a mini-poinsettia.

I've never thought about using the poinsettias as ornaments, but I think this will work nicely! I still need to find an appropriate sized button (the one pictured is a tad too big) and stitch it together and add the cord. I've got twenty-three days! LOL!

I've got a sweet little stitching project to work on this afternoon.  Joc had some blank tabs for one of the girls' dresses that she wanted to pizzazz up with something patriotic/4th of July-ish. So I worked up a couple of designs . . .

And she picked one . . .

And I'll stitch it up!  I'll use metallic red and blue floss for the firework and silver floss for the stars (which I'll satin stitch).  They should be very cute!

My fabric use has (again) been nil.

But it won't be long before I'm ready to quilt the quadrants of Evey's quilt and I'll need more fabric for the backing. Of course, the goal is to have it go in and right back out again!

It's been a very busy weekend!  Ellie came home with me on Thursday evening and we had a marvelous time doing all the things she wanted to do. Watch movies, color, play with buttons and drink tea.

She has very simple, specific desires which totally match my own! Thursday evening was very cool and we bundled up to take a golf cart ride:

On Friday morning we had a "Neesey and Ellie" date and went to Jacks for breakfast.  Evidently they make good pancakes.

And evidently, Ellie's quite the model. She had a little 'ham' with her pancakes! Silly, fun girl!

Friday evening and Saturday I spent in ESL (English as a Second Language) Teacher Training. It was fascinating and I hope to be able to put it to good use!

Saturday afternoon, I raced from ESL TT and put my hat on and headed to Emma's Tea Room, for afternoon tea with the Wears Chapel ladies!

We had a lovely time with lots of yummy goodies!!

Don't laugh, but from there, I raced back to the camp to join Todd for a fish fry he did for the Campers on Mission! The Campers on Mission have been very busy bees this week!  Check out the progress on the new back deck . . . 

We're so excited to see it come together!! I can totally see a group of rockers on this deck, facing out, filled with ladies doing handwork! This group has been such a HUGE blessing to the camp -- they are incredibly hard workers and love the Lord. Todd and I are hoping that the Camp can be added to their annual calendar. What fun!

I'm headed to church this morning -- I have both my preschool Sunday school class *and* preschool church this morning, so I've loaded up with double the Mother's Day crafting to do!  From there, I think I'll do my slow stitching on the front porch this afternoon.  Aaaaaah!  Linking up to Patchwork Times and Kathy's Quilts. Y'all have a blessing-filled day, and HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!!

:)

little pumpkins everywhere . . .

So . . . even though this is only the third weekend in October, I believe this is actually Week 4 of the pumpkin fall festivities, seeing as how I shared the free pumpkin coloring page on the last weekend in September.  

Which, after spending several hours with assorted grandchildren, coloring, looks like this now:

I do love coloring . . . there's something intrinsically soothing and calming about it.  It makes my mind work better.  No, seriously!  ;)

Last week I gave a tiny little sneak peek of this week's craft . . .

So now it's time to give you full view:

Pumpkin Pins!  So darling!  Another very easy, super-fast little project to help get you in the pumpkin swing of things . . . found over at Wild Olive (another project found *for* me by my good friend (and Queen of Hexiecology) Sarah, over at sarah did it!).

You may notice that my little fellow is *slightly* different from the one at Wild Olive . . . I definitely desired a face on mine . . . but the back side, for post-Halloween wearing, is still quite festive (which means I didn't stitch a pin on the back)! 

Especially since I used fabric that *sparkles*!!  (Of course I did!)  And since I was already filling it with a little hexie-shaped batting, I did just the tiniest bit of quilting on it.  Because I can't leave well enough alone!! For the faces, instead of embroidery or teeny-tiny applique, I used my splendiferous gel pens. I free-handed the outlines and colored them in with black, then outlined them in orange (or yellow) to give them a little dimension.  

Overall, I'm very pleased with this little project . . . and they were so easy, we (my mom and I) were able to whip up enough for all the ladies to wear one this weekend!

Five little pumpkins sitting on a dash . . .

Today's slow-stitching involves non-pumpkin work . . . in fact, this Lucy POTC block is looking decidedly patriotic, instead!

I haven't quite decided the direction for next week's pumpkin focus, hence no sneaky peeky! 

And my stash report changed just enough to reflect all my hexie pumpkins (7, in all) and my stuffed pumpkin last week . . . 

For total usage of a fat quarter, which I'll take!

So I'll be linking up to Patchwork Times for the stash report (maybe), Kathy's Quilts for the Slow Sunday Stitching, *and* since both my pumpkin project *and* my hand-work for today involve English Paper Piecing, I'll be linking up with Sarah's HeLP for Hexie-aholics, too!!

Enjoy a peaceful, lovely Sunday!

:)

so much to say . . .

Do you know how long it's been since I've submitted a stash report??  About the same length of time it's been since I had anything to report!

Isn't that sad?!?  But finally, I do have a little something to throw out there, so there it is.

I finished up my wool apple stitchery . . .

And it's just fitting perfectly in its little spot.  

Glad I got it finished in time to give it a little 'air' time before moving to the big guns . . .

Which, who am I kidding, the pumpkins have already started making a pretty strong showing . . . 

Tea (which a sweet friend brought back from her trip to Gatlinburg, TN, for me).

Creamer (which my sweet husband spied and brought home).

Even my coloring sheets! Do you color?  I adore coloring -- it's so relaxing and fun!

Here's a fun freebie I pulled down off the Dover Samples.  I subscribe to their weekly samples, not just because of the coloring -- in fact, that's secondary -- but because of the potential *stitchery* and crayon tinting patterns!!  Always thinking, this one.  ;)

My coloring has taken a turn to Bible art journaling, which I'm loving.

I'm working my way through the Book of Proverbs (part of a challenge for a Bible study I'm facilitating, Lysa Terkeurt's The Best Yes).

Todd and I spent a good portion of the past two days over at our house, clearing out the painting supplies, touching up trim, and thoroughly cleaning it all . . .

I'm so ready to be done with this house!  Hopefully the market is at a point where we can successfully sell it. I do not want to rent (ever again) it, if we can help it. Anyone out there wanting to move to Alabama?! It's got a GREAT room for quilting! Haha!

And it's the land of cotton!! Bahaha!  

Anyway, as we were leaving, I snagged up some leaves from the magnolia tree out front.  I've always wanted to make a simple wreath from magnolia leaves and saw one a couple of months or more ago on [I *think*] the Better Homes & Gardens website.  For the life of me I couldn't find it again, but I had the picture in my mind pretty solidly, so this is what I came up with . . .

Have mercy, I think it took me longer to pick the leaves than to make the wreath! I already had the ribbon, so that was nice, and I actually used cardstock for my 'base'. I sprayed the finished piece lightly with a little gold glitter. Yay! The Nook's door needed a little something something!

Speaking of the Nook, after I finished up the wreath, I used up some of  that stash fabric . . . I made a simple little pillow cover for my love seat. 

I've been meaning to do this for a long time -- and eventually want to do something a little more involved with some quilting -- but this will suffice for the time being! I love the colors in that purple. It's hard to see, but it's burnt orange, purple, brown, and just a tad red. It's true autumnal fabric to me. One look around the camp's Serenity Pond and you can see what I mean . . .

The sumac trees are always the first to start changing and gosh, they are just beautiful right now!

And finally, look what Todd brought in to me yesterday morning . . . 

A new turtle hatchling!  They're so darling when they've just 'broken free'!  And not shy in the least little bit!

Time to hit the road to church this morning . . . linking up to Patchwork Times.  Have a wonderful day and thanks for indulging this longish post!!

:)