time well spent . . .

The association I work for had its 182nd Annual Meeting last Tuesday.  It's a big deal for me and a lot of prep work and a long day . . . but we get the Wednesday and Thursday following the meeting off, giving me a long, five-day weekend.

And I made good use of that time!

Wednesday, I met Joc and the girls at Tate Farms for my annual pilgrimage to the pumpkin patch.  I didn't bring home a single pumpkin (can you believe it?!), but we spent an hour or so hanging out in the corn crib!

Literally. 

We all sat (or lay, as the case may be) in the corn crib for an hour and talked and played (and napped). Needless to say, I did bring home some corn, though not intentionally.  I think we all did! LOL!

I also spent quite a bit of time cleaning, organizing and making the Nook habitable (again).  It was bad.  I have 'before' pics but I daresn't show it!  However, I'm quite happy to share a couple of 'after' pics:

I work so much better when my space has, well, space!

One of my quilty birthday gifts was Creative Grids 8" hexagon trim tool.  I wanted it specifically to make these fabric trivets . . .

So easy to make and such fun! These will make good hostess gifts over the holiday season!

I also spent a couple of minutes finishing up my little squirrel embroidery--just a simple border and in-the-ditch quilting.  Not a great pic, I know . . . 

I'll get another one (cuz it's really cute) before I gift it.

I spent some $$ on Kathy Schmitz's website and picked up a couple of patterns. I've already finished up one (that's some secret stitching), and am ready to work on this cutie . . .

Isn't that fun?  My whole reason for going there was to get this darling new pattern:

It makes me SMILE!!  And while I was there, I signed up for her monthly One Stitch at a Time monthly embroidery club!  I adore her designs.  ♥

If you're working on new stitcheries, you've also got to have new floss . . .

It's almost as satisfying as new fabric!  And costs way less! 😆😏

And finally, while I was cleaning the Nook, I came across a bag of felt and templates for the poinsettia pins.

So I decided I start working on those, too.  Because they also make a sweet (and easy) hostess gift or "tag-a-long" for gifts. 

So, there I am.  Stitching pretty much daily.  I've still got the bicycle stitchery that needs to be finished, as does the secret stitching project.  I'll share pics of that after the fact!  Have a great week ahead!

:)

and this week . . .

It's the birthday pumpkin edition!  Yay!!  I've had a marvelous birthday weekend, so far, involving grandbabies, sleepovers, family, eating out, crafting, friends, touring Amish country, and Tate Farms, my favorite *pumpkin* place!!  

How can you worry about being a year older when all of these fun things are taking place?! It's been a totally 10/10 time! At Tate Farms, the favorite 'station' for all the grands was the corn crib. Oh. My. Goodness.  Even the littlest of the littles didn't want to get out! The big kids all wanted to be buried in it, though . . .

Sawyer wanted to try it first.

Ellie wanted to give it a go!

June's up for the challenge!

Olivia decided she'd lay on top of the corn!

Everley wanted to be on top too . . . on top of Ellie!!

It was such a fun afternoon -- I really do look forward to the Tate Farm visit most of all in the month of October -- each year the group enjoys it more and more!

Last week I gave a little pumpkin teaser about this week's pumpkin craft . . .

Are you ready for full disclosure?  Haha! 

It's a stuffed pumpkin, which is not really a 'new' idea -- not even to me (see this post) -- but I loved the look of these sweet little pumpkins crafted up by Martha Pullen Company, and went for a little re-creation!  I thought for sure I had a small spool of thread to top it off with (you know, from one of those little travel kits or something), but I didn't, so I settled for a cinnamon stick and the floral wire for twine.  I used a slip of wool with some embellishment for the little stem cap.  And of course the hand work I was doing in my sneak peek was the vine stitching on the pumpkin itself, which is a little hard to see!

For next week I'm already working on a cute and super fast and easy project . . .

Which is once again doubling up as my slow Sunday stitching!

My stash remains unchanged.  I used a little for the pumpkin, but not enough to justify a change! Maybe by next week?

I did get some darling *birthday chrysanthemums* in the mail from the gals in the Birthday Hexie Club!!  Just look at all this purple/teal gorgeousness -- there are 19 ladies in the club, so there are about 18 packets of chrysanthemums just waiting to be stitched!  

Well, 19, actually, because the darling blogger (Sarah, the Hexie Queen of sarah did it!) who so graciously allowed me to be a part of their local club, stitched up an extra set for me, *and* mailed them all, *and* sent along the darling green hexie napkins!!  I suppose I'll be doing some hand-stitching coming up soon with these (the chrysanthemums, not the hexie napkins)!  Ps...I didn't count the chrysanthemums in as stash because they came to me as "finished pieces".  

All righty then . . . I'm linking up today with Patchwork Times and Kathy's Quilts. And I'm off to enjoy a post-birthday breakfast (which is pretty similar to my birthday breakfast, truth be told):

Happy Sunday!

:)